Chapter 269: Purging Believers: The Hidden Threat in the Extreme North

Having found a solution, the next step was to begin purging these infiltrated believers.

First, the backgrounds of each believer were investigated; for those who had been hoodwinked, priority was given to arranging for the malicious implantation issue to be resolved for them.

Wuhun City began strict inspections immediately, and from time to time, people could be seen being invited to the Patrol Team for tea.

Those invited this time were said to be cooperating with an investigation, and they came out after a short time.

Those with major issues had already been arrested previously; those now being invited for tea were all unimportant people who had not committed any real faults.

Removing a spirit ring and re-absorbing one were both very quick.

Afterward, there was no need to clear the golden soul from their spirits; the golden souls were left to dissipate on their own.

Moreover, those invited for tea were told, after changing their spirit rings, to practice the "Jerry Meditation Method" more often in the near future.

After all, when the golden soul dissipates, practicing the meditation method allows one to absorb a bit more, which can enhance one's own soul and simultaneously improve Spirit Power.

The originally troublesome sequelae of the God Trial actually ended up subsidizing the Spirit Master's further improvement; if the gods in the God Realm knew, they would likely be so angry they'd vomit blood.

Batch after batch of people were invited for tea, and this matter was naturally noticed by many.

The Spirit Hall's actions this time were significant, and because too many people were involved, it certainly could not be hidden; it soon attracted the attention of the common people, and various theories circulated among the populace, but they were all just wild guesses.

Those invited for tea all signed a contract; after all, as the Contract God, it was quite easy for Jerry to formulate a contract.

A small contract was enough to keep these people from revealing the matter of having tea—simple and effective.

There were over 74,000 believers, with over 10,000 in the Wuhun City area alone; due to the large number of people, it took two months to resolve them all.

Furthermore, Jerry discovered that believers who had previously been very fanatical toward the Light God Sect were no longer fanatical once the golden soul had completely dissipated.

They even stopped believing in the Light God Sect, acting like completely different people compared to when they had mindlessly believed in the Light God Sect before.

Through understanding this, Jerry obtained information about the God Trial.

God Trials are divided into five levels: white, yellow, purple, black, and red, but Jerry knew there was another level higher than these five, which is the trial for an inheritor.

White Level Trial, Yellow Level Trial, Purple Level Trial, Black Level Trial, Red Level Trial, Sea God Nine Trials (or the Nine Trials of other gods); the higher the level, the greater the difficulty.

Jerry recalled his memories from when he read the novel.

Tang San: Sea God Nine Trials.

Ning Rongrong: Top Grade (Red Level) Seven Trials.

Xiao Wu: Top Grade (Red Level) One Trial.

Dai Mubai: Black Level Six Trials.

Oscar: Black Level Six Trials.

Ma Hongjun: Black Level Six Trials.

Zhu Zhuqing: Black Level Five Trials.

Just from the trial levels, one could see everyone's talent.

Ning Rongrong and the others had good talent; since he could now solve the God Trial problem, should he let them go and take advantage of a God Trial?

After thinking about it, he decided against it.

He had obtained an important piece of data from these believers: the higher a person's trial level, the more severely they were affected by the God Trial.

A Purple Level trial could turn a Spirit Master into a fanatic; his senior sisters and junior sisters had even higher talent, so they might be affected even more deeply.

He hadn't seen the Shrek Seven Devils affected by the God Trial in the novel, but Jerry didn't dare to gamble; if they were affected, it would still be very troublesome.

He hadn't yet grasped the principles of the God Trial, only knowing that gods with a God Position could initiate God Trials.

He had so many God Positions; once he finished researching and understood them, he would pass them on and arrange one for his senior and junior sisters.

In fact, the reason fanatics appeared was that people in the God Realm had tampered with the God Trials; except for the inheritors, others who participated in the God Trials would be influenced to become believers and then help the inheritors with their tasks.

This was a method devised by the gods of the God Realm specifically to help Tang San and the others.

Yu Xiaogang had received the inheritance of the Thunder God, and since the Thunder God had already fallen, under normal circumstances, he would not be able to develop believers.

But Yu Xiaogang had met Tang San, and the Sea God behind Tang San had learned about the Thunder God inheritor.

Once the Sea God knew that the Thunder God inheritor was on the same team as Tang San, he went to the Asura God and asked for the Thunder God Palace, the exclusive artifact of the Thunder God's position; it was an ownerless object, and the Sea God manipulated it to change the rules of the God Trial.

After changing the rules of the God Trial, the Sea God did not return the Thunder God Palace but kept it in his own hands.

For fallen gods who had exclusive artifacts, these would be placed on Artifact Mountain in the God Realm, guarded by the Five Great God Kings.

Once the God Position had an inheritor who successfully inherited it and ascended to the God Realm, the exclusive artifact would fly before the inheritor and automatically recognize its master.

It was a pity, though; the Sea God had taken the Thunder God Palace for himself.

When Tang San and Yu Xiaogang ascended to the God Realm together in the future, in order to obtain the exclusive artifact, Yu Xiaogang would inevitably owe Tang San a favor.

Yu Xiaogang didn't even know yet that he had already been schemed against before he had even ascended.

Because of the contract, not a single bit of what had happened in the Spirit Hall during this period had leaked out.

After the strict investigation concluded, the public didn't reach any conclusions through their discussions, and the matter just faded away.

Besides the believers in Wuhun City, the same process was carried out in every city of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.

However, there were more in the two great empires, so it took a longer time.

Because they were caught one by one each time, it didn't count as a large-scale arrest, and they were released afterward.

Those who were released couldn't speak of it due to the contract, nor could they express it in other ways, or even write it down; therefore, other believers who hadn't been caught yet didn't receive any useful information, feeling that things were still calm and remaining off-guard.

In Wuhun City, the Patrol Team carried out this mission, while in the empires, the local Garrison carried it out; they had a huge advantage in numbers and finished off all the nearby believers in a month and a half.

Even a few high-ranking fanatics were controlled, their Mobile Phones confiscated directly, and they were placed under the supervision of others.

Every day, they edited some irrelevant news to send to the high-level figures in the Extreme North.

The Extreme North was the base of the Light God Sect, and many high-level figures were there; they had already taken control of the entire city.

Large-scale suppression would certainly attract the attention of others, and if they hid, they would be hard to find.

Regarding the Extreme North, Jerry decided to go and see for himself.

Having been on the Douluo Continent for so many years, he had never been to the Extreme North; there were still a few Soul Beasts with very high cultivation there that he had once thought of subduing, but later, after the Star Dou Great Forest had developed well, he abandoned that idea.

Resources there are scarce, and there are no good projects to develop, so the Extreme North has never been developed.

Even if one were to subdue the several great Soul Beasts of the Extreme North, it would still be difficult to develop.

It is clearly unlikely to make them migrate to the Star Dou Great Forest.

He directly dismissed this thought; as for the Soul Beasts of the Extreme North, he would let the Silver Dragon King or the Fairy Queen make the decision later.

He did not use the Teleportation Array to come over, as the Spirit Hall Branch there had also been infiltrated; once he went over, the news would likely be leaked immediately.

Jerry led a group of people and chose to sneak into Jibei Cheng quietly.

With a sweep of his divine sense, he gained a rough understanding of the entire city; there are so many believers here, good heavens, they all are, he didn't even find a single Spirit Master who hadn't participated in a God Trial.

Of course he couldn't find any; previously, in order to make up the numbers, Tang San and the others had everyone—men, women, old, and young—participate in the God Trial as long as they were Spirit Masters.

Since they all were, it didn't matter where he started.

At the Spirit Hall Branch, there were thirty staff members; eleven lived in the branch, and the others all lived outside.

A transparent Barrier silently enveloped the entire Spirit Hall Branch.

The strength of these eleven stationed personnel was not very high, with the highest being only a Soul Emperor; they were likely exiled here after offending someone, as those with connections would never come to this place.

Soon, the eleven personnel were controlled.

"Audacious! Who are you people? How dare you invade the Spirit Hall! Release us immediately, and I might consider giving you a chance to turn over a new leaf."

The Soul Emperor among them said in a very arrogant tone; after checking the records, he was the Grand Deacon of the Jibei Cheng Spirit Hall Branch.

What good luck, he caught the biggest one right away.

"I don't want to waste words with you. It has been confirmed that you are all believers of the Light God Sect; we came today to resolve this matter."

Afterwards, Jerry took out an Elder Token; in fact, inside his ring, there were also tokens from Bibi Dong, Qian Daoliu, and the Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo.

Jerry had also crafted a token himself, but only a few people knew about it; the Elder Token Jerry took out was his master's.

Once the token appeared, the previously arrogant Grand Deacon immediately cowered.

He had only ever seen this token in the Spirit Hall's study materials before; he never expected that the first time he saw the real thing, it would be under these circumstances.

He understood the capabilities of the Spirit Hall quite well; since a figure with the status of an Elder had appeared, there was nothing left for him to say.

He had originally graduated from the Spirit Hall Academy and then devoted himself to working for the Spirit Hall, but he didn't understand social nuances, offended someone, and was sent here.

After arriving here, he felt very desperate.

There was no Cultivation Tower, no Gravity Field, and no delicious food; this place was too backward, it had nothing.

He had previously thought about working hard on his Cultivation so that once his strength improved, he would naturally be transferred back.

Now that there was nothing here, how could he improve?

Through natural Cultivation?

His Innate Spirit Power was level three, and he relied on the Gravity Field and the Cultivation Tower to reach his current realm.

Without these two things, his Cultivation speed was slower than a snail's.

Seeing no hope of returning, he became somewhat self-abandoned.

It was precisely at this time that the believers of the Light God Sect took advantage of his vulnerability.

They promised to take him to a place where he could improve his strength.

Half-believing, he followed them and then accepted the God Trial.

However, the God Trial values talent; his God Trial was only a Yellow Level Trial, which improved his strength somewhat, but had limited impact on his soul power cultivation.

Just like that, his strength did not see a huge improvement, and he himself became a believer.

If the Grand Deacon had been converted into a believer, could the people under him escape?

Their poor talent and the low-level God Trial did not make them fanatic believers.

Upon seeing the Elder Token, they did not resist and resigned themselves to their fate.

If they were fanatic believers, they would usually counterattack crazily or start cursing loudly once exposed.

Their reactions were seen by Jerry, and Jerry knew what was going on; he had seen many believers over this period, and they had all sorts of reactions.

This kind of reaction was clearly an admission of guilt, and they had also accepted their fate, showing no resistance.

It seems they must have been hoodwinked.

The conditions at this branch were truly backward; there were no instruments of any kind, it seemed no one cared about the development here.

The only slightly advanced thing in the entire branch was a Teleportation Array; everything else was the same as it was before development.

Fortunately, Jerry had instruments and equipment in his ring, otherwise he would have needed to make another trip back.

"Release your martial souls and summon all your Spirit Rings."

The eleven people dared not resist and obediently summoned their martial souls and Spirit Rings.

Jerry took out the Spirit Ring Removal Device and removed all their Spirit Rings one by one.

Seeing their Spirit Rings removed and their cultivation drop to level ten, the eleven people were very desperate; they felt it was even more painful than being killed directly.

After waiting for a while, once the golden soul and the original soul separated within their spirits, Jerry directly extracted the golden soul.

There was no time now to wait for the golden soul to dissipate automatically.

After the golden soul was extracted, the eleven people also returned to normal.

Thinking of the things they had done recently, they were all filled with remorse one by one.

One after another, they spoke up: "My Lord, I was wrong. I was deceived before; I truly did not betray the Spirit Hall on purpose."

"Stop talking. I know; you just need to do as I say."

Jerry interrupted their explanations; he didn't need them to explain, as he had already understood from their previous reactions. What he needed to do now was to have them absorb Spirit Rings.

Starting now, they could finish absorbing by dawn.

Seeing Jerry take out the Spirit Ring Manufacturing Machine and then check their bodies one by one to formulate a plan for the Spirit Rings they needed to absorb, they felt very ashamed.

Fortunately, the Spirit Ring Manufacturing Machine had been upgraded; it could manufacture Spirit Rings under one million years very quickly, and a one-hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring only took two minutes, not to mention these Spirit Rings under one hundred thousand years, which were basically manufactured in seconds.

He made one, let someone absorb one, and had them come over one by one to absorb the Spirit Ring.

The soulless Spirit Rings produced by the Spirit Ring machine were very easy to absorb.

When Jerry checked their bodies just now, he specifically examined their Body Strength and allocated the age of each Spirit Ring before he began producing them.

Eleven people: one Soul Emperor, three Soul Kings, and seven Soul Ancestors.

The Soul Emperor's Body Strength was decent, so he reduced the age of the fifth and sixth Spirit Rings and arranged for all six Spirit Rings he was to re-absorb to be black.

The three Soul Kings were a bit worse off; originally, they only had one black Spirit Ring, which was just over ten thousand years old.

According to their Body Strength, the optimal arrangement was purple, purple, purple, purple, black.

Needless to say, the Soul Ancestors had even worse original Spirit Rings, some even having white rings; under Jerry's adjustment, the Spirit Rings became purple, purple, purple, purple, which was already the optimal plan as their Body Strength was too poor.

After asking, he learned that the personnel of the Spirit Hall in the Extreme North had all offended people elsewhere and had been exiled there a long time ago; once they arrived, they never had the chance to leave.

Only the Grand Deacon, this Soul Emperor, had been exiled from Wuhun City and had undergone Cultivation in the Gravity Field, so his Body Strength had reached over sixty thousand years, which is why Jerry adjusted all his Spirit Rings to black.

Before the sky was fully bright, this Soul Emperor had finished absorbing his six Spirit Rings; the others had finished long ago, and the Grand Deacon was the last to finish.

Perhaps because they were different from their previous soul skills, Jerry told them to hurry up and familiarize themselves with their own.

After familiarizing themselves, they were to remain still, first resolve the matter of the other nineteen people, and then, using the Spirit Hall Branch as the center, begin clearing out the other believers.

Jerry withdrew the Barrier, and he and the people he brought hid themselves directly; now they were just waiting for the other nineteen Spirit Hall personnel to come to work.

……

(End of this chapter)