Chapter 51: Forty-five So what?
As he looked at the other’s clear yet bewildered gaze, Ulu’s eyes also widened bit by bit.
Because he felt this should be a question so simple it could not be more straightforward, at least for a priest of the Rhein, and certainly for those inside Somo City, the “Rhein Covenant” should have been etched in their brains, every single line as easy to recite as answering “Did you eat today?”
But why couldn’t he answer?!
Could it be that he hadn’t heard clearly?
Did I not speak clearly enough?
Carrying a glimr of hope in his heart, Ulu said solemnly, “Was I not clear enough just now? Then let repeat it, I’d like to ask about the seventh…”
...
“Ah, wait.” The priest raised his hand to stop Ulu, “Devotee, I heard your question clearly. But I am curious, why do you want to know the content of ‘Rhein Covenant’?”
Ulu was silent for a mont, then said, “Because I, too, wish to beco a priest, I want to etch everything of the Lord into my heart.”
“Is that so?” The priest revealed a smile, “Since you are so devout, then indeed, I can explain to you properly. The ‘Rhein Covenant’ is the word of my Lord…”
“I know what the ‘Rhein Covenant’ is.” Ulu interrupted the priest, then stared straight into his eyes, “I just want to know what is in Chapter Seven, Article Eight.”
“I understand.” The priest revealed an “I get it” expression, “Then please wait here for a mont, I’ll go to the back and get a reference book.”
Saying this, the priest turned to leave but was caught by the hand by Ulu.
“Why do you need a book?” Ulu seed to be trying hard to suppress the excitent in his heart, “Aren’t you supposed to have it morized? When priests preach, why do they still need a book?”
The priest, whose hand was grabbed, looked at Ulu with a strange and puzzled gaze, “Why wouldn’t I need a book?”
Why wouldn’t he need a book?!
Ulu almost questioned him outright, but he realized this might very well expose his identity, so he still held back and just said, “I heard it’s difficult to beco a priest in Somo City, one needs to morize the entire ‘Rhein Covenant’. I don’t know if that’s true.”
The priest imdiately revealed another “I see” expression, smiling as he said, “It seems you also want to join the embrace of my Lord, otherwise you wouldn’t know so much.”
All Ulu gave was a “Hmm” in acknowledgent, then asked again, “So is that rumor true? Do you need to morize the entire ‘Rhein Covenant’?”
“Ah, that…” the priest smiled, stroking his beard, “Indeed, it is necessary.”
Hearing this response, Ulu subconsciously raised his eyebrows. He had actually thought this priest would not admit it, or that the old rules had by then been abolished, “So you…”
“I certainly could recite it at the ti.” The priest sighed lightly as he spoke, “morizing all of the Lord’s words indeed isn’t easy. I don’t even know how I did it back then. Maybe it was due to my devotion to the Lord, it didn’t feel difficult at the ti. But now, well, more than a decade has passed, and although my devotion to the Lord is still strong, my attention has been divided by many worldly trifles. So now, I can no longer keep all of the Lord’s words as fresh in my mind as before, but that doesn’t an my devotion to the Lord has waned. In fact, for the Lord… Uh, devotee, devotee, where are you going? I haven’t finished speaking.”
Ulu could no longer bear to listen.
Lies, lies, nothing but lies!
Ulu simply couldn’t persuade himself to stay with that blustering charlatan for a second longer.
How could the content of the “Rhein Covenant” be forgotten?! Those were the words of the Rhein God, imbued with divine power, once understood and morized, one would never forget them for a lifeti.
Even that old fart Lu Ji could recite it!
Ulu could never forget, when more than a decade ago Lu Ji made him stand naked on a table reciting the “Rhein Covenant”, he could clearly point out every mistake and give a “punishnt”. These “punishnts” still haunted Ulu, so marks even remained on his body.
… But that man insisted he did not rember, so there was only one possibility, he had never morized it at all!
A priest of Somo City who could not recite the “Rhein Covenant,” how on earth had he passed the assessnt?!
The very thought sent a chill through Ulu’s bones, and even the sunlight he felt upon stepping out of the church did little to warm him.
But this also made him realize what Bai Wei wanted him to see by coming here.
From the mont that priest spoke until now, Bai Wei kept silent, yet the Silence felt like the loudest mockery.
Ulu inhaled deeply, whispering low, “Perhaps it’s just an anomaly.”
He didn’t know whether he was talking to himself or to Bai Wei.
Bai Wei still did not respond, but Ulu felt as if he could hear a sneer coming from deep within his heart.
Ulu had no more explanations to offer, so he moved on to the next church.
This was just an individual case.
Unconsciously, images of him staying up all night to morize the “Rhein Covenant” more than a decade ago flashed through his mind. He rembered Lu Ji not forgetting to whip him even during “gas,” the anticipation and tension before those three assessnts, the sense of loss and bewildernt after receiving the results, and the resolve to try again.
This was just one isolated case, he reminded himself again.
Thus, that day, he visited countless small churches and posed the sa question to nurous low-rank priests.
“What is Chapter Seven, Article Eight of the ‘Rhein Covenant’?” And the responses he got…
“Uh, Chapter Seven, Article… how many?”
“Just wait a mont for , I’ll go get a copy from the back.”
“Is there an Article Eight?”
“This… it’s been too long, I really can’t rember, but please don’t doubt my devotion to the Lord.”
One answer after another caused Ulu’s heart to sink a bit further.
After the first two responses, where Ulu still harbored so hope, he couldn’t recall the rest; it felt as though he was engaged in so form of ritualized activity. Entering a new church, asking a question, and then quickly leaving, his expression and inner self gradually beca numb to the point where he no longer knew what he was doing. His brain seed to stall, with only his body repeating an action and then receiving the sa or a similar response.
Finally, as he asked the question again, received such an answer again, and was about to leave once more, he heard a priest say with so irritation and contempt, “Are you playing with ? How many words are in the ‘Rhein Covenant’? Who the hell can morize that?”
Ulu stopped in his tracks, feeling sothing surging from the bottom of his heart.
Like a mighty, unfeeling tide, it instantly scattered his hopes and mories, causing his body to tremble slightly under the onslaught of this internal tidal wave.
“You’re asking, how many words are in the ‘Rhein Covenant’?”
The priest, with a temper, turned to look at him irritably, “What are you muttering?”
“I an, you were just asking, how many words are in the ‘Rhein Covenant,’ right?”
The priest frowned, “So what if I was? You son of a…”
Before he could finish, Ulu suddenly burst out, charging at him and pinning the priest fiercely against the wall.
“I’ll tell you! The ‘Rhein Covenant’ has 534,286 words!” Ulu stared deathly at the priest, his gaze as if ready to devour, “The contents of Chapter Seven, Article Eight are, no matter if one is in adversity, one should believe in the Lord’s power, believe in the Lord’s strength, have faith the Lord will not let His followers wander in confusion…”
Ulu’s voice grew louder and louder, drawing the attention of the entire church as they looked in astonishnt at this black-robed figure who seed to have lost his mind, raging at the church priest.
“…The Lord will guide those lost to the correct path, grant rewards to those who strive and persevere, the Lord will not disappoint any devout follower! This is Chapter Seven, Article Eight, this damn thing is Chapter Seven, Article Eight!”
On the last sentence, Ulu’s voice completely broke, causing his saliva to spray the priest’s face.
The church fell into silence.
The overwheld priest stared blankly at Ulu, completely clueless as to what had just happened. After about a dozen seconds of silence, he couldn’t help but ask, “So what?”
…So what?
In that mont, the overwheld priest saw an even greater, more dangerous light detonating in Ulu’s eyes. He seed truly murderous, an aura that entirely eliminated the priest’s irritability, making his body involuntarily tremble.
But the light quickly vanished. Almost instantly, those bestial pupils returned to the eyes of a middle-aged man, defeated and sleazy, and the force that had pinned the priest against the wall evaporated.
Then, under everyone’s gaze, he slowly turned around and walked away.
It might have been an illusion, but his figure seed slightly more stooped than when he had arrived.
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