339: A spiraling, one-eyed gaze peers into consciousness, seeking blessings in exchange for faith.

"Everyone, the execution of the traitors by fire has been fully enjoyed."

"It is time for us to go down and begin tonight's gathering."

Zhu Gu Di turned back and looked at the high-ranking members of the cult with a smile.

Some of these people were Incense Masters, some were military officers, some were wealthy merchants, and others were envoys from the Four Seas City headquarters.

Their statuses varied, but all were influential figures with money and power.

Hearing this, the dozen or so heavyweight figures stood up one after another and walked downstairs, chatting and laughing.

Zhu Gu Di turned his head to look at Zhou Qingfeng, patted Zhou Qingfeng's shoulder, and said with a smile, "Let's go, Mr. Jiang. Experience the gathering of our Vision Cult members and listen to our teachings. Who knows, you might be deeply moved by the Holy Eye and be willing to join us?"

Zhou Qingfeng smiled slightly. "I am actually quite interested."

Hearing this, Zhu Gu Di nodded with a smile and started walking toward the stairs. When passing by Ning Cha, he smiled very politely, "Miss Ning, I have long heard from our followers that you are the most beautiful woman in the Resistance Army. Seeing you today, it is indeed true."

"Oh." Ning Cha's expression was indifferent. Looking at Zhu Gu Di's effeminate and handsome face, she couldn't muster any good feelings. The truth was that this man's fashion sense was terrible. He knew that cult gatherings required wearing red robes, yet he insisted on wearing a green garment underneath. The red and green combination was truly ugly to her.

Seeing Ning Cha's lukewarm response, Zhu Gu Di didn't take it to heart and just walked away.

Ning Cha watched Zhou Qingfeng walk over from the viewing platform. As he passed by, Zhou Qingfeng said quickly, "You and I are too conspicuous to get away. Now that the cultists are gathering and no one is paying attention to Zhan Fu and Zhan Qi, tell them to go look around and see if they can find any useful documents."

Ning Cha nodded slightly. "Understood."

Zhou Qingfeng quickly followed Zhu Gu Di, while Ning Cha turned back to give a few instructions to the brothers Zhan Fu and Zhan Qi, then followed as well.

One was a big shot from the Sword Tower, and the other was one of the leaders of the Resistance Army. Appearing at a cultist gathering meant they were being watched closely the entire time and couldn't possibly disappear from under people's noses, so it could only be handled by Zhan Fu and Zhan Qi.

There had originally been better candidates, but unfortunately, they had already been skewered and roasted like whole lambs in the courtyard. They died miserably.

The cultist gathering was proceeding according to a fixed routine. Zhou Qingfeng and Ning Cha were also invited onto the stage as temporary guests, standing beside Zhu Gu Di to listen to him preach the doctrine, while Incense Master Wei and others presided over the sacrificial prayer ceremony on the side, praying for the Holy Eye's blessing and response.

In the nether, Zhou Qingfeng felt a powerful will fix its gaze upon his existence.

In a trance, he seemed to have hallucinations. The surrounding scenery disappeared rapidly, and the world turned deep red. The heaven and earth were all fire-red. Zhou Qingfeng stood in the midst of it, looking up to see an eye—a spiral-shaped, fire-red eye.

A voice resonated from the depths of his consciousness: "What do you desire?"

"Speak it out, and I can fulfill your wish. You only need to offer your pious faith, and I will grant it to you!"

Zhou Qingfeng looked up at the Spiral Single Eye. The fire-red eye, like that of a demon god, was peeking at him. He said coldly, "Everything I have has always been won by myself; I do not need anyone's granting. No matter what you are, don't even think about bewitching me!"

The Spiral Single Eye: "Hmm, good. I have already fulfilled your wish not to bewitch you. So now, you should offer your faith."

Zhou Qingfeng cursed silently. This counts as a wish? Damn it, this is clearly cheating.

A red light containing the power of rules shot directly into Zhou Qingfeng's forehead. A Spiral Single Eye slowly took root and sprouted on his forehead. This dimensional strike from a higher-order life form left Zhou Qingfeng with almost no power to resist.

However, at this moment, Zhou Qingfeng's thoughts raced. He pointed at the Spiral Single Eye and shouted, "Ancient God, I want to sacrifice it!"

The Spiral Single Eye: "???"

"Hum~~~" An invisible humming sound oscillated through the consciousness world. An illusory giant python, about a zhang long, suddenly burst out from Zhou Qingfeng's waist and abdomen. A pair of snake eyes stared eerily at the Spiral Single Eye, slowly spitting out the Ancient God language: "I am very satisfied with what you have sacrificed."

As the words fell, the World Serpent detached from Zhou Qingfeng, grew in the wind, and in an instant, coiled around the Spiral Single Eye. It opened its blood-red maw and swallowed the Spiral Single Eye. The Spiral Single Eye screamed in terror, "The World Serpent? The first Innate Ancient God from the beginning of heaven and earth! How can this be? Aren't all the Ancient Gods dead? How could it appear in your body? Who exactly are you!?"

Zhou Qingfeng sneered repeatedly. "Guess."

"I guess your mother..." Before the words were finished, the huge Spiral Single Eye was swallowed in one gulp by the World Serpent. Then, the World Serpent soared into the sky, flew a few circles, and landed in front of Zhou Qingfeng, its pitch-black snake eyes emitting a dangerous glow.

The next moment, Zhou Qingfeng was kicked out of the consciousness world by the World Serpent.

When his consciousness returned, Zhou Qingfeng felt the mana in his body surging wildly.

It was rising by 100 Qian, 100 Qian, 100 Qian—it was like he was using a cheat code.

He didn't need to Cultivate at all; his mana was just skyrocketing. It surged by 10,000 Qian of mana before finally stopping.

These mana, containing pure Evil Qi, were all gained in exchange for sacrificing the Spiral Single Eye.

In short, the Ancient God was very satisfied with this sacrifice, so it helped Zhou Qingfeng rapidly increase his mana as an equivalent exchange.

Zhou Qingfeng was very excited. One sacrifice brought an increase of 10,000 Qian of mana, saving him a huge amount of time for Cultivation. If he could obtain such a high mana increase every time by sacrificing to the Ancient God, the threshold of 500,000 Qian of mana for Ascension was nothing. He would just grab people and sacrifice them frantically. Sacrificing dozens of times would lead directly to Ascension. Why would he bother with hard Cultivation? It was practically unlocking a cheat code for accelerated leveling.

But this was just wishful thinking. The contract Zhou Qingfeng signed with the Ancient God was an equivalent exchange. Zhou Qingfeng could choose what to sacrifice, but whether the Ancient God accepted it was up to the Ancient God. If the Ancient God accepted the sacrifice, what it would pay in return was not something Zhou Qingfeng could decide.

Perhaps this time it was a mana exchange; next time it might be a blood and Qi exchange; the time after that, a secret technique exchange; and the time after that, an information exchange. Who could say for sure? After all, Zhou Qingfeng could not control the World Serpent, the first Innate Ancient God from the beginning of heaven and earth.

Calming down, Zhou Qingfeng instead felt that this was intentional on the part of the Ancient God, wanting him to taste the sweetness. Once he tasted the sweetness for the first time, he would definitely strive to sacrifice things to the Ancient God in exchange for increased power.

And the Ancient God also wanted to accumulate power to break its shell and revive as soon as possible.

Both sides were mutually benefiting.

It was hard to say who was losing out and who was gaining.

Zhou Qingfeng had not thought about the matter of sacrifice before, but through this accidental experience, he had gained some unexpected insights. He would specifically go and collect historical documents on what kind of sacrificial items the World Serpent liked, and study it properly with a targeted approach.