Chapter 627: Competition and Departure

In the current New York where it was in a state of siege now, having a unified classical long robe was just too eye-catching. For this reason, the Wizard Li priests still wore casual clothes, as was the guy who was arguing with Habe.

He was dressed in a white-washed denim overalls with his face entirely covered with a beard, dressed in a blue-collar worker manner that was entirely different from the former drug dealer who always wore a suit and shoes. This fellow was none other than the big strong white man who had threatened Zhang Lisheng with a long rifle from behind him when he first went to see his Earth believers.

As the backbone of the first hundred converts of the Wizard Li religions, in the period where the sect was first established and still had a weak strength with no other choice but to survive in the cracks, the entire sect had actually depended on him and several other strong male worshippers to sustain.

It was for this reason that he directly obtained a third-ranked priesthood, second only to the founder of the sect, Katherine. Unfortunately, as a crude construction worker with nothing but over-active muscles in his brain who had started to work in the construction site ever since he graduated from high school, Alonsol’s ability was very limited. Even though he had a high status, he had gradually become a marginal figure during the rapid expansion of the Wizard Li sect.

Even so, he did not know of his limitations well. He would always nitpick towards those who were not veterans and had not shared the same weal and woe before this but had gained the priesthood based on their own abilities, particularly Habe who had a rapid promotion because of his own ruthless and outstanding talents which unwittingly allowed him to have an influence that could be said as a second-man in the sect.

He was rough-headed and felt that he had Katherine supporting from behind so he was not afraid of any retaliation. Now that he was ridiculed by his rival, he stood up in a ‘thump’ with his nostril-flaring and his breathing turning rapid as he clenched his fists.

When a thin and tall Indian young man with a strange long twisted braid wearing a slightly aged fury hunting jacket saw that his best friend was once again blinded by his rage, he immediately grabbed his wrist and smiled wryly. “Alonsol, don’t be rash. This is the ‘mortal sacred place’ of His Majesty Wizard Li…”

“Hurmph!” Alonsol abruptly snapped back to his senses and realized that this was not a place he could act arbitrarily. Suppressing his rage by force, he sat down once again.

“Priest Alonsol, I know that you always have a bad opinion of me and frankly, I have the same opinion of you.” Habe pulled the wine out of the ice bucket and poured himself a half glass. Swirling the crimson red wine in the glass and raising it up to his nose, he took a sniff and showed an intoxicated smile before saying, “Fortunately, perhaps we won’t be able to meet again after today…”

“Why did you say so, Priest Habe?” The door of the room was suddenly opened. A female voice resonated and interrupted the former drug dealer.

“Chief Priest Katherine, I’ve accepted Sir Messenger’s suggestion, and I’ll soon go to Los Angeles to create a new parish.” Habe glanced at the tall lanky girl wearing rubber overall, emitting a fishy smell who had just walked into the room and replied in a simple yet respectful manner.

Even though he scorned with disdain at Katherine’s attitude that had instantly become timid and made no attempt to make progress after occupying the Queens area, he still felt a basic respect towards the virtuous integrity of this Wizard Li sect’s founder who still worked diligently among the ordinary believers to strengthen their faith despite having grazed millions of ‘lambs’ on behalf of the God.

“Opening a new parish is a big deal.” Katherine froze and unconsciously looked at Zhang Lisheng beside who had a noncommittal expression on his face. She turned her gaze back on the former drug dealer and said after a moment of pondering, “In particular, Los Angeles is also a super metropolis of the federal just like New York so perhaps the situation will be even worse than New York’s. The foundation of the Queen’s parish has slowly been solidified now and there’s no greater power than our sect except for the federal army and the Atlanteans. Leave five third-ranked, 20 second-ranked, and 40 third-ranked priests for me and the rest can follow you…”

(T/N: Author’s mistake, he repeated ‘third-ranked’ twice)

“Thank you for your kind intentions, but the sect has only occupied one out of the five regions of New York so you still need a large number of priests to continue the ‘missionary’. I don’t intend to bring anybody except for my former men.” Habe drank the glass of fine wine in one gulp and replied with a smile.

“Preaching is about the God’s glory so you must not take it as a joke. Let me remind you, Priest Habe, the entire Los Angeles metropolitan area has a population of more than 10 million people.” Katherine’s face became colder as she replied coldly.

“Chief Priest Katherine, Sir Messenger has already promised to pray to Wizard Li God to grant my men the priest’s spellcasting ability so please don’t worry, I’ll successfully make Los Angeles into a place shrouded by His glory.”

Katherine froze and no longer said anything more to Habe. Instead, she walked up to Zhang Lisheng with a frown. “Sir Messenger, can I talk to you alone?”

“Oh, of course, Chief Priest Katherine, I also have things to talk to you.” The young man nodded and followed the girl out of the room. Before he left the room, he stopped and turned his head to inform Habe. “Habe, since you’ve decided to set off right away, go pick up your candidates who will follow you to Los Angeles as soon as possible and leave New York City before the sentry starts to block. ”

“I have already had the candidates in my head, sir.” The former drug dealer pointed to his head and replied, “I’ll gather them now.”

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After nodding his head, Zhang Lisheng walked out of the door. When he saw that Katherine who was one step ahead of him proceeded to walk forward without saying anything, he maintained his silence for the time being too.

The two of them walked silently to the beach. As they stared at the strange boats floating in the distance, Katherine suddenly asked out of the blue, “Sir, do you know how much harvest those thousands of strange fishing ships can bring to us everyday?”

“I don’t, Katherine. Well, I guess, thousands of tons perhaps?” Zhang Lisheng shrugged.

“It’s about five times more than you guessed, sir.” The girl replied in an admiring and grateful tone. “By relying on the priests’ sense and control of the ocean currents, the believers can catch a harvest that is almost similar to ocean fishing vessels by just using sailboats. Not only that…”

She stretched out her arms and waved them upwards in the air. Immediately, ripples began to spread out on the sea’s surface.

After a while, a water ball the size of a basketball with three to four small fishes of various sizes swimming frantically in panic inside was lifted up by a whirlwind and automatically floated to Katherine’s palm.

She passed the water ball to the young man. “These few fishes that weigh less than two pounds will provide enough salt and nutrition to five adult men after they have been dried. It’ll become a rare delicacy in this chaotic war if it’s wrapped by the protein produced by the priests and fried directly…”

“Katherine, I’m not a chef. I’m not interested in protein dried salted fish at all. Why don’t you just stop beating around the bushes?” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and interrupted the girl.

Katherine began to talk, overwhelmed with emotions, “I just want to tell you, sir. The divine power given to the priests by Wizard Li God is most suited to this chaotic world. I believe that His Majesty is the savior when Doomsday approaches and His glory will eventually spread throughout the Earth. However, his power should not be controlled by criminals, much less, a parish that has all its priests made up of drug dealers, robbers and serial killers, my Lord…”

“Oh, calm down, Katherine, calm down! Don’t forget that the method you used when you’re preaching your mission is also very, hmm how should I put it, very forcefully.” The young man shrugged.

“Sir Messenger, using violence for the sake of a noble faith and world redemption is completely different from drug trafficking and committing assaults for own selfish desires…”

Alright, Katherine, just like what you said, ‘using violence for the sake of a noble faith and world redemption is completely different from drug trafficking and committing assaults for own selfish desires’. Habe has now converted to our sect and no matter what method he uses when he opens a new parish in Los Angeles, all of it will be for the sake of our religion and redemption, won’t it?”

“But sir…”

“There’s no but.” Zhang Lisheng did not want to dwell on the contradiction between his two most powerful pastors on earth so he waved his hand and said, “Since I’ve decided to let Habe preach in Los Angeles, I’ll not change my mind. Not only that, but I’ve also promised him the right to develop new parishes in other cities and even abroad… ”

Upon hearing so, Katherine’s expression changed dramatically but she heard Zhang Lisheng continued to say, “But, even though he has the same missionary power as you, you’re still the founder of the Wizard Li sect after all. For this reason, of course I’ll give you a greater convenience. Yeah, you can pick another 3000—no, 5000 believers and I’ll ask God to bestow them with the priest’s power so they can go to other cities in the nation to open up a parish on your behalf. Are you satisfied now?”

At once, her expression regained its calmness.

“Is this a kind of disguised competition, Sir Messenger?” The girl asked in a low voice after a moment of silence.

“You can say that.” Zhang Lisheng admitted frankly, “I can’t directly preach on Earth for a long time and on a large scale. I can only use this method to ensure the rapid expansion of the Wizard Li sect. However, even though this is a competition, you already have me helped you to open up a parish with a million believers when you started and you even have twenty times more priest power than your opponents so you already have a great advantage…”

“Then, if there are more new priests in the parish under Habe’s or my jurisdiction, will it be proportional to the number of believers?” Katherine continued to ask in a low voice as though she had not heard the young man’s words.

“Yes, Katherine. So, after developing and stabilizing a parish, sending your priests to other cities to preach is the smartest way. Alright, I’m going to see Habe off. I’ll give you two weeks to choose 5,000 new priests and I’ll leave New York after granting them with spellcasting power. In the future, the Wizard Li’s glory will have to depend on Habe’s and your capabilities now.” After hearing that the girl had already understood his intention, Zhang Lisheng smiled and no longer wasted any time talking about nonsense. he proceeded to turn and leave the shore.

In the next two weeks, the young man first sent Habe and a group of priests who were obviously thugs and criminals, judging from their temperaments, and granted the 5000 believers carefully selected by Katherine with the spellcasting ability.

A few more days later, after Zhang Lisheng could sense that the flower of his faith had started to bloom in several other cities away from New York, he left the Queens area with confidence and went to find Sheila to ask for a plane ticket to New Mexico, before finally arriving at Feren, the city nearest to the spatial door of Noah World.