Lord of Prayer

Being planted with a Seed of Distortion was like having a time bomb implanted in your body. From that moment on, your life hung on another's whim. The only way to survive was to become an obedient tool, ready to be used at a moment's notice.

Li Miao didn't want to die, so he betrayed his identity as a Knight. He followed the Ghost's commands and became a mole within the Knight Hall.

He knew full well that a true Knight would never compromise with the Ghost. They would either die in that dungeon or pretend to agree, searching for a way to remove the Seed of Distortion only after escaping. If they couldn't find a way, they would detonate themselves in front of their comrades, a final act to warn their allies and defend their honor as a Knight.

But he had gotten into the Knight Hall through his parents' connections—a backdoor entry. Even a large portion of the merits that made him a Platinum Knight had been purchased in secret. He never cared for things like a Knight's honor or responsibility; from the very beginning, he had only ever seen his position as a status symbol.

To him, nothing in the World was more precious than his own life.

Betraying his honor as a Knight meant nothing.

He would do anything to stay alive.

Shortly after the Life Church issued the order to hunt the Ghost, the Ghost contacted him directly. He was ordered to report the Knight Order's movements in real time. A single mistake, the Ghost warned, would result in the immediate detonation of the Seed of Distortion.

Helpless, Li Miao could only obey. Late at night, or whenever the Knight Order planned a critical operation, he would relay the information to the Ghost through his connection to the Seed of Distortion. In this way, he helped the Ghost evade several surprise raids.

"No wonder," a few of the Knights realized.

"So that's why we kept coming up empty on those operations. He was the one tipping them off!" one Knight spat, grinding his teeth.

Wang Yaoting sank into contemplation. Over the past decade and more, the Life Church had organized countless manhunts for the Ghost. Many times, the Ghost had escaped as if he were a Prophet. They had long known the Ghost could use the Seed of Distortion to create puppet-like moles, but thinking back, the number of people under the Ghost's control seemed far too high.

He sighed internally. 'While the Church has grown rapidly over the years, the number of parasites has clearly grown with it. This has given the Ghost far too many opportunities.'

The projector continued to display Li Miao's memories, shifting to more recent events.

Based on a Secret connection with the Soul Rest Cemetery, the Church leadership informed the Knight Order that the Ghost was now in Feng City and dispatched them to investigate. However, with Li Miao secretly feeding him information, they hadn't caught so much as a shadow of the Ghost after several days.

Then, today, Zhou Chen arrived in Feng City and entered the Soul Rest Cemetery, which the Ghost had temporarily hidden inside the Happiness Sea Hotel. Zhou Chen's entry and exit disturbed the isolation Barrier the Ghost had erected, allowing the Knight Order to pinpoint the Soul Rest Cemetery's location through their own secret methods. They mobilized immediately and rushed to the scene, catching the Ghost just as he was retrieving the Soul Rest Cemetery. A fierce battle ensued.

Unfortunately, the Ghost managed to escape, and the Soul Rest Cemetery was hidden once more. But Wang Yaoting suspected the Ghost wouldn't let Zhou Chen off so easily, so he had his men secretly tail him. And just as he'd expected, the Ghost appeared again, trapping Zhou Chen inside the Soul Rest Cemetery. He clearly intended to silence Zhou Chen for good, eliminating the unpredictable variable.

After that, the Knight Order confronted the Ghost head-on and managed to place a tracking sigil on him that could pinpoint his real-time location.

However, the Ghost seemed to have found a way to deal with the tracking sigil. When he ambushed the restaurant, no one sensed the sigil's approach. In fact, their Sensing indicated it was actually moving farther away.

After failing to kill Zhou Chen, the Ghost contacted Li Miao. He demanded to know all the Knights' Extraordinary Abilities and the Extraordinary Artifacts they possessed. He also asked for a list of the Stewards of the Feng City Life Church. Hearing these demands, Li Miao realized the Ghost was planning something huge. He seized the opportunity to bargain, hoping to trade the intelligence for his freedom.

The Ghost, of course, refused. He did, however, make a promise: in the future, he would help Li Miao rise through the ranks of the Life Church and attain a higher social status.

Seeing that the Ghost wouldn't let him go easily, and with his life on the line, Li Miao had no choice but to compromise once more. He handed over all the information, planning to find a chance to escape later.

Then came the Ghost's attack on the restaurant, where Li Miao was cast aside like a disposable pawn. The Ghost probably figured he was too untrustworthy; keeping him around would only lead to trouble sooner or later, so it was better to eliminate him once and for all.

The memory fragment ended at the moment the Seed of Distortion erupted. After that, Li Miao had become a Corrupter, his sanity shattered and his memories a chaotic mess.

At this, Wang Yaoting's expression darkened. "The Ghost asked Li Miao for the list of Stewards from the Feng City Life Church. He's about to make another move.

Contact the local Church. Convene all Stewards immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

·

A man slowly awoke in a dim dungeon.

His limbs felt heavy and powerless. His Extraordinary Abilities had been sealed, leaving him even weaker than a normal person.

"Where... where am I...?" The man took in his surroundings, and the color drained from his face, leaving it deathly pale.

Blood. The narrow, dark dungeon was covered in it. The blood on the floor was so thick it had congealed into a dark red carpet.

Two desiccated corpses lay on a pair of rusty iron beds. In an adjacent cell, several terrified girls huddled together, trembling. They had been scared out of their wits and were delirious, muttering incomprehensible words.