Section Fifty: Aftermath (Part Two)

At that moment, people had no time to spare for the inconspicuous judicial interpretation. Even events occurring simultaneously in other nations—such as the significant advancements in smelting technology in the Plantagenet Kingdom—failed to capture public attention. This was because the developments following the great debate were even more staggering, keeping Landia firmly in the spotlight.

Three days later, the Church issued a message, harshly condemning Landia for the unfriendliness of rejecting the treaty, declaring it a sign of disrespect toward both the Church and the nations that had already signed it. Soon after, the three major powers of the East—Cartia, Prussia, and Ross—responded to the Church’s call, expressing their indignation at Landia’s actions and labeling the country as a destabilizing factor on the continent. Meanwhile, Lotte, a neighboring nation, experienced a split due to the king’s critical illness: the eldest prince, Fiat, sided with the Church, while the second prince, Lancelot, merely expressed concern, much like the Plantagenet Kingdom.

However, secret intelligence from the continent’s two major spy organizations, Pannel and Tansk, indicated that troops were being mobilized and gathered. A coalition force in the north, after months of mobilization, was nearing completion. Massive supplies, purchased with funds borrowed by the Church, were being transported in an endless stream. The dark clouds of war were quietly gathering over the continent.

How did Landia respond to the Church’s harsh accusations? First came the fierce reaction from the populace. They refuted the accusations from the north, viewing them as a manifestation of the Church imposing its will on a southern nation and attempting to interfere in domestic affairs. Every day in the famous great square of Valencia, crowds gathered to chant slogans against the Church, reciting the famous aphorisms of Fahrenheit from the legal code to inspire themselves, while simultaneously supporting the government and parliament against the power of the Church.

Among those opposing the Church were ordinary citizens burdened by various Church taxes, impoverished peasants, and even the greedy merchant class. Regardless of their individual motives, they all harbored deep resentment toward the Church for its vast landholdings, its independent acquisition and retention of wealth, and the imposition of double taxation alongside the secular government. It was an explosion of long-simmering grievances, including the emerging merchant class’s desire to challenge old powers and their hatred for the way the Church hindered their own development.

This trend reached its first climax when Martin reappeared. Now regarded as a religious reformer, he carried the aura of a commoner. Having survived an assassination attempt by the Church, he had become a symbol of defiance and living evidence of the Church’s persecution. He preached that "man is justified by faith," arguing that one only needed internal faith in the divine to receive God’s blessing, without the need for the Church’s cumbersome rituals and rigid institutions. He formally demanded that the Church undergo reform, abolish indulgences, dismantle the Holy Office and religious tribunals, and return secular power to secular authorities, focusing instead on spiritual guidance.

If Martin’s words were merely a cry from the grassroots, the vote held by the Landia Parliament a few days later was enough to send Childer and his associates, still staying at the Church in Valencia, into a rage. In this session, more than two-thirds of the representatives voted to bring the Church’s taxation power within Landia under the control of the Republican government. They banned the Church from establishing religious courts or conducting judicial proceedings within Landia, mandating that all criminal acts be judged solely by secular courts. Furthermore, the sale of indulgences, holy water, and sacred relics by the Church was prohibited. Landia also struck at the Church’s greatest asset—its vast tracts of land—by imposing various restrictions to seize some of it, which was then auctioned off to merchants large and small who were eager to acquire land. Additionally, they moved to levy taxes on the remaining Church lands.

Consequently, both Pannel and Tansk’s intelligence analyses reached the same conclusion: war was imminent.

***

Regarding the shifting winds of the continent, Wei Wuji did not share the same sense of urgency as the rest of the world. He had just escaped a pursuit, finally fleeing into the Ctesibius Mountains with two women. In this complex environment, they were finally safe. Although the House clan had not abandoned the hunt, the trio was essentially secure. As soon as the female Smy regained a bit more strength, she would be able to fly out of the Ctesibius Mountains, and the three could leave.

In a clearing on a mountain cliff, the thing that troubled Wei Wuji now was the strange attitude of Cecily, whom he had gone to such lengths to find and rescue. She seemed somewhat willing to stay with the female Smy and was not at all eager to return to Gaul to see her parents.

However, this was not necessarily a bad thing for Wei Wuji. He took the opportunity to tell Cecily that his friend, the young man Amango far away in Valencia, longed to see her, and that if she were willing to return with him, he would be responsible for her safety until the end.

Unfortunately, Cecily was unwilling to see Amango either. She rejected Wei Wuji’s proposal and asked him to tell the poor boy upon his return to forget her forever.

Looking at Cecily’s tear-filled eyes, Wei Wuji could not help but soften. When he had broken into her room that day, this strong-willed girl had left a good impression on him, and she was the beloved of Amango, who had repeatedly begged Wei Wuji not to force her.

"Then, at least tell me why, so that I can give him an answer when I return." Helpless, Wei Wuji, who was not skilled at dealing with romantic entanglements, had to take a step back.

Even so, he was met only with Cecily’s prolonged silence, which began to irritate him. As a practitioner at the Golden Core stage, while he could not act with complete impunity in the Far East’s China, he was still one of the privileged class, both in the secular world and within the Daoist sects. Even secular officials or elders of the Daoist sect would not choose to reject him with silence.

Yet this little girl dared to do exactly that, and he couldn't simply strike her down, which left Wei Wuji feeling stifled and on the verge of losing his temper.

Fortunately, a scapegoat appeared. Perhaps because they were both women, the female Smy, who had remained silent because she did not understand what was happening, finally jumped in. Thinking she understood the situation, she stepped forward to protect Cecily, accusing Wei Wuji of being too harsh on her for the sake of a friend and declaring that Wei Wuji had no right to interfere in matters between a man and a woman.

"I have no intention of doing anything! I just want her to give him an explanation!" Wei Wuji finally found an outlet for his frustration.

The recovered female Smy did not back down. She brought forth the virtues of valor, justice, and compassion from the eight knightly virtues to confront the Qi practitioner from the Far East. The argument soon escalated into a physical confrontation. However, once they began to fight, the female Smy discovered that her enemy was extremely difficult to deal with; his various Daoist techniques were endless, and his physical body was incredibly formidable, forcing the female Smy to take to the air to launch her attacks.