“Ah—if you hadn’t reminded me, I really would’ve forgotten.”

That said, Lyn wasn’t about to ignore the source that had almost thrown him into a bind.

Running into the Church of Truth suddenly locking down an area and issuing a Demon-Slaying Edict, at a time like this, felt like the odds of winning five million in his past life’s lottery.

Lyn felt it was a shame he’d missed out on that five million.

“So what exactly happened?” Before Divine Snow Sakura could reach out and tug his ear, Lyn put his serious face back on. Inside, he felt uneasy; this girl had inherited seventy or eighty percent of his sister’s ways of targeting him.

Divine Snow Sakura crossed her arms again, as if to prop up the pitiful bust hidden under her armor.

“Something huge. You want me to leak Church secrets?”

“Then if I force the upright Provisional Sanctuary Executor to spill, that should be fine, right?” Lyn pulled a villain face as he said it, and his eyes swept to the slender, black-stockinged legs under her skirt.

Divine Snow Sakura didn’t care about the boy’s gaze. The corners of her mouth curved with a dangerous hint, half-smiling at him. “Can I punch you?”

“Sorry. But you’ve already whetted my appetite, Lady Divine Snow Sakura. You have to take responsibility.” Lyn decisively chose to back down.

In a straight fight, he wasn’t the match of this violent girl anyway.

While he was running his mouth, Lyn suddenly felt his robe clenched tight, as if by Xing Luo. He looked down, puzzled, but Xing Luo only wore an innocent look, listening to them talk, showing no sign of anything strange.

Was that just an illusion?

A ripple of mana pulled Lyn’s thoughts back. A pink light barrier suddenly unfolded around Divine Snow Sakura. It wasn’t a Church divine art; it came from her family’s inheritance.

Once the barrier wrapped the three of them, Divine Snow Sakura continued, “The Church’s seal maintained in the Imperial Capital has developed a problem.”

“A seal?”

“Mm. They say it’s a seal tied to the Abyss. I haven’t been in the Church’s core for long, so my info’s limited. I only know that seal has a lot to do with this generation’s Saintess’s inheritance.”

“I heard that when the Church grants this generation’s Saintess her power inheritance—purifying that Abyssal power to gain Truth’s favor—the ritual was damaged.”

Lyn was taken aback. He hadn’t expected something this explosive behind it.

The Church of Truth’s Saintess selection ended more than a year ago. The one who took the Saintess’s seat was a little girl from the Void clan, similar to Divine Snow Sakura’s own family, also a remnant lineage from the distant East. Her name, if he remembered right, was Void Night.

When that was decided, it shook the entire Imperial Capital. Void Night was confirmed as Saintess at only twelve. That honor could stand alongside the astonishing achievement his sister had made at twelve in the Divine Grace Tower.

More importantly, it was the first time an Eastern bloodline had become the Church of Truth’s Saintess. And that bloodline came from the Void clan, which had once thrown the Divine Grace Empire—indeed, the whole continent—into upheaval.

The news stirred up a loud uproar for a while, until the Church stamped it down hard. Lyn had heard about it, of course. He felt no rejection toward the Saintess’s rise; you could say he held no prejudice against those so-called Eastern bloodlines. After all, his past life’s civilization was similar to this otherworldly East.

In a sense, that familiarity was also the chance that let him become childhood friends with Divine Snow Sakura.

After steadying himself from her info, Lyn suddenly thought of something and spoke blankly, “That aside, during that ritual, the Pope should be present, right?”

The Saintess’s succession requires baptism, and while it lasts, the Pope must guard her at all times. The Church of Truth’s Pope is one of the few ninth-tier powerhouses in this world, with strength on par with the Empress who now rules the Divine Grace Empire.

Both stand at the very top of tier nine—ultimate powerhouses honored by all as the Eight Holy Thrones.

With such a powerhouse, the Pope, sitting in the Church of Truth, someone still dared make a move against the Church?

Lyn clicked his tongue in wonder.