Chapter 63
Starry Shasha looked at Lu Chuan, who was decked out in jewels and treasures. No matter how much she admired him, she couldn’t help feeling a bit of distaste.
“Brother Lu, you’re wearing your entire net worth on your body, aren’t you?”
The Lu Chuan she saw was clad in ridiculously ornate bishop’s robes encrusted with gems. Even his hat was so heavy with jewels it looked like something out of an exhibition.
“These are but a drop in the ocean compared to my true wealth.” Lu Chuan raised his brow, clearly offended. Just from selling indulgence tickets, the church was raking in a fortune.
“These were all insisted on by the believers. Today’s supposedly some godly feast day, so they wanted me to dress up nicely. Sigh, as a humble bishop, I couldn’t refuse such a small request.”
At this point, Lu Chuan practically commanded the entire church. Many new believers only knew him, not the so-called God of Omniscience.
To ordinary followers, worshipping a god was about improving their lives. Since Lu Chuan provided exactly that, he was their living god, worshipped endlessly.
Pity he wasn’t pursuing the path of becoming a god through faith—otherwise, by now his #888 rank would have leveled up twice over.
“But Shasha, your timing is perfect.” Lu Chuan smiled. “Recently, the Church of Light sent envoys to negotiate. If we agree to handle indulgence ticket sales for them, they’ll recognize us as a legitimate church and even grant us a subordinate god position.”
Indulgence tickets were absurdly profitable.
What church wouldn’t envy that?
But issuing them wasn’t simple. After Lu Chuan made his first big profit, he had gone on a buying spree, acquiring publishing houses, papermills, and ink factories.
Those industries weren’t that expensive and relatively easy to corner.
So once indulgence tickets became popular, Lu Chuan monopolized the entire supply chain. Other churches couldn’t compete—they either couldn’t match the volume or couldn’t lower costs.
And indulgence tickets only worked if they were affordable to everyone. If they were too pricey or too scarce, they wouldn’t spread.
Which meant other churches had no choice but to rent from Lu Chuan’s assets.
As a result, at least half of every indulgence ticket’s revenue ended up in his pocket.
The Church of Omniscience had grown so wealthy that its members were regularly handed milk, eggs, tissues, and other daily goods—binding ordinary believers to them firmly. Even when knights of the Church of Light came to raid, plenty of commoners tipped them off.
Lu Chuan converted just a fraction of the wealth into jewels and gold, which was already staggering. On top of that, he had bought land and begun constructing a second “Golden Tower.”
If they stayed in this dungeon long enough, he could even open it to the public.
Since suppressing the Church of Omniscience was impossible, the Church of Light now sought cooperation instead.
They offered legitimacy in exchange for profits, a win–win. For them, admitting a small orthodox church was no big deal—as long as their god’s supremacy was intact. But letting the Church of Omniscience keep growing unchecked could spark a divine war.
And not everyone liked fighting wars.
“…Brother Lu, we’ve only been in this dungeon for under three months, but it feels like you’ve been here for three years.” Starry Shasha was stunned.
Could all this really have been done in just three months?
“Three months is plenty. We’re only spread across cities in one country, and it’s not even a large one. That time is more than enough.” Lu Chuan shrugged. “You’ll act as my envoy and visit the Church of Light. I bet Shen Li and Messiah will be there. Go meet up with them, and if you can’t find them, just unleash your ability and force the plot forward until you cross paths.”
“You’re not going?” Shasha asked curiously. “If you were there, we’d feel more grounded.”
“This dungeon belongs to Shen Li, plus Cynthia and Messiah are there. I can’t leave right now.”
Leave now? What about the church? What about his second Golden Tower?
That was his empire!
Besides, the divine revival hadn’t even started yet. What was the rush?
“Once you’re gathered, come find me. Don’t worry, in this dungeon I’ll make sure you eat well and live well. Before we leave, I’ll even get you some local specialties to bring back to reality.” Lu Chuan patted her shoulder earnestly.
Hearing this, Shasha could tell Brother Lu’s sanity value had dropped again.
Just how much did he plan to earn? Look how cocky he’d gotten.
She pouted helplessly. “Brother Lu, Captain Shen is definitely going to scold you again.”
“Let him. What’s he gonna do? Talking won’t cost me any meat.” Lu Chuan stroked his chin nonchalantly. “Be good. Go on ahead. Besides developing industries, I’ve also recruited a troop of paladins—many poached from other churches. When the divine war starts, I’ll overwhelm them with sheer numbers!”
No matter what she said, Brother Lu always had a retort.
With a sigh, Starry Shasha had no choice but to leave.
As long as Brother Lu had his plans, that was enough.
[Host, are you really not going to meet up with them?] #888 finally asked.
“Meet up? The God of Omniscience already has its eye on me. If I show up now, wouldn’t I just be walking into a trap?” Lu Chuan pulled out a mirror, lifted his heavy hat, and examined his forehead. “The mark Number 9 gave me has been glowing this whole time—that’s clearly a god’s gaze locked on me.”
“But it seems dimmer now…” He smacked his lips, a little regretful.
[The mark given by the Executor works on the same principle as divine blessings for believers. The owner can use it to track you. Your mark has already shielded you from multiple divine backlashes, draining its power continuously. Of course it would grow dim.] #888 explained.
It originally wanted to erase the host’s mark by using the God of Wealth’s power to counteract it.
But who would’ve thought—the God of Wealth’s power never came. Instead, the powers of other deities all came rushing in at once.
“If we run into Number 9 next time, have him recharge this mark a little.” Lu Chuan said immediately. “This thing is so useful, burning it out in one go is way too wasteful.”
#888 was already powerless to intervene.
It really wanted to know—its host feared neither heaven nor earth, so what did he fear?
Was he only afraid of being poor?
Meanwhile, the players of the opposition faction were frantically regrouping.
And it was just like Lu Chuan to be such a bastard—hiding inside the church, completely unaware of how his meddling had turned the churches outside upside down.
Every day, nobles and merchants of all ranks were either buying indulgences or scheming to sell indulgences themselves.
Other churches also scrambled to stick a foot in.
When the upper classes were like this, the common folk became even more frenzied.
Somehow, the people had even taught themselves to resell indulgences at a markup to make money.
The wave of conflicts this sparked came completely out of nowhere.
Even Messiah, sitting deep within the Church of Light, could hear the nonstop chatter about indulgences—proof of how far the influence spread.
The zeal of believers and commoners naturally quickened the revival of the gods.
Messiah could feel it clearly: ever since he’d carved a symbol behind the statue of the God of Light, his divine tablet had started to take on a human shape.
Yes—an inanimate object, under the drive of divine power, was gradually becoming a vessel for a god’s descent.
Sometimes, when Messiah was chatting with someone, he would suddenly fall silent, his mind going “blank” for a few seconds.
Because in those moments, he needed all his strength to fight against the voices in his head.
At times, he even had to rely on the system notification chime to snap himself back.
[Player Messiah’s Sanity ?1, remaining Sanity 73.]
[Player Messiah’s body modified, Sanity ?1.]
[Player Messiah used secret elixir, Sanity ?5.]
…
Fortunately, he had grown used to the usual voices. The ones strong enough to actually dent his Sanity only appeared about once a day.
After all, even a god reviving had to focus—he couldn’t harass him constantly.
“Messiah! You really are here.” Edith slipped inside quietly, and sure enough, found the beautiful youth sitting by the window. For a moment she was dazed.
Who else could it be but Messiah?
Messiah had been a beauty since childhood, attracting swarms of admirers. If not for being smart and quick enough to be chosen early as a player for cultivation, he might have long since been locked away in some gilded chamber as a kept treasure.
Even in reality, Messiah’s looks were rarely seen.
But here, in this dungeon, there seemed to be an extra, indescribable allure about him that drew people’s eyes again and again.
Edith steadied herself, took out a high-level calming item, and only then did the seductive aura fade.
“You got here fast,” Messiah said, a little surprised.
He had thought Edith and the others would arrive much later.
“I didn’t come alone.” Edith explained.
Thanks to the chaos outside, many paladins had been dispatched on missions. She, as a trainee knight, had performed well enough to be promoted quickly. After some maneuvering, she was allowed to guard the palace perimeter.
Through further coordination, she and Cynthia contacted each other, and with everyone’s efforts they reached deep inside the palace—where they indeed found Messiah.
“I’ve already linked with Cynthia. She’s bringing two other players on our side—Shen Li and Lilus are on their way. Starry Shasha will arrive as an envoy of the Omniscient Church. Lu Chuan said we should all meet up before going to him. He’s basically the big boss of the Omniscient Church now, the nameless pope…”
Edith quickly laid out the situation. “The system is giving the Pro-God cheats, letting them track us anytime. But it seems their players aren’t that strong. Right now the key is—what’s your situation?”
Messiah opened the window, signaling Edith not to come closer.
“If you stay near me too long, your Sanity will drop. I can’t move with you, but if you need my cooperation, just tell me anytime.” He shook his head. “Right now, a god has me under constant watch. He’s forging a contract with me. You’ll all be affected by divine power.”
“So it really is a god of desire?” Edith felt pained. It seemed Messiah had no way to be free.
“Maybe. But in past dungeons, I heard the true God of Desire had already fallen. Now many gods are fighting to claim that authority.” Messiah shook his head. “He’s probably already devoured the God of Light. I can feel his power growing stronger.”
“Edith.” Messiah looked at her quietly. “Ask Lu Chuan—he should have a god-slaying artifact. The [Grand Duke of Demons] Wang Feng’s cross should be in his hands. If we really can’t stop this, there’s still one way to ensure you all clear the dungeon.”
“It won’t come to that!” Edith knew what he meant. “Don’t even think it. We will save you.”
Messiah only smiled, saying nothing.
He knew better than anyone how overwhelming divine power was.
The system would never pit players this early against mid-level gods—or ones evolving into higher existences.
The mission was always to break the divine marriage, stop the revival, never to kill a god.
As long as he died, the divine marriage would fail.
——
Number 9 looked at the gold ingot set in his sword hilt and sighed a little.
“Senior, your coin looks smaller,” Number 18 said brightly, sharp-eyed as ever, as though he’d found new treasure. “Which idiot god dared offend you?”
“Number 18.” Number 9 said flatly.
“Here!” Number 18 looked at him expectantly.
“Take human form.” Number 9 said softly.
“I won’t. Taking human form only weakens me, Senior. Only by abandoning reason do we grow stronger.” Number 18 said earnestly. “It’s you staying human all the time that’s weird.”
The Main God System never ordered them to always stay human for missions, after all.
Number 9 said nothing, only gave him a quiet look.
Number 18’s scalp prickled—if he even had a scalp—and he obediently shifted into human form.
A two-meter-tall, naked, feral, genderless figure, with two pairs of black wings sprouting from his back, looking exactly like a fallen angel from myth.
“Stop eating those random messy gods all the time.” Number 9 frowned slightly at his shifting form. “Eat something better.”
Number 18’s eyes lit up with understanding.
Senior must mean—the god who dared break his mark was fair game to devour.
“Understood, Senior. I’ll eat him clean.”
