Chapter 2508: Petrifying Oneself
If Hildegarde had been bewildered and unable to understand her words earlier, she felt a chill down her spine as she gradually understood. This was too evil. Even she, a mid-level member of the Church of Suffering, thought that perhaps abusing the lower-class people like this was a bit too much.
As expected of a Divine Favorite of the Murder Church, she could come up with such an evil idea. The most crucial part was that Hildegarde actually thought this suggestion was feasible and could genuinely make money.
Members of the Church of Suffering had a natural tolerance for pain. They could whip their companions to give them buffs, such as increasing strength, enhancing energy, and so on.
This would allow the skinny, impoverished believers to perform heavy physical labor. Moreover, they would become happier after being whipped. After the agricultural products were harvested, they could be fed. The rest would be sold for money as church assets. Once enough money was accumulated, they could establish factories.
I thought when I saw their ability to not fear pain before, it was such a waste not to engage in hard labor. They were simply natural laborers, farmers, and even slaves.
I can only say that the Church of Suffering did not know how to play this game, which was a complete waste of talent. They were playing with ‘BDSM’, while I was just talking about reality.
If people from the Plague Church were here, I could teach them the trick of spreading plague themselves and having another group pretend to be doctors in a staged performance. Such a wicked method had been used before.
“Master, your suggestion is too profound, but I cannot make the decision. I am just a mid-level member, and I am very sorry.” Hildegarde could not make up her mind, so she could only use the tactic of shifting responsibility to others.
“Okay, I won’t make things difficult for you. It is indeed too difficult for you to consider such things. Then, where are the high-level members of your Church of Suffering? Let them talk to me,” I said directly.
“That…” Hildegarde hesitated, seemingly thinking whether she should tell me the identity and location of the high-level members. But after a moment of hesitation, she pointed to the Fountain Statue in the center of the courtyard and said, “They are inside these statues.”
“Huh? Your high-level members are sealed inside these statues?” I asked in surprise. I had already thought that these statues might be real people because they were too lifelike, with every hair clearly visible.
I had also observed their mouths, nostrils, and other parts. All the details were present. Ordinary statues would not be carved so realistically.
After learning from Despair Double Sound that they were nodes of a large formation, I was even more certain that these statues were likely originally real people. The Church of Suffering had petrified real people into statues to generate magic power to supply the large formation, which was what the East called a human pillar.
Such a cruel practice, of course, I did not like it. I thought that after I subdued the Church of Suffering, I would have them release the people in the statues.
I never expected that these statues were all high-level members of the Church of Suffering. What was this? Sacrificing oneself for righteousness, self-sacrifice? Or was it the leaders taking the lead?
Facing my questioning gaze, Hildegarde explained, “After being petrified, they are unable to move. Being exposed to the wind, sun, rain, and insects is also a kind of suffering. They let themselves endure this suffering and merge with the great formation, hoping to reach a higher realm.”
So that’s how it is. I thought the great formation needed living people to generate magic power to maintain its operation. I didn’t expect it to be the other way around. These petrified high-level members were using the great formation to cultivate.
This manor was located where the barrier to the outer realm was thin, allowing them to collect the purest magic of suffering to the maximum extent to aid their cultivation.
But to seal oneself into a stone sculpture, unable to move, yet retaining consciousness, but unable to move – someone actually dared to do such torture. I can only say that the high-level members of the Church of Suffering are a group of tough individuals.
“Then unseal them and restore all the statues to their original state,” I ordered Hildegarde.
“Ah? But they are the most important nodes of the great formation. Once unsealed, the formation will be instantly destroyed,” Hildegarde said regretfully.
The construction of this great formation had consumed a large amount of manpower and material resources for the Church of Suffering, which was why the Church of Suffering had always been short of funds. It was a great pity that it was to be dismantled now.
“Since I have already moved in here, I will not allow anyone to pry into my privacy anymore. Moreover, your great formation has long been destroyed and can never be repaired. There is no use in keeping them,” I said.
With such a great formation, which used high-level members as nodes and was set up near the outer realm, its power should theoretically be extremely great. It was no wonder that mercenaries could not find any traces of the Church of Suffering before.
Unfortunately, the great formation, which they had spent the entire church’s effort to construct, had been restored by Older Brother Jayad’s Rose Touch before it could even be activated. Now, repairing it again would be as difficult as rebuilding one from scratch.
Moreover, I would no longer allow it. When I thought about how Older Brother Jayad had pushed me onto the knee of that bathhouse statue and spanked me while I was bathing, it meant that even that kind of thing was seen by him.
If it weren’t for my compassion, the Church of Suffering would have been considered half my own. I would want to smash that statue to pieces right now.
“Um, I’m afraid that’s not possible for the time being,” Hildegarde said cautiously.
“What? Is there still any difficulty?” I asked impatiently. I was already being very polite.
“The Masters were sealed by a high-level petrification technique. To prevent their petrified bodies from being harmed, we also cast a large amount of protective magic. To unseal them, we need to gather many believers and use the original sealing magic apparatus to cast the spell together,” Hildegarde said.
“So troublesome? Then if you encounter an accident and cannot gather enough people, or if the original sealing magic apparatus is lost, won’t they be trapped in the statues forever?” Lorna asked a very constructive question curiously.
Hildegarde had complicated feelings towards Lorna. It was this ghost that had possessed her companion before, manipulating and torturing her mind with illusions along the way, and finally driving her to the brink of collapse.
She didn’t dare to have any objections towards this ghost because she was truly traumatized. Luckily, she wasn’t a real enemy. Hildegarde replied, “Of course, we’ve considered this. The petrification magic of the Masters only has a validity of ten years. Every ten years, they will wake up once and then be re-sealed.”
“Okay, then I can’t possibly unseal them for now. You need to go back to the church to get the sealing magic apparatus, and I will release your companion,” I said helplessly. It seemed there were still many things to take care of.
