The night of revelry gradually came to an end, when people slowly gathered neatly and orderly on the three squares.
Initially, there was still some chattering, as well as men and women who were fixing their clothes as they returned from secluded spots that were out of sight. However, after a short while, everyone started showing pure and holy expressions like devout believers as they focused their gazes in the direction of the rising sun.
The soft light of the sun washed over everyone's bodies, which made them feel like they were being cleansed. In front of the large cathedral, standing in front of a legion of Red Sun Knights, the Cardinal of this branch of Sun Shadow church started to pray in a special language.
The prayers weren't particularly loud, but strangely, it reached the ears of everyone present, even the bottom feeder citizens on the third square at the foot of the hill were able to clearly hear every word of the Cardinal's prayers.
The gentle light of the sun delivered warmth to everyone present after a night of revelry, combined with the light whispering prayers by their ears made every individual here feel like they were laying in the embrace of their mother, falling into a state of sound sleep without actually sleeping.
Most likely, they would immediately fall asleep by the time they returned home after leaving the church's hill.
Under this state, the originally strange prayers of the Cardinal slowly turned into a language that everyone could understand.
"By the eternal light above, we are all lone shadows"
"Only the eternal one, the inextinguishable one, the heat, may bring us all salvation"
"Long may the sun shine!"
The Cardinal spread his arms wide and puffed out his chest to receive the light. He raised both arms above his head, the brilliant rays of light that illuminated his body appeared so much more dazzling compared to before.
"""Long may the sun shine!"""
The citizens of Lohr chanted these prayers in relative unison, some of them even copied the Cardinal's posture.
Once the prayers ceremony was over, the Cardinal returned to the main cathedral under the Red Sun Knights' protection. The remaining citizens no longer cared to talk to one another, all they wanted to do now was to return home for a good nap, wake up in the afternoon to do a bit of work, then return to their depressing daily lives.
Negary had been silently observing the entire Spirit Cleansing ceremony. From the very beginning, the Cardinal was chanting an incantation to guide the power within the sunlight, using it to perform a deep cleansing of these people.
This was a divine technique, the people put faith into God, and God bestowed them divine techniques.
Those affected by this divine technique will enjoy reduced fatigue and immunity to diseases, as well as giving feedback of certain information to the one who performed the divine technique.
For example, an old man among the crowd had a reaction with the sunlight, causing it to mutate just a bit as it entered his body; most likely, not too long after this, either a knight of the church or a Night Watcher would be paying him a visit.
Negary himself was also struck by the energy within the sunlight, through which he could sense its unique property. When this energy came into contact with powers of a different nature, it would immediately react like a piece of hot metal in water, which gave off a sizzling sound.
As Negary held his interference force back to allow this energy to wash through this viral body, a portion of the germs died under their influence; but of course, the viral body Negary spent years of effort to research wouldn't be defeated so easily.
After a group of germs were killed, a lot of germs quickly adapted to this energy and changed specifically to fight against it. Soon enough, he became immune to the damage and effects of this energy, if given just a bit more time, Negary might have been able to evolve to the point where he could borrow this type of sunlight to grow more germs.
From the outside, it looked as if Negary's body trembled a bit before returning to normal, there were no other reactions or visible change.
〖 So this so-called Spirit Cleansing day actually had such a purpose 〗
Negary thought. After a night of indulging themselves, everyone's overly excited mental state became softened, which was the perfect condition for them to go into a trance.
Through Spirit Cleansing day, the church was able to diffuse a month's worth of the people's suppressed emotion and spirit; display the mystical powers and strength of the church; use this chance to single out certain suspicious individuals; then finally perform a wave of mass hypnotism to greatly improve the people's faith in the Eternal Heat.
Such methodology truly must be praised, of course, all of this was established on the foundation of the Sun Shadow church's massive influence and strength that half-forced most people to participate in this Spirit Cleansing ceremony.
…
On the other side, Lan Shan was also the same, feeling a prickling sensation as the sunlight washed over her, but the ring on her finger quickly exuded a cool aura that calmed all the changes down, making sure that none of it could be detected.
From this, it could be seen that the Farnate family truly did have a few things to hide. Perhaps, they might even have a certain level of understanding of the origin of monsters and blood of evil as well.
This is a point of breakthrough; I should report this to Milord after it's over.
Lan Shan thought as she boarded the horse carriage to return to the Farnate manor.
…
Negary used his understanding of the sunlight energy to create another level of disguise, after all, this body's older brother was a Red Sun Knight, an elite of the Sun Shadow church capable of using divine techniques; it wouldn't be good if he noticed anything.
〖 It seems I need a justifiable reason to join the Sun Shadow church 〗
Negary thought to himself: 〖 However, even if I join the Sun Shadow church, I can only choose to join the Night Watchers 〗
This was because the other departments demanded a great deal of faith, which was also the main issue with joining the Sun Shadow church: Faith.
As long as you had enough faith, then you could become an elite of the Sun Shadow church even if you were a total pig in every sense of the word. If you had a Saint Soul, then congratulations, you're now the church's Holy Son,
there's not even a need for faith. On the contrary, if you had neither faith nor a Saint Soul, then sorry, even if you're the genius of the millennium, you're never going to become even the lowest level priest.
Negary could twist a portion of his soul's mentality to manufacture faith, but not only would this harm his soul to a certain degree, there was also a possibility of the so-called God using this faith to trap him.
The Night Watchers might receive a lot of criticism from all sides, but it couldn't be denied that this department was a crucial part of the Sun Shadow church.
〖 The issue now is to find a justifiable reason 〗
Negary understood the mentality of the original owner of his current identity very well. With his brother standing firm above him, he would never have to worry about any daily necessities as long as he stayed within the church's residential district. He didn't want to join the Sun Shadow church, nor go outside to find work, so he stayed right here to live for the sake of living, acting like he was superior to everyone, but was actually a useless wreck who couldn't do anything.
If he lived in modern society, Green would most likely become a keyboard warrior, complaining and giving his opinion about anything he saw; but when it came down to actually doing things, he would be nothing more than a burden.
Under normal circumstances, this sort of person would never choose to join the Night Watchers, and if he wanted to switch identities, there was a risk of exposing himself, especially since the Sun Shadow church wasn't helpless to detect such things.
There were quite a few divine techniques within the church created specifically to deal with souls, so there was no guarantee that he wouldn't draw attention by transferring his soul around.
