Chapter 649: The Biggest Dark History of the Goddess Sect
The sacred hall was brightly lit and baptisms were taking place.
This is a wonderful building that incorporates incomprehensible symbolic elements and small-scale law distortions during its construction. When you stand outside the baptismal hall, you may think that you are just a taller person in front of you. It is just a dome building, but when you walk inside, you will be amazed by the vast internal space of this building. It can accommodate twenty people for gatherings without appearing empty, and it can also accommodate millions of people for worship. Doesn't look crowded. Yes, the interior of the baptismal hall is changing. The space here will always be in a just-right state. No matter how many believers come in, it will prepare a suitable enough position for you. "Don't be disrespectful to the goddess because of the emptiness, and don't be disrespectful to the goddess because of the crowding." And bring shame to my Lord”, this is the purpose of this temple’s random changes in space.
The baptistery hall is a circular vaulted building without any columns or similar supports inside. There are only a few thick vines hanging from the high ceiling. The walls of the hall are painted with complex pictures. Different from general religious patterns, these murals do not depict the miracles of gods or the pilgrimage deeds of devout believers, but various wild animals, plants, and humans. These images They represent the prosperity of life in the world. In fact, they include every life in the entire universe, even single-celled organisms. They are drawn on a one-to-one scale. In Lilina’s words, anyway I painted it, but you can’t see it because of your eyesight.
Painting images of all the creatures in the universe on the walls of a hall sounds impossible, so these murals are the second magical thing about the baptismal hall: they don’t contain everything. Appearing in front of you, the murals seen by everyone who comes here are different. Only those who have a better understanding of the essence of life and more respect for the balance of nature will see more content in the murals and understand what they can. The more mysteries of the world you see, the more secrets of the world you see. Lilina once clearly said in the sacred book, "Those who witness one thousand eight hundred kinds of lives in the highest baptism place will gain eternal life." This statement may be true, but it is not yet known. No one can confirm it, because according to Alexstrasza, the Red Dragon Queen who once challenged this trial, there are lines written under the mural of the 1799th creature:
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No one can leave writing on the walls of the Holy Land, so no one can yet gain eternal life through this method.
In the center of the hall is the baptistery, which is a shallow "bowl"-shaped altar half a meter above the ground and with a radius of twelve meters. The whole body is carved from green crystal. There are sparkling ripples in it. The center of the "bowl" is There is a white sculpture several meters high. The image of the sculpture is a beautiful girl with long hair reaching her waist. The girl is holding a pitcher in her hand. The holy water used for baptism pours out continuously from this pitcher. Sprinkled in the shallow "bowl" below, it is easy to imagine that this sculpture represents the goddess of life: Lilina used her divine power to make this sculpture according to the holy image of Dingdang in the form of a god. I always thought this was the crazy girl One of the few good things done.
According to religious etiquette, the person being baptized needs to stand on the baptismal platform during the ceremony, which is the bowl-shaped altar filled with holy water. He also needs to be directly under the statue of the goddess and be directly "empowered" by the holy water in the pitcher in the hand of the goddess. , this process needs to last three minutes, and the magic is that the selected baptized person will not get wet - the priest who presides over the baptism will ask a question to the baptized person every minute, and the latter must answer according to his true inner thoughts. , answering these questions correctly can avoid being drowned. These questions are not necessarily related to religion. They are completely random. Naturally, it is impossible to prepare the answers in advance. However, the baptized person does not need to be nervous. He can only lie and delay. The answers violate the doctrine. These three conditions can cause holy water to react, and those problems are never too difficult.
The degree of dryness on the body after baptism is the most intuitive indicator of the strength of a believer's faith. Our greatest Pope, Ding Lilina, can stand under the test of holy water for seven days and still be dry - anyway, it was in the latest version of the Bible yesterday. That's what he said.
A holy place with so many miracles and such a solemn and complicated baptismal ceremony (which is rare among the various religious activities of the Dingdang Sect) is of course not an honor that every believer can accept. The most high-end baptisms are only performed on those special people, such as racial leaders or heroes who created epics. Under normal circumstances, believers of the goddess of life in various worlds perform very simplified baptism rituals, such as treating new unlucky people. The egg was pressed on the chair, and the local priest held up a water bottle and swung it at the girl's head - or so I thought.
Fina's baptism ceremony has reached the final step. There are soft and holy songs echoing in the air, penetrating into the minds of every listener from all directions. The delicate girl standing on the baptism platform has a calm expression on her face and is answering. The priest, that is, the last question asked by Artemis: What do you think about the problem of acne among girls?
Fina thought for a second, and then answered honestly: "I don't know."
A very suitable answer: truthful, unhesitating, and not contrary to doctrine, and the baptism was completed successfully.
I just read the ending below, but the ending alone was enough to make me stunned.
"I said, where do you get this question about baptismal ceremonies?"
It took me half a minute to let the organs on my face return to their normal duties, and then I touched a solemn Avalon priest wearing a god's robe next to me. The latter bowed to me and replied succinctly: "Du mother."
You know, now I really want to beat up Lilina.
Probably because the embarrassed expression on my face was too obvious, the nameless priest standing next to me quickly made amends for my female pope: "Your Majesty, in fact, His Majesty the Pope has formalized this ceremony. At the beginning, the baptism There would have been a group of friends and family and an opportunity to call for help while the author was answering questions, but now they have been cancelled..."
Since there are too many flaws, can I not complain about it this time?
At this moment, the baptism ceremony has ended, and Fina is walking down from the altar. Artemis, who is hosting the ceremony next to her, smiles and helps Fina put on the green leaf brooch that symbolizes believers: "Congratulations, Fina, now you have become a goddess. Followers, the goddess’s blessings will be with you—while she goes to work.”
It’s not easy to be a believer in Ding Dong.
"Fina! Artemis!" I squeezed through the crowd and greeted.
Artemis was stunned for a moment, and Fina asked me a question in a straight tone: "My friend, why are you here?"
If you didn't add punctuation, you wouldn't know she was asking a question.
"Suddenly I heard that you were going to join the church or something. Come and have a look. What did Lilina tell you?"
“Lilina told me that belief in the goddess helps improve common sense in society—something I’ve been deeply troubled by recently.”
...Believing in such nonsense is a sign of low common sense, you idiot with no common sense! Lilina, do you usually bully the simple Fina-chan like this? !
"I really didn't expect this reason. Bishop Lilina just asked me to perform a ceremony for this new sister." Artemis suddenly showed a subtle expression, and then scratched her hair. This action completely made her maintain her composure. After such a long period of time, the image of a clergyman has returned to the original aggressive girl state, "But I think it is always good to have faith, especially if you join the Goddess Cult, which is like a family, we will take good care of Fina - well, Doesn't the Imperial Code prohibit Imperial people from joining the religion? Fina seems to be a standard apostle now."
"That's okay," I curled my lips, then reached into my pocket, "Dingdang, come out and see your new believer, Lilina just tricked her here."
The little thing was grabbed out of the pocket while holding my finger, and its face seemed to be stained with grease from the meal just now. Fina looked at the little thing for a while, and then nodded mechanically: " Hello."
The little one licked his fingers and called out in a high-pitched voice: "Fina~~So you also believe in Ding Dong?"
This was a historic meeting between the goddess and her new followers, and again, it wasn't easy being surrounded by a bunch of devout believers in Ding Dong.
"Well, this place is so big." The little thing I caught outside my pocket was like a cub that had just left its lair. After saying hello to Fina, it started to look around curiously. The name of the goddess, this little thing who hangs out with me all day long, was the first time she came back to the baptism hall. After a while, she discovered the new world, jumped onto my shoulder with a snap, pointed her little finger to the side and shouted, "Ajun Arjun, who is this fool holding the jar!? The water is flowing out!"
There was a sudden silence, and Artemis was about to cry.
I waved my hand in front of Fina, whose expression was a little stiff, and said seriously: "Fina, it's still too late to quit teaching now..."
I can't describe the atmosphere in which I and Fina were sent out respectfully. Just a few minutes ago, the most serious black history in the religious history of the Goddess of Life happened, and in front of at least a dozen bishops and more than a thousand people. The faces of the divine guards (heroic spirits), hundreds of high-level priests, and the head of the empire. In the days to come, whenever I recall them, the sad faces of today's group of heroic spirits, who are like mourning for their heirs, can always come to mind.
It is said that since then, the teachings of the Goddess of Life have clearly stipulated the new specifications for the goddess statue. No matter what form the goddess statue is, it is required to put a lollipop in the right hand. Although it seems a bit nonsense, at least this can prevent us from The goddess admits her mistake again... Dingdang doesn't recognize anything else.
Fina's cabin is in the center of the village, next to Artemis's residence. As a Xiling apostle who had just become a full-time official, Fina was supposed to settle in the Shadow City, but she seemed to have no interest in Artemis. She liked the natural scenery of Valon better, so after completing the soul adjustment, she lived here. This is easy to understand. In the past hundreds of years, the environment in which Fina lived was a steel throne and cold In the command hall, she almost forgot what the vibrant world looked like. Compared to the shadow city that reminded her of the steel jungle, this picturesque world made the former queen feel more comfortable.
"Friend, I learned how to make tea. I hope you like it."
After letting me into the room, Fina got up to prepare tea, while I looked around briefly. Like most buildings in this village, Fina's house is a two-story building, but only the first floor is a place for living. A prayer room and other religious symbols are set up above the second floor. From what I could see, this not-too-large house was kept very neatly by Fina, but it was a little too tidy. Apart from the necessary furniture, I didn’t see any decorations. I could hardly tell that this place was a house. Where girls live, although I know that Fina lacks emotions and lacks understanding of some common sense things, I am still surprised that she has no personal preferences except for the necessities of life.
I've also seen Sylvia's place, and it's equally tidy. That slow silver-haired mole may have limited brain power and doesn't usually have any personal hobbies, but at least she occasionally collects some of the latest candy packaging boxes. Put it on a shelf, or design some cards for children, but Fina seems to be more serious than her.
"black tea."
While I was thinking, a cup of steaming tea was placed in front of me, and Fina sat opposite me and began to stare blankly.
"Um, what's wrong?"
I made this expressionless girl stare at me all over. I originally wanted to ask her how she was doing, but it turned out that it was hard for me to ask her.
"Lilina says it's polite and honest to look someone in the eye when talking to them."
"...She finally told you a correct common sense," I put my hand on my forehead, "but you still understood it wrong...well, actually you can do whatever you want. I just want to see what you are doing." How are you doing, are you getting used to living in this world?"
Fina's mouth showed a very slight arc, as if she was planning to smile: "Thank you for your concern, friend, I am very good here, everyone is very kind, people help each other, it is countless times better than the environment I lived in. "
"Um." I scratched my hair, but I was a little stuck. I thought everything was fine before, but it turned out that it was still very difficult to communicate with Fina. This girl who lacks emotions and has no common sense is definitely not a good partner to chat with. Any topic you discuss with her is bound to fail to resonate. Don't say anything else. I even doubt whether she knows what "satisfaction" and "happiness" are like. Under this premise, I can still confirm What is Fina's current life situation?
"Friend, your expression is very distressed: the memory bank tells me that this expression means distress. Can I help you?"
"Alas," I sighed, giving up trying to find emotion on Fina's face, and then took out Ding Dong from my pocket, "Little one, I'm a little depressed, can you be cute?"
"Aww!"
Sure enough, he was bitten by the goddess the next second.
"Friend, do you find it difficult to communicate with me?"
While I was busy pulling Dingdang off my hand, Fina actually took the initiative to speak, and I don't know if it was my misunderstanding, but it seemed... she had a slightly apologetic look on her face?
"That's not what I mean, it's just...how to put it, you came from another world to a completely unfamiliar environment without any relatives around you, so I want to care about you. I am a person who likes to worry about things. Artemis They have also been cared for by me."
"Well," Fina nodded slowly, and then organized her words, "Friend, I can feel your thoughts, but I'm really sorry. I really don't know what expression to use to express my feelings, or even What do the feelings in my heart mean? I can only be sure of one thing, that is, I am more... 'happy' than I was on the Iron Throne. This is the first emotion I learned when I left those machines. I hope This will take your mind off your worries, my friend, I'm really sorry..."
Seeing the slight nervousness and panic in the eyes of the girl in front of me, but unable to show it with her expression, I immediately waved my hand to stop her futile attempt, with a smile on my face: "Okay, maybe I understand. It's okay, Pandora was in the same situation as you at the beginning... I trained her... and educated her, it's good to know that you are happy, um, although life is a bit boring."
I struggled with Fina's room again. This ascetic-like environment is really something that this mechanical girl who has no hobbies and can be very happy just living freely can endure it. I hope that with the continuous contact with the people around her, she will be able to endure it. She can gradually regain her human heart. At least now, it seems that she can feel nervous because of my distress. This is a huge progress in restoring her human heart. Artemis has really worked hard.
"There's nothing else going on. The sisters from Mercury Lamp are here to play today. I'm afraid a bunch of dolls have caused trouble at home. I'm actually here to hide for some peace and quiet."
After chatting with Fina for a few words, I finally told the truth. It was a high-sounding statement to come here to observe the public sentiment, but in fact, I was more afraid of a bunch of noisy rose girls. The calm and dignified Zhenhong might still be able to be settled. Wei Na's black tea is steady, Cang Xingshi seems to be an obedient child, but Cui Xingshi, the guy who always talks all the time, is a super troublemaker, and there are also baby-headed young berry and action. Send the canary... God have mercy on me, there are already enough children in the family, now is it time for the Imperial Royal District to become a large kindergarten class?
"Really? Lilina told me that Lolita are the most powerful creatures in the world because they are both female and underage. It seems to be true."
"How much similar common sense has she instilled in you?" I muttered sadly, "Well, I don't dare to go back until my sister is done with the town. Let's talk about the carnival. What should I say to you? As a former queen, you will also appear when the pan-galactic civilization community participates in the carnival..."