204: The Mystery of the Deans Empire's Fall

A trace of fear flashed through Aide's cloudy eyes, his body trembling incessantly. "Yes! Every so often, Father Camille would pick a few of the most devout villagers from the village under the guise of purifying their sins and take them into that room, the one no one was allowed to approach."

His voice was hoarse and filled with regret. "Those who were chosen... never came out again. We... we fools all thought before that they had been summoned by the gods and had gone to heaven. Now that I think about it, they were likely..."

The old village chief could not continue, cloudy tears rolling down the wrinkles on his face.

Mo Yan's gaze turned cold.

The so-called God Forsaken Village was nothing more than a human ranch established by the Light Church.

They used slow-acting poison and mental control to keep these villagers penned up, partly to cultivate the ghoul nest underground and create an undead army.

On the other hand, it was to periodically harvest some villagers for sacrifice.

The sacrifice was likely to collect Souls to provide for some more powerful existence.

What a vicious and sinister plan.

"Where is that room?"

"It's right... right in the largest, cleanest stone house in front." Aide pointed in one direction with a trembling finger.

Mo Yan nodded and signaled to Bai Lingyue.

Bai Lingyue understood and arranged for the Soldiers to stand guard outside the village, while simultaneously soothing and gathering the shaken villagers.

Mo Yan then took Gun Gun and walked toward that stone house.

The stone house looked unremarkable from the outside, just much sturdier than the surrounding thatched huts.

A huge brass lock hung on the door, emitting a faint energy fluctuation; it was clearly imbued with some kind of defensive Spell.

Gun Gun leaned in and sniffed the brass lock, then recoiled two steps in disgust.

It didn't sense delicious metal, but rather the stench of blood and decay that it instinctively loathed.

This lock was an impassable barrier for ordinary villagers, but in front of Mo Yan, it was no different from paper.

He permeated it with his spiritual power, and after a moment.

With a soft "click," the brass lock fell off.

He pushed open the heavy stone door, revealing a stench mixed with blood and decay.

Gun Gun wrinkled its nose and leaned against Mo Yan's back in dissatisfaction.

The scene inside the room confirmed all of Mo Yan's speculations.

This was not a priest's residence at all, but an evil sacrificial chamber.

In the center of the room, an altar was built from black stones, covered with twisted and eerie runes.

The surface of the altar had turned dark red, a color formed after being repeatedly soaked in countless amounts of blood.

On the floor around the altar were several blood grooves that had not yet dried, leading to several clay pots in the corner.

Mo Yan stepped forward and scanned one of the clay pots with Value Insight.

【Inferior Soul Container】 Quality: Common Type: Item Description: Manufactured by the Light Church, used to store broken Souls stripped away during sacrificial rituals. Value Assessment: Low

Sure enough.

His gaze fell upon the altar.

【Fallen Sacrificial Altar】 Quality: Rare Type: Special Building Description: One of the nodes used by the Light Church to harvest Souls. All Souls and life force sacrificed through this altar will be continuously transferred to the main altar. Value Assessment: High

"One of the nodes... the main altar..." Mo Yan softly recited these two keywords.

This confirmed his conjecture.

This village was nothing more than an inconspicuous nutrient supply point in the undead's massive plan.

"My lord, the Formation on this is very vicious." Bai Lingyue had arrived at his side at some point, her amber pupils flashing with ice-blue radiance; it was her using spiritual power to analyze the structure of the altar.

"It not only strips away Souls but also drains every shred of life essence from the flesh and blood, not even sparing the bone marrow. The caster is filled with extreme hatred and jealousy toward life."

She extended her slender fingers, tracing the trajectory of a rune in the air: "The technique is quite exquisite, but unfortunately, they took the wrong path. If they had applied this effort to the Righteous Path, they might have even become a generation's Grandmaster of Formations."

Gun Gun appeared very uneasy; it hugged its bamboo, bared its teeth toward the altar, and emitted a "woo-woo" warning sound from its throat.

The dense aura of death on it made it feel uncomfortable.

"Bad guy!"

Seeing that there were no other important items, Mo Yan did not linger. With a thought, he collected everything in the room, including that evil altar, into his Talent Space, leaving nothing behind.

The villagers outside had already come to their senses.

They spontaneously began to act, dragging the scattered remains of the ghouls to an open space in the village, piling them into a small hill, preparing to burn them with fire to purify this land.

"Stop."

Mo Yan's calm voice came.

The villagers' movements stalled; they all stopped and looked at him with awe.

"I have a use for these corpses."

He walked to the pile of foul-smelling corpses, ignoring the pungent odor.

【Ghoul Corpse (Tier 1, LV2)】 Basic Materials: Rotten flesh, bone fragments. Ordinary Materials: Tier 1 Soul fragments, may contain undead crystal fragments inside (requires Dismantler). Overall Value: Medium

"Soul fragments, one of the Materials for summoning the Array Star Official, finally have a lead."

Mo Yan thought to himself.

Now, he just needed the essence of exotic beast to be able to use the Military Talisman!

With a thought, he collected all the ghoul corpses, which were like a small hill in front of him, into his Talent Space.

When that foul-smelling mountain of corpses disappeared into thin air in front of Mo Yan, the villagers did not exclaim in surprise again.

They just silently and more devoutly knelt down, burying their heads deep into the soil.

In their hearts, any great power displayed by this lord was a matter of course; this was what a true god should look like.

It was at this moment that a familiar voice sounded in Mo Yan's mind.

【Notification: You have successfully stockpiled Tier 1 exotic beast corpses - Ghoul x100, the Illustrated Handbook has been lit up, activating Level 8 automatic production!】

【Tier 1 exotic beast corpse (Ghoul): +3 every 50 minutes】

Finally, his gaze fell on Camus's corpse.

【Semi-humanoid Ghoul Corpse (Tier 1, LV3)】 Basic Materials: Mutated bones, polluted flesh and blood. Overall Value: Low

Sure enough, just a small fry, with negligible value for recycling.

Monsters transformed through evil rituals had their potential long since drained, far inferior to those naturally generated undead.

After dealing with these trivial matters, just as Mo Yan was preparing to plan his next move, the old village chief Aide took the initiative to approach.

"God... Lord Mo Yan!" Aide shuddered, quickly bowing, his posture very low. "I... Aide, dare to represent the whole village to offer you our most sincere loyalty!"

"We are useless people, with nothing to repay your kindness."

"But... we still hold some secrets about the Diens Empire, which our ancestors traded their lives for... perhaps they will be useful to you, my lord."

Mo Yan raised an eyebrow; this was an unexpected surprise.

He looked at Aide and asked: "Oh? Tell me, why did the Diens Empire fall?"

This question caused a bone-deep sorrow to emerge in Aide's cloudy eyes.

He sighed, as if uncovering a long-sealed, bloody scar.

"My lord, that is all old news from hundreds of years ago."

"According to the sporadic records passed down by our ancestors, the Diens Empire at that time was the most prosperous kingdom on this continent. The cities were filled with towering spires, the farmland was bountiful, the people were wealthy, and the army was powerful."

Aide's voice carried an innate yearning and pride.