With the upgrade complete, Chen Zhou felt a surge of power far exceeding anything he had felt before. Yet, he wasn't particularly joyful; instead, he couldn't help but click his tongue.
"It takes ten thousand units of third-stage materials just for Abnormal Grade. If converted to ordinary living beings, that’s a billion..."
He marveled once more at the difficulty of the Path of the Evil God. Had it not been for the lucky encounter with a high-quality resource like the knocking ghost, he would have had to wait ages if he relied solely on the inferior soul output of the zombies in the secret realm.
Steadying his mind, Chen Zhou began to carefully examine his newly acquired abilities.
(The previous three abilities—Ghost Domain, enslaved ghost control, and Bone Summoning—won't be repeated here to avoid unnecessary filler.)
【Ability 4: Bone Incarnation. Condenses an incarnation slightly weaker than the original body. It is an extension and manifestation of the power of bone.】
【1. Descent Combat: The Bone Incarnation can temporarily possess a believer and perform the vast majority of the evil spirit's original abilities.】
【2. Undying Body: The incarnation is composed of pure death qi and bone. As long as the evil spirit's origin remains, the incarnation can be reformed by consuming power even if it is destroyed.】
【3. Morphing: The incarnation can change into various forms according to the user's needs.】
【Ability 5: Bone Erosion. Can transform a thread of one's own death qi into a bone seed and plant it within the mind of a sentient lifeform to conduct mental pollution and spiritual corruption.】
【1. Mind Control: The seed uses the target's negative emotions as nourishment to take root and sprout, subtly twisting their mind and magnifying their dark side.】
【2. Wraith Transformation: When the seed is fully mature, or upon active detonation by the host, it can instantly devour the target's soul, transforming them into a powerful wraith completely under the evil spirit's control.】
【3. Evil God Whispers: Even without direct control over the target, the evil spirit can use the seed to transmit its voice or seductive thoughts to the target—like an evil god's whisper—continuously eroding their will.】
Both skills were quite powerful and, to an extent, made up for Chen Zhou's shortcomings.
Bone Incarnation meant he finally had a powerful means to take the initiative, no longer having to rely entirely on Ghost Servants or agents like Shitou and Jian Huaishuang.
Bone Erosion, meanwhile, added a layer of mental magical attacks to Chen Zhou's arsenal.
"This is more like it. What kind of evil god would I be if I couldn't toy with people's hearts?"
Satisfied, Chen Zhou then opened the newly awakened 【Evil God Faith Panel】.
The panel layout was clear, listing all his current believers and categorizing them:
General Believers (321 people): Provide 1 Evil God Point per person daily. Most of these were villagers he had saved or those who had heard of his "miracles." They were grateful, but their faith was not firm and could fade over time or due to other factors.
Shallow Believers (58 people): Provide 5 Evil God Points per person daily. Their faith was slightly deeper; they would offer simple prayers but had not yet seen the "Bone God" as their sole pillar of support.
True Believers (7 people): Provide 20 Evil God Points per person daily. Represented by core villagers from Daliang Village and Shideng Village, such as Widow Li and Li Dazhu. Their faith was firm, and they were willing to do much for their deity.
Devout Believers (2 people): Provide 100 Evil God Points per person daily. Shitou and Hong Ling. They viewed Chen Zhou as their only hope in the darkness, and their faith was pious.
Fanatic Believers (1 person): Provide 500 Evil God Points per person daily. Jian Huaishuang. He had completely merged his own convictions with his loyalty to Chen Zhou, willing to sacrifice everything for the god's will.
"After all I've done, I only have this many believers?" Chen Zhou was somewhat puzzled.
A note from the system provided an explanation.
【Faith is a high-level emotion composed of gratitude, longing, admiration, respect, loyalty, yearning, and more. It often requires long-term immersion and habit; it is not something a single, shallow emotion can replace.】
Chen Zhou understood.
Indeed, he had saved people from peril, so it was only natural to receive gratitude and respect. However, making a person surrender their soul entirely and forming a stable faith was no easy task.
Once faith was established, it was difficult to change. It was for this very reason that the collapse of faith was often devastating to an individual.
It seemed that expanding his faith would be a long process requiring careful cultivation.
Chen Zhou then checked the 【Building】 panel. Quite a few new structures had been unlocked after the upgrade.
【Bone Forge】: Can consume materials and Evil God Points to forge standardized weapons for Bone Ghost Servants or strengthen their skeletons.
【Wraith Sentry Tower】: Placed at the edge of the Ghost Domain, it can warn of and attack invading spirit-type enemies.
【Soul-Draining Well】: Slowly draws stray soul energy from the environment, slightly increasing soul reserves daily.
...
They were all Yellow Grade buildings and didn't consume many materials. Even if their effects weren't massive, Chen Zhou built one of each; they looked quite nice as decorations for his territory.
Among them, Chen Zhou built a ring of Wraith Sentry Towers around the entire City of the Wrongfully Dead. This was currently the only building that could be considered city defense.
Although there were few demons left around Qudao County after the slaughter by Shitou and Hong Ling, he built them anyway to be safe.
In the building list, one was particularly eye-catching—a special building called the 【Flesh-and-Blood Pasture】.
【Flesh-and-Blood Pasture】
【Grade: Earth Grade】
【Special Building】
【Flesh Breeding: Allows the raising and cultivation of special flesh-and-blood creatures for sacrifice. Investing Evil God Points can accelerate breeding and mutation, producing higher-quality flesh materials.】
【Note: The flesh produced by the pasture contains a faint trace of evil god aura; sacrifice efficiency is slightly higher than conventional flesh.】
"Good stuff!"
Chen Zhou's eyes lit up. This was essentially a sustainable flesh-and-blood production base dedicated to sacrifices.
Though it required an investment of Evil God Points, in the long run, it would greatly alleviate the pressure of gathering materials. As his rank increased, the output from a single secret realm was already becoming insufficient.
Finally, Chen Zhou looked at the 【Shop】. The new arrivals were dazzling, mostly requiring Evil God Points to purchase.
【Low-Grade Faith Decree (100 points each)】: Can slightly increase a target's inclination toward believing in oneself.
【One-time Barrier Breaker (500 points each)】: Can briefly open a passage through a weak barrier.
【Seed of Resentment (Enhanced) (1,000 points each)】: More powerful and stealthier than the Bone Seeds condensed by oneself.
【Ghost Domain Expansion Voucher (5,000 points)】: Increases the range of the Ghost Domain by ten percent upon use.
...
Cumulatively, Chen Zhou's believers provided 321 + 290 + 140 + 200 + 500 = 1,451 Evil God Points daily.
It seemed like a lot, but compared to the costs in the shop and for buildings—which often reached thousands or tens of thousands—not to mention future needs, it still felt meager.
Just as Chen Zhou was lamenting his finances, he sensed a disturbance within the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
It wasn't because of the new buildings rising from the ground; the villagers were long used to miracles and shouldn't have reacted so strongly. The commotion was concentrated in the area of the Wailing Mine.
Chen Zhou was confused.
He had just finished dealing with the knocking ghost, and it was now the middle of the night. Why were so many villagers still awake?
Don't they have to work tomorrow!
Whose loss would that be?
It would be a massive loss for him, Chen Zhou!!!
Rate on N.U.
