Chapter 170: Smoothly Unfolding

Imperial Tomb Village space.

Library reading area.

Tong Xin sat in a corner seat by the window, a thick book spread open on the desk in front of him, with an open notebook beside it.

His gaze was locked on the page, his pen jotting down key points in the notebook from time to time.

When he came across obscure, hard-to-understand passages, he would study them repeatedly, breaking down and digesting every single character, immersing himself in the ocean of knowledge.

The first step of the plan had already succeeded.

Through the perception image of the Eagle-Headed Demon, while An Sui was observing them, they were also observing the changes in An Sui's expression.

He had already successfully planted curiosity and shock within An Sui.

But this was only the first step in establishing faith; next, he still needed to construct a complete system of faith.

Studying through the night until 3 a. m., Tong Xin stretched his arms and arched his back in a lazy stretch.

He summoned the Star Vein panel; on the fourth Star Vein slot, a new Painful Painful Minghun formed of golden runes had appeared: Divine Spark.

His consciousness tapped the Divine Spark, and a detailed Faith panel popped up:

【Divine Spark】:

Believers: 0

Faith Power produced per hour: 0 (Faith Power output is influenced by the devoutness of the believers and one's own strength; the higher the believer's strength, the more Faith Power is produced; the more devout the believer, the more Faith Power is produced)

Faith Power possessed: 0

Faith Levels:

Initiate of Faith (Level 1): In the boundless ocean of faith, they are like explorers who have just reached the shore, barely touching the ripples stirred up by the power of faith; the faint light of their belief is like a candle flickering in the wind, barely outlining the shape of faith, attempting to follow vague divine guidance; amid the fog of doubt and confusion, they grope for a way forward, every step filled with trial and uncertainty, but that single thread of longing for faith is the only anchor that holds them fast in the chaos.

Devout Believer (Level 2): The seed of faith has taken root in the heart, entering the ranks of the Devout Believer; belief has become a blazing bonfire, dispelling the many confusions and doubts within; they now have a deeper understanding of the god of faith, like a wanderer who has found a clue deep within a labyrinth; every doctrine issued by the god will become a key for them to understand the world and themselves.

Martyr (Level 3): The ultimate manifestation of the power of faith; their belief is like an eternal, never-extinguishing star, and is the very meaning of their life; they are willing to give up everything for their faith, even life itself, facing problems with fearless courage, defending the purity and dignity of faith with blood and sacrifice.

Sacred Enlightener (Level 4): Having transcended the Martyr's self-sacrifice, they are not only steadfast followers of the god of faith, but also enlighteners and sublimators of faith; willing to preach for the god of faith, yearning for the light of the god of faith to be spread to every corner of the world, leading living beings toward higher levels of faith through word and deed.

Eternal Wayfarer (Level 5): They have merged with faith as one, like the harmonious coexistence of the world's natural laws.

Divine Spark Abilities:

Faith Connection (Painful Painful Minghun Special Ability): Once released, it can establish a consciousness connection with a believer for cross-distance communication; when used on a target for the first time, a bridge of faith can be established; if the target has no faith whatsoever, the connection cannot produce Faith Power.

……

The Divine Spark Painful Painful Minghun comes with the special skill "Faith Connection."

This ability is very similar to party mode.

Once released on the target, a mental connection can be established, but if the target has no faith whatsoever, they can easily break free of this connection state.

Only by connecting with a believer can the Faith Power catalyzed by time be continuously drawn out.

In Tong Xin's view, this point was very similar to the "Douhun" rules mastered by the Ancient God Clan.

Douhun produces Douhun Power through the behavioral logic of both parties fighting.

The Divine Spark Painful Painful Minghun, on the other hand, obtains continuously produced Faith Power by establishing a Faith Connection with believers.

After reviewing the characteristic effects of the Divine Spark Painful Painful Minghun once more, Tong Xin decided to begin the next step of the plan: attempting to make contact with An Sui and tell a good story of faith.

Mystery, anticipation, a sense of security… he would build a story of faith for An Sui around these three core elements.

But before that, there was still one more thing he had to do.

After chatting at length with Black Night Is Coming earlier, Black Night felt that his gear was too plain and that his armament needed to be upgraded.

Since he was walking the world in the name of a Divine Emissary, he had to come up with some distinctive flair different from other players.

In plain words: he had to have presence.

Fine clothes make the man, gold plating makes the Buddha.

During the miracle ritual back then, An Sui was very far away from him.

But if it were close contact, he would have to give An Sui a sense of being dazzled.

Arriving at the Armament & Vehicle Factory, he began updating his armament and vehicle, replacing low-grade armament modules with high-grade ones.

But not all of them.

A high-grade armament module required 10 mid-grade armament modules to fuse into, and 10 mid-grade armament modules required 10 low-grade armament modules to fuse into.

The price of one high-grade armament module was 1,000 Shou Shou Jili.

The steep price meant he could only replace a portion of his armament, mainly the surface display areas.

For the choice of armament template, he had already spent 200 Shou Shou Jili to have an armament designer on the forum handle it; it could be used directly, and it was explicitly stated that this template would not be shared on the forum, guaranteeing that at this stage he was the only one using it.

Spending 40,000 Shou Shou Jili, the form of the Divine Emissary outfit materialized before Tong Xin.

The main body of this Divine Emissary outfit was a long robe, with a starry-sky hue as its base tone, light in texture, with a dreamy halo flowing across its surface, dotted with countless stars, like twinkling stars dancing across the fabric of the night.

A circle of pale blue gems, condensed like frost and snow, was inlaid at the collar, crystalline and translucent.

The sleeves drifted like clouds and mist, with golden cloud patterns embroidered at the cuffs, setting off a sacred, divine air.

For accessories, a mantle condensed from pure light draped over his shoulders, like two lively wings, emitting a soft glow and adding a touch of sacred presence.

Testing the wear in a simulated scene, a mirror of light materialized before him.

In the mirror, his long robe resembled lively starlight, falling naturally along his body; the collar bore frost-and-snow-like gems, like cold-night stars casting a cool radiance across his throat; the golden cloud patterns at his cuffs flickered faintly with his breathing.

Tong Xin tilted slightly to the side, the mantle moving lively like wings of light, complementing the dreamy hues flowing across the long robe.

He raised a hand to lightly touch the belt at his waist, inlaid with a vast starry nebula, brilliant light dancing at his fingertips.

Gazing at himself in the mirror, the corners of Tong Xin's mouth lifted unconsciously:

"Worthy of me, still so handsome!"

After examining himself for a long while, Tong Xin nodded in satisfaction.

The template's original design also included a Divine Emissary crown inlaid with several brilliant gems.

But his finances were limited, and he genuinely couldn't afford to keep spending on high-tier armor modules, so he simply cancelled some of the ornate accessories.

And this set of Divine Envoy garb could significantly set off the persona he projected when making contact with An Sui.

Next came story-time for showing off.

He decided to set out right then for the Colored Mist Coast region, to attempt initial contact with An Sui.

As long as he told the story well, he wouldn't even need to invite An Sui—the latter would come seeking him of his own accord.

And the main purpose of the story wasn't to make An Sui feel the Wan Jia Zu was strong, but to subtly make An Sui feel that becoming a believer would grant him protection.

During this process, he couldn't be the one to extend the invitation.

He even had to raise the difficulty of becoming a believer, designing a series of trials for An Sui.

After all, things obtained too easily are hard to value.

Only things won through layer upon layer of obstacles and struggle are especially cherished.

Next, Hearing Tong Xin had already made his plans.

If Zhen Neng Cheng Gong, he would return a portion of faith power to be used for resurrecting Darkborn warriors, and even for strengthening their power.

With this steady stream of "divine blessing," the faith of the Darkborn warriors could grow ever more steadfast.

Before leaving the Di Zhong Village space, Hearing Tong Xin rehearsed alone for several hours, then headed for the Colored Mist Coast.

……

2 hours later.

Deep in the Colored Mist Coast jungle.

Hearing Tong Xin walked alone along the road toward the Evil Moon Domain, waiting for An Sui to make contact.

If contact wasn't made, he'd just walk the route again.

As he advanced at a leisurely pace, a blood-red figure materialized ahead, surging upward like a fountain, finally coalescing into An Sui's form.

Hearing Tong Xin halted, his expression calm as he watched An Sui, though inwardly he was overjoyed.

The script hadn't deviated—An Sui truly had already developed Kao De Xiang Fa.

But what he hadn't expected was that before he could even voice his thoughts, An Sui spoke first:

"Divine Envoy, I wish to become a vassal force of the Wan Jia Zu."

Hearing this, Hearing Tong Xin was inwardly stunned, unable to understand why the progress had suddenly accelerated.

But he still replied in a cold voice:

"Are you worthy?"

This insulting interrogation, however, did not provoke any displeasure from An Sui; Face Grew Solemn as he said:

"I have not yet recovered my peak right now. I am not as weak as your Wan Jia Zu imagines. I can prove my worth to you."

Just then, a voice came through the voice channel.

After a brief silence, Hearing Tong Xin raised his right hand toward An Sui. Seeing this, An Sui instinctively stepped back, but ultimately returned to his spot, his heart wondering what this Wan Jia Zu Divine Envoy was about to do.

The Blood-Reflection ability activated at this moment, and a layer of blood color covered Hearing Tong Xin's body.

"What is this?" An Sui couldn't help asking curiously.

Hearing Tong Xin, however, smiled and shook his head:

"The Darkborn Legion, the Reincarnation System—can complete life-restoration through the injection of consciousness. And you are a branch legion commander of the Darkborn Legion. Is this the worth you wished to show me?"

Hearing Hearing Tong Xin calmly reveal his and the Darkborn Legion's secrets, An Sui was instantly struck dumb as a wooden chicken.

"You… how do you know?"

"There are no secrets before me. Although right now I am merely a projection of my true self, through the ability granted by Beneath Di Zhao, I can read the information of all things."

As he spoke, Hearing Tong Xin reached out and grabbed at the space ahead, as if seizing something:

"This is a timeline connected to you. Every piece of information from your birth to now is recorded on it. Before me, you have no secrets."

While speaking, the Divine Envoy garb on Hearing Tong Xin flickered with a faint glow, lending him an especially sacred air.

By now, the players in the livestream room, as well as those providing off-site support, were already laughing their heads off:

"Next, please have the livestream judges reveal their scores."

"I give full marks—truly willing to spend money. This whole set of high-tier module-plated armor must have cost tens of thousands, right?"

"Hahaha, I also give full marks. This isn't showing off, this is playing god. He's even patched over his own weakness—this is a divine projection, not his true body."

"Full marks. Clearly prepared in advance—must have consulted the guide for a ton of info on An Sui. This isn't showing off, this is an artistic feast. Good to watch, love watching, goes great with a meal."

"I'm eating spirit-food on the beach and I just spit it out laughing. Look at An Sui's expression—he's clearly stunned, probably wanting to kneel inside."

And indeed, just as the livestream netizens predicted.

Hearing Tong Xin, in a relaxed and composed manner, revealed the Darkborn Legion and An Sui's secrets, plunging An Sui into an unbelievable shock.

The secret of death reincarnation could never be known by outsiders—only Darkborn warriors themselves.

The primary innate ability of every Darkborn warrior was a memory-sealing ability, which could scramble their memories when subjected to external interference not self-inflicted.

Furthermore, every Darkborn warrior required ten years to reincarnate and revive; the outside world had long since changed drastically, even the enemies had changed.

Under so many restrictions, the Darkborn Legion's secrets had never been exposed.

Yet this secret had been easily grasped by the Wan Jia Zu's Divine Envoy.

Infinite resurrection, information reading… what terrifyingly powerful abilities.

At this moment, the image of the Divine Envoy in An Sui's eyes rose infinitely, and a strong desire welled up within him.

If he could become a vassal force of the Wan Jia Zu and establish a vassal relationship with this Divine Envoy, then the Darkborn Legion's development would be secured.

He had to seize this chance!

"So, do you have any other worth I don't yet know about?" Hearing Tong Xin asked with a smile. Though his eyes held no contempt, his words betrayed a hint of disdain toward An Sui.

An Sui opened and closed his mouth, his face flushing red, unsure of what to say.

He had originally thought that the Wan family's contempt for him stemmed from his current weakness in strength.

But right now he was merely in a weakened state, not yet recovered to peak strength — so as long as he could demonstrate his growth potential, the Wan family's view of him would change.

If even that failed to earn the Wan family's recognition, he had even planned to reveal the secret of his ability to reincarnate.

Dark Star had already made it very clear: in Monster World the strong races stood like trees in a forest, and the Dark Descendants' once-proud reincarnation ability, when set against the rules mastered by superpowers like the Black Tide, was vastly inferior.

Many superpowers even played their cards openly, relying on crushing strength.

So he planned to use this secret as a bargaining chip to raise his value in the Wan family's eyes.

But now Hearing Tong Xin had already spoken his secret one step ahead, and he suddenly found he didn't know what to say.

"I… I want to lead my people to obtain the Wan family's protection," Dark Shards said, his face flushed. At this point, apart from sincerity, he found he had no bargaining chip to raise the price.

Hearing Tong Xin nodded calmly:

"My clansmen told me that recently you've been helping them hunt. I can see you very much want our protection."

"Yes, after arriving in this world I encountered a series of difficulties. Now I'm at a dead end, so I want to attach myself to a powerful race with deep foundations and gain protection."

This time Dark Shards did not hide anything, stating his inner thoughts very plainly.

He knew he had no secrets before this Wan family divine envoy — hiding his thoughts would only make him look especially foolish.

"You're too weak."

"I can become strong!" Called weak again, but unlike before, Dark Shards' mindset had shifted.

He felt that, given the divine envoy's ability, calling him weak was simply fact.

"What I worship is the Origin of All Things, Beneath Di Zhao. You're not even qualified to become a believer of Beneath Di Zhao — not even you at your peak."

Rejected again and again, yet Dark Shards still had no thought of giving up:

"As long as there's a place where I'm useful, I'll give it my all — as long as I can obtain the Wan family's protection."

Hearing Tong Xin did not agree directly, but asked curiously:

"How much do you know about our Wan family?"

"I don't know much, but I know the Wan family has deep foundations and possesses the power to resist the terrifying Black Tide."

"You don't even understand our Wan family, yet just because you think we're strong enough you want to become our vassal force — this decision is far too rash. Besides, to my Wan family, you are of no value at all."

Rejected once more, Dark Shards felt dejected.

But Hearing Tong Xin then shifted his tone:

"If you want to become a Beneath Di Zhao believer like our Wan family… you, and the Dark Descendant Legion you belong to, are not qualified. But perhaps I can give you a chance to prove yourself. If you can pass my trial, I can let your Dark Descendants become vassals of my clan, become my believers, and gain our protection."

Thinking there was no chance at all, Dark Shards' eyes lit up at this news, and he nodded decisively:

"Divine envoy, please give your command — we are willing to become your believers."

Realizing the entry point for telling the story had arrived, but Hearing Tong Xin this time planned to delay the story's unfolding.

Better to first establish faith, then use the story to strengthen the faith relationship.

Having spoken, Hearing Tong Xin raised his hand and released his divine aspect's characteristic toward Dark Shards.

Dark Shards immediately felt a ball of energy surge into his body. His instinct was to expel this external force, but he suppressed the thought and let the energy enter his spiritual sea and outline itself automatically.

Before long, a Jin Se Lao Yin appeared in his spiritual sea.

At the same time, related information surfaced in Hearing Tong Xin's mind.

【Dark Shards (Dark Descendants)】:

Hunting Level: 74

Faith Level: 0 (Awe)

Faith Power Generated Per Hour: 0

……

From the information provided by the divine aspect, it could be seen that at this point Dark Shards only held awe toward him, and had not yet reached the level of becoming a believer.

This would need to be deepened through subsequent stories and trials.

The difficult trials among them were meant to make Dark Shards develop awe — the harder it was, the more he would cherish it.

Facing Dark Shards' inquiry, Hearing Tong Xin stated the first trial item he had long since planned:

"The first trial item is very simple. I need you and your clansmen to provide me with a satisfactory spiritual resource."

Hearing this, Dark Shards was first stunned, then asked decisively:

"Divine envoy, how much spiritual resource would satisfy you?"

"Depends on your sincerity. I'll come here in three days — how much you can provide then will depend on your performance."

This first trial, directly demanding resources, might seem to lower his prestige, but was actually a decision made after careful consideration.

First, the upfront cost investment had been too high — the Shou Shou Jili from the Meng Yuan Chu reward had already been spent, so he had to recoup some cost.

Second, the Wan family in Dark Shards' eyes was already one that had endless greed for resources — this fit the Wan family's proper setting.

Like how dragons in many mythological tales crave wealth — it can be understood as a personality trait, not because the wealth itself can create any value.

He had to have a setting that matched Wan family behavior, not appear different from other players in every aspect — that would easily cause Dark Shards to develop cognitive bias and thus raise doubts.

"Good, I will do my utmost!" Dark Shards nodded vigorously at this moment.

Just as Hearing Tong Xin had expected, Dark Shards thought of the Wan family's greed for resources and wealth.

He felt the divine envoy was clearly also very interested in resources — this was his chance to prove his worth, and he absolutely could not miss it.

"Divine envoy, I'll go prepare right now."

Saying so, Dark Shards raised his head to look at Hearing Tong Xin.

"Go."

Hearing Tong Xin's voice sounded directly in Dark Shards' mind, shocking him while a glint of reverence appeared in his eyes.

Although the divine envoy was only a projection, he could conduct spiritual dialogue with him across space — truly powerful!

After An Sui departed, Hearing Tong Xin glanced at the bustling live stream, her expression smug:

"An Sui? A mere trifle, handled!"

"What do you call exploitation? I'm nearly bankrupt; recovering some costs hardly counts as exploitation."

(End of this chapter)