44: Chapter 44 Upgrading from a slingshot to a cannon

In a brief moment, crimson silhouettes swayed as Wawan led a group of Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens into the divine temple step by step.

Wawan's brows and eyes were gentle as she curiously surveyed the scene inside the temple. When her gaze swept past the solemn underworld soldiers standing on both sides and the ferociously chilling White Zombie, her slender eyes suddenly lit up. An unhideable excitement welled up in her heart, and her fingertips slightly clenched her skirt.

"Divine Lord?" she softly inquired, her tone full of anticipation.

Su Ming slightly nodded, his tone crisp: "That's right. Summoning you here is precisely to let you evolve. Step forward, all of you, and enter the altar."

Having received Su Ming's consent, Wawan no longer hesitated. She turned back, raised her hand to signal, and led the group of Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens onto the altar in an orderly manner.

Su Ming felt a pang of heartache as he tossed Divine Crystals from his Star Card into it.

A full two hundred thousand Divine Crystals transformed into misty golden light, pouring and infusing into the altar's patterns.

In an instant, the altar burst with a brilliant red light, and bone-corroding resentment entwined with surging divine radiance. In just a few breaths' time, all the Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens completed their transformation and evolution.

[Name: Red-robed Grievous Woman]

[Potential: D+]

[Race: Netherworld]

[Skills]

Grievous Soul Silk Threads: Resentment turns into blood-colored threads that bind the enemy's body, imprisoning the circulation of the physical body and divine power. During the binding, it continuously tears at the soul and splits the origin of the mind. The more they struggle, the more severe the soul's backlash.

Cinders Gauze Phantom: Crimson afterimages carrying soul-burning resentment can conceal breath and obscure perception, and can also divide into multiple phantoms to share damage, confusing the enemy's offensive and calmly avoiding fatal damage.

Mutual Lovesickness Bone-Corrosion: Guides the obsession of an eternal nether-marriage to entangle and harass opponents, dropping a heart-corroding resentment miasma that slightly weakens offensive and defensive attributes; those hit give birth to false compassion, unable to actively attack the Red-robed Grievous Woman, and forcibly casting spells will cause a stabbing pain in the soul, stiffened movements, and broken divine abilities.

Beauties' Blood Tears (Army Soul Skill): Countless blood silks spread across the void, locking down enemy troops in a large area, sealing teleportation and spatial escape, and stacking malicious debuffs layer by layer; stacking to the max directly deprives the casting authority and seals all divine abilities; her own phantom range doubles, the imprisonment power is greatly reinforced, and when the silks dissipate, soul-burning resentment fire erupts, burning the soul and extending the control duration.

[Equipment: Blood-Weeping Burning Silk, Nether-Grief Phoenix Hairpin]

[Description: The resentment of tragic death in a nether-marriage has settled for eternity, devouring endless yin baleful qi to complete the origin transformation. The crimson wedding gown is stained with the essential blood of countless dead souls, the gilded embroidery patterns are intricate and magnificent, the brows and eyes are covered with the sorrow of a hundred lifetimes, yet every gesture is bone-chilling with killing intent, and the yin and yang baleful qi merge into one.]

After evolution, all the Red-robed Grievous Women's figures, appearances, and auras approached perfection. Their bright red wedding gowns shimmered with rippling light, made of brocade and gilded with gold, with gauze sleeves fluttering—gorgeous yet bizarre, their stunning beauty wrapped in a bone-chilling yin qi.

Looking at the panel before him, Su Ming was already somewhat numb.

Whether it was the underworld soldiers, the White Zombie, or the newly transformed Red-robed Grievous Women, every single retainer clan breaking through to D-rank saw an outrageously absurd magnitude of improvement.

Before evolution, the Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens' crowd control was limited to single targets and was easily broken free from. Now, all three crowd-control skills had undergone a qualitative transformation.

Grievous Soul Silk Threads could weave into a web to bind large numbers of enemies, and the backlash from struggling intensified exponentially;

The number of phantom bodies from Cinders Gauze Phantom increased dramatically, making concealment even more imperceptible.

Mutual Lovesickness Bone-Corrosion could suppress opponents over a wide area, and forcible attacks would sever divine abilities.

Beauties' Blood Tears had a broader coverage, its shackles locked down all escape arts, the stacking speed of malicious debuffs skyrocketed, and the soul-burning resentment fire significantly extended the imprisonment.

With the Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens around, Su Ming could well imagine the despair of his opponents.

He lowered his gaze to look at his Star Card balance, which had only one hundred thousand Divine Crystals left, a trace of hesitation flashing across his eyes.

Not long ago, he still held a massive fortune of one million Divine Crystals. Within just a quarter of an hour, he had successively spent nine hundred thousand, shrinking his family fortune almost to nothing.

"One hundred thousand Divine Crystals—if used to recruit retainers, it could at most attract two hundred and fifty of them, which isn't a very large boost for me."

Su Ming quickly weighed the pros and cons, his gaze suddenly turning resolute. "Instead of expanding my retainers, it's better to use it to improve my talent."

With his mind made up, he no longer hesitated, igniting the final one hundred thousand Divine Crystals. A dazzling, pure golden pillar of light rose from the ground, pouring into his divine body through his crown.

Warm, majestic divine power scoured his limbs and bones. Deep within his demigod divine body, his meridians, soul, and origin vibrated simultaneously. An unfathomable, mysterious power of transformation flowed throughout his body—indescribable, yet supremely comfortable.

In a flash, the abnormalities concluded. Su Ming retrieved his own Divine Domain panel, and his originally ordinary Divine Grace talent had its description completely refreshed.

[Divine Grace (D-rank): Draws together the thoughts and aspirations of believers, increasing the power of faith offered by believers by 40%; the power of faith inversely nourishes the physique and meridians, synchronously increasing the physical and soul strength of subordinate believers by 15%.]

Seeing the effect of the entry clearly, Su Ming's pupils shrank, his face filled with shock, while wild joy surged fiercely in his heart.

"Is this a D-rank talent? It's simply outrageous, far too strong!"

A 40% increase in the gained power of faith!

What an outrageous effect! Knowing that present Su Ming had one hundred thousand Undead Retainers and fifty thousand mechanical retainers—all of whom were currently shallow believers of Su Ming—while the underworld soldiers, White Zombie, and Crimson-robed Grievous Maidens were all true believers.

Calculating it now, the power of faith Su Ming could obtain from them every day was around eleven thousand. With the Divine Grace talent, the power of faith he could obtain each day would increase by nearly four thousand, reaching over fifteen thousand. For Su Ming, who was urgently lacking in the power of faith, this was simply too precious.

Divine Crystals could be quickly earned by hunting monsters and looting resources, but the power of faith could only be accumulated day by day relying on the offerings of believers, making it priceless.

Moreover, only the power of faith could condense divine nature.

And the function of divine nature was by no means small.

The higher the divine nature, the easier it was to comprehend laws, and wanting to condense a godhead and divine priesthood both required no low amount of divine nature.

For Su Ming at present, its value was irreplaceable.

Besides that, Divine Grace could also increase the believers' physical and soul strength by 15%. This talent was simply outrageously strong!

Although he had spent one million Divine Crystals all at once, looking at the evolved retainers and talent, Su Ming's eyes were filled with satisfaction.

He stretched his limbs and gave a long stretch.

For the seven days in the Hanging Secret Realm, fighting day and night, dispatching large armies, and comprehending laws, he had almost never rested day or night. Even though he was a demigod, he felt somewhat exhausted in both body and mind at this moment.

Su Ming cast aside all guard, laid down smoothly, rested his head on Wawan's warm and soft lap, and closed his eyes to rest.

...

At the same time, inside the battleship's main cabin.

Several intertwining real and illusory soul projections emerged one after another. They were all top, powerful figures of the Blue Star military, and the heavy coercive pressure around their bodies made the airflow in the entire hall stagnate.

General Gao, clad in gilded battle armor with a stalwart and resolute face, gazed deeply at Mu Qingge in the hall and asked in a deep voice: "Qingge, convening the council so hastily, could it be that an accident occurred in the Hanging Secret Realm?"

The remaining few projections all turned their heads sideways, quietly waiting for a reply.

"General Gao, this discussion is indeed related to this Hanging Secret Realm."

Mu Qingge wore a solemn expression as she raised her hand and waved it. A spiritual light projection unfolded, clearly presenting Su Ming's appearance before everyone's eyes.

Everyone's gaze fell upon the youth's face, all filled with confusion.

The people present wielded Blue Star's authority and were well-acquainted with all the new-generation proud sons of heaven, yet they had never seen a figure like Su Ming.

Mu Qingge's cold and calm voice resounded through the hall, every word ringing with certainty: "This person's name is Su Ming, a Netherworld-attribute demigod who took first place in this Hanging Secret Realm."

A simple, single sentence was like a thunderclap exploding inside the hall.

The entire hall instantly fell into a dead silence, where the drop of a pin could be heard. The expressions of the high-ranking big shots changed drastically, their eyes filled with disbelief.

After a long while, the white-haired and white-bearded elder slowly recovered his wits, his voice slightly heavy: "Qingge, are your words true? Did he truly take first place in the secret realm?"

"Absolute truth." Mu Qingge nodded, her tone firm. "By now, I'm afraid the other families also know his information."

As her voice fell, the expressions of several military projections in the void suddenly changed, looking urgent.

"No! Netherworld-attribute deities are one of the attributes most suited for military combat, and he is also a genius. He must never be recruited first by the Council or the noble families!"

"I second that! This child must be brought under the military's command!"

"If worse comes to worst, report directly to the top and use special privileges to intercept and retain the talent!"

Everyone's emotions were stirred, competing to offer advice, and the hall instantly became noisy.

Just at this moment, Elder Mu, sitting right in the center, lightly coughed.

With a soft sound, the discussion throughout the hall abruptly stopped. Everyone reined in their sharp edges and held their breath as they looked at the elder.

"Alright, you all seem to have forgotten that he has only just awakened, and that matter was just decided a moment ago. It's just that I haven't had time to tell you yet."

As soon as these words were spoken, all the high-ranking officials present were collectively startled: "Elder Mu, what you said is true?!"

Elder Mu slowly nodded, his tone casual yet heavy: "After all sides tugged and argued for so long, it really is time for the dust to settle."

"I see!" A general came to a sudden realization, brilliance surging in his eyes. "If these little fellows can seize this opportunity, they will witness an even broader world. We cannot bind them down!"

"Seconded!"

"Seconded!"

The people present responded one after another, no longer holding a shred of intent to compete.

Elder Mu looked at Mu Qingge: "Qingge doesn't need to return to Blue Star either. The students in Blue Star who are qualified and willing to participate in this trial will set off tomorrow. You guys directly head to the trial location to rendezvous with them."

Hearing Elder Mu's words, Mu Qingge nodded.