Chapter 18: Divine Jurisdiction Expands — The Sibling Ghosts

Li Youming looked at Zhang Ronggui, Chen Mazi, and Liao Jinxian with surprise.

All three were of the same generation as him, and all had completed two Blood Transformations, making them Warriors.

Going forward.

The four of them — Li Youming, Zhang Ronggui, Chen Mazi, and Liao Jinxian — would be the pillars of the four villages.

"To think that all of us could receive Lord Zhangyue's blessing."

"It seems these old fellows' faith in Lord Zhangyue is truly devout."

A smile spread across his face.

But thinking about it, it made sense.

As the pillars of their villages, they bore the greatest burdens.

The safety of an entire village's people rested on their shoulders.

Now that Lord Zhangyue had manifested his divine power and slain the wolf demon, of course their faith was devout!

Then —

His gaze shifted to Li Xiuwu and Li Xiuling.

These two were the only Believers who had received the blessing twice.

Both had now become peak first-grade warriors of the Body Tempering Realm.

"To have received the blessing twice —"

"Their faith in Lord Zhangyue must be nearly as devout as mine…"

He speculated inwardly.

On this point, he could only feel glad — he had no other thoughts.

The more devout the villagers' faith.

The more it proved that he, as Temple Priest, had done his work well.

"The village now has six peak first-grade Warriors and twenty-six mid first-grade Warriors."

He swept his gaze over the thirteen new Warriors among the villagers, feeling pleased.

So many Warriors — this was something unimaginable in the past.

Before —

All four villages combined had no more than eight Warriors.

Essentially each village had one elderly Warrior and one middle-aged Warrior, with no new generation yet cultivated.

And now —

So many more had appeared!

All of this was Lord Zhangyue's blessing.

And in the future —

He believed even more villagers would receive Lord Zhangyue's grace and become Warriors!

* * *

Deep in the night, all was still.

Li Yue stepped out of the Divine Domain and stood upon the ground.

He gazed up at the crescent moon hanging clear as water in the sky, his expression calm.

He gently raised his hand.

The moonlight from all around converged toward him, forming a strand of even more brilliant moonlight in his palm.

"In myths and legends, demons and monsters can devour the essence of the Lunar Yin to evolve."

"Judging by this strand of moonlight, the myths and legends are not without basis."

"This strand of moonlight does indeed contain a kind of cool, clear energy."

"However —"

His gaze turned toward his Divine Jurisdiction.

In an instant, all the moonlight within the range of his Divine Jurisdiction converged and fell into his hand.

Yet even after gathering all the moonlight within his Divine Jurisdiction, it was still only a slightly more brilliant strand than before.

The energy contained within this strand of moonlight was exceedingly sparse.

"The cool energy within moonlight is far too dispersed…"

"I reckon that even over an entire night, gathering all the moonlight within the Divine Jurisdiction —"

"It probably wouldn't even amount to one-tenth of a unit of Divine Power."

He shook his head.

This was less than what a single Jia-Grade Believer provided in Incense Faith.

At this point, his Divine Jurisdiction had expanded considerably once again.

He sensed it.

It was now roughly 3.2 times the size of the original Li Family Village.

"Parts of Zhang Family Village and Liao Family Village are actually outside my Divine Jurisdiction…"

"The current Divine Jurisdiction area has reached fifty hectares — not a fraction more or less."

"Is fifty hectares the absolute limit for a Ninth Grade (Lower) divine grade?"

He murmured to himself.

Fortunately, though.

Whether it was Zhang Family Village or Liao Family Village, the areas where the villagers lived were all within his Divine Jurisdiction.

And the moonlight essence gathered over an entire night within fifty hectares amounted to less than one-tenth of a unit of Divine Power.

For an ordinary demon or monster, even if it devoured Lunar Yin essence, it could never gather all the Lunar Yin essence from fifty hectares the way he could.

Fifty hectares — that was five thousand mu of land.

So —

Relying on devouring Lunar Yin essence to strengthen oneself was truly arduous.

He reckoned —

A wolf demon like the one before, devouring Lunar Yin essence for a hundred years, might accumulate a total of perhaps ten units of Divine Power's worth of Lunar Yin essence?

"No wonder demons and monsters eat people."

"Relying entirely on devouring Lunar Yin essence to cultivate is far too slow."

"Humans are the most spiritually gifted of all living things — the Incense Faith generated by their belief alone surpasses what demons gain from devouring Lunar Yin essence by an untold margin."

"Eating one person is probably worth many days of cultivation."

Li Yue reflected.

But that was no justification for demons to devour humans!

Now that he had become an Ordained Earth God, he naturally had to protect the human race!

After all —

Humans were the source of his faith — every human lost meant one fewer person providing him with Incense Faith.

He took a few strides and quickly arrived at the former site of Liao Family Village, standing beside an ancient well that had been abandoned for many years.

The well had a cover, with several stones pressed on top of it.

"Ghost energy…"

He stared at the ancient well.

From the moment Liao Family Village had come under his Divine Jurisdiction, this ancient well held no secrets from him.

Within the well was a dense concentration of ghost energy and resentment.

This meant that something ghostly dwelled below.

He raised his hand and gave a light wave.

The stones and the well cover flew off to the side.

As an Ordained Earth God, he only consumed Divine Power when casting Divine Arts.

In truth —

Being an Ordained Earth God did not mean he was helpless without casting Divine Arts.

Quite the opposite —

Even with just the basic abilities of a Ninth Grade (Lower) Ordained Earth God, his strength was no less than that of a peak third-grade martial artist.

For instance, right now, a light sweep of his sleeve was enough to send the stones and well cover flying.

This required no Divine Power whatsoever.

"There is more than one ghost."

His expression remained calm.

Wearing the Earth God Vestment, the Earth God Crown upon his head, and holding the Earth God Seal in his hand, he spoke in an unhurried tone:

"Will you not come out and pay your respects to this god?"

"Must this god come down to see you?"

As his words fell.

An even denser surge of ghost energy rose from beneath the ancient well, then coalesced into two ghostly figures.

The one in front was a young man who appeared to have been no older than seventeen or eighteen at the time of his death. He stared at Li Yue with eyes full of fear, yet still gritted his teeth and stood in front of the other ghostly figure.

The other ghostly figure cowered behind him — a young girl who appeared to have been no older than fifteen when she died, her eyes also filled with terror.

For in their eyes —

Li Yue's divine radiance was vast and boundless, his divine might as imposing as the heavens!

Simply standing before them in silence gave them the feeling that they would be utterly dissolved, reduced to ash and smoke!

"Liao Xiu'er of Liao Family Village pays her respects to the Honored God!"

The girl quickly knelt down and tugged at the sleeve of the young man in front of her.

"Liao Chengping of Liao Family Village pays his respects to the Honored God!"

The young man knelt down as well.

Both were suffused with dense ghost energy, yet neither carried any aura of blood and slaughter.

Clearly, they had never harmed anyone.

"Why do you linger in the mortal world?"

"From where does your resentment come?"

Li Yue asked calmly.

In this world —

From the moment he had become an Ordained Earth God, he had dimly sensed the existence of an underworld realm.

The sensation was very faint, but it was enough to tell him that this world also had an underworld.

As for how the underworld operated or whether any deities governed it, that he could not know.

But the souls of the deceased should all journey to the underworld realm.

"Please, Honored God, grant us justice!"

The girl kowtowed deeply, weeping as she spoke.