Chapter 351: The Roman Curia Declares War
An organization that had little to no influence all along among the cultivators of the east had finally spoken.
“The Roman Curia.”
Lu Xuan held a freshly delivered newspaper and saw the declaration of the current pope on it.
That declaration said that they were to take down Lu Xuan, who they called a manifestation of the devil from h.e.l.l.
“So I’m a devil from h.e.l.l now, huh?” Lu Xuan chuckled coldly and continued, “The Roman Curia really is out to stir trouble.”
Any impression he had of the Roman Curia came from his past life. He knew next to nothing about the organization in his current life.
That was because the Roman Curia kept a lower profile compared to several other organizations.
Then again, there were currently at least over a billion Christians all over the world. Therefore, the Roman Curia’s influence was something that had always been around all this time.
Even so, it was an organization that kept a very low profile when compared to many other active cultivation forces out there.
Despite that, the Roman Curia’s current influence still paled in comparison to when the organization was at its peak. Back then, the organization was considered to be the de facto leader of several cultivation forces present all over Europe after all.
They were the ones responsible for resisting the Covenant of Darkness, forcing the latter to cross the ocean all the way to the Americas and Russia.
However, the Roman Curia still maintained a firm grip on many countries in Europe; the candidates for kings of European nations needed to be acknowledged by the Roman Curia before they could ascend to their respective thrones.
The organization had truly been a big deal back then.
However, it eventually fell into decline.
Few people knew about what actually happened, and Lu Xuan was one such person. The Roman Curia went on a crusade, their target being none other than the world of cultivators in Huaxia.
It was not a secular war involving common people, which was why few knew about it.
The crusade to the far east ultimately led to their defeat by an alliance of sects and clans from all walks in Huaxia, forcing the crusaders to retreat home to Europe.
The result affected what happened next in both Europe and Asia. While the cultivators of Huaxia managed to repel the invaders, they nonetheless suffered severe losses. This was how Mongolia invaded and founded the Yuan Dynasty.
It was the first time in history where the regime of the Han people had fallen.
The Roman Curia’s powers were severely diminished as well, causing their grip on the European countries to weaken at such a frightening rate that the kings of those nations no longer regarded the Roman Curia as they once did.
The kings of the European countries began ascending to their thrones without batting an eye at the Roman Curia. This directly resulted in factions like the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Protestants, and many other Christian sects emerging.
The King of England had even chased away representatives of the pope and formed the Church of England, appointing the nation its own archbishop.
One could say that the Roman Curia’s powers had been weakening with every pa.s.sing day since then.
The decline continued until Liu Bowen severed the Dragon’s vein, thus cutting off the path of cultivation for cultivators all over the world. The act also weakened the Roman Curia’s powers even further.
The organization continued to weaken to the point where even Stalin asked, “How many divisions does the Pope have?!”
The organization had basically been reduced to being a spiritual leader; Christians from all over the world cared little else about it.
The situation did not change until spirit qi was restored to the world.
The Roman Curia was no longer just a conventional religious organization; it became a cultivation force in itself as well at the same time.
Lu Xuan heard a great many changes happening in Vatican. Some say that they saw angels descending from the heavens, hymns being heard all over the place. The Vatican even remained lit every night without the need for electricity.
Every single building found in Vatican glittered brilliantly.
It was said that even the castles throughout Vatican saw miracles of all kinds taking place, expanding so much that it exceeded the imagination of the common man.
One could say that countless Christians went on pilgrimages to the Vatican every single month.
That was just about all that Lu Xuan knew about the place. While the Vatican became increasingly more pious, the Roman Curia of the Vatican remained low profile as always.
It was no longer the middle ages; the surrounding nations would no longer submit to the Roman Curia so easily.
Due to the ma.s.sive influence that the Roman Curia of the Vatican had on the Christians from all over the world, it was currently placed under scrutiny by many countries.
If the Roman Curia were to try acting higher than them, they might end up shaking the entire western part of the world. The affected western governments would even join forces to take out the Roman Curia.
The countries had been making painstaking efforts to shake themselves off of the Vatican’s control in the first place after all, and no one wanted things to return to how they had once been.
That was the reason why the Vatican stayed quiet all the time.
Despite all that had happened in recent years, the Roman Curia of the Vatican continued to stay low.
Now, the organization was finally done with keeping to itself.
They went so far as to declare that Lu Xuan was the modern reincarnation of the Devil himself. Only by killing Lu Xuan could they purify the world and allow all devotees to ascend to heaven.
Lu Xuan’s act of killing the President of the United States of America was done under the Devil’s influence.
They declared that there as long as Lu Xuan was still alive, there would be no peace among Christians.
The declaration instantly caused a huge commotion.
If the Roman Curia were to make such a high-profile declaration before spirit qi was restored to the world, it would have looked like they were asking to be insulted.
Despite the organization still holding quite a high of influence in the hearts of their devotees, it only went so far.
Domination of modern science made it so that any talk of G.o.ds and demons would be seen as a joke. Anyone doing so would be made into a laughing stock.
However, things were no longer that way. After spirit qi was restored to the world, all manner of mystical phenomena began to take place in the Vatican. Everyone came to ponder the possibility of such G.o.ds existing in ancient times.
They were sure that G.o.d actually made himself seen and heard.
One could even say that religions of all kinds grew by leaps and bounds after spirit qi was restored to the world. This applied especially to Christianity, which became the largest religion throughout the world.
There was no way to tell just how many believers of the religion, mainly the least faithful of the followers, would become fanatics.
Many people have even gone on a pilgrimage to the Vatican with the expressed intention of acquiring cultivation methods.
Currently, what the Roman Curia said was no longer something that had some influence. Rather, it was now something that called countless fanatics out there into action.
It was practically a declaration of war, one that shook cultivators from across the world.
On one side of the war was the leader of western cultivators. Even the newer sects like the Eastern Orthodox Church had to acknowledge the pope’s authority, whose status was on par with the leaders of the Big Five in the present day.
On the other side, there was the person that was acknowledged by just about every cultivator of the east. That person possessed powers beyond imagination, so much so that he was able to treat even Airborne Realm beings like toys.
The top-notch figures among the monsters of the world of cultivators were about to clash in a way that had never been seen before.
That declaration itself instantly shocked the entire world.
In the declaration, the pope went so far as to call to devotees from all over the world to rise against the man they had deemed the devil-incarnate. Everyone who had trade relations with the Lu Clan, of which Lu Xuan was a member, had to sever said trade relations right away.
The Roman Curia was calling out to all to sanction that devil who was more than powerful enough to threaten the western Christian world.
“Alright, so, you’re saying that I’ve now become the devil? Satan’s underling or something?” Lu Xuan smirked. To him, Satan was a n.o.body and was unfit to be his boss.