The more they oppose, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing

They exchanged glances, both reading terror in each other's eyes.

"The earthquake hasn't stopped!"

"This stronghold is about to collapse!"

The Esoteric Religion geniuses hurriedly stood up and raced towards the spatial entrance; if they were not careful, they would be buried in the collapsing space, their spirits and flesh ground to dust, never to be revived. Amidst the heaven-shattering and earth-breaking chaos, large chunks of the firmament fell.

As everyone frantically fled for their lives, only the old priest in charge of this base remained motionless.

He revealed a smile of utter hopelessness.

He had put tremendous effort into establishing this chaotic base, using materials and labor that far exceeded that of the previous painful stronghold, even custom-fitting it with three Fire Extinguishing Formations, convinced that everything would be fail-safe, yet it still collapsed!

Last time a fire broke out at a stronghold, it provoked the raging fury of the Church Nation assembly, which ordered a strict inspection of fire safety features at all strongholds across the nation. Many high-ranking officials were removed from their positions as a result,

This time, his stronghold collapsed, and those above would surely order another strict inspection of the shoddy construction work at strongholds nationwide, leading to many high-ranking officials being ousted again!

The officials dared not take their grievances out on the assembly, but wouldn't they vent all their frustration on him, a mere straw in the wind?

At this thought, the old priest felt as if his heart had turned to ash.

Thinking it better to die here than be tormented by those Esoteric Religion psychopaths, he would at least die swiftly.

He closed his eyes, revealing a smile of resignation.

A fragment of the firmament crashed straight down, piercing through the old priest's body, severing him at the waist. Darkness engulfed the bottom of his eyes as he lost consciousness and fainted.

In the hazy darkness, the old priest saw a light, heard calling voices.

"Don't give up— " someone was shaking the old priest's shoulder, screaming with all their might.

As the old priest opened his eyes, he saw the anxious look of An Su, his pale green eyes filled with the most sincere concern. The boy was shaking him vigorously, as if to awaken his will to live; his shoulders trembled, "I don't want you to die!"

"Hold on!"

He carried the barely breathing old priest, stumbling towards the great spatial door, "I will definitely save you, we'll leave together."

An Su truly did not want the old priest to die.

He was a kind and good young man; he did not wish for any Believer to die accidentally.

This old priest, as the one in charge of the section, possessed strength above the Fourth Order, and was even close to the Fifth Tier, it would be such a waste if he just died like that.

He must hold on, at least die later.

A live sacrifice would bring one reward, and handing him over to the Order Church would grant another reward.

All of this was An Su's property. As the most orthodox scion of the Chenxing nobility, An Su understood deeply the sacred and inviolable principle of property earned in death. Property that came with death was such, and An Su intended to righteously defend his legitimate rights.

Only if Lord Ansu allowed them to die, could these Cultists die.

"I don't want to live! Let me go!" the old priest struggled; to live and leave would be truly hellish, "I've lost everything already!"

"Don't lose hope, you still have me. I will always support you. This world is still beautiful and worth our attachment," An Su comforted him, his eyes shining with righteous light, "Whatever the problem, we will face it together."

...It was this damned birth of yours that caused me to lose everything.

Twice!

The old priest glared at An Su with gritted teeth.

An Su's comforting words had a good effect; they perfectly became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

When the old priest thought of the existence of someone like An Su in the world, he felt that nothing about this world was beautiful or worthy of attachment.

With a sideways thought, he bit down on his tongue and committed suicide.

"..." An Su fell silent.

After he emerged from the door carrying the old priest's corpse, the entire space collapsed behind him, and he returned to Crow Alley.
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The desolate, bitter rain continued uninterrupted; the cold raindrops joined to form lines, densely covering the entire sky.

The geniuses of the Esoteric Religion had escaped from the chaotic stronghold earlier. They huddled against the walls on both sides, breathing heavily.

When An Su emerged, all the Esoteric Religion geniuses stood up.

All eyes were fixed fervently on An Su,

The looks they gave him were a mix of confusion, incomprehension, deep wariness, and above all, the purest shock, even fear.

Without a doubt, the Radiant Transformation Art was the clear winner of this examination, an undisputed perfect score.

Even the most proud and powerful geniuses were convinced by this outcome.

After all, the body of the proctoring teacher was lying in the hands of An Su!

Taking a simple in-class quiz and having both the proctor and the examination hall vanish, all Cultists held An Su's terrifying examination abilities in high regard.

The Cultists weren't fools, although they didn't know the specific principles, they all vaguely sensed... that scarlet moon was there for the youth before them.

To be able to draw the attention of divine beings was in itself a symbol of talent.

What this implied went without saying.

In the midst of silent stares, it was the Chaotic Elevator who broke the silence. He looked at the corpse of the priest that An Su was holding and hesitantly said, "Brother of the Stairs, what's this...?"

"Alas, I intended to save him." An Su put on a look of profound sorrow, showing genuine and heartfelt sadness in his eyes that anyone would believe was sincere, "Unfortunately, I couldn't save his life."

There were Cultists in the Esoteric Religion proficient in mind-reading, and they were amazed to find that An Su's emotions were genuine, which moved them.

It seemed Brother of the Stairs was still the same Brother of the Stairs, no matter how inscrutable and noble his identity was, he was still the sworn brother of the Chaotic Stairs to them.

"I want to give the priest's body a proper burial, to repay his kindness," An Su said with emotion, "May his soul rest in peace."

When everyone heard An Su's words, they were moved again. Living in the shadows of the Esoteric Religion, surrounded by deceit and betrayal, it was rare to see a man of genuine nature like the Brother of the Stairs.

But what kindness could the old priest have shown the Chaotic Stairs...

They were somewhat puzzled.

An Su's lips harbored a calm smile. He intended to take the old priest's head to the church to claim a reward. Although he couldn't receive the rewards for sacrifices, he intended to take those for the witch hunt.

After claiming the reward, wouldn't the old priest owe him a favor?

"Turning into nourishing soil to protect the flowers," if the old priest had a spirit in heaven, seeing how well he handled his remains, surely his soul could rest in peace.

An Su thought to himself.

The rain in Crow Alley had finally stopped tonight, and as the sky slowly revealed a fish-belly white, the pitter-patter of the rain ceased, marking the end of this night's events after dawn.

Despite the destruction of the examination hall and the proctor, the results of the examination still had to be announced.

Unlike the previous time, this time the scores came with corresponding point rewards.

These points could be exchanged at various strongholds for Esoteric Magic and alchemic materials, magic-guided items, and so on. These devotion points weren't a blessing from the Mother Goddess, but rather a man-made scoring system, similar to the Magic Guild's rules.

An Su unsurprisingly took first place, earning a thousand devotion points, which, if compared to heads, was equivalent to assassinating five Fourth Order saints.

The second place earned five hundred, the third place one hundred...

These hard-earned devotion points made everyone happy; after all, one could only get devotion points by assassinating saints, but since everyone was in the heart of the Order Church's fortress, any careless action could expose them, making devotion points hard to come by.

When some received rewards, others received punishments.

The projections of the bishops appeared before them, the oppressive aura of the Half-God projections was palpable, and the previously noisy Cultists instantly fell silent

After scanning the crowd, Bishop Rada's gaze landed on An Su once more.

"Chaotic Stairs, stay behind for a moment after this," he said.

The true meaning of the scarlet moon still required investigation,

but one thing was for sure, in the bishops' eyes, An Su was no ordinary believer.

Undoubtedly, An Su could now be declared a Quasi-Holy Child.

This matter was put aside for the moment as Bishop Rada had another issue to address, one that displeased him.

"I'm pleased that everyone achieved good results, but before that, I need to deal with two latecomers," he announced.

At that moment, An Su heard Lister's voice transmission in his ear.

"Is it break time yet, can we sneak into the exam hall now?" he asked.

What break time during an examination...

"No need, stick to the original plan," An Su told them.

"Why?"

"Because I blew up the exam hall. The proctor died by my hand."

"...Awesome."