Divine Flame Crystal

Chapter 620 Freedom is the sword in your hand

The Holy See of Light's thirst for faith has become maddening. Ever since they successfully launched a continent-wide war, the continent's previously shattered equilibrium has begun to crumble. Faith has become a weapon, the Holy Word a form of oppression, and even sunlight has become piercingly sharp.

Just as the major kingdoms were in turmoil and fell one after another to the "purifying light" of the Holy See, a force quietly rising in the shadows was reshaping the landscape of this continent - the Human Freedom Alliance.

This bizarre army, composed of exiles, defected nobles, remnants of troops from looted countries, and rebellious knights who had married into foreign races, was originally just a loose alliance of underground resistance organizations. However, when a fat young man raised the first flag against the Holy See of Light in the ruins, the scales of fate were completely tilted.

“Freedom is not an indulgence in the church, but a sword in your hand.”

When these words came out of Xingluo's mouth, they sounded like a lazy complaint about the weather, but when they were passed on to guerrillas in various places, they became the slogan of this resistance.

Xingluo had long ago founded his own mercenary group, named "Sky City"—a name that stemmed from his childhood fantasies while gazing up at the stars from a haystack. His dream had never been to work hard on earth, but to stand in the sky, overlooking a world that once did not belong to him.

The headquarters of the Sky City was located above his 30 square kilometers of earldom. Not only was there his "raised" mist dragon that could spit out "lost air," but he also had built a high-altitude fortress maintained by levitation magic.

The entire floating city was constructed by dwarven technicians working tirelessly day and night, using the spatial technology manuscripts left behind by Pandora's fused memories. Its walls were clad in giant plates of magical alloy forged by the Hammer of Fire. Rune defense towers floated around it, and magic crystal cannons and space jammers dotted every corner. The dwarves called it "a fortress that even a drunk couldn't fly down," a testament to its stability.

After the last war, the members of the Sky City Mercenary Group are now almost all strong men who have escaped the persecution of the Holy See of Light. They no longer believe in gods, but in "life" and "freedom".

Under Xingluo's leadership, this mercenary group repeatedly crushed the Church's numerous "baptism-style encirclements," even counter-encircling and capturing a four-winged radiant angel during an ambush. This demigod-level being forced the Church to issue a "divine punishment" level wanted order overnight:

"Fat, black-haired, with a bad mouth, the kind that can kill people with that bad mouth... Kill him on sight." Tiffany muttered to herself as she issued the wanted order.

Since becoming the "Holy Patriarch" of the Church of Light, she has long since shed her former self, a shy, blushing priest who muttered to herself. Now, beneath her holy robes lies a sharp blade that distorts faith. She declares, "Anyone who does not believe in God is unworthy of being human."

What Xingluo is best at is "not being a human being".

"I might as well believe in the burning divine flame crystal in my body than in your Lord God." It is said that Xingluo spoke shamelessly at an intelligence meeting, and even took out the crystal to light cigarettes for the dwarves, which almost caused a whole warehouse of magic scrolls to spontaneously combust. It is not known whether these rumors are true or not, but Xingluo doesn't care how Tiffany portrays him.

Tiffany summoned the seven judgement knights of the Holy See at the Moon Saint Altar and set up the "Apocalypse Array", attempting to track Xingluo's location through the "bond of fate" between her and Pandora. However, because the crystal in Xingluo's body possessed the property of "divine interference", it backfired on the priest, causing an old priest to explode on the spot, and the scene was quite bloody.

This embarrassing failure of the apocalypse was called the "Holy Oil Incident" within the Holy See of Light.

After Xingluo learned the news, he issued a sarcastic notice in Sky City that night:

"I have not authorized the use of this body's magic. Please ask the Holy See of Light to cease its illegal tracking of my body, or I will take legal action—like bombing you."

After Tiffany's divine decree of annihilation was issued, Xingluo didn't immediately launch a counterattack. He was well aware of the Vatican's old tactics of "one against ten, summoning divine messengers, donating faith and harvesting souls." A head-on confrontation would be tantamount to surrendering one's life.

So, while expanding the Free Alliance's manpower, he had Mo publicly negotiate with other neutral empires as the "Lunar Meteorite Ambassador" to raise supplies. He himself hid in the Sky City, relying on intelligence and illusionary formations to launch repeated "harassing counterattacks" against the Holy See of Light.

3000 sacred birds suddenly died in the White Dove Temple in the south?

——It was Xingluo who sprinkled the World of Warcraft aphrodisiac powder into the pigeon food bucket.

The morning prayer ground in the north was suddenly engulfed in flames?

——It was he, the dwarf with the flaming hammer, who used the "ground mirror refraction array" to use sunlight to concentrate the bombardment.

The Knights of the Holy See repeatedly go astray and get stuck in a maze?

——Hey, that’s just his fog dragon that loves to release disorienting gas doing morning exercises.

Tiffany gnashed her teeth in rage, but she was powerless to stop him. She tried to lure out Xingluo using Pandora as bait—according to Vatican spies, Pandora had gained a kind of "immortality" through the trials of merging with the ancient gods, and was the only bargaining chip to break Xingluo's defenses. Xingluo knew this was a trick of the Vatican of Light. The Pandora family had long been spies on him, and they knew exactly whether he had been captured by the Vatican of Light.

But who knew that Xingluo had received a secret report from the "Moonfall Intelligence Organization" in advance, and sent the Shadow Wings to secretly destroy the entire "Divine Punishment Trial Site", and also kidnapped Tiffany's favorite temple pet: a sacred parrot that could chant hymns, and taught it the phrase "The Holy See of Light is all bullshit".

This back-and-forth, ostensibly a battle between two armies, was actually a clash of faith and freedom. Tiffany was no longer the girl who had chanted the Holy Light with him, and Xingluo had transformed from the chubby little boy he once was into a cunning fox who could recite fourteen anti-Catholic curses in three seconds.

Although the Sky City encountered danger several times, it relied on flexible tactics, the divine flame crystal's leapfrog magic, and the high-emotion attack method of "psychologically unfit" enemies to repeatedly turn defeat into victory. The tower of faith roared, but the pranks of the falling stars emptied it layer by layer.

Pandora gradually awakens during the trial of the fusion of gods. A lot of information and knowledge about the ancient gods appear and disappear in her mind from time to time. The "Free Alliance" also establishes strongholds in various places, gradually surrounding the outer sanctuary of the Holy See of Light.

But the war is far from over.

Xingluo knew that the true core of the Holy See of Light had not yet been exposed, and those God's agents standing behind the scenes and the real Divine Flame Crystal Warriors had not yet arrived in person.

So he slapped the love letter on the table and said with a smile:

"It seems that this scene needs to be performed more excitingly."

"Tiffany, I'm not here to destroy your faith. I'm here to tear your hypocritical faces apart."

The southwestern border of the Luoshen Empire, the land of Yunling.

This was where Xingluo first struck. In the Yunling region, mountains crested and shrouded in mist. Xingluo quietly deployed a "Phantom Tracing Array," leveraging the terrain to his advantage, luring the Holy See's patrols into an endless labyrinth. The echoes of the mountains whispered, "Hypocrites will eventually be lost." The Holy See's soldiers panicked and fled, unaware that Xingluo had already orchestrated this. Dark materials shimmered within the array, like the black stone towers of a demonic city, piercing the mist and piercing the Holy See's delusion. Within the mist, demonic whispers intertwined with ancient runes, as if the palace's curse had been revived. The Holy See's soldiers, lost in the illusions, felt a surge of fear within them. The dark materials' glow grew ever more intense, reflecting their inner despair. Xingluo watched coldly, a sardonic smile curling his lips. This encounter was certain to be won. Tiffany's eyes flashed with a complex mixture of anger and resignation. This is just a microcosm of many battles. The army of the Holy See of Light was blocked by Xingluo. Xingluo could be seen everywhere on the continent. He used space teleportation to make arrangements on the continent.

As soon as Tiffany's three red-robed priests arrived, they were warmly received by "Wu," a member of the Moonfall Intelligence Organization, disguised as the "Lord's Deputy Envoy." For three days, they feasted and enjoyed themselves. Every citizen they encountered wore an "air purifier mask," children ran through the streets in comical cloaks emblazoned with the symbol of the God of Light, and even an old beggar received roast beef and honey toast.