Chapter 367: Intelligence-Debuff Buff
Compared to her main body, the Spirit Body’s way of thinking had become much more straightforward and emotional.
To put it bluntly, her already less-than-brilliant intelligence seemed to have dropped another notch.
“…My brain!”
Then she quickly accepted reality.
“Forget it. Everyone already knows becoming a Cup follower comes with an intelligence-debuff buff.”
Fortunately, while her intelligence as an extraordinary being continued to grow after advancement, the Spirit Body’s decline had no effect on her main body.
So it wasn’t a major problem.
The Spirit Body she had created originally possessed exactly the same intelligence as herself.
Although there were technically two versions of “Xu Zhi,” that did not mean putting the two together would somehow produce better ideas.
The main body and the Spirit Body would always arrive at identical conclusions.
But now things were different.
The Spirit Body had been corrupted by the Cup, altering its thought processes.
When confronted with a problem, it might now produce solutions completely different from those of the main body.
“That’s not entirely bad, I guess.”
The feeling was a little strange, though.
As if she had suddenly become two different people.
Fortunately, despite the divergence in thinking, everything remained interconnected.
She could instantly know everything happening on the Spirit Body’s side.
And whenever the Spirit Body’s brain short-circuited, she could still offer better suggestions.
One brain might have gotten dumber.
The other one was still functioning perfectly fine.
As the changes within her body gradually settled down, the Spirit Body slowly opened its eyes.
The moment she did, she found the priest and the other two believers staring at her with six unblinking eyes.
“You’re awake?”
The priest sounded excited.
The way he looked at Xu Zhi was filled with admiration.
“You’re the first person I’ve ever seen with talent this extraordinary!”
“The Lord must be very pleased with you.”
“And surely very pleased with me for finding you.”
Naturally, he did not forget to take some credit for himself.
“From this day onward, you are the Saintess of our congregation.”
“We will follow your commands and contribute even more to the Lord’s cause!”
Without hesitation, he surrendered his leadership position.
Even though Xu Zhi already understood how the Cup operated, she was still mildly surprised.
The structure of Cup believers was truly unique.
It resembled an enormous pyramid.
At the very peak stood the god itself.
Within that rigid hierarchy, lower-ranking believers obeyed higher-ranking ones unconditionally.
That was something extraordinary beings of other paths could never accomplish.
Looking at the three people before her, Xu Zhi could clearly sense the aura of her own kind emanating from them.
As a result, she felt absolutely no appetite toward any of them.
Beyond that, she could also tell something else.
All three were beneath her.
Two Fanatics.
One Absolved One.
Now she was the strongest member of this little cult.
After some thought, Xu Zhi asked,
“Are there other believers? Other congregations?”
She had originally wanted to ask whether they knew anything about the whereabouts of the Archbishops.
Then she remembered how ridiculous that would be.
How could these three possibly know such things?
Even she, as the highest-ranked Messenger present, could only vaguely sense that three Archbishops currently existed.
It really was true—you wouldn’t learn certain things unless you infiltrated the enemy from within.
The Cup had secretly restored three Archbishops?
Based on the history Xu Zhi had learned after arriving in the real world, the extraordinary community had once launched an unprecedented purge against the Cup.
The Archbishops, in particular, had supposedly been hunted down and killed by numerous Named beings.
Of course, Xu Zhi knew that wasn’t entirely true.
One of them had disguised itself as a god and been locked away instead.
Still, one thing was certain.
The Cup’s followers had indeed been nearly exterminated.
Yet now, three Archbishops had quietly reappeared.
“…How devious.”
This information only became available after reaching the Messenger rank.
Furthermore, some kind of restriction seemed to exist.
The information could not be spoken aloud directly.
After hearing Xu Zhi’s question, the priest answered without much thought.
“There should be plenty of congregations throughout the lower district.”
“They just aren’t gathered together.”
“Everyone’s spread out, trying to recruit more believers.”
“There should be at least one in every settlement.”
Good grief.
Every settlement?
The entire lower district of Lotus City had practically become a sieve.
“Our overall strength isn’t very high, which is why we’re developing here.”
Anyone stronger would not choose a scavenger settlement.
After all, high-quality flesh and blood rarely appeared in places like this.
“There’s an industrial district not far away.”
“There are definitely congregations there that are stronger than ours.”
The people living there were factory workers.
Especially those engaged in manual labor.
Their physical condition far surpassed that of ordinary scavengers.
“Then let’s make preparations.”
“We’ll go find them.”
Xu Zhi immediately made her decision.
She wanted the Spirit Body to climb the pyramid as quickly as possible.
After only just joining the Cup, she had already obtained information and knowledge that would otherwise have been inaccessible.
The higher her status within the Cup, the more she would learn.
“Very well. As you wish.”
As expected, none of the three raised any objections.
That was the twisted nature of the Cup’s hierarchy.
Even if Xu Zhi’s decision was complete nonsense, believers beneath her rank would still obey.
“However…”
The priest hesitated.
“You may need to conceal your appearance a little.”
As he spoke, he handed her a mirror.
Somewhat puzzled, Xu Zhi accepted it and took a look.
The woman staring back at her had crimson hair and crimson eyes.
Not a bright red.
A dark red.
The color of blood thickened until it nearly turned black.
Combined with the Spirit Body’s naturally villainous-looking features, merely glancing at her reflection felt enough to conjure the scent of blood in the air.
It truly wasn’t suitable for appearing in public.
The appearance was simply too sinister.
Completely different from the temperament of the Heart path.
Even someone like Ji Muge, a battle-crazed anomaly, possessed fiery red hair that radiated vitality and life.
Xu Zhi’s current appearance, by contrast, made it seem as though blood itself flowed through her veins in visible streams.
“…Do you have a hood?”
“We do. Plenty of them.”
After putting on a black hooded cloak, the wide brim concealed her hair and eyes.
Only the lower half of her sharply defined face remained visible.
Without the crimson hair and eyes, much of the eerie aura faded away.
“Good.”
“Let’s get ready and move out.”
Once the plan was established, Xu Zhi’s main body stopped paying close attention to the Spirit Body.
After the Spirit Body’s mentality changed, she discovered a useful approach.
By treating the Spirit Body as another version of herself—relatively independent—both sides could focus primarily on their own affairs.
Each could largely ignore the other, reconnecting only when they wanted an update.
The rest of the time, the other body could essentially be left running in the background.
That made things much more comfortable.
Normally, using two bodies simultaneously felt like constantly operating two hands at once.
Now, by subconsciously ignoring one hand, she could focus primarily on the other.
“Will this eventually give me a split personality?”
Xu Zhi worried briefly.
Then she decided that being a little mentally unstable probably wasn’t a major issue and stopped thinking about it.
Another ray of morning sunlight fell across the Lost Land.
Using her extraordinary abilities, Xu Zhi estimated the remaining distance between herself and Xiao Zhen.
Thanks to Xiao Zhen’s relentless travel, the gap had become very small.
In less than four hours, they should finally meet.
The nearest Lost One settlement was also within reach.
She could arrive there before nightfall.
“Everything’s proceeding according to plan.”
First, gather all of her followers back together and strengthen herself.
Then—
Begin a deeper exploration of the Lost Land.
