Chapter 69: The Divine Idol: Hmm? Do you think I don’t exist?

Dusk was approaching.

Inside Kao Mountain Town, a group of Black-Armored Warriors holding torches walked along the city wall. On the wall, every hundred meters, there was a strange oil lamp. It looked like a huge toad, its large belly filled with lamp oil, its head held high towards the sky, and its extended tongue served as the wick.

When lit, the flame was black, giving off no light at all, only a strange, unpleasant smell spreading around.

“Priest, the Dark Mist is about to rise, and there’s still no new Divine Decree?”

At that moment, in front of one of the toad oil lamps, Ma Jinzhong bowed slightly, speaking in a hushed voice as he inquired of the Temple Priest Wang Wu before him. In his eyes was a hint of envy that was hard to detect, and an even more concealed resentment.

Even in the dim twilight, he could still clearly see Wang Wu’s face, which looked at least twenty years younger, and the vital energy that only a normal, healthy person would have.

This was the vastness of Divine Grace. Now, in Kao Mountain Town, the entire Temple system—three head priests and seventy-six followers—had received Divine Grace, gaining great benefits.

Even over at the east wall, those lowly commoners, like that Zhang San and his family, had also received great Divine Grace.

But here on the west wall, not a single instance of Divine Grace had appeared.

This unavoidably made Ma Jinzhong feel somewhat uneasy, worrying that he had somehow offended the Deity.

“The Deity has not issued a Divine Decree, which means we should proceed as usual. Sir Ma, has the lamp oil for the east wall been delivered in full?” Wang Wu said sternly, his expression unreadable.

“The lamp oil was naturally sent long ago. I, Ma, would not joke about the lives of the entire town’s people.” Ma Jinzhong gave a dry laugh.

“Tonight, if there is any situation, you must provide support quickly.”

Wang Wu glanced at Ma Jinzhong, left these words, and turned to disappear into the darkness.

“Of course, of course. I, Ma, will stay on the city wall tonight.” Ma Jinzhong smiled obsequiously. Once he turned around, he ordered several subordinates to deliver several large barrels of lamp oil to the east wall. This was not ordinary lamp oil but Mist Demon corpse oil, made by refining the bodies of the demons and processing them with special methods.

Its effect was to interfere with the Mist Demons’ ability to sense the presence of living people, greatly slowing their attacks.

For a long time, Kao Mountain Town hadn’t really worried about Mist Demons breaking into the town. Each night, there was only a risk for about two hours. But today, the Temple had instructed that all the stored Mist Demon corpse oil be brought out.

It seemed these Temple guys were shrewder than he had thought.

He just didn’t know, if they used up all the Mist Demon corpse oil tonight, what would they do tomorrow?

Ma Jinzhong glanced down at the Divine Idol pendant hanging around his neck. It was crude but truly possessed immense power. So, even if he guessed something, he didn’t dare to dwell on it.

But he was happy to see certain things happen. Over the years, the Ma family, in order to lie low, had served as dogs for generations, and they had made ample preparations.

Now, it was a heaven-sent opportunity.

After descending from the city wall, Ma Jinzhong returned to his lord’s manor, the second most luxurious compound in the entire town. The most luxurious was the Temple. However, the Temple was now in ruins, with a large pit in the middle.

So now, the Ma family’s west courtyard had been temporarily requisitioned and simply arranged as a Temple. A simply constructed Divine Idol stood there.

During the day, this makeshift emergency Temple still had some priests and followers guarding it, but now it was completely empty.

Because all the priests and followers had gone to the city wall. The biggest task tonight was to stop the invasion of the Mist Demons.

Only by getting through this would they have the right to live until the next day. Ma Jinzhong knew very well how terrifying the Mist Demons were.

At that moment, he took a deep look at the dark, empty Temple, devoutly knelt and bowed three times, and then entered the east courtyard. His three sons, two daughters, and the family’s servants, guards, and trusted disciples were all there having dinner.

Although many things had happened today, the meal was still cheerful and harmonious.

After the meal, Ma Jinzhong also took the opportunity to give some pointers to the younger generation on their cultivation and Dao Techniques. After watching them return to their rooms to rest, he finally went back to his own room.

The large room was empty. He first took out a half-person-high wooden carving, which depicted a one-eyed monster. When Ma Jinzhong looked at the carving, the one-eyed monster looked back at him simultaneously.

Ma Jinzhong didn’t speak, just offered his wrist. The one-eyed monster opened its mouth and bit, drinking its fill of blood.

After a short while, the one-eyed monster showed a satisfied expression, and the entire wooden carving began to slowly, silently melt, like mud, enveloping Ma Jinzhong’s whole body.

Then, another Ma Jinzhong appeared. He wore a playful expression, took the pendant from Ma Jinzhong’s neck, put it on himself, turned, and left the room. Taking a few trusted guards and disciples with him, he headed straight for the city wall to command the Black-Armored Warriors on their night patrol.

The real Ma Jinzhong picked up an oil lamp that seemed ordinary next to the bed, took out a special Talisman Paper, and lit it. Instantly, a blue, ghostly light shone, and the room’s environment changed dramatically. A secret underground tunnel slowly opened, faintly revealing the faint light of a Formation Array.

However, the oil lamp Ma Jinzhong held seemed to have a special effect, allowing him to pass through directly.

At the end of the tunnel was a simple space with nothing in it. But when Ma Jinzhong raised the oil lamp, a mist seeped out from somewhere, quickly forming a Divine Idol only the size of a baby’s fist. Then, the idol spoke in a sharp voice.

“You shouldn’t have come here at this time. My power cannot completely erase your traces.”

“Great-grandfather, today should be the most opportune moment because—” Ma Jinzhong was very excited, but then he immediately became vigilant, looking around, especially checking that the blue light in the oil lamp hadn’t changed. Then he continued in a lowered voice, “Great-grandfather, today, today, the Divine Idol of that unmentionable existence was destroyed for some reason.”

“Then, a Divine Decree came down, saying that rebel forces of the Deity were coming to attack, and we should prepare for battle immediately. About half an hour later, three streaks of bloody light came from the southwest. Their aura alone was so powerful that I couldn’t move at the time. But for some reason, those three streaks of bloody light never appeared again.”

“After that, there were all sorts of unreliable Divine Decrees, and Divine Grace Baptisms. It felt, it felt like the Deity had changed. The Temple priests and followers clearly knew, but they had received the Divine Grace Baptism, so they all accepted it silently.”

Ma Jinzhong’s explanation was a bit messy, but the miniature Divine Idol in front of him suddenly expanded three times, then four times, and finally ten times its original size.

Then, it shrieked with delight.

“Yes, yes! ‘s power has indeed been driven out from this place! I only sense a very weak Deity power. He is weak. No, he isn’t even here. Wrong, he never appeared, just remote control? So confident? Or is he terrifyingly powerful?”

“No, no, you’re right. This is a perfect opportunity. In this world, no one can fight against anymore. This is my only chance to escape this realm! Hehehe!”

“Great-grandfather?” Ma Jinzhong felt something was wrong. Wasn’t the plan to revive Gui Hai Sect? Why escape?

But the idol didn’t offer him even a punctuation mark of explanation. It directly turned into mist and disappeared. When it reappeared, it had transformed into a dark, sinister monster. It bit through Ma Jinzhong’s neck with one chomp and drank greedily.

In just a few seconds, Ma Jinzhong’s corpse dried up like old tree bark, then crumbled into Gray Ashes.

At that point, the dark monster transformed into a huge bat-like humanoid. But its grotesque, green-faced, fanged face actually showed extreme sorrow.

“Children, move out! Don’t spare any living thing in this town! Then, gather enough for the travel expenses home. We—are going home!”

“Whoosh!”

In that confined space, suddenly, pairs of blood-red eyes appeared out of nowhere. Then they turned into a sky-blotting swarm of flying bats, like a black torrent, charging straight upward!

Immediately, Ma Jinzhong’s family members, servants, and even some guards were drained into dried corpses.

The huge bat-man stared fixedly at the emergency Temple right in front of him, and the emergency Divine Idol inside.

Look, I’m slaughtering your believers right under your nose, and you don’t even move. You really are a clueless rookie! No doubt, within three days at most, this town will be retaken by ‘s power. So, better let me benefit from this.

“Kill!”

Countless blood bats wantonly charged toward the silent town. An undefended town.

But just as those flying blood bats were about to rush into the houses around the lord’s manor, faint glows automatically appeared. Within the glows, mysterious and profound Demon Sealing Talisman patterns circulated, easily blocking the flying blood bats outside.

One house was like this, one courtyard was like this, and the entire town—except for Ma Jinzhong’s lord’s manor—was all like this.

At that moment, it was like an ocean of Demon Sealing Talismans, in a spectacle invisible to ordinary people, instantly annihilating the sky-blotting swarm of flying bats.

“What? How is this possible!”

The bat-man nearly went mad. Of course, he recognized what it was—the methods of a Cultivator!

Damn! Specifically targeted at the Demon Clan.

Damn! This is a trap!

And just at that moment, the bat-man heard heavy footsteps coming from behind him, from within that emergency Temple.

“Thump!”