I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

Inside the dilapidated border temple, a campfire flickered and crackled among the ruins.

Eve had just led over a hundred slaves, whom they had snatched from the sacrificial path, into the temple. Mud and blood dripped from their bodies onto the cold stone slabs. After receiving the first wave of faith energy, the ruins of the Dark Gold Temple had only managed to repair a few load-bearing pillars and half a main wall, barely keeping out the cold wind and rain. But these hundred-odd ragged mortals remained huddled together like frightened birds in a corner of the altar.

They hadn't even had time to catch their breath, or even to bandage their wounds.

Om-!

Without warning, a suffocatingly terrifying pressure swept in like a tsunami from the edge of the wasteland. The pitch-black night sky, which was originally shrouded in dark clouds, was suddenly torn apart, and a platinum holy light with absolute arrogance illuminated the area around the temple as bright as day.

That was the holy aura of the gods unique to the Radiant Diocese.

Inside the temple, the slaves, who had just gained a brief respite, were instantly plunged into extreme panic. The instinctive fear, ingrained by long-term theocratic rule, coiled around their hearts like venomous snakes. Some collapsed to the ground, their legs giving way; others clutched their heads in terror; some, under the oppressive light, instinctively knelt, their lips trembling uncontrollably as they recited the Old Gods' prayers of the Radiant Diocese:

"Merciful Lord of Light, forgive the sins of the Lamb..."

Eve did not stop those who wanted to escape. She stared intently at the slaves kneeling on the ground chanting the prayers of the Old Gods, and felt a burning pain, like being pricked by needles, coming from the dark gold divine runes on the back of her hands.

She keenly sensed that the approaching holy light outside wasn't aimed at destroying the dilapidated temple, nor was it simply about slaughtering hundreds of bodies. That overwhelming pressure was like an invisible net, attempting to reclaim the "faith" of these people.

The most terrifying thing is not that their bodies are killed, but that their fear of the old gods and their habit of praying to them have not been broken!

"Shut up! All of you, shut up!" Eve whirled around, kicking over a prisoner of war who was frantically kowtowing, and shouted, "Who are you praying to? Are you praying to the god who's going to skin you alive?!"

Everyone froze, staring in disbelief at the young first priest whose hands were covered in blood.

"You can't escape. As long as you still fear Him and keep chanting His name, your souls will be forever bound to the chains of the Kingdom of Radiant Light!" Eve walked to the wall that shimmered with dark gold light, pulled out a dagger, cut a bloody gash in her palm, and pressed it hard against the divine runes.

"Smash all those old divine runes on your bodies! If you want to live, sign a blood pact here!" Eve pointed at the dark gold divine runes, her voice hoarse yet resolute, carrying a cruel determination. "Repeat after me:"

"My prayers will no longer be offered to the Radiant Light!"

"My fears will no longer feed the old gods!"

"I am willing to exchange my faith for absolute protection!"

This is not a comforting reassurance, but a declaration of conversion forced upon mortals by desperate circumstances.

The veteran Bart, who had lost an arm, was the first to stand up. He tore off the radiant wooden badge he had worn around his neck since childhood, smashed it to pieces on the ground, and then pressed his bloodied severed arm against the dark gold divine runes, roaring as he repeated the three lines of the dark gold covenant.

Then, the second, the third... those slaves who had walked on the edge of life and death gritted their teeth, shed tears, and transformed the fear suppressed in their hearts into determination, all swearing oaths in blood.

boom--!

At that very moment, the already dilapidated main gate of the temple was shattered by a violent white-gold storm.

Stones flew everywhere, and the wind and rain poured in.

In the blinding holy light, twelve knights of divine grace, clad in heavy armor and riding unicorns of light, stood in a line outside the gate like twelve insurmountable steel mountains. A holy oracle, his eyes blindfolded, stood respectfully in mid-air, holding a scroll.

In the very center, Cardinal Herman, clad in white robes, descended slowly atop a floating, radiant shrine.

Hermann didn't charge in recklessly like a typical warrior. He looked down at the small temple, which exuded an air of heresy, his eyes filled with undisguised disgust and arrogance.

He looked at the slaves huddled under the dark gold stone walls as if they were a herd of dirty livestock that had accidentally escaped their enclosure and were covered in mud.

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"Foolish lambs. Do you think that by kneeling before an unknown wild god, you can wash away your sins and sever your ties with the supreme deity?"

Hermann's voice wasn't loud, but with the powerful divine force amplifying it, it resounded like muffled thunder deep within everyone's soul.

"From the moment you are born, your faith is already ordained. Your daily prayers, every confession, your fears and pains, and even your souls after death, are fuel for the Lord of Radiance life after life."

He slowly raised his right hand, and a sacred object, crafted entirely from radiant divine gold and emitting a dazzling white light, slowly appeared in his palm.

That was an ancient scale—the Soul-Locking Scale.

In the underlying rules of the pantheon, this sacred object bestowed by the gods possesses absolute weight in determining one's place of faith.

"The sacred relic is here; weigh its soul. Reclaim the faith that belongs to the supreme god, and burn heresy to ashes!"

As Hermann delivered his cold verdict, the scales of justice suddenly erupted with a violent hum.

One end of the scales tilted high, and dozens of chains of cause and effect, formed from pure holy light, shot out from the base of the scales like living venomous snakes, ignoring the temple's obstruction and directly striking the believers hiding under the dark gold stone walls.

"ah--!"

Screams instantly filled the hall.

As the light of the Soul-Locking Scales shone upon them, the old divine marks that had disappeared from the bodies of many believers reappeared under the forceful stimulation of the holy light, burning their flesh like red-hot irons.

Even more terrifying, under the suppression of the sacred object, some slaves with weak wills began to roll their eyes back, their bodies convulsed uncontrollably, and they involuntarily began to chant the radiant prayer again!

A faint golden aura was being forcibly drawn from their heads by the Soul-Locking Balance, flowing continuously along the chains of holy light into the balance in Herman's hand.

"Damn it!"

Eve's eyes were bloodshot. She raised her left hand, and the Dao Lord's divine runes on the back of her hand erupted with an unprecedentedly dazzling light. She attempted to use the same trick as before to sever the chains.

"Break!"

The dark golden, regular ripples slammed into the chains of holy light.

However, this time, the invincible "Severance" technique seemed to have struck a wall of despair. The dark gold ripples vibrated violently, but failed to sever the chains.

Eve was struck dumb, spitting out a mouthful of blood as she flew backward and crashed heavily onto the stone steps of the altar.

"A mere trifling divine art bestowed by a wild god dares to contend with the sacred relics of a high god for the right of prayer?" A cruel glint of mockery flashed in Herman's eyes. "This scale connects to the sustenance channel of the Radiant Kingdom! And you think you can compete?"

Eve wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and stared intently at the scales that exuded a terrifying pressure.

The Soul-Locking Scales weren't suppressing her with pure divine power, but rather with the deeply ingrained laws of the pantheon of gods over countless millennia! What the scales took away from these mortals was their innate reverence for the old gods and the servility they had been cultivated over a long period.

As long as a believer harbors even a trace of fear, the Soul-Locking Scales can transform that fear into "faith driven by fear" and forcibly remove it.

To break the deadlock, brute force cannot be used.

Eve struggled to her feet. Instead of trying to attack the scales, she turned and limped toward the slaves who were wailing in pain and uncontrollably chanting prayers of the Old Gods.

She grabbed a burly man who was rolling his eyes and slapped him hard across the face.

"Wake up! Open your eyes and look carefully!"

Eve's voice roared hoarsely within the temple, drowning out the raging storm outside: "That broken scale weighs the cowardice in your very bones! The more you fear Him, the more He can drain you dry!"

She slammed a blood-stained broadsword into the stone slab in front of the burly man, her piercing gaze sweeping over everyone.

"The old gods devour your faith but offer you no way to live! The Lord of the Way accepts your faith, but gives you weapons, protection, and the right to resist!"

"Choose! Continue kneeling on the ground like a lamb whose soul has been drained, or soberly sell your faith to the Dark Gold Temple in exchange for the power to slaughter those scum outside!"

Eve's words, like a sharp dagger, pierced the thick, hard shell in the hearts of the slaves, hardened by long-term oppression.

Veteran Bart looked at the broadsword stuck in the ground, then at his own body, which was constantly oozing golden spiritual energy.

"To hell with the Radiant Light!" Bart gritted his teeth, using the last of his strength to bite his tongue hard. The excruciating pain instantly brought him to his senses, and he forced down the uncontrollable Old God prayer that was escaping his throat.

"I surrender my faith to the Dark Gold Temple in exchange for a way to live!"

With Bart's roar, the golden spiritual power that had been forcibly drawn from his head by the Soul-Locking Balance came to an abrupt halt.

This seemed to trigger a chain reaction.

"Don't believe in the old gods! Let them die!"

More than a hundred slaves no longer passively endured the torture. In extreme pain, they used all sorts of self-harm to stay conscious and abruptly cut off their prayers to the Old God.

They stopped begging for mercy from Yaoguang, and instead stared at the dark gold stone wall with bloodshot eyes, loudly reciting the dark gold covenant.

At that moment, they voluntarily surrendered the deepest beliefs of their souls.

This belief is neither pure nor sacred. It is mixed with the hatred of the lower classes, the extreme desire to survive, and a cruel sense of transaction.

But precisely because it is real, it is incredibly resilient!

boom--!

This chaotic, dark golden power, like a torrent bursting its banks, surged wildly into the Daoist divine runes on the temple walls. The originally faint runes instantly erupted with a radiance that surpassed even the thunder.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Herman, standing outside the door, remained oblivious to the fundamental shift in events. He snorted coldly and continued activating the Soul-Locking Scales: "Resist to the bitter end? Then drain the faith and souls of these heretics!"

The holy light chains of the Soul-Locking Scales tightened suddenly, attempting to forcibly weigh and extract the immense power of faith that had just erupted.

However, the moment the Holy Light Chains touched that dark gold power.

Click.

A sharp, crisp cracking sound, which made Hermann feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave, suddenly rang out in mid-air.

The Soul-Locking Balance attempted to forcibly incorporate these beliefs into the sustenance channels of the Radiant Divine Kingdom. However, in the underlying logic of the Sub-Heavenly Dao Network, the faith cycles of these believers were completely rewritten the moment they "actively traded."

The scales are no longer pulling a flock of lost sheep, but an indestructible cliff!

"Forcibly seizing the right to pray from converted believers"—in the underlying rules of the pantheon, this triggered an extremely terrifying conflict of laws.

"No...this can't be! The weight of this faith..."

Herman's eyes widened in horror. A grotesque dark gold crack suddenly appeared on the platinum beam of the Soul-Locking Scales in his hand, the sacred relic representing the absolute law of Radiance. Then, the crack spread like a spiderweb, shattering a third of the relic's structure. Countless Radiant runes flashed wildly on the surface of the scales, then extinguished in large swaths.

The next instant, a terrifying backlash of the rules surged into his body through the scales. His right arm, gripping the scales, exploded inch by inch from his wrist to his shoulder, golden divine blood gushing out. Herman let out a piercing scream as he plummeted from mid-air, crashing heavily into the muddy water outside the temple.

However, the Soul-Locking Balance was not completely destroyed.

The damaged relic still hovered in mid-air. Although its light was dim, it still firmly preserved the trace of the dark gold faith loop that had been captured during the backlash just moments before.

The blindfolded divine oracle's expression changed drastically.

She knew better than anyone that the value of this sacred relic was even greater than wiping out all the heretics in the temple. If she could bring it back to the Radiant Temple, the chief god might be able to trace the essence of that unknown faith from the remaining traces.

"retreat!"

The oracle abruptly unfurled the scroll of sacred words, his voice losing its composure for the first time: "Purification Squad, escort the Archbishop and the Scales of Souls back to the main temple! This is the highest priority of the oracle!"

Although the twelve Divine Knights were shocked and enraged, they did not lose their composure. They simultaneously turned their unicorns around, forcibly forming a platinum defensive array to protect the heavily injured Herman and the damaged Soul-Locking Scales in the center.

Eve, leaning on her broadsword, stood panting in front of the temple. She did not give chase.

She knew very well that if the Soul-Locking Scales hadn't suffered a backlash, and if the Oracle hadn't chosen to retreat, they, mere mortals who had just taken up arms, would never have been able to truly defeat the entire Purification Squad.

But that's enough.

……

Beyond the multidimensional universe lies the Kunlun Heavenly Palace.

Gu Qing sat upright on the throne of the Deputy Heavenly Dao, his gaze cold and piercing.

He observed this clash between mortals and divine authority from the sidelines, maintaining an air of absolute superiority.

In that tiny fraction of a second before the Soul-Locking Balance shattered completely, Gu Qing, through the Sub-Heavenly Dao Network's detection of the backlash from the rules, clearly saw a massive network hidden deep within the void of the Myriad Gods Realm.

It was a golden torrent formed by the prayers, fears, and sacrifices of countless believers, like a thick blood vessel leading straight to the radiant divine kingdom in the highest heavens.

That is the "channel of faith offering" of the Lord of Radiance.

A flicker of realization and murderous intent flashed in Gu Qing's eyes.

He had completely seen through the foundation of this world. The lifeblood of the pantheon was not those lofty statues of gods, nor those powerful priests, but the stream of faith that mortals offered daily.

As long as you follow these channels, cut off the source, or inject poison, all the gods and Buddhas in the sky will be nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs.

"We've found the pipe." Gu Qing's slender fingers tapped lightly on the armrest of the throne, his voice barely audible.

……

At the same time.

Deep within the Radiant Diocese lies a magnificent divine kingdom suspended in the clouds, constructed of pure holy light.

A sudden and violent tremor caused the countless angels and holy spirits praying within the kingdom of God to halt in their actions in terror.

In the river of faith within the divine realm, which represents the source of the Radiant Lord's power, a tiny gap suddenly appeared. Though extremely small, the stream of faith that should have flowed into the river was completely rewritten by some force, severing its connection.

On the throne, the enormous phantom, bathed in infinite light and having slept for countless years, slowly opened its eyes.

A burst of divine light erupted, and the entire divine kingdom trembled violently!