A priest in North America, what the hell is the Demon Gate system?

Li Ang's consciousness, within the spiritual space, acted like an invisible hand, easily deflecting the trembling military dagger from the boy's hand.

The dagger clattered to the floor.

"Jiezi, you can't handle this."

Li Ang's magnetic voice echoed in the space, carrying a certain undeniable sense of pressure.

"And... if you keep moving around, Shirley's face might get hurt~"

Li Ang gently pinched the face that resembled Anne Hathaway's, and Shirley immediately let out a soft moan.

"Ahhh—"

"No! Don't hurt Sherry!" Jack's young face was full of anxiety, and tears were welling up in his eyes.

"Please, Father... I'll do whatever you say... She's not a bad person!"

Shirley turned her head with difficulty, her jewel-like eyes filled with humiliation, yet she still struggled to say, "Don't...don't make things difficult for the child."

"Of course." Li Ang rolled his eyes. "Do I look like the kind of psychopath who would prey on children?"

He loosened his grip slightly, but his divine sense still held Shirley firmly in place, preventing her from moving.

"Now, tell me what exactly happened?" Li Ang's gaze swept between the two of them.

"How did you, a 19th-century British factory worker, get involved with a 21st-century American boy? It's utterly absurd."

Shirley bit her lip and turned her head to the side: "I don't need to tell you."

"Oh?" Li Ang raised an eyebrow, and then a powerful divine sense force suddenly pierced into Shirley's body again.

"Ooh ooh ooh ooh————!!"

"Wait! I'll talk! I'll talk!" Jack was almost crying. "Sister Shirley...she can let me see Daddy."

Li Ang frowned slightly, then withdrew his divine sense from Shirley's body, causing her to instantly go limp and collapse to the ground.

"What happened to your father?" Li Ang asked Jack, his voice softening.

"He...he went missing on the battlefield." Jack lowered his head, his fingers twisting the hem of his clothes.

"The military said he was just missing, or maybe he was captured, and some people even said he was a deserter... But Mom absolutely refused to believe it. Last Christmas, she even put an extra set of cutlery on the table. And Uncle James, who went to join the army with him, came back, but then he disappeared too..."

Li Ang remained silent for a few seconds, then sighed inwardly at America's bizarre death statistic.

The person was never seen alive or dead, leaving their family to live in perpetual waiting.

Moreover, there is no compensation, and not even a medal costing a few dollars will be given, since the compensation in the US is paid by the insurance company.

"And then?" he asked.

"And then...and then I kept dreaming about him." Jack's voice trailed off.

"Until last week, I found that military dagger in the attic. Uncle James brought it back, saying it belonged to Dad. I was sleeping with it, and then...she appeared."

Li Ang looked at Shirley with a complicated expression, then reached out and pulled her up from the ground.

Shirley finally stopped resisting. She followed Li Ang's lead, stood up, and whispered:

"That bayonet... had his father's blood on it, and I could see fragments of his father through it."

"What did you see?" Li Ang asked.

Sherry closed her eyes: "That man... was too close to the explosion, there's nothing left."

Jack's body began to tremble.

"So you possessed this child while he was emotionally vulnerable?"

Li Ang's tone turned cold again.

"No!" Shirley's eyes widened suddenly.

"He begged me! He said nobody believed him, my mom didn't believe him, the school psychologist thought he was crazy... Only I could vouch for what he said!"

She stared at Li Ang, her voice filled with anger:

"Do you understand, Father? A child who already knows his father is dead, yet has to listen to everyone say there is still hope—that's true torture!"

Li Ang remained silent.

He actually understood. In his past life, while taking care of his grandfather who had terminal cancer, he had seen too many family members in the hospital, holding critical condition notices but still praying for miracles.

Including himself, after all, that was his only relative, although in the end no miracle occurred.

Sometimes, definite bad news is more benevolent than lingering hope.

Of course, this cannot be said aloud.

"So you ended up staying at his house, and incidentally using his body to scare his mother?" Li Ang concluded.

"I just want them to stop bothering Jack!" Shirley argued, her pink face turning bright red.

"Those doctors, those social workers... all they do is prescribe medication, do tests, and then say this child needs intervention! I know what kind of people you Americans are..."

"Alright," Li Ang interrupted her.

He released Shirley's hand and turned to walk towards Jack.

The boy instinctively stepped back, but Li Ang moved faster, his index finger instantly touching Jack's forehead.

"Take a nap," Li Ang said.

As his consciousness flowed through him like warm water, Jack's eyes slowly closed, and his body slowly fell backward.

The floor of the spiritual world seemed to have a mind of its own, gently catching him. The boy curled up, his expression peaceful.

"What did you do!" Shirley struggled to stand up, but Li Ang's divine sense still pressed down on her.

"They only altered a little of his memory."

Li Ang waved his hand and then strode towards Shirley.

"Hmph, so are you going to deal with me next, and then tell everyone the demon has been banished?"

Shirley's expression was one of despair, but her words still betrayed a hint of defiance.

"Quiet," Li Ang said.

Because the system notification in his mind just happened to sound.

[Ding! The heretical monks have been successfully subdued, and the safety of the believers has been ensured.]

[Quest "Investigate Believers" Completed]

[Mission Reward: Sect Shop unlocked, bonus attribute points +1]

[Detection indicates the ability to imprison a spirit; a Soul Banner artifact is required.]

[Note: The shop provides materials for refining the "Beginner Soul Banner" magic item. Additional basic material required: any flagpole-type item]

[Refining Material Price: 10 Contribution Points]

Li Ang raised an eyebrow and silently recited in his mind.

"exchange!"

Then, Li Ang left Jack's mental world and returned to the attic in reality.

The room remained dimly lit. Jack lay unconscious on the floor, while Sherry's pale blue spirit floated faintly above the boy. Without a host, she was rapidly weakening.

Li Ang's gaze swept across the room.

Books, toys, bed frame, and then he saw...

The Stars and Stripes flag leaning against the wall in the corner has an aluminum flagpole about 1.2 meters long, with a plastic eagle on top.

A typical prop for patriotic education for American elementary school students.

"What...what are you going to do?" Sherry's spirit asked weakly.

Li Ang walked over, picked up the flagpole, and a thought struck him.

[Should we use refining materials to refine the flagpole as the base for the soul banner?]

"Yes"

[Congratulations, Steward, on obtaining the magical artifact: Low-grade Soul Banner]

Should the cultivator's soul be imprisoned inside?

"Yes"

The surface of the Stars and Stripes instantly shimmered.

That wasn't a holy white light, but rather a light that was almost deep purple.

Fine patterns emerged on the aluminum pole—like talismans or some kind of twisted vines.

"I am also living life to the fullest, so go and talk to my Ten Thousand Souls Banner."

Li Ang turned his head and sneered.

"Wait, wait!" Shirley seemed to realize something. "You can't—that's my soul! You're a priest!"

A powerful suction force swirled from the Stars and Stripes like a vortex, and Shirley's screams echoed in the attic: "No! No! Please—I still have something to tell Jack—please—"

Her voice stopped abruptly.

The spirit transformed into a pale blue stream of light and completely disappeared into the flag.

Two barely perceptible red lights appeared where the plastic eagle's eyes should be.

[Currently holding 1 soul]

[Soul Cultivation: Qi Refining Level 1]

Li Ang weighed the Stars and Stripes flagpole in his hand.

It felt light and airy, nothing special.

But when he touched it with his divine sense, he could vaguely sense a faint consciousness sleeping inside—filled with fear, anger, and a trace of confusion.

-----------------

As evening fell, Jack Welch opened his eyes in his bed.

The setting sun shone through the attic window—the bed had been moved, but the front door remained empty.

Warm light spread across the floor, and dust particles swirled slowly within the beams of light.

"Jack?" Mrs. Weil's trembling voice came from beside the bed.

He turned his head and saw his mother sitting in a chair, her eyes red and swollen, but her face filled with barely suppressed ecstasy.

"Mom...Mom?" Jack felt his throat was a little dry.

"Oh my God... my God..."

Dani Weir pounced on him and hugged him so tightly that Jack could hardly breathe.

"You're awake...you're really awake...thank God...thank Father Li..."

Jack let his mother hold him.

"Dad..." he said softly.

Mom's body stiffened for a moment.

"I had a dream," Jack continued, burying his face in his mother's shoulder.

"In my dream, there was a priest...he took me to see my father."

He could feel his mother trembling.

"Dad said..." Jack closed his eyes, recalling the last scene he saw in his mental world. It wasn't the explosion scene that Shirley showed him, but a simple illusion woven by Li Ang's divine consciousness.

A man in military uniform stood in the light, smiled at him, waved, and then turned and walked into the distance.

"Dad said he loves us," Jack said. "He said he's not in pain and that we shouldn't wait any longer."

Mrs. Weil could no longer hold back and burst into tears.

There was sadness in the crying, but even more so, there was a sense of relief that one could finally let go.

She cried for a long time, then let go of Jack and wiped her face haphazardly with her sleeve.

"It's Father Li..." she sobbed.

"It must be him... I've never seen such a noble priest before..."

She took a small roll of banknotes out of her pocket and carefully unfolded it.

"Look," she said, handing the banknotes to Jack.

"This is the $114 the priest and the nun left before they left. They said...you can buy something you like."

Jack looked at the money: a hundred-dollar note, a ten-dollar note, and four one-dollar notes. They were crumpled and looked like they had been hastily pieced together from someone's wallet.

"They didn't ask us for donations?" Jack asked.

"I didn't take a single cent." Mom shook her head, her face showing an almost reverent expression.

"Father Li said that helping lost sheep is the Lord's will... He is the most noble person I have ever met."

She took Jack's hand and made the sign of the cross with her other hand in front of her chest.

"Let's pray," Mom said softly. "Thank God, thank St. Michael's Church, thank Father Lee."

"Amen," Jack whispered, making the sign of the cross.

-----------------

"Country roads take me home, To the place I belong...."

A white RAV4 was driving on a country road.

Outside the window, the setting sun is slowly sinking into the boundless cornfield.

Sister Nia stole a glance at Li Ang in the driver's seat.

The priest had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the window, his fingers gently tapping on the car door in sync with the country music playing on the car radio.

His profile was clearly defined in the sunset, and he was indeed...quite handsome.

Nia quickly suppressed the thought and silently recited the Hail Mary in her mind.

"Um..." she began, her voice a little softer than usual, "How's Jack?"

"Adolescent delusions." Li Ang didn't even blink.

"A classic case of post-traumatic stress disorder, plus a touch of adolescent delusions. I gave him a simple comforting prayer, and he'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

"But..." Nia remembered the broken door, "...it seemed like there was quite a commotion?"

"It's normal for a child to be strong when they have an attack," Li Ang said without changing his expression.

"Oh..." Nia nodded, feeling that something seemed off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

The setting sun painted the whole world orange-red, and the cornfields rustled in the evening breeze.

Nia looked at the scenery outside the window and suddenly smiled softly.

"What's wrong?" Li Ang asked.

"It's nothing," Nia shook her head, her face slightly flushed. "I just feel like... I did something really good today."

Li Ang did not respond.

He stepped on the gas, the engine roared, and in the passenger seat, Nia glanced at Li Ang's profile before quickly looking away.

At this moment, Li Ang had already sunk his divine sense into his dantian, looking at the Myriad Soul Banner that had been refined into his body.

Exquisite and small, it looked like a handicraft from Yiwu. Li Ang could feel that Shirley's soul was lying inside.

However, compared to the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, Li Ang was more concerned about the exorcism items left behind by the former priest.

Did he really abscond with the money?

"I don't believe it."