Thunder roared in their ears.
As if the heavens were declaring something.
The villagers of Li Family Village jumped in fright and hurriedly looked up at the sky. There was no sign of rain, only a dry thunderclap.
"Could it really be that Lord Zhangyue enjoyed the offering?"
Li Youming, hunched over, murmured to himself.
He was the most respected elder in the village.
He was also one of the village's two Martial Artists in the Body Refining Realm.
Though he was old and couldn't fight much anymore,
if he truly flew into a rage, killing two or three grown men wouldn't be difficult.
After all—
in his youth, he had mastered the Stone-Splitting Palm and undergone two Metamorphoses of his qi and blood, making his palm strikes immensely powerful.
A few years ago, he could still shatter a stone the size of a man's head with a single palm strike.
The village's most important possessions had always been kept in his care. In particular, this stalk of Body Strengthening Grass had been in his keeping for seven years without anything going wrong.
At the Grand Sacrifice held twice every year,
this stalk of Body Strengthening Grass was always placed on Lord Zhangyue's offering table. How had it gone missing this time?
"Lord Zhangyue must have enjoyed it."
A trembling old man beside him spoke, his gaze upon the Divine Statue of the Lord of the Land especially devout.
"I think so too."
"Our village's Lord of the Land is truly efficacious. A few years ago, Pi Hou's wife couldn't get pregnant for the longest time. Pi Hou came here to Lord Zhangyue to pray for a child, and in less than a year, his wife gave birth to a chubby baby boy."
Another old man spoke up.
After the villagers searched all around once more and still found nothing,
the village chief, Li Deyang, said helplessly:
"Uncle Youming, Lord Zhangyue must have enjoyed it."
Although he was the village chief, he was also the village's other Martial Artist in the Body Refining Realm, besides Li Youming.
But he didn't really believe in the Lord of the Land.
After all—
if Deities really existed, would demonic creatures and evil specters still run rampant in this world?
At the Grand Sacrifice each year, he merely felt it helped put the villagers at ease and made it easier for him, as village chief, to manage them. That was why he seemed so enthusiastic about it.
He even suspected, deep down,
that Uncle Youming had just hidden the Body Strengthening Grass.
But as village chief, he wouldn't make baseless accusations. That would only undermine unity.
"Lord Zhangyue has shown his divine power!"
"Lord Zhangyue enjoyed the offering. Please protect the young men of our village from the harm of demonic creatures and evil specters!"
Li Youming knelt again and devoutly kowtowed to the Land God Statue.
Quite a few of the other elders followed suit and kowtowed again.
Watching Uncle Youming's devotion, Village Chief Li Deyang couldn't help wondering for a moment—
could Lord Zhangyue really have shown his divine power and enjoyed the offering?
No—
Impossible.
There were no such things as Deities in this world.
Only the Martial Path was the one and only way to make a living and protect oneself!
[Personal Info] [Name]: Li Yue [Divine Name]: Lord Zhangyue [Divine Seat]: Li Family Village · Orthodox Land God [Divine Rank]: Subordinate Ninth Rank "Requires one thousand units of divine power to advance to Principal Ninth Rank" [Divine Power]: Two hundred and sixty-two units [Incense]: Two thousand and five units [Divine Techniques]: Dream Projection Art "one unit of divine power", Golden Blade Art "one unit of divine power", Confer Ghost Soldier "one unit of divine power", Confer Temple Keeper "ten units of divine power", Disease Removal Method "five units of divine power", Flight Method "ten units of divine power", Yin Soldier Artifact "ten units of divine power", Earth Escape Method "ten units of divine power", Strengthen Yin Soldiers "ten units of divine power", Cloud and Mist Method "ten units of divine power", Heavenly Thunder Art "ten units of divine power"
"I feel so much stronger..."
"When I spend the same one unit of divine power to use the Golden Blade Art, I can tell—"
"it's a whole lot stronger than when I was a Wild God..."
Li Yue looked at the "Personal Info" floating before him, a smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
And that wasn't all.
He looked down at his body, no longer seeming half-transparent.
He wore the Land God Vestments, had the Land God Crown on his head, held the Land God Seal in his left hand, and carried the Land God Register in his right.
He looked incomparably more impressive than before.
"Does this mean I've got an official position now?"
"As expected—"
"no matter what world you're in, everything ultimately leads to the same place."
His smile widened a little.
He gave a light wave of his hand.
At once, two thousand units of Incense Wish Power rose from a corner of his Divine Domain and surged into the Land God Seal.
Immediately afterward—
two units of divine power, their impurities refined away by the Land God Seal until they were pure white, flew out and merged into Li Yue's body.
The divine power in his body instantly rose to two hundred and sixty-four units.
"Having an official position really makes a difference."
"This Land God Seal is truly useful."
"Without it, refining two thousand units of Incense Wish Power into two units of divine power would take a full two hours."
"With the Land God Seal, it happens in an instant."
He was quite pleased.
Then—
he opened the Personal Quest interface.
He was curious what sort of quest the Mastermind, who had brought so many people here to become Deities, would assign.
[Personal Quest—One] [Quest Description]: As a Deity, even if your divine power is meager, you still need a Temple Keeper to spread your faith. [Quest Objective]: Have a Believer willingly come forward to become a Temple Keeper. [Quest Reward]: Two first-tier Blessing Talismans, two units of divine power
"Have a Believer willingly come forward to become a Temple Keeper?"
Li Yue raised an eyebrow.
Seeing this quest, he immediately thought of one of the Divine Techniques he possessed: Dream Projection Art.
Clearly—
he would need the Dream Projection Art to complete this quest.
After all, although he was an Orthodox Land God, he understood that Deities didn't appear before their Believers.
If a Deity appeared directly before a Believer, losing all mystery and majesty, how could the Believer continue to worship them?
As a Deity—
he should remain high above, mysterious and majestic!
Only then would mortals worship him all the more!
"And the reward..."
Li Yue's eyes brightened slightly.
He didn't care much about the two units of divine power.
After all, he was now an Orthodox Land God with two hundred and sixty-four units of divine power.
But—
he did need those first-tier Blessing Talismans.
The Blessing Talismans weren't meant to be used on him, the Deity, but on Believers.
A Blessing Talisman could directly raise a Believer from an ordinary mortal to a first-tier Martial Artist in the Body Refining Realm.
There was no need to explain how important Believers were.
And in this world, where demonic creatures and evil specters abounded and danger lurked everywhere, stronger Believers would naturally be better able to hold them off.
Not to mention—
only once his Believers grew stronger could he receive higher-grade offerings!
"A Temple Keeper..."
"Which Believer should I choose..."
Li Yue's gaze fell on the Land God Register in his hand.
It recorded information about every villager in Li Family Village, down to the smallest detail.
Every good and bad thing they'd ever done was listed.
It even had some of the Book of Life and Death's power!
With a single stroke of his brush, he could cross a villager's name out of the Land God Register.
Once it was crossed out—
that villager would die immediately.
And if he did such a thing, he, the Land God, wouldn't suffer any punishment or need to spend any divine power.
That was the authority of an Orthodox Land God!
"Let's choose from those five Grade B Believers..."
Li Yue's expression remained calm as he reviewed their life stories.
Before you continue