Worship

Both grand laws of the Transcendent Cult were situated in the "Upload Chamber" on the 100th floor, the very bottom level of the skyscraper. Notably, while the 100th floor was referred to as a single story, its ceiling soared a full hundred meters high. Inside, tiers of spectator seating distinctly ringed a central arena—in the bygone Grey Fox Divine Era, this place might have been an entertainment venue such as a sports stadium, a colosseum, or even an auction hall. In this era of the wasteland, however, it had become the Transcendent Cult's place of worship. As the hour drew closer to 7:00 PM, the seats in the Upload Chamber gradually filled. Except for those on essential duty, the vast majority of Transcendent believers came to the Upload Chamber to take part in worship, unbroken every single night. "Our worship in Slay All Crows was never this formal." In the passageway, Tamaxi leaned against the wall, his distorted voice filtering out from beneath his black crow mask. "It was more like a banquet where everyone gathered to chat after finishing dinner. "During the day, members of Slay All Crows were either honing their skills or out hunting down criminals. We had no time to gather at all. Our only break was the night worship after dinner. "Back then, a newly returned warrior attendant would recount how many wicked crows he'd hunted this time—like Chief Warrior Attendants Chexiu and Kalan. They were the ones who hunted most frequently. Kalan was especially eloquent. He'd list every deed of a wicked crow, describing how countless were their crimes, how they'd evaded capture... and just as the apprentices listening grew indignant and incensed, he'd pivot the conversation, revealing that he had ultimately caught up to the wicked crow and inflicted the Blood Crow punishment upon them, making them die a miserable death. Everyone would applaud with joy. "Right, you might not know what a Blood Crow is. It means tearing open a wicked crow's back and pulling out their lungs so they look like a pair of bloody wings... I performed my first Blood Crow under his guidance. "Still, not everyone was intoxicated by the pleasure of slaughtering wicked crows—like Anoi 'the Debater,' for instance. Any service he attended would inevitably turn into a debate over what sort of crime actually warranted death, or about the helpless dilemmas Slay All Crows encountered. I debated him before, too. Once, I ran into a sorcerer who had slaughtered a merchant caravan, but the clues showed the caravan had tried to murder the sorcerer first, yet there were children among the merchants... Aside from my mentor, he was the person who taught me the most. "Aside from debates and stories, what drew the most attention during worship were the performances. Slay All Crows has always had a tradition of dancing; our 'Flock of Crows Dance' was the absolute best song and dance! Yelu was the trainer for the dancers. Whenever she was present at a service, nobody cared about Kalan or Anoi—everyone just waited for Yelu's dance troupe to perform... She always wanted me to dance too, but I never dared perform in front of so many people. "And there was Tanomu. She was brilliantly clever. None of us knew how to play the piano we salvaged from the ruins, but she figured out how to play it note by note and even composed several pieces of her own. Her joint performances with Yelu were always our greatest anticipation whenever we returned home..." Toward the end, Tamaxi's voice, once brimming with pride, gradually sank low. Gazing out at the packed crowds in the Upload Chamber, who could tell what melody was beating within that human heart hidden beneath the hideous, terrifying black crow skin? "Once worship begins, remember not to look," he said at last. "I know my own limits, but you might fall under its sway in a single second." Yaxiu and the others nodded one after another. Worship was a collective ritual that existed without exception across every cult. Its root lay in the fact that the existence of a grand law required replenishment from its believers. When believers performed worship, the grand law not only restored what it had expended, but could even grow stronger. The Holy Temple of Calamitous Fire believed so deeply in the strength of the Grand Law of Myriad Calamities Fire precisely because it was the longest-lived grand law in existence, and theoretically, it truly stood at the very top tier of combat strength across Senluo Land. Calamity power, fire power, conscious power, the power of faith... As to why a believer's worship could become the strength of a grand law, every cult offered a similar answer: all believed that a grand law drew energy from its followers. Yaxiu had initially thought so as well, but Igola held a different view. His reasoning boiled down to a single question: "Why are there no grand laws in other nations?" Perhaps believers truly could provide the energy to sustain a grand law, but that energy was by no means overt or direct. Otherwise, other nations would have updated their playbooks long ago to follow suit. The relationship between a grand law and its believers was a specialty unique to Senluo. Igola even suspected there was no such thing as the power of faith at all. Perhaps Senluo simply operated on an inherent reward mechanism tailored to grand laws: a grand law did not directly siphon energy from believers, but rather triggered the mechanism by increasing its number of followers. The best evidence was the Four Pillar Cult—the Four Pillar Gods were not grand laws, yet they too could somehow draw energy through worship. Regardless, worship, just like the grand laws themselves, was common knowledge across Senluo Land. Worship varied from cult to cult, but one thing remained identical: if you had no intention of following a cult, you must never participate in its worship. Worship not only allowed believers to recharge a grand law; it also allowed the grand law to connect into the believers. To borrow Tamaxi's phrasing: before they lost the grand law of Slay All Crows, no one could shake their ideals; after they lost the grand law, no one could hold fast to their will. "To put it simply, worship is a brainwashing ritual between a grand law and its believers," Igola had summarized to Yaxiu and Harvey once they were out of Tamaxi's earshot. Even so, the grand law itself possessed no consciousness; it was merely a mass of power condensed from ideals. If one could hold steadfast to an ideal for a lifetime and strive with all one's might to realize it, was that a blessing or a curse in this wasteland? It was also because of this unique nature of worship that the Transcendent Cult did not forbid outsiders like Yaxiu from approaching the Upload Chamber. If Yaxiu and his companions dared barge inside, never mind committing sabotage—even the clothes on their backs would no longer be theirs to choose. When the time displayed on the domed canopy ticked to 18:59, Yaxiu and the others immediately brought their vigilance to a sharp focus. The grand laws were not placed openly in the central arena; they were housed inside transparent glass display cases. Though called glass, given that it was used to safeguard grand laws, it was undoubtedly an extraordinary material capable of withstanding legendary sorcery. Their certainty that Silver Lantern would strike during worship was because this was the only time the Transcendent Cult opened the glass cases, allowing the grand laws and the believers to interact completely. The cases opened one minute before worship began. At that moment, the ritual had not yet started, but the grand laws were already exposed—making it blatantly the ideal window for Silver Lantern to make a move. Time trickled by second by second. Yaxiu and the others held their miracles at the ready, prepared to focus their fire the instant Silver Lantern showed herself. Just then, echoing footsteps ran down the corridor. Yaxiu glanced back and found a group of elementary schoolchildren who seemed on the verge of being late for worship. As they ran past Yaxiu's group, they turned their heads to glance at Harvey. Yaxiu recognized one of the children: it was the very girl who had dared press her lips to the necromancer's cheek earlier. Once the group of children entered the venue, the time advanced to 19:00, and the Transcendent Cult's worship officially began.