Chapter 76: Knowledge Is Power

“I don’t know why, but I keep feeling as if the enemy is somehow calculating the divinity I just acquired.”
Standing before the mist, Liu Zhi watched his undead servants hauling stones and other materials to build a defensive position outside the fog, and couldn’t help but voice his thought.
Videnina turned to look at Liu Zhi, her eyes full of confusion.
“I can’t quite explain it either, but standing here, I truly sense it—right there, as if a power belonging to the sun is drawing away a part of the divinity I just claimed.”
Liu Zhi pointed into the mist, speaking with a hint of uncertainty.
At once, Videnina stepped in front of Liu Zhi, her expression making it clear she would not let him enter the mist now.
“Don’t worry, I have no intention of going in yet. We need to deal with the incoming enemies first, and only then take the time to study this mist. Still, I want to analyze what’s happening here. Do you feel anything?”
Videnina shook her head firmly, indicating she knew nothing.
Faced with her response, Liu Zhi could only sigh inwardly—he couldn’t expect Videnina to help him analyze the situation, and consulting the system wasn’t a reliable option.
For now, he could only try to piece together what he wanted to know from the limited information at hand.
He could only make a rough guess at the situation before him: it seemed this competitor was not interested in the Golden City itself, but like Leif, was after the divinity of the Feathered Serpent.
Yet the method this competitor employed puzzled Liu Zhi. There were four distinct powers within the Feathered Serpent’s divinity—why was only the solar aspect being drawn away?
Without understanding this, Liu Zhi felt uneasy, as if aware he was being manipulated but unable to identify the source of the problem.
At that moment, one of the working skeletons paused and began shuffling away.

This was an order Liu Zhi had given his undead servants; after all, he now had followers of his own. Though he couldn’t summon all of them, many tasks no longer required his personal attention.
For example, collecting the newly sprouted fruit at specific times to supply his daily food could be delegated to a skeleton.
But this time, as he watched the departing skeleton, Liu Zhi’s eyes flashed with a strange expression.
“If I remember correctly, the Feathered Serpent’s divinity includes the sun, rain, harvest, and death?”
Liu Zhi muttered to himself as though on the verge of a major revelation.
“No wonder I kept feeling something was off. At first, I thought the Feathered Serpent’s path was one of opposing pairs—sun versus rain, harvest versus death—but that’s not quite right. Their movement isn’t truly oppositional, and what does that matter to me? From the very beginning, when they built this Golden City, they were scheming against the Feathered Serpent.”
Suddenly enlightened, Liu Zhi exclaimed, “That’s it! Right from the start, they locked down three aspects of the Feathered Serpent’s divinity—death represented by this necropolis, the daily noon rains symbolizing the god’s rain, and the fruits that grow after the rain, which embody the harvest.
Then, when the giant serpent eats the fruit, it returns to the Feathered Serpent’s servants, and ultimately cycles back into the god itself. That way, the Feathered Serpent never notices anything amiss.
So now, the only aspect unaffected and unable to move is the power of the sun.”
At this, Liu Zhi turned to gaze into the mist. “If, at this moment, someone tried to lure away a fragment of divinity, it would surely be the solar aspect they could draw. And that’s their calculation. Let me think—the three great American civilizations: only the Inca gods are fundamentally unrelated to the Feathered Serpent. Their chief deity is the Sun God, isn’t it?”
As this final realization flashed through his mind, Liu Zhi at last pieced everything together.
At that moment, he noticed a string of information appear before him, as if in response to his understanding.

[Ding! Because you have uncovered a divine conspiracy, your knowledge in mysticism has increased greatly. Mysticism level raised to 4; related information will be integrated.]
[Mysticism Knowledge Level 4 (Maya, Inca, Aztec, Weather, Sun, Death, Sacrifice, Deities—Kukulkan, Inti, and others): Your understanding of these areas is now at an expert level. This knowledge allows you to easily comprehend related matters, and makes it easier to master magic or divine arts in these domains.]

[Mysticism Knowledge (Extraordinary Common Sense): Through research, your knowledge of certain civilizations’ deities surpasses that of ordinary people. While you cannot stand as an equal to living gods, you may have a chance to acquire the fallen powers of dead gods.]
[Note: The power of the gods is dangerous. They only reveal what they wish for you to know. Knowing too much may draw their enmity and pursuit.]
[Priest Profession Prerequisites Detected: Possess one piece of god-related mystical knowledge (2/1); possess three areas of divine domain knowledge (3/3); possess sacrificial or ritual mysticism (1/1); become a devout follower of a deity (0/1).]
He didn’t need to study the notifications; merely having advanced his mysticism to level 4 was enough for Liu Zhi to fill in all the gaps in his understanding.
Without a word, he raised his hand to the sky, and a pair of enormous, blood-red eyes appeared overhead.
The eyes were vertical pupils, a serpent’s gaze, staring unblinkingly at Liu Zhi for a long moment without reacting.
“I knew you wouldn’t behave. But this necropolis already belongs to me, and you are now a part of me. Whatever you once were, you are now my power—so reveal yourself.”
Liu Zhi clenched his hand in the air, and the eyes exploded into fragments.
Immediately, a new pair of eyes appeared above the blood moon in the sky; these were no longer the vertical pupils of a snake, but Liu Zhi’s own eyes.
Having accomplished this, Liu Zhi finally drew his longsword.
“Now I am the true master of these divine powers. By my command—stop everything. Let all divinity return to the necropolis and merge with it.”
At his order, torrential rain poured down upon the necropolis of Nazmir. Amid the downpour, the once lifeless earth began to sprout twisted plants of all kinds, while the waterless lake to the east slowly filled, masses of aquatic plants forever concealing the golden vessels and corpses within.