Lin Xiao grasped another key point.
"As you know, once every thousand years, as far as I know, at least seven souls have been born within this body. Each one has become a part of the original body, as if the original body deliberately made me appear in this place, and then gradually nurtured my own intelligence," the torso said, resting his chin on his hand as he spoke the answer from his calm contemplation.
"Amazing," Lin Xiao squinted, feeling like he had discovered a new continent.
Seven different souls?
"Within my body, not counting this old Pope, there are traces of seven older brothers," the torso said, tapping his head with his hand. "Knowing your own death is truly unbearable."
"Your birth was completed by devouring those people here?" Lin Xiao subconsciously relaxed his guard. He felt this guy didn't seem to want to be enemies with them.
"Don't talk nonsense, I haven't devoured anyone. Although I look down on this small place from the depths of my soul, after so many years of influence, I don't like to lay hands on people," the torso quickly denied. "All the missing people are being held in the underground dungeon. It was this old Pope who captured them."
"It was him?"
This made Lin Xiao even more surprised. He thought the old Pope had suddenly gone rogue, but he didn't expect him to have been prepared long ago.
"Yes, he discovered my existence early on. I felt at the time that this little fellow seemed to be doing something that would bring about change. I just wanted to watch the show, and every time his soul came to me, I gave him plenty of room to maneuver," the torso said, his words clearly tinged with disappointment. "What a pity, this fellow doesn't have much skill. You two casually said a few words and he fell apart."
"You... had a deal with him? Otherwise, how could he let souls enter your body?" At this point, many things began to connect.
This was all orchestrated by the old Pope himself.
And he himself was just an actor in this play, with the old Pope as the protagonist.
In the end, he would convert the power of faith for his own use. He and Qi Tian would become his stepping stones, and he would become the true god, changing the entire Vatican, and even, through the Vatican, gradually changing other countries, and finally making the entire world believe in the old Pope.
Then...
Perhaps he would truly become the "Lord" in the mouths of believers and the "True God" in his own words.
When the use of the power of faith reached a certain level, it was indeed possible to achieve this.
"Of course, there was a deal. For example, look, I can devour the power of faith now. It was actually him who exchanged this power of faith for me as food at first," the torso nodded as if it were natural. "Then, over time, I discovered the special nature of this power of faith and learned how to use it."
The next second, all the power of faith from the statue was instantly absorbed into his body.
The speed of this devouring made Lin Xiao and Qi Tian's expressions change instantly. With such a concentration of the power of faith, as long as the physical body could withstand it, the energy released would definitely exceed the Free Realm!
Let alone the torso of this dark grand mage.