The hero statue unveiling ceremony had just concluded when Feng Qi returned to the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
In the following days, he resumed executing the Mist Lord's "God-Making" plan.
That morning.
After finishing breakfast, Feng Qi made his way to his office.
As soon as he stepped inside, he noticed a thick stack of documents on his desk.
He sat down, picked up the freshly brewed tea that Ye Lao Er had prepared, and took a sip.
After placing the teacup back on the desk, he picked up one of the documents and began flipping through it.
These were the documents he had instructed Ye Lao Er to retrieve last night before going to bed, using the privileges of the Tiger Soul Research Institute.
The contents of the documents were related to modern human faith.
Understanding the composition of modern human faith would be crucial for the continuation of his "God-Making" plan.
As he flipped through the materials, time passed slowly.
From time to time, he picked up his teacup and took a sip.
Through the documents, Feng Qi discovered that modern human faith was divided into many factions, primarily composed of Daoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and other major sects.
Each faith faction had its own revered deities, and the deity systems of each faction were entirely different.
According to the data in the materials, it was evident that modern faith factions no longer enjoyed the prosperity they had before the disaster.
Under the new model of education, modern humans were more inclined to worship heroes who fought bloodily on the frontlines rather than abstract, illusory deities.
The Old Day Research Institute had once conducted a social survey on human faith.
They eventually came to a set of authoritative data.
Among modern humans, less than 6% of the population were devout believers.
Around 23% were casual believers.
Casual believers were those who held a cautious attitude toward the existence of deities, approaching it with the mindset of "better to believe than not." They would follow the older generation's beliefs, but were not truly devout, often wavering in their faith.
The remaining 71% consisted of atheists and those who worshipped heroes.
As Feng Qi continued reading the faith-related materials, he noticed something odd.
He found that many new faith sects had emerged in the post-cataclysm human era.
However, the scale of these new sects was small, and they could not compete with the mainstream factions.
This was obviously related to the environment of the new era.
People living in the post-cataclysm era tended to think pragmatically, which led to a lack of fertile ground for the growth of faith sects.
But there was one exception.
This sect was called the "Dark God Sect," and it had risen in the western district of Old Day City.
To this day, the followers of this sect had spread to the five major cities and many smaller cities.
The deity worshipped by the Dark God Sect was called "The Dark God."
The documents also contained a detailed introduction to the Dark God, describing the process by which this first deity born from darkness created the world and brought fire and light to humanity, among other things.
At the end of the documents, it was stated that believing in the Dark God brought many benefits, which were mostly related to concepts of reincarnation and rewards in the afterlife.
Feng Qi sneered at these descriptions.
The deities described by the believers were very similar in many ways.
However, if believing in a deity was truly useful, there wouldn't be so many cities falling and countless scavengers left homeless.
Still, he was very curious about how this faith sect had been able to grow so rapidly.
With this in mind, he continued to read through more materials on the Dark God Sect.
Soon, his expression grew serious.
He realized that the rapid growth of the Dark God Sect was closely tied to the feedback from its followers.
The documents recorded numerous cases of followers receiving positive feedback after worshipping the Dark God.
For instance, one follower from the western district of Old Day City.
Before believing in the Dark God, this follower had a terminal illness, and the hospital had even issued a critical condition notice.
Facing death, the follower chose to place their faith in the Dark God with a "last-ditch effort" mentality.
In just one month, the illness miraculously disappeared.
After hospital tests, the conclusion was that the person was now healthy, and no longer differed from an ordinary person.
This event had caused quite a stir in the western district of Old Day City.
It also brought significant exposure to the Dark God Sect.
As a result, many people chose to believe in the Dark God.
Had it not been for the positive, uplifting nature of the Dark God Sect's doctrine, the Old Day City authorities would likely have suppressed it at the time.
Such cases were common in the rapid development and expansion of the Dark God Sect.
The documents contained hundreds of case studies, with countless more records of followers' testimonies. It seemed that faith in the Dark God truly had the power to heal illnesses and bring about a better life.
After finishing the materials about the Dark God Sect, Feng Qi couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
He, of course, did not believe in the existence of the Dark God.
But the documents indicated that many followers, before they came to believe in the Dark God, had similar mindsets to his—initially, they didn't believe in the Dark God's existence at all.
Some of these were even graduates from well-known universities.
Given their judgment and intelligence, they clearly wouldn't be easily deceived.
But Feng Qi felt there was something more to this situation.
If the Dark God truly had the great power to help humanity, why didn't it dispel all the domain fields and bring true light?
Healing minor illnesses and pains? Well, many domain creatures could do that.
For instance, Le Ping'an had recovered from a terminal illness with the help of the Shadow Force, and this was the main reason his parents chose to embrace the darkness.
Thus, Feng Qi had every reason to suspect that behind the Dark God Sect, there might be a domain force at work.
They might be playing a much larger game.
He even suspected that this hidden force, if it existed, possessed abilities similar to his own Miracle Bracelet. The creation of the Dark God Sect might have been a way to gain faith power and lay the groundwork for the future.
Just as Feng Qi was lost in his thoughts, the door to his office opened.
He looked up and was surprised to see the Mist Lord walking in.
The Mist Lord, still wearing tattered clothes and smiling brightly, made his way to the desk and sat down.
Seeing this, Feng Qi couldn't help but ask, "Is it done?"
"Closed-door cultivation, divine power greatly increased, the future is promising," the Mist Lord replied, stepping confidently toward the desk.
Hearing this, Feng Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"What are you studying?" The Mist Lord's gaze shifted to the documents on the desk.
"I'm analyzing the current human faith structure."
Upon hearing this, the Mist Lord nodded. "You need to focus on this. We are following the hero-deification faith path, which is fundamentally in conflict with these traditional divine faiths. You could even say it's the opposite."
"After all, we're coming from a practical perspective. These divine faiths are based on the illusory, spiritual side. If you want to gain more faith, you'll have to figure out how to destroy these traditional deities' faiths."
"After all, there's only one cake. If our followers increase, the followers of other faiths will decrease."
With that, the Mist Lord asked curiously, "So, after looking at modern human faith structures, what did you find?"
"Well, I did come across an unexpected discovery." Feng Qi handed the documents about the Dark God Sect to the Mist Lord.
Taking the documents, the Mist Lord began to flip through them, his expression puzzled.
After a moment, the Mist Lord looked up at him and asked, "So you think the Dark God Sect might be backed by a domain force that is using it to gain faith power and set up for the future?"
"Yes, my thoughts are exactly the same as yours," Feng Qi nodded. "But there's one thing I can't explain. If the Dark God Sect is indeed being supported by a domain force, why are the Psionic Race in Old Day City just standing by? After all, this domain force is developing on their territory. Aren't they worried about the potential threat this force might pose?"
"Have you thought of another possibility?" the Mist Lord countered. "What if the Dark God Sect is actually a part of the Psionic Race's future plans?"
The Mist Lord's words caused Feng Qi to fall into deep thought.
Suddenly, something came to mind.
It was related to the historical identity of the "Monk."
The Monk's identity in the Star City database after the year 1500 was "Human Spiritual Mentor," someone who spread the idea of spiritual strength and encouraged people to fight domain invasions from a practical standpoint.
To pursue this goal, the Monk had voluntarily stepped down from his position as the leader of the Prajna Domain Battle Squad.
At that time, Feng Qi had been confused as to why the Monk would do such a thing.
As the leader of the Prajna Battle Squad, the Monk could have continued leading the team in the frontlines.
Why suddenly drop the burden and become a spiritual mentor instead?
But Feng Qi never asked the Monk about it.
After all, when he confessed the truth to the Monk, the Monk had not even stepped out of the school yet.
By the time the Monk became a spiritual mentor, Feng Qi had long since lost track of how many years had passed.
Now, looking back, it seemed that the Monk's actions were strangely similar to his current goals.
The purpose was to overthrow spiritual faith and establish a hero-worship system focused on human heroes.
A possible guess began to form in his mind.
The Prajna Battle Squad, led by the Monk, had its main battlefield near the Old Day Supply Zone.
The origin of the Dark God Sect and its main followers came from Old Day City.
Perhaps during the time the Monk led the Prajna Battle Squad, he discovered the secrets of the Dark God Sect, but these secrets were not something he could reveal to the world.
He feared that the bloody truth would completely shatter humanity's spiritual defenses.
So, he chose a different way to save humanity.
There were only two ways to destroy the Dark God Sect.
The first was to directly defeat the force behind the Dark God Sect, or to destroy the faith in the Dark God among humans, making the plans of this force meaningless.
The first approach might be limited by the strength of the Prajna Battle Squad and the potential impact it could have on the world.
The second method would require people to abandon their faith in gods and turn to a belief in reality.
From the Monk's actions after stepping down as the leader of the squad, it was clear that he had chosen the second option.
What set him apart from the Monk was this:
Feng Qi wanted to destroy the belief in gods so that he could acquire more sources of faith for himself.
But the Monk's actions were purely to save all of humanity, even if it meant becoming a tool for the domain forces to grow stronger.
This also explained the series of puzzling actions the Monk had taken, as recorded in history.
Outsiders might not have thought much of the Monk's change, but from Feng Qi's understanding, if it weren't for a significant reason, the Monk would never have chosen such a thankless path.
The exact truth was still unknown to him, but this was just a guess based on the information he currently had.
At this moment, the Mist Lord interrupted his thoughts:
"Perhaps we should investigate the Dark God Sect more deeply. The information recorded in the materials is limited... but in any case, the Dark God Sect will be an enemy on your path to gaining faith."
Upon hearing this, Feng Qi nodded.
When it came to his suspicions about the Dark God Sect, there were now only two possibilities:
First, the force behind the Dark God Sect has no support from any domain forces, and the rise of this faith is purely a matter of chance.
Second, there is a domain force behind it, using the faith to set up future plans.
The exact answer still required further investigation.
As they discussed the Dark God Sect, time passed unnoticed.
...
The next day, at noon.
After lunch, Feng Qi changed into casual clothes and left the Tiger Soul Headquarters with the Mist Lord.
Their destination was the Dark God Sect branch in the eastern district of Star City.
They decided to go personally and uncover the truth.
Perhaps they would discover the truth about the Dark God Sect at its branch.
A few hours later, the Tiger Soul military vehicle stopped on the roadside, about one kilometer away from the Dark God Sect branch.
Feng Qi and the Mist Lord got out of the vehicle.
To keep a low profile, they decided to walk the rest of the way.
As they walked along the route toward the Dark God Sect's Star City branch, they soon came into view of the sect's building.
The Dark God Sect's building was quite distinctive.
At the top of the building was a red crystal of unknown material, shining brilliantly in the sunlight.
"Quite impressive," the Mist Lord said with a grin.
"Is there something wrong with this crystal?"
"There's no spiritual energy fluctuation coming from it. It's just a regular crystal polished within a domain field."
After hearing the Mist Lord's explanation, Feng Qi nodded.
They climbed the steps and entered the Dark God Sect's building.
Inside, there was a long, narrow corridor with murals on both sides.
There were a total of eighteen murals.
Each one depicted a different stage of the Dark God's creation—his birth, creation of the world, creation of life, spreading of knowledge, and so on.
As they moved further inside, they entered a garden full of greenery.
Around the garden were flowers of various colors, and in the center of the grass was a circle of eight grotesque statues.
At this moment, many followers were kneeling in front of the statues, worshiping them devoutly.
Feng Qi had already learned about these statues from the materials.
According to the documents, these eight statues represented the first sequence of deities created by the Dark God himself, known as the Eight Evil Gods.
Though they were called "evil gods," in truth, they had never committed any evil acts. Their purpose was to maintain balance in the world and achieve a state of perfection.
The success and spread of the Dark God Sect were not unrelated to its teachings.
At least the doctrine always emphasized positive energy, constantly reminding followers to keep a kind heart and face life with optimism.
Because of this, the Dark God Sect was able to spread without obstruction in other cities.
If it were a cult with distorted teachings, there would be no fertile ground for it to grow in the major cities.
But Feng Qi had reason to believe that there might be a hidden agenda behind it.
It was similar to the "Blood Flesh Sacrifice" technique, which appeared outwardly beautiful, even hailed as a super technique that would change the way humans cultivate.
But in reality, this super technique was just a tool for the Mist Lord to harvest all of humanity and the domain forces.
Perhaps behind the Dark God Sect, there was also a group controlling it to extract the faith power from humans to help their growth.
With these suspicions in mind, they continued walking along the marble path in the garden.
After leaving the garden, the path opened up into a large circular square, with cobblestones covering the ground. There were dozens of followers kneeling on the ground, bowing towards a statue at the center of the square, which was over ten meters high.
This statue was the Dark God.
Seeing the statue of the Dark God in person, Feng Qi felt an odd sense of familiarity.
It seemed like he had seen it somewhere before.
As he carefully examined the statue, he suddenly remembered where he had seen it.
Although the features of the statue were slightly different, he recognized it.
This was the very statue that the Goat-Headed Demon worshipped!