What's the situation with this guy?

Fish Bone knelt on the ground, took out a small knife, and cut off the Fish Bone tattoo from the back of his head.

He prostrated himself, seemingly oblivious to the pain, only sending forth a request with a face full of dedication.

"I request, Your Excellency, to grant me the right to bear a tattoo, I am willing to offer my everything to pledge my loyalty."

"..." Yu Ziqing couldn't comprehend the mindsets of these saints, but he wanted to know a lot from this guy's mouth right now.

"What is a tattoo?"

"It's the totem of each of us.

The Fish Bone at the back of my head is a peculiar small fish only the size of a palm.

In my youth, I once witnessed with my own eyes, the sharp spines on this small fish easily pierced through all the defenses of a senior.

With only a tiny, barely noticeable blood spot left on his palm, his form vanished.

A rampant Fierce Beast accidentally ate that small fish, and it completely perished.

Its bones dissolved into the sea.

So, I turned the Fish Bone into my name, tattooed it on my head, making it my totem.

I tattooed it on the back of my head because, after reaching adulthood, I didn't find a new totem.

But now I found one."

Fish Bone's eyes were filled with fervor, so intense that he was already ignoring the constantly jumping sensing of danger.

Yu Ziqing understood, it is something with no major effect, yet adds a positive state to the mind.

He didn't understand the mindset of the saints; seeing this guy's excessive cooperation, he nodded.

Fish Bone seemed to revive fully; he took off his robe, revealing a withered body.

His robe was spread open, internally lined with various odd materials, and there were prepared runes inside.

Yu Ziqing could see that this was some sort of ritual.

This guy had been preparing the ritual for a long time but simply hadn't performed it yet.

He knelt at the center of the robe, his arms strangely winding behind him, seemingly without bones, both hands holding a chisel and a needle, began engraving on his own back.

Blood flowed, and the ritual started accordingly.

Yu Ziqing glanced sideways at a locust tree far away; Half Skull popped his head out from inside, glanced around, but said nothing.

Half Skull didn't remind or stop him, so Yu Ziqing allowed this saint to perform the ritual.

This guy had prepared the ritual for God knows how long, and even tattooed Fish Bone on the back of his head. To say this guy didn't have a rebellious streak long ago, Yu Ziqing wouldn't believe it.

Fish Bone performed the ritual smoothly; as his back became blood-soaked, the ritual reached its final stage.

Strange aura flowed, and a faint trace of hungry ghost's aura emerged on Fish Bone's body.

On his bleeding-back, a barely recognizable human form, completely black, with closed eyes, appeared.

The tattoo was exceptionally abstract, but Yu Ziqing just glanced at it, and his eyes became a bit peculiar.

He recognized at a glance, this extremely abstract thing seemed... to be himself.

And indeed, the tattoo contained the aura of the hungry ghost.

Yang was right; the ritual was indeed an extremely sinister thing.

This was the first time Yu Ziqing sensed the aura of a hungry ghost on a living person.

For some reason, Yu Ziqing felt that the method he always sought, allowing a living person to cultivate the Hungry Ghost Dao, had some clue now.

The ritual was completed, and that strange and eerie aura dissipated.

Fish Bone seemed to be massively depleted, his complexion as pale as paper, yet he still gritted his teeth in thanks.

He felt it; after bearing this entity on his back, even if incomplete, even with closed eyes, the pressure was immense.

However, the power inside him became extremely docile.

He could very surely affirm, from then on, he would never have the risk of turning into Evil.

With fervor in his heart, he felt he had found the perfect path, the third Saint's Road.

Worshipping a most terrifying and ominous existence as a stabilizer, then controlling another worship object that needs borrowing power, to gain power and advancement.

Using the former to suppress the powers, their final destination as Evil was completely resolved.

This merely required him to maintain loyalty toward the former, maintain devoutness.

The High Priest was right; these saints are only loyal to themselves.

Now that he maintained loyalty to this terrifying figure, he was loyal to himself, and everything became perfect.