Master of Strange Dao

Yu Ziqing hid in the shrine, closed his eyes, and began to try to contact Yang.

He wanted to learn something from Yang, something about the Earth Deities.

As expected, the interference on the Seventh Floor ring was immense, even greater than the interference in An History Book.

However, it wasn't entirely blocked because the archway of the door here, just outside, still had a slight connection to the outside.

When communicating face to face, there were some stumbles, but fortunately, it wasn't too disruptive, and although the internet speed was slow, it wasn't impossible to send text.

Yu Ziqing described the situation here to Yang and then asked,

"In a normal way, how do you take down an Earth Deity?"

Yang was stuck for quite a while, and after another pause, a page of words appeared before him.

"The Emperor issues an edict listing crimes, using a sacrificial tool to announce to the heavens and the earth, and stripping the Earth Deity of its position.

But this is under normal circumstances. The Earth Deities you mentioned have already transformed into Evil Gods.

Apart from breaking mountains and temples and forcefully killing them, even the Emperor probably couldn't forcefully strip them of their Earth Deity positions.

After all, there were too many Earth Deities on that side, too many to possibly forcibly strip with authority.

You must let these deities lose public favor, and then remove their authority, which might be possible."

"Do you know what's going on with those incense-eating people?" Yu Ziqing continued to ask.

"The Qi Eaters personify deities and extend their lifespan.

I once saw similar records on a fragment of a stele.

They, like Earth Deities, feed on incense fire, thereafter no longer consuming grains.

Even mortals, as long as the incense fire continued, could live several times their usual lifespan.

If one began cultivation with incense fire as a foundation, they followed the Earth Deity Dao.

From what you said, those Earth Deity Evil Gods have entangled everyone and everything in one place, everyone depended on them.

Their incense fire foundation all came from the Earth Deities.

Their prosperity was their prosperity; their loss was their loss.

If you tried to kill that so-called County City God, those whose power was based on him might also die.

Without the incense fire, they would starve like mortals, with the only difference being that they would merely die at the end of their lifespans.

If the situation was as dire as you described, then this place was beyond saving.

No matter what, you couldn't possibly save everyone.

If things weren't turned upside down to this extent, Dadui wouldn't have disappeared."

"First, tell me everything you know about Earth Deities," Yu Ziqing said, somewhat silent.

Half a day later, Yu Ziqing emerged from the Seventh Floor ring, came to the broken window of the shrine, and watched the people outside.

Those mortals with pale complexion, if you ignored the fact they were incense-eating people, looked quite normal.

Yet some things seemed abnormal.

Yu Ziqing heard nearby people discussing demons and Evil.

The County City God in the City God Temple had recruited some people again, all of whom were backup people, and they weren't eligible to share in the incense fire; they, on the contrary, survived yesterday's disaster.

News from the City God Temple said that at the temple fair yesterday, a demon came to cause trouble, the City God and the temple's many spiritual officials engaged the demon in fierce battle, driving it away, but the City God Temple suffered heavy losses too.

He heard those people discussing demons with both fear and hatred.

He heard a parent laugh, saying he brought back a strong piece of demon meat, and after giving it to the child, perhaps in the future, there was hope to serve under the City God, hunt demons, and protect Wuzi City's peace and prosperity.

If he didn't know what was happening here, it would seem a peaceful and harmonious city.

Yu Ziqing watched the people passing in the distance; each one of them might have lived for over a hundred years, possibly having exceeded their lifespan's limit already.

If they were made to revert from incense-eating people to normal humans, they might instantly die from lifespan exhaustion.

Yu Ziqing thought of those poor families he saw yesterday and suddenly somewhat understood.

By the end of Dadui, in Wuzi City, there might not be a single normal person left, even among incense-eating people, there wasn't a chance to become normal.

Because those who had a chance were likely poor families, they all died during the last few hundred years in Dadui.

Even the old man Yu Ziqing encountered before, might have ended up dying of old age.

If this was a gigantic sealing, what was the disaster or event sealed?

According to An History Book, places Yu Ziqing visited, most sealings were entire complete disasters.

From start to finish.

And here, less than a year had passed, that old man said the County City God appeared sixty years ago.

Wuzi City didn't achieve its current state overnight.

Such a disaster starting in the middle or even late stage, Yu Ziqing had never encountered.

Or was it, actually, this period was considered the beginning of the disaster?

Originally, Yu Ziqing finished testing whether incense fire could poison the Eighth Tier County City God, and was about to try forcibly destroying their temple, extinguishing its consciousness, to see if it could reclaim Wuzi City.

But now, everything he saw looked like phantoms.

Yu Ziqing gave up on this idea.

Killing it achieved nothing.

He carried up the shrine and flew towards the outskirts of Wuzi City.

Since there were still normal people resisting the Earth Deities, he might as well ask them about the situation, then find other powerful ones who came in.

Consolidating the power of those strong ones, even if just ten or so Ninth Tier, even if mostly at the first or Second Tribulation, that was still top-tier combat power.