Lord of Prayer

"This is fucking ridiculous!" Zhou Chen swore, his voice booming.

’Does this nun have the same talent as Marvin for mastering the secret arts of every major religion?’

’Otherwise, why is she using the Joyful Holy Sect’s Charm, the Dawn Church’s Sword of Light, *and* the Storm Church’s Violent Thunder?!’

And the Ability she was using now was none other than the Joyful Holy Sect’s ’Joyful True Body’!

At that moment, Zhou Chen felt a wicked fire surge within him. His blood began to race, and desire started to cloud his reason. Fortunately, his Willpower was strong enough that he didn’t immediately succumb.

He shut his eyes, forcing himself not to look at her. Then, he activated Dream Light and Shadow, using the pure Light of Spiritual to dispel the wicked fire of desire in his heart. At the same time, the nun in her Joyful True Body state let out an agonized scream. Large patches of her skin were burned by the pure Light of Spiritual and began to rot.

This light was harmless to most things, but to forces of evil and corruption, it was as deadly as poison.

Bathed in the pure light, the flesh of the Joyful True Body rapidly disintegrated, melting away with a SIZZLE like snow on red-hot steel.

The nun opened her mouth in agony, as if to unleash a soul-shattering shriek, but she froze in the next instant. Her ravaged body melted away before his very eyes, turning to dust in moments.

On the other side, Li Xiye shattered the gaunt man’s arm with unstoppable force and blew his head apart, sending a shower of blood and gore everywhere.

The headless body twitched for a moment before falling still, completely dead.

"All set."

Li Xiye’s body, formed from Cyan Thunder, began to dissipate. "I’m heading out. The signal’s not great here, so getting here was much harder than last time."

"Thanks for your hard work," Zhou Chen said.

"This doesn’t come for free, you know," Li Xiye reminded him with a meaningful tone.

"..."

Zhou Chen’s back suddenly twinged.

Immediately, he stopped wasting time and walked up to a control console. He took out the Netherworld map, and a light began to shine. The Matrix, which even the battle between Tier Four Ascenders couldn’t scratch, gradually opened.

With the preliminary steps complete, the final part was much simpler. He just needed to sever the Soul Link between the Soul Rest Cemetery and "Ghost," then overwrite the Essence imprint left behind by "Ghost" to complete the transfer of ownership.

Zhou Chen didn’t have to perform this part of the operation himself. The Life Church had embedded all the necessary steps into the Netherworld map, creating a fool-proof process. All he had to do was stand before the central console, and the rest would happen automatically.

After three or four minutes, the light from the Netherworld map dimmed. At the very core of the tree of light, formed by innumerable light matrices, the illusory Soul projection of "Ghost" was severed. In its place appeared the face of an unfamiliar woman, presumably one of the Palace Mothers from the Life Church.

Zhou Chen observed the tree of light for a moment. This was the core of the Soul Rest Cemetery, the magnum opus of several Great Sages. It was rooted in the Netherworld, drawing on the special Rule Power there to allow the Souls within the Soul Rest Cemetery to endure for long periods with their memories fully intact.

「Meanwhile, at the Life Church headquarters.」

"It... It worked!"

In the Soul Rest Cemetery’s monitoring room, the observers erupted in cheers upon seeing the change in ownership. After more than a decade, the Soul Rest Cemetery was finally back in the Church’s hands!

"Nanqing Hall Mother, what’s the situation at the Soul Rest Cemetery now?" one of the observers couldn’t help but ask.

"So many Undead... ’Ghost’ was about to gather all the sacrifices he needed for his ritual." Nanqing Hall Mother sighed, lamenting for those who had passed away.

"Now that we have the Soul Rest Cemetery, what about ’Ghost’?" asked the White Bird Palace Mother.

"The battle is still ongoing. The good news is that ’Ghost’ is at a disadvantage."

The person observing the battle couldn’t help but gasp in amazement. "The Dawn Church is still the Dawn Church, after all. That Orlando has only been a Tier Four for seven years, and he’s already this strong. I feel like it won’t be long before he becomes the next Bishop of the Dawn Church."

"The Dawn Church may be in decline, but its foundations are still solid," someone nodded in agreement.

Just then, Elise spoke up. "Open a Space Gate. Send Wang Yaoting to assist. We need to finish ’Ghost’ as soon as possible and give him no chance to escape. Now that the Soul Rest Cemetery has been recovered, we’ll have no way to track him if he gets away."

·

’All set. Time to get out of here.’

Zhou Chen let out a breath. ’This operation went pretty smoothly. I hope Orlando’s ambush is just as successful and they take down ’Ghost’ in one go. Then I can get back to Xiye and have some shameless, wild fun...’

He left the central control room and headed back the way he came. A bleak silence hung over the entire route.

With the tension of the mission gone, Zhou Chen felt relaxed and content. He gazed at the vast, boundless Netherworld, thinking to himself that he could come back to hang out sometime if he got the chance. ’At least the scenery is decent in some spots... Er, that sounds a bit ominous.’

Just then, Zhou Chen was suddenly on alert. An unknown call welled up from the depths of his heart. He instinctively looked in a certain direction. According to the map, it was toward the depths of the Netherworld, a top-secret region.

Zhou Chen assumed it was just some organization’s experiment and paid it no mind. He flicked the reins, urging the Christmas Sled’s reindeer to speed up and leave the area quickly.

Suddenly, his vision blurred, and a figure appeared before him.

A young girl with a pale complexion, dressed in a jet-black Lolita dress, had appeared on the Christmas Sled just like that. Her lifeless face was fixed on him.

Holy shit! Zhou Chen’s hand trembled, and he nearly dropped the reins in fright.

"Don’t be nervous." The deathly pale young girl spoke in a monotone, using two fingers to force her expressionless face into a smile. "I’m a living person."

"You can call me ’Hela.’ I’m one of the administrators of the Netherworld."

"Hela?"

Zhou Chen, of course, knew the name. The famous Goddess of death from Norse mythology, queen of the Netherworld realm of Helheim.

And as far as he knew, the current "Hela" was one of the Netherworld’s administrators.

A Crowned King...

Zhou Chen’s hands trembled even more violently.

But it wasn’t over. Two more figures appeared on the Christmas Sled.

"I am ’Osiris’," the man with Egyptian features introduced himself coolly.

"I am ’King Qin Guang.’ I’m in charge of the Underworld Nether Realm in the Eastern Continent region. Heh, you should be quite familiar with this name," the man with Eastern Continent features said with a smile.

This time, Zhou Chen’s entire body started to shake. Three Crowned Kings...

Fortunately, he was a man who had seen his share of major events, so he quickly composed himself. He put on the reserved smile of a junior before his elders. "Seniors, is there something I can help you with? I’m here on a mission for the Life Church."

He immediately brought up the Life Church, letting the three powerhouses know he was working for the Church.

The Life Church was, after all, the largest religious organization in the World. Even Crowned Kings had to show them some respect.

King Qin Guang’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at Zhou Chen and smiled.

"It’s nothing, really. It’s just that we suddenly sensed someone who had already died."

That gaze made Zhou Chen’s blood run cold. Inside, it felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck, throwing his thoughts into chaos.

Because he really had died once before!

He had died for unknown reasons in his past life and was then reincarnated into this new era. From beginning to end, he had been the same Soul, the same person, without the slightest change.

’They... they can tell?’ Zhou Chen was inwardly stunned, but he managed to keep his expression under tight control.

"A moment ago, you must have felt a call from the Netherworld. That was the world of the dead calling out to one who has already died," Hela said in her lifeless tone.

"But you are, without a doubt, a living person. And a big star who’s recently become famous all over the globe," Osiris said coolly. "This is highly irregular. That’s why we were alerted."

"And then, we suddenly recalled that some time ago, a case of ’resurrection’ appeared in the Eastern Continent..."

King Qin Guang said, "I don’t suppose you have any leads on that?"