In the still of the night, Jifandu, the Western Pole Religion's highest-ranking archmage in the Central Land, had finished a day of preaching to the Believers at the Western Pole Religious Institute and an evening drinking with local officials.
Once his social obligations were over, he returned to his residence.
His grand hall was lavishly appointed, its lamps and candles burning as brightly as daylight every night.
He normally had Maidservants waiting on him, but today they were shirking their duties somewhere, failing to greet him at once to help him wash his face and change his clothes.
Somewhat displeased, Jifandu stepped inside and went first to offer incense to his guardian Gods.
Everyone in the Western Pole Religion cultivated a life-bound deity and also refined a guardian deity. Together with the most powerful Creator God, these formed a trinity, ultimately merging into one at the culmination of cultivation. They could borrow strength and blessings from one another, and even a Believer who had never cultivated could unleash tremendous power, provided his heart was sincere and his resolve firm.
Holding the incense, he recounted everything he had done that day to his guardian Gods, leaving both his merits and faults for them to judge.
After finishing his account, he inserted the incense into a Jin burner and turned to retire, only to discover that someone was already sitting on his spacious bed.
His whole body shuddered in fright. He had never felt anything like this since joining the religion and beginning his cultivation, for no one could possibly approach him so silently. Even now, he could clearly perceive every corner of the institute and what everyone there was doing.
Yet this person who had suddenly appeared was like a corpse, utterly soundless, as though he were a tree stump. Who