Chapter 182

With Wen Jian having taken his own life and Riley already dead, only two people remained standing upon the altar. Ye Zheng controlled her 【Stream】 as it climbed onto the pulsating, swelling mass of flesh. She turned her head to look at Pei Xi and spoke in a calm yet resolute voice:

“Pei Xi, die, or leave this place immediately.”

Unfortunately, Pei Xi had plot armor. She couldn’t kill him at once.

Pei Xi clutched at his throat, his expression still shaken. He glanced at Riley, whose eyes remained wide open even in death, and at Wen Jian, whose corpse appeared unnaturally grotesque. He understood with absolute clarity that the balance of victory had already tilted in Ye Zheng’s favor.

The fact that Ye Zheng hadn’t killed him outright could already be considered an act of mercy, Pei Xi thought.

He stared at Ye Zheng and slowly took a step backward.

He had only confronted her directly once before. At that time, the gap between their strengths hadn’t been significant, and after his recent training, his power had improved even further. Logically, Ye Zheng shouldn’t have been able to kill him so easily. If he chose to fight for 【Mother of All Things】, he might still stand a chance.

But a powerful sense of foreboding in Pei Xi’s heart told him that since Ye Zheng had given him only two choices, she wouldn’t allow a third possibility to exist.

“I’ll leave right now. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything.”

He leapt down from the altar. The flesh upon it suddenly swelled drastically, nearly occupying more than half of the platform. Pei Xi looked up and felt a primitive sense of awe toward the unknown rise within him. He could see veins pulsing beneath the blood mass, stretching and spreading as if alive, bizarre yet strangely captivating.

The sounds of battle rang out from above. Pei Xi snapped back to his senses at once and was just about to hurry away from the altar when a faint, crisp sound reached his ears.

Pei Xi turned his head and looked toward a corner beneath the high platform. His eyes widened in shock…

　　Perhaps it had been pushed off the altar by the expanding blood mass, but the transparent container holding the divine blood was now resting silently in a corner beneath the platform.

On the altar.

Ye Zheng pressed both of her hands against the blood mass, which had already grown taller than her. Streams of water flowed from her fingertips, coiling around the violently shifting mass, attempting to soothe and stabilize it.

Wen Jian had said that 【Mother of All Things】 would respond to its true successor, devour her, and then give birth to her anew.

If her deduction was correct, Wen Jian had taken his own life to merge his consciousness with that of 【Mother of All Things】. Even if she had become the sole remaining candidate, he would never allow 【Mother of All Things】 to choose her.

At this moment, the blood mass that symbolized 【Mother of All Things】 continued to expand without pause, showing no indication whatsoever of “devouring.”

Ye Zheng remained vigilant for any disturbances beyond the altar. She cast a quick glance at her wristwatch. It was four o’clock. Only one hour remained before the announcement of the new Pope. Within this hour, she had to claim 【Mother of All Things】.

Her gaze deepened. The streams of water receded back into her palms and fingertips, forming a thin, fluid membrane over her hands. In the next instant, her ten fingers, pressed firmly against the blood mass, drove inward with ruthless force. The surface of the blood mass split apart, torn open by a jagged gash!

“Apologies.”

There was no other way. For now, she could only rely on such a crude method to make 【Mother of All Things】 devour her.

Ye Zheng’s arms trembled faintly. Enormous pressure pressed in from both sides of the torn opening. The flesh writhed between her fingers, struggling to mend itself. Through the ripped wound, Ye Zheng saw nothing but pitch-black darkness.

She felt a trace of disappointment, yet the strength in her arms kept building. Beneath her white long sleeves, the faint contours of bulging muscles became visible. The fissure in the blood mass slowly widened.

As her strength gradually drained and the opening expanded to only about the size of a head, Ye Zheng cast a glance at the sword at her side. Just as she was about to draw the golden sword, her body, which had gathered all its power into her arms, suddenly lost its balance and pitched forward.

Her dark eyes widened abruptly as Ye Zheng fell straight into the pitch-black void.

The instant she entered the interior of the blood mass, she heard Wen Jian’s sharp, chilling laugh.

✧✧✧✧✧

Wen Jian had never imagined that, after his death, he would enter such a bizarre state.

His soul existed within a vast, empty white wilderness. From high above, he could look down and see the world he had lived in during his lifetime.

With a single thought, he could observe anything happening anywhere in that world. For instance, at this very moment, Ye Zheng was attempting to enter the interior of 【Mother of All Things】.

He’d been careless. He hadn’t expected Ye Zheng to decisively kill Riley the instant he chose death. If Ye Zheng had been even a second slower, he could’ve used 【Mother of All Things】 to save Riley and make him the true successor!

Wen Jian let out a cold laugh as he stared down at Ye Zheng from above.

…It didn’t matter. He now had a new idea.

The main reason he’d chosen Riley had been for revenge. Riley was young and trusted him. He could easily manipulate Riley through 【Mother of All Things】, then join forces with the Colonna family to completely crush Ye Zheng into the mud, leaving her with no hope of recovery.

However, if the person he controlled became Ye Zheng instead, forcing her to push herself step by step toward ruin while she watched herself lose everything… wouldn’t that be far more interesting?

At that thought, Wen Jian burst into loud laughter. His frenzied laughter echoed throughout the white wilderness and reverberated within the pitch-black space.

Ye Zheng stood within the pitch-black space, unable to see even her own fingers. One hand rested against the warm wall of flesh, while the other covered her ear.

“Wen Jian, are all dead people as noisy as you?”

With a trace of malicious doubt woven into it, the voice abruptly cut off Wen Jian’s laughter midstream. The pitch-black space went still for a brief moment, and then the inner walls of flesh began to contract inward in a frantic surge!

Pressure crashed in from every direction like a rising tidal wave. The slick, writhing flesh pressed tightly against Ye Zheng’s cheeks. She instinctively turned her head, only to realize there was nowhere left to evade it. A strange illusion crept over her, as though she were on the verge of completely fusing with this mass of flesh.

“I will devour you and give birth to you! Ye Zheng, just as you wished, you will become the Pope. Your life will usher in a revolutionary new beginning!”

Wen Jian’s laughter echoed beside her ears, clinging like maggots burrowing into bone.

Devouring was a necessary condition for inheriting 【Mother of All Things】, but the 【Mother of All Things】 under Wen Jian’s control was not what she desired at all!

Ye Zheng struggled within the compressing, writhing flesh and at last managed to reach her sword. The scabbard shifted slightly, and a streak of golden light cut through the darkness.

If she were to tear open this frenzied mass of flesh, Ye Zheng couldn’t be certain what the outcome would be. She might lose 【Mother of All Things】 forever and forfeit this bargaining chip for the papal throne. But regret could wait until later. Right now, she simply couldn’t endure Wen Jian’s noise any longer.

“Too noisy.”

All at once, a distant voice rang out and severed Wen Jian’s manic laughter.

Hearing that voice, Ye Zheng’s hand gripping the sword hilt suddenly stiffened, a flicker of astonishment crossing her face.

“Too noisy. Who are you? Why are you here?”

Within the pitch-black space where even a pin drop could be heard, Ye Zheng concentrated fully on the voice that seemed to drift from the far end of the world.

Wen Jian’s urgent voice quickly followed. “You… who are you? Which Pope are you? The eighteenth? The nineteenth?”

“…Which one are you?” the voice replied in return.

“I am the twenty-first Pope of the empire, Wen Jian. Who exactly are you?”

Wen Jian shouted, though a trace of barely perceptible fear had already crept into his voice.

“Papess, Mercè.”

The ancient, hollow voice settled, accompanied by a faint, drifting sigh.

After a suffocating silence, Ye Zheng heard Wen Jian draw a sharp, disbelieving breath.

“Im-impossible… How could a consciousness from five hundred years ago” Wen Jian’s voice had already broken apart.

A flash of disbelief flickered through Ye Zheng’s eyes. She had already guessed the identity of the speaker. Only one person could be addressed simply as “Pope” without any prefix.

The first Pope of the empire, the founder of the Church, the true master of 【Mother of All Things】!

Across the long river of history, her name had been lost, along with any clear record of her life. Even those who inherited the ability afterward had never known her true gender.

Today, Ye Zheng finally learned the name of the first Pope, Mercè. It was a name that carried the meaning of benevolence and kindness.

“Mercè.” Ye Zheng couldn’t help but whisper the name softly.

It felt as though it had been ages since anyone had spoken that name. The voice released another quiet sigh. It was distant like an echo from ancient times, yet close enough to feel like a breath brushing past her ear. Ye Zheng’s earlobe trembled slightly.

At some point, the flesh wrapped around her stopped expanding and writhing. It now enclosed her like a calm, warm pool of water, quietly holding her in a gentle embrace.

Ye Zheng found it difficult to put this sensation into words. It felt like curling up beneath a thick cotton quilt on a winter day, or like being cradled in her mother’s arms when she was a child. Even in this tense and dangerous situation, her body loosened, and her mind slowly drifted into a deep, soothing calm.

But that fragile warmth and stillness didn’t last long before it was shattered. Wen Jian’s nearly unrecognizable, heart-rending screams suddenly echoed through the entire space. Ye Zheng lifted her head with caution, yet the pitch-black darkness offered no clue, revealing absolutely nothing.

Wen Jian’s agonized cries continued without any pause, each one more chilling than the last. It was almost impossible to imagine what kind of horrifying ordeal he was going through.

“Papess Mercè?”

In the darkness, Ye Zheng called out hesitantly, her voice uncertain.

All at once, the flesh beneath her touch grew even softer. The place supporting her head, the surface beneath her body, and every point her fingers brushed against became warm and tender, so soothing that a powerful wave of drowsiness swept over both her body and her mind.

Ye Zheng could hardly believe it. With Wen Jian’s unending screams still ringing in her ears, inside this perilous and unknown space, she actually felt a strong urge to close her eyes and fall into a deep, peaceful sleep.

“Sleep. When you wake up, 【Mother of All Things】 will belong to you.”

“No… please forgive my rudeness, but I need to understand what exactly is happening?”

Ye Zheng forced her eyelids to remain open, struggling against the overwhelming pull of sleep.

Why had Papess Mercè’s records been deliberately obscured in the history books? Why had her consciousness suddenly awakened within 【Mother of All Things】? And what was the true purpose behind her passing down 【Mother of All Things】?

Her nails bit hard into her palm. Ye Zheng used the pain to force herself to stay conscious, yet the flesh of 【Mother of All Things】 seemed to possess a will of its own, gently prying open her clenched hand and slipping through her fingers.

“Inheriting 【Mother of All Things】 is only one part of the inheritance. It isn’t the true purpose of the ritual.” 

“The moment you are crowned as Pope before the eyes of the world, the inheritance ritual will be complete.”

“You will inherit my abilities, my memories, my suffering, and my responsibilities… So, for now, go to sleep, Ye Zheng.”

As Mercè’s words settled, Ye Zheng could no longer resist. Her eyes closed as she drifted into a deep slumber, embraced by the warm flesh. Every surrounding sound gradually faded into silence.

✧✧✧✧✧

When Ye Zheng forced her eyes open again, she had no sense of how much time had passed. The instant she woke, a blue sky dotted with white clouds came into view. The sunlight, nearing evening, fell across her body with only a trace of warmth remaining.

She immediately lifted her right wrist and checked her watch. It was almost five o’clock!

Ye Zheng sprang to her feet. Remembering everything that had happened before she lost consciousness, she scanned her surroundings and realized the massive mass of blood had completely vanished, leaving behind nothing but chaos on the altar.

Nearly everything on the stone table had been knocked to the ground. Red wine and bread were scattered everywhere, and the bodies of Riley and Wen Jian lay amid the filth.

Ye Zheng glanced at Wen Jian’s corpse. That gentle yet imposing voice still lingered faintly in her ears. She assumed that Wen Jian’s consciousness had now been entirely erased.

She stepped forward to his body and searched it, eventually retrieving a key.

The Church’s Holy Key. It symbolized the Pope’s authority over the Church’s governance and the power to grant absolution. It could unlock certain highly classified areas within the Church and stood as the ultimate emblem of papal authority.

As if recalling something, Ye Zheng suddenly turned her hand over and stared at her palm. With a single thought, 【Stream】 flowed across it like an obedient little serpent. Aside from that, however, she sensed no other abilities.

“Only when I’m crowned as Pope will the ritual be complete…”

Ye Zheng slowly tightened her fist. Time was running out. She had to leave and announce the rightful candidate for the new Pope.

She stepped down from the platform, preparing to go, but suddenly halted. Turning back, she returned to the altar.

The divine blood. She hadn’t seen the divine blood just now.

Ye Zheng carefully searched every part of the altar, circling it several times, yet she couldn’t find the vessel that had contained the divine blood.

Although she didn’t know its precise function, the divine blood was unquestionably of immense importance and was closely tied to the God of Hope, 【Mother of All Things】, and Papess Mercè.

She remembered clearly that after Wen Jian completed the summoning ritual, he had placed the divine blood back into its vessel and left it on the table.

Now the divine blood was gone. It had either been devoured by that mass of flesh or taken away.

Ye Zheng pressed a hand against her forehead. Thinking back to the strange reaction between the divine blood and Pei Xi, she already knew the answer.

She had let him leave out of goodwill, yet he’d still ended up causing trouble?

Then again, perhaps it wasn’t so unexpected. After all, Pei Xi was the protagonist of the manga. He wouldn’t have a habit of stealing things without reason. The divine blood had most likely been an important item “granted” to him by the plot, something destined to fall into his possession.

She let out a soft sigh. No matter what, she needed to head out first.

Ye Zheng stepped down from the altar, walked through the colonnade, and just before pushing the door open, she adjusted her appearance and smoothed out the creases in her clothes. Only then did she push open the heavy door.

The massive stone door let out a low, strained creak. A dense crowd was gathered outside.

Fourteen cardinals stood at the very front, with the elderly Colonna leading them. He leaned on his cane, and the instant the door opened, his wrinkled eyes widened. When he clearly saw the figure standing behind the door, his eyes widened even further, as though they might pop straight out of their sockets.

Seeing Ye Zheng step out from the altar at an unhurried, composed pace, many people sharply inhaled. By now, they already understood the outcome of this papal struggle.

It had been unexpected, yet when thought through carefully, it wasn’t entirely impossible.

But Old Colonna still refused to concede. He pressed forward insistently, “Where is Wen Jian? Where is Riley? Saintess Ye Zheng, why are you the one here!”

Ye Zheng didn’t respond to him. She merely let out a faint laugh, her gaze sweeping slowly across everyone present, the cardinals, the high-ranking clergy, the representatives of the great families, the Church knights…

“Today, all of you have gathered here to witness the birth of the twenty-second Pope of the empire.”

Ye Zheng lifted her hand, revealing an exquisite key that shimmered with dazzling golden light beneath the setting sun.

“As you can see, I, Ye Zheng, am the next Pope.”

“No, Saintess Ye Zheng, please step aside and allow us to see what happened inside!”

Old Colonna spoke as he moved to lead the others into the altar. Ye Zheng reached out and placed a hand on the old man’s shoulder, her voice lowered so that only the two of them could hear.

“I’ve already inherited 【Mother of All Things】.”

These words completely shattered Old Colonna’s final trace of hope.

After speaking, Ye Zheng lightly patted the old man’s shoulder, which had already gone stiff like dry bones, then walked past him and toward the crowd.

“When Pope Wen Jian entrusted the papal position to me under the witness of the God of Hope, someone forced their way into the altar and murdered Pope Wen Jian along with his assistant Riley.”

Gasps rose one after another from the crowd. Their expressions shifted, and many exchanged meaningful glances with those around them, their thoughts racing in different directions.

“I failed to apprehend the culprit on the spot. I’m truly regretful, and I’m sorry.”

Ye Zheng let out a quiet sigh, then her voice sharpened. “Where is the Holy Knight Order?”

Before long, a knight in a crisp uniform decorated with medals stepped forward and dropped to one knee before the future Pope, his posture tense and his expression clearly uneasy.

“I am the Vice Captain. Please issue your orders, my lady.”

Ye Zheng idly turned the Holy Key that symbolized papal authority between her fingers. After a brief silence, she thought: Pei Xi had taken the divine blood, yet she couldn’t reveal anything about the inheritance ritual. The only option was to place other charges on him and use that as justification to bring both him and the divine blood back.

The inheritance ritual still wasn’t complete. Even if the divine blood was an important plot element granted to Pei Xi, she still had to reclaim it.

Ye Zheng lifted her hand, her eyes cold and unfathomable.

“Issue a wanted order for Pei Xi.”

With that, she stepped forward. The crowd instinctively parted, opening a path for her. Many among them were powerful figures who commanded attention even within the upper district’s elite circles, yet at this moment, all of them remained silent as they watched her depart.

As they gazed at the blazing sunset stretching across the horizon, everyone present felt a powerful premonition that the empire was on the verge of immense change.

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Authors Note  

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The coronation is tomorrow!

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Translator Notes

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A quick note on terminology: throughout this translation, you'll see me use "Pope" and "Papess" interchangeably that was a deliberate choice on my part.

Given that this series deals heavily with the oppression of women, defaulting to "Pope" for Ye Zheng felt wrong to me. I didn't want it to feel like she was seizing the exact same power that had always existed, I wanted her to sound like she was transforming the position into something entirely new, or reclaiming what it had once been.

The problem is that no feminine equivalent exists in standard English. "Pope" derives from the Latin papa, meaning father, and was never designed to accommodate women holding the title at all.

My two candidates were "Hierophant" and "Papess." Hierophant comes from the Greek hierophantēs, historically denoting the chief priest of the Eleusinian Mysteries but despite being gender-neutral in modern English, it carries strong masculine associations and felt like an awkward fit.

Papess won out. It originates with the legend of [Pope Joan], a woman said to have disguised herself as a man and ascended to the papacy although story most modern scholars consider fictional, and one the Church denies entirely. The parallel with Mercè

, a woman whose very name history chose to forget, felt too fitting to ignore.