139: Go to the Eastern Regions and spread my teachings.

When Zhou Yan entered the main city again, he felt another urge to go to the customer service interface and curse the developers.

But as soon as he thought of that AI-like assistant, his blood pressure would spike, and the more he cursed, the angrier he might get.

So, for his mental and physical health, he ultimately abandoned this plan.

The main city before him was indeed extraordinarily magnificent, possessing a cultivation-version cyberpunk Concept, truly breathtaking.

But this had nothing to do with the System; it was entirely the result of Zhou Yan's own handiwork.

Recalling when he first activated the main city function, Zhou Yan still held a sliver of expectation.

He imagined the System would directly bestow a fully functional immortal city, complete with markets, residences, and various functional buildings.

However, upon entering, he discovered that it was almost identical to the space within his body, empty and desolate.

If there was a difference, it was the absence of Golden Core and Spiritual Root, and the overall space was much dimmer, like an undeveloped primitive space.

It wasn't until the System prompt appeared that Zhou Yan understood this main city function had been transformed into a "Grand Homestead" mode, requiring him to build it manually.

Fortunately, he could scan real-world maps for presets, which was quite convenient.

After all, Zhou Yan had already unlocked the maps of Qingxu Grotto-Heaven and Jiangzhou, and he knew both areas like the back of his hand.

Zhou Yan spent three full days converting these maps into three-dimensional models, adjusting them bit by bit in the virtual interface.

He preserved the immortal charm of Qingxu Grotto-Heaven, incorporated the urban layout of Jiangzhou City, and added many of his own creative touches.

After a series of manual adjustments and modifications, the city before him was finally built.

But what was frustrating was that the System only provided building permissions and Materials, without even equipping a single NPC.

The method to acquire NPCs was to have him catch them himself in the Great World.

Zhou Yan, who was developing smoothly in the Northern Territory, was truly unwilling to risk capturing NPCs.

He remembered being so angry that he paced back and forth in front of the System interface and cursed the System for half an hour. Only then did he put aside the main city and no longer bother with it.

However, Mo Ran's appearance gave him new inspiration; he could completely fabricate a false identity and trick people into willingly entering the main city.

After obtaining Chen Huai's silhouette, Zhou Yan glimpsed a portion of his memories.

This process was quite peculiar, like flipping through a thick book, except the content of the book was a person's entire life.

As long as it wasn't special memories like Spells or skills, the cost and difficulty of acquiring them were not high.

After activating the silhouette transformation, aside from differences in strength, Zhou Yan was almost identical to Chen Huai; even the subconscious habit of stroking his beard when speaking was mimicked vividly.

So, Zhou Yan performed the Clear Wind Clone Spell, manifesting an Incarnation.

He had the Incarnation use time like a shuttle to transform into Chen Huai's appearance, collaborating with him to put on a show.

Through superb acting, he successfully tricked Mo Ran into the so-called "Divine Kingdom," which in reality was just recruiting Mo Ran as an NPC.

The entire process was seamless, with even Mo Ran's most subtle emotional changes accounted for in his calculations.

Similar to the family system, entering the main city allows for the generation of corresponding NPCs.

Zhou Yan set the newly generated NPC as a skill instructor so that he could learn curse-related skills faster.

As for Mo Ran, he claimed this was his "divine office Incarnation" or "incense Incarnation," and after Karma Perfection, he could return to his divine office and live peacefully in the Divine Kingdom.

He had repeatedly refined this explanation, ensuring there were no loopholes.

Perhaps Zhou Yan's acting was too realistic, or perhaps the series of mental blows had caused Mo Ran to lose his judgment, but he believed it implicitly, even developing fanatical faith.

And so, this main city welcomed its first NPC.

Originally, Zhou Yan had considered killing him to silence him and taking the body directly.

This thought lingered in his mind for a long time, as it was the most secure approach.

But after reading Chen Huai's memories, he changed his mind.

The fate of this Master and Disciple was truly arduous; to say they were bad, they weren't entirely bad, but to say they were good, they weren't purely good either.

Chen Huai's entire life wavered between good and evil, having performed righteous acts of assistance and committed unforgivable sins.

And Mo Ran was even more so; despite possessing excellent Cultivation talent, he willingly drifted with his Master.

After seeing these memories, Zhou Yan abandoned the idea of silencing them.

Therefore, he specifically orchestrated this play, placing Chen Huai's remains here.

This wasn't a complete deception, as Zhou Yan did indeed speak the words Chen Huai wished to say to Mo Ran before his death, thus fulfilling his last wish.

By letting Mo Ran go and providing a resting place for his Master, Zhou Yan felt he had done his utmost. Standing before Chen Huai's tomb, refreshing the silhouette progress, he even vaguely felt he had done a good deed.

Of course, necessary restrictive measures were still indispensable.

Although he let Mo Ran go, to prevent him from awakening and seeking revenge in the future, Zhou Yan still made two preparations.

First, he enlisted him as a Family member to keep track of his movements at all times.

Second, he set him as an NPC, claiming it was a divine office. This was partly to learn curse techniques and partly to give him something to do.

Since they originally intended to go to the Eastern Domain, Zhou Yan simply went with the flow and had Mo Ran spread the so-called prestige of the Heavenly Venerate in the Eastern Domain.

Anyway, that place was full of demonic sects and various mixed cults, so adding some deity worship shouldn't seem out of place.

He pondered this decision for a long time, ultimately concluding that the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

During this time, Zhou Yan consulted ancient texts about the Four Regions and learned that the current situation in the Eastern Domain had a cyberpunk style.

It was chaotic and technologically advanced; even Mortals possessed considerable knowledge and strength.

But at the same time, social stratification was severe there; as long as one had strength or wealth, they could gain a high status.

If Mo Ran were to go merely as a wealthy gentleman, he could naturally live a stable life.

But if he were to preach, he would inevitably have to toil. However, Zhou Yan thought, this could be considered the price he had to pay for the assassination.

Upon entering the main city, Zhou Yan quickly located Mo Ran.

He was staring blankly at the NPC identical to himself, his eyes filled with both confusion and a hint of curiosity.

Speaking of which, was this a form of narcissism? Zhou Yan observed from the shadows for a moment before slowly revealing himself.

Seeing Zhou Yan suddenly appear, Mo Ran excitedly tried to kneel, but Zhou Yan supported him with a gust of Clear Wind.

"No need for formalities."

Zhou Yan deliberately made his voice sound somewhat ethereal, complementing the atmosphere of this Divine Kingdom.

"It seems you have dealt with your affairs; now it is time to embark on a journey to repay your sins."

"As your Master wished, he hoped you would go to the Eastern Domain, so go there. You don't need to do anything specific, just perform good deeds and help those in need."

These two sentences were the key information; the rest was Zhou Yan imitating the rhetoric of priests and charlatans, piling on flowery and empty words.

He quoted extensively, sometimes citing proverbs from ancient texts, sometimes telling fables, eloquently expounding the Heavenly Venerate's doctrines, and occasionally adding some of his own ideas, promoting some 'red spirit'.

But these words stunned the young man before him; Mo Ran's eyes gleamed with piety, almost turning into a fanatic on the spot.

Zhou Yan noticed that when he said, "Your Master's greatest wish was to see you walk the righteous path," Mo Ran's eyes visibly reddened.

Satisfied with the confirmation of his state, Zhou Yan sent him off under the cover of night.

Watching Mo Ran's determined back, Zhou Yan couldn't help but wonder how far this young man would grow in the future.

In the night, Mo Ran's figure quickly disappeared into the wilderness, but Zhou Yan could still perceive his location through the System.

He had checked Mo Ran's Spiritual Root; it was a Water Single Spiritual Root. Such talent was enough to enter the Three Sects and become an Inner Sect Disciple.

Yet, he willingly drifted with a Nascent Soul Cultivator who wasn't very bright and even had principles about being evil, showing that his nature was not bad and he valued loyalty and righteousness.

Such a person, if guided properly, might truly achieve great things.

Furthermore, now that Mo Ran held the dual identity of NPC and Family member, Zhou Yan could grant him entry into the "Divine Kingdom" to provide assistance when he applied.

This looked like a protagonist template; hopefully, he could bring some surprises in the future.

Zhou Yan even began to imagine that if Mo Ran could truly open up the situation in the Eastern Domain, perhaps this opportunity could be used to actually build the game's main city.

But for now, there were more important matters to attend to.

Zhou Yan returned to Jiangzhou and began to complete the final part of The Great Confession.

Next, he just had to await tomorrow's judgment and the results of Wang Yao and the others' investigation.

Zhou Yan walked to the window, gazing at the distant lights of the government office, silently considering all possibilities in his heart.

He hoped they could find clues related to the side quest.

Otherwise, he would truly have to find someone skilled in Soul Searching to secretly investigate.

Moonlight spilled into the courtyard, adding a touch of chill to this sleepless night.