Chapter 513

Chapter 513: Chapter 510: "Lighthouse Church. In the dense forest, the sky was sliced into pale blue satin by the branches, with the faint sunlight spilling through the gaps.

A girl dressed in homespun cloth, her head wrapped in a kerchief, approached the stream flowing through the forest, holding her laundry basin.

She had an ordinary face, marked by the chilblains common among the working folk. She was Sha La of a nearby small tribe, and laundry was one of her tasks.

But at that moment, she noticed something off about the stream; it seemed as though strands of red were flowing down from upstream.

She ran toward the source and saw a figure collapsed by the edge of the stream. The person was wrapped in a pitch-black robe, part of which was already stained red with blood that was drifting downstream.

Good-natured as she was, she immediately took the person back to her tribe, settled him on her bed, and was about to remove his robe to check his injuries when she heard the Clan Leader’s voice at the entrance of the tribe.

"—The time for the ritual has come; all eligible tribespeople, come out."

She glanced at the person lying on her bed and promptly stepped out the door.

Her tribe was extremely xenophobic; she could not expose the fact that she had picked up this person.

She walked to the tribe’s square, where many tribespeople had already gathered, mostly children, young and with fearful expressions, heads bowed, bodies trembling in fear.

The gray-haired Clan Leader glanced at them, sighed, took out a wooden box, and reached inside.

The atmosphere was heavy; many relatives of these children stood by, heads bowed, praying silently, hoping their children would not be drawn.

As the Clan Leader’s hand moved like drawing lots, a wooden tile appeared, and he read the name on it, looking up.

"...Sha La."

All gazes instantly converged on her; in those gazes were pity, regret, but mostly relief.

Sha La stood there, her mind a blank, not knowing what to say.

The Clan Leader patted her shoulder.

"Go back and prepare," the Clan Leader said, "someone will come for you at dusk."

Sha La could not remember how she returned to her room.

She absently pushed the door open, intending to collapse into bed, but found that there was already someone sitting there—and that person had woken up.

...Oh, right.

She had just rescued someone by the stream.

"...I don’t know who you are, but you were unconscious by the river so I brought you back," she said in a low voice. "I had wanted to do a good deed, to save you, but now I’m in dire straits myself and don’t have the heart to look for herbs for you... do as you please."

With that, she flopped down on a small wooden stool beside her.

But the other party stood up.

Holding a bloodstained feather pen, he began to draw something on the ground, gradually creating a strange array.

Bloodlight rose, and Sha La suddenly felt an odd sensation surge from the array into her body.

When the red light faded, she discovered that everything around her was clearer than ever before and a powerful strength was flowing through her body.

...What’s happening?

She lifted her hand, feeling a potent energy surging through her arm.

Her ability was to incite curses, a power that was much shunned, as even when used in combat, it could easily harm one’s own camp. Thus, she had never exercised her ability.

But now, she realized her strength had undergone a powerful enhancement. Not only could she incite curses more effectively but she also seemed capable, to a certain extent, of suppressing other people’s curses.

She knew what it meant if she could reverse this ability—it would equate her to the Purification Chambers and curse-suppressing props. Her status would undergo a complete transformation, turning her into a coveted existence.

...Who wouldn’t want a being capable of suppressing curses?

And all this was bestowed by this small array, which had enhanced her power.

She looked up, as if still trapped in a dream, and saw the figure entirely cloaked in a black robe. She suddenly shivered and knelt down hard, her forehead hitting the ground with a crisp sound.

"—Are you a deity from Bai Shen?" Her voice trembled.

The people of Qiongdi, whose gifts were limited by inherent curses they bore for life, believed only an omnipotent deity could change this—a belief deeply ingrained in their hearts.

Both the former Feng Qiqi and now Sha La considered him a deity from Bai Shen because of the Talent Awakening Formation.

"It is I," Su Ming’an said.

Sha La prostrated even lower.

"Why are you holding a ritual tonight?" he asked.

"It’s, it’s because of a deity in a cave to the east..." Sha La said.

"Give me the details." He sat down, motioning her to continue.

As Sha La recounted, he began to understand what this tribe was up to.

Two days earlier, someone claiming to be a deity from Bai Shen appeared in a cave near the tribe. This person demanded that the tribe provide him with a sacrifice every day.

The tribe was skeptical of this stranger, but after he executed a few people to make an example, they had no choice but to comply with his demands—and today, Sha La had been chosen.

During the Hundred People War, it was typical for some unscrupulous competitors to coerce tribes into providing convenience by holding the tribe hostage; if such a scenario arose, the tribespeople could only see it as bad luck.

Sha La remembered that this self-proclaimed deity possessed a pitch-black Curse Black Beast that had killed many of her kinsfolk with its extraordinary strength.

"A deity living in a cave?" She heard a sneer from the deity before her, "What an imaginative setting; these people really know how to play, don’t they?"

Su Ming’an had thought he was the only one pretending to be a deity, but he hadn’t expected these players to come up with the same trick, trying to leverage the rules of belief to boost their strength.

The one who could control the Curse Black Beast was very likely a Player capable of drawing strength from the lives of others.

Unfortunately, this Player lacked a convincing method, only employing brute force to dominate others, which surely wouldn’t garner genuine faith from the tribespeople.

"So, you have awakened once again, deity from Bai Shen?" Sha La was still hesitant; after all, she knew that the deity from Bai Shen had perished as a part of the firmament five years ago...

At that moment, the sound of flapping wings "flap flap flap" filled the air.

A pitch-black raven flew out from underneath the robed figure’s cloak, perched upon his shoulder, its eyes like red gemstones, staring at Sha La in front of it.

Seeing this raven, the last vestiges of doubt in Sha La’s heart were swept away. The raven was the symbol of the Deity Bai Shen, which led her to believe that the person in front of her was truly...

"Sha La," the person in front of her pulled down his hood, revealing an exceptionally young face.

Nobody knew what Bai Shen’s true face looked like. When Bai Shen descended upon Qiongdi five years ago, he was shrouded in intense white light.

But now, Bai Shen appeared young, his features seemingly no different from those of an ordinary youth.

The young-looking Bai Shen faced her with an extremely gentle expression, "I need your help."

She immediately responded, "Of course."

"I didn’t actually die five years ago; that canopy protecting Qiongdi was just a part of my strength," he said. "I’ve been recuperating for several years, which is why I haven’t reappeared until now."

Sha La readily believed such a story.

After all, how could the omnipotent Deity possibly die from becoming a canopy?

"Recently, sensing that the hundred-people war was about to start again, I couldn’t bear to let such senseless slaughter continue, so I awoke," he said. "I... don’t want those innocent children to die in such a meaningless struggle; they are the future of Qiongdi."

Sha La listened, her eyes brimming with tears, unsure why she was so moved.

"I wanted to stop the war immediately, but the Evil God sensed my presence and awoke at the same time..." He continued his fabricated tale, "For the peace of Qiongdi, I immediately went to the First Tribe, suppressed the Evil God’s tentacles, which is how I got seriously injured, until you found me..."

Sha La had an epiphany as many things she’d been unable to understand suddenly connected.

She thought, why did metamorphosed tentacle monsters suddenly appear in the First Tribe? Why did these monsters, despite covering much of their land and nearly impacting their tribe, suddenly retract this morning?

...It was all because Deity Bai Shen was intervening to stop everything.

...He once again saved them.

Watching Sha La’s tear-filled eyes, Su Ming’an coughed softly.

He had crafted a story with a beginning and an end, taking into account both Bai Shen’s actual situation five years ago and the current state of the tentacle monsters.

The tentacle monsters that had nearly spread across all of Qiongdi completely receded this morning, and few would think it was the result of Xiber voluntarily backing down. They would believe that the tentacles had been defeated.

...Instead of believing the real reason that "an adventurer persuaded a follower of the Evil God to stop purifying the world," they would prefer to believe that "Deity Bai Shen awoke and stopped the Evil God from attempting to contaminate the world."

They believe that it’s impossible for humans to contend with a deity.

Only a deity would be capable of stopping the incarnation of the Evil God—the tentacle monsters.

So, they are more inclined to believe Bai Shen has returned.

After negotiating with Xiber this morning and deciding that "achieving godhood" was the ultimate goal, Su Ming’an resolved to first become Bai Shen, then search for a way for Xiber to independently achieve godhood.

The essence of Jiu Shen was too strong in Xiber, and Qiongdi’s prejudice against heretics ran deep, making it difficult for her to attain the crucial element of "faith."

Therefore, if she ultimately couldn’t achieve godhood, Su Ming’an would prioritize becoming Bai Shen, as he already possessed the Black Lamb Authority.

However, to his surprise, after he made this decision, Xiber spoke two sentences.

"In order to obtain the element of ’faith,’ you should consider establishing a Divine Sect. Only when the faith of the people is concentrated can it truly coalesce into strength."

"Go to the twenty-ninth tribe in the east and find a girl named Sha La. She will be by the river washing clothes in the afternoon. You can pretend to be injured and have her take you into the tribe, then find an opportunity to establish the Divine Sect."

Su Ming’an did just that.

And sure enough, as if following a script, there was indeed a Sha La washing clothes by the creek, and she really did bring him into the tribe.

His Talent Awakening Formation enabled Sha La to master a more unique strength—suppressing curses.

He deceived Sha La, saying that he was Bai Shen, weakened due to having suppressed the tentacled monsters. He told her that establishing the Divine Sect would allow his recovery, and he would continue to protect the people of Qiongdi once he regained his strength.

This was basically the same effect as saying, "Hello, I’m the Number One Player, now betrayed by a Cloning and stranded on Zhai Xing. If you send two hundred yuan to my Alipay, when I return to the world game one day, I will surely make you Lv Shu..."]

But the people of Qiongdi bought this whole story.

Sha La, whose favorability had already soared to 80 points, said she would definitely use her ability to suppress curses to do anything for him.

Afterward, Sha La took him to meet the tribal members, and because of the Raven on his shoulder and the altered abilities of Sha La, the tribe believed he was the reincarnation of Bai Shen.

"—Great Bai Shen, you must save us, you have to kill that bastard who dares to impersonate you!"

The tribal members were so excited, they could hardly wait to tear apart that imposter in the cave pretending to be Bai Shen.

But Su Ming’an gestured with his hand for them to be quiet.

"Tonight, I will go to the cave and punish that guy," he said. "But before that, I want to establish a title for us."

The tribe members looked confused; they didn’t understand what he meant by a title.

"Previously, you’ve always referred to me as Bai Shen, but there has been no establishment of a unified sect," Su Ming’an said. "This patch of Qiongdi has seen too many twisted beliefs arise in the past five years... I think it’s best to unite as an organization to prevent the unscrupulous from exploiting our vulnerability. I do not want your sincere faith to be used by someone."

The Clan Leader Mika understood—great Bai Shen wanted to establish a Church!

This was only natural, after all, their previous beliefs were fragmented, without a Pope, Bishop, organized sects, or sect guards. That was why there had been incidents of people carelessly impersonating a deity, like that person in the cave.

"We need to quickly establish some rules and form some armed forces to gather more believers. Of course, all this is for later discussion. What we need first is a name for our sect," Su Ming’an said.

"Please tell us," Clan Leader Mika said with reverent expression.

"I think..." Su Ming’an said, "why don’t we name it after the ’Lighthouse’ that dispels the Black Mist, to gather believers from various tribes?"

Mika nodded ferociously.

He had no idea what a Lighthouse was, but if Bai Shen said it was the Lighthouse Church, then so be it!

"Good!" Mika said. "In that case, I will immediately notify the nearby tribes to establish the Lighthouse Church. I believe they will be eager to heed your words and join the embrace of the Lighthouse!"

As the Clan Leader Mika knew, the return of Bai Shen signified a new structure emerging in Qiongdi.

The establishment of the Divine Sect was also a revolution.

As the first being to make contact with Bai Shen, he had to seize this opportunity to bring everyone into the embrace of the Lighthouse.