Chapter 23

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

Naturally, Fang Zheng understood why Shidon would have that kind of question.

In truth, the first day he had arrived here and activated Skybreaker’s Angel summoning effect, Shidon and the old priest asked him if he’d received divine protection. Fang Zheng neither admitted nor denied it, he only acted as if he didn’t know anything. In truth, this wasn’t something that a normal person could be aware of. As for the stuff regarding the divine protection, Fang Zheng did find some information after entering the holy temple.

In the not too distant past, there was this group of people. They were either innately protected by the angels, or they were given that protection afterward. These divine angels would protect the lives of these people, giving them a special angel’s knowledge and powers.

This was seen by the masses as the Gift From the Divine Spirit.

In the palace, these people were seen as agents of the Goddess of Law, and they’d use this ability to vanquish the evil and keep the peace, resolving chaos all around.

The divine knights of the past were also great figures of holy temple history, with each divine knight being a beloved hero.

These were the great people, and the greatest people always took the greatest blows, just like how the tallest trees always withstood the strongest winds.

These knights had attracted the attention of chaotic beings and cultists, and the demons, lusting after the power of angels, tried to make some damage to the foundation of law. In the end, in their vile cooperation, disaster stuck.

They fanned the people, luring the priests of the temple who were not in favor of the divine knights. They made a move against these knights and even managed to attract some young knights to fall from grace. Even their guardian angels fell to the claws of chaos. At the same time, this was used as an excuse to carry out investigations against these knights.

In the beginning, the divine knights couldn’t accept this investigation. Yet, it didn’t take long before the people of the palace went further and further. It could have been the “kind” looks from those mighty knights on their high horses, but the people of the divine palace pressed on, to the point where even an investigation could be carried out on these knights even based on a small excuse. In the end, these people even sought to force these knights into admitting that they themselves were cultists.

As time went on, the divide between the two sides grew, and the divine knights also had enough of how the cultists treated them. Those who had power within the divine palace continued pressing the fact that they had the palace’s support, doing whatever they wanted, until the tension rose, causing much unrest for the highest priest. He tried to stop this from intensifying and sought to decrease the intensity of the investigations.

What he didn’t expect, however, was that this order would be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

After learning of the high priest’s intentions, the main church officials weren’t willing to just let things end like that. For the sake of completely crushing the divine knights, those who were lured in by promises of power made an insane move; they accused the captain of the divine knights, Antonio, for being a cultist, in broad daylight. His wife was detained along with his children, and the “evidence” that arose from his torture forced Antonio into admitting his crime.

Antonio, naturally, wouldn’t surrender that easily. He led his men and burst into the high court, trying to save his wife. Unfortunately, he was too late, seeing only the corpse of his wife instead.

Struck with sadness and rage, he broke his ties with the divine palace in that instant, declaring war as the leader of the divine knights on the entirety of the palace!

That was a great time of darkness, and the divine knights, who were supposed to keep the peace, had their blades raised against the palace. The divine palace, under the pressure of the knights, fell to ruins. They tried to stop the damage, but things had gone too far. They’d lost their advantages, and the divine knights were humans as well, not saints. The investigations from before had already burned rage into their hearts, and there was no way they’d just nod and admit their wrongdoings at this point.

After all, the divine knights now had more than just simple rage for the investigations. They were suspecting that the divine palace had strayed from the guidance of the goddess, and bowed down to the promise of power instead.

With the way things were going, this was no simple, petty fight. This was a fight of ideas, and both sides had no room for negotiation. Antonio, himself, had attacked the highest order of the divine palace and was attempting to take control.

But, at the great gates of the divine palace, the knights faced a hurdle, the goddess’ protection surrounded the palace, and they could not go forward.

The red-clothed priest leader had lost his senses as well. He thought that, with the protection, these knights could do nothing. As such, he started mocking them, to the point where he said that the death of Antonio’s wife was also the will of the goddess! He was merely following orders!

Horrible teammates were present in every era, and Antonio, enraged, made a decision that shocked everyone present.

He and his divine knights, in front of everyone, decided to fall from grace and become demons of chaos. With one blade, he stepped through the protection of the goddess, massacring the clothed priests.

After that, Antonio said one sentence: “OIf so, there’s no point living in this world anymore”. With that, he and his fallen knights left.

After that, the divine knights were split into two groups; the ones who had chosen to fall, following Antonio to the edge of dusk, and the divine knights who had chosen to leave the divine palace, not coming back ever again.

After the separation and the fighting, the divine palace took great damage. The forces of chaos and the cultists had their intentions stirred, and they launched a crazed attack on the land. Having lost the knights, the divine palace was greatly reduced in strength. In the end, they still managed to fend back the evil forces, managing to keep the peace. With the damage that had been caused, however, they still haven’t recovered even to this day.

After all that, there was rarely anyone who received the protection of the divine on the continent. Even within the divine palace, there was a saying that the goddess had been greatly disappointed by what the palace had done, and no longer sent her agents to this world. Only when the divine palace understood their mistake would they receive forgiveness.

This was why the old priest wanted to talk to the higher-ups right when he saw the divine protection of the angel behind Fang Zheng.

Shidon, though, evidently wasn’t very interested in all of that. What he was more curious about was the fact that Fang Zheng became this strong after just one night. Could this have been the inheritance of the divine spirit? This was something from many years before, after all, and he hadn’t seen much information on this regarding the holy knights, let alone the fact that all that information was either destroyed or locked away from the common people. Even the captain knights were in the same situation as well. As such, Shidon was interested in the inheritance because of this.

“I don’t know whether or not this is some inheritance thing.”

Like before, Fang Zheng didn’t confirm Shidon’s guess. After finding out about the history of the divine knights, he knew that his identity now was golden, though it came with cons came as well. He never confirmed the rumors because of this, only entertaining his own thoughts instead.

“After going back at night, I looked at how I should strengthen my sword skills, so I discussed with her a bit, and she let me have a dream…”

Fang Zheng didn’t hide too much from Shidon’s questioning, it was just that he had dubbed the system as the angel guardian who had protected him. Other than that, he told Shidon all that happened in that mission.

Fang Zheng decided to tell him not only to gain his trust but because he’d made the decision before coming here. This was why he’d show off so many of his weird points right away. Even if Shidon didn’t ask, he’d find away to ask him to teach him too. 

The reason was simple, even three shoemakers could handle a wise general!

Fang Zheng was able to gain experience from the battle in those worlds, but if he had a veteran give him pointers, things would happen faster. Why give up this shortcut?

Plus, even if he could revive, it still hurt to get killed!

He wasn’t a masochist! He just didn’t want to die.

“That sort of world exists…”

Shidon couldn’t help but gasp after he tale. He had a lot of experience, and he understood how full of despair the world that Fang Zheng described for him was. A world where they relied on embers to live, where the end of that ember signified the end of the world… Just thinking about it made Shidon really feel the sadness of that world.

But fortunately, it was just a dream.

“Hahaha, good thing it’s just a dream. But with your skills, kid, you don’t even have much strength. If you had to rely on sword skills to fight them, you would have died 100 times.”

Shidon’s laugh made Fang Zheng roll his eyes. It was true, he did die more than 100 times!

Maybe, even more than that.

“Yeah… But it’s not like there was nothing you could do. Judging from the way you fought, you already have the hang of it. It’s just that there’s something off…”

But Shidon didn’t betray Fang Zheng’s expectations. He only took a moment to think before giving him pointers. As a captain knight, he had plenty of experience in this field, and Fang Zheng listened carefully. This was something one couldn’t buy with money after all, and there wasn’t something like this in the system either. Even if there was, Fang Zheng couldn’t get experience from something like that.

So, now that he had a mentor… Wasn’t he supposed to use him for studying?