Light Fortress

Chapter 1756 - 404: Who Approves, Who Opposes?

"There are actually powerful entities within the church who have mastered the origin?"

Meng Xizhou’s eyes flashed with an unusual glimmer.

In her understanding, the most powerful Transcendent in the West Continent over the years should be the Holy Judge Jia Wei.

In Sunset Mountain, there are several very old elders in retirement who, during the North Continent war period, contributed to the cause and should have Titled Level combat power... but they are far from touching the origin.

"There is one."

The elder in the wooden hut chuckled softly, "Not considered part of the church, but... if needed, he will act."

Meng Xizhou fell into deep thought.

Not considered part of the church?

Though Meng Xizhou was still young, she knew that if you trace back thirty years, Light City once widely bestowed blessings, helping many talented Transcendents free of charge. Back then, the Light God’s Seat was still in its final prime and often personally guided young talents with outstanding gifts.

The most famous among them was Gu Changzhi.

Apart from Gu Changzhi... there was indeed another well-known figure who trained in Light City.

"Rusty Bones?"

Meng Xizhou tentatively uttered this name.

"..."

The elder in the wooden hut did not respond directly but softly consoled, "All in all, you needn’t worry about this matter."

"You came at the perfect time."

The Light God’s Seat paused, then slowly said, "I have a question."

"A question? For me?"

Meng Xizhou was taken aback.

"A grand yet practical question..."

A low question emanated from the wooden hut, "In my heart, you are ranked as the first Torch Inheritor. I’ve been pondering these days, if the temple were truly handed over to you, could you remain absolutely rational?"

Meng Xizhou was somewhat at a loss.

Buzz!

The Light Barrier enveloping the wooden hut suddenly vibrated, and a grand pillar of light burst forth from beside Meng Xizhou, composed of nearly a hundred thousand strands of fine light.

This time, Meng Xizhou saw it very clearly.

These pure lights appeared interwoven, yet each strand was quite independent.

To outsiders, this was a pillar of light.

But in her eyes, she could distinctly discern the differences in each fine glow within the pillar of light.

"What if... every strand of light here were a person."

"Then, by mastering the Light Fire, by mastering the temple, you equate to mastering the lives of these individuals."

The Light God’s Seat’s voice grew imposing, "If one day you must sacrifice a small portion of lives to save the majority, what will you do?"

Tens of thousands of strands of fine light swirled and interlaced.

As Meng Xizhou gazed at the pillar of light, she noticed the change in that "small portion" of fine light, with an impurity seeping within. If not swiftly removed, these impurities would spread, rendering these fine lights no longer pure...

"Ssshh!"

Without hesitation, she joined her two fingers together and slashed down towards the light pillar before her.

Being naturally close to light.

She could see each fine light within this pillar distinctly, allowing her to strike with extreme precision, instantly shattering those strands tainted with impurities.

The pillar of light was cleaved, losing a portion.

Blackened ashes and the smell of charred remains lingered in the air.

"I understand your point."

Meng Xizhou calmly stated, "To me, this question isn’t a question... I’ve always believed, if one wishes to save the majority, one is destined to sacrifice a few."

"Heh..."

The elder in the wooden hut let out a satisfied chuckle.

...

...

By the time Meng Xizhou left Red Lake, night had already fallen, and the current Light City had grown accustomed to the prolonged nightfall without a new day rising.

The lake surface carried a slight chill.

The small courtyard outside the temple was packed with "notable figures."

Batu had gathered several elder statesmen from the elder council and preparatory elders from various counties in the West Continent to one place.

These people waited from dusk till sunset.

Although the wait was not long.

Some already showed impatience in their eyes... On the night of Red Lake, Light City’s Great Elder Gao Mo and Holy Judge Jia Wei perished, Meng Xizhou took over the temple — everything seemed straightforward and inevitable, yet several elders of the council were on missions elsewhere. Upon returning to Light City, they found everything had changed.

It was hard to accept.

But they had no choice but to accept.

The only consolation was that West Sea Crossing remained.

Though the Light Goddess had enacted broad reforms in the temple, she hadn’t tampered with the power boundaries of West Sea Crossing at that time.

But such a good situation didn’t last long...

The recent issuance of a ban signaled that the Goddess was not content with merely controlling the temple.

Through Batu’s communication, everyone had basically guessed that today’s gathering by the Goddess was about "West Sea Crossing."

"Creak."

The courtyard door was gently blown open by the wind.

The long-waiting elders and elder candidates collectively lifted their heads towards the direction of the opening door.

The light gleaming in the darkness coiled together, particularly striking.

"Everyone, I’ve kept you waiting."

Meng Xizhou, with hands clasped behind her back and her long skirt fluttering in the breeze, slowly entered the courtyard, her gaze sweeping around. Aside from Batu and those eleven temple elder candidates, there were five elders in the courtyard.

It was these five who currently had control over West Sea Crossing.

"Lady Divine, what urgent business brings you to summon us today?"

Speaking up was Russo, the fifth-ranked elder of the temple.

Now, within the courtyard, everyone was vaguely divided into two factions. One part was composed of those elder seat candidates whose lists had yet to be finalized... Most of these people were summoned by Meng Xizhou, coming from various county cities. They had just settled in Light City not long ago. Before the Red Lake incident, they had already collaborated with the Meng Family. In a sense, they were considered confidants cultivated by Meng Xizhou.

Currently, Light City is desperately short of manpower.

Therefore, Meng Xizhou brought them here... The only regret is that these candidates are somewhat weak in strength.

The other group.

Are the formal elders who have resided in the temple for a considerable period.

"What I want to do, everyone should already know."

Meng Xizhou happily walked to the banyan tree in the courtyard.

This mansion was specially selected by Batu... Back when Gu Nanfeng journeyed west, he stayed in this very courtyard.

She lifted her skirt and sat down, smiling as she said, "Who supports and who opposes the prohibition of West Sea Crossing?"

The courtyard was silent.

Everyone looked at each other.

Even those elder seat candidates summoned by Meng Xizhou never expected that Lady Divine’s approach would be so direct, decisive, and unyielding.

The waves of the West Sea Crossing prohibition have been surging beneath Light City for some time.

Gathering everyone today.

They thought Lady Divine would resolve the issue in a gentle manner.

But...

Did she just directly ask? What’s the intention here, to put the issue on the table!

"I oppose."

Russo, who had earlier greeted Meng Xizhou with laughter, now had the smile wiped off his face, looking expressionless at the young woman before him.

Russo was a staunch supporter of Gao Mo.

He was also the one who supported the behind-the-scenes action of imprisoning Meng Xizhou in the secret dungeon.

After the Red Lake incident, Meng Xizhou had too much to deal with, regarding those who once pledged allegiance to Gao Mo, she didn’t clean them up immediately... If she were to kill all of them, Light City would have no one to use, so she gave all temple elders time to buffer and think.

Today, the time has come.

"You oppose?"

Meng Xizhou gazed at this fifth elder of the temple.

"The existence of the West Sea Crossing is meant to spread the faith of Light City to every corner of the world."

Russo questioned word by word: "Spreading teachings is the clearly stated law encouraged by Lord Divine. Issuing a prohibition, are you opposing Lord Divine?"

"I just met Lord Divine."

Meng Xizhou said lightly, "He supports all my decisions."

Russo laughed: "If that’s true, let Lord Divine issue a decree, and we will unquestionably cooperate."

Meng Xizhou lowered her gaze and smiled silently.

A decree...

Naturally, there won’t be one.

The conversation across the other shore of Red Lake, actually, the meaning expressed by Light God’s Seat was already very clear. Regarding the turmoil within the temple, he unconditionally supports Meng Xizhou, but the specific details need to be handled by Meng Xizhou herself. If she can’t even manage this small matter, then how is she qualified to be the Torch Inheritor?

"There is no decree. From today onwards, every word I speak represents the will of Light God’s Seat."

Meng Xizhou raised her head, speaking calmly.

The courtyard was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

Russo once again asked with a smile: "By what right?"

With those words.

Meng Xizhou extended two fingers, gently pointing to the man opposite the courtyard.

The night was instantly torn apart by a stream of light, countless glowing fireflies rose from the ground, the thousands of branches of the banyan tree, and millions of fragments of grass were transformed into light at this moment.

And this light, transformed into swords.

In an instant.

The entire courtyard was swallowed by an overwhelming Blazing Light, elders and candidates alike cried out in astonishment.

In their understanding, Meng Xizhou was only a Light Goddess who received Divine Favour, then trapped in the secret dungeon for a full six years.

To put it nicely, a Goddess.

To put it bluntly... trapped in the secret dungeon for six years, no matter how talented, would have become a cripple.

But such a cripple, casually raised a hand, and it was two Great Achievement Domains stacked together, such terrifying destructive power, was simply impossible to be emitted by a fourth-stage!

"Screech!"

In the long night, the crisp sound of tearing paper and silk echoed.

Facing this endless Holy Light, Russo could only raise his arms to block, he also summoned his Titled Domain...

But unfortunately.

The massive Holy Light connected into swords, directly smashing his domain, and then hundreds of light swords penetrated his body.

In the end, Meng Xizhou waved her sleeve.

This magnificent blaze dissipated within the courtyard.

Russo maintained his stance with arms folded, his eyebrows, orifices, and skin everywhere began to seep blood.

He looked blankly at the gentle woman enshrouded in soft light, his eyes full of disbelief.

There were no ups and downs in Meng Xizhou’s eyes.

As if killing an elder was just a trivial matter, not worth her second glance, and not worth her pity one bit.

The wind blew through the courtyard, grass debris floated with the wind.

The stiff figure standing in the wind fell heavily, blood pools spread and flowed, ultimately converging at Meng Xizhou’s feet. She didn’t lower her head, the strands of light converged into a barrier, isolating these blood away.

"Ladies and gentlemen, feel free to speak frankly. Recently, I asked you to stop the external transport of Hidden Childs by West Sea Crossing. Soon, I will conduct a thorough investigation of the shadows and dark investigators within Light City."

Meng Xizhou said calmly, "I want this Light City to return to its former clarity and tranquility, and I want every citizen of the church to live under the sun."

"Who among you supports and who opposes?"