Chapter 28: Missionary Day and the Demon Star Order

Before Li Yu formally studied the front-page headline, he noticed two lines of text at the very top, indicating the special status of the Wanfu Daily.

"This newspaper is the second cultivator newspaper in the history of this world, with a publication date second only to the Tiangong Daily."

"Our colleagues at this newspaper agency worked overtime to finally publish this before the three kingdoms of Qian, Jing, and Li; let those three kingdoms eat shit, long live Wanfu City."

It was clear that the people at the Wanfu Daily agency had been completely assimilated by Wanfu City.

They had a strong sense of pride, having single-handedly created the achievement of the second supernatural newspaper in history, elevating Wanfu City to the level of the three great kingdoms.

"But aren't those who run newspapers all people from the Tiangong Sect?"

"Even if one should follow local customs, won't cursing the three kingdoms so blatantly bring trouble to the Tiangong Sect headquarters?"

Li Yu muttered to himself while formally turning his attention to the heavyweight headline.

Before long, as he read word by word, the confusion in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a very complex emotion.

"In order to welcome the two major festivals of [Missionary Day] and [Demon Star Descent]."

"Wanfu City, in all four districts of southeast, northwest, will once again throw open the city gates, completely lift restrictions, and open safe paths to allow refugee populations from the three kingdoms of Qian, Jing, and Li to enter the city freely."

"During this period, Wanfu City will be under martial law; existing city residents are not permitted to leave the city, nor are they permitted to leave the ward where their welfare registration is located."

Seeing this, Li Yu understood why two contradictory terms were placed together.

What truly puzzled him and left him greatly shocked was the content that followed:

"On the first day after all refugees have entered the city!"

"Within Wanfu City, ordinary mortals, unranked cultivators, and Sequence 8 cultivators of any path—these three groups of people—are permitted to slaughter, plunder, and seize residences from one another; there are no taboos."

"The following day, the four major districts shall autonomously conduct a new registration of city residents."

"What is this?"

"A battle royale for the bottom-feeders?"

"What is the purpose? To please the group of perverted high-level officials in Wanfu City? Or is it purely to conduct a purge to accommodate new residents entering the city?"

At this moment, Li Yu felt his eyes had truly been opened.

This was supernatural knowledge he had not previously encountered, nor was it mentioned in the ledger left behind by Sun Sanniang.

Honestly, there were many details in this headline report that left Li Yu baffled.

For instance, why would a city as obviously dangerous and horrifying as Wanfu City still have a large number of refugees fleeing to it, to the point that all four city gates needed to be opened to welcome them?

However, no matter how puzzled he was, it could not change the facts; he could only accept and respond.

"In other words, in the coming days, a large number of refugees will flood into the city, and a certain day thereafter will be a purgatory-like battle royale."

"At that time, as long as one is Sequence 8 or below, anyone can plunder everywhere, and that includes my courtyard."

"Hmm? Could it be that those two thieves, Jiao Qing and Sun Sanniang, used this method to successfully settle down in the city?"

"If that is the case, it is a consolation; after all, if that perverted couple could do it, I am now a formal cultivator and have an assistant like Hongdou. If I prepare in advance, it shouldn't be difficult to survive for one day."

"Besides... this kind of great purge might actually bring me significant benefits."

As Li Yu thought this, he caught sight of a side effect on another level.

A reshuffling of the bottom-feeders... followed by a new welfare registration.

This meant that he, Li Yu, could completely whitewash himself and remove labels like "heir to the Jiao family butcher shop," "son of the cannibal couple," and "forbidden egg."

Of course, the prerequisite was that Li Yu could survive the purge.

After weighing things in his mind, Li Yu continued reading with curiosity.

He wanted to know what these two major festivals were all about, to require such an absurd way of welcoming them.

Upon looking, a look of interest appeared on his face again.

"Missionary Day!"

"This is a traditional festival of Wanfu City, held at irregular intervals. On this day, the many deity sects in the city can use their various means to proselytize. Usually, each sect will choose to distribute benefits or display great power to create miracles, getting as many city residents as possible to convert and follow them."

"This festival has quite a reputation on this continent."

"In some past Missionary Days, true gods have even descended upon Wanfu City; for instance, the Fallen Buddhist Sect once invited the [Black Maitreya] to descend to the mortal world."

"Demon Star Descent!"

"This is an emerging festival in recent years with a very complex backstory."

"Since ancient times, the five Great Orthodox Gods have been in constant conflict with many Evil Gods. Although the outcome in the mortal world was decided long ago, on a higher level, both sides maintained a state of equilibrium until the Warring States period of the human era, when the Tiangong Artisan God descended from beyond the heavens to this world, and things finally changed."

"It is rumored that in order to be accepted by the five Great Orthodox Gods, the Tiangong Artisan God contributed a supreme treasure called the [Samsara Heavenly Net], allowing cultivators of the six Great Orthodox God sects to go to small worlds like the Weird Domains and Spirit Realms to help their own true gods expand. Once the timing is ripe, they collectively mobilize to invade and carve up these small worlds."

"To counter the Orthodox God sects, the various Evil Gods united to create the [Demon Star Order] and scattered them into the human world."

"Those who obtain a Demon Star Order will have the qualifications to enter the Weird Domains and Spirit Realms. At the same time, they must also accept the summons of the Demon Star Order to expand for the various Evil Gods and confront the cultivators of the Orthodox God sects."

"As the place with the most evil cultivators in this world, many Demon Star Orders fly into Wanfu City every so often, and gradually it formed a festival."

When Li Yu read to this point, the terror of the battle royale was temporarily ignored by him.

In a trance, he seemed to see a larger world unfolding before him.

Weird Domains!

Spirit Realms!

Li Yu had already inquired clearly about the meaning represented by these two terms.

Both refer to small worlds that transcend the mortal world; the former is related to Evil Gods and is mostly weird, horrifying, and terrifying, while the latter is related to Orthodox Gods and is slightly better.

Their formation times vary from new to old, and their states differ.

Some are like a real world, while others are like illusory secret realms existing in the past, or even simply intercepted fragments of history.

=9+Shu_ba

The common point is that they all hide a large amount of cultivation resources and secret lore that does not exist in the mortal world.

Even high-sequence powerhouses cannot resist the temptation to enter them, because the materials for many high-sequence secret medicine formulas only exist in these small worlds.

"The newspaper says that Demon Star Orders will descend upon Wanfu City collectively."

"But there is no pattern to who they choose; in the past, even mortals with no power at all have been struck by a Demon Star Order."

"Furthermore, they are in an intangible state once they enter the city; even powerhouses of Sequence 1 or 2 cannot see the trajectory of the Demon Star Orders."

"Doesn't this mean that I, too, have a chance?"

With this thought, Li Yu could not help but look forward to this festival.

The Spirit Venerable path he chose to cultivate!

In the mortal world, he could not find an organization at all and had no clue about the next sequence.

The only hope was those Weird Domains and Spirit Realms.

Li Yu even made up his mind to think of ways to inquire more about supernatural knowledge related to the Demon Star Order.

He now had a guess: Zhu Mei's so-called promotion to the main temple must also be because she had designs on this Demon Star Order, wanting to advance to Sequence 7 Life-Begging Walker in advance... whether one is chosen is indeed unrelated to cultivation base, but once a Demon Star Order is obtained, one must accept the summons, and once entering the Weird Domains or Spirit Realms, those with insufficient strength will naturally be the first to die suddenly.

Compared to this, the requirements of the Samsara Heavenly Net relied upon by the six Great Orthodox God sects are not as harsh.

"It's a pity that I was reborn in this Wanfu City and can only choose the Demon Star Order."

"If I were in the three kingdoms, I could pick any of the six Great Orthodox God sects and enter that so-called Samsara Heavenly Net; wouldn't that be much better?"

"Using the terminology of online games from my past life, I chose the wrong spawn point, and the difficulty of the novice village is off the charts."

Li Yu joked to himself, then realized he had finished reading the first page.

At the same time, he seemed to sense something and suddenly glanced at his eye membrane.

A surprise!

It arrived abruptly.

That fourth Truth Bubble had actually been filled without him noticing.

Clearly, it was because this heavyweight front-page headline of the Wanfu Daily was judged to be excellent supernatural knowledge, which allowed it to accelerate to completion.

The "Analyze All Things" usage he had consumed yesterday was regained today, with even stronger power and a larger range.

"Good, good, good!"

"From today on, I am the most loyal customer of the Wanfu Daily."

"Subscription, I must subscribe to every single issue without fail."

Li Yu was in a great mood and continued to flip to the second page.

Below the front page, it seemed to be various news events that had occurred in Wanfu City over the past period.

Just the first item made Li Yu look sideways.

"A large-scale suicide tragedy occurred in the East District of Wanfu City, resulting in the deaths of over a hundred people, among whom were many cultivators with supernatural powers; the common point was that they were all in dire straits of survival."

"The perpetrator was confirmed to be Gongsun Qi, who claimed that he did this to allow these city residents living in pain to find relief sooner."

"But subsequent investigations revealed that Gongsun Qi worships the Evil God [King of Hanging] and is currently a Sequence 6 Merciless One."

"This incident was part of his advancement ritual."

"Because he violated relevant laws, the East District has issued a wanted poster for Gongsun Qi, with a very high bounty."

(End of chapter)