CHAPTER 633: Are You Worthy?

"Cardinal, watch your words!" the chubby pope scolded in a displeased tone.

Within the Church of Calamity, only the Pope could make Kironlo feel uneasy, for in the entire religious organisation he was the only person on his level in terms of strength. So when Kironlo was scolded, he immediately realised that he had spoken out of turn and needed to exercise some restraint.

"He's stronger than me!" the Six Horned Tribe King said in an indifferent voice after glancing at Han Shuo.

"What? He is stronger than you?" Kironlo was deeply shocked and at a loss. He found the words of the six-horned tribe king very hard to believe.

Apart from the big fat pope, many of the cardinals in the hall couldn't hide the horror in their hearts and stared at Han Shuo with wide open eyes that flickered like strobe lights. They were rapidly turning their minds around, perhaps recalculating their plans.

"Yes. He is stronger than me and stronger than every single person in this room!" the Six Horned Tribe King acknowledged Han Shuo's brave strength, leaving the cardinals in no doubt.

The crowd in the room knew that the Six-Horned Tribe King was definitely not one to talk nonsense. Their unanimous instinctive reaction was to pay more attention to Han Shuo. Some of the cardinals who had previously made a private agreement with Kironlo even began to reconsider whether they should actually honour the agreement.

"Impossible... Impossible..." Kironlo muttered to himself in disbelief. His heart was in confusion and turmoil. Although the two of them were in the realm of the basegods, their actual strengths were not exactly equal. Having previously fought the Six-Horned Tribe King with the Pope, Kironlo had realised that the Six-Horned Tribe King's true strength was slightly greater than both his and the Pope's, as the Six-Horned Tribe King possessed a unique method of attacking the soul.

As the only remaining original Cardinal of the Church of Calamity, Kironlo had previously traded blows with the Pope of the Church of Light. He knew that the great power of the Pope of Light depended largely on his use of divine weapons. However, even in that case, the power the Pope of Light possessed was about the same level as his, and there wasn't much difference between them.

Based on this understanding, Kironlo guessed that Han Shuo might be able to defeat the Light Pope by sheer luck, but he probably wouldn't be able to defeat the Six-Horned Tribe King. That was the reason for his constant provocation. He didn't just want the Six-Horned Tribe King to humiliate Han Shuo, he wanted to get rid of him.

However, he had never expected that the Six-Horned Tribe King had met Han Shuo before and that the strength Han Shuo possessed was far beyond what he had expected. With that, Kironlo realised that wresting the skeleton staff from Han Shuo would be very difficult.

"

Bryan, come and have a sit," the Pope of the Church of Calamity said to Han Shuo, beaming from ear to ear. He was very pleased in his heart to see Kironlo's horrible expression.

No one in a high position would wish to have a backseat driver around - the Pope of Calamity was no exception. But unfortunately for the Pope, Kironlo's popularity within the Calamity Church and his terrifying strength allowed him to gain considerable influence over the Church. This influence, which Kironlo possessed, sometimes even affected his policies and decisions. This made the Pope extremely unhappy.

However, given Kironlo's identity, there was nothing he could do about it, no matter how much he resented it. It was only natural for the great man to be pleased to see Kironlo overpowered by Han Shuo.

Han Shuo was not overly polite. He bluntly walked over to the big fat man and straightforwardly sat down on an empty seat. He showed no reservation.

Meanwhile, as the pope greeted Han Shuo, Kironlo put on a friendly smile and called out to the six-horned tribal king of the soul race in a heartfelt manner, "Come, our honoured six-horned guest, come sit with me."

During this time, Kironlo had deliberately and constantly tried to trap the Six-Horned Tribe King, and he had certainly succeeded. It was his belief that the Six-Horned Tribe King would surely come to him when he heard his call.

But in life, not everything goes as expected. Not only did the Six-Horned Tribe King fail to acknowledge his call, but contrary to everyone's expectations, the Six-Horned Tribe King walked directly towards Han Shuo as if he hadn't heard Kironlo at all.

Kironlo's face became even more ugly. His cold, sinister eyes scanned Han Shuo and the Six-Horned Tribe King. No one knew what was in his mind.

After taking a seat next to Han Shuo, the six-horned tribal king looked at Han Shuo impatiently and hesitated for a moment before finally asking, "Those energy stones, can you tell me where you found them?"

"There's no point in looking. I took all the energy stones that place had to offer," Han Shuo replied frankly, hoping that the six-horned tribal king would give up on that plan.

The tribal king sagged with disappointment. Indifferently, he remarked, "What a pity! What a pity!"

The two did not deliberately lower their voices as they spoke. Since every single cardinal in the room was an expert of extraordinary power, they obviously heard their conversation loud and clear. At this point, every head in the room understood that Han Shuo and the Six-Horned Tribe King must have met before, fought, and come to an agreement. Otherwise, there was no way that the Six-Horned Tribe King would be so well-behaved given his cruelty and mercilessness.

""Very well. Now that everyone's here, let's get down to business!" as the fat man raised his voice, all the cardinals stopped whispering to each other.

After all those who had no business in the room had left, the Pope nodded to someone outside the hall, and the doors to the Hall of Cardinals slowly closed. Then, when the Great Hall was completely and tightly sealed, a barrier was triggered to encircle the entire Cardinals' Hall, ensuring that no one could overhear their conversation from the outside.

After the doors were closed, the big fat man looked around and said with a smile. "Each and every one of you here today is a core member of the Church. I believe none of you have any objection to recognising Bryan and Sixhorn as one of us?"

"Perhaps not!" Kironlo's sinister voice suddenly sounded. He looked Han Shuo up and down with unfriendly eyes as he said, "Sixhorn's ancestor participated in the Great War five thousand years ago. There are records in the church that could prove this. There were even carvings of the Soul Race etched into some of the walls here. So there's no doubt that Six-Horned is one of us. Bryan, on the other hand, was just someone who happened to come into possession of our Church's sacred weapon, the Skeletal Staff. The Church has tried to find him many times to get confirmation from him, but he has always refused to admit that he is one of us. If he himself did not consider himself to be one with the Church, why must we be so eager to acknowledge him?"

"Agreed. Bryan had not made his position clear all along. Perhaps he was repulsed by our Church?" a Sacred Grade Magus who also cultivated the Elemental Energy of Death hastily echoed after Kironlo. As a cultivator of the elemental energy of death, he had received guidance from Kironlo and was therefore standing with him.

"He is the master of the Skeletal Staff, of course he is one of us. There is nothing to dispute! The reason he didn't acknowledge his identity earlier was because he wasn't aware of the inseparable relationship between the Skeletal Staff and our Church. Bryan has now come here in person. Isn't that proof enough of his sincerity? The big fat man always had a big smile on his face by default. But when his stern face appeared, the overbearing demeanour of someone who had long held a high position was instantly unleashed, putting immense pressure on those who opposed him.

Han Shuo observed that when the Pope showed his displeasure, many of the cardinals in the hall immediately forced a smile on their faces, afraid to voice their opinions. From this, Han Shuo immediately realised that the Pope did indeed have absolute, unchallenged influence over the Church of Calamity. His stern demeanour at this moment was very different from his usual demeanour. Han Shuo couldn't help but glance at him a few more times in surprise.

When the rotund pope saw that the crowd was too intimidated to speak, he groaned coldly, put on a smile and asked Han Shuo, "Bryan, isn't that right?"

"Of course. The Skeleton Staff is not just in my possession, I'm cultivating necromancy magic. I have come here to make my position clear to everyone," Han Shuo said in an honest and guileless manner.

Truly despicable! Many of the cardinals had the same thought in their heads. Being of the cunning and deceptive type themselves, how could they not see Han Shuo's true intentions behind his seemingly sincere demeanour?

"You see? Bryan is definitely one of us. There is no reason to suspect otherwise," the big fat man smiled once again. It was as if the person he had been scowling at a moment ago wasn't him at all.

"I can't see anything sincere in him. Who knows if he covets our Church's influence on the Profound Continent, or if he has some other reason for coming here. The Skeleton Staff is a sacred artefact of our Church. It is a disgrace to the Skeleton Staff that it has fallen into the hands of such a young boy. In my opinion, we should ask him to hand over the skeletal staff and then slowly test him to see if he is sincere in serving the Church. Kironlo was determined to make Han Shuo's life miserable. When he saw that no one dared to speak out because they were intimidated by the Pope, he had no choice but to voice his opposition himself.

The Calamity Pope's face immediately turned black upon hearing these words. He was truly angry as he gave Kironlo a death stare. He seemed to be considering dropping any pretence of cordiality with Kironlo.

The fat man knew exactly what his true intentions were. After all, all he wanted was Han Shuo's skeleton staff. He believed that the reason why Han Shuo had become so powerful in such a short span of a dozen years was because of the Skeletal Staff. As someone who could unleash a pandemic disease on the entire continent without thinking, Kironlo was a madman to begin with. On top of the fact that the Skeletal Staff was a huge temptation, he couldn't control his greed.

"Old fart, are you finished yet?" Han Shuo shouted impatiently before the Calamity Pope said a word.

Given Han Shuo's current strength, a mere basegod was nothing in his eyes. The reason why Han Shuo had acted kindly in coordination with the Pope was because he was interested in communicating with the evil god of the Church. Han Shuo was really tired of this basegod being so rude in front of him.

"How disrespectful! As a member of the Church, you must at least show respect to the Cardinals. If you don't even know that, how are you qualified to be one of us?" Kironlo said mockingly as he laughed grimly as if he had found something to use against Han Shuo.

"Respect a half-witted fool like you?! A sinner who made such a terrible mistake that he almost destroyed the whole Church - such a person isn't worthy of my respect? Are you worthy?" Han Shuo looked at Kironlo coldly, reminding everyone of his history without the slightest regard for his feelings.