Lord of Prayer

"Hey, where is this place?" The man tried to speak to the group of young girls, but they were all scared stiff, staring blankly like psychiatric patients.

Suddenly, a dark figure appeared before the man. Its voice was like a man's and a woman's overlapping, filled with a demonic, evil quality:

"How do you enter the Sealed Gate beneath the Feng City Church? What Forbidden Objects are contained inside?"

"You are..."

"Answer my question."

"Hmph, you Evil Demon! Don't think you'll get a single thing you want from me!" The man knew this person was no good. He tilted his neck back defiantly, already prepared to be killed.

"Answer me, and you'll live."

"Pah!" The man spat at the dark figure. "I will never betray the Church and the Goddess! Just kill me!"

"If you answer, I'll give you a quick death."

The dark figure said indifferently, "It seems you've chosen the painful way to die."

SWISH.

A flash of cold light, and the top of the man's skull was sliced clean off, exposing his crimson brain. He let out a muffled, pained groan.

The dark figure stepped forward and summoned a long, thin, transparent straw from thin air.

SQUELCH.

The transparent straw pierced into the man's exposed brain.

Then, it began to suck.

A red, gelatinous substance could be seen being drawn into the straw, and the man's brain began to visibly atrophy.

The man's face twisted in extreme agony. His entire body convulsed and trembled as he let out a blood-curdling scream.

GURGLE GURGLE... The dark figure continued to drink the brain.

A few seconds later, the man's brain was completely consumed. The light faded from his eyes. His lips parted slightly as if to say something, but in the end, no words came out.

The Ghost slurped up the last dregs from the straw, acquiring the man's memories in the process.

·

·

"I'm afraid something has happened to Luo Hai."

At the Feng City Life Church, a Steward said with a grave expression, "Luo Hai is on leave today. I've made several urgent calls to him, but he hasn't picked up. That's not like him."

"Where does he live? I'll go check," a Knight asked.

"I'll go," Zhou Chen spoke up. "Even if there's an ambush, I'll be able to get away at the very least."

'Li Xiye is still in Meditation, but she's almost done resting. If I really run into an ambush from the Ghost, she'll be able to help me escape.'

No one had any objections. Zhou Chen set off as soon as he got Steward Luo Hai's address.

When he arrived at Luo Hai's residential complex, Zhou Chen made a wish in advance to divine his fortune. The result was "smooth sailing."

Inside Luo Hai's home, the news was playing on the living room TV. A half-finished beer and a half-eaten bucket of fried chicken sat on the coffee table. The chicken was still warm, meaning it had been delivered not long ago—probably less than half an hour.

Zhou Chen did a sweep of the house but saw no sign of Luo Hai. Based on the scene, he figured he'd already been taken by the Ghost.

'He was probably attacked while we were reviewing Li Miao's memories.'

'We were a step too late...' Zhou Chen dialed a number and told the Church Knight what he'd found. Just then, a commotion erupted outside.

No, not just outside—it was the entire residential complex!

As an Ascender, Zhou Chen activated his superhuman hearing. He could clearly hear all the sounds in the complex. It was as if a switch had been flipped, and all the residents had flown into a rage, attacking one another.

"All you do is order me around all day! You don't wash the dishes, you don't mop the floor! Marrying you was the worst luck of my life!"

"You think I wanted to marry you? Your family practically held a knife to my throat! If you can't stand it, let's get a divorce! I'm fucking sick of you sulking all day! I've had more than enough of you!"

"What's with that tone! Can't you speak nicely for once?!"

"Speak nicely my ass!"

...

"Still on your phone! Still on your phone! If you look at it one more time, I'm going to smash it!"

"Do you have any idea what the good students in your class are doing right now? They're studying! Studying until eleven or twelve at night!"

"I'm done studying!"

"Can't you study ahead? A good student never says they're 'done studying'!"

"You're so annoying! Leave me alone!"

"What are you yelling for?! Are you in your rebellious phase or something?!"

CRASH. The sound of a phone being smashed, followed by the sound of two women brawling.

...

"Heh heh, I finally found the old man's bank card. Time to go all out Drawing Cards! My waifus, here I come!"

...

"Ah Ling, I've always liked you. Please, be my girlfriend."

"I don't want to, I have a boyfriend... Don't come any closer... Help!"

...

It wasn't just violence, but also greed, lust...

The dark side hidden deep in their hearts had been unleashed. Everyone had lost their minds.

"Fuck, there's spiritual pollution here!" Zhou Chen yelled and immediately hung up the phone.

'So that's why I felt like something was off. Now that I see the spiritual pollution break out, it all makes sense. How could a heartless, mass-murdering terrorist like the Ghost come here just to abduct a single Steward? It would be more in character for the Ghost to just kill everyone here while they're at it!'

Sure enough, the Ghost had left behind spiritual pollution, inciting the dark and evil side of everyone's hearts. A monstrous, evil aura shot into the sky, terrifying to behold.

However, Zhou Chen already had experience dealing with this type of spiritual pollution.

He summoned Dream Light and Shadow. A Crystal Spear, magnificent and dreamlike, exquisite and solemn, materialized. As it shifted, it refracted a seven-colored halo, and wisps of cyan lightning danced wildly across its surface.

Zhou Chen fiercely plunged the dazzling Crystal Spear into the floor. A brilliant and pure dream-like light burst out like a tidal wave, accompanied by streaks of cyan lightning, instantly expanding to envelop the entire residential complex.

That dream-like light contained the purest innocence and kindness of human nature—the perfect Power to suppress dark and evil thoughts. The moment it erupted, the spiritual pollution began to recede rapidly.

But the spiritual pollution was spreading faster than Zhou Chen had imagined. In that short time, it had already secretly spread to a terrifying scale. The moment it first manifested, it triggered the Star Association's alarms.

Zhou Chen leaped out the window. Suddenly, the clear, pleasant sound of bells rang out from the sky. A Christmas moose pulling a sled appeared, treading on air amidst a scattering of beautiful Star Dust. It executed a perfect drift, catching Zhou Chen steadily.

Spiritual pollution created by a Tier Four Uncrowned could potentially destroy an entire city. Zhou Chen obviously couldn't just stand by and watch. He flew over the city on his Christmas Sled, using Aspiration of the Blue Clouds to push Dream Light and Shadow to its limits. He became a streak of colored light, streaking across the night sky like a rainbow.

He was now a mobile source of Purification. Wherever he passed, all spiritual pollution vanished into thin air.

The Star Association quickly implemented countermeasures, locking down the entire city to prevent the source of the pollution from spreading further. The Life Church also acted swiftly. Its followers rushed out across the city with various Extraordinary Artifacts to purify the spiritual pollution.

The Knights did not take action. Instead, they remained at the Life Church, standing guard against the lurking Ghost.

The disappearance of a Steward was undoubtedly a major incident. It involved countless Church secrets, the leak of any one of which would cause severe losses to the Church.

For example, the Sealed Gate beneath the Feng City Church and the Forbidden Object contained within.

Presumably, one of the Ghost's main purposes in coming to Feng City was to enter the Sealed Gate and obtain that dangerous Forbidden Object.

The Ghost spreading spiritual pollution to cause a commotion was very likely a diversion to lure the tigers from the mountain. Once they left, the Ghost would sneak in and steal the Forbidden Object.

They absolutely could not give the Ghost such an opportunity.