Chapter 78-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

"The most important scene as a spoiler?"

Ye Zheng's fingertip tapped the phone screen. She understood this was likely a new privilege the System had fought for on her behalf.

"Thank you. This feature is more interesting than only seeing my own plotlines."

[It's what you deserve. You deserve to be valued.]

The System mumbled vaguely.

Valued by whom... the company?

Ye Zheng didn't press further. She opened the manga app on her screen.

The manga's updates were still paused at the scene after the destruction of the Crimson Demonic Domain. Ye Zheng scrolled down, but a vast expanse of blank space represented the future plot she couldn't see.

Based on past experience, a scene would usually appear after a bit of scrolling. But this time, the blank pages went on for an unusually long time, as if it had skipped over a lot of the story. Ye Zheng even began to suspect the spoiler hadn't refreshed yet.

Just as her patience was about to run out, a colored image finally appeared.

This time, the spoiler was only a single page.

However, the moment she saw the image, Ye Zheng's expression froze. Her earlier impatience vanished completely. The amount of information in this one spoiler surpassed all the previous ones combined!

The girl hastily put down her phone, jumped out of bed, and began rummaging through her bookshelf. She quickly pulled out a book.

Divine Revelation—a book that was in the hands of almost everyone in the Sei Curia. It described the history of the God of Hope leading humanity against the Demonic Domains five hundred years ago, as well as the laws and poems the God of Hope brought, the experiences of the believers in spreading their faith and establishing the Sei Curia, and the divine oracles received by successive Popes.

Ye Zheng flipped to the last section of the book. The final volume was called "Eternal Words of Revelation," which recorded the prophecies made by the first Pope about the future five hundred years later, based on the divine oracles he had heard.

The prophecy described that a world-ending Demonic Domain would once again descend upon the empire. It would devour human space at an explosive rate, and slumbering monsters would bring apocalyptic disaster, until the incarnation of the God of Hope, wielding a divine sword, would once again dispel the doomsday.

The last page of Divine Revelation depicted the legendary scene of the God of Hope slaying the demon dragon. The faceless deity, dressed in long robes, held a longsword that gleamed with golden light as it pierced the monster's body.

Ye Zheng picked up her phone and compared the scene from the manga with the illustration in Divine Revelation.

Beneath a crumbling statue, a black-haired, blue-eyed youth held a sword—a sword gleaming with golden light—that was embedded in the corpse of a giant monster.

It looked as if he had just thrust the sword into the monster's body, or perhaps as if he was about to pull it out.

Ye Zheng stared at the scene on her phone screen for a long time.

She wasn't surprised that Percy was the prophesied incarnation of the God of Hope. The protagonist of a story always has a glorious destiny.

But was Percy born as the world's only hope, or did he become the so-called hope of salvation because the creator from outside the world continuously paved the way for him?

On the screen, the magnificent statue of the God of Hope was nearly shattered. The lone youth seemed to be the pillar supporting the world.

"The statue behind Percy looks a bit familiar. That height, the posture with hands crossed over the chest..." Ye Zheng gestured a few times with her hand and said slowly, "There's only one such statue in the entire empire—the Divine Plaza."

She had been "executed" by Sierra in the Divine Plaza not long ago and was extremely familiar with this statue.

The location of the event was confirmed. What about the time?

Ye Zheng's finger swiped on the screen, this time upwards, until she returned to the last updated chapter of the manga.

Based on her observation, a chapter of the manga usually had twenty to thirty pages. Counting the blank pages she had just scrolled through, this scene with Percy was roughly four to five chapters away.

Four or five chapters... that means it will happen in the next Demonic Domain!

From this brief spoiler, Ye Zheng quickly summarized all the known information and pieced it together.

The next Demonic Domain would descend upon the Divine Plaza, and Percy would obtain the divine sword of the God of Hope from the prophecy within that domain.

[How come there's so little content? It's not as good as the spoilers that were related to you before...] the System's remorseful voice echoed in her mind.

Ye Zheng blinked her eyes and said sharply, "Does that mean there's some dangerous or perhaps annoying plotline involving me coming up?"

[Umm...] the System stammered and fell silent.

Its attitude was answer enough. A knowing look crossed the girl's face, and she quickly smiled again.

"This is enough. I have already seen the heroic path the creator has laid out for Percy."

The System felt there was a deeper meaning to Ye Zheng's words and became puzzled.

[What are you planning to do?]

Ye Zheng didn't speak for a moment, her pure dark eyes tracing the divine sword illustrated in Divine Revelation.

[...Don't tell me you want to pull out the sword instead of Percy!] The System's voice suddenly shot up, so loud that the quiet girl had to cover her ears with her hands.

"Pull out the sword? That sounds interesting."

[Isn't the plot obvious? Percy is the savior in the prophecy. He will soon pull out the lost divine sword and officially begin his path as the savior. This is the main storyline.]

[According to the setting, only someone recognized by the God of Hope can pull out the divine sword and become the designated savior.]

[Even if you wanted to pull it out, you wouldn't be able to, because it's a gift from the creator to the protagonist, Percy!] the System argued vehemently, trying to dissuade her. Interfering with such a core plot point was not only impossible to succeed but could also lead to fatal trouble.

"Percy is the creator's designated incarnation of the God of Hope."

"And I, Ye Zheng, am the Saintess of the Sei Curia. For generations, every Saintess has held another title—the Agent of the Gods."

As the Agent of the Gods, saving this world once again on behalf of the God of Hope was entirely within her line of duty.

If Percy could pull out the sword, why couldn't she, the Agent of the Gods?

As the Saintess, she worked diligently, bringing blessings to the people. She imagined the God of Hope wouldn't be displeased with her.

Ye Zheng nodded to herself with satisfaction.

She turned the book in her hands to page 176, which recorded the origin of the Sei Curia's Saintess.

After slaying the demon dragon and saving the empire, the God of Hope vanished from the mortal realm. Without the God of Hope, the empire fell into chaos once more, until a young maiden stood forth, claiming to have received a divine oracle from the God of Hope.

The maiden helped the empire communicate with the God of Hope. She spread reasonable laws and inspiring poems to the world on the God's behalf. She was the mouthpiece of the God of Hope, the thorn bird of the polar night. With the maiden's help, the empire established a new order after the disaster.

From then on, the Sei Curia would always reserve a position for a devout maiden. They were called the Agent of the Gods, the Saintesses.

[As the Saintess of the Sei Curia, you should know better than I that the current Saintess is just a figurehead position in the Sei Curia, chosen by the Pope and bishops according to their own will.]

[You have never received any divine oracle, and you don't even have any worldly power.] the System sighed, its tone filled with disapproval.

"You're right, but—"

"I will make the Saintess a true Saintess once more."

Ye Zheng gently closed the book, and all the past events recorded in black and white returned to silence.

The establishment of the Holy Journey Knights Order made her even busier. She had been to the Sei Curia a few times in between but had not seen Pope Wen Jian.

The Ability Tournament was about to start again, and this time Ye Zheng, as a member of the royal team, was summoned to the imperial palace by Sykes.

She hadn't seen him for a few days, and she felt that Sykes seemed to have changed a little again.

He had combed all the bangs off his forehead, making his face appear sharper. Yet, his expression was much calmer than before, making him look like a steady and reliable royal heir.

The Crown Prince sat at the head of the round table, one hand propping up his chin. Only when the last member was seated did his golden eyes blink, and he spoke:

"Ye Zheng, you're the last to arrive again."

"Crown Prince, I am not late, am I?" Ye Zheng calmly chose a seat. Across the round table sat Yu Tianming and Ryan, both looking at her.

"I hear the Saintess has been very busy lately, so it's understandable that she's a bit late. His Highness was just concerned about you," Yu Tianming said, smoothing things over with a gentle tone.

Ye Zheng smiled at Yu Tianming, then looked at Sykes at the head of the table.

"The fact that I have things to be busy with is all thanks to His Highness Sykes."

"This morning, I went to observe the weapon manufacturing process at the alchemy workshop, so I was inevitably a bit disheveled. In order not to offend His Highness, I went home specifically to change my clothes. I didn't expect to waste some of everyone's time."

Yu Tianming was about to say something more when the voice from the head of the table interrupted him.

"Oh? That batch of weapons shouldn't be ready so quickly. After all, you need them forged according to a brand-new design." Sykes leaned forward slightly, his golden eyes fixed on the girl.

"I was just too excited. What could be more exciting than building a team of one's own?" Ye Zheng toyed with a lock of her hair, seemingly embarrassed by her own excitement.

Yu Tianming's eyes glinted from behind his glasses. He knew that Sykes had given Ye Zheng the authority to forge her own weapons a few days ago, and at the royal alchemy workshop no less.

He had heard it was because Ye Zheng felt that the weapons on the market were not suitable for her female knights, and thus wanted to create custom-fitted weapons for them.

Private weapon forging was a serious crime. The power of weapon manufacturing had always been tightly controlled by the ruling class. Although Sykes had only allowed Ye Zheng to forge a batch of weapons she wanted for her knight order, this level of regard was still astonishing.

Strange. Ever since returning from the 'Blood Flower' Incident, Sykes has been acting strange, and so has his attitude towards Ye Zheng.

It couldn't be that he's grateful for Ye Zheng helping him snap out of the villain's control, could it? For someone like Sykes, even if you saved his life, he would only think it was to be expected and toss you some token reward.

Could it be that in a moment of crisis, he suddenly realized the Saintess was actually very beautiful? Did he suddenly transition from a beast-like state to a human-like puberty?

No, no, he felt there had to be another reason.

Yu Tianming's confusion remained unresolved by the end of the meeting. During the meeting, the four of them discussed the current point situation and future plans. Ryan mentioned that he had mastered a new method of controlling mutant beasts, while Ye Zheng said she had matters to attend to for now and would join the team a few days later.

Throughout the entire process, Sykes remained quiet, wearing an expression of attentive listening, even though there was an irrepressible ferocity and impatience in his eyes.

But the fact that he could suppress these emotions until the end of the meeting was, in Yu Tianming's opinion, quite astonishing.

"Ye Zheng, you stay behind."

Sykes's voice was heavy. He lowered his head, covering his face with one hand as if he couldn't hold something back any longer.

The other two sensed the ominous aura emanating from the Crown Prince and immediately left the meeting room. Only Ye Zheng stopped in her tracks.

She turned around and subconsciously took a deep breath.

The aura of the Dragon Bone was about to overflow the entire room. Its powerful, inflammatory force seemed to be on the verge of igniting the violence within her as well.

Ye Zheng did her best to keep her voice steady. "Crown Prince, is there anything I can do for you?"

"For me?" Sykes's voice sounded somewhat dazed.

"Just like how you treated me in the 'Blood Flower' Incident. Do it again."

Ye Zheng tilted her head. Like in the 'Blood Flower' Incident? Starting with shoving his head into the water?

She moved cautiously. The current Sykes could lash out and kill someone at any moment.

In the past, a palm-sized piece of Dragon Bone had almost made her lose control. And every single bone in Sykes's body was a Dragon Bone...

Ye Zheng stared at the trapped beast-like golden-haired prince. He was slumped over the table, his body heaving with deep breaths as he tried to restrain his out-of-control body.

If Percy was the incarnation of the God of Hope, then what role did Sykes play—the reborn demon dragon?

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