Chapter 415: The Best Way to Gather Source Essence (22)

After grasping the essence of the divine avatar, Luosen at once began subtly adjusting the various state policies of the Rosen Ziran Empire.

Including education, talent selection, and the guiding of societal public‑opinion values, among other things.

The purpose is to cultivate more citizens who can resonate with the divine avatar.

Obviously, this is a change that requires sufficient time before any noticeable effect can be seen.

But the Rosen Ziran Empire is far too vast, and Luosen's authority in the imperial capital is absurdly high.

Any decree from the emperor, even though Luosen has already tried to lessen the adjustment's intensity and merely sends a signal, still stirs many surging undercurrents.

But within ten minutes, Luosen clearly felt the amount of source essence flowing into his soul begin to rise.

The increase is not large, yet it shows a slow and steady trend.

"At this rate, in at most three days the source essence in my soul will double."

"In a month, the amount of source essence I acquire each day could be more than ten times the current amount."

The question immediately arises.

"Besides strengthening the Divine Flame, what other uses are there for so much source essence?"

From what Luosen currently knows, it seems the only use is to forge a true divine artifact.

"The properties of source essence are extraordinarily mysterious; surely there are more uses than this."

"Conveniently, the Apostle of Pleasure Lifu is also in Grey City, so I'll go find her to scout the way."

At present, he is still staying with Ge Wennawei'er.

Since Ge Wennawei'er has become a core believer, Luosen naturally cannot let her face the danger of the Abyss of Pain alone.

Another core believer, Aoliangde, already possesses a death‑prophecy staff with great offensive power.

But the artifact has an obvious flaw: it struggles against enemies who move covertly.

After a moment's thought, Luosen lifted his hand and gently pressed it against Ge Wennawei'er's deep‑blue eyes, beginning to remodel her eyes:

"Madam, I grant you the Eye of Insight into Truth; you will perceive danger before it arrives, you will see through invisibility spells, and you will discern any hidden power."

Painlessly remodeling organs in a living, conscious state—especially an intricate organ like the eye—was something Luosen could not accomplish before.

But after igniting the Divine Flame, he gained that ability.

About ten seconds later, Luosen's hand moved away from Ge Wennawei'er's eyes.

Looking at her eyes again, they remained blue‑black; at a glance there was no change, but upon close inspection the pupils were exceptionally clear and profound, far beyond what a mortal should possess.

Stepping back, Luosen smiled, "Not bad, much more beautiful than before."

Ge Wennawei'er clearly felt the change in her eyes; her bright gazes darted around, filled with a look of wonder.

Luosen then raised his head, gently stroked her crown, and with a thought hastened her magical energy to full recovery, finally producing a Queen's Ring to place on her.

"Sun‑Blessed Bracelet, may you always see the sunlight."

He has forged many such Queen's Rings; they are not reserved solely for his women—any important member who needs power receives one.

Without waiting for Ge Wennawei'er's response, he stepped back, and his whole body vanished into the air.

But though the person left, his voice remained.

"More Shadow Assassins are rushing this way; go catch up with Aoliangde and help our brothers and sisters get through the crisis together."

In fact, constrained by the non‑intervention rule, he did not kill any Shadow Assassin; he merely used a spell to conceal their locations, rendering them undetectable.

At this moment, Ge Wennawei'er's heart is already filled with hope for the future.

She bows deeply toward Luosen's departing direction, "Great One, may your radiance be eternal."

She immediately begins to quickly put on the garments Luosen left behind.

The clothes are a bit ill‑fitting, but that's fine; she uses a few casts of Transformation Technique to alter the style.

While dressing, she suddenly recalls Luosen's earlier act of treating her; Ge Wennawei'er shyly smiles, two faint pink flares rising on her fair cheeks.

After changing, she quickly fills her stomach, then uses her newly gained eyes to chase after the Brotherhood members ahead.

Elsewhere, Luosen does not continue to monitor Aoliangde and the others, because Beilu Dandi is protecting them there. He returns to his underground chamber, sits cross‑legged on the floor, and ponders how to win the wager with the Vanishing Goddess.

"The primary purpose of developing believers is to gather source essence."

"The essence of gathering source essence is to seek mortals who share the same convictions and ideals."

"Starting from this basis, the traditional method of establishing a church and spreading faith is actually not an effective way to acquire core believers."

The best method, in fact, is to found a nation.

Establish a mortal regime that enshrines divine principles in its constitution.

And to build a regime, one must first have a powerful army!

"With Aoliangde's and Ge Wennawei'er's abilities, the Dragon Mountain Brotherhood's influence should soon swell."

"Expanding the Brotherhood is easy; forming a professional fighting army is not simple."

An army's primary role is to uphold the regime; its ultimate goal is to achieve victory.

Since victory is required, one must understand the opponent.

"Grey City's current ruler is Dawn Eye, and my knowledge of Dawn Eye is still very superficial."

He could, of course, learn through Aoliangde and others, but he intends not only to listen but also to enter Dawn Eye himself for inspection.

To accomplish this silently, real‑time intelligence is required.

In this regard, Lifu is his greatest aide.

"I was already planning to find Lifu to investigate source essence uses, so the two tasks align perfectly."

Thus, with a thought, the Secret Passage Technique activated, and in the next instant he appeared in a secluded alley of Grey City.

Following Lifu's soul aura, he walked through streets and alleys for about a dozen minutes, arriving at the back door of a large stone‑and‑wood building.

This is the newly opened brothel in Grey City, called "Pleasure Little Bird."

The brothel's apparent owners are the Iron Stone Gang of Grey City, while the true mastermind is, naturally, Apostle of Pleasure Lifu.

Luosen employed a hiding place and quietly entered the brothel through the back door.

Inside was a first-floor hall, where many smoke-like water-pink sheer curtains were hung, dividing the hall into several semi-independent spaces.

Behind the curtains, shadowy figures could be seen.

There were men and women, basically naked.

Some were flirting, some were coupling, some were chatting and singing.

All kinds of pleasurable sounds filled the ears, enough to conquer any fledgling bird in the world in an instant.

But to Luosen, a seasoned bird, it only seemed noisy.

He followed Liv's scent, tracing the slightly narrow spiral staircase all the way to the brothel's underground chamber.

The chamber was spacious and bright, and Liv did not notice Luosen's arrival.

She was concentrating on training newcomers, and the chamber was filled with over twenty young, beautiful fledglings.

Seeing her busy, Luosen stood in a corner of the chamber and quietly observed how The Joyful One utilized the source substance.

"Remember, the path to a man's innermost heart is singular and lies within his spear."

"When the spear is held in your hand, no man can remain composed; he will easily be swayed by you."

"But also remember, most men's pride does not allow them to submit to us, so even if you have essentially mastered him, you must appear to submit to him."

Liv taught with great seriousness, completely unaware of Luosen's arrival.

Luosen was watching intently when his heart gave a slight jolt, and a spacetime illusion appeared before his eyes.

"'A young woman came running in, whispered a report to Liv, whose expression instantly grew grave, and she hurried out of the chamber.'"

Luosen's heart stirred: "It seems trouble has arisen."

Something capable of making Liv react this way is probably no minor trouble.

(End of chapter)