The immense Incense Fire Wish Power transformed seamlessly into misfortune, as if the Wish Power itself was an incarnation of misfortune.

The smile on the White Sun Holy Mother's face suddenly froze. He furrowed his brows slightly, as if enduring immense pain. An ominous aura emanated from within him.

He did not know why this was happening. There had never been a case where Living Beings' Incense Fire transformed into misfortune before.

Even the minor land deities conferred by the Daqian could receive offerings from ghosts, so it was impossible for him not to be able to.

Generally, the probability of mortals turning into ghosts was too small. With extreme resentment upon suffering atrocities, it was possible to intentionally become one, but after becoming a ghost, there was no devotion to speak of, making control difficult. Even if there were Incense Fire Wish Power, it would be completely unusable.

If it were not so, they would have used other methods long ago. They gathered mortals only because their numbers were large and easy to control.

Now they had better starving ghosts, and as long as people starved to death, the probability of becoming a starving ghost was the same as in the past. They naturally wanted to try using starving ghosts.

They did not expect it to be better than mortals; as long as the Incense Fire Wish Power provided was not much worse than that of mortals, they would immediately change their strategy.

With the present cataclysmic disasters and wars, considering Dazhen's vast territory and large population, it was normal for millions to starve to death.

If they added fuel to the fire and acted covertly, letting tens of millions starve to death this year might still be possible.

However, their maniacal hopes were ultimately dashed as soon as they took the first step.

For Yu Ziqing had long seen through these unscrupulous people. Knowing how insane they would become after tasting success,

Yu Ziqing did not want to see millions, tens of millions of starving ghosts appear, representing more lives lost.

So, he paid a small price to initially thwart them.

The ominous aura from the White Sun Holy Mother constantly seeped out, but the starving ghosts, who had been brainwashed to lose themselves in life, had no idea what was happening. They continued chanting, still offering Incense Fire Wish Power to the White Sun Holy Mother with the utmost devotion.

High Priest Liu Xin sensed something amiss. That ominous aura instinctively repulsed him, then turned into a terror that felt lethal upon contact.

The ritual was forcibly interrupted.

For High Priest Liu Xin, in charge of the ritual, chose to flee even at the cost of some backlash.

He was scared, with his Divine Soul trembling and body resisting. He instinctively knew he would be incapacitated if he dared become tainted by it.

The White Sun Holy Mother's white garment began to grow filthy, his originally flawless, white jade-like skin lost its luster, and his deity-like extraordinary aura started to fall into the dust, sinking into mud.

The ominous aura continued to infect everything about him, making small pustules emerge on his face and stench arise from his underarms.

His soles began to emit a stench, and pus flowed from them. The hair radiating with light also lost its luster, falling out in handfuls.

In such a short time, his cultivation, once rapidly ascended to the Fourth-tier, began plummeting.

He gritted his teeth, dense runes emerged on his iris, and he fiercely stretched out a hand, extending his palm.

The Incense Fire power he absorbed inside his body was forcibly gathered and continually condensed.

Only in this way could he expel the Incense Fire power he actively absorbed.

His cultivation plummeting, when it fell to the Third-tier, strands of dark red Incense Fire power in his palm fully condensed, transforming into an Incense Fire Crystal the size of a soybean.

All remnants within his body were condensed here.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the Incense Fire power of starving ghosts was unusable but could be condensed into crystals for many uses,

The newly condensed dark red Incense Fire Crystal suddenly exploded, shattering one of the White Sun Holy Mother's hands, sending him flying backward as a shadow.

A ripple saturated with ominous aura swept across, and anyone who had absorbed the starving ghost incense was to face backlash.

The base fell into chaos, with a believer wanting to curry favor, hurriedly digging through the rubble, trying to extract the White Sun Holy Mother from the collapse.

However, upon contact with the White Sun Holy Mother, the pus on his surface transformed into an ominous aura, contaminating them as well.

The power they gained from the White Sun Evil Cult began to plunge, straight past limits until all the power they acquired here dissipated before the ominous forces lost their target and vanished without a trace.

Lesser believers came one after another, but after contacting the pus, invariably met this end.

Senior believers such as the Joy Lamp Priests stayed far away, with High Priest Liu Xin being the first to flee and yet to return.

Eventually, with pustules over his body, sores on his head, pus on his feet, a foul stench in his underarms, the filthy and stinking White Sun Holy Mother emerged.

He stood where he was, panting heavily, his eyes filled with a terrifying gleam of malice, mind collapsing.

No matter what, he could never have imagined facing such a situation.

The Incense Fire Wish Power of starving ghosts was utterly unusable, bringing misfortune, unable even to condense into Incense Fire Crystals.

Blood continued flowing from the severed wrist. Hardened, he opened his mouth, abolished his cultivation, and discarded all the powers obtained from the Incense Fire Wish Power he absorbed these days.

Reverting to a mortal, the rapidly growing pustules on him ceased growing.

However, the pustules and sores remained, and the foul stench lingered.

"My servant, forgive your servant for being late in saving you, Holy Mother."

Seeing that Liu Xin was fine, he sprang out from nowhere to immediately kneel and plead for mercy.

He looked at the believers around him and sternly ordered.

"What are you standing around for?

Can't you get some mortal believers to help?

It's a rare lifetime opportunity for them to contact the Holy Mother.

Hurry, find ones adept at caring for others."

Liu Xin swiftly commanded, restoring order from chaos.

Soon, over a dozen mortal believers arrived, all middle-aged women, clearly the kind skilled in caregiving.

The White Sun Holy Mother was carried back for care, his wrist being tended.

The remaining believers began restoring the collapsed part here, trying to restore it to its former state.

"Master, what about those starving ghosts?" a believer fearfully asked.

"What else? Kill them all," Liu Xin barked, but then shook his head. "Wait."

He glanced at the chanting starving ghosts, recalling the prior events that left him fearful with a racing heart.

After pondering briefly, he waved to the believers.

"Send them back to wherever they came from."

He was somewhat fearful, worried that obliterating these starving ghosts might cause a dreadful transformation.

"Spread the word, don't let those believers starve, be mindful of the cold weather, prevent them from freezing, and avoid any outbreak of disease. For every believer that starves in a camp, punish one of the camp's faithful."

High Priest Liu Xin walked through the base, instinctively keeping his distance from the believers turned invalid from ominous contamination after contact with the Holy Mother, a chill running down his spine just watching them.

After stabilizing things here, he promptly visited the White Sun Holy Mother's residence. Despite their trepidation, the devoted believers were thoroughly earnest in their work.

Every pustule on the White Sun Holy Mother was lanced, draining the pus, and professional doctors knew to sterilize the bandages. Soon, the White Sun Holy Mother was bandaged like a mummy, quietly lying there.

Stripped back to a mortal, seriously injured, and missing a hand, he calmed, looking at Liu Xin in silence.

Liu Xin knew his immediate avoidance earlier was somewhat inappropriate...

"Holy Mother, I have a treasured Discontinuation Pill to present to you."

He produced a jade box sealed by talismans, respectfully holding it high.

"No need, keep it for yourself."

The White Sun Holy Mother replied casually.

"Attend to the city's believers."

"Holy Mother, I have arranged everything."

The White Sun Holy Mother nodded, slowly closing his eyes, saying no more.

Liu Xin saluted and gradually retreated.

After Liu Xin left, the White Sun Holy Mother opened his eyes, gazing outside with a calm expression.

He knew absolute loyalty was nonexistent in the Holy Sect, as everyone gathered for shared interests.

Moreover, only he could lead these believers to gain those benefits.

Otherwise, if he had died for the first time, he might never have had another chance to descend.

Now, too, he had no usable talents left.

The loss from the uprising decades ago was too great. He, along with the then High Priest, Four Great Guardians, Eight Great Priests, and the strongest White Sun Daoist Soldiers were all lured and slain by a single person, thoroughly exterminated, and reincarnated to complete annihilation.

And decades were too short, insufficient to secretly develop potent forces.

Otherwise, why would Liu Xin, who fled back then, become the High Priest?

Back then, Liu Xin, though slightly inferior to the Eight Great Priests, was essentially just an ordinary priest.

Nonetheless, developing so much within these few decades secretly entailing many arrangements, that Liu Xin did well, truly a talent.

Yet, the habit of fleeing upon seeing danger remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, in a small town thousands of miles away,

Yu Ziqing looked westward, closed his eyes, and engaged in sensing, while the rune on his left arm, transformed into a tiny tattoo, gently radiated light.

Sensing for a moment, Yu Ziqing laughed aloud.

"Impossible, impossible, how can someone be backfired this soon, in just a few days?"

"Uh, wait, it must be two people backfired, right? Surely it can't be someone backfired twice, can it?"