Those time travelers that year

"...Do you believe what that guy said is true?" Iris asked. "It's about the church staff being murdered, and she said those people are heading to the capital..."

“I don’t know, it might be true, it might be false,” Father Brown replied. “If it were me, I would definitely think it’s a lie, a trap to lure us in… But think about it, with such terrifying power, there’s no need to do this deliberately. Whether it’s a sneak attack or an assassination, if that girl harbors any murderous intent towards us, no one can protect her…”

“Father, can I ask you for a favor?” Iris suddenly spoke up. “Could you please keep what happened last night a secret?”

"what happened?"

“I feel there’s something seriously wrong with the secret Charles Gretel is hiding, but the Holy Church already lost face there last time. If the higher-ups find out this time…”

"Alright! I understand!" Although it seemed Iris was hiding something, Father Brown thought it best to keep it a secret. In fact, it was better to do so, to prevent the higher-ups from going crazy over some other factor. After all, faced with that exaggerated array of magic cannons, no one could do anything about it unless the Holy Church waged another holy war, which was impossible. The Holy Church was no longer as powerful as it had been decades ago. Plus, the ruling class was a bunch of ignorant church 'bishops'...

"Shall we go to the capital?"

"Just in case, if those murderers really intend to attack us, then the church in the capital is also an option, and it would be even more shameful for us and the church."

“Alright! I’ll go and arrange train tickets to the capital…” With that, Father Brown turned and left the ruins that made him feel uncomfortable.

After Father Brown left, Iris looked at the ruins, remaining silent. The battle of the previous night resurfaced in her mind, and at the same time, some of Atiyah's words were recalled.

……

'Who do you think saved your life? My master merely saved your life? You're joking! If it weren't for my master, do you think you could have grown so rapidly in power after surviving?'

'That's some insignificant power left behind by your master when he saved you... That's why you were able to advance in the last few days, isn't it?'

"But that power, I am far more familiar with it and more skilled at using it than you are..." As the words fell, the twilight-colored flames transformed into a wave of fire that swept outwards. In an instant, Iris was blasted away by the burst of fire, and before she could react, another longsword, shrouded in mist, came crashing down. In the moment of crisis, Iris managed to raise her sword and parry the attack with difficulty, but she was inevitably slammed to the ground by the immense force.

However, Atia, who had knocked Iris down, did not press her advantage. Instead, she glanced at Iris, who was using her sword to prop herself up from the ground, and then turned around and dragged the vampire out of the collapsed house.

'Feel it carefully! You, who also possess the power of your master, can sense his will just like me... After that, think carefully about who you should truly serve!'

As she spoke, Atia mentioned the unfortunate vampire girl who had been made even more miserable by the aftermath of the battle, and then disappeared into a sudden cloud of mist.

……

"What does she mean?" Iris stood alone on the ruins, muttering to herself. It was already midday, the warmest time of day, the bright sunlight casting a comforting glow. But for some reason, Iris suddenly felt a chill run through her, as if some shadow had enveloped her, engulfing her. "Charles's own...power?"

Iris swayed, her vision blurring for a moment, then darkness fell before her eyes, and a pitch-black sun was reflected in her pupils. Something seemed to be whispering in her ear, telling her knowledge that she could neither understand nor hear.

Something had descended upon this place, yet no one noticed—not the workers clearing the ruins, nor the soldiers on duty. It seemed only Iris could sense the unease, yet even she, the only one who could discern what was amiss, was now bewildered, though a fleeting glimmer of twilight fire flashed in her grey pupils.

However, everything quickly returned to normal. Iris was stunned for a moment, completely unable to recall what she had just seen, only wondering why she had been standing there in these ruins. After thinking for a while and finding that nothing seemed amiss, Iris sighed softly, then turned and left.

322. Let's play a game of Gwent!

"Hmm?" Charles, who was enjoying tea and snacks served by a maid in the manor, paused slightly, then turned his gaze to the bright spring sky outside. "What's going on? Who's borrowing my power?" Just now, it seemed someone had contacted him and extracted a tiny, insignificant amount of energy from him… Of course, it was just someone from this world, but it still felt rather strange to Charles. "It seems like no one else besides Atia went outside!? Hmm… whatever!"

Because he was going through a period of mental lapse and had to take a break, Xia Er didn't want to care about anything in this world. Even though there were quite a few reincarnators causing trouble in this world, he didn't care what they did. No matter how much trouble these reincarnators caused, could they really become gods in this world?

Even if they become gods, so what? Does becoming a god mean they can turn their lives around? Let alone the current Ciel, even someone who had only recently entered the Marvel universe was confident he could easily defeat those low- to mid-level gods. Even if these guys took the easiest path of faith, and were blessed with a brain-dead aura, directly overthrowing the empire and the church, gathering all the world's power and the strength of the nation's faith, for Ciel, it would just be a matter of whether to use a planet-destroying assassination or a black hole for a quicker solution.

But thinking about it, those are just reincarnators. And they're not the kind who play with high-tech gadgets like Boss Tang. Isn't it a huge waste to start these guys with Planet Destroyer Slash and Black Hole attacks? None of them possess Primordial Chaos - Creation of Heaven and Earth or Primordial Darkness - End of the Universe...

'Besides, even if I really became a god in this world, so what? I'd just have them dipped in soy sauce and served as a side dish…' Charles thought to himself. 'I wonder if it tastes like beef or chicken… Wait, why am I thinking this?' Shaking his head, Charles quickly banished the horrifying thought of using those troublesome reincarnators as side dishes. 'Why am I still having these crazy thoughts?! My God!'

'No, I need to play a game of Gwent to calm my nerves!'

"Meria, wait a minute!" Thinking this, Charles called out to the maid who was about to leave. When the maid turned around and looked at Charles with a puzzled expression, he suddenly pulled out a large stack of cards. "Let's play a game of Gwent!"

……

On one side, Sharl was engrossed in playing cards, while on the other side, the reincarnators he didn't care about began their own actions. Although the strongest of the five teams, the demon team, was incredibly unlucky, they stumbled upon someone's location… presumably, they weren't prepared for the next evil god raid, and not one of those unfortunate souls on Azeroth who were either torn to shreds or imprisoned—speaking of which, although the five tentacle monsters on the Azerothian loli's side were quite dedicated, at least more dedicated than that jellyfish that preferred to be a seafood platter, they really didn't check the almanac before going out. For example, they were beaten by Titans, beaten by Titan's creations, and after spending tens of thousands of years finally corrupting the Guardians, they were instantly taught a lesson by a bunch of players—no, I mean gods—who shouted loudly about things like XX, but were actually just after quest gear first kills and other flashy but impractical things, and then ruthlessly ganged up on them.

Of course, while these reincarnators aren't the same group of players on Azeroth who will eventually become million-strong high lords, when it comes to causing trouble, these reincarnators are in no way inferior to the players.

Anyway, these reincarnators couldn't understand this world, but they knew that the complete annihilation of the Demon Team meant that there was definitely still some danger in this world. A world with A-level danger didn't mean there was only one A-level boss! It should be said that there was at least one, and as for whether there were more, that was up to the reincarnators to find.

In a sense, the Demon Squad also made a significant contribution, didn't they? In short, because of the Demon Squad's demise, these reincarnators have all become more low-key. But no matter how low-key they become, reincarnators are still inherently like locusts. The Vanguard Team, the first reincarnators to enter this world, took the lead. Although the City God's Talisman and Seal, which can be considered 'divine artifacts,' seem out of place in this world, they are still members of the legitimate bureaucratic system of the Heavenly Court, not some shell company that just hangs a sign and starts working, relying entirely on deception, right?

After destroying a church in the attack, the members of the vanguard team were delighted to discover that they could actually activate the City God Talisman and the City God Seal directly using the faith power without any divine imprint. Furthermore, their use of these two 'artifacts' to exert faith power far surpassed Zhao Hao's method of summoning gods.

First, there's the City God's Talisman, which represents an identity—a guardian deity of the city recognized by both Heaven and humanity, and also a local official in the underworld, with authority equivalent to a mayor in the mortal realm, but one who combines military and political power. Of course, since this world doesn't have a Heavenly Court, it doesn't receive the Heavenly Court's salary or the divine mandate bestowed by Heavenly Laws.

Even so, the City God's Divine Talisman, activated with the power of faith, possesses extraordinary power with five different kinds of authority: [Guardian], [Life], [Death], [Blessing], and [Reward and Punishment]... Thinking about it this way, it doesn't seem worth it for those gods in the D&D system. They scheme and plot to the death for a divine position, while on the other hand, a mere City God or local deity can possess the divine position and authority they dream of. I wonder what they think about that?

The title "Guardian" speaks for itself; Heim is called the God of Guardians precisely because of this divine office. He possesses only moderate divine strength, but his combat prowess is overwhelming; even powerful gods must give him a wide berth. Throughout his life, he has slain gods, imprisoned the demon prince, the two-headed baboon's avatar that descended upon Faerûn… Those unaware might mistake him for a powerful god, whose churches relentlessly hunt down unfortunate individuals attempting to overthrow his rule, such as the churches of Shar and Cyrek…

Then there are [Life] and [Death]. Needless to say, these two can easily reach the level of powerful gods.

Next, [Fortune] can be considered as luck, and the goddess of fortune has medium divine power. The complete divine office of fortune is part of the divine office of fate and can reach the level of powerful divine power.

The final [Rewards and Punishments] can be broken down into [Rewards], [Punishments], and [Laws]. Any one of these can lead to a mid-level divine position. In case of unexpected circumstances, such as the church being rooted in a powerful empire, it can even directly challenge for a high level of divine power.

Looking at it this way, it's clear that the big shots in the Heavenly Court's pantheon really know how to play the game! With such mass-produced divine positions and powers, it's no wonder that a certain yellow-robed figure has repeatedly become a laughing stock among the evil gods. It feels like his downfall was entirely deserved!

Second update! Anyway, some people will still say I'm just posting filler!

323. Preparing to pull off a big heist with the reincarnators.

It has to be said that the City God's power is immense. The vanguard team realized that after fighting and dying for so long in the cycle of reincarnation, they were actually inferior to even a town mayor. That town mayor could easily wipe out their entire team – it was utterly infuriating.

Not to mention, if the City God you encounter isn't the kind who governs a small village, but rather the kind who governs the capital city, right under the emperor's nose. Although the ruler of a dynasty certainly worships the highest deity, Heaven, as the saying goes, "It's good to be under the emperor's nose." With the nation's fortune and the blessing of dragon energy, the City God could easily ascend to heaven. Even when facing a true immortal from the upper realm, he wouldn't be so insignificant.

So, the big shots are still the big shots. While you weaklings are still struggling, they've already started mass production. And the result of mass production is that the Heavenly Court suppresses all dissent within the Nine Heavens, Ten Earths, and Three Realms, regardless of whether you're a demon or a monster, a god or a Buddha. Everyone has to show their stance: either join the system and live a peaceful life, or be reduced to ashes and die in the face of the Heavenly Court's all-out army.

Thus, on this side, the vanguard reincarnators who had activated a portion of the City God's divine runes through the power of faith felt even more confident about the future. Even the plan to replace the world's god of faith didn't seem impossible.

The activated portion of the City God's Talisman's functions didn't directly provide the vanguard team with much benefit, but it did activate a minor but significant function: the authority over [life] within the City God's Talisman—in other words, its healing function.

While it can't perform the miraculous feat of bringing the dead back to life and healing the wounded, as long as the person isn't brain-dead or completely destroyed, this healing ability can bring them back to life as long as they still have a breath left. It's like a powerful healer, and even stronger than the healing power of Zhao Hao, the paladin.

Furthermore, the concept of Yin and Yang, the so-called duality, is all about balance. Since the authority over "life" is activated simultaneously, the authority over "death" is also activated. If the former is about saving the living, then the latter is about saving the dead. All souls after death can remain in the City God's realm, transforming into ghost messengers or underworld soldiers. They can even be elevated to ghost immortals by consuming faith power and through the City God's seal.

This function refers to the civil and military judges, various deities, Ganliu General, Fan Xie General, Niu Ma General, Day and Night Wandering God, Shackles General, and other holy spirits or subordinate gods under the jurisdiction of the City God's domain.

This reminded the five members of the vanguard team of rumors circulating among the various squads in the Reincarnation Space: a City God was equivalent to a small pantheon. One City God for each city, and below the City God were various rural landowners. All of this combined was simply outrageous.

Upon further reflection, the City God is merely a local institution of the Underworld, which in turn is only a part of the Heavenly Court. After all, the Empress Earth, who upholds the laws of Heaven and bestows great virtue, is one of the Six Emperors of Heaven, managing the land and also serving as the god of the netherworld. Although Buddhism later joined this bureaucratic system, it was difficult to shake the Heavenly Court's control over the Three Realms. From this, we can see just how deep the waters run in those flourishing Eastern mythologies and fantasy worlds.

Fortunately for the five members of the vanguard team, the last time they encountered the world of A Chinese Ghost Story was a time of great upheaval and chaos, with demons running rampant. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to snag the City God's Talisman and Seal; they would probably have had to live cautiously to avoid accidentally offending some powerful deity who would then pacify them.

In short, the activation of the extraordinary powers of Yin and Yang within the City God's Talisman gave the five members of the vanguard team a glimpse of boundless potential. Especially since, after the City God's Talisman was activated, the City God's Seal could also be used—truly good news. In an Eastern mythological world, the appointment of a City God would require the approval of the Heavenly Court; otherwise, it would be considered illegal and disorderly conduct, and the person would be dragged to the Execution Platform and dealt with accordingly.

However, things are different here. The Heavenly Court has no jurisdiction over this area, and it is not covered by the Heavenly Court's laws. Therefore, although the City God's Talisman and Seal cannot unleash their full power after activation due to the lack of support from the Heavenly Court and the prevailing human sentiment, this also allows for the simplification of registration and onboarding procedures, without even requiring verification.

Activating the City God's Seal is equivalent to creating a mobile divine kingdom. Ghostly messengers and soldiers can be stored within it. With sufficient magical power or incense offerings to unleash the full power of the City God's Seal, it could even summon the City God's divine realm to forcibly descend. Even if the vanguard team cannot fully activate its functions yet, the most famous figures in Eastern mythology are notorious 'arms dealers'! To say that the City God's Seal only has a few 'auxiliary' functions would be to greatly underestimate the Heavenly Court.

Not to mention in Eastern mythology and fantasy, if a magical artifact can't be enlarged or shrunk, or thrown to hit people, how can you even call it a celestial artifact?! Right?! So after carefully examining the use of the City God Seal, the reincarnators of the vanguard team reasonably discovered that this City God Seal could indeed be enlarged to a very large size and then directly used to hit people.

Incidentally, when smashing people, it also adds extra extraordinary divine power that dazzles the eyes of these poor bastards, such as spatial binding, magical imprisonment, armor breaking, crushing, sealing, soul suppression, and mental intimidation... If a legendary old D&D veteran could get his hands on one of these things, he could go all out and prepare to fuck that scheming bitch, the Goddess of Magic, who was blocking his way.

Moreover, when not in battle, this seal can function as a mobile divine realm, capable of creating a demi-plane such as a netherworld or a small, secluded paradise. Add to that the additional functions of gathering ghosts, promoting ghost officials, training ghost soldiers, enlightening ghost immortals, and regulating the feng shui of a region… Doesn't it truly live up to its reputation as the celestial pantheon, the most adept at 'wholesale arms' among all mythological systems?!

These reincarnators, while happy, also felt deeply hurt. After all, they had struggled and toiled their way up in the cycle of reincarnation, only to find that within the Heavenly Court's pantheon, any high-ranking figure who took a liking to them could easily promote a mortal with no magical power to a City God. Their equipment and various enhancements were far inferior to those of the City Gods. If the City Gods possessed the authority and magical abilities they needed to slowly enhance themselves in the reincarnation space, the resources required could create one or two S-rank enhancers.

So the five members of the vanguard, while running around to the local churches to plunder and exploit the power of faith, immediately switched to the profession of tomb raiders. They went directly to the city's cemeteries to dig up and collect souls that could still be saved, stuffing them into the City God's seal to transform them into ghost soldiers, preparing to pull off a big heist.

It's past midnight! I got so caught up in writing the battle scenes that I almost forgot to upload my drafts.

324. The reincarnation of someone who sets a goal for their boss

Those who were going to pull off a big heist transformed into frenzied destroyers and shameless tomb raiders. Only churches built long enough could accumulate sufficient faith power. Similarly, tomb raiding, an industry completely familiar to reincarnators, was one of their well-practiced skills… because in both fantasy and magical worlds, those masters, or even the masters among masters, always liked to take valuable items to their graves, making it seem like someone desperately wanted to dig up their old tombs.

These days, a reincarnated person who doesn't enhance their knowledge of tomb raiding isn't a good reincarnated person.

Therefore, the church and sanctuary were furious at this situation. They had seen people humiliated before, but they had never seen anyone so arrogant as to abandon someone's grave after being humiliated. Especially since those who could be buried in city cemeteries were not so-called commoners; they were basically either nobles or people of high status. The graves of ordinary people were mostly outside the city.

Anyway, the vanguard's grave-robbing thoroughly enraged the sanctuary and the church. In addition to the team led by Elise and Father Brown, three more teams set out to track down and try to eliminate these lawless 'heretics'! Unfortunately, these pursuing teams were always a step too late, only able to watch helplessly as the collapsed cross became an empty church and the graves were dug up—after all, this wasn't a fantasy world with an underworld! The souls of those who died, if they didn't perish and return to nature, would definitely be trapped and slumber within their dead bodies.

Then it was dug open. Before the City God's Seal activated by the power of faith, these souls, just awakened from their dark slumber, had no power to resist and were directly absorbed into the divine space within the City God's Seal, where they were 'refined'. In this world without the constraints of heavenly laws, even though the systems are different, the City God's authority over life and death wouldn't be rendered useless. On the contrary, without the constraints of heavenly laws, their power greatly increased, and they wouldn't suffer any backlash from humanity or be struck down by heavenly tribulation for exceeding the scope of heavenly laws.

Whether you like it or not, once you're absorbed, everyone is forced to board and pay later. Among them, the vanguard actually managed to gather some decent souls, most of whom were knights, commanders, or renowned warriors in their past lives. These souls generally retained some memories from their previous lives, especially those related to combat.

Soon, the vanguard's forces gained an additional two hundred refined Yin soldiers, and several others, due to their past as knights or commanders, became ghost generals. Most of the Yin soldiers were D- or D-rank, while the ghost generals reached D+ or even approached C- rank. In the cycle of reincarnation, this level would be roughly equivalent to a novice, only slightly better than a newcomer. However, in this world, this number was formidable, enough to unleash a sufficiently troublesome disaster.

However, the tracking teams dispatched by the Holy See and the Church were unaware of all this. Having received reports that the opposing force likely possessed multiple Fifth Order members, the high command of the Church and the Holy See decisively sent each team with a Templar Knight Commander wielding a holy relic, leading dozens of Templar Knights and Paladins to hunt down these audacious blasphemers. In one team, a young knight named Zavisa, as the second wielder of a holy relic, joined to 'atone for his sins'... or more likely, to 'gild his reputation'...

The world is truly full of wonders!

For the reincarnators of the vanguard team, sometimes luck really does come, and there's nothing anyone can do about it, isn't there?

——————————Divider Line——————————

"Why has it been so long? Why haven't those pursuers caught up yet? Could they be so useless that they can't even find the traces we deliberately left behind?" AP asked the others while sitting under the shade of a tree, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth.

"It would be even better if they didn't come!" Old Wang replied. "At least that would mean these religious figures don't have any real power. We can just go and forcibly occupy their headquarters..."

"If it's to gather enough manpower, that would be even better!"

"Anyway, Xiao Zhao's City God Seal currently contains over two hundred D- to D-level ghost soldiers and several D+-level ghost generals. With such a huge advantage, how can we possibly lose in this world without the help of the Rising Sun Immortal?"

"Don't make promises you can't keep!" Old Wu shoved Old Wang and complained, "If you say that, be careful that the 'poisonous milk' technique comes from another dimension and heals us..."

"Nonsense!" Old Wang shrugged and said irresponsibly, "If we're going to take care of someone, we should take care of that black-hearted bastard first. We're just employees, shouldn't we take care of the boss first?"

"May that black-hearted bastard be jinxed by the 'poisonous milk' of the Rising Sun Immortal, and if the Director activates his Raven Words of Power again, it'll be a sure thing..."

"You're overthinking it?" Zhao Hao retorted. "If that day really comes, that black-hearted bastard will definitely be beaten to a pulp by a bunch of unspeakable people, and we'll be finished too!"

"We should pray that the Lord God lives a long and healthy life, at least in this mission world!"

"Fine! You decide!"

……

I wonder if the Supreme God, upon learning of this conversation between these cannon fodder, will first annihilate these bastards who cursed it? Because, perhaps by coincidence, what they said happened outside the cycle of reincarnation worlds controlled by the Supreme God to which these reincarnators belong.

Many unspeakable anomalies are eyeing that world completely controlled by the Supreme God, some so excited they're already drooling. Some are even more obscene, already using their lower bodies to... [censored]... Anyway, those who do this either get sneakily attacked from behind by a silver-haired guy, knocked unconscious with a crowbar, and then have Bubble ransack their possessions and dump them in some unknown corner of some time and space. Or they get dragged away by a bold blonde older sister...

The first one is fine, but the second one...

Okay! Let's not talk about that. Anyway, these reincarnators have started discussing whether the "poisonous milk" technique is more powerful, given that it brought down the Indian aircraft carrier and is unfathomable, or whether it is more effective, given that it brought back the Chinese national football team. You know, the latter has basically been sentenced to at least twenty years in prison by many people, but the fact that the "poisonous milk" technique is so powerful is probably not an exaggeration!

As for these evil gods who intend to cause trouble and farm dungeons along the way, they probably need to be more patient now. At least they should wait until they remove the outer barrier and warnings of this reincarnation space.

However, there are other things you can do in this process. For example, you can secretly put some tentacles or clones in first, and it's very simple and easy to coordinate from the inside out.

Of course, the reason why these lunatics haven't rushed in to cause the hatred to overtake is probably because they are currently in a situation of uneven distribution of spoils before the battle, and they've started fighting among themselves—and there's also the fact that a certain silver-haired guy is secretly fanning the flames.

No matter how I write, you'll all say it's rambling... You guys just love fighting and killing, right?

You're overthinking it. Today's chapter still won't have any fighting or killing (although it's already written). Let's have some love. Don't you guys have the achievements of Warcraft? (disdainful look)