The incense-fueled power of hundreds of millions of believers gathered around him, roaring and howling as they called for their deity. Their malice toward the azure-robed youth—the only figure left between heaven and earth—ran even deeper. They longed to flay him, tear out his bones, and devour his flesh raw.
That malice filled the world, as though heaven and earth themselves had forsaken the cultivator.
Yet none of it could come within a thousand li of the azure-robed youth. Anything that drew near was instantly cut down and slaughtered.
What good were overwhelming numbers? What good were hundreds of millions of souls? None at all.
Anyone who dared attack had made their choice clear. Whatever their reasons, they had to die.
"This incense-fueled power is irritating."
Jiang Ding frowned.
When enough living beings bore someone malice—on the scale of nearly half a world's population—and sustained it for centuries, it could have adverse consequences. The matter touched on karma and fortune, and was exceedingly complex.
This was a world where the mind could affect matter.
If a cultivator was not strong enough, the curses of hundreds of millions of people really could curse him to death.
"I should deal with this quickly. Apart from a tiny handful of stubborn fanatics, most of the common people are innocent. Xi Ping'an deceived them. I need to free them as soon as possible."
Jiang Ding sighed.
He flew down and spent several days moving through the low-grade fifth-tier undersea spirit vein, surveying its branches, the earth qi, the tides, and other factors while calculations raced through his sea of consciousness.
"There isn't even a fifth-tier formation..."
Jiang Ding felt a headache coming on.
Xi Ping'an had always relied on the Incense Divine Court to hold the East Sea. He had never intended to set