There were three measures of the strength of the Power of Faith.
The first was the number of believers.
The second was the believers' devotion.
The third was the believers' level of life.
These three factors progressively increased the Power of Faith they could generate.
Of course, when the numbers truly became vast enough to spread across the entire universe, quantitative change could also bring about qualitative change.
But Tang Chuan clearly had no excess divine power to cultivate believers throughout the universe.
After all, guiding a civilization from nothing into existence consumed an enormous amount of divine power.
He could not alter every planet and accelerate the birth of intelligent life from the cellular stage. Simply imposing a Time Force Field on Cangmang Star to speed up the evolution of civilization had nearly drained Tang Chuan.
So, in terms of the number of believers, he still had to rely on the reproductive capacity of Cangmang Star's humans. Once their population and civilization reached a minor peak, Tang Chuan could arrange for them to begin interstellar colonization and let his believers expand across the stars.
But the time was clearly not yet ripe. The humans of Cangmang Star lacked the civilization level, population, and life forms needed for interstellar travel.
For the time being, Tang Chuan could only focus on increasing his believers' devotion and elevating their life levels.
What he wanted to do now was raise both at once.
Even releasing the God of Mystery and Terror onto another continent—a being that would naturally instill genetic fear in humanity—was one of his experiments in that direction.
First, create an indelible latent fear.
Then, as a god, grant humanity a way to resist that fear.
At that point, he could boost his believers' devotion while also raising their life forms.
After all, nothing inspired greater devotion than saving believers from the terror of life and death.
And granting them a means to resist fear was, plainly put, teaching them how to cultivate.
When Tang Chuan had first introduced cellular organisms, he had actually implanted a faint latent trait within their genes.
Once they evolved into advanced forms, every organism could strengthen itself by absorbing cosmic particles.
But without divine assistance, that trait would remain buried deep within their genes, shackled beneath a layer of restraint.
The gods would save the world and give every believer a chance to ascend, gaining strength greater than the Ancient Fierce Beasts and the ability to control the elements.
Surely, no matter how unruly a person was, constant exposure and personal experience would ultimately lead them onto the path of faith in the gods.
That was Tang Chuan's plan.
But the God of Mystery and Terror was still in its infancy and was only an experimental subject, so he would not place his hopes on it for now.
Thus, Tang Chuan turned his attention to the Ancient Fierce Beasts.
Since ancient times, these extraordinary beasts had been regarded by humans as beings not to be provoked.
Even in this age, when humans possessed crude firearms, the threat posed by extraordinary beasts remained engraved in their genes.
After weighing his remaining meager divine power, Tang Chuan let his gaze pass over one Ancient Fierce Beast after another.
In the end, he chose more than ten enormous beasts that held neither reverence nor affinity toward humans, silently unfastening the faint restraints shrouding their genes.
From this day onward, these extraordinary beasts would subconsciously begin to draw in the essence of the sun and moon—or rather, cosmic energy particles.
Their life forms would not undergo a sudden leap, but they would eventually reach a peak that humanity in this world could not overcome.
Their offspring would be born with the ability to absorb spiritual energy, their life levels rising without limit from birth.
They were dragons, giant beastmen, three-legged raptors, horned primal beasts... creatures as intelligent as humans, yet who had never spared a thought for insects as weak as humanity.
A host of super organisms blending the style of the Classic of Mountains and Seas with Western fantasy.
Who knew whether they and their descendants would come to regard humanity with hostility in the future.
But such powerful overlords and the insects in their eyes lived on the same continent, while those insects occupied the most fertile lands.
Conflict was bound to erupt.
It was only a matter of time.
And when humanity could no longer withstand them and was gripped by terror, Tang Chuan would naturally appear, bestow his grace upon the world, and grant them a method to cultivate into divine apostles and obtain extraordinary power.
After observing the masterpieces of his latest descent once more, Tang Chuan withdrew from his godly state.
Because the Star Hunter had returned.
A faint scent of blood still clung to him. He had not deliberately wiped it away; it was the lingering aftertaste of their hunt, and the bloody scent of prey kept them in a state of prolonged delight.
Seeing Tang Chuan look over, the Star Hunter stepped forward and said, "I investigated thirty-two people and erased some individuals whom humans considered deeply wicked. Those with high status and power, or those who were kindhearted, I spared.
"But boss, the Memory Eraser you gave me is really useful.
"To be safe, after knocking one person unconscious, I woke him up again. Sure enough, he had forgotten everything, and when he saw me, he screamed once more.
"Yeah, then I knocked him out again."
Tang Chuan waved his hand. Under the Star Hunter's regretful gaze, the Memory Eraser in his hand dissolved into dandelion seeds and drifted away.
"Of course the thing I gave you works. Tell me the results. Did you find anything?"
The Star Hunter withdrew his gaze from the floating dandelion seeds and said seriously, "There are no clear results, but I suspect that some force hidden in the shadows on this planet has not been completely eliminated."
Tang Chuan tilted his head, signaling him to continue.
The Star Hunter continued, "Their memories of that great riot are extremely vague. I found no signs of lying, but there is one strange point: the stress reactions some people displayed upon seeing me were very... standard. It felt deeply unnatural."
Tang Chuan frowned. "Standard? What do you mean?"
The Star Hunter found it difficult to explain. The light bulbs on his six pairs of fleshy wings flickered subconsciously as he hesitated.
"I mean... they were very formulaic. When they saw me suddenly appear in their homes, they should have been utterly terrified, but their terrified expressions were vaguely too...
"Ugh, Kuka, standard. I don't know how else to describe it besides standard.
"It was like those superb actors in human films. No, even better than them. For a time, I thought that was simply their normal stress reaction.
"But my past hunting experience tells me that when facing death, many prey show indescribable courage and a desire to survive.
"Rather than being so... identical?
"The extreme terror they displayed had not the slightest flaw, and that lack of flaws was exactly the suspicious part.
"There were still some differences, of course, but after seeing enough of them, I got the feeling that their terror was all cut from the same cloth. I'm not good with words. I don't know if you understand what I mean."