You became an emperor by letting me AFK.

But I felt sleepy and groggy.

"...Strange, I'm better, but it's still going slowly. What's going on?"

"Because you will sleep for 3 days to digest the spiritual energy and receive a portion of the Great Qian's faith. Although the faith mainly flows to me, you also need to resonate and adapt. When the religion has accumulated to a certain level, it will be time for you to bear and fulfill your mission."

"I see."

"In short, welcome to my future colleagues. We will spend eternity together, witnessing the rise and fall of the universe alongside the laws of nature."

Feng Tianyin forced a smile out of politeness.

"...Given your status, probably no one would dare tell you that your smile is actually quite terrifying."

The smile on her lips vanished instantly.

Then the smile shifted to Gergentana's face, and the future great prophet fell into a deep sleep amidst joy and anticipation.

【hint】

[The Great Qian Dynasty destroyed the holy site of the heretical organization "Eternal Heaven," proclaiming divine power and greatly increasing the accumulation of faith.]

[Simultaneously converting a large number of true believers and superficial believers]

Based on the above, the current cumulative number of religious establishments is 80%.

Xia He's face lit up with joy when she saw the message in the notification bar refreshed. All her planning had been for this, and it had finally greatly advanced the religious progress of the Great Qian Dynasty, putting it far ahead of the times.

The barbarian faith collapsed.

Repeated crackdowns have led to the fact that it can no longer be considered a religion; it's just a legend now.

Moreover, even the great prophet in the theory of the Eternal Heaven was taken away by the ox.

In the "Civilization Evolution" mechanism, a significant portion of civilizations are theocratic, with leaders also holding priestly functions, such as Feng Tianyin, who is known as the High Priest. However, there are still top-tier heroes who specialize in religious affairs.

Or rather, these "top heroes" could be called "great sages"—figures who would change the times and be remembered in history.

The great sages who performed this function also had exclusive titles:

The Great Prophet.

As the name suggests, they were beings who awakened psychic powers in the early stages of civilization and were skilled at preaching, and were revered as prophets.

Those who are passed down to later generations are mostly saints, popes, holy spirits, etc. In short, they are responsible for religious activities under the leadership, and can provide benefits, actively preach, initiate judgments, and even exchange faith for things.

Of course, under Xia He's promotion, the Great Prophet of Heaven became an immortal.

Gedentana is a valuable asset.

Although she is currently asleep, she will awaken and formally establish the religion once the religious accumulation reaches 100%, thereby raising the spiritual energy level of the Great Qian Dynasty and even propelling the era forward.

Also, find a helper for the lonely Feng Tianyin; working with an old friend is more efficient.

From a gameplay perspective, because Civilization Evolution is so vast, some mechanisms require delegated heroes to act as agents.

For example, Feng Tianyin is a leader AI that acts as an agent for the player.

In addition, there are agents in the religious, military, and scientific research sectors, which are listed alongside the "Great Prophet".

But either the era will be much later when it will be unlocked, or the conditions will not be ripe.

It's far away.

The essence of this mechanism is that "players are relieved of the burden by different human-machine agents in the later stages of increasingly cumbersome operations," only that the intelligence level, computing power, and permissions are not as good as the leader.

Therefore, in the very early stages, you can only unlock the Great Prophet.

Xia He looked down and saw Feng Tianyin carrying the sleeping Gegentana onto her horse, while simultaneously directing the army to clean up the mess. The overall situation was settled.

She also checked the attributes of the first top-tier hero, the Great Sage:

【The Great Prophet o Gengantana】

[Permanent Buffs: Missionary Efficiency +5%, Faith Accumulation +8%, Combat Power Against Heretics +5]

The Prophet's skill "Blessing and Conferment" grants him high spiritual vision and can enhance the conversion of believers through specific rituals; his spiritual energy level increases with the infusion of faith.

Not bad.

Xia He was satisfied with all of his abilities; he truly deserved to be a top-tier hero.

Of course, in the game mechanics, this "possessing high intelligence" requirement is actually quite deadly, as it makes one very vulnerable to various warp accidents, often resulting in a "dead" message.

Players find it annoying, but it's part of the game and always involves some randomness.

However, Xia He has already intervened and will not allow anything to happen to the Great Prophet. She will not protect him with player privileges, but with administrator privileges.

"My people must be safe."

This principle will continue to be upheld. Although it cannot grant Feng Tianyin the same level of indestructibility, since it touches upon the underlying code, the immortality of the eternal beings already exists in "Civilization Evolution," and they can be resurrected as long as they have enough energy.

And in the future, Gegentana, who is connected to the Great Qian faith, will not lack energy.

In fact, she had already demonstrated these buffs and skills, showing exceptional talent, but unfortunately she couldn't unleash her abilities among the barbarians.

Xia He gave her a brand new stage.

Gedentana immediately accepted, and they hit it off right away.

Although there's nothing wrong with being a shaman preaching in the northern desert, the Great Qian Dynasty offers me a much wider world to explore.

All are happy.

After confirming that the matters related to the Great Prophet were settled, Xia He turned her gaze back to the volcano. At this time, the volcano had completely extinguished; from beginning to end, it had only been a few small flames. The burning of Linchun was more of a man-made disaster than a natural one.

It is only as large as the volcanoes on Java Island, with more benefits than harms, and poses little threat to humans.

"Was the eruption such a coincidence due to subspace contamination?"

After examining the situation, Xia He concluded that, after all, subspace is always accompanied by what ordinary people see as bad luck, which is actually a manifestation of pollution disaster.

Fortunately, it was eradicated.

Feng Tianyin was very clean; the active faith and spiritual energy emanating from her dispelled the pollution.

According to the culture of the Great Qian Dynasty, it is not wrong to interpret it as "the aura of the Son of Heaven", "the good fortune of the Emperor", and "the boundless blessings". In short, in the face of the power of the High Priest, the little bit of pollution residue that had lost contact with the subspace was not worth mentioning and was completely reduced to nothing.

With no worries about their rear, the Daqian army began to move swiftly.

Xia He personally witnessed how the city section could help with warehousing and supplies.

The progress of the occupation is fluctuating.

If they maintain their presence, it might be possible to transform it into a new city, but it's not worthwhile.

In her view, the Great Qian Dynasty was already doing too much beyond its capacity. It was only by stacking enough buffs that it did not suffer a major loss of vitality. Otherwise, with the productivity of 90 people in the Bronze Age, it would have been over-consumed long ago.

That's it.

Decision-making always involves trade-offs; there's no need to be overly concerned with gains and losses. Feng Tianyin, who understood this principle as well, added fuel to the fire in Linchun, completely destroying the temple, which collapsed amidst a thunderous roar.

Of course, several other groups of people went there before to rescue the books.

They were shamans who had not yet been infected, including a female student of Gedentana, who accepted such brave individuals.

She was, after all, a literate female shamanic healer, and could be of some use.

We cannot let any talented people slip by.

Besides her apprentices, including Gegentana, Feng Tianyin also took the other craftsmen, farmers, and tailors with her, as she couldn't leave them to the barbarians.

No more pretense. This time, the Great Qian Dynasty plundered it like nomadic tribes, determined to empty the essence of Linchun.

It was clear that Feng Tianyin was only satisfied after packing everything up once.

Xia He wholeheartedly agreed. No need for further instructions; the child had grown up and was adept at it. "You don't know the value of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household." Since they were on a grand expedition, they naturally had to plunder the spoils thoroughly. This operation lasted for two days and two nights…

Day three.

Satisfied, the Great Qian Expeditionary Army finally embarked on its return journey, the mighty column heading towards the southern lands.

Their faces were spirited, yet also bore a deep trace of weariness.

It's finally over. The long winter expedition is over. We've achieved a double victory in terms of tactics and strategy, but everyone is exhausted. We can finally rest. We'll probably be going back around the Spring Festival.

From an overhead perspective, Xia He could see that the entire barbarian holy city had been reduced to ashes.

It won't get better in three to five years.

...........

It is dozens of kilometers away from Linchun.

The heavy snow stopped, but the chill in Erbala and his group never ceased; they felt cold all over.

The distant volcano gradually died down, becoming hazy, leaving only a faint outline on the horizon, which also blurred as it moved further away.

It will soon disappear from view.

For so many years, everyone has watched it grow up, as eternal as the sun, moon, and stars in a child's worldview. Now, however, we are forced to venture deep into the barren land and endure the inevitable harsh winter.

There's no going back.

Even if it is speculated that the Daqian army withdrew, they would not be able to spend the winter in Linchun.

This was confirmed by some refugees, as Feng Tianyin could not possibly leave them with enough supplies.

These days they keep receiving refugees, and the temporary camp has seen a number of new faces.

"Reporting to the Great Khan, the latest news is that they have withdrawn."

“I saw it with my own eyes. Those Daqian people took away a lot of prisoners and craftsmen. The rebels were enslaved, and the others who joined voluntarily were temporarily kept as prisoners... The total number should be around 3.”

"In order to ensure that these people have food to eat and survive on the road, Daqian emptied out all of our warehouses from the past few years."

Erbala remained silent.

He listened quietly, disheartened, and could only let out a long sigh.

The most valuable lands of the northern tribes were looted, but the loss of talent was even more devastating than the loss of resources. For example, the team led by the Great Shaman Gegentana was lost; these were among the very few professional talents with management abilities.

Not to mention skilled workers like craftsmen.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that this battle set back the civilization of the grasslands by a hundred years, and that is a conservative estimate; the specific losses are difficult to quantify.

The future looks bleak.

Erbala sighed deeply and said, "I won't go back this year. I'll just camp deep in the grasslands."