“That place was originally the ruins of an ancient civilization on this planet. We cleared it out to use as a forward base.”
“In total, we have... fifteen people.”
“The distribution of their ranks?”
“Four 6th-Rank Peaks, seven 6th-Rank Mid-Stages, and four 6th-Rank Early Stages...”
Jiang Lin committed these numbers to memory.
Thirty-two minus seven equals twenty-five.
Two escaped, and the ones who fled back should be two 6th-Rank Peaks.
In that case, there were still at least four 6th-Rank Peaks, four 6th-Rank Mid-Stages, and two 6th-Rank Early Stages remaining in that abandoned stone city.
“What is your purpose for coming to Caeous?”
“To spread faith,” the tall, thin apostle’s voice was low. “The Lord Demon God needs us to establish faith anchors on this planet to prepare for the subsequent large-scale descent.”
“And the way you establish these faith anchors is by letting the pollution spread, creating polluted ones, and then purifying them?”
The tall, thin apostle shook his head.
“First, we create panic, then we play the savior.
“Fear is the best catalyst for faith.
“When people are pushed to a desperate dead end, as long as someone reaches out to pull them up, they will cling tightly to that life-saving straw.
“However, we do not purify the polluted ones. Instead, we directly bestow power upon these natives through Demon God statues. We allow them to become demon warriors and grant them the strength to resist this pollution.”
“So, did you open this rift?”
“No,” the tall, thin apostle shook his head. “The rift appeared naturally. We simply discovered it and then utilized it.”
Jiang Lin’s brow furrowed slightly.
So the rift appeared naturally.
It seemed the Demon God truly had no connection to the Abyss of Slaughter.
One could even say that both the righteous gods and the Demon God were taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the opening of the Abyss of Slaughter’s rift to reap a large amount of faith.
He stood up and glanced at Lothar.
“I’ve asked everything I needed to know.”
Lothar nodded, walked up to the tall, thin apostle, and brought his sword down.
The tall, thin apostle’s body convulsed once before becoming still.
Lothar sheathed his sword, his gaze sweeping across the corpses in the river valley.
“Dispose of the bodies. Don’t leave any sources of pollution.”
Good nodded and took a bottle of potent purification reagent from his spatial ring, dripping a few drops onto each corpse.
The bodies began to smoke, emitting a sizzling sound as they dissolved and evaporated at a visible rate.
Ultimately, only a small pile of grayish-white powder remained. A gust of the north wind blew it away, scattering it into the dry riverbed.
“Let’s go,” Lothar said as he stowed the reagent bottle and brushed the dust from his hands. “Back to town first to discuss our next move.”
Eight figures walked south along the riverbed.
Behind them, the pile of grayish-white powder was dispersed by the wind. The river valley returned to a deathly silence, as if nothing had ever happened.
By the time they returned to the town, the sky had turned completely dark.
Two dim satellites hung on the horizon, casting a silvery-gray light over the gray-brown hills.
In the town square, a bonfire had been lit.
The natives sat around the fire, talking in low voices in groups of twos and threes.
The aroma of roasted meat drifted through the air, mixed with the refreshing scent of certain local plant leaves.
...
Early the next morning, as the sky was just beginning to brighten, the eight people gathered at the town’s entrance.
Lothar spread a crude hand-drawn map on a stone platform and used a charcoal pencil to draw a circle to the north.
“Based on the information obtained from last night’s interrogation, that abandoned stone city is forty li to the north and serves as the forward base for the Demon God Apostles. They have at least ten people left, including four 6th-Rank Peaks.”
“A direct assault isn’t worth it,” Mavis said, crossing her arms as her fiery-red curly hair fluttered slightly in the morning wind. “They’ve definitely laid down a large number of defensive array runes around their outpost. Even if we win, some of us are bound to get hurt. We still have more than four months to endure.”
“Then let’s bypass them.” Jiang Lin’s finger traced an arc on the map, skirting around the area marked as the abandoned stone city and pointing toward a location further north. “We’ll head northwest, go around the rift and their outpost, and approach the rift directly from the side.”
“What if they’ve set up hidden sentries along the way?” Good asked, scratching his bald head.
“Then we pull them out.” Lothar stowed the map, his tone flat but carrying an unquestionable murderous intent. “Two of them escaped yesterday, so they definitely know we’re here. Rather than waiting for them to set a trap for us to walk into, it’s better to disrupt their rhythm.”
The team set out in the morning mist, traveling north along the ravines between the hills.
Jiang Lin walked in the middle of the group, maintaining his Space Perception at its maximum range.
The pale silver perception field was like an invisible web spreading out against the ground, capturing every trace of abnormal aura fluctuations.
After traveling for about two shichen, the terrain ahead began to change.
The hills gradually flattened out, replaced by a vast plain.
The vegetation on the plain was even sparser than in the south, with large patches of gray-brown soil exposed, looking as if they had been gnawed away by something.
The pungent smell in the air became more intense, mixed with a faint, sickly sweet scent like rotting meat.
“There’s a city ahead.” Dorian, who was walking at the front, stopped and pointed at a faint outline visible on the horizon. “It’s quite large.”
Jiang Lin extended his Space Perception forward.
The outline of the city became clear in his mind.
The city walls were built from grayish-black giant stones, standing about five zhang high. Figures could be seen moving atop the walls. The city gates were wide open, with pedestrians entering and leaving, making everything appear normal.
But Jiang Lin’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Something’s wrong,” he said in a low voice. “The auras of those guards on the walls... they don’t seem like ordinary people.”
“What do you mean?” Lothar walked up beside him.
“Their auras are stronger than ordinary people, and they carry a... a vibration similar to those Demon God Apostles from yesterday. It’s very faint, but it’s definitely there.”
Lothar was silent for a moment.
“They’ve already been converted?”
“It might be more than that.” Jiang Lin withdrew his perception. “Let’s go into the city and take a look.”
The eight of them walked toward the city along the dirt road.
The closer they got to the city gates, the stronger the abnormal aura in the air became.
Farms appeared on both sides of the road, but the leaves of the crops in the fields were yellow and their growth was stunted.
A few farmers were working in the fields. Seeing the group approach, they looked up for a moment before lowering their heads to continue their work.
The faces of those farmers were abnormally pale, their eye sockets deep, and faint, dark red specks of light could be seen within their pupils.
“They’ve already been converted,” Cyrus said, pushing his glasses up, his voice very low. “And the degree of conversion isn't low. For physical changes of this magnitude, they must have undergone at least several weeks of continuous erosion.”
Jiang Lin did not reply.
Four guards stood at the city gate, wearing crude leather armor and holding spears.
Their appearance was no different from ordinary humans, but their skin had an unhealthy grayish-white hue, and the veins at the corners of their eyes bulged slightly, showing dark red patterns.
Seeing the eight people approach, the lead guard raised his spear to block their path.
“Entry fee, five copper coins per person.”
His voice was raspy and flat, as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in a long time.
Mavis stepped forward, pulled several copper coins from her pocket, and handed them over while asking in the local language:
“We are traveling merchants from the south and want to rest here for a few days. Has anything big happened in the city lately?”
The guard took the copper coins, counted them, and then stepped aside to let them pass.
“Nothing big. The Lord Divine Envoys from the north just left a few days ago. They left behind a few statues, saying they could protect us from that strange disease.”
“Lord Divine Envoys?”
“Yes.” The guard nodded, a very faint, almost devout light flashing in his hollow eyes. “They came from the north, wearing black robes, and they can drive away that madness-inducing disease. They erected several statues in the city center and told us to pray there every day.”
Jiang Lin and Lothar exchanged a glance.
The Demon God Apostles had already been here.
The eight of them passed through the city gate and entered the city.
The scale of the city was not small, with approximately four to five thousand inhabitants.
The houses along the streets were mostly made of stone and wood. Some were shops selling crude pottery, cloth, and food.
Pedestrians came and went, appearing no different from an ordinary human town.
But Jiang Lin’s Space Perception captured the details hidden beneath the surface.
When those pedestrians walked, their footsteps were lighter than those of ordinary people.
Their breathing rhythm was slower, and their pupils were more sluggish in responding to changes in light.
On the skin exposed on some people's arms or necks, fine dark red patterns could faintly be seen.
These were the marks left behind after being modified by Demon God power.
“So many of them have been converted,” Selene’s voice came from behind him. “They look normal, but their bodies have already been permeated by Demon God power. If that Demon God wished, he could turn them into mindless warriors at any time.”
“Furthermore, the Demon God power will remain in their bodies. Through generations of refinement, their descendants will eventually transform completely from the human race into the demon race.”
Jiang Lin’s gaze fell toward the center of the city.
There, a black stone statue stood in the middle of the plaza.
The statue was about three meters high, carved in the image of a person with blurred features. Clad in a long robe, its hands were spread to both sides with palms facing upward, as if accepting something.
The surface of the statue was glazed with a layer of faint dark red light that moved slowly like living blood vessels.
Dozens of people knelt around the statue, their heads bowed as they muttered under their breaths.
Their bodies were likewise permeated by that dark red aura, which resonated with the light emitted by the statue.
Jiang Lin stood at the edge of the plaza, his golden eyes gazing at the black statue.
He could feel a fluctuation of power contained within the statue that was similar to the Demon Lord Seed in his body.
It was not the order and purity of the God of Holy Light, but a more violent, more primitive power.
This was the power of the Demon God.
“They are using this statue to modify this city,” Cyrus whispered at his side. “The Demon God power radiated by the statue will continuously erode the surrounding space, changing the magic essence composition here. People who stay in this city for a long time will unconsciously be converted into Demon God Believers.”
“And this conversion is irreversible.” Selene’s fingertips condensed pale blue healing magic essence as she shook her head gently. “I just checked the meridians of that child by the roadside. The Demon God power has already merged with his origin magic essence. Forcing a purification would kill him.”
Jiang Lin remained silent for a moment before stepping toward the statue.
The surrounding believers looked up, their gazes simultaneously landing on him.
In those gazes, there was curiosity, vigilance, and a trace of barely perceptible hostility.
He stopped three steps away from the statue, raised his right hand, and pressed his palm against the pedestal of the statue.
The moment his fingertips touched the surface of the pedestal, a cold, viscous power surged up his arm and into his body.
That power traveled through his meridians, attempting to erode his magic essence circuits.
Then, the seed in his heart, which had already transformed into a Demon Lord Status, trembled slightly.
The Demon God power surging into his body seemed to be attracted by something and abruptly changed its course. It no longer eroded his meridians upward but instead rushed entirely toward his heart, where it was swallowed, absorbed, and assimilated by the Demon Lord Seed.
A very faint dark red light flashed through Jiang Lin’s golden eyes before vanishing without a trace.
He withdrew his hand and looked down at his palm.
The extremely faint dark red pattern on the skin of his palm was slowly dissipating. After a few breaths, it disappeared completely, as if it had never been there.
This seemed to be... the faith power the Demon God had accumulated on this statue?
He felt as if another stream of clear current had flowed into his body, and his strength had increased slightly.
This was much better than the mere pittance provided by the God of Holy Light!
Jiang Lin felt the extra power in his body and was momentarily dazed.
However, he also began to think quickly.
The essence of a Demon Lord Seed was the foundation for advancement within the Demon God hierarchy.
While these other Demon God Believers also had Demon Lord Seeds in their bodies, because they had superiors above them, their path to advancement was essentially closed, and many of the functions the Demon Lord Seed should have were locked away.
His Demon Lord Seed, however, was obtained after completing a phase of the system.
Thus, his ability to plunder the faith power of other Demon Gods should be something these Demon God Believers did not possess.
In that case, he could simply wait for the Demon God Believers to build the statues, and then he could go and plunder the Demon God’s faith power!
Jiang Lin stood before the black Demon God statue, looking down at his palm.
The power that had just surged into his body was still flowing slowly through his meridians, ultimately sinking into the depths of the Demon Lord Seed in his heart.
He could feel his total magic essence capacity increase by a fraction.
Though it wasn't much, this feeling of getting something for nothing was truly delightful.
He looked up and re-examined the dark red statue.
The layer of light moving like blood vessels on the surface of the statue was still there, but it was slightly dimmer than before.
The believers kneeling and praying around it did not notice anything abnormal.
A thought suddenly popped into his mind.
If just touching it like this allowed him to absorb residual faith power, could he do something even more thorough?
For example, what if he tampered with these Demon God statues so that the faith power they generated didn't flow to the Demon God, but was instead transmitted directly to him?
Once this idea appeared, he could no longer suppress it.
Rate on N.U.
