Chapter 3: The Old Divine Stick
Su Xiao stood inside the church, a beam of sunlight shining down from the skylight, dust particles swirling within the light.
"To become a king, you must endure much pain. Those you trust most may betray you, your blood relatives may constantly seek your death, you will face countless temptations, you will..."
The elderly priest kept speaking in a low voice, causing Su Xiao to frown. This old man was quite long-winded.
"Ahem."
Su Xiao coughed lightly, and the priest's murmuring ceased.
"Where was I?"
The elderly priest looked a bit dazed. Hearing this, Su Xiao nearly pressed his hand onto his sword hilt.
"Let's get straight to the point. I might understand better than you what it costs to become the Black King."
Su Xiao pulled up his left sleeve and tapped his metal bracer with his index finger. The color of [Black: King's Fall Sacrifice] shifted, turning black again.
The elderly priest looked over upon hearing this, his expression clearly stunned.
"That is the King's..."
As if recalling something, he stumbled to the main door, repeatedly checking to confirm it was locked.
"Still the same question: what can you do for me?"
Su Xiao felt the elderly priest was unreliable; this old man clearly had some dementia...
"Where were we?"
The elderly priest began looking confused again.
"..."
Su Xiao took a deep breath and briefly recapped their previous conversation.
"You brought it back... to save us?"
The elderly priest's eyes were full of hope, the kind of look a traveler on the verge of dying of thirst in a desert would have.
"Probably... yes."
"It must be so. You have brought the King back."
The elderly priest quickly walked to the stone platform holding the metal book. He took down the book, and black threads from it merged into his body, clearing his murky eyes significantly.
"Tell me about the current situation. Before returning to the Holy City, I lived in the Northern Border. The lord there is ambitious; he'll be the first to send troops."
Su Xiao urgently needed to understand the situation in the Holy City. A mere royal identity wasn't enough; he also needed support. Of course, his own combat strength would make his subsequent actions much easier.
So-called power struggles seemed turbulent and complex, but those Su Xiao had dealt with before—who among them wasn't skilled at seizing power? The old lion of the Shia World, Harold of the Ghost World—which of them wasn't a super old schemer? Which wasn't a daddy-level figure in power struggles?
Su Xiao had cooperated with these two countless times. The power struggle in this world had lasted over a decade without producing a second Black King, which already showed that none of the contenders were ruthless characters like the old lion or Harold.
Su Xiao wasn't planning to step forward and seize power himself. He first needed to select a controllable puppet—someone with royal status but incapable of seizing power.
The reason was simple: although Su Xiao now had royal status, the empire's officials wouldn't acknowledge a sudden outsider. Those people weren't NPCs in a game; flashing an identity wouldn't make them support you unconditionally.
The elderly priest before him clearly wasn't supporting him for power but wanted him to suppress something terrible—the 'residents' of Dead Silence City.
Unable to directly seize power, this was where the puppet's role came in. The puppet needed to live long-term in the Holy City, have been forced into the power struggle, and barely held on. If the puppet became disobedient in the end, physical elimination could be considered.
"The situation in the Holy City is very complicated. Roughly speaking, one-third of the power is in the Senate, one-third with the Princess Royal, and the remaining third with two dukes. The Princess Royal and the dukes are all descendants of the King. According to imperial law, up to now, capable male royals can only become dukes, while females have it slightly better and can become Princess Royals with greater authority."
The 'Princess Royal' the elderly priest mentioned was essentially a princess qualified to become king. There was a fundamental difference between a Princess Royal and an ordinary princess.
The situation in the Holy City was worse than Su Xiao imagined. Even the Senate, a supposedly neutral body, was involved in the power struggle.
The violator was likely among these people. The first thing Su Xiao needed to do was not to contact them but to find a puppet first, then a know-it-all. From the current situation, the elderly priest was more of an introducer; how much power he held was unknown.
"With such a chaotic situation, what can we do?"
Su Xiao sat down on a wooden chair as he spoke. He didn't believe that the elderly priest arranged by Reincarnation Paradise was just a rambling old divine stick.
"We can order the Senate to hand over all their military power."
The elderly priest spoke very calmly, as if discussing what to have for dinner.
"..."
Su Xiao looked at the old divine stick with surprise. Clearly, this guy held considerable power.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. From now on, I can stay clear-headed for at least 40 moon cycles."
The old divine stick smiled at Su Xiao. His aura gradually changed. If before absorbing the black energy he was a kind old man, now he was an old monster. Su Xiao even sensed a faint sense of crisis. In a life-or-death fight, he and the old divine stick would be at most fifty-fifty. This was support from Reincarnation Paradise, showing just how troublesome that violator was.
"Very good. Which royals in the Holy City have lost power? The more useless, the better."
"Royals who have lost power? You plan to..."
The old divine stick immediately understood Su Xiao's meaning, and his gaze shifted.
"You should know that if I directly involve myself in the royal power struggle, setting aside whether I can gain some military power, just the recognition from officials and the populace would be a problem. We're not staging a mutiny; we're reclaiming our rightful power. This requires support from other officials and a legitimate reason."
The Senate, the Princess Royal, and the dukes never dreamed that their greatest enemy would finalize a plan in a small church in just one hour.
"Let me think for a moment."
The old divine stick walked into a small room behind the church. After about ten minutes, he changed into a black robe.
"There are three suitable candidates: the coastal Duke Bernard, the exiled Princess Royal Kaki, and Princess Dawn Perdela. The youngest, Perdela, is only fifteen—that's a problem. However, she has considerable support among the people, which is why she's been assassinated three times."
"She's the one."
Su Xiao's decisive choice made the old divine stick tap his chest with his finger.
"God, forgive my transgression."
The old divine stick seemed a bit conscience-stricken, but in an instant, he pulled a folded piece of paper from his bosom like a magician.
"Perdela prays at the Royal Garden every day at ten in the morning. It's now nine-thirty. We should be able to see her there. God, forgive my sins."
The old divine stick smiled at Su Xiao. Now Su Xiao finally understood why Reincarnation Paradise had arranged the old divine stick on his side.
"Don't bother praying to God. The number of people you've killed probably isn't less than mine."
Although the old divine stick hid it well, Su Xiao could sense his blood aura—a dark, filthy blood aura.
"Those who believe in light never slaughter others; they only prune away darkness."
The old divine stick looked solemn but spouted nonsense like farting. 'Pruning away darkness' was just killing people.
Su Xiao and the old divine stick locked eyes. A smile appeared on Su Xiao's face. The old priest tapped his forehead with his finger.
"God, please forgive my support of evil. This is to help more people."
If the God of Light really existed, he would tell the old divine stick to get as far away as possible. He didn't have such a believer.
"Stop wasting time. Let's go."
"Impatience is..."
Bang!
The church door was kicked open.
"My door."
The old priest's face twisted for a moment but quickly returned to a kind, benevolent expression—which was actually a more terrifying shift in emotion.