Chapter 250

The moment the judgment imposing Anathema upon Bai Yi was made public, the reaction throughout the Upper District was even more explosive than when the truth about the dragon bones had first come to light. The entire city descended into an uproar.

“Anathema” was a law inherited from the era before the Age of Divine Descent, established to preserve the absolute authority of the Church's leadership.

Throughout the five hundred years since the founding of the Church of Hope, not a single Pope had ever invoked this law.

Those who offended the Pope were typically sentenced to death. If the offender possessed too much status to be executed outright, the usual approach was either to negotiate through an exchange of benefits to settle the conflict, or to resort to more discreet political methods to suppress the opposing party.

“Anathema” sounded severe and terrifying, yet its actual provisions were remarkably broad and permissive, making it exceedingly difficult to enforce in any comprehensive sense.

Its harshest clause declared that “the punished one's territories and the people of those territories need no longer remain loyal to this person.” In other words, it granted others both the authority and the justification to betray the condemned whenever they chose.

Yet those who held territories were all great nobles with deeply entrenched power and influence. Even if those beneath them were freed from the obligation of loyalty, very few would dare shoulder the consequences of acting upon that freedom.

Should the enforcement of “Anathema” prove ineffective, it would instead lay bare the limits of the Pope's own authority and prestige, leaving the Pope herself in an exceedingly precarious and embarrassing position.

Thus, this law had all but become a relic gathering dust.

Bai Muqing, her white hood drawn over her head, walked through the streets of the Lower District. Like a drifting snowflake, she slipped through one noisy, restless crowd after another.

Whether it was the Saintess of the past or Papess Ye Zheng of the present, no one understood the Church's scriptures and laws more thoroughly than Bai Muqing.

By the age of eight, she'd already read every article of the Church's statutes. Back then, the meaning of "Anathema" had been far too obscure for her to grasp, so she'd hugged the heavy volume of scriptures to her chest and run to ask her father.

Her father had explained it to her, word by word, before smiling and saying, "If 'Anathema' can be carried out, the one who receives that punishment becomes someone cast out by this nation. There'll be no one left he can trust or depend on, and no one will follow him ever again."

"This is, without question, the most terrifying criminal law in the entire empire."

The man, still relatively young in those days, let out a wistful sigh. "What a pity. Even now, no Pope capable of invoking it has ever appeared."

Perhaps noticing the confusion in his daughter's eyes, he added, "You still don't understand?"

"Hahaha, you'll understand once you've grown up. Losing society's recognition is far more terrifying than the destruction of the physical body."

In the five hundred years since the founding of the Church of Hope, they had finally welcomed a leader with both the authority and the resolve to invoke Anathema.

Bai Muqing arrived at the prison where Bai Yi was being held.

His status was exceptional. The Order of Sacred Conduct, the force the Papess trusted above all others, guarded him personally. No one was permitted to visit.

Yet Ye Zheng had personally approved Bai Muqing's request for an audience.

To her surprise, the prison was remarkably plain and unadorned. It hardly resembled a heavily guarded fortress. If the prisoner truly wished to escape, or if someone outside intended to break him out, getting him out would be an easy task.

Before Bai Muqing had even stepped inside the prison, 【Divine Domain】 had already revealed several possible routes by which someone could spirit a person away.

"Father, do you want to leave this place?"

Bai Yi, seated on the opposite side of the iron bars, had been wrestling with a storm of complicated emotions. Bai Muqing's blunt question cut straight through every one of them, leaving him speechless for a long moment.

Yet he quickly mastered his emotions. His weary, stubble-covered face settled into quiet resolve.

"I'll bear full responsibility for everything I've done. Running away is the act of a coward. I'd rather die on my feet than live in disgrace."

The middle-aged man had already made up his mind. Ye Zheng would never let such an open and legitimate opportunity to execute him slip away. The charges against him were already irrefutable. If he escaped now, his entire family and clan would be dragged down with him.

Moreover, from the moment he had raised his hand against Ye Zheng, he'd already prepared himself to shoulder every consequence.

"Muqing, there's no need to persuade me. Go back and spend more time with your mother. I've already failed her..."

"Father." Bai Muqing had no choice but to interrupt him. She asked, her voice tinged with confusion, "Do you still not understand the Church's... disposition toward you?"

"Isn't it execution?"

"It's Anathema."

The man took a long while to recover from those words. He buried his face in both hands as though every ounce of strength had suddenly drained from his body, then burst into loud, unrestrained laughter.

"You said Anathema... Anathema?"

"They truly know how to humiliate a man. I've never seen anything so vicious..."

"Father, being allowed to live is the greatest fortune of all."

Bai Muqing spoke with a solemn expression, her face pale as frost.

When she'd served with the knight order clearing Aberrant Realms in the Lower District, even when she was there in person, she couldn't guarantee everyone's safety. Many never managed to hold on until she arrived, and some couldn't even leave behind an intact corpse.

Yet the middle-aged man looked at her with nothing but disappointment and anger. "Live? If merely staying alive is enough to satisfy you, then go wag your tail and beg Ye Zheng for mercy. How could you possibly be worthy of the Bai family's honor?"

“But Father, what is the Bai family's honor?”

For the first time, Bai Muqing was genuinely bewildered. The middle-aged man, however, clearly mistook her question for sarcasm.

“You may leave.”

“I know. My ‘Anathema’ has already begun.”

The middle-aged man answered with quiet composure.

Bai Muqing fell silent for a moment. The truth was, she'd come today hoping to persuade her father.

If he, the Emperor's trusted confidant, was willing to reveal more of the Emperor's secrets to Ye Zheng and openly stand against him, it would be the best outcome for Ye Zheng, for himself, and for this nation.

Yet he seemed trapped inside an emotion he simply couldn't break free from.

Bai Muqing knew this side of her father all too well. He was a born performer. More than being a father or a husband, he was devoted to playing the roles of loyal minister and faithful knight, even when the object of that loyalty was an outright monster.

Bai Muqing rose to her feet. She made no further attempt to persuade him and chose instead to respect his decision.

She offered her father a courteous farewell, as though they were still standing inside their magnificent manor rather than a cramped, dimly lit prison.

Bai Muqing turned and walked away. Beyond the edge of her vision, however, Bai Yi's face twisted with hesitation and anguish.

【Divine Domain】 witnessed everything in silence, yet Bai Muqing neither hesitated nor looked back.

She stepped out of the suffocating prison and wandered without any particular destination. Before she realized it, she'd entered a bustling residential district.

A child darting through the street stumbled and fell. Bai Muqing paused to help him to his feet. The moment the child saw the white pupils beneath her hood, he cried out in alarm.

“White eyes… is that the Bai family one?”

“The one Her Holiness the Papess just imprisoned…”

“I heard our Holiness is coming today. Could she also want to…”

The crowd around them quickly began to swell. The child clung to Bai Muqing's hand, chattering on with innocent cruelty as he repeatedly asked why her eyes looked so strange.

Bai Muqing gently loosened the child's grip before pulling back her hood. Her snow-white hair gleamed beneath the sunlight, dazzling enough to draw every eye.

Under the stares of the passersby, filled with surprise, fear, and disgust, Bai Muqing quietly continued toward her next destination.

The matter of the dragon bones was a sin committed by the Bai family's ancestors. Though she'd known nothing about it, she had undeniably lived her life benefiting from the fruits of that sin.

Now, she could no longer remain in the Upper District with a clear conscience.

Bai Muqing understood that there was something almost pathological about the way she thought.

Perhaps from the moment she'd first heard the legends of the God of Hope, she'd already become captivated by the role of the "guardian of justice."

She would settle permanently in the part of the Eastern District within the Lower District where Aberrant Realms appeared most often, and remain there until those Aberrant Realms ceased to come.

【Divine Domain】 received every whisper in the district, every current of resentment and resistance. Through it all, Bai Muqing's footsteps never faltered, and her expression remained perfectly calm.

Then, without warning, those whispers and turbulent emotions disappeared.

Bai Muqing came to a stop.

Ye Zheng stood at the far end of the street, surrounded by a crowd.

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Translator Note

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 I never have given my own comment on this series but I am not liking this part at all. First of all I just can't understand Ye zheng's Attitude towards Sela (almost like she is getting away with everything). I certainly don't adore the fact it's becoming a routine. 

Enemies plotting against Ye Zheng-> Ye zheng then baits Sela -> Sela then proceed vow to exact vengeance against Zheng-> Sela is fooled-> Ye zheng defeats enemy-> SHAHALALALA SELA get's dragon bone (partially)-> But No confrontation with zheng sela go rahrahrah .

I will pretty much prefer If screen time goes to Lu qi or Bai Muqing And on that note my heart bleeds for Muqing. Plz someone do her justice.