Yuan Ming's brow furrowed, and he quickly selected another believer to start searching elsewhere.

After tossing and turning for most of the night, Yuan Ming felt his Divine Sense deplete, leaving him somewhat fatigued. He had inspected more than a dozen underground cities without finding any trace of Xu Che.

Xu Che seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Yuan Ming put away the Stealing Heaven Tripod and massaged his somewhat swollen brow, almost certain that something must have gone wrong with Xu Che.

Given the extent of his search, unless the other party had fallen, there was no way he couldn't find him.

But Xu Che was a very cautious person and mostly active within the city, so the possibility of an accidental demise was slim.

The key issue was the current problem with the Desire Power, and the sudden loss of contact with Xu Che couldn't possibly be a coincidence.

The believers' Desire Power was crucial for his Soul Cultivation; naturally, it couldn't be taken lightly. After a series of fluctuating expressions, Yuan Ming no longer hesitated, stood up, and left Linyuan City immediately.

...

Half a month later.

At dusk, at the entrance of an underground city some five hundred miles away from Wuyun City, Wusu City, a tall figure wearing a cone-shaped bamboo hat passed through the worn and low city gate and entered the town.

The small border city located in the desert boasted nothing of prosperity. Few houses in the city were built with bricks, most were low dwellings constructed from irregular stones.

The windows of the houses were tiny, giving the appearance of a series of misplaced watchtowers and bunkers.

Few shops lined the streets, and there was no sight of open-air vendors, even the passersby were in a hurry, their heads wrapped in fabric.

No reason other than the ravaging Black Wind, which carried sand and dust everywhere, filling the air with a dry, earthy stench.

Yuan Ming adjusted the cone-shaped bamboo hat on his head and continued along the street, slowly walking towards the location he had discovered during a patrol the previous day.

Before long, he arrived at a small courtyard in a back alley.

As Yuan Ming knocked on the gate, a thread of his consciousness also entered the courtyard.

Immediately after, he heard something being knocked over, followed by a series of hurried footsteps.

With a "creaking" sound, the yellow wooden door of the courtyard opened, and a rough face full of stubble peered out. The wrinkles and scars on his face merged together, resulting in an expression of both panic and suspicion.

"Hu Ji, how have you been recently?" Yuan Ming removed the bamboo hat from his head, revealing his face upon seeing this.

The middle-aged man with the rough face saw Yuan Ming and his wrinkles instantly smoothed out. The suspicious look disappeared, leaving only panic and joy. He hastily turned and knelt on the ground.

"Divine..."

Hu Ji immediately cried out and then crawled over to Yuan Ming's feet, kissing his boots.

"What are you doing?" Yuan Ming was startled and quickly withdrew his foot.

At that moment, he saw a weak woman walking out from the bunker-like house behind him, apparently Hu Ji's wife. Her high cheekbones were flushed as she tidied her slightly disheveled clothing and walked briskly towards them.

Although the woman looked feeble, she was evidently not sick. She, too, like Hu Ji, cried out "Divine..." and rushed to Yuan Ming's feet, kneeling to kiss his boots.

Yuan Ming couldn't bear it any longer and hastily asked them to stand up, entering the courtyard.

The couple followed behind Yuan Ming, looking awkward and anxious, their eyes filled with evident joy and fear.

Yuan Ming noticed this, but his mind was filled with doubts. He had never instructed Xu Che to behave in such a manner, nor had he ever commanded that believers show such extreme reverence towards himself, and Xu Che had never mentioned such a thing.

Yuan Ming wondered why it had come to this.

Yuan Ming sat down on a stone bench in the courtyard and looked at the couple as he asked, "Have there been any strange events happening around you recently, or have you encountered any strange people?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Ji's eyes flickered with astonishment. He exchanged glances with his wife, and both shook their heads.

"Since moving to Wusu City, I have been busy preaching. Occasionally, I dispense alms with the money and grain sent by the Divine Envoy, and I haven't encountered any strange events," Hu Ji explained hastily, thinking Yuan Ming was testing his preaching efforts.

"Divine Envoy?" Yuan Ming asked with confusion.

"It's Mr. Xu Che. He said commoners won't rise early if it's not for profit; they need to be enticed with benefits, then inspired by the deeds of the Nether Moon God, taught the rituals of the Moon God Sect, shown the miracles of the Sect, so they can achieve spiritual liberation and devoutly worship the True God," explained Hu Ji, noticing Yuan Ming's expression and speaking with flustered fear.

"When was the last time he came?" Yuan Ming asked with a frown.

"About a month and a half ago, after the Divine Envoy brought money, grain, and a new Divine Statue, he hasn't visited here since," said Hu Ji.

Only then did Yuan Ming remember that, being caught up in cultivation and various matters, and because he trusted Xu Che, he indeed hadn't initiated contact with Xu Che for a long time.

Just then, Yuan Ming suddenly heard a barrage of disordered footsteps approaching from outside the courtyard, reaching all the way to its perimeter.

Shortly after, the sound of knocking on the wooden door arose.

Hu Ji glanced toward the doorway, not in a hurry to open the door, but rather, with a hint of excitement, he explained to Yuan Ming, "These are all your followers, they've come here to pray together. Are you going to bestow your blessings and let them see the true form of the divine?"

"You go forth to welcome them; I will observe from the side. Do not mention my presence," Yuan Ming said in a grave voice.

"Yes, yes... It is already a great blessing for them to be in your presence," Hu Ji hastily agreed and turned to open the door.

As the wooden door swung open, a noisy crowd entered, and in no time, nearly a hundred people had gathered, filling the already small courtyard to the brim.

The throng bustled with life and excitement, most of whom brought their families, wholeheartedly devoted to the Nether Moon God.

Among them were quite a few pregnant women, supporting each other, presenting a very harmonious and friendly scene.

Initially worried, Hu Ji, upon noticing that everyone seemed completely oblivious to Yuan Ming seated on the stone bench in front, sighed in his heart, thinking "Truly divine," and decided not to say anything further.

Those squeezed into the courtyard were excitedly sharing with each other the changes they had experienced since following the "Nether Moon God" and the miracles they believed they had witnessed.

Some said their health had markedly improved, some claimed their illnesses had completely healed, some boasted they could travel in the desert for three days without tiring, and some mentioned they could now carry a large basin full of water. There were even those who claimed that, all of a sudden, their wife had given birth to twin sons...

The more Yuan Ming heard, the more he frowned. Faith in him offered protection and a certain degree of enhanced health and evil expulsion, but when had it ever ensured offspring?

With regard to the so-called miracles, Yuan Ming found them even more absurd.

One person said they had dreamt of a large python entering their body, after which they became pregnant; another saw a golden snake in the desert, and still, another claimed to have seen an illusion of the Nether Moon God during prayer...

Some people even linked witnessing the birth of wolf cubs during a journey to the miracles of the Nether Moon God.

""How has Xu Che been preaching, and what exactly has he been preaching?"" Yuan Ming pondered with a frown.

Thinking Yuan Ming was displeased by some follower's random outbursts potentially offending the divine, Hu Ji hastily intervened.

The crowd, having great respect for their local leader, quickly fell silent.

Hu Ji bowed slightly towards Yuan Ming, then turned and went inside. Shortly after, he returned carrying an object shrouded in red cloth, which he reverently placed on the stone table beside Yuan Ming.

From its outline, Yuan Ming immediately knew it was his own "Nether Moon God Statue."

Seeing the divine statue brought out, the atmosphere in the courtyard became even more solemn; all present knelt to the ground in unison.

His wife also carried out one high-footed dish after another from inside the house, each filled with fruit offerings like apples and fragrant pears, which she placed in front of the divine statue.

At this moment, Hu Ji looked up at the sky.

Above them, a hazy crescent moon had begun to show. He then addressed the crowd, shouting, "The Ming Yue has appeared; begin your prayers."

With that said, he, like the others, knelt down to the ground.

All the people prostrated themselves, murmuring prayers, and began to pray earnestly.

Watching their devoutness, Yuan Ming momentarily felt an increased sense of solemnity.

As they prayed, Yuan Ming noticed faint light spots beginning to appear above these people, scattering over their heads like a myriad of fireflies, soon gathering toward the statue on the table.

All the light spots were absorbed by the divine statue, and there crystallized strands of Desire Power closely related to Yuan Ming.

At the same time, in other parts of this small city, a similar luminescence emerged and converged toward this location.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming took out the Stealing Heaven Tripod and initiated the Moonlight Technique Cultivation Technique in an attempt to draw in these Desire Powers.

The next instant, a ray of white light surged up from the divine statue and fell directly into the Stealing Heaven Tripod in Yuan Ming's hand.

Yuan Ming's pupils constricted, and he immediately stopped the circulation of the Cultivation Technique.

He distinctly saw that within the light, threads of dark red glimmers were mixed in, not purely white.

As he interrupted his casting, the light that was returning to the divine statue dissipated in part, drifting over the worshippers like a gentle breeze, instantly bringing them relief and inadvertently being perceived as another divine sign.

However, Yuan Ming at this moment had no interest in these matters. He lifted the red cloth covering the Nether Moon God Statue and examined it carefully.

At first glance, he detected no anomalies, as the style of the statue was not appreciably different from the one he had provided to Xu Che, and the carvings seemed even more meticulous and lifelike.

But as he looked more closely, Yuan Ming noticed that the statue's hands now held an intricately carved black disc that was not there before.

The disc appeared to be made of stone or jade, slightly translucent, with complex and strange patterns engraved upon it, and at its center lay a prominent blood-colored crescent.

The craftsmanship of the black disc was clearly of a higher level than that of the divine statue, and placing them together showed a stark and obvious disharmony, at a glance suggesting they were not parts of the same whole.

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