Feng Qi was deeply impressed by the statue worshipped by the Goat-Headed Demon.
In the early days, when he first traveled to the world 1,500 years in the future, he had no abilities to speak of. As he explored the ruined future world, he could only hide and evade.
Whenever he encountered a domain creature, he lacked the strength to fight back.
That was until he met the Goat-Headed Demon.
At that time, Little Black was about to approach his location.
In order to buy some time and delay Little Black, Feng Qi climbed to the top of a tall building and began scanning for a battle target.
With limited time, he quickly spotted a humanoid lifeform with a goat's head.
The outcome was unexpected.
While most domain creatures would engage in battle when encountering Little Black, the Goat-Headed Demon, instead, ran away.
Luckily, there was a domain monster tree along the way that blocked Little Black, or Feng Qi might have been caught much sooner.
He followed the Goat-Headed Demon and ended up at its lair, where he discovered a statue that the Goat-Headed Demon was worshiping.
At that moment, Feng Qi had no particular thoughts about the statue.
He simply wanted to use the Goat-Headed Demon to delay Little Black's pursuit and lure him into the Goat-Headed Demon's lair.
This plan was successful.
Little Black indeed followed and clashed with the group of Goat-Headed Demons.
Feng Qi had originally planned to take this opportunity to leave.
But then, the narrator voice suggested that he try to kill the faint life force within the statue.
The narrator wasn't always reliable, but it had never failed him when it mattered most.
So, he gritted his teeth and went ahead with it.
The process was perilous. He even broke his bones, but he still couldn't break the statue's defenses.
But in the end, he managed to kill the pulsating life inside the statue.
It turned out that the narrator's advice was extremely useful. After killing the life inside the statue, Feng Qi gained his most powerful violent talent yet: "Blood Source."
Once activated, his body would be enveloped in the intense power of blood, reshaping his body and giving him a terrifying increase in combat strength.
From that moment on, his combat style changed from "dodge, evade, and run" to pure offense.
He also gradually understood the violent beauty of close combat that involved hitting with every ounce of strength.
Thus, the statue worshiped by the Goat-Headed Demon left a deep impression on him.
(PS: Specific details can be found in Chapter 85)
Now, standing before the statue in the center of the cobblestone-paved plaza, Feng Qi was stunned.
The more than ten-meter-high statue before him was vastly different in detail from the one-meter-tall Goat-Headed Demon statue he remembered, so he didn't recognize it at first glance.
But after examining it carefully, he could confirm that this was indeed the statue worshiped by the Goat-Headed Demon.
He was deeply puzzled by this.
He couldn't understand what connection there was between the Dark God Sect and the deity worshipped by the Goat-Headed Demon.
There was a significant gap in the information he had, making it impossible for him to connect these two pieces of information and fill in the unknowns.
After a long silence, he turned to the Mist Lord beside him and asked, "Old Mist, have you found anything?"
The Mist Lord, staring at the Dark God statue, nodded. After a moment, he spoke in a low voice.
"In my blood sense, there's a faint trace of life force inside this Dark God statue."
"You mean this statue is alive?" Feng Qi asked cautiously.
"Of course not," the Mist Lord responded. "If this ten-meter-tall statue were alive, its blood energy would not be so thin. This trace of blood force is even less than a tenth of that of an ordinary person, not enough to sustain life."
Hearing this, Feng Qi suddenly remembered something.
A few years ago, when the Mist Lord discovered the Miracle Bracelet's abilities, he had explained how to use it.
The method involved creating a statue for oneself and leaving a fragment of consciousness and blood force within it.
In this way, when believers worshiped the statue, the Miracle Bracelet could harvest pure spiritual power, which was the "power of faith."
"It looks like there really is a domain force harvesting human faith," Feng Qi spoke up at this point.
The Mist Lord nodded at this, "From the rapid growth of the Dark God Sect, it's possible that this force has some connection with the Psionic Race. Otherwise, the Psionic Race wouldn't just let such a force expand from Old Day City… Of course, it's also possible that the Dark God Sect is simply a part of the Psionic Race's future plan."
As the Mist Lord analyzed the situation, an elder dressed in black robes walked toward them from a distance.
With a kindly face, the elder held a book featuring the Dark God's emblem.
"Excuse me, are you here to join the Dark God Sect and worship the Dark God with us, or are you just here for a visit?"
"We're just visiting, not joining," the Mist Lord replied with a friendly expression.
"If you don't mind, I can be your guide and tell you more about the Dark God Sect. Perhaps you'll change your view on it."
The Mist Lord didn't refuse the invitation.
The path of building a hero-worshiping faith was inherently in conflict with the belief in gods.
Learning more about the enemy clearly would help with future targeted plans.
Following the elder, who was holding a book, they began wandering through the Dark God Sect's complex.
Through the elder's explanation, they learned that the Dark God Sect's Star City branch occupied a total area of 8,500 square meters, with 5,900 square meters dedicated to the hall.
When compared to other venues in Star City, this was not particularly large.
Within the entire church, there were 80 full-time followers.
The elder was one of them, and their daily expenses were covered by the Old Day City headquarters.
Every month, they received a stipend from the headquarters. They were also responsible for promoting the Dark God Sect in Star City.
Under their efforts, the number of followers in Star City had reached 4,358 people.
These followers generally had their own jobs and would only come to the Dark God Sect to worship the Dark God during their free time.
The elder further explained that these followers didn't initially believe in the Dark God.
However, after going through certain experiences, they gradually came to believe in the Dark God's existence and became devout.
When Feng Qi inquired about what exactly these experiences were, he received the same information as in the documents.
It was mostly related to recovery from illnesses and improvement in physical conditions.
Listening to the elder's fervent recount of how the Dark God healed followers, the Mist Lord suddenly interjected:
"Has the Dark God ever resurrected a dead follower?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Qi immediately cast a puzzled glance at the Mist Lord.
Was he trying to sabotage the situation?
The elder, holding the book, was also momentarily stunned before shaking his head and replying:
"The Dark God does not interfere with the cycle of life and death, but devout followers will receive guidance from the Dark God in the afterlife, gaining a beautiful new life."
After speaking, the elder pointed to a fountain not far away and said:
"This is the holy water of our Dark God Sect. Drinking it regularly strengthens the body. You may try it."
Feng Qi and the Mist Lord turned their heads and looked toward the fountain.
"Let's give it a try," the Mist Lord said decisively, nodding.
They walked up to the fountain, and the Mist Lord took a wooden bowl and dipped it into the water.
After taking a sip, the Mist Lord nodded:
"There's a small amount of spiritual energy in it. Long-term consumption really does have the health benefits you mentioned."
"This has nothing to do with spiritual energy. The holy water from the fountain is blessed by the Dark God. If you don't believe me, you can check to see if there are spirit stones embedded in this fountain."
The elder seemed slightly dissatisfied with the Mist Lord's remark but still explained in a humble tone.
The Mist Lord grinned but did not respond.
At that moment, his gaze shifted through the marble surface at the bottom of the fountain, where he saw the engraved formation patterns.
This was clearly a small spiritual gathering formation capable of automatically drawing in nearby spiritual energy.
After casually wandering around the Dark God Sect's branch with the elder, they gained a general understanding of the situation here.
The Dark God Sect's Star City branch was still in its early stages of development.
Compared to the population of several tens of millions in Star City, the few thousand followers were nothing significant.
However, through the elder's introduction, they could see the growth potential of the Dark God Sect.
With methods like healing followers, the sect was bound to grow rapidly in Star City.
But the condition was that the number of followers needed to reach a certain critical mass. Only then would the sect spread throughout Star City like a spider's web.
As for the Dark God Sect's years of existence in Star City with only a few thousand followers, this was also due to the city's environment.
Now, they were fairly certain that the Psionic Race was behind the Dark God Sect.
After all, the Psionic Race, who controlled Old Day City, would never allow an uncontrolled domain force to grow so quickly.
In fact, the Psionic Race might have played a role in helping the Dark God Sect expand.
For example, media promotion, etc.
However, in Star City, the Dark God Sect clearly did not enjoy such treatment.
Since Star City was not under the control of the Psionic Race, manipulating the media to help the Dark God Sect was simply impossible.
Most importantly, the media in Star City had an inherent resistance to such divine faith ideologies.
While it was possible that a few followers had experienced miraculous recoveries from terminal illnesses, once Star City's media became aware of such occurrences, they would undoubtedly categorize them as "coincidences."
It would be unthinkable for such events to be widely reported.
The media was an important window to the outside world, through which Star City's residents learned about the world beyond their city.
Without media coverage, the general public would have no knowledge of these events.
In fact, the existence of the Dark God Sect had already been tolerated in Star City. There was no way it could be promoted further.
This had caused the Dark God Sect's development in Star City to reach a bottleneck.
But Feng Qi had reason to believe that, as soon as the number of followers in the Dark God Sect reached a critical mass, further expansion would not require media promotion, and its growth would accelerate naturally.
After taking a full tour of the Dark God Sect's premises and learning more about it from the elder, they left the branch and returned to the Tiger Soul military vehicle waiting outside, heading back to the Tiger Soul Headquarters directly.
Back in the office in the core area, the Mist Lord lay on the sofa, deep in thought, before speaking:
"The Dark God Sect may have developed smoothly in Old Day City, but in our Star City, there is no room for this sect to grow."
Feng Qi immediately inquired, "What, are you planning to take action against this force?"
"Of course," the Mist Lord replied, his tone firm. "Star City is my territory. Am I supposed to let them grow unchecked here?"
"And how do you plan to do that?" Feng Qi asked.
"Right now, most of the media in Star City is under our control," the Mist Lord explained. "The promotion of the Dark God Sect needs many positive reports, but this is the hardest time for them during their early development. Of course, I must deliberately discredit them. Do you expect me to give them positive media coverage?"
"Don't you fear being targeted by the Psionic Race in Old Day City?" Feng Qi questioned.
"Of course, I fear it," the Mist Lord admitted. "But the Psionic Race doesn't know that I'm the one controlling the Tiger Soul Research Institute."
A sly smile appeared on the Mist Lord's face as he continued:
"Ah Qi, sometimes, when facing a challenge, you can't be too timid. Even if you know your opponent is far stronger than you, there's one thing you must understand: The enemy is in the light, while I am in the dark."
"What do you mean?" Feng Qi asked, confused.
"Let me explain it this way: If you were in an unfamiliar area, facing a mysterious force, and you had no idea what kind of power was behind them, what would you do?"
Upon hearing this, Feng Qi immediately understood what the Mist Lord was trying to convey.
In fact, he had done something similar in a previous timeline.
Back then, on the sacrifice line, he had chosen to fight against the Institute of Technological Research. As a result, the Institute of Technological Research had been very cautious in their approach toward him.
Had he not made reckless moves, the shadowy figures behind the Institute of Technological Research had even said that they wouldn't have taken any action against him.
From that timeline, Feng Qi learned an important lesson:
The unknown breeds caution.
The Mist Lord obviously thought the same way.
By remaining in the shadows and appearing strong against the Dark God Sect, the forces behind it would grow more cautious. After all, they had no idea how strong the Mist Lord truly was.
Reality wasn't like a novel.
All the major forces hid in the shadows. There wouldn't be any villain sending their forces to directly confront the protagonist when their plans were thwarted.
The most sensible thing to do was to gather intelligence.
In a situation where you didn't understand who your enemy was, reckless behavior could lead to a series of unbearable consequences.
These domain forces infiltrating human civilization were clearly not fools.
Their goal was to lay the foundation for the future.
Once you looked at things from a long-term perspective, the small obstacles encountered along the way would hardly make them act impulsively.
Feng Qi had a deep understanding of this from multiple timelines.
The shadow forces behind the Institute of Technological Research had been the most cautious, even retreating from his provocations at times.
The Mist Lord was a master of patience.
If Feng Qi had not discovered the truth in 1500 years later, he would never have suspected the Tiger Soul Research Institute was anything to worry about.
It wasn't until he saw the Mist Lord snap his fingers that he realized how deep this guy's plans ran.
Feng Qi had had little contact with the Psionic Race.
But clearly, it too was an extremely cautious force. Otherwise, Old Day City would have undergone drastic changes long ago.
All domain forces shared a common trait:
If they could survive quietly, they would.
The only exception was the blue-skinned creatures.
This mysterious force had left numerous traces that Feng Qi had been able to investigate using the Tiger Soul Research Institute's resources.
However, all these records were text-based—there were no images or videos.
The blue-skinned creatures were definitely an example of a force that didn't mind being flashy.
To collect miracle items, they traveled the world, recklessly offering their heads for the cause.
Feng Qi had personally witnessed the deaths of more than a hundred blue-skinned assassins.
Other than them, the remaining domain forces had stability as their core philosophy.
The Mist Lord's strong stance in Star City did indeed serve as a warning to the Psionic Race. It made the Psionic Race aware that other forces were already present in the city, causing them to choose to withdraw.
But Feng Qi still had one unresolved question.
He wanted to know who exactly the Dark God, who was harvesting the power of faith through the Dark God Sect, really was.
According to the narrator's speculation, after he killed the life force inside the Dark God statue in 1500 years, the Dark God should have been erased from the timeline.
So why was the Dark God still around in this timeline?
Feng Qi had two possible guesses.
The first guess: The Dark God in this timeline was replaced by a new entity, which was why the statue's details differed from what he remembered.
The second guess: Killing the life inside the Goat-Headed Demon statue only allowed him to absorb a part of the Dark God's life force, not all of it.
The true answer remained unknown, but he decided to investigate further in this regard.
Only by clarifying the information could he take action in the other timelines.
Especially now that he had the Miracle Bracelet, perhaps in other timelines, he could use it to gain abilities from the main timeline.
For example, Purple Soul, Blood Source, Malice, and so on.
If the Miracle Bracelet truly had the ability to transfer powers across space and time, once the information was clear, the other timelines could fully move forward with offensive strategies to investigate further.