Under One Person: The Seeker of the Dao in the Lü Family

Chapter 223 Equivalent Exchange? A Surprise Attack

Bishop Ednor spread his arms wide; at this moment, although his smile was quite sarcastic, his demeanor was extremely holy.

"I will give you death, but I will also give you a pure new life."

"Chris, no, I should say one of the six members of the Alchemy Association. I wonder if your [Panacea] can conceal the causal connections and withstand the ravages of time and disaster..."

The sunset glow grew ever more crimson, and a pale purple light shone through the stained-glass windows, enhancing Ednor's jeweled and silk-adorned attire with its vibrant colors.

"Death is the inevitable path that you time thieves cannot escape."

"I'll be waiting for you there."

After Bishop Ednor finished speaking, he stepped back to the altar and used a long stick to relight the candles in front of the statue.

The alchemist Chris remained silent, his eyes following the figure of Bishop Ednor.

A silent atmosphere permeated the church. After a long while, the setting sun outside completely disappeared, and only the pitch-black night shone through the stained-glass windows.

He stared at Bishop Ednor, who looked older than him but was actually only in his early fifties.

And this alchemy master is actually close to eighty years old.

This not only bears the marks of time, but also the power of faith.

After a long silence, Chris slowly spoke, "When it comes to stealing time, even we alchemists can't compare to your plan this time."

"Stealing the years of the entire city, Ednor, it seems your faith has reached such a madness?"

"Take a day from a person, though a day is very short."

"But how many people does your karma affect? ​​Hundreds? Thousands?"

He seemed to be talking to himself, "You're getting closer and closer to the God in the Bible."

"The Death Knight of the Four Horsemen!"

At this point, he stared intently at Ednor's figure, "Faith is like fire and poison, and the faith of the Church is the most intense fire and the most potent poison."

"Your time has been stolen by the authority of death, so you're thinking of harming innocent people?"

"innocent?"

Bishop Ednor, holding the candle, continued his work calmly, speaking in a flat tone.

"When they were given the chance to survive and escape death from my hands, they were not innocent to me."

"Equivalent exchange is the fundamental law of alchemy, and also the law governing the world!"

Once all the candles in front of him had been adjusted, he slowly put down the long stick he was holding and asked himself a question.

"What does a moment of life mean to someone who is so close to death?"

"That's priceless, priceless enough to be tied to the weight of their lives!"

"I gave them this glimmer of life, so what should they give me in return?"

"An equivalent exchange would naturally be lives of equal value!"

Bishop Ednor looked up at the statue's indifferent face, a look of pity appearing on his own.

"I provided relief to the disaster victims, gave them food, and enabled them to survive in this chaotic world. It is only natural that I should take something in return from them."

Upon hearing this, Chris, who was standing behind, frowned and rebuked him, "You're using a fallacy to confuse the issue."

In the eyes of this objective alchemist, Bishop Ednor's actions, though seemingly adhering to equivalent exchange, were not actually equivalent.

The other party is trying to take shortcuts!

Firstly, for starving disaster victims, although their chances of survival are slim, there are definitely more options than just church relief.

Secondly, and most importantly, Bishop Ednor planned to use the relationship built on a little food to take the lives of the disaster victims!

Bishop Ednor's condition was not optimistic. Although he was only fifty years old, his life force was like a candle that had run out of oil in the wind.

This is related to his methods, namely the power of faith.

In the hands of some practitioners, the power of faith can be stolen and refined, much like the divine masks in Nuo opera shamans.

Nuo opera shamans steal people's faith to condense a "divine essence," and then use their own life cultivation to perform this false "divine essence."

The bishop's methods were similar, but somewhat different.

One difference lies in the power of faith. Compared to the church's upright and honorable actions, Nuo opera shamans are more like thieves.

The faith power generated by the church is pure enough, unlike the mixed power collected by Nuo opera shamans.

However, purity has its advantages, but it also has greater disadvantages. The power of pure faith can be more detrimental to the user, making it easier for them to lose themselves.

This is also why Chris said earlier that the church's faith is more intense and vicious than other faiths.

Although both are acting, one retains his true self, while the other consciously moves towards "divinity".

Bishop Ednor possesses a divine aspect, namely Death, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation.

Within the church, there are many similar "deities" that originate from the myths circulating within the church and draw upon the faith of its members.

Over the long years, they have been passed down.

In the Book of Revelation, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are war, plague, famine, and death, which represent the division of God's judgmental authority. They will bring due judgment upon the sinners of mankind.

The depletion of the divine status born from these pure beliefs is terrifying for those who bear it, not to mention the death knights whose divine status is linked to death.

Bishop Ednor, though middle-aged, looked old and frail, and this was the reason.

But he was unwilling to accept death, which led to his current plan.

Stealing other people's lives by exploiting the karma of life and death established with them!

Faced with Chris's accusations, Ednor smiled dismissively and spoke patiently as if engaging in philosophical discourse.

"A fallacy of equivocation? That just shows how outdated you are!"

"The world is made up of matter, and matter is objective; however, human perception of the world is subjective!"

"Moreover, the measurement of value is not an absolute equality, but a relative recognition."

"Yes, a piece of bread or a glass of water cannot compare to human life on a material level."

"But please don't ignore the subjective premise."

At this moment, Ednor resembled a radical scholar, stepping down from the altar and passionately explaining his points.

"For people who are about to starve to death, nothing is more precious than bread and water, because without them, there will be no life."

"Furthermore, although there are more than just bread and water to sustain life, in reality, the disaster victims are eating my bread and drinking my water."

"All the possibilities vanished the moment the disaster victims ate bread and drank water."

"At least at this moment, my outcome is the only one!"

Bishop Ednor seemed to have turned into an academic scoundrel, and just as he was about to make a few more sarcastic remarks to Chris, a sound suddenly came from the roof.

"Snap!"

The sound of shattering windows rang out, and stained glass crumbled into pieces that fell from the sky.

"You foreign devil, your research is quite insightful, but unfortunately we don't want to reason with you!"