The world of beauty drama begins with the surrender of Jason

Chapter 404 Mission 2
"There is a mission... Sorry, I should say I have a request!"

The speaker realized that he was being rude and quickly changed his words.

The listener, however, showed no sign of minding it. Although the two had limited interactions, given his status, such a low-level slip of the tongue could only mean one thing:

Her mind was confused.

"Please speak frankly!"

The good reputation of upholding justice and conquering demons throughout one's life is the best guarantee. A man believes that the other party's request is not out of selfish desire.

Dark blue mountains and valleys rise and fall in all directions, with muscle-like sedimentary rocks exposed at the junctions. It is like a sleeping giant in an ancient epic, lying on the ground, silent and solemn.

Due to the altitude, the mild spring breeze outside still has a hint of frosty chill here, whistling past with the lingering echo of late winter, blowing the old nun's clothes fluttering.

She glanced at the clergy who were busy setting up observation points in the distance, and as if she had made up her mind, a blue and white light flashed on the back of her hand, and the subtle power blocked out all ears and eyes.

“The truth of the world is like a plant rhizome that has lost its branches and leaves. Before you dig it out, you don’t know whether it is a sweet potato or a poisonous mandrake.”

"Judging from your attitude, it is most likely the latter." Lai Henry's expression straightened a little.

"That's absolutely true," Aunt Irene sighed tiredly.

"The problem is that the root is too poisonous for the church to bear. At that time, they would rather agree to the many conditions of the federal bureaucrats and deal with it quickly and bury it forever."

The rose stone beads moved stiffly between the fingers, indicating the owner's bad mood.

"There are rich coal mines under the town of Centralia. A cult that worships the devil secretly entrenched itself here. After a long period of planning, they ignited the mines and summoned the projection of hell by sacrificing countless lives. This is the official statement."

Sister Irene smiled bitterly, "But do you know what the original name of that cult was?"

Without any pretense, she gave the answer directly:

"Albigensians!"

Lai Henry pondered for a moment, and then a look of surprise appeared on his face.

When he was young, he practiced and learned from many schools of thought, including the mystical knowledge of various schools from the East and the West. In a moment, he recalled the origin of the term.

The Albigensians were a French branch of the Cathar sect of the Templar Catholic Church. They were named after the fact that their main area of ​​activity was Albi, France. They were popular in the 12th and 13th centuries, when everyone from lords and nobles to knights and commoners converted to the sect.

This sect believes that the human soul was originally pure, but was later expelled from heaven because of opposing God, causing the human soul to be combined with matter, and the spirit has been imprisoned in the flesh since then.

Out of mercy, Christ came to earth to tell souls that only after being freed from material things could they return to heaven, and that reading the Bible, collective reflection, doing good deeds and abstinence were the ways to achieve this.

Therefore, the believers of this sect lived an extremely simple and ascetic life, and often condemned the luxury and prosperity of the Roman Church, which made the Holy City very angry.

If it were just that, it would be fine. There are many branches in the Christian system, and it is common for the interpretation of the scriptures to be different. You can eat coarse food and practice hard behind closed doors, as long as you don't owe the tithe to the superiors, everyone will turn a blind eye and no one will bother to interfere.

But the bad thing was that they believed too firmly in their own theory and actually publicly denounced the church institutions and its bishops, priests and monks, claiming that they were all fallen people seduced by the devil and that everything from the sacred ceremonies they performed to the indulgences they sold were useless scams.

On the contrary, Tian Gang also cut off people's financial resources, which was like stirring up a hornet's nest. The iron fist of sanctions came down instantly and bombarded them for twenty or thirty years. The Knights Templar and the Crusaders passed through like a rainstorm, and half of France was devastated. The ban and excommunication were carried out in one go, and they were driven underground and dared not to show their heads again.

In short – hardcore heresy!
"So the quick handling is to keep the family's dirty laundry from being aired in public, right?"

Henry Lai realized that even though the Albigensians were heretics in history, they were still a branch of Catholicism and not a cult, and their teachings were in line with today's moral standards.

Anyway, after hundreds of years of struggling, only two or three factions remain. In addition, the religious power has declined greatly in modern society, and it is precisely when the church needs to stabilize its basic base that it has secretly reconciled with a group of more moderate small sects, including itself.

As long as we are willing to trace our roots and nominally obey the leadership of the Holy City, we are still one family.

But who could have thought that they would secretly do such a big thing! If the culprit is exposed, the Vatican will not be able to get rid of this black pot no matter what it says. At that time, the Protestant and other competitors will launch a public opinion offensive to add insult to injury. It will be difficult for the church to overcome this hurdle even after decades of discipline. Somewhat unexpectedly, Sister Irene nodded and shook her head.

"Maintaining the image was only half of the reason that forced them to make such a huge sacrifice and seal it. The other half was...profit."

The pure black sleeves were lifted, and an abstract mark that looked like a rune or a badge appeared faintly on the old man's wrist, blooming with holy brilliance.

There were two golden cups with their mouths facing each other, and a stream of clear water circulated back and forth between them, neither increasing nor decreasing, neither fast nor slow, and absolutely without any violation of the rules.

"Everyone knows that the Catholic Church of the Holy Temple has two stigmata. One is the [Temperance] that I hold. What about the other one?"

"It's [Purity]!"

Lai Henry opened his mouth slowly and told her the unspeakable truth.

The key clues connected a lot of information, and the answer in his mind gradually became complete.

"The Albigensians are also called the Purists. Their core doctrine is [Purity]!"

Gazing at the petals of the Madonna lily shining in the crystal stone, he was quite moved even though he had expected it.

The holder of the stigmata other than Sister Irene has always been extremely mysterious. I thought it was a trick of the church to hide one card in the open and the other in the dark, but who would have expected it to be like this.

The old nun said gloomily: "The one who holds the stigmata of Purity is the living saint of the Albigensians, and is the core of summoning the embryonic form of hell."

The faction under his command was involved in a major scandal, which was certainly distressing, but the fall of a top fighter was even more heartbreaking.

"Do you want to retrieve the holy marks? The church is full of experts, why do we need outside help?" Lai Henry stroked his beard and pondered.

He is in charge of intelligence work in the Chamber of Commerce and knows many secrets. Although the existence of the stigmata is basically awakened at birth, the Holy See has its own secret methods to preserve it, and there is a chance that it can be transferred to others after the holder's death.

This is equivalent to a top-notch inherited treasure, and it is worth the risk and investment.

Aunt Irene glanced sideways, looking at the dark world behind the thick fog, her expression calm yet complicated.

She struggled to speak word by word:

"You guessed wrong. What I'm asking is... please completely destroy it before the church members arrive!"

……

"Destroy it? Why!"

Zhu Mingyao woke up from the immersive description and asked in astonishment.

"A strong person whose original power is [Purity] is best at purifying evil spirits. How could he be easily contaminated and demonized?" Lai Henry said with sharp eyes.

"The man is innocent, but he is guilty of possessing a treasure. The Albigensians are just a small fringe faction. Even if a Stigmata is born by the blessing of heaven, it will be difficult for them to maintain their autonomy.

Everyone has ambitions, and the ambition of religious people is to promote their own sects, so they privately carried out taboo research that could be called blasphemous - using living bodies to carry divinity and become gods in the flesh!"

His words were light, but they carried a heavy chill like solid ice.

“The limit between humans and gods is like a chasm between heaven and earth. What those lunatics created is a twisted and crazy immortal evil creature.

But some people don't think that's a shortcoming, and are eagerly waiting to imitate... In order to dispel the greed of those guys, this thing and the knowledge involved must be completely destroyed, leaving no residue!"

(End of this chapter)