Chapter 351: The Devil Lord’s Next Step?
The Devil Lord frowned but then let out a deep breath. Initially, he placed the anathema on the Pope because the latter was one of the most dangerous cultivators. The fact that the Pope has survived until now, even under the effects of the Devil Lord’s anathema, is a testament to his strength.
After his plan in the Doria Empire collapsed, he realized that he needed to eliminate another leader to compensate for his failure there.
He chose the Pope as his target. The Church could be a major roadblock, and they needed to seize control of it to remove the obstacle. The Church’s territory was only separated by the Vindas Empire and the Doria Empire, making it still quite close to them. Although the holy energy within the Church had already weakened due to "their" interference, holy energy was still holy energy—it was fundamentally opposed to their own and could greatly harm the devils.
However, if he targeted the Church and failed once again, they would lose their grasp on it, as his pawns within the Church would be purged. Because of this, he had no choice but to act personally this time to ensure success.
Yet, the factor that had continuously disrupted his plans had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and was now breaking his plan within the Church as well.
"Yes, it’s confirmed. That man is not from this continent—or perhaps not even from this heaven. There is a strong possibility that he comes from beyond the First Heaven. There is no way someone from this continent could have broken the anathema using any known technique or method available here," the Devil Lord thought.
There was another possibility: the people of the Church might have found something from the Everlasting Silent Forest that could break the anathema. However, this was unlikely. Even if they had discovered something from that place, there was no way they could use it. That was because, to his knowledge, the anathema could only be broken by divine energy—or a force equal in strength to the anathema within the Pope.
The anathema inside the Pope was something he had received from his "God," so breaking it would require a power capable of overturning a divine curse. The Devil Lord refused to believe that the mere ants of this continent could wield such a force. It was beyond their comprehension!
Unless the mysterious swordsman had done it himself.
From the moment the mysterious swordsman revealed his death energy and death laws, the Devil Lord had already begun to doubt his true identity. Also no matter how strong or cunning his underlings were, they all fell at that man’s hands, deepening his suspicions even further.
He began to suspect that the swordsman was like him—someone with a unique existence, someone special. The incident with the Cerberus only strengthened this belief. At this point, he could no longer deny it—there was no way that mysterious swordsman was from this world. In fact, he was beginning to believe that the man might have come from the higher heavens.