Chapter 270: The Prophet vs. The Heavenly Net
"Oh, All-Seeing Eye, please let me know the answer to this question..." After dismissing his subordinates, Ramdo, seated on his divine throne, began another divination.
As he silently chanted the incantation, his pupils began to spin incessantly, and various images continuously flickered within his eyes...
His divination ability could be activated periodically, and each activation allowed him to ask one question.
This question had to be one with an existing answer—for instance, where he could find something he needed, or where his political rivals had hidden their mistresses, or how much bribery his subordinates had accepted.
But it could not be about future events, such as tomorrow's lottery numbers, or whether the stock market would rise or fall. In a sense, his ability could be understood as a super-advanced search engine.
Of course, such a terrifying ability inevitably came with corresponding limitations. Each question had a "degree of involvement," and each divination would incur a backlash proportional to that degree.
Just like his divination concerning the Soul Crystal several years ago, because it involved Bai Mo, the owner of the Soul Crystal—an entity far more powerful than him at the time—Ramdo suffered a severe backlash.
Theoretically, he could also use his divination ability to seek a path to advancement, but the degree of involvement would absolutely be beyond what he could withstand.
Optimizing the existing system might be possible, but relying on divination to forge a new path would inevitably lead to death, as the scope of involvement was simply too vast.
It was precisely because his second awakened ability was such a terrifying auxiliary power that Ramdo was able to defeat all other challengers in the treacherous high-level struggles of the One-Wheel Cult's upper echelons, finally reaching the pinnacle and becoming the One-Wheel Cult's sole Earthly God.
Otherwise, relying solely on his ability to use Faith Power to strengthen his Spirit Hub would not have been enough to subdue all his opponents in the One-Wheel Cult, which was full of powerhouses.
Relying on his formidable power and the various "black materials" (incriminating evidence) he possessed, he managed to control numerous high-ranking officials of the One-Wheel Cult, compelling them to support him.
"Two months from now, beware the Huaxia's fruit of evil?" Unexpectedly, Ramdo received a possibility he had never considered before—the enemy was actually from the Huaxia Federation?! As for the "fruit of evil," in the eyes of the One-Wheel Cult's people, it was an alias for "apple."
Before he could fully process this revelation, a terrifying backlash descended, appearing abruptly within his divine kingdom as bolts of cyan lightning, akin to a heavenly tribulation, striking Ramdo precisely.
However, having an exceptionally rich experience with being struck, he had long ago skillfully prepared various items to take the tribulation's place.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..." His surface was instantly covered by a yellow aura composed of Faith Power, and he began to contend with the cyan lightning.
However, it was clear that the aura could not withstand such terrifying lightning at all; after merely half a second, the yellow aura shattered, and the lightning ignored all of Ramdo's defenses, penetrating directly into his body.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" In three different locations within his divine kingdom, faint explosions echoed.
Three souls, resembling holy spirits, exploded without any warning and then turned to ash.
"Just how many people are involved in this matter..." Ramdo, with a trickle of golden-yellow blood at the corner of his mouth, felt both a lingering fear and a hint of excitement at that moment.
The essence of the lightning was a part of his own power, so no matter how many defenses he had, he couldn't block an attack originating from himself.
Although he couldn't directly absorb and use Faith Power on a large scale, he still ingeniously refined some souls that had ascended to his divine kingdom, using vast amounts of Faith Power to forge them into "substitute holy spirits" for himself, allowing them to share the damage he received.
Each of these substitute holy spirits could be said to be half of his life, and each was enough to absorb one severe blow. As for attacks powerful enough to severely wound his divine body, Ramdo believed there weren't too many such attacks on this planet.
After his position was consolidated, he began tinkering with these things in his divine kingdom. To date, he had refined a total of fifteen substitute holy spirits to ensure his life's safety.
If not for these substitute holy spirits this time, he would have actually been killed by the backlash. The involvement behind the matter must be extremely vast, so he didn't even have time to lament his losses before urgently summoning the group of subordinates loyal to him.
One could deduce from this limited glimpse that the entire upper echelon of the One-Wheel Cult actually had no true "faith" to speak of. From past to present, they merely utilized the lower-ranking believers as a resource.
Even the divergence between the Original Faction and the Initial Faction was, in reality, a power struggle between the high-ranking members of both sides; it only appeared as a doctrinal dispute when reflected among the believers.
"He knows, does he?" Bai Mo, who was in the testing ground putting the finishing touches on Ying Huo's tree core, utilizing the capabilities of the Heavenly Net, suddenly sensed that the other party had become aware of a portion of his plan.
However, he didn't care. At this point, the "fruit of evil" had largely become an overt plot; even if it were fully discovered, Bai Mo could still push it forward, as all necessary preparations were nearly complete.
Unless they dared to forcibly enter Tianqing and then destroy the tree core in his hands, but that was clearly an even more impossible task to succeed at.
Through the Heavenly Net, he had the chance to briefly scan Ramdo and his divine kingdom, gathering some minor intelligence.
He didn't pay any mind to things like the opponent's substitute puppets. For Bai Mo, this plan might not even require combat; he merely needed to act as a hidden instigator, following behind to reap the rewards.
On the other hand, the alerted Ramdo, after dealing with his injuries, immediately instructed his loyal angels and subordinate gods to prepare to receive the unknown impact from Huaxia.
Although he still didn't understand why this internally conflicted nation would suddenly have the strange idea to act against him, as long as he made all necessary defenses in advance, he was sure to give them a memory they would never forget.
A large number of orders were relayed from Maysuo's capital, Mysore, eventually reaching every corner of the nation.
From the points of contention that had been repeatedly contested by both sides on the battlefield, the One-Wheel Cult's forces withdrew, temporarily ceding them to the European Union forces. The overall battle line gradually contracted, allowing a number of mobile units to disengage from the front at any time.
And to avoid arousing suspicion from the Huaxia Federation, only the most elite few from each team returned to the capital, Mysore, through secret channels.
Ramdo's subordinates, however, had no thoughts of questioning his seemingly baseless actions, because it had been proven countless times in the past that his title of "Great Prophet" was absolutely well-deserved.
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