“Linda has always loved religious paintings,” Piaget continued. “Their composition, their presentation, and the meanings they carry. She thinks it’s all beautiful, and she’s always been captivated by that beauty.0

“It’s also a way of making the gods tangible. Those lofty beings are pulled down from the clouds and brought into the human world through these canvases. In that way, we can understand them, and explain them, using a human mind.”0

Karon nodded and sat down by the sofa. He didn’t know how to describe the painting he was looking at. It wasn’t finished yet, but it already radiated a clear, oppressive weight.0

The mad pope. The fall of the Church of Light.0

In the previous epoch, and even through the first half of the current one, the Church of Light had been a true behemoth. In their early days, many of the newly established churches, the Church of Order among them, had even been forced to include the God of Light in their mythical narrative, just to legitimize themselves. That alone spoke volumes about how overwhelming the Church of Light’s orthodox authority had been.0

Among the books Tiz had sent to Karon via Lent, only The Light of Order focused specifically on the Church of Order. The rest were overviews of other religions, and in those overviews, the God of Light’s shadow could be seen everywhere.0

After reading up about so many churches, Karon’s impression of the God of Light had started to drift closer and closer to the “Qianlong Emperor” from his previous life.[1]0

Long ago, every local street snack had seemed to start from the same story: Qianlong had toured the south, eaten it, bestowed it a name, and it had become famous overnight. It was as if the emperor had never done any real work, and had simply spent every day traveling around tasting snacks and “endorsing” them.1

The God of Light seemed much the same; He hadn’t handled godly matters, and had instead simply gone around promoting “new gods,” such as awakening the God of Order, helping the God of Abyss suppress powerful demons, and helping the Mother of Earth seal fissures in the land. He was constantly appearing, constantly intervening, and constantly swooping in to save the day.0

There is nothing new under the sun.0

It was much the same as how, in his previous life, people often...0