Hyper-Dimensional Player

Chapter 957: Chapter 16: Stirring the Winds and Clouds! Pantheon War! (Part 2)

But saying it is easy, doing it is hard.

Holding immense wealth in your hands, wouldn’t you rather enjoy it yourself? Every day dressed in luxurious clothes, with beautiful wives and concubines, eating, drinking, playing, indulging in pleasure, living a life of happiness!

Why serve others?

This faction of the Joyous High Priest advocates giving up a portion of one’s own enjoyment to instead share happiness with others.

That costs money.

Street artists can entertain others by just exerting a bit of effort, but the Joyful Envoys above need to spread activities according to this doctrine, which means spending money on celebration rituals that must also benefit others.

Money, when spent on oneself, is considered well-spent.

Not a waste at all.

Yet, spending it on others, for instance, those plebeians, to make them happy — it’s like spending on the wrong end of the knife.

The Church of Delight has always been quite wealthy; those without a heritage are not qualified to pursue enjoyment and pleasure.

This is the most fundamental ideological clash — whether one should live pleasantly, or share a little enjoyment from between one’s fingertips with others.

Going even deeper, it relates to the nearly limitless ’treasury’ controlled by the Mother of Great Bliss.

The Mother of Great Bliss manages the mysterious treasury of the Church of Delight; the entire church’s mid-to-high levels, including revelers, joyful priests, hedonists, and others, have their funds distributed by her.

Whether this money is spent on the higher-ups above or given out to benefit more people is the most fundamental conflict of interest.

(Devout fanatics, as well as the general beneficiaries of faith.)

Although all this stems from the passive sponsorship of the goddess of wealth, Waukeen.

"As long as the Mother of Great Bliss makes a statement."

"The others below can’t just selfishly keep everything. They must also yield a part of the benefits."

Duncan put down the "Joy Church Canon" in his hand, and as his gaze indicated, Vera, the serving Joyful Envoy, respectfully stood up to make tea. By staying at Duncan’s side to serve, she almost declared her identity — she belonged to the branch under the Joyous High Priest.

At the door.

The Mother of Great Bliss glanced with slight surprise at the stored "Joy Church Canon." Her expression was extremely weary, no longer as bright as before, and she slowly walked to Duncan’s side, sighed softly: "The Carnival Master — Kowol is gravely injured and near death."

"The Scarlet Performer Sect suffered heavy losses, and the Scarlet Archbishop is missing."

At this point, missing is almost equivalent to being dead.

What if you’re Divine Chosen?

The Mother of Great Bliss isn’t frontline combat strength; even possessing Divine Chosen power, can she hunt down the worshippers of the Suffering Church worldwide?

With her poor combat skills?

Besides standing and outputting a bit, can she decide the battlefield’s outcome if she leaves the range of Sailun?

It can even be said.

Even if Duncan takes over now, solely relying on his strength, it’s difficult to salvage the situation.

Duncan can kill members of the Suffering Church, but the Church of Delight is almost defeated, with the base about to explode, Duncan slaughtering a bunch of heads won’t change the bigger picture.

Unless there’s a powerful external force that can directly push the battle line, stabilize the entire war situation, and prevent the base from blowing up.

In just a few days.

The Church of Delight’s prestige plummeted, teetering on the brink of collapse; all forces in Sailun were observing, although the Mother of Great Bliss had achieved some progress leveraging the power of the Divine Chosen, the church had already rotted beyond salvage, fighting to this stage was a situation beyond a High-Tier Legendary deciding the outcome.

Simply put, ’spread too thin.’

The Mother of Great Bliss couldn’t find the enemy’s lair, nor catch the Divine Favored of the Goddess of Torture, Lavita, while those of the Church of Delight were acting grandly in the high-profile eyes of the world.

The enemy is hidden, while we’re in the open.

Furthermore, with a bunch of amateurs, Duncan was already surprised she held out until now.

Because in his deduction, if Carnival Master Kowol encounters the Divine Favored of the Goddess of Torture, likely he’d lose his head in the first wave.

Yet he remained safe, while members of the Scarlet Performer’s main group died.

Duncan rose to his feet.

With a faintly superior demeanor, he gazed down at the weary and fatigued Mother of Great Bliss, solemnly saying: "The Great Mother wouldn’t expect me to clean up this mess at this moment, would she?"

The Mother of Great Bliss was instantly irritated by these words, yet ultimately lowered her proud head slightly and said: "Lord Duncan is also a Divine Favored of Lady Joy."

"Would you not be willing to contribute to the church?"

Duncan was amused.

The battle’s almost lost, and now they seek the big guns?

Duncan shook his head slightly, reached out to take a piece of intelligence, and threw it in front of the Mother of Great Bliss, saying: "See it for yourself."

"From Sword Coast to Sailun."

"Within half the region of Ferren, core combatants of the Suffering Church are gathering near Sambia."

The Mother of Great Bliss merely glanced and her expression changed dramatically: "Where did this intelligence come from?"

As she spoke, she realized.

At this moment, the only one capable of gathering such crucial intelligence is likely the Wealth Church, whose forces span the Ferren continent.

As long as they’re willing to spend money, adventurers’ eyes and ears are everywhere in the world.

"At least three Divine Favored have emerged."

"It’s even possible the Divine Chosen of the Goddess of Torture has also arrived near Sambia."

Duncan spoke in a low voice, slowly saying: "This is already a worldly total war."

"I fear their goal is not merely your life."