Chapter 1226: You Can Leave Now

“You do not know this, Brother Ye, but Military Opera Actor had been studying the faces of ancient divine beings in hopes of obtaining their power and growing further for the past several years.”

Tao Wang began his explanation. “However, how can a mortal easily obtain a god’s power? So, Military Opera Actor decided to take a shortcut and create a Magia combining the methods of god channeling, power of wishes, faith and so on. It is called the Strange Opera God Becoming Art.”

“The so-called Strange Opera God Becoming Art is a Magia to temporarily borrow the power of a god via twisting the minds of the multitudes and exploiting their faith.”

“Of course, it’s a new Magia, so it requires experimentation to perfect. So, Military Opera Actor spent the past few years traveling to remote towns and villages and performing to ordinary people. He used this opportunity to implant a godly mark in their hearts before appearing before them at nighttime, convincing them that he was an actual god. That is how he obtained the power of a god.”

“The more the people believed that the being before them was a god, the more power he would gain, and the stronger he would become. He could even continuously absorb power from their faith to restore his own, effectively become unkillable and immortal.”

Tao Wang could not help but let out a small sigh when he reached this point. “His personality aside, Military Opera Actor is a true genius. If he managed to perfect this Magia, then he would no longer need to prepare beforehand or borrow the people’s faith to become invincible at his cultivation level. He might even have become unrivaled under the Sage stage.”

“Unfortunately, the heavens are always jealous of geniuses. A shame!”

Ye Qing: “...”

Why are you making it sound like I’m the villain here? I’m the bloody victim, alright?

“What does this have anything to do with Strange Actor?”

“Ahem, apologies. I was just lamenting.”

Tao Wang touched his nose before continuing, “As I mentioned before, performing the Strange Opera God Becoming Art requires twisting the multitudes’ minds and stealing their faith. Naturally, this negatively affected them to an extent. Best case scenario, the victims would feel a splitting headache and suffer a damaged mind. Worst case scenario, they would turn into imbeciles and perish in mind.”

“While Military Opera Actor was experimenting and working to perfect the Strange Opera God Becoming Art, he had traumatized or killed countless people. However, since the locations Military Opera Actor chose were extremely remote, meaning that the victims were usually foolish and out of the imperial court’s reach, the multitudes all believe that it is the act of a Stranger.”

“And because an opera performance must be performed before the Strange Opera God Becoming Art could be executed, the people came to call him the Strange Actor, and the opera performance the Strange Opera. ‘Do not listen to the Strange Opera, or the Strage Actor shall claim your soul at night.’ That was how the saying regarding the Strange Actor.”

“Since Military Opera Actor did very well to conceal his tracks, and rumors regarding the Strange Opera and the Strange Actor were only spread within a certain range, the fact that they were one and the same were not known to outsiders.”

“And yet you and the White Jade Capital knew it as clear as day. Impressive, Brother Tao,” Ye Qing complimented him.

“It’s nothing to write home about. White Jade Capital does do this for a living, you know? It would be terrible if we’re bad at it.”

Tao Wang smiled. “In conclusion, Military Opera Actor is an extraordinarily talented, one-of-a-kind martial genius, but he’s also a human garbage who views the lives of the multitudes like toys. He may not be labeled as a heretic, but he might as well be one. So, you’ve done the people a service today.”

“Haha, sure. He ambushed me, so he paid the price,” Ye Qing said indifferently.

“By the way, may I know what sort of method you used to weaken Military Opera Actor?”

Tao Wang asked with great interest. “According to my intel, his Strange Opera God Becoming Art is already nearing maturity. Had he succeeded in creating his divine body, it would not have mattered if you killed the townspeople or not. He would have become as strong as a god for a certain duration. Sure, he won’t be able to absorb an endless amount of faith and power from the townspeople if you killed them, but that is it.”

“And yet, you were able to weaken Military Opera Actor to an unbelievable extent. How did you do it?”

“It’s very simple. A body of water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it,” Ye Qing answered. Military Opera Actor was already dead, so telling Tao Wang the truth would not affect things.

“A body of water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it? Are you talking about the townspeople, Brother Ye?” Tao Wang clarified.

“Exactly.”

Ye Qing began his explanation, “Military Opera Actor depended on the people’s faith to become the Sacred True Lord Erlang, and he could absorb an endless amount of power from their faith, right? So, I simply twisted the people’s perception and made them believe that the god in the sky is a monster. Even if he managed to become the Sacred True Lord Erlang, he is still connected to the townspeople. With their faith twisted, his power would surely be affected or reduced.”

“Had he discovered this earlier, had he cut off his connection to the townspeople or killed them sooner, then he might have lasted a little longer.”

“Too bad for him, he was too late.”

It was very possible that Military Opera Actor did not know that Ye Qing wasn’t just powerful in physique, but also his mind. His demonic thought in particular was strange, unpredictable, and extremely sensitive toward other’s emotions, thoughts, and mental states. That was why he noticed something wrong with the townspeople and the strange spiritual echoes affecting them since almost the beginning.

To put it in simpler terms, he noticed through his demonic thought that the townspeople’s mind, emotions, consciousness, and perception were extremely abnormal. Not only did they believe that the Sacred True Lord Erlang Military Opera Actor had transformed into was the real thing immediately, their belief and fervor had risen at an unbelievable rate. And the more they believed he was real, the stronger Military Opera Actor became.

That was the moment he realized that the power of the Sacred True Lord Erlang was intricately connected to their belief.

If the townspeople’s belief fueled the Sacred True Lord Erlang, could it conversely weaken him as well? More accurately, could a lack of belief cause his power to decline?

He tested out his theory immediately. He used his demonic thought to warp the townspeople’s perception and made them believe that the Sacred True Lord Erlang was really a monster.

The outcome was clear. As soon as their perception was warped, Military Opera Actor immediately started losing power at an accelerated rate. This would continue until Ye Qing was able to end him once and for all.

The reason Military Opera Actor failed to notice this in time was one, he probably wasn’t expecting Ye Qing’s attainment in mind and spirit to be so extraordinary that he was able to warp an entire town’s perception without a trace; and two, he had twisted Military Opera Actor’s perception as well. He had made it so that Military Opera Actor would subconsciously ignore this fact.

To be honest, Military Opera Actor’s Strange Opera God Becoming Art was extremely anomalous and powerful. If his mind wasn’t strong enough, if he hadn’t noticed the flaw in the Magia and reacted accordingly, he still would have won, but anyone else in his position would have lost.

To this, Ye Qing could only say that everyone in the top fifty of the Earth Champions Ranking was powerful in their own right. He reminded himself to never underestimate them.

“So, you gave him a taste of his own medicine! Marvellous! Most marvellous!”

After Ye Qing was done explaining, Tao Wang clapped his hands excitedly and said, “You really are impressive, Brother Ye.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ye Qing replied indifferently before adding, “Alright, you’ve gotten your answer. You can leave now.”