18: Planning

Just as Xiang Yan's words of praise fell, a humble response came back: "It is my honor to serve my Lord." A man was kneeling on the ground; this man was the Nightmare Immortal Cult Believer from the barbecue stall earlier, and he was indeed Jonnison.

He wore a formal suit, his slicked-back hair was meticulous, and his gold-rimmed glasses reflected the dim light of the room, making him look like a completely different person from the drunkard at the barbecue stall.

Xiang Yan sat down in a chair of his own accord, casually picked up an apple from the table, tossed it, and asked nonchalantly, "What is the current situation with the Nightmare Immortal Cult?"

Jonnison reported respectfully, "Reporting to my Lord, over these thousand years, we have always followed your teachings to integrate into this society with a positive and good image. By paving the way with beauty and money, supplemented by your miracles, we have finally made the government's High-ranking Officials relent. We now have the qualifications to sit at the table."

He paused, took a document from his coat, and presented it with both hands. "This contains information on all the descended Believers and the next missionary plan. Please have a look, my Lord."

Xiang Yan took the document and flipped through it casually. He didn't look closely at the data but asked with interest, "Whose idea was it to print several sexy ladies on the cards?"

Jonnison pushed up his glasses, a hint of embarrassment flashing across his serious face. "Uh... this... it was Bellaka. Based on local customs and combined with some... popular marketing methods on the market, she made... some minor adjustments..."

"Please forgive us; this was a necessary act for promotion. I will go back immediately and have Bellaka remove these things."

"There's no need. No need to worry about such small matters."

Xiang Yan stood up, walked to the window, looked at the flickering neon lights in the distance, and whispered, "Time really flies..."

Xiang Yan's thoughts seemed to return to those years. Back then, he had pondered over the five paths for a long time before finally choosing the fifth one. The ability rating he eventually received was only a 2. Fortunately, his 'Main Universe' sugar daddy at least told him how to level up this ability. Then, while testing the ability, he accidentally discovered that it could link with certain traits of the Evil Sword Immortal to perform some tricks.

For example, from the negative emotions he devoured, he could pick out those belonging to a specific person, strip them away completely, and inject them into another person's body. Then, by using his ultra-budget version of Life Creation for adjustments, he could make that person achieve Rebirth in the other person's body. It could be called a low-budget version of the Impure World Reincarnation.

After experimenting with his abilities, Xiang Yan began to think about how to flee. After all, he was definitely on the Omir Galaxy Federation's blacklist this time.

According to what the Legacy memories said, there must be things at the supernova level within a Level 4 civilization. As for his current self, let alone that level, he would have to run even if an Advanced Galaxy Traveler showed up, not to mention he had a 'loss of sanity' buff on him at all times.

Thus, the all-powerful Legacy memories came online again. By searching the development history of the Atherans, he discovered that the Atherans of that time had long since become a Level 1 civilization and had begun moving toward Level 2, even developing to the point of leaving their planetary system to colonize other planets. It was while colonizing another planet with a primitive civilization that they provoked an Advanced civilization. There was no need to say more about what happened next.

In short, once Xiang Yan obtained the coordinates of that planet, he began heading toward it. This took him about ten thousand years. During this time, he completely sorted through everything in the Legacy memories and even came up with several ways to deal with the hidden dangers in his body. Everything was just waiting to be implemented upon reaching his destination.

However, a small accident occurred after he arrived because this primitive civilization had already become a bona fide Level 1 civilization. It took some effort before Xiang Yan finally succeeded in sneaking in.

After reaching his destination, Xiang Yan began his Impure World Reincarnation. This process actually gave him a surprise: the Believers, who were originally all incredibly crazed, actually returned to normal after this Rebirth while still retaining their devout faith. Or rather, the fanaticism was hidden deep within their Souls, only to erupt when needed.

Then Xiang Yan began to do ideological work for his Believers, telling them to rebuild the Nightmare Immortal Cult, but not to make it as terrifying as it was on the Exile Star. They were to be more normal, to spread truth, goodness, and beauty, and to integrate naturally into this planet. He then designated Kleid to continue serving as the Pope, letting the others develop freely.

He completely let go of management himself and tried to find a way to resolve his hidden dangers. He carefully recalled the three times he had been clear-headed.

The first time was when Cassius was captured, he felt his state of mind reach Perfection; the second time was when he massacred the Believers and they provided him with positive emotions; and the third time was during his life sublimation.

The third time was not considered. As for the Believers providing positive emotions, he had already told them to do things involving truth, goodness, and beauty. Plus, they had returned to normal—mostly. That shouldn't be a problem either.

That left his own state of mind. There was no need to elaborate further; after all, what else could one do to solve their state of mind issues? It had to be happiness!

So, after whoring around—oh, no, one should say drifting around—for nearly 200 years until he lost touch, Xiang Yan finally contacted his Believers again.

In fact, it wasn't that Xiang Yan himself wanted to contact the Believers, but rather that some Believers were about to return to his embrace, so they contacted him.

To avoid trouble, Xiang Yan directly gave every Believer a Possession ability and then lost touch again for nearly 500 years. He finally temporarily settled his hidden danger, turning it into a type of battle persona for himself, and while it was sleeping, he locked it in a small dark room. As long as he didn't go looking for trouble, it wouldn't even think about waking up.

In the 800th year of being out of touch, Xiang Yan suddenly felt he had become too depraved. After all, recalling the memories of these past centuries, he couldn't remember anything except for 'big, white, and long.'

Thus, reflecting on his sore lessons, Xiang Yan decided to do some actual work. Although he was technically the boss of a potential terrorist organization, this didn't stop him from contributing to other careers. Thus, there was Xiang Yan the barbecue seller.

Thinking up to this point, Xiang Yan shook his head. "How is the preparation for the 'Shadow Project' going?"

"Reporting to my Lord!" Jonnison immediately stood up straight and answered respectfully, "Everything is ready and can be started at any time."

"Very good." Xiang Yan nodded and was about to say more when he saw Jonnison's expression turn a bit strange, as if he were hesitating to speak.

"What is it?" Xiang Yan keenly sensed his abnormality.

Jonnison pushed up his glasses and hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well... regarding the candidates, a small... problem has arisen. I felt I needed to report it to you."

Xiang Yan frowned slightly. "Weren't the candidates decided by Kleid? What's the problem?"

Jonnison took a deep breath and said, bracing himself, "Lord Kleid is letting his old man, which is Nelson, be that Shadow."

Xiang Yan was stunned; he suspected he had misheard.

After a long while, he finally found his voice, his tone carrying a hint of disbelief: "What did you say? This suicide mission, he's letting his old man go? What did Nelson do that his 'good son' has to treat him like this?"

'Nelson, does your son know how filial he is? If there's a problem, he really sends you in.'

Xiang Yan rubbed his brow and asked Jonnison, "Do you have any idea why Kleid sent his old man?"

Jonnison wiped away the non-existent sweat on his forehead and explained cautiously, "Maybe... probably... perhaps it's because Sennier found Lord Kleid his 108th Stepmother."

A sarcastic retort got stuck in Xiang Yan's throat, but he finally took a deep breath and suppressed it.

"Forget it. Go tell Kleid to call his old man back. Reconsider the candidate for the 'Shadow Project.' After all, his father didn't intentionally find him that many Stepmothers."

"Yes, Lord nightmare immortal." Jonnison replied quickly, as if he had been granted a great pardon.

Xiang Yan waved his hand, signaling that he could leave.

"Wait," Xiang Yan suddenly called out to Jonnison just as he was about to reach the door. "Also, tell Kleid to continue acting according to the original purpose. No need to rush."

"Yes, my Lord." After saying that, Jonnison quickly left the room.