Chapter 218 Approaching the Divine (Part 40)
Thus, this plan was named the 'Nail Plan'.
As for why it was given this name, no one asked such a question; it was enough that the World and Liu Sheng knew.
What, you want to ask if Little Tentacle knows?
Hmm... Little Tentacle doesn't really like thinking about these things.
It only likes to grow stronger. Before, it would gain new faith power every day, eating its fill, and it couldn't have been happier.
But recently, the efficiency of gaining strength has dropped significantly, which it's really unaccustomed to. So, every day it extends its Little Tentacle to poke and prod Liu Sheng, urging her on.
But Liu Sheng couldn't do anything, after all, the local faith value was already saturated!
Although recently a few people would occasionally fall down for the World to convert, that was just a drop in the bucket.
Moreover, Little Tentacle's urgency was useless; what Liu Sheng needed now was to wait.
This was the first step of the 'Nail Plan': waiting.
This also aligned with Liu Sheng's original settlement plan.
So she continued her farm story in Liantang Village, ensuring everyone had enough to eat, while also restoring commercial economic activity in the towns and developing small-scale urban economies.
However, the item 'defense against external enemies' had to be added to the original plan.
The day she dealt with the examinees from 'Yellow City Thirty-Eight', Liu Sheng returned to the temple and immediately called an emergency meeting, explaining that during this period, all divine officials would begin intensive patrols. Once the World detected examinees from other towns descending, it would use the information network formed by Little Tentacle to notify nearby divine officials.
Based on the current strength of the examinees, divine officials carrying weird objects could hold out against them for a period, thus disrupting the altar construction process. This time would be enough for Liu Sheng to accelerate to the scene and resolve the situation completely.
What's more, many examinees were quite cautious, unlike the examinee from 'Yellow City Thirty-Eight' who liked to do everything himself. They basically chose to defend their home bases and only sent craftsmen to infiltrate. These Mortals had no power to retaliate against divine officials protected by Earth Mother.
Practice proved that this 'defense against external enemies' plan was very effective. Those who occasionally slipped in to steal her faith value were quickly kicked out of the illusion, and their subordinates were left behind to be converted into faith value and new labor.
The results were significant, bringing satisfied smiles to the Liu Shengs.
【A perfect plan!】
【It's us, as expected!】
【If this illusion is about town management, we should get a lot of rewards, right?】
So, one of the Liu Shengs tentatively asked.
【World, how about?】
【A modification?】
【Change the code?】
【Make a city-building simulation game?】
【Sorry, your request violates core rules and cannot be fulfilled for now.】
The World's answer was somewhat cold and uninteresting, but Liu Sheng caught the words 'for now'.
【So, it'll be possible later?】
【Yes, after gaining control.】
【Good, good, good. It all comes down to seizing power. Then I'll show you how I seize it!】
Thinking this, Liu Sheng continued to plant rice seedlings in the field with Little Tentacle, using multiple hands simultaneously, planting the seedlings in neat rows and columns.
【Excuse me, where's the passionate power grab?】
【Feigning ignorance while knowing full well.】
【You know, villains only appear at the end!】
【What we need to do is wait.】
【Wait until when?】
【The last day, probably.】
However, before that, Liu Sheng and the World still had some experiments to conduct.
...
As time went on, more examinees qualified to participate in the Faith War, but at the same time, even more examinees were eliminated.
The rankings changed faster and faster, so much so that even the examiners could barely keep up with the speed, only able to focus on the top examinees.
Of course, the one firmly at the top of the list was Wen Xuanning, dominating the others with tens of thousands of faith value, and it was still soaring.
He traveled without stopping, sending craftsmen ahead to clear paths, then dispatching divine officials to the cities to repeat his previous strategy, working with the county yamen to spread the faith from top to bottom.
At this moment, he was stationed at his city's altar, using the altar's special ability to continue giving instructions to his dispatched personnel, who were still heading towards his target—'Xuan One Hundred Thirty-Four', Ling Yuke.
But because the route he chose was from the 'Di' character column downwards, planning to go all the way to 'Di One Hundred Thirty-Four' and then to the side, 'Xuan One Hundred Thirty-Four', because he also wanted to pass through 'Di One Hundred City' along the way and claim its faith value for himself.
That was Xie Yan's territory, after all.
Although Wen Xuanning was still waiting in line at the time and didn't hear about the 'Top Ten Hot Candidates for the Imperial Examination', he already knew that Xie Yan was an outstanding talent of the Xie family in Xichuan of this generation, and his faith value was definitely considerable.
For this, he even personally went forth with his Holy Sword and, after a bitter battle, finally took the city.
Wen Xuanning looked at the unwillingness on Xie Yan's face as he dissipated into points of light, and heard the 'Test Assistant' prompt announcing the increase in faith, revealing a satisfied smile.
As expected, the gains were not small, much better than the small fry he encountered on the way. Moreover, the faith of Xie Yan's subordinate city was also completely acquired by him, increasing by over six thousand points in an instant.
He truly lived up to being one of the key targets he had identified early on.
"What a pity. This Young Master Xie was originally in the top ten. Although he couldn't compare to the few who started earlier, his speed in taking cities was not to be underestimated. Perhaps he could have quickly surpassed Gao Yisheng, who was ranked higher," Hanshan Jun said with considerable regret.
"No choice, who made him encounter Wen Xuanning at this time?" Yan Xueshi also felt it was a great pity; this was clearly one of the 'hot candidates for the championship' mentioned by Mei Yuanzheng!
Now, among the ten hot candidates for the championship, only nine remained.
And Liu Sheng was trailing behind, not even in the top ten.
Thus, the examiners quickly forgot that they had once speculated Liu Sheng was a 'natural divine communicator' and had eagerly followed her because of her unparalleled lead, as changes happened too quickly on this day.
Now it seemed that Liu Sheng was likely successful in the Early Stage due to her strong affinity and intelligence. But sure enough, low spiritual aptitude was still a hindrance; otherwise, she wouldn't still be passively defending instead of building altars and attacking.
So, except for a few interested individuals, everyone else no longer paid attention to Liu Sheng's mirage.
However, this also aligned with Liu Sheng's desire for low-key development.
And even more fortunately, according to Wen Xuanning's route plan, he wouldn't encounter Liu Sheng, allowing Liu Sheng to proceed as planned.
Liu Sheng nodded in satisfaction as she looked at the ranking on the light screen, especially pleased with the number following Wen Xuanning's name.
If Wen Xuanning were to confront her prematurely at this point, it would be a bit troublesome, as his faith value wasn't high enough yet. She hoped he would work harder and accumulate more.
She even felt his speed was a bit slow.
【What if he speeds up and snatches the faith value from your Senior Brother and Senior Sister?】 the World asked.
【You, who don't even know what Dao is, stop trying to morally question me every day!】 Liu Sheng refused to answer.
She also noticed that in Wen Xuanning's mirage, as Wen Xuanning's 'Heaven Eighteen' temple gained more and more faith value, the god's face of the Supreme God once again slowly descended from the sky, from the chin, lips, tip of the nose, then to the eyes, and finally the forehead, until the entire god's face was revealed.
Moreover, the god's face did not disappear but remained on the sky, just like in reality.
She looked at it, her eyes shining even brighter. If she had a mouth, she might even drool.
Unfortunately, at this moment, she had no mouth, only a tiny, inconspicuous eyeball, wandering above the mirage.
It's ending soon, there will be extra updates when it ends!
I'm going on a business trip for a week at the end of the month, so I've been desperately stockpiling drafts recently.
Thank you all for your comments. Although I've been busy lately and haven't had time to reply, I've read them all. Love you all (′‵)I L