The expansion of the Heavenly Order proceeded very smoothly.
Then, as expected, they encountered an obstacle.
They ran out of food!
When the army was disbanded, they were given money and supplies. However, with tens of thousands of mouths to feed, by the time they realized the situation, their stocks were nearly empty.
Originally, they had relied on the Empire's logistical support to survive.
Not only had the troops been disbanded, meaning the Empire would no longer supply them, but the Empire itself was in such chaos that it likely couldn't provide supplies even if it wanted to.
Without a source of income, their remaining wealth was being consumed rapidly and was set to vanish in the blink of an eye.
Liver and the other high-level officials were so worried that they began losing their hair.
This could not continue; they had to increase revenue and reduce expenditure as soon as possible.
There was no need to wait for the Revolutionary Army to gain power and eliminate them; they might starve to death on their own!
After some debate, the easiest method—demanding donations from the people—was rejected.
Because in the current turbulent situation, there was nothing left to squeeze from the commoners.
Doing so would also be detrimental to the missionary activities of the Heavenly Order.
People had only just started to believe in the faith; if the Order immediately turned around and asked for money, they would be dismissed as frauds.
So, Liver suggested returning to their old profession!
They would use the skills of the former army to form a religious armed force.
Then, they would go and capture bandits!
Yes, bandits.
In any era of cold weapons and poor information, banditry is inevitable.
Especially when the situation is turbulent and life is in dire straits, it is common for people to take risks just to survive.
There were many bandits currently within the Empire's territory.
These bandits might not have much money, but they definitely had food!
Within the religious sect, it didn't matter whether they were rich; what mattered was having food to live and sustain their operations.
Since the bandits had food, the Order would fight them!
Moreover, this could be considered as eliminating a threat to the people, making the cause even more righteous!
As a result, the cult urgently recalled several former military veterans.
They took up arms again and launched a vigorous operation to suppress the bandits.
The result of the battle was overwhelming.
As a former elite force of the Empire, it was effortless for them to fight against small-scale armed groups like bandits, who were little more than a disorganized rabble.
Not a single person from the religious sect was killed, while dozens of bandits on the mountain were annihilated.
The few wounded were only injured because they were too excited at the start, charging too hard and colliding with teammates. The actual battle damage was minimal.
After seizing the food from these bandits, the sect's fortunes gradually improved.
But this was not a permanent solution. Sooner or later, the bandits would all be defeated.
Liver had to think of a long-term plan.
Fortunately, good news arrived at this time.
The sect's anti-bandit operation was widely praised by the public, which sparked a surge in the mission's popularity. The number of new believers increased rapidly, reaching one million.
Many of the new followers were brought in by the first batch of believers who spontaneously promoted the faith.
Moreover, among the believers, there were many who wanted to contribute further to the Order.
Even the initial funds began to grow.
At the same time, many conscientious nobles and wealthy businessmen in remote areas took the initiative to donate to the religious order.
Subsequently, driven by this wave of support, many other wealthy merchants and nobles followed suit.
There was no other reason than the fact that the sect's reputation among the people had flourished alongside its growing numbers.
Even those who were not believers did not reject the Order; its reputation was excellent.
Some nobles, seeing a large proportion of believers in their territories, supported the religious order simply to comply with public opinion and establish a positive image for themselves.
The same applied to wealthy businessmen. In the current chaos, they had to stay on good terms with all influential parties.
In response, Liver and the other senior executives accepted these contributions with a smile.
They selected talented individuals among the believers and accepted them as staff to expand the missionary army.
All donations were collected safely, finally allowing the sect's tight financial situation to become prosperous.
Then, something even more unexpected occurred.
The Founder of the Path of Peace actually took the initiative to surrender along with his people!
In this situation, not only were Liver and the other leaders stunned, but Takumi—who was monitoring developments from the Dimensional City through Lia and the others—was also surprised.
But when they saw the Founder's condition, everyone understood.
He was carried in by his men, and he was seriously injured.
Because of the intervention of the Dimensional City, the members of Night Raid had deviated from their original trajectories.
Thus, when the Founder was about to mobilize the followers of the Path of Peace to help the Revolutionary Army take over the Empire, his trusted deputy, Bolic, succeeded in a sneak attack.
This Bolic was actually an undercover agent placed in the Path of Peace by Prime Minister Honest. He had lurked there for a long time and gained the Founder's trust.
Since the Prime Minister was dead, Bolic had no reason to be hostile toward the Founder and could have lived out his days peacefully.
That was what Bolic thought until someone contacted him.
Then he brazenly launched a sneak attack.
The Founder was unprepared and was attacked by the killers Bolic sent.
Fortunately, he was a hybrid of a Dangerous Species and possessed strong vitality, so he did not die on the spot and escaped under the protection of his loyal cultivators.
Afterward, the believers originally planned to take him to the Revolutionary Army for treatment.
But on the way, the Founder heard news of the rise of the Heavenly Order and ordered his subordinates to bring him there to defect instead.
The followers of the Path of Peace did not dare to disobey the Founder's order, so they came obediently.
Although they didn't understand why, they believed the Founder had the ability to predict the future, so they assumed the decision made sense.
In truth, the Founder could not predict the future; that was merely the imagination of his followers.
Because it made him appear more authoritative, he never refuted the rumors.
The reality was that he was far smarter than ordinary geniuses. With his excellent insight, he could make relatively accurate predictions.
The reason he did not go to the Revolutionary Army was his decision to defect to the Heavenly Order.
Through various clues, he realized that this rapidly rising sect was quite extraordinary.
Although the Heavenly Order shared similarities with the Path of Peace, such as the concept of karma.
In other aspects, it was simply a vastly upgraded version of his own faith.
They deified karma and shifted from believing in abstract rules to believing in specific gods.
They added the characteristic of being approachable to this god and positioned the god as the one who repays karma, making the logic more consistent.
In this way, a closed loop was formed, and the conversion efficiency of believers increased countless times over.
Moreover, they capitalized on the current events where the three giants of the Empire were eliminated by "heaven" and raised a grand banner.
All of this was far superior to the Path of Peace.
If there were no expert guidance behind this, the Founder would never have believed it possible.
After all, even a smart person like him couldn't have devised such an operation, and most people certainly couldn't either.
He even suspected that the events in the Imperial Capital were caused by the people behind the Heavenly Order.
Otherwise, it was too coincidental. The three giants of the Empire had just been struck by lightning, and within days, the Heavenly Order appeared.
That was why he took the initiative to defect.
One reason was that he was being pursued.
It seemed Bolic planned to replace him as the new leader and was determined to kill him.
On the way there, he encountered several pursuit teams, reducing his escort by more than half.
He had to find a strong backer immediately.
The Revolutionary Army was not entirely safe, so he gambled on the Heavenly Order.
After all, if his guess was true, the Heavenly Order—which could destroy the three giants of the Empire in one fell swoop—was incredibly powerful.
The few pursuers behind him wouldn't be enough to stand against them.
The second reason was the conflict of beliefs.
After learning about the Heavenly Order, he predicted that if nothing was done, there would eventually be a battle between the Path of Peace and them.
Considering the likely background of the Heavenly Order, there was no chance of victory for his side.
If that was the case, it was better to join them since he couldn't beat them.
Surrendering early would save him from being punished later and might even result in better treatment.
Faced with his surrender, Liver attached great importance to it and came out to greet him personally.
The two parties had a friendly exchange and agreed that after the Founder recovered, he would help the Heavenly Order take over the followers of the Path of Peace. The surrender was thus decided.
But before Liver could celebrate for long, the trouble following the Founder also arrived.
Syura, the son of Prime Minister Honest, arrived with his team, Wild Hunt, chasing him.
As mentioned earlier, Syura was the one who had contacted Bolic.
The death of the Prime Minister and the internal chaos of the Empire did not affect him negatively.
This allowed him to take over the remnants of the Prime Minister's party, making him the leader of the main resistance force on the Empire's side.
At the same time, it was Syura who ordered Bolic to act against the Path of Peace.
Because he also wanted the human resources of the Path of Peace.
With so many loyal believers, they were a massive source of troops and a stable base.
Syura promised Bolic a reward that was hard to refuse.
After seizing the Path of Peace and cooperating to sweep away the Revolutionary Army, Syura would ascend the throne as Emperor, and Bolic could be his Prime Minister.
Seeing Syura's great ambition, Bolic agreed.
It didn't matter if the promise was real, mainly because of the deterrence of Syura's force and the fact that Syura had evidence Bolic was an undercover agent.
This meant Bolic couldn't simply cut ties with the Prime Minister's remnants; he had to keep working for Syura.
As a result, the Founder of the Path of Peace was seriously injured in the surprise attack.
Syura was dissatisfied with the escape, so he personally brought his men to hunt him down.
It was then that Syura noticed another religious entity similar to the Path of Peace.
"The Heavenly Order? Reincarnation of heaven? Was my bastard father hacked to death as a punishment from heaven?"
"How ridiculous. They don't even know how to create a banner that isn't easily exposed."
After learning about the Heavenly Order, Syura sneered. He dismissed them as opportunists and didn't pay them much attention.
Then he led his subordinates and attacked directly.
Although it was a potential source of soldiers, Syura could see the difference between the Heavenly Order and the Path of Peace.
The Path of Peace believed everyone was good, which could be manipulated.
But that operation wouldn't work with the Heavenly Order.
The Heavenly Order had a clear distinction between good and evil, and it would never support the notorious Empire.
Since it couldn't be used, it had to be destroyed to avoid being used by the enemy.
So, Syura and the masters from Wild Hunt broke into the headquarters and killed everyone they saw.
Hearing this, Liver quickly brought men to defend against the enemy.
However, before they arrived at the scene, they heard a loud noise coming from the sky.
Then a thunderbolt fell from the clear sky.
Syura, who was in the middle of a killing frenzy, didn't react at all before being struck. Although he did not die on the spot, he was seriously injured instantly, foaming at the mouth as he fell.
"Damn it! What's happening?!"
Syura was terrified by the sudden lightning strike, his face filled with panic.
"Lord Syura!"
But there is such an outrageous thing as divine punishment, right?!
"Impossible! This is impossible! If this were true, why hasn't it happened before?!"
"There must be someone behind this! And I'm not dead yet!"
Syura quickly denied it.
But the next second, the sky changed. Dark thunderclouds gathered, covering the entire sky, leaving only a vortex in the middle where countless bolts brewed.
When the people looked up, they were frightened by the scene, which looked like an eye opening in the sky.
Even the members of the Heavenly Order couldn't help but murmur, wondering if a god truly stood behind them.
Only the Founder sat up in shock despite his injuries.
He raised his hands piously and shouted: "The heavens have revealed their spirit!"
Then he knelt down.
When the people of the Heavenly Order heard him, they followed suit, kneeling to the sky while shouting that the Heavens had manifested.
Then, streaks of thunder light fell with precise accuracy. They hit Syura and the others, turning them into charred corpses on the spot.
It wasn't that they didn't want to hide, but that they couldn't. No matter where they ran, the lightning hit them accurately. Some even tried to use members of the Heavenly Order as shields.
As a result, the members of the Heavenly Order were struck but remained unharmed, while the attackers could not escape being struck dead.
This magical scene made the members of the Heavenly Order even more fanatical in their beliefs.
A true god stood behind them!
Who would dare to bully them now?
The Founder of the Path of Peace was even more grateful that he had made the right bet.
Whether it was a true god or not, it didn't change the fact that the Heavenly Order had a powerful backer.
This backer was much stronger than the Empire or the Revolutionary Army.
The divine lightning was more terrifying than any natural disaster; numbers and physical strength were meaningless against it.
And, if nothing unexpected happened,
After this incident, the rise of the Heavenly Order would be unstoppable.
This was indeed the case. Although this was the headquarters, there were many commoners and spies from all sides present.
They all witnessed the scene.
Once these people spread the word, the Heavenly Order became famous worldwide.
But this was none of Takumi's business.
He had taken action to deal with Syura and the others, then returned to the Dimensional City.
He praised Lia, who was waiting at the gate: "Well done Lia, the news was transmitted very timely this time."
His timely intervention was mainly due to Lia's quick report.
Otherwise, Takumi might not have known such an event occurred in that world.
"It's nothing; this is what I should do. The City Lord had the foresight."
Lia didn't take the credit. She was just doing her job.
The order to monitor the Heavenly Order in real-time had been given by Takumi.
"If you have merit, then you have merit; don't refuse it."
Takumi waved his hand, leaned into her ear and whispered: "I will reward you later."
When Lia heard this, her face turned red.
However, she did not refuse, accepting by default.