Inside Xichang City, an official agent stared at the crimson pillar of light that pierced straight into the sky.
He couldn't help but take a step back, his mouth agape as he trembled. “What on earth is that guy doing?!”
The commotion was simply too massive. Spies from various factions scrambled to send this intelligence back to their respective organizations.
However, even without their reports, videos of the scene were already popping up all over the internet.
【Shocking! A pillar of light piercing the heavens appears in Xichang City!】
【Red threads appearing on pedestrians! What is the cause of this?!】
A flood of posts instantly drew the attention of the entire world.
At the center of the red light, Liu Wen stood in place.
With his arms spread wide, his six eyes looked up at the crimson pillar of light, the other end of which had already connected to the moon.
A peculiar feedback began to manifest within him.
In the next second, the crimson pillar of light abruptly vanished.
At the same time, the moon in outer space radiated an invisible wave of spiritual power, sweeping down toward the planet below at the speed of light.
This was a refraction of spiritual power. Wherever the moonlight shone, the spiritual wave manifested.
A sliver of spiritual power was extracted from everyone touched by the light, and these slivers drifted up toward the moon in the sky.
At this moment, the entire East Continent was bathed in moonlight. A sliver of spiritual power was drawn from all of its two-plus billion inhabitants.
Though the amount taken from each individual was minuscule, the sum total from over two billion people was an astronomical figure.
Once this spiritual power gathered at the moon, it was projected back down toward Liu Wen's location—all occurring at the speed of light.
Standing in place, Liu Wen suddenly felt an endless torrent of invisible energy surging into his body.
His strength was rising. The corners of Liu Wen's mouth curled upward as his six eyes widened. “This spiritual power... with this much power, I, Liu Wen, will not be inferior to any of those so-called gods in the future!”
“Haha, hahahaha!!!” He burst into wild laughter. Even though he prided himself on his composure, this feedback filled him with absolute ecstasy.
Meanwhile, in the sky above another city.
The massive face of the Earth Mother slowly looked up at the moon. ‘The moon has changed. Is this the doing of that fellow in Xichang?’
It had believers there. A soaring crimson pillar of light, followed by a change in the moon—none of this could be explained away as a mere coincidence.
As the moonlight shone upon the believers kneeling below, an invisible force attempted to draw away their spiritual power.
But in the next instant, this moonlight was blocked by an even more majestic power.
‘Is he trying to touch the domain of gods?’ The Earth Mother's expression shifted.
If he could extract spiritual power from the entire area illuminated by the moon, and if that fellow in Xichang continued this for several months, there might actually be a slim chance of him reaching that level.
But it was truly only a slim chance. After all, touching that domain required far more than just stacking spiritual power.
If it were that simple, it would have already created several god-level subordinates.
In the Capital.
On the rooftop of the tallest skyscraper.
He Wenxi looked up at the moon. ‘It has changed.’
She looked out over the Capital. From a perspective invisible to ordinary people, a wisp of spiritual power was being extracted from everyone.
This loss of spiritual power would only make people feel a bit drowsy without causing any real harm. However, if this happened every day, the amount of spiritual power the culprit would accumulate would be staggering.
At this moment, those who could detect the change in the moon numbered fewer than five. The vast majority of the world's population continued to go about their daily lives as usual.
Xichang.
With the massive influx of spiritual power, Liu Wen's previously depleted reserves were instantly filled to the brim, and the excess was converted into energy to elevate his strength.
“Elder, what's with all this commotion?” Liu Zhian walked over quickly from a distance.
Without turning his head, Liu Wen replied, “Your grandfather has already reached the most critical step.”
With that, Liu Wen walked toward the outskirts of the city. “I'm going out to collect some interest.”
After his evolution, the thing he wanted to do most was seek revenge.
Last time in Yangcheng, he had been just a hair's breadth away from killing Zhang Yi, but she had been saved by the Earth Mother.
Since that was the case, the hatred for his son's death would be redirected onto the Church of the Earth Mother.
After taking a few steps, Liu Wen vanished from the city center of Xichang.
Seeing this, Liu Zhian turned and left.
Within Xichang City, peace returned once more.
The red light rising from the people and the crimson pillar of light had already disappeared. Furthermore, under Liu Wen's control, it had not caused too much of a panic.
An hour later, over a thousand kilometers away from Xichang City.
Liu Wen's figure appeared a hundred meters up in the air. He looked down at a city with an expressionless face.
The city was brightly lit, and there was an exceptionally high number of churches inside.
There was an Earth Mother church almost every block. On the streets, the pedestrians looked no different from ordinary people on the surface.
‘Has the entire city converted to the Church of the Earth Mother? It seems even more exaggerated than the intelligence reports suggested.’ Liu Wen sensed the area briefly.
Although the people in the city looked normal, their spirits had already been branded. The entire city's population of over 1.2 million were all believers of the Earth Mother.
Liu Wen's figure vanished, and when he reappeared, he was already standing in the city center.
A newly constructed, black church over a hundred meters tall towered here.
“The Earth Mother is the origin of all things! She is the mother of all flesh-and-blood creatures! As her children, we must devoutly believe in our Mother!” A fanatical voice echoed outside the church.
A burly, middle-aged man in a black robe stood at the entrance of the church with a face full of fervor.
At the intersection of this downtown area, tens of thousands of people dressed in black robes knelt in a dense crowd.
With their hands clasped in prayer, they listened to the burly man's voice and shouted in unison, “O Earth Mother, you are the greatest deity in heaven and earth!!!”
Every single person, regardless of age or gender, wore an expression of fanaticism. Some kept screaming even though their voices had already gone hoarse.
The entire scene was more cult-like than any actual cult. Standing in the middle of the road where everyone was kneeling, Liu Wen was incredibly conspicuous.
When the burly middle-aged man saw Liu Wen, his brow furrowed slightly. ‘What is wrong with this guy? How could someone who isn't a fanatic make it here?’
The city center area was blockaded by Earth Priests. Not just anyone could enter.
Moreover, the man wasn't wearing a black robe, and with those six eyes, he was clearly neither an Earth Priest nor a believer.
“Who the hell are you?! This is the gathering of the supreme and great Earth Mother! What are your intentions in coming here?!” the burly man bellowed, pointing fiercely at Liu Wen.
This roar instantly quieted the fanatical scene. All the cultists turned their heads to look at Liu Wen standing in the back.
Under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, Liu Wen said expressionlessly, “Who am I? I am simply someone who wants to wipe out your Church of the Earth Mother.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd erupted into a frenzy, and every single cultist was filled with rage.
A young man stood up from the ground, his body mutating and swelling. “Damn you! How dare you act so insolently on the territory of the Church of the Earth Mother!”
Hum!
However, midway through his mutation, flames materialized out of thin air upon his body.
“Ah... Ah!!!” The searing pain of the burning caused him to shriek in agony. In less than two seconds, the youth was reduced to ashes along with his clothes.
Even the ground beneath his feet showed signs of melting. This was no longer a simple spiritual fire; his mind had reached a level where it could affect physical matter.
“So you're here to cause trouble! Kill him and offer his head to appease the Earth Mother!” the burly man shouted in anger upon seeing this.
From the kneeling crowd, over a hundred Earth Priests immediately stood up, their bodies beginning to mutate.
The commotion outside reached the interior of the church.
A woman dressed in white, possessing an incredibly pure appearance, was kneeling in the center of the church, her hands clasped in prayer.
Hearing the noise outside, she opened her eyes. Several black pupils were clustered together within her eyes. “What is happening outside?”
Behind her, a three-meter-tall, muscular bald man spoke in a respectful tone, “Your Eminence, a supernatural being has come to cause trouble outside. Do not worry, the number of Earth Priests out there is more than enough to handle it.”
The white-robed woman stood up and said calmly, “To cause trouble before the Earth Mother... I do not care who he is, he must die!”
She turned and walked outside.
So much time had passed since the Yangcheng incident, and the Six Archbishops of the Church of the Earth Mother had already been fully replenished.
Yu Shuanghua had died in Yangcheng, and Zhang Yi had been relegated to guarding the headquarters due to her poor performance.
The remaining five archbishops were responsible for proselytizing.
Outside, over a hundred Earth Priests transformed into hideous monsters and rushed toward Liu Wen.
But Liu Wen did not spare them even a single glance. Instead, he looked at the white-robed woman who had appeared at the church entrance. “I didn't expect such an unexpected harvest. Killing an archbishop is much better than killing you trash.”
Carried by his spiritual power, his words echoed throughout the vicinity of the church.
Looking at Liu Wen's appearance, the white-robed woman felt a sudden sense of familiarity.
In the next moment, her expression changed slightly. “Six crimson eyes... You are Liu Wen!”
Just as her words fell, Liu Wen was already densely surrounded by Earth Priests.
He calmly extended his left hand. “Trash of the Church of the Earth Mother, you are truly noisy.”
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A cold wind materialized out of thin air in the sky. Wherever the freezing wind swept, frost coated the ground.
Crack!
Ice crystals spread from beneath Liu Wen's feet, and the surrounding temperature plummeted to minus one hundred degrees instantly, and it was still dropping.
Hum!
In the next instant, the ice crystals swept across the surroundings, instantly freezing the bodies of all the rushing Earth Priests.
A thick layer of ice encased them, through which their hideous facial expressions were still visible.
Not just these Earth Priests, but with the exception of the church itself, every single cultist in the city center was frozen into a block of ice.
They remained frozen in their postures, staring in the direction of Liu Wen. Every single frozen being was dead beyond any shadow of a doubt.
At the perimeter of the church, a translucent light barrier blocked Liu Wen's ice crystals.
At the entrance of the church, the white-robed woman stared at Liu Wen, who had instantly killed tens of thousands of cultists and over a hundred Earth Priests, her face contorting with rage. “You bastard!!!”
This was the territory under her charge. Now that so many believers were dead, what would the Earth Mother think of her?
Liu Wen did not look at her. Instead, he stared deep into the church, where the statue of the Earth Mother was currently radiating light.
Liu Wen's six eyes locked onto the statue of the Earth Mother. “You are an evil god who isn't even present here, yet you still wish to interfere with this old man?!”
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