Chapter 202 Approaching the Divine (24)
Shikang Divine Official was a bit flustered, but having traveled so much and encountered so many weird objects these past days, he had gained some experience.
What's more, he didn't need to do anything; he just needed to shout out—
“Earth Mother, save me!”
Far away on Xuan Mountain, Liu Sheng sensed the cry and paused.
“Grand Divine Official, has something happened?” Yanran Divine Official asked curiously.
“Hmm, Shikang is encountering some trouble, but it should be fine,” Liu Sheng said, continuing her descent down the mountain.
After all, her portion of consciousness had already promptly organized Little Tentacle to control the C-Rank weird objects 【Hanging Silk Weird】 to pull out the weird objects lurking in the fields, then directly invade and activate the “antivirus” program, washing this weird objects that liked to lie in the ground and scare people by shouting names back into the appearance of a normal old man.
Of course, the world had also checked its historical data in advance; this old man had not been a weird objects for long and had not yet had time to harm anyone, otherwise, “reset” would have to be used.
According to her current faith value of 1282 points, the world’s control over this Realm had become incredibly refined; the “antivirus” ability had entered another Realm, and there was no obstacle whatsoever to “de-weirding” weird objects below A-Rank.
As for weird objects above A-Rank, none had appeared yet.
If they did appear, Liu Sheng would probably have to go in person.
However, this illusion itself also controlled the difficulty; otherwise, wouldn't an A-Rank weird objects wipe out all the delicate Divine Official candidates?
The main focus of the illusion examination was not the ability to kill weird objects; only Liu Sheng was obsessed with leading a group of Divine Official to sweep away weird objects everywhere.
Fortunately, doing so was not without benefits; on the contrary, the benefits were great.
Shikang Divine Official supported this old man, who had just been pulled out of the mud, covered in dirt, preventing him from performing a grand kowtow again.
“Thank you, Immortal… I thought my life would be like this forever, digging for food in the fields my entire life…”
At this moment, Shikang Divine Official, clad in a simple grey robe, holding the book that dragged the weird objects in one hand and the divine book in the other, exuded a holy and mysterious aura, truly appearing like an immortal.
“Elder, if you want to thank someone, thank Earth Mother; I am merely Her servant,” Shikang Divine Official said with a devout expression.
“Earth Mother… Earth Mother…” The old man murmured, repeating these words.
…
Thus, the external examiners silently watched as Liu Sheng, at the top of the leaderboard, gained another faith point, feeling somewhat numb, even gradually ignoring these subtle changes, only knowing that the gap between her and the second-place Wen Xuanning was widening little by little.
Wen Xuanning, by controlling the county magistrate, promoted the new religion throughout the city from top to bottom, constantly dispatching yamen runners to every household to preach the doctrine, saying that believing in the new religion would bring down Divine Might and eliminate weird objects, and also requiring everyone to pray for divine descent daily.
It was unknown how Wen Xuanning received the guidance from God, but by indeed following this method of preaching and universal prayer, several miracles of divine descent actually occurred.
The familiar Supreme God extended its face from the clouds and eliminated some of the weird objects within the city.
Perhaps because it was only the Supreme God simulated in an illusion, its power was naturally not as great as the original, and it did not remain permanently in the sky.
Just like in reality.
But this was enough to convince the populace and gain faith.
Therefore, Wen Xuanning’s faith value also increased rapidly, making him the second candidate to exceed a thousand faith points.
The third place was still Lin Shuying.
Her strategy was similar to Liu Sheng's, also starting from the common people, and she seemed to possess a unique charm, being gentle and approachable, subtly convincing people as she spoke, earning her the title “Divine Official Maiden” from everyone.
Unfortunately, perhaps the power bestowed by God was not as effective as Liu Sheng's, and her efficiency was lower; to this day, her faith value has not exceeded a thousand.
And the fourth place—Ling Yuke, by extensively building temples, far surpassed the originally tied Chu Shudu.
According to everyone's analysis, temples should have an aura bonus, naturally attracting nearby residents and also resisting some weird objects.
And the more splendid the temple, the higher its attractiveness and the higher its defensive Rank.
Therefore, the residents of Ling Yuke’s city moved to the vicinity of the temples and even begged to reside within them, seeking the protection of the Supreme God.
The fifth place, Chu Shudu, relied on divine radiance for his preaching, which had decent effects, and the divine radiance could cause negative effects on weird objects; seeing this, believers naturally followed in an endless stream.
But this was only the situation for the top-ranked candidates; the situation for the candidates further down was not optimistic.
Many candidates even withdrew from the illusion early due to being killed by weird objects and were escorted out of the examination hall by officials, thus missing out on this imperial examination.
However, going home like this was just in time for lunch.
Unbeknownst to them, half a day had passed like this.
At this time, servants were entering in a continuous stream, serving meals to the five examiners.
“How exactly did she do it?” Hanshan Jun was still unwilling, gnawing on his jade chopsticks, pondering Liu Sheng’s methods.
“First, she solves problems for the common people; what the populace needs is precisely such tangible help,” Ling Shangshu said expressionlessly, then picked up his soup and slowly drank it.
“Secondly, she will develop assistance, recruiting more Divine Official to preach for her.”
Yan Xueshi said, “This might be related to her constantly copying and sharing the divine book, but don’t you think the efficiency of copying is a bit high… Now every Divine Official under her command has a copy.”
“Perhaps those Divine Official copied them themselves…” Li Shangshu said casually; he didn't care about this, just focused on eating, thinking about finishing this imperial examination quickly.
The results were too far from what he had expected, and he truly felt immense pressure…
“Most importantly, she is different from other candidates; she doesn't kill weird objects,” a strange light flashed in Ling Shangshu’s eyes.
“She purifies.”
In everyone’s eyes, although Liu Sheng did not initially display this special ability, ever since she obtained the holy sword and holy water, she gradually began to solve weird events for the populace one by one using the power bestowed by God.
Thinking back, it was indeed somewhat different.
“She rarely uses the art of slaying weird objects to resolve weird events; at most, she just uses the holy sword to channel the power of holy water, so many humanoid weird objects can actually regain their humanity…” Yan Xueshi mused.
“Yes, do you know why this widens the gap?” Mei Yuanzheng said indistinctly, tearing at a large spare rib with his greasy hands.
Hanshan Jun suddenly understood and enlightened, “Her town’s population is growing, while other people’s town populations will only decrease over time due to encountering weird objects.”
“Exactly,” Ling Shangshu showed an expression of “a teachable pupil.”
Hanshan Jun ignored him and continued to ask, “According to the town population allocated to each candidate, Liu Sheng must be nearing her limit now, right?”
“Yes, I didn’t expect it to be so fast, and there are still twenty days left; could we enter the next stage early…” Yan Xueshi also found it somewhat unbelievable, glanced at the sheet that displayed the entire illusion process, and frowned as he read out four words:
“War of Faith?”
Unknowingly, it’s Chapter 200… Worth commemorating, marking it (^o^)