I changed the world.

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This part of the knowledge isn't difficult to find, but it's more accurate to call it mythology than history. To give an imperfect analogy, its status in the Western Continent is somewhat similar to the legend of "King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone" that Westerners heard in Zhang Jing's previous life—there was neither evidence nor proof to support it.

According to the prevailing online account, based on the Records of Kings in the Ancient Age, in 1028 BC, the prophet Hiboam of ancient Aurus inscribed the names of eighteen powerful demons on clay tablets and used them to manipulate them. Therefore, later generations referred to them as 'demons on clay tablets'.

However, many historians believe that the authenticity of the *Book of Kings* (from the fifth century AD) is questionable. Many others view it as a collection of folk myths and legends passed down through generations…

Perhaps it was because people in the city were still dying, and Father Depoliniac's continued prayers had not received any response from God, as if the God in heaven had abandoned his people on earth.

Therefore, after a fierce internal struggle, Father Depoliniac tried to collect materials and, according to the records in the book, placed a magic circle in the church to communicate with the demon god. He wanted to try to use the power of the demon god to cure the plague in the city.

However, on a full moon night, after activating the magic array according to the book, he felt a strong sense of detachment. It was an extremely peculiar experience, as if he were in one place, yet simultaneously in another. This was the first time he had experienced such a transcendent feeling. He even began to feel his body sinking towards some special location, and then... he felt himself being stopped by some kind of barrier...

Simon's description of meeting Father Depolinac in the book is like "seeing the river flowing through the ice"—you know the river is there, but you can't cross it...

In this situation, Father Depolinac, who had only intended to make a preliminary attempt, went on to try more things...

When Father Simon turned to this page in the gray book, he was shocked to find that Father Depoliniac began to draw some highly mysterious and complex runes on the following pages, including some spells whose function was unknown...

Father Simon looked at the complex and rhythmic runes, and he wondered if it was just his imagination, but he subconsciously felt that the runes seemed to be alive. The lines that made up the runes seemed to move like living earthworms. This discovery startled him, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to be just ordinary patterns.

He shook his head, then looked again, only to find that nothing had happened...

Was he just being too nervous, or did these runes truly hold some secret...? He swallowed hard, looked up, and prepared to grab the coffee beside him for a sip...

However, just as he looked up, he suddenly froze, because he realized that he was no longer in the office, but behind an ancient church. The sky was overcast, and the air seemed to be filled with a strong stench of decay. This smell was extremely difficult to describe. If he had to describe it, it would be like the smell of perfume dripped on rotting flesh, or like the smell of more than a hundred dead rats rotting together. In short, it was a memorable and nauseating smell.

Then he found himself speaking, in a language similar to Granite, but with extremely archaic vocabulary and grammar.

“Father…we…are we really going to do this?” His voice trembled, and he seemed very frightened.

“Allen, my child, we must try. The disease in the city has been going on for a long time. We need to find a way to save people…” At this moment, an old voice came from beside him. Father Simon found that he could not do anything at this time and could only observe from the perspective of the original owner of this body.

As his gaze shifted, he discovered that the owner of the aged voice was a priest dressed in a black robe. The priest looked haggard and old, at least over 60 years old, and sported a conspicuous large beard.

Volume Two: Hidden Truth Behind the History Book Two: Chapter 8904, "The Divine Doctor Father of Wude Poliba Niqi Yake?"

He was holding a shovel and digging something in the ground. Simon noticed that there were many stone tombstones around, engraved with the crown pattern of the Church of Sanctuary. Clearly, this should be a cemetery located behind the church.

“But… Father… this… this is contrary to the teachings of the Church…” The young voice rang out again, and at the same time, the whole person seemed to be trembling slightly.

It was only then that Father Simon discovered that a large area of ​​the cemetery was filled with stone tombstones, but these tombstones were distinctly different. Some tombstones were noticeably tall and exquisite, with long inscriptions on them, and some even had intricate carvings. Some of these carvings depicted religious patterns, while others were portraits, seemingly portraits of the people who had been buried there.

In stark contrast to these tombstones, many others appear much simpler, consisting of only a stone slab with a name hastily carved on it. Some graves even have only wooden planks stuck in the ground, or even no planks at all, just a stone placed there, leaving one wondering whether anyone is buried beneath them.

These seemingly simple graves mostly look very new, with no grass growing on the surrounding soil, indicating that the soil has just been turned over and the burials were clearly recent.

The faint cawing of crows could be heard nearby, suggesting that crows were active in the vicinity.

At this moment, Father Simon also realized that the priest seemed to be digging a simple-looking grave, the kind of grave with only a single stone inside.

“Some things require flexibility. The teachings of the church cannot help us save more people. We have to find a way to keep everyone alive, don’t we…” The old priest had already dug away the topsoil of the grave, and the remaining soil partially revealed a body buried inside.

“Alan, come help me out…” He looked toward where Simon was.

“Yes…yes…Father…” The young man hesitated for a moment, but eventually went to help. The two of them worked for a while and moved the body out of the grave…

The stench in the air suddenly became even stronger, and Father Simon then realized that the stench in the air was actually the stench of a rotting corpse!

No wonder it's so disgusting!

Father Simon was not someone who had never seen a dead person; on the contrary, he had actually seen many corpses, after all, he was a priest and had attended or presided over many funerals.

However, this was the first time Father Simon had ever seen such a corpse. The body seemed to have been buried recently and had not yet begun to decompose. However, compared to the normal corpses Father Simon had seen before, this corpse was covered with black spots, its face was distorted and terrifying, and there were traces of dirty blood flowing from the corners of its mouth.

The priest and the young man, one carrying the head and the other the feet, lifted the stiff corpse to an open space not far away. Only then did Father Simon realize that there were already dozens of corpses there, arranged in a regular pattern. Before he could get a better look, the young man seemed to be electrocuted and left the pile of corpses, as if fleeing from something.

At this moment, Father Simon finally realized what was going on. Could it be that what he was seeing was the scene from the Grey Book?

And those corpses were... victims of the Black Death?!

So, could that old priest before us be... Father Depolignac?!

However, what exactly is my current state?!

Father Simon watched as he pondered the various questions in his mind, while on the other side, he saw the old priest dig up several more corpses until he looked extremely exhausted, at which point the two carried the last body over.

Then the priest took some powdery substance and started scattering it on the ground, while the young man stayed far away, as if the priest was about to detonate a bomb.

Because of the distance, Father Simon couldn't see every movement of the priest clearly, but he could see that the priest was preparing a variety of materials, some of which were scattered on the ground, while others needed to be placed in specific locations, and there were even some things that looked like some kind of grease, which were being brushed on the ground...

In short, after quite some time, Father Simon finally saw the old priest straighten up, and at the same time, he began to recite some verses...

It was an extremely strange tone, as if it came from a distant past, completely different from the chanting of the Church of St. Enlightenment choir that Father Simon was familiar with. This sound seemed to come from the time of our ancestors...

As the sound rang out, a faint mist seemed to rise around them, and the clouds in the sky appeared to grow even darker...

Suddenly, the priest began to cough violently, coughing incessantly as if he were coughing up his lungs.

Meanwhile, from the corpses on the ground, large amounts of black mist began to emerge, like thick smoke, emanating from the faces of the corpses. This surging black mist swirled in the void like large wisps of smoke. This smoke remained concentrated and lingered in the air…

“Devil…devil…merciful Lord…” Father Simon noticed that the young man he was “possessed” with was clearly terrified. He was trembling and praying, hiding behind a tombstone in the distance. Although Father Simon himself was also a little scared, he still wanted the young man to move forward a little closer so that he could see him more clearly.

However, the young man clearly couldn't hear what he was thinking, and he couldn't communicate with the young man either, so he could only continue watching.

Fortunately, the young man had been watching the old priest the whole time, which allowed him to see clearly that the old priest was still coughing incessantly, as if he were seriously ill. Finally, he saw the old priest suddenly spit out a mouthful of blood...

The swirling black mist in the air, as if drawn by some force, suddenly converged into the facial features of a corpse on the ground…

Immediately afterwards, the corpse began to convulse violently. After a few breaths, the clearly dead body rose from the ground in an extremely bizarre posture. Its head drooped limply, tilted to the side, facing the old priest, as if looking at him.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 895 Bergenhag

At the same time, the sound of flapping wings came from the sky. A huge raven flew down from mid-air, flapping its wings, and landed on the corpse's shoulder.

“A priest… I never imagined that in this era, someone could summon me… How interesting…” The large raven suddenly spoke, in an extremely eerie and hoarse voice.

"You are...you are...the demon on the clay tablet...Bergenhag?" The priest's voice was also hoarse, as if he was not in good physical condition. Considering the scene of him vomiting blood just now, he had most likely suffered some kind of injury.

Simon was eavesdropping from a distance when he heard the name Bergenhag. His heart skipped a beat. He had recently looked up records about the "Demonic on the Clay Tablets" and he remembered the name Bergenhag. This was the Demonic that controlled disease, poison, and deception. Just by looking at His authority, he knew that this must be an extremely dangerous being.

It turned out that the priest was summoning this being... At this moment, Father Simon was able to confirm that the old priest in front of him must be Father Depoliniac!

There are very few records about the demon Bergenhag. The few records available only describe his appearance, which is generally depicted as a raven flying over plague-stricken areas.

However, he still had a question in his mind: according to the description in the Grey Book, the church where Father Depolignac worked should have been converted from a temple dedicated to the Old Gods.

However, as far as he knew, the time when the Holy Revelation Church first began its missionary work should have been during the Etruscan period. At that time, the main deities worshipped by the people of the Western Continent, especially the deities worshipped in the Etruscan region, were certainly not the Holy Lord, nor should they be the demons on clay tablets, but rather the Etruscan gods.

That is to say, even if Father Depoliniac found the so-called "books of the Old Gods", then they should be books about the Etruscan gods, but what he saw was obviously not, so why were they books about "demons on clay tablets"?

“Mortal, you actually know my name.” Just as Father Simon was muttering to himself, the raven perched on the corpse’s shoulder once again uttered a strange and hoarse sound.

“Great Demon God, I saw your name in a book,” the old priest replied cautiously, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Demon?" The raven let out an ominous laugh that sent chills down one's spine. "Disciples of Micah...you...haven't you always called me the devil?"

Father Depoliniac was speechless for a moment, while Father Simon, who was eavesdropping, understood that for the church of that era, having just completed the "Eastern Expedition," all pagan gods and old gods were called "demons," not to mention these so-called "demons."

“I learned how to communicate with you from a book, but I failed last time. Perhaps there was something wrong with my method. Fortunately, I succeeded this time.” Father Depoliniac could only try to change the subject by making small talk.

"No, your summoning method last time was correct." The raven's laughter stopped. "However, this era is one of silence for the gods, and even your ability to summon me this time is... um... this is not knowledge you need to know, mortal..."

"All you need to know is that you're very lucky... I don't have much time left in this world... So, what do you want to ask, mortal?"

“I…I want to know…what exactly happened?” the priest said, gesturing around the cemetery. “Why…why did so many people die? Did the devil take them away?”

"The devil?!" Upon hearing the priest's words, the crow cackled as if it had heard the funniest joke. "The devil? What is the devil? No, no, no... there is no devil..."

“The devil and other evil spirits were created with a good nature by the Lord, but they willingly degenerated and became evil.” Upon hearing this, the priest immediately quoted a passage from the Revelation Church to try to prove the existence of the devil: “The devil is the one who sins, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.”

“These ridiculous scriptures again…” The raven’s tone was dismissive: “There are no devils. It is a war between gods. Newcomers are trying to seize the throne of the old. Micah’s disciples, what you call devils are nothing but losers who tried to restore the monarchy.”

“You…you’re talking nonsense…God is God, and devil is devil…” As he spoke, he seemed to instinctively begin reciting scripture: “I believe in the one Lord, the Almighty Father, Creator of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. I believe in the one Lord’s Son, Micah, the only begotten Son of the Lord, born of the Father before all ages, of God and being God, of light and being light, of true God and being true God, begotten but not created, one with the Father, through whom all things were created…”

Hearing the priest recite the scriptures, the raven continued to caw and laugh, its voice hoarse and piercing in the night sky: "Back when I fought against the gods of Wigia, your Holy Lord didn't even exist yet..."

Father Simon, who was eavesdropping nearby, keenly heard this sentence. He remembered that the so-called Wigya gods should be the names of the gods worshipped by the Etruscans.

"If the Holy Lord is truly omnipotent, then there wouldn't be such a scene of carnage before you. Why don't you let your Holy Lord come out and save you? Is it that you can't... or that He can't?"

“This… the Holy Lord is omnipotent… perhaps… our piety is insufficient…” The priest was speechless for a moment, hesitated for a moment, and then stammered, “Perhaps… it is because the world is corrupted by war… God has brought down His punishment…” He used the Church’s standard answer to such questions. In fact, after the Black Death began to spread everywhere, many people asked the same question: why did the omnipotent Holy Lord not come out to save the world?

Why did even many clergy members of the church succumb to illness and die? Why were they not saved, as servants of God? Initially, there were only a few voices expressing this or that, but as the disaster continued to escalate, the death toll rose, and some villages and towns were completely wiped out, becoming no-man's-lands. Under these circumstances, even nobles in various countries began to question the situation. Consequently, the church adopted a unified narrative, with priests in different regions adopting a consistent approach to address the local doubts.

“If it is because of the defilement caused by war, then your holy lord should punish the nobles, kings and powerful people who started the war. However, the real powerful people fled at the very beginning of the disaster. Most of those who died were ordinary people who lived like cattle and sheep, only knowing how to pay taxes to their lords. They couldn’t even write their own names… What sins could they have committed?” The hoarse voice of the raven seemed to be defending its former self. The corpse was dressed in a tattered garment full of patches, and it was clear that it must have been a poor man in life.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 896 The Devil's Deal

The priest was unable to refute it for a moment. He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. Clearly, he couldn't even convince himself with his reasoning.

"In fact, even you yourself have doubts, haven't you! You just dare not say it, no... you don't even dare to imagine it..." The raven's voice held no hint of laughter, yet it was clearly mocking him: "If your Holy Lord is truly omnipotent, then such a calamity should never have occurred, and He cannot even protect His own servants..."

“No…no…no…this is blasphemy…such blasphemy…” Large beads of sweat appeared on the priest’s forehead. Clearly, he was terrified by the blasphemous words spoken by the corpse before him. He murmured scriptures, seemingly resisting the temptation of the devil…

Even Father Simon, who was secretly watching from the side, began to think to himself, "No wonder the scriptures always say that the devil can tempt people. Now it seems that the saying is truly true. However... what He said also seems to make some sense..."

No, no, I shouldn't think like that, Holy Lord... please forgive me, please protect me from temptation...

"It's no use. Your Holy Lord can't hear your prayers. If He could, this wouldn't have happened..." The crow laughed even more wildly when it saw the priest praying with a look of fear on his face.

"What...what do you mean?!" Father Depoliniac was just an ordinary priest, and obviously he couldn't fully understand the demon's words. However, he could tell that the subtext of the words seemed to be bad.

"Don't you understand? That's right... You're just a mortal... unable to truly sense the existence of gods. However, even if you were one of those knights or ascetics, in this era, you'd be no different from them..."