Although I reflexively asked a question, I didn't truly fail to hear what Jiaoshu had just said. "Zhuang Cheng believers"—that's how she mentioned them. Have my followers really come to the Southern City to stir up trouble?

After more than half a year of cultivation, the number of Zhuang Cheng believers—calling this force of believers by that name personally is quite a mixed feeling—has already reached a considerable size. Possibly because I was absent for over four months of development, I still lack a sense of reality about being a God with many followers. Calmly considering it, it's not so surprising to hear that my believers are active in the Southern City.

It's only about encountering my own believers while being away from home; this kind of situation is expected to be met more frequently in the future. However, the strange tone Jiaoshu hinted at suggests this matter may not be that simple.

"Those... Zhuang Cheng believers, are they part of the Xuanming believers with you guys? I mean, are they also the enemies you mentioned—the Taoyuan Village cultivators?" I asked.

Jiaoshu seemed like she was going to nod but hesitated and paused for a moment, saying, "Well... Who knows?"

"Could it be that they might be in league with the Taoyuan Village cultivators?" I asked in surprise.

"No, I mean, I'm not really sure." Jiaoshu shook her head, "Those Zhuang Cheng believers seem to have come to this city with some kind of purpose, but what exactly that purpose is, nobody knows.

"No useful clues can be gleaned from their activities, but one thing can be certain—they're not collaborating with Taoyuan Village. Numerous monsters roaming the city will attack them, and those Taoyuan Village cultivators have had several conflicts and battles with them.

"Because their numbers are far fewer than the other forces, Taoyuan Village seems to temporarily put aside their existence without focusing on hunting them down. Meanwhile, they are currently hiding in a corner of the city, seemingly secretly gathering the local demon hunters who are left with only shrimp soldiers and crab generals, and it's unknown what plan they're brewing."

It sounds like my believers are surprisingly an enigmatic force full of mysteries.

What's concerning is, since over a dozen Zhuang Cheng believers entered the fallen Southern City, Lu Chan, who is responsible for managing the believers and intelligence, should also be aware of their movements. Even if he initially overlooked it, he should have noticed when helping me gather intelligence in the Southern City since he even noticed the movements of Xiaoqiao. Not reporting the information related to these dozen Zhuang Cheng believers to me seems implausible.

Wait, did he really not report the relevant intelligence to me?

I quickly scanned my memory and soon found an image of a document.

When Lu Chan typically reports his work to me, he provides a brief summary of his tasks and submits detailed documentation. The documents are divided into four levels of importance, and only levels one and two require my close attention, with information about Xiaoqiao included, supplemented by verbal reports. Levels three and four are of secondary importance, and Lu Chan doesn't include them in verbal reports. According to him, they only need a simple glance or may even be disregarded.

Compared to sitting in the rear pondering intelligence, I prefer being active on the front line; therefore, I merely glance through those secondary documents—encoding their content in my brain as photographic memory, but frequently not paying heed to the specifics. I trust Lu Chan's work, and if he says they're not essential for me to understand, it implies they're truly not essential.

Most of the intelligence is categorized as levels three and four, submitted by Lu Chan out of necessity for his established work process, as a form of self-discipline. Apart from the Fa Zheng faction, such practice doesn't seem common in other Impermanence domains. I sense Lu Chan seems somewhat unsettled with the extensive power he possesses within the believer group, with some desire for oversight from superiors.

The reason I remember those documents is partly because scanning them all takes only a little time, and partly due to slight curiosity, planning to retrieve them from memory when there's nothing to do, to see what has recently transpired on Luo Mountain, akin to hoarding trendy magazines.

The news of over a dozen Zhuang Cheng believers entering the Southern City is precisely in the least important level-four documents. As for their specific intentions, the document doesn't particularly elaborate. What's noteworthy is that they reported to Lu Chan before departure, and Lu Chan, considering the Southern City's turbulent times, ordered them not to act rashly. Yet, they disobeyed orders and forcibly entered the Southern City. Subsequently, as Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang's barrier and Xuanming's Fire Sea unfolded, they became unheard of.

Strangely, despite Lu Chan not being favored within the believer group and Governance Ideology faction internally, he is consistently kind towards his own people, yet he categorized the intelligence of these dozen Zhuang Cheng believers' missteps as the least important level. This isn't typical of his usual actions... Could it be that he knows some inside information?

Despite being potentially complex intelligence, categorizing it as level-four documents suggests he may not want me to focus on this matter?

I've heard in some movies and TV dramas that certain civil servants serving senior officials might intentionally place vital documents at the bottom of a pile or write reports tediously long to ensure particular crucial information doesn't reach their superiors, creating space for wielding power within their legitimate rights… Could it be that Lu Chan played a similar trick on me?

No, if that were the case, he wouldn't have needed to report to me; I never demanded it.

Jiaoshu indifferently said, "They're just some insignificant characters who can't stir up a storm, no need to overthink."

"Do you seem to lack fondness for those Zhuang Cheng believers?" I caught her emotions.

Jiaoshu seemed to want to say something about Zhuang Cheng believers, but in the end, it turned into a dissatisfied cold snort.

I can more or less deduce her state of mind.

After Xuanming defected from Luo Mountain, the Xuanming believers who remained were regarded as calamities by Luo Mountain. They could no longer openly pray to Xuanming, nor could they publicly organize proper rituals and ceremonies. In such circumstances, with me being a rising Fire God overpowering Ming Zhuo and appearing out of nowhere, due to overlapping elements with Xuanming, a small portion of less steadfast Xuanming believers converted into Zhuang Cheng believers.

And to the steadfast Xuanming believers, those who changed faiths must be odious traitors, and indirectly, they also loathe me, the "source of evil."

As a believer who can summon Xuanming-attributed flames with faith, Jiaoshu's steadfast beliefs need no further explanation.

Jiaoshu seemed unable to hold back and whispered, "A faith with clear lack of historical depth..."

I am listening, go on… I thought.

Honestly, I harbor competitive feelings toward Xuanming as well. He, as an equally fire-manipulating Impermanence, has always been more in the limelight than myself. From killing Fu Hongchen and heavily wounding Ming Zhuo, to later shattering the Void Realm, he always seems to act ahead of me.

Furthermore, saying this may make me seem sinister, thinking about Jiaoshu, this devout Xuanming believer, being gradually mentally invaded by my Power of Word Spirit gives me an indescribable thrill.

This won't do, a person with composure should not have such mental activities.

Speaking of faith and summoning power, I again thought of the mysterious voices I heard when invading the city barrier.

Could it be that some Zhuang Cheng believers are praying to me from within the city? Establishing a summoning-like connection through the prayers' voices with me outside, coupled with my link to the internal "Firefly," allows me, though barely, to invade into the city barrier's inner part as I am now?

While pondering, I intentionally inquired deeper, "From your previous words, that behind-the-scenes manipulator called Taoyuan Village Master should also be in this city, right? How about the Xuanming you mentioned? Is he also inside this city?"

Perhaps from repeated conversations, the Power of Word Spirit had smoothly penetrated into her spirit, making Jiaoshu increasingly willing to speak, she nodded in response, "Of course, Xuanming is also here. The shock that destroyed part of the city recently was the result of his clash with Taoyuan Village Master."

She didn't attach respectful prefixes and suffixes to Xuanming, which might sound strange at first, but for Xuanming believers, the name "Xuanming" is sacred itself, directly calling him by name is not disrespectful.

"Then where exactly is he now?" I asked.

Jiaoshu seemed unaware of the suspicion inherent in the question angle, shaking her head replied, "That's not something I can know. However, if it's about Taoyuan Village Master's location, I roughly know."

This exceeded my expectations, I asked, "Where is Taoyuan Village Master?"

Jiaoshu paused slightly, seemingly puzzled why I had suddenly turned to inquire about Taoyuan Village Master, but quickly overlooked the discord, she responded, "After the unfinished battle with Xuanming, Taoyuan Village Master used a barrier far stronger than the one surrounding the city to isolate himself at the city center. Xuanming has tried several times to break that center barrier, yet..."

As she spoke, she showed an expression unwilling to admit, but still continued, "...even with Xuanming's power, he hasn't been able to break the city center barrier.

"Of course, this must only be temporary. Xuanming is certainly at this moment exploring methods and gathering strength in other places. Believe that soon, that seemingly unbreakable barrier will be destroyed, and Taoyuan Village Master hiding inside will be caught by Xuanming and completely killed."