Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

  For the next few conferences, Baiyi remained insufferably unyielding towards compromise. It was as though he did it to see if anyone would still dare cross him. Fortunately, no one was hurt — neither did anyone die — unlike that poor sod, as not many were stupid enough to try their luck.

  Ever since Da Xue was founded, Baiyi acted as meek as a scholar to most people. Many thought his interests laid solely in the pursuit of knowledge. Combined with the fallibility of the human memory, ten years were enough to make the more forgetful — and the less vigilant — members of the public to forget who Baiyi really was. They had also forgotten how he attained the position and status he currently held.

  The hardliner attitude Baiyi had just displayed robbed the reawakened the masses to how vicious he could be. Although Baiyi appeared amiable — a nice guy who just so happened to be powerful — his temper was not even. The barbarians of the plains, a few Abyss Lords, the Godsfall cult, the Molocchus-controlled Divine Marionette, and even the denizens of Duat all had something in common: they crossed Baiyi, and those who crossed him eventually kissed their lives goodbye, regardless of how much power they had.

  He was, after all, not just the Grand Principal of an elite institution; he was also the emissary of the Void — an unimaginably horrific place, where some of the most powerful savants the universe had ever witnessed were imprisoned. These people were so powerful when they were alive, the laws of mortals and the Natural Laws had banished them from existence. The Voidwalkers had put their skill on display by nurturing students that could deal with near-apocalyptic situations while the rest of the world panicked. All these made the attitude that Baiyi just displayed befitting of his station and power.

  Baiyi had heeded the Archmage’s advice and finally “raised his voice”. It was a deafening warning to every opportunistic fool in attendance, urging them to reevaluate the impressions they had of him and his institution. Because of that, conferences as pointless as these were canceled, one by one.

  Regardless of society’s opinion of the man, no one dared try to cross Baiyi openly like this anymore.

  Why the sharp change in attitude? It was certainly not because Baiyi’s head was struck, causing a dramatic change of personality, neither was it fully because of the Ember of Hope — his latest project in which he imparts this world with knowledge from Earth, which would gain him more power and control once it was completed.

  It was the current political situation that had motivated Baiyi’s change.

  Northern nations were not targeted during Duat’s invasion, but the Southern Continent suffered a major blow, with secular regimes bearing the brunt. Millions of common folk, who were supposed to have been protected, had died. Cities and towns, where economies thrived, had been decimated.

  Even lands used for mass production of food had been severely tainted by the undead, and purification processes were still underway. If the situation had not been reversed before winter arrived, there would have been an insufficient harvest for the populace, which would have caused widespread famine. There was no state harder to govern that one riddled with hungry masses; in a place like this, the masses were sure to riot against the ruling class all the time. Should the Walthart Empire deteriorate to this state, the safety of the imperial family would be threatened.

  In the meantime, large, independent organizations had fared much better. Their losses, be it manpower or wealth, were not severe. Da Xue, for example, was completely unharmed. It had only lost a large number of magical marionettes in the war.

  The Duat invasion may have seemed like bad news for everyone, but history had shown that there would always be entities who profit off dire situations, regardless of its magnitude. Other from Baiyi, whose greatest boon from the crisis was the Ember of Hope’s invention, the only other entity that expected to turn in a profit in the long term…… was the Church.

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  The undead flinched at the prospect of attacking their archnemesis, the Church, so the Holy City of Canningham and the Templar Fort — the heart and center of the Church and the God’s Grace faith — suffered zero attacks. Some chapels and churches in some towns were destroyed, but that was akin to a drop of water in a sea of Church-owned properties across the continent.

  Right now, Isythre was like a newborn baby gasping for air. Her survivors now wandered dilapidated patches of land that had once been their homes. All they had left was the hope they nursed for salvation — the right sort of mentality to bring about the rise of a religion.

  After the first civil war in the Ancient Rohlserlian Empire, the wars that followed caused hope to dwindle, after which there was a dramatic spike in the Church’s power and influence.

  To put it plainly, mankind’s pain and suffering were what sustained the Church.

  This dip-and-spike pattern was about to be repeated — something Baiyi found most undesirable. Unfortunately, religious forces were riding on the secular regime’s vulnerability to extend their influence directly into politics.

  Baiyi had to admit that the Church’s neutrality on secular conflicts, as well as its stalwart commitment to protecting humans from the demons of the Abyss, was nothing short of commendable. However, when the existence of the Voidwalkers was revealed to the world, the Church changed targets. The Voidwalkers were quickly deemed a powerful threat that was antagonistic to the laws of the Church’s One True God. The Abyss demons had yet to resolve the internal strife that broke out after the defeat of yet another Abyss Lord in Marle, so the Church had slowly shifted the tip of its sword towards Baiyi and the Voidwalkers.

  Not only the Church find the Void and its energy obscene and offensive, but they also regarded Baiyi’s active effort to extend his influence a dangerous threat. As they had observed, Baiyi had worked hard on exerting his influence, training students who were brilliant and talented but also loyal to himself in Da Xue, and then supplied them to various significant organizations.

  This was the pivotal moment for the expansion of influence. Fresh from a crisis, the empire and her people were now looking for support; whichever side the secular regime decided to ally automatically itself with would earn the support of the people, and the side that is ignored would automatically be doomed to a loss of societal significance and influence.

  This was why it was assumed that Baiyi was doing all he could to expand his influence, as this would put a dent in the Church’s expansion, making him its biggest enemy. Although such an assumption could be applied to most people, those nursing this thought had gotten Baiyi very, very wrong.

  In reality, Baiyi was just not as power-hungry as they thought. First, he did not have a grand ambition to rule the world or create a new nation for himself; his motives had remained the same from day one: he wanted to free the Voidwalkers from the Void. He wanted them to return to the world and lead normal lives, just live everyone else. That was much better than using the Pseudo-Descent Spell to return to the world. Baiyi also did not want the Voidwalker, who many had deemed heretics, to return to a world where pitchforks and torches would be raised against those different from others.

  What would he do after achieving his goal? He could pass off his days as an idle billionaire, the kind that had an incredibly hot wife. However, to Baiyi, retirement plans did not matter for now. Although he had not made plans for his future, he was sure that he would not rule the world.

  This had been Baiyi’s thought from the very beginning. He had made this known, but no one, including the Church and the elites of the Empire, believed him. Why would anyone believe that someone as powerful as Baiyi could be contented with something this simple? [1]

  Unfortunately, as Baiyi had no desire to fight for political power, there was little reason from preventing him from utilizing his favorite asset: his good o’ fist, and a slew of overpowered abilities.

  Now that a more moderate faction of the Church was dying out, seeing as the old pope’s influence was waning, extremists jumped at the chance to publicly proclaim their dislike for the Voidwalers. This made plain the Church’s refusal to compromise. Baiyi personally loved this development, because the feeling of dislike was mutual.

  What else could come next? A full-blown war? Sure thing! Baiyi never once harbored the illusion that the Church would be able to maintain a peaceful coexistence with him, someone they had branded a heretic long, long ago. Hence, he had been preparing for the inevitable — the day he and the Church would go to war with each other — for a long time. For all he knew, that time was nigh!

  Baiyi was only worried, albeit mildly, about those ineffable gods. However, when the War God gave him the Grandruler’s Law Fragment, Baiyi’s worries were lessened. The God of Space, who knew what Baiyi was capable of, had consented to Baiyi’s research on something that supposed to be exclusive to the gods! Seeing that his research triggered no divine repercussion, Baiyi assumed that the gods had tacitly permitted him to learn about the Laws, step-by-step. After vaguely showing Baiyi the ropes and aiding him in his research, the Ember of Hope was born. If the gods were against Baiyi and the others, why would one of them help so openly, without problem?

  Hence, the ambiguously permissive stance from the gods was the deciding factor as to why Baiyi had so unreservedly used Void Energy in public, such as to “punish” that foul-mouthed pastor earlier. It was both a roar of warning and an act of provocation. If the Church took the bait and stirred up conflict, Baiyi would gleefully meet them in the battlefield and punch them hard, in the glorious name of self-defense.

  Who cared about what the secular ruling class may think? Once the Church fall, they would not even have any choices left. Now that they were all forced into an undefined period of vulnerability, there was even less reason to care.

  Yet, it seemed that the secular ruling class themselves did not realize that. The Emperor of the Walhart Empire, for example, had been waiting for Baiyi to personally see him. He thought that Baiyi must be yearning for the empire’s support to rival the eventual expansion of the Church’s powers.

  Truthfully, the Emperor himself detested the possibility of either the Church or the Voidwalkers becoming too influential, since that would, first and foremost, threaten his own sovereignty to rule. Hence, in order to maximize benefits for himself, the Emperor had decided to make deals with both sides, envisioning all sorts of plausible developments under this current situation to formulate elaborative schemes and contingencies plans.

  So far, the Church had acted exactly as he had expected. They were quick to send an envoy to him, promising that they were cleansing the corrupted farming lands as quickly as possible so that crop production would hit the minimum standard by next year. More importantly, the Church had agreed to let the Emperor take control of Da Xue, the continent’s top academy, once the Church cleared away the Voidwalkers.

  Naturally, the Emperor was very pleased with the deal. All he needed right now would be Baiyi to come rushing to him for a parley.

  However, it was soon apparent that Baiyi never treated the Emperor as worthy of any attention, especially not important enough to make him leave his lab and his research. Even the conferences the Emperor had hosted — which were just excuses he used to ask Baiyi over — were attended only by the Fifth Walker’s right-hand woman, Vidomina.

  She could pay as much lip service to the Emperor as she could, yet nothing she said could be served as a confirmation from Hope himself. Helpless, the Emperor then hinted at the young lady to have Baiyi see him as soon as possible.

  Vidomina discerned the Emperor’s underlying wish easily, and so she passed the message to the man himself as urgently as possible. However, Baiyi was so completely engrossed in his research back then that he rather spent his time chucking all sorts of things at some scribble than to pay the Emperor’s request any attention.

  In the end, the Emperor’s only option left was to wait patiently for the man to finally be done with whatever he was occupied with.

  Finally, the day came, and now the man’s attitude had turned a complete one-eighty!

  It utterly baffled him. How big of nerd is this guy? There’s a storm coming right to his door and his reaction is “Hold on, I got some research to handle”? Do you know that the Church is gearing up to fight you and that they are already actively trying to secure my support?

  The Emperor tried his best to come up for excuses to Baiyi’s chronic cluelessness, yet nothing seemed to square up. The only conclusion he managed to make was that this fella must be as mad as a hatter to think that he could fight a gargantuan organization like the Church without first securing the support of the Empire, a mad and grandiose idea, indeed! Even if Da Xue was a highly respected institution, “respect” would not save you from the sword on a battlefield!

  Just as the Emperor was still musing about Baiyi’s inexplicable behavior, he heard a series of frantic rapping on his door.

  It was one of his personal attendants, who was already bathing in sweat as he blabbered, “Y-Your Majesty, G-G-Grand Principal H-Hope, he–!”

  Then, a flurry of slow, thumping footsteps echoed behind the attendant before he could finish, prompting him to turn around and shield the door with himself as he mumbled, “P-please, Master Hope, you cannot pass unless you’ve been given specific permission to—”

  Baiyi grabbed the poor attendant by his sleeves, chucked him to a side, and trotted into the Emperor’s study without waiting for the latter’s approval. The Fifth Walker even closed the door himself before sizing the room up, muttering, “Huh. Not too shabby at all.”

  No bowing, no kneeling or an exchange of formalities. It was as though Baiyi was not talking to an emperor.