Joseph gave himself a predetermined period of only three years in the Holy See. When the time came, he disappeared from people's sight under various pretexts and methods, and entered the underground world along the bottomless cliff passage, re-entering the cultivation chamber, and began a year-long dormant period.

The intelligent computer said: the culture cabin can repair and strengthen the human cells, as long as you enter the cabin on time to sleep, you can maintain vigorous vitality.

In other words, as long as you return to that lonely underground world regularly, you can live forever.

The intelligent computer meticulously executes fixed procedures, and Joseph is the only white person it can reach within its sensing range. In the time that followed, Joseph repeated the process of appearing in the human world again and again, making various arrangements, and then entering the underground world to hibernate again and again...... In this way, he lived for hundreds of years, and his body shape and appearance remained unchanged.

He was cautious about his secret plan. In order to cover up the problems that might arise from disappearing every once in a while, Joseph used the excuse of "examining the information" of the Inquisition, and fabricated the lie that he had left the Holy See to go elsewhere to "investigate". He chose some of the lower clergy to become his cronies, cultivated them, and supported them to climb up the ladder and get higher positions. In this way, Joseph was given an umbrella and was able to carry out his secret work as a matter of course.

People always have to die, and a 100-year-old longevity is amazing, and being alive at 200 years old only makes people think of "monsters". In total, Joseph "died" six times over the long years. He really didn't want to do it if he wasn't forced to do it, but the importance of hiding people's eyes and ears is self-evident. He left a large "legacy", and each time he would arrange the aftermath "before he died". In the eyes of others, Joseph was a researcher with the strength of a genius, and the high-ranking clergy who benefited from him and were supported to the top were grateful to him. Joseph would leave them letters in which he would "help my family descendants."

Each time, a year later, a man with a striking resemblance to Joseph's youthfulness appeared. He claimed to be Joseph's nephew, and from an early age he received Joseph's personal instruction in theology, hoping to enter the papal research department, or the Inquisition...... The high-ranking clergy who had received Joseph's favor would then arrange for the "new Joseph" to take a theoretical knowledge test, which would eliminate the necessary step of admission to the seminary. The "New Joseph" was always responsive, his knowledge of theology, and even some amazing insights, all of which proved that he was a devout believer in the Holy Lord.

Initially, Joseph was just trying to survive better. However, at the time of the third "resurrection," he began to seek more.

Human beings are always expanding over time, and Joseph is no exception. He no longer regards excellent talents as a training goal, but chooses family members he has not contacted for a long time.

He observed his family for twelve years, which happened to be Joseph's four normal cycles of existence in the human world. This was not a whim, but a deliberate result of Joseph's efforts to gain and hold power for a long time, he had to have a certain number of supporters. For the outsider, Joseph's plans were subject to various instability. He pinned his hopes on the "bloodline", especially those who were good and worthy of cultivation.

At that time, the first subject chosen by Joseph was named Jennifer. She is an ordinary-looking peasant girl. It's not that Joseph has a preference for women, it's that he really doesn't have a better choice. He was born into a poor family, and more than 100 years have passed since he fell off the cliff, and Joseph has quietly given various benefits to his family and descendants in various ways. Mainly in terms of money, the total amount adds up to more than 600,000 pounds. According to Joseph's idea, the money could be used to improve lives and, more importantly, to raise young people in the family.

In fact, Joseph could have sent more money to his family, but he did not do so. Mainly because of the successive heads of the family, that is, his father, younger brother, nephew...... The genes of gambling addiction have been passed down from generation to generation, especially Joseph's younger brother on his sixty-third birthday, he actually lost more than 70,000 pounds at the poker table at one time.

From then on, Joseph did not dare to give too much money to the family, and each time he kept it at about three hundred to five hundred pounds. This is a relatively balanced figure, which does not give the recipient a sense of sudden wealth, and the channels given are also open and fair, giving family members the opportunity to work and buy their harvest in the fields.

As a long-time vice-president of the Magistrate's Court, Joseph saw the consequences of too many wealthy children squandering their family assets. He believed that only hardworking people could be happy, so he chose Jennifer.

She is a very serious girl. Under the guidance of Joseph's mission, Janefer became more and more devout to the Holy Lord, and she read the Gospels day and night, and was finally able to recite them word for word, and based on this, she was admitted to the seminary and became a probationary nun.

After graduating, Jennifer was directly promoted to parish deacon. Although she knew Joseph, the serious-looking Deputy Chief Judge of the Tribunal, she would never have known that she was where she is today because of him.

Joseph loves Jennifer very much, not out of love, but out of real love for the younger generations. He gave the young deacons all the care and conveniences, and Jennifer was able to rise to the position of abbot of the regional convent at the age of thirty. According to the internal rules of the Holy See, as long as she is judged by the best in the next big examination and selection, she can successfully enter the ranks of the twelve cardinals, and then become one of the candidates for the next pope.

Five years later, Jennifer became a cardinal. There are not many female clergy in this position, but it is not completely absent. However, in terms of numbers, it is still the absolute majority of men, and Jennifer has attracted the jealousy of many candidates, and various conspiracies against her are also unfolding in secret.

Joseph was unaware of all this, and more importantly, he was facing the "return time" and had to go underground to sleep for a year. He explained all kinds of precautions to his cronies, told them to take good care of "Bishop Jennifer", and then went into the dark underground with hope and hope for the future, and began to sleep.

A year later, Joseph returned to life.

Jennifer is dead.

So much has happened in the last year. Without Joseph's covert protection, a female cardinal who doesn't have much life experience is full of thorns in this world. The opponents used a beautiful male trick to tempt her to give up her devotion to the gods with love, take the initiative to break her vows, and then get pregnant. Even the wide robe could not hide the high bulging belly, and no one thought that the cardinal, who was supposed to be pure and holy, would be a framed son without any sense of shame. She was found in the sixth month of her pregnancy, half a month before Joseph returned to the surface from dormancy. Jennifer was pulled out of the bishop's workshop by the angry clergy, dragged like a wild dog to Gabriel Square, and stoned to death in front of tens of thousands of worshippers.

It took Joseph two years to find out the truth and punish all those who perpetrated and participated in the violence. The Tribunal has justifications and excuses against the majority of people, and can be executed on the spot without trial if a person is declared a "wizard" or a "witch". For those who coveted the position of Cardinal Jennifer and plotted to kill her, but could not find a reason for the attack for a while, Joseph first sent them to remote parishes for various reasons, either by sending people to assassinate them on the road or by causing accidents to cause them to die.

The worst is Jennifer's lover. He was handsome and a hired opera singer. On a cold morning, his body was found by the river: most of his skin had been stripped of his body, male symbols had been cut off, his abdomen had been torn open, his intestines were wrapped around his neck, and the other end was attached to a wooden beam that ran across the sides of the building, and he was hanged in this horrific way.

Since then, Joseph has completely abandoned the selection of outstanding female members of the family. A woman caught in the whirlpool of love has no reason at all, and it is still men who are easier to grasp in comparison.

What's more, through the tragedy of Jennifer, Joseph sees the brutality of the power struggle within the Holy See. As a result, his thinking changed, and he no longer regarded the Holy See as the only choice for family members, but more of a secular space.

Joseph had two sons, both of whom were mediocre farmers. After Jennifer's death, Joseph secretly cultivated his direct descendants, and spent more than two hundred years creating three barons, an earl, and a middle-ranking priest.

Maximilian was the best of all the training goals, and he succeeded in ascending to the throne of the Pope. Relieved, Joseph chose an opportune time to reveal his identity to him.

In the face of all kinds of family secrets and evidence, Maximilian couldn't help but believe it. However, he was more interested in the fact that this ancestor, who was actually more than several hundred years old, what was the method of staying young forever?

Joseph was silent about this. He understands the greed of the human heart, and Maximilian is a relative of him, but he still needs to further trust each other. Without being sure, he would not take Maximilian to the underworld and let the Pope personally experience the magical effects of the cultivation pod.

But now, the problem ahead is even more intractable.

The coalition of kingdoms was defeated, and the Holy See suffered heavy losses. There are always a lot of things in this world that don't go the way you think. For example, the northern giants, Joseph never included them in the plan, he always thought that those barbarians were not to be worried, as long as they sent an army to easily exterminate.

"I think it was an accident." After thinking for a long time, Joseph said seriously: "We are very new to the northern continent, and one of the key factors that determine the outcome of the war is the "topography". No one has ever set foot north of Suolong Pass, and all we know and know about the giants of the north is stuck in the legends and battles of the past. Our civilization is evolving, and they are no exception. But on the whole, the northern giants are no match for us, and never will be. ”

The Pope raised his head, a puzzled look in his eyes, and looked at this ancestor who was much younger than himself: "Reason? ”

"Their numbers are too small." Joseph put it bluntly: "The five kingdoms plus us have a total population of more than three billion. According to the information gathered so far, the population of the northern giants is only about 20 million. ”

This is a very accurate figure, derived from the Viking Duke Flamall's "probation" of the Tiger captives after the Battle of the Gorge. The captured Tiger people had a mortal desire for revenge from the beginning, and if they wanted to gain the trust of the enemy, they had to tell the truth, not to mention that the total population was no secret to the Tiger prisoners of war.

"Twenty million?" Maximilian's brow furrowed even deeper: "Are you sure? ”

"The actual number may be even less than that." Joseph's tone was monotonous and calm: "The northern giants lack food, and everything that moves is food in their eyes. In the previous battles of Lock Dragon Pass, they would bring back the dead and never waste them. ”

The Pope understood the subtext of his words: "You mean, let the Five Kingdoms come to the front and let them deal with the northern giants?" ”

"The finances of the Holy See are much better than those of the kings." Joseph's smile looked a little cold, mixed with undisguised sarcasm: "The successive popes have accumulated a lot of gold, and we also have more than twenty rich silver mines in our hands, and tithes are an extremely important input. Whether it's recruiting troops or rearmament, we have a lot of capital. ”

"In fact, if you want the kings to fight with the giants of the north, you only need to raise the price of all kinds of goods related to the giants." Joseph had a unique insight in this regard: "Slaves, and ornaments polished from the bones of giants, as long as the present market price is doubled, there are countless people who want to get rich and rush forward in our place." ”

Maximilian nodded slowly while thinking: "This is a good solution, but it can't solve the problem fundamentally. ”

"You're right, the key to solving the problem is still up to us." Joseph said solemnly: "The selection of the Holy Cult Army must be increased immediately. ”

"And the technology that hides beneath Gabriel." The Pope also has his own thoughts on this: "You can take out some of it first, such as rifling and gun repeating devices, what do you think?" ”

Joseph did not answer immediately, he bowed his head in contemplation, and fell into silence for two minutes.

When he looked up, there was an uncertain light in the depths of his eyes.

"I think you have to be cautious about the use of those technologies. They...... They have a lot of probabilities to pose a threat to us, and they can even be fatal. ”