Chapter 459 — A New Doctrine
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
To a professional cleric of the Holy Light such alterations might look like enormous provocation, but to the common believers who knew little history and had never read a single Holy Light scripture, such thoughts never arose—they simply found this new version of the story more interesting, and so they listened with rapt attention.
One small listener, however, was less than diligent. On a bench in the front row, a little glowing figure suddenly floated up. She looked curiously around her, then drifted over to Gao Yang with a beaming smile and bobbed in midair to greet him.
"Hello, Emily," Gao Yang said, very quietly.
"Hee hee..." Emily gave a sweet little laugh, then drifted down onto the seat beside Gao Yang.
Gao Yang noticed that part of the girl's body had "merged" with the bench.
Clearly, as a spirit, Emily could not settle onto a place the way a solid body could; she was merely pretending to sit, hovering at the bench's position in a squat in midair...
But she seemed to be enjoying it thoroughly.
On the pulpit, Wright's sermon went on: "...people's yearning for the light accords with the way of the Holy Light, and so those who seek the light receive the Holy Light's favor. Before the Holy Light, a horse keeper and a pope are equals, because the doctrine of the Holy Light stands above high and low as measured by money and station—just as, before a high mountain, the flowers and grasses, the trees, the birds and beasts of the plain show no distinction of high or low... If one pursues that higher doctrine, then station no longer matters, high or low."
"That big fellow's got something to say, actually," said Amber, who had grumbled the whole way there but was now listening to a couple of Wright's points in earnest, nodding her head as she gave her appraisal. "I don't care for that stiff, holier-than-thou look of his, but he's a great deal easier on the ear than the charlatans elsewhere."
Gao Yang nodded slightly. "Still somewhat limited... but on the whole, not bad."
Emily tilted her head back, drifted off into her own world for a moment, and suddenly produced a word: "...Boring."
Amber froze, staring open-mouthed at Emily, who was hovering at the bench's position pretending to sit. "You can talk?!"
"I can," Emily said, blinking, then suddenly fixed her eyes on the space behind Amber's head and stared blankly for a second or two before speaking. "Sister, there's a black light above your head..."
"Oh, that's nothing. I'm a Chosen of the Dark Night—that's the blessing the Goddess gave me," Amber said with an indifferent wave, then looked at Emily with curiosity. "Last time we met you just floated about and went hee hee, so I thought you couldn't talk at all..."
Emily tilted her head back again, wearing that faraway look, and only after a long while did she suddenly burst into hee-hees and float lightly up to the roof.
Wright's sermon was drawing to its close: "...each of us has the right to seek the Holy Light, just as everyone may yearn for the light. The Holy Light will shine on every person, not only on the heads of clerics and priests. People give to the church for the sake of righteousness, and should not be paying the church money to 'buy' the Holy Light—for the Holy Light is born in every human heart...
"So long as one follows virtue and acts with a heart of righteousness, benevolence, forbearance, and honesty, then all are blessed..."
The little figure leaped down from the roof and, like a falling leaf, drifted and "crashed" onto Wright's shoulder. Emily, beaming with delight, raised a translucent arm and waved, greeting the people in the church: "Whoo—ah, that's it for today!"
Wright looked a little embarrassed; as he tried to get Emily off his shoulder, he nodded to the congregation. "That will be all for today."