Heavenly Net Star Domain, Wangyue Star.
Wangyue Star is the most prosperous transportation hub in Heavenly Net Star Domain, with a permanent population of 1.2 billion and a floating population of more than 300 million all year round.
The location of God-Making Dharma Assembly was chosen on the largest plain on the equator of Wangyue Star, Clear Firmament Plains.
Nezha stood on a low hill on the edge of the plain and looked down, taking a breath of cold air.
"There are too many people."
Clear Firmament Plains has been transformed. A nine-story white jade Dharma Platform is erected in the center. On the top of the platform is a 300-foot-tall Golden Seated Statue. The face of the seated statue is the face of Gu Changqing.
Around Dharma Platform, the sea of people spread out from the center, and it was so dark that the edges could not be seen.
The system reported the number in Nezha's mind.
"Ding, it has been detected that Clear Firmament Plains has gathered approximately 470 million followers, and the number is still growing."
Four hundred and seventy million.
Nezha has never seen so many people crowded together. Not even Chaotic Star Sea's 50 million-strong army arrayed like this.
He squatted behind a rock on the top of the mountain and asked the people next to him in a low voice.
"Master, if Vow Power of more than 400 million people were intercepted in one go, what would they do?"
Gu Changqing stood next to him, Illusion Spell hanging, his dusty coat swaying in the wind, just like an old farmer picking up stones on the mountain.
"Forty-seven million people released Vow Power at the same time, and the peak value was equivalent to three times the full force of Quasi-Immortal Emperor."
Nezha squeezed out a word from between his teeth.
"Fuck."
"But what they want is not the Vow Power peak." Gu Changqing's eyes fell on the Golden Seated Statue on top of Dharma Platform, "Look around the base of the platform."
Nezha looked in the direction of his finger.
There is a black pillar standing on each of the four corners at the bottom of Dharma Platform. The pillar is engraved with Runes. The style of Runes is already recognized by Nezha. It is exactly the same as Chip and the one on the fragment.
There are silk threads invisible to the naked eye connecting the four pillars. When viewed from the air, they look like a spider web spread under Dharma Platform.
"What are those four pillars?"
"Soul Imprint Collection Array's skeleton." Gu Changqing's voice was flat, as if he was saying that the weather is nice today, "They not only want Vow Power, they also want the natal soul marks of more than 400 million people."
Nezha and Wind-Fire Wheels spun half a circle under their feet, and the heat wave scorched the grass behind the stone.
"What are you using the soul mark for?"
"Vow Power is a one-time energy, it is gone when you spend it, but the soul mark is different. It is the fundamental proof of a person's existence. Obtaining the soul mark is equivalent to acquiring the person's life."
Nezha stopped talking.
Four hundred and seventy million lives.
At the foot of the mountain, the Dharma conference has already begun.
People in white robes shuttled around Dharma Platform on each floor. On each floor, there were people reciting some kind of Scripture that Nezha couldn't understand. The Scripture sound was amplified through the amplifier Formation so that it could be heard throughout the plain. A buzzing vibration came up from the ground, and even the soles of the feet were numb.
Dharma Platform On the top floor, the three-hundred-foot-tall Golden Seated Statue opened its eyes.
It's not that the statue is alive, it's a projection.
A holographic projection lit up from inside the statue, and the light covered the entire statue, making it look like it was waking up from a deep sleep.
The mouth of the seated statue moved.
"People of the heavens."
The sound poured in from all directions, it was thick, reverberant, and full of momentum.
"I, Gu Changqing, will open the altar today to teach the Dharma. Anyone who sincerely surrenders will receive the Heavenly Dao Mark personally given by me. From now on, I will be protected by Heavenly Dao and be protected from all disasters."
The crowd was excited.
Nezha squatted on the top of the mountain and watched the fanatical people below rushing to the direction of Dharma Platform. He didn't care if someone was stepped down, he got up and continued to rush forward.
"Master, why are these people so easy to deceive?"
"It's not all a lie." Gu Changqing narrowed his eyes, "Those four pillars are releasing a kind of Mental Resonance Wave, which can amplify the herd mentality and religious fanaticism of the crowd. Originally, I only believed in three points, but after being pushed by that wave, it became ten points."
"Mental control?"
"Yes."
Nezha and Fire-Tipped Spear spun around in the palm of my hand.
"Then what are you waiting for? Just go down and smash it and it will be over."
"Wait until he shows up."
Nezha was stunned for a moment.
"Who?"
Gu Changqing didn't answer. His eyes moved down from the top of Dharma Platform and landed on an inconspicuous corner on the third floor of Dharma Platform.
There was a man standing in that corner, not wearing a white robe, but a gray cloak, with his hood pulled down very low, only exposing his chin and a section of his pale neck.
The figure under the cloak is thin, not tall, and looks like a woman in body shape.
"She's here." Gu Changqing said.
Nezha followed him with his eyes and stared at the gray cloak for a few seconds.
"That's Veiled Woman?"
"System."
"Ding, the target mental frequency matches Chip and the remaining writer Spiritual Imprint on the fragment: 99.3%."
On Dharma Platform, the fake Gu Changqing is still reciting his same words.
"From now on, all those who dedicate their soul mark to Dharma Platform are my direct disciples and can enter Origin Temple to practice the supreme Great Dao."
The crowd's enthusiasm reached its peak.
The first batch of believers walked up to the bottom of Dharma Platform and pressed their hands on the black pillars. The Runes on the surface of the pillars lit up, and wisps of white silk threads visible to the naked eye were pulled out from the believers' eyebrows and followed the lines on the pillars to converge on the top of the platform.
Soul mark.
One by one they were taken away.
Nezha Looking at the picture of those white silk threads being pulled out from the believers' heads, Fire-Tipped Spear clenched tightly, making a clicking sound with his knuckles.
"Master, can I return this thing after it is taken away?"
"You can do it in time."
"What does it mean to be in time?"
"There is a buffer period of half Shichen after the soul imprint leaves the body. If it exceeds half Shichen, it will be permanently separated."
Nezha glanced at Dharma Platform's flow of people on the ground floor.
"At this speed, half a Shichen can take away the marks of tens of thousands of people."
"That's why I said I'm waiting for him to show up, not just to watch a show."
Gu Changqing stretched out his right hand from Illusion Spell, with his fingers spread wide.
There was nothing in the palm of my hand, but Nezha felt it.
Something invisible was gathering in the air, as if the texture of the void itself was grabbed by some force and folded towards Gu Changqing's palm.
It's not Immortal Power, it's not Magic Power, it's not system energy, it's something a level higher than these.
Law.
Time Law.
Nezha's breath caught for a beat, because he found that the cracks on the surface of the stone under his feet no longer spread, the grass blades blown by the wind stopped motionless in mid-air, and the clouds floating in the distance condensed in the sky like paintings.
On Dharma Platform, the believer's half-raised arms stop in front of his chest.
The man in white robe opened his mouth, and his chanting sound fell silent.
The holographic projection light on the three-hundred-foot-tall Golden Seated Statue condensed at the brightest moment, neither spreading nor fading.
Four hundred and seventy million people stood still at the same time.
The whole Clear Firmament Plains, the whole Wangyue Star, the whole Heavenly Net Star Domain.
Time stopped.
Gu Changqing removed Illusion Spell, and the face exposed under the dusty robe was exactly the same as the 300-foot-long seated statue on Dharma Platform.
It's just that this face doesn't have the majesty that he deliberately put on, and his expression is very bland, like walking into the vegetable market to pick cabbage.
He took a step from the top of the mountain.
A crack opened in the void, and what came out of the crack was not light, but something that no one could look at directly.
Gu Changqing passed through the gap and appeared directly above Dharma Platform in the next moment.
White clothes.
I don't know when I changed it, but the gray robe is gone, and I stand in white clothes above the head of the 300-foot-long seated statue, with the hem of the clothes motionless in the still wind.
Dharma Platform The man in the gray cloak on the third floor is the only one who has not been frozen in time.
Under her hood, a pair of eyes were looking up.
The eye color is wrong.
It's not any color that humans should have, it's a flowing silvery gray, and there's something spinning in the pupils, like tiny, tiny Star Map spinning.
Gu Changqing lowered his head and met those eyes.
"Are you the one who sent Chip to people?"
The lips under the hood moved.
The voice came from the cloak, very softly, with an accent that should not belong to this world.
"You came three days earlier than I expected, Mr. Gu."