Chapter 190

As she spoke, she even deliberately patted her flat chest, completely devoid of any sense of shame, her face even displaying a pride that was almost divine.

"Therefore, beauty like mine—pure, abstract, and transcendent of the troubles of █ █ and size—is the truly superior beauty. Understand, silly boy?"

Her expression was as if she were declaring the ultimate truth of the universe.

Uh…

Qi Xing decided, uh, not to roast her.

…If one were to follow her logic, wouldn't demons also be genderless?

However, even Qi Xing knew that unlike angels, whose sexual characteristics seemed undeveloped, the "lack of clear gender" in demons was because they possessed the characteristics of both sexes simultaneously.

For example, that classic demon image of a goat-headed beast-man, clearly with large breasts, yet also having male █ █ between its legs, right?

…In other words, if the difference in sexual characteristics between angels and demons really lies in this, then could Samael's form be considered a symbol that she hasn't fallen too far, and still retains some morals and principles in her heart?

That can't be that ridiculous, right?

Volume 5: Welcome to the █ █ █ Paradise!: 172: The Stainless [silver coin]

Late June.

Qi Xing, Elaine, and Jingo Rin flew back to Rome together from Tokyo.

Please don't ask why the three of them didn't just fly themselves. Since human wisdom has invented tools, they are meant to be used.

The journey went smoothly, and they returned to the Vatican without any complications.

It was Jingo Rin's first time leaving Japan. Although she was usually reticent, she looked around curiously the whole way.

Qi Xing had originally been a bit expectant—what kind of reaction the Roman Church would have toward Jingo Rin, this "self-proclaimed descendant of Christ."

Unfortunately, the Roman Church had survived for nearly two thousand years and knew all too well how to deal with such things: they chose to pretend they didn't see it.

The Church simply treated Jingo Rin as an honored guest invited by Master Leipu. As for the rest, they knew nothing, absolutely nothing—of course they knew nothing! They didn't know, would never come to ask questions, and certainly wouldn't look for trouble!!

Qi Xing found this quite amusing.

However, when he walked into the small Sistine Chapel, the person coming up to greet him made Qi Xing jump in surprise.

"Ma—Master Leipu, welcome back…"

It was a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, her long hair braided into cute plaits, wearing a simple nun's habit. She was petite, her cheeks flushed, and she bowed to Qi Xing in a gentle tone.

Seeing Qi Xing, an irrepressible joy appeared on her face.

Isn't this the little girl that the pure-love NTR war god, Qi Xing, snatched from Romanie—Rene?

"Three months no see, how did you become a nun?" Qi Xing immediately frowned. "Who arranged this?"

Fortunately, Gwendolyn, the commander of the Order of the Holy Lance, followed her into the room and explained in a calm tone: "It's just letting her stay in the convent."

"Rene basically has no common sense, and it's impossible to send her directly to a regular school for classes. Living in the convent where exorcist nuns are trained, at least there's someone to look after her, and it's easier to handle if something happens."

Why be so vigilant and guarded against such a little girl?

The reason was actually very simple—to the Roman Church, Rene was someone who had split off from the Silver Coin Messenger, Romanie. Even without the silver coin, and even if no abnormalities could be detected on the surface, who knew if she possessed potential danger?

"You are truly cautious."

Qi Xing reached out and rubbed the little head Rene nudged against him, while still raising an eyebrow: "Being so cautious, why specifically bring her to see me?"

But this made Gwendolyn frown instead: "What kind of talk is that, Master Leipu? Are you the type who doesn't feed the fish after catching it?"

"Rene was saved by you from the Inner Realm. It's normal that you were busy in Japan these past three months. But Rene has indeed been nervous and worried in the convent, asking us every day when you would return."

Qi Xing was speechless for a moment.

On the path to changing the world, Qi Xing would surely carry more and more lives like Rene in the future… They were not abstract data, not millions or billions of people mentioned lightly, but living people with names.

They would all hold expectations for Qi Xing, and once Qi Xing was defeated and died outside, their fates would definitely not be good.

…However, as Jingo Rin said, if the responsibility of carrying the lives of billions of people became a burden that made Qi Xing very painful, then this path of hegemony would have no meaning at all.

So, smile. Start smiling.

"Good girl, good girl!"

Qi Xing smiled and rubbed Rene's head vigorously, making her flustered but very happy.

"Don't listen to what this old vampire hag says! If you want to go to school, I'll definitely find a way for you; if you don't want to go to school… hmm, I don't really know what else you could do if you don't want to go to school, we'll talk about it then!"

Rene obviously didn't quite understand these things, but she still nodded happily.

Not long after, a nun from the exorcism convent arrived and hurriedly took Rene out of the room.

"Master Leipu, Elaine said you wanted to arrange a meeting with me immediately, so I came. However, I have actually been stationed in Rome for these past few months."

After Rene left, the Vatican's vampire Paladin sat down at the conference table and said seriously,

"I roughly know what you want to ask me, but there is one thing I intend to tell you first—Rene's examination report is out. Her body is basically healthy, and even if there were any unhealthy aspects, we have basically helped her recover over these three months."

"…However, perhaps because she is half a person cut from the soul of Romanie, we discovered that her soul's aging speed is likely twice that of an ordinary person."

These words finally made Qi Xing frown: "Hmm."

Hearing this, some might feel puzzled—can a soul age too?

Of course it can, and both Eastern and Western esoteric practice cultures have awareness of this aspect.

The soul also needs vitality; the soul also needs "life force." If, after the human body decays, the soul could drift freely, immortal and undying, why would anyone need to practice? Wouldn't becoming a ghost mean living "dead" and never aging?

Even the Christian concept of eternal life for the soul is built on the foundation of judgment and becoming a "new person" after resurrection.

For an ordinary person, it's about a hundred years; after human practice, it might be extended to several hundred years. Beyond this time limit, old people who have not yet "transcended humanity," even if their bodies have not been destroyed, their souls have already broken down.

Alchemy and inner Alchemy both pursue becoming "gold," becoming transcendents whose bodies and minds are immortal and undying. But one knows this is not easy, and besides, after becoming an "immortal," one is ultimately no longer the original "human."

"Twice the aging speed, which means at least another forty or fifty years."

Qi Xing mused—honestly, he didn't feel at all that he wouldn't be able to solve this kind of problem in a few decades, so he didn't feel any nervousness.

As long as there are a few more [silver coin]s, changing the soul definitely won't be difficult. In fact, Qi Xing already has a [death] silver coin now.

"Is that all?"

So, Qi Xing asked again: "Why specifically tell me this in advance?"

"Because Elaine told me in advance,"

Speaking of which, Commander Gwendolyn nodded at Elaine who was following behind Qi Xing,

"—You want to know about the 'Ancient Demon King.' You want to know if the Roman Church is aware of ancient [Silver Coin Messenger]s who have lived for thousands of years and secretly influence the world."

"As far as I know… the answer is both yes and no."

Gwendolyn explained indifferently,

"According to the secret history records within the Church, most [Silver Coin Messenger]s will lose control and bring about their own destruction within the first hundred years."

This is likely not due to the decay of the soul. Because as everyone knows, "silver," like "gold," is also a symbol of being almost stainless.

But whether a [messenger] is useless enough to be unable to control their own desires within a hundred years, that has nothing to do with the [silver coin].

"And those [Silver Coin Messenger]s who can exceed this age mostly leave this world. Do you understand what I mean, Master Leipu?"

Qi Xing did indeed understand.

After battling the [Greed Demon] and seeing his [Magic City Tokyo], Qi Xing had already gained some realization.

"I guess that [Silver Coin Messenger]s who live to a certain age will all detach from the real world and live in an [Inner Realm] they have opened up themselves?"

Sure enough, Qi Xing's words made Commander Gwendolyn nod.

But she only nodded once.

"Historically traceable [Silver Coin Messenger]s that the Church believes truly exist, with a history of over a thousand years,"

Gwendolyn said slowly,

"We believe that there should only be two such [Silver Coin Messenger]s left today."

"That so-called 'Duo Chenzi' whose traces you discovered in northeastern Japan is one of the ones the Church can confirm existed throughout our long history."

"Our predecessors recorded him as the 'Prophet of the White God,' the 'Peacock Disciples'."

"He is an ancient demon king who hides behind the curtain of the world, or even outside the stage, directing the apostles' layouts."

Volume 5: Welcome to the █ █ █ Paradise!: 173: Ancient Demon King

"Master Leipu, you might want to ask why we never told you about the information regarding ancient [Silver Coin Messenger]s in advance…"

However, before Commander Gwendolyn could finish her sentence, she saw Qi Xing shake his head and simply interrupt her: "No."

"I know the Church has its own concerns, and I also know you don't trust me—and yes, that is very reasonable."

Seeing the Paladin slightly stunned, a look of some surprise flashing across her face, Qi Xing finally smiled too.

"Gwendolyn, I have already met and slaughtered three [Silver Coin Messenger]s."

"Three [Silver Coin Messenger]s, all of them scumbags, each thinking they were correct, each thinking their actions were taken for granted."

"Only one slightly doubted whether their actions were wrong, what great mistake they had committed, and why things had come to this—the ridiculous thing is, that was the guy who caused the relatively least amount of damage."

"As for Romanie—until the moment before he died, he still felt he had suffered a great injustice—he never felt he was wrong."

However, this might also be because Romanie separated his own conscience and cut it into that part of the soul that became Rene. At least Qi Xing hoped so.

"If I didn't have the [silver coin], and were just an ordinary hero, I certainly wouldn't trust a [Silver Coin Messenger]. The more a [Silver Coin Messenger] solemnly declares that they have no problems, the less they can be trusted."

"So the Church not trusting [Silver Coin Messenger]s, I don't think you are wrong either. Because there are lessons from the past—some rings really should be thrown into a volcano immediately. Right?"

Sure enough, Gwendolyn nodded: "Your guess is correct."

"It's just a pity we don't have a Mount Doom, and these thirty [silver coin]s can't be burned away."

So Qi Xing shrugged, his tone still calm,

"So I only hope you can see what I am doing. You are free to judge the merits and demerits. If one day you feel I am trustworthy, then sincerely come and cooperate with me; if one day you feel I have gone astray, you are welcome to take the Holy Cross Sword and have a few experts ambush and assassinate me together."

"By then, who is right and who is wrong will depend on who lives to the end."

These words were spoken magnanimously, yet they also carried a certain arrogance of a demon king.

So, even Gwendolyn couldn't help but show a bitter smile: "You really do speak high-sounding words, Master Leipu."

"Actually, we haven't really hidden many secrets from you. There are some things I can tell you directly now."

"I have lived for over two hundred years. Since the revival of the New Mysticism movement in the eighteenth century, I have seen quite a few 'possible,' 'perhaps' ambiguous supernatural events related to [Silver Coin Messenger]s."

"But if we are talking about seeing a [silver coin] with my own eyes, facing a [Silver Coin Messenger] directly, besides seeing a few too many this year… in the past two hundred years, I have only seen it once."

"The [Silver Coin Messenger]s who truly appeared in person to stir up trouble have almost disappeared since the sixteenth century."

Hmm.

Sure enough, [Silver Coin Messenger]s are really not as easy to find as they appear on the surface. They're all shady characters, huh.

But Qi Xing still curiously asked: "What was the situation that time you saw it with your own eyes? Do you mind telling me the details?"

Gwendolyn sighed softly.

"…That was eighty-two years ago, during the battlefields of World War II."

"In 1943, the German army was in an unfavorable situation on both fronts in Europe. So, the chief great mage of Nazi Germany, Karl Krafft, in December of that year, in Bavaria, used a [silver coin] as a core, attempting to hold a huge ritual."

"The goal of that ritual, it is said, was to make their Führer become the true Germanic Messiah. To achieve this goal, they even stole the Spear of Longinus as a catalyst."

As she said this, the words made Qi Xing pause, because he did indeed have some understanding of this matter.

Running around the world for these ten years, Qi Xing had also killed many inexplicable Nazi cult mages—as mentioned before, before meeting Elaine, about five years ago, Qi Xing had killed a cult mage. He actually claimed he wanted to follow the great Führer's last wish to summon the [Germanic Messiah].

Then Qi Xing killed him. Even until he killed him, Qi Xing didn't quite understand what that mage was thinking.

So, the Nazis really did do this kind of ghost stuff back then…?

"I was already the commander of the Order of the Holy Lance at that time, joined the Allied special forces team, and went to stop that ritual and take back the Holy Lance."

But Gwendolyn continued, recalling the past,

"But frankly speaking… that operation was not very successful."

"[Silver Coin Messenger]s are simply too powerful. We were the strongest team composed of Allied supernatural experts, but we were beaten miserably by one [Silver Coin Messenger]. The previous commander of our Order was sacrificed in that battle."

Hearing this, Qi Xing finally couldn't help but ask: "Who exactly was the [Silver Coin Messenger] at that time?"

"Of course, it was that failed art student." Gwendolyn frowned, "Who else could it be?"