Chapter 365: The Pope's Late-Life Disgrace

The King of Red Lotus, who had maintained the lowest profile thus far, watched the chaos with keen interest. Every so often, she reached out with fair, slender fingers to pluck a grape from the table and slip it gently into her mouth.

She was one of only two women among the Seven Kings. Unlike King Chi's peerless elegance, her beauty was purely bewitching. A tailored crimson gown clung to her perfect figure, and her alluring eyes shimmered with a captivating magnetism. Yet beneath that seductive charm lay the commanding aura of an empress—a thorny rose meant to be admired from afar, never touched.

Watching from the sidelines, Su Mu marveled at the sheer chaos of the Seven Kings Council. It really was true—the world was just one giant makeshift troupe. He had expected this summit to be a highly professional, solemn, and unsmiling affair.

Instead, before they could utter a single word of actual business, the Seven Kings were already cursing and coming to blows.

"Looks like I'm early. It'll be a long while before these people actually sit down to discuss official business," Su Mu murmured, shaking his head in resignation before turning to leave.

He returned to the Nightmare World. This time, however, he bypassed Holy Brilliance City and carefully selected a small-scale nightmare to set his plan into motion.

This small dream space contained a ruined city. Zombies with ash-gray skin wandered the streets everywhere, shuffling along on stiff limbs. Dark red blood crusted their bodies to varying degrees, their flesh rotting in patches and radiating a putrid stench.

This was one of the most common types of nightmares in the Nightmare World: a zombie nightmare.

Likely due to the popularity of zombie movies, far too many people had dreamt of being chased by zombies, spawning endless variations of these zombie nightmares.

Su Mu ignored the zombies swarming the streets and stepped directly into his Dream Space, where he found Su Qing and the others still unconscious.

He knew this was the Primal Divine Magic keeping them under. Dispelling it would be simple, but now was not the time.

Suddenly, he brought out a translucent, shimmering crystal sword—Mirage, one of the Twelve Swords of Royal Power!

He then approached the slumbering Su Qing. Gazing down at her exquisitely beautiful face, he drove the crystal sword straight into it without a shred of hesitation.

A miraculous scene unfolded. The crystal sword seemed to lack physical substance entirely; it passed straight into Su Qing's head without leaving the slightest wound on her face.

Su Mu's plan was simple: he was going to craft a dream for Su Qing.

While he couldn't bypass King Chi to control the avatar Su Qing's consciousness, he could still deceive her using an Illusion Technique.

Within an Illusion Technique, directly hijacking a target's consciousness was always the hardest feat, while deceiving them was the easiest. Sometimes, deception didn't even require magic—a few simple words were enough.

With the preparations complete, Su Mu drew upon the Pope's memories to partially lift the Primal Divine Magic sealing Su Qing's consciousness.

If Su Qing's consciousness had previously been locked inside an isolated dark room, Su Mu was now opening a window for it. She could look outside, but she would be unable to see the full picture.

...

...

Groggy and disoriented, Su Qing forced her eyes open. Her mind was a swirling mess, feeling as though she had stayed up for three days straight while severely drunk.

Where am I? What happened to me?

She struggled to think. Before she could figure it out, her vision fully cleared, revealing a face hovering inches from her own.

It was an incredibly ancient, heavily wrinkled face warped by a crazed grin. The cloudy old eyes held no trace of emotion—only pure desire.

Su Qing instantly recognized the face. It was that old lolicon, the Primal Pope!?

The memories came flooding back. She had been knocked out by the Primal Pope.

Oh, crap!

The color drained from her face as she realized what was about to happen.

Meanwhile, at the Seven Kings Council, King Chi—who was busy breaking up a fight—suddenly lit up with joy. She had just finally connected with her avatar's consciousness. However, that joy didn't last a full second before her expression drastically changed.

This old pervert is so close... is he trying to...

King Chi immediately prepared to detonate the Nirvana Holy Flame within the avatar to destroy the body. There was no way she was going to endure an old pervert's torture while trying to run a meeting.

Considering the Primal Pope's strength, the Nirvana Holy Flame might just be snuffed out. She was even prepared to withdraw her consciousness entirely. If the situation was beyond salvaging, she would simply surrender the avatar to the old freak. Under no circumstances was she going to stick around and experience that kind of humiliation.

But just as King Chi thought this, she suddenly froze.

She had just felt a surge of foreign memories appear in her avatar's mind.

In a sudden daze, she felt as if she had become a little beggar, kneeling before a white-robed Primal Cultist while ceaselessly praising the Primal Angel.

The Primal Cultist was highly satisfied and gave her a loaf of white bread.

She offered ceaseless thanks, but the Primal Cultist just smiled kindly and shook his head. "No need to thank me. This was bestowed upon you by the Primal Angel."

At that moment, the concept of the Primal Angel took root in the little beggar's heart for the very first time.

Suddenly, the scene flashed. The little beggar had already grown into an adult, now dressed in the exact same pristine white robes as the Primal Cultist.

He stood before a mirror, nervously adjusting his attire. Today was an important day—the day he would become a Primal Cultist and officially join the Primal Divine Cult.

Looking at the handsome, radiant face reflected in the mirror, King Chi froze. She recognized that face. It was undeniably the young Primal Pope!!

King Chi's expression shifted as she instantly understood what the Primal Pope was doing. He was trying to possess Su Qing!

"Hehehe... What a perfect physical vessel!" the Primal Pope cackled sinisterly. Holy light continuously surged from his decrepit body, behaving like countless writhing maggots as it frantically burrowed into Su Qing's flesh.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" Su Qing instinctively tried to fight back. However, having only just regained partial consciousness, she had not yet fully recovered control over her body. She didn't even have the strength to stand.

"Let you go? Hehehe..." the Primal Pope sneered hideously. "I went to great lengths to find a vessel this compatible! How could I possibly let you go so easily?

"Not only is your body young, it holds powerful potential and even houses the Nirvana Holy Flame. Most importantly, I can sense that your soul is incomplete! Its connection to this flesh is incredibly fragile. You are simply the perfect, God-given target for possession!"

Su Qing panicked, her not-so-bright mind spinning into overdrive as she surveyed her surroundings from the corner of her eye, frantically trying to formulate a plan.

She quickly figured out her environment. She seemed to be inside a side hall of the Primal Divine Cult. Murals of the Primal Divine Cult covered the room, alongside doctrines carved directly into the walls.

She, meanwhile, was splayed out on a pristine white altar like a fish on a chopping block. The old pervert hovered right beside her, while behind him, Lin Lingling, Lin Nanxing, and the others lay haphazardly across the floor... still fast asleep.

"Why are you possessing me?! I'm a woman, and you're a man, you old pervert! Go possess Lin Nanxing! At least you'd be the same gender!"

"How could gender possibly be an obstacle to my ascension to Heaven?"