Within the Star Alliance, Star Lords cultivated and nurtured their Vassals, and religious control always came first, to ensure their hold over them.
So, when Liang Ji and the others cultivated their first Tier-One Vassals, they would appoint one as a priest and develop a religion. At the very center of their Vassals' settlements—whether a tribe, a village, or even a city—there would always be religious buildings such as the Heavenly Emperor Temple.
Then the other buildings in the Vassals' tribes, villages, and cities would be constructed around religious buildings like the Heavenly Emperor Temple.
The Star Lord who had left behind the star Liang Ji and the others had stumbled upon was an Eighth-Tier Star Lord. Even so, his methods of cultivation and Vassal development were much the same as the mainstream approach within the Star Alliance.
Usually, at the heart of a Vassal settlement, right in the middle of the city, stood religious buildings such as the Heavenly Emperor Temple.
But...
Liang Ji looked up at the sky and pondered. "Director Zhang said that the Star Lord of this star had failed to merge with the Dao long ago and had perished through Dao transformation. There should have been no Heavenly Emperor on this star for ages."
"And from what we've seen and felt since entering, it's clear this star is already in its twilight years, on the verge of withering and dying."
"The star has already declined to Tier One. The Netherworld and Heavenly Realm opened by its Star Lord have both collapsed. The gods enfeoffed by the Heavenly Emperor should have disappeared as well."
"Under these circumstances, how can there still be priests and a religion among the surviving native Vassals?"
He looked toward the center of the city. The religious palace towering there was still