"Cult Leader, do you know about Nightmare Disease?"
"Nightmare Disease?"
Yang Yi's expression turned a little strange.
"Yes. It's a fairly common illness in this world, mostly found in parts of the Sea of Miracles that get less than six hours of light, or among sailors at sea.
"It might be caused by prolonged exposure to darkness, mental stress, or something else.
"In any case, patients have frequent nightmares, leaving them listless and suffering from chronic insomnia. Over time, they can even weaken and die. They can only ease it with strong liquor, cigarettes, or even Psychotropic Drugs. There's no reliable treatment.
"But the Great Blasphemer Statue can cure this illness, so..."
Even without Ma Dabao saying the rest, Yang Yi could guess what had happened.
The Great Blasphemer Statue's function must have been discovered, opening up a market. Then their believers had increased as well, because this god statue really worked: it could cure Nightmare Disease.
But in return, the Great Blasphemer Statue grew increasingly twisted during treatment, becoming ugly and physically repulsive, and could even cause more terrifying nightmares instead.
At that point, members of the One-Eye Cult would declare that the Great Blasphemer Statue had absorbed the evil spirits inside the patient with Nightmare Disease and needed to be collected for purification. They also offered replacements at half price.
That had opened the market up completely.
The One-Eye Cult had taken the opportunity to raise its membership fee severalfold, to 10,000 Conch Coins per year.
Anyone wanting additional Great Blasphemer Statues also had to upgrade to a High-Ranking Believer, paying a membership fee of one million Conch Coins per year. They could then buy unlimited Great Blasphemer Statues at the "cost price" of 10,000 Conch Coins each.
It was essentially a roundabout way of recruiting distributors.
Many