Who Says the True Gods Can't Possess People?

The Reincarnators had only spent a few seconds conferring with one another.

Meanwhile, Si Ming's proposal, his question about the little girl's surname, and the moment he guessed her name all played out before the eyes of the survivors.

They might not have understood who the Reincarnators were, what they wanted to do, or what their goal was. But they could easily see that the Reincarnators were about to leave.

The people who had the power to save them—and had already saved their lives—were about to go.

The crowd's confusion erupted into a commotion once more.

To calm the innocent people caught up in the disaster and make a clean getaway, the Reincarnators ended up spending quite a while longer.

Si Ming confirmed one thing: all five members of the Celestial Team, himself included, were apparently the sort who leaned toward lawful goodness. Even Yu Zhiwei, who seemed downright unhinged no matter how you looked at her, still had a little scrap of conscience left in her chest.

Valentina made sense. She looked like the sort of good kid who volunteered around town whenever she wasn't working. Jacob was the kind of well-regarded neighbor everyone in the community knew was capable, but whom they wouldn't bother unless things got serious. As for Song Tian, he was probably the quiet sort who would step in at a critical moment to turn the tide, then silently leave with his back to everyone.

Si Ming could certainly relate to that last one.

But Yu Zhiwei... When the crowd surged around them, chattering over one another as they begged for blessings and protection, entrusted their children to them, or wept hysterically, Si Ming had half expected her to unleash a telekinetic shockwave on the spot.

But she didn't. Not only that, she joined Valentina in gently reassuring the terrified people and helped Si Ming restore a basic level of order. Throughout it all, she wore a calm, friendly smile, to the point that Si Ming began to wonder if she was mentally stable.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. This thing can't corrupt me. Ah... correction, it doesn't seem to have shown any ability to forcibly corrupt anyone."

That was what Yu Zhiwei had said. As she spoke, she used powerful medical spray she carried with her, mixed with handmade talismans that were practically useless, to treat several people who had been slightly injured in the earlier chaos. With her gentle smile, serene demeanor, and pale-colored dress, she looked like a pure white flower.

Women were good at putting on an act.

The prettier they were, the better they were at it.

By the time the sun had passed its zenith and begun to sink toward the western horizon, the Reincarnators had finally brought Ms. Chen and Little Miss Guan to Guanyin Temple, near the outskirts of the city. The people there had returned to normal after the Great Black Buddha Mother's retreat, then fled in terror. That left the Reincarnators with a quiet patch of land.

"Good spot." Si Ming leaped to a vantage point and surveyed the surrounding area. He quickly picked out several suitable firing positions. The temple's convenient access from all directions would also make it easy to respond to attacks from any quarter.

He glanced at Jacob.

"I'm guessing this place will be very lively tonight. And I'm also guessing the summoning ritual will take longer than just until tonight."

Jacob shrugged.

"The longer the preparations, the better the results. That's generally true of all rituals. By my calculations, if we finish the summoning ritual before dawn tomorrow, then even if we do manage to invoke the power of this 'God of Salvation,' it probably won't be much more effective than if we all charged out right now and smashed our way into that cave."

Si Ming's lips quirked up slightly.

"Looks like we've got a tower defense game on our hands... Hmm, could we cast the Hallowed Ground Technique over this area too? Or does the land itself already have that kind of power?"

"The latter, but not entirely." Jacob led the two locals into the main hall, checking the key points of the ritual as he went. "I can't establish another deity's Hallowed Ground inside a temple dedicated to a true god. That would destroy the conditions the divine summoning needs to work. This temple does have some protective power, but it's not very strong. Even if I activate it, it'll only work inside the temple, and it won't do much against genuine Evil Cultists."

Genuine Evil Cultists—the ones with sacrificial scriptures written all over their bodies. And at night, they might be different from how they were during the day.

"Got it." Si Ming nodded. "Then would setting things up outside the temple affect the inside?"

"I can't exactly make a ring-shaped Holy Abode." Jacob smiled and beckoned to the little girl with the Guan surname. Little Miss Shiyin obediently left Ms. Chen's side and went over to him. He then pressed a drop of specially prepared ritual vermilion to the girl's brow.

A spiritual connection was established within the temple's main hall. The Guanyin Statue seated there quietly dimmed, while a faint glow began to emanate from the little girl.

"Just don't bring anything inside the temple." He cut off the connection.

The little girl looked up at him obediently. Her eyes, which had previously seemed rather lifeless, now appeared to shimmer with a strange light.

"Uncle, what does Nannan have to do?"

"Nothing," Jacob replied. A soft cushion suddenly slid in front of the girl.

Then he gently guided her down onto it.

"Just sit here and try not to move or think about anything. It's fine if you fall asleep, but unless you're so uncomfortable you can't stand it, don't speak... Can you do that?"

"You should've asked her whether she'd eaten breakfast or needed to use the bathroom first," Yu Zhiwei's voice suddenly rang out. Cradling her staff, she appeared at the entrance to the hall. "Those things matter more."

"I'm a professional." Jacob glanced at her, then took out a large quantity of red candles, incense, talismans, and other ritual implements. They floated in midair, held aloft by telekinesis, before settling calmly into place in the proper order.

"You know how to do this, too?" he asked over the private channel.

"A little." Yu Zhiwei gave him a faint smile. "But not enough to be your assistant."

Jacob was briefly taken aback.

Then he laughed.

"Then you can go help the Professor."

"Not yet." Yu Zhiwei, who called herself a traveler, shook her head. "When he needs an assistant, I'll consider it. For now, it's better if I stay here as the last line of defense, making sure the ritual runs properly."

Jacob didn't object. There was no need to.

He gave a slight nod to Ms. Chen, who had been standing awkwardly in a corner, and said, "Could you bring me the copy of the Lotus Sutra enshrined in this temple? The oldest original, if you have it. If not, bring me the one that's been used the most."

"Yes, yes!" Ms. Chen nodded hurriedly and turned toward the inner hall. "I'll get it right away!"

She hurried off.

Yu Zhiwei tilted her head slightly, then followed without bothering to hide it. Horror movies always went wrong when someone went to fetch a key item like this. They couldn't afford to skip taking precautions.

The ground trembled slightly.

After surveying the terrain, Si Ming decided to make a few adjustments to the surrounding area and build a defensive position. Since the area around the temple wasn't suitable for necromancy, he had to get to work preparing something else.

Rock Colossi were summoned.

Using nearby buildings, earth, concrete pavement, and reinforced concrete as materials, four Rock Giants, each more than ten meters tall, rose up from the four directions around the temple. Their appearance shook the ground. Then, under Si Ming's direction, they dug a huge trench and piled the excavated rocks and soil into a rampart behind it.

One advantage of being a summoning necromancer was that, starting at the intermediate level, you could summon creations that weren't undead. That meant they weren't countered by holy powers and wouldn't interfere with the sacred ritual. It also spared Si Ming the extra work of disguising his undead summons with a shell under normal circumstances.

And...

He stood on the shoulder of a fifth Rock Colossus as it paced around the outer trench, pouring prepared, highly concentrated holy water onto the ground below. The earth was soon drenched. This was the first step.

If magic couldn't create a Holy Abode, he'd have to build one with actual materials. Holy water and talismans had already proven effective. If he couldn't summon anything but the undead, the work ahead would take even more effort.

"...I'm sorry." A voice suddenly sounded beside Si Ming.

It was Valentina.

She emerged from her holographic concealment, worry in her eyes.

"I've never heard of anyone apologizing for doing something good." Si Ming continued pouring out the holy water. "You did the right thing. You saved an innocent little girl. Or do you think that if we hadn't intervened, a name like that alone would have dealt our target a certain, irreversible blow?"

She didn't answer.

She fell silent and thought for a few seconds—a striking contrast to the heedless way she'd acted when she stepped in.

"I..." she said softly.

"I thought about what would have happened if we hadn't intervened back there..."