novelraw Chapter 380-2: Grand Offering, Vishnu (2)
Chapter 380-2: Grand Offering, Vishnu (2)
Two days later, at the estate by the Qinhuai River in Jinling City.
“Lord Cain, I have already hosted the Offering Ritual according to your instructions. Everyone was highly enthusiastic, practically itching to donate their Spirit Essence even if it meant going bankrupt. Here is the ranking list for the Offering Ritual.”
At his side, Arsonist Cao Chi respectfully handed over the list with both hands.
Seeing the additional eight million-plus Spirit Essence, Lin Xun could not help sighing. “Even if I drain the pond to catch the fish, I still cannot exhaust their Spirit Essence. These leeks truly have boundless potential. Cut one batch and another grows out…”
The eight million-plus Spirit Essence he obtained this time was the revenue excluding the proxy pasture districts. One third of the pasture for herding lambs under him was grazed by proxy agents appointed by Vishnu.
This was the old tradition of layer upon layer of exploitation in the New World. Unless Lin Xun could take down the person standing at the very top of the New World, he would never be able to break free from this exploitation.
The proxy agents of the proxy pasture districts also held an Offering Ritual at the same time as him. According to what Lin Xun knew, those people still thought of sustainable development and only collected a measly two million Spirit Essence.
If he had been the one operating it, he would have at least doubled that number.
If all the proxy pasture districts were included in his own offerings, the total gains would probably reach twelve or thirteen million.
And this was the revenue from an Offering Ritual held ahead of schedule. If it were conducted once every quarter, even without any drain-the-pond kind of underhanded operations, the Spirit Essence generated by the offerings would likely reach twenty to thirty million.Unfortunately, the Spirit Essence offerings from the proxy pasture districts did not go into his pocket.
Cao Chi handed over the list while leaning in to ask in a low voice, “Lord, do you truly not need me to serve as a retainer and accompany you into battle?”
“After all, the Disciple war is far too dangerous. One more person means one more set of eyes looking out for you… this is not an order from the organization, it is my voluntary request.”
Cao Chi had been undercover in the New World for many years with little progress. Now that he had finally become a Disciple’s deputy, he was eager to contribute in any way he could.
Lin Xun shook his head. “Doing your job well as my deputy is the greatest help you can give me. As for the Disciple war, I do not want you to die a glorious death so soon.”
He did not take the offering list and did not even spare it a glance.
“There is no need to give me that list. Just keep it yourself,” Lin Xun continued. “After I win the Disciple war and expand the pasture, announce the numbers on this list to the lambs in the new pasture.”
“I believe that when they see how devout the lambs of other pastures are, they will surely give their all to display their own devotion so that the proxy agent position will not be handed over to others.”
“The lambs need pressure in order to have motivation.”
Hearing this, Cao Chi could not help carefully sizing up Lord Cain, only feeling that this Councilor Lin did not seem like an undercover agent at all.
He was more like a man-eating devil who did not even spit out the bones than the members of the New World organization themselves.
Cao Chi could not help thinking to himself: No wonder I made so little progress after so many years undercover. It turned out that my heart was not black enough and my hand not ruthless enough.
It was probably only people like Councilor Lin who could thrive in the New World, only such people who could carve a bloody path through a solidified class where the weak were prey to the strong.
After Arsonist Cao Chi left the estate, Lin Xun took out his phone.
With the Spirit Essence he had just harvested added in, forging a Legendary+ grade accessory was more than doable.
But if he wanted to upgrade the exclusive accessory’s grade to mythic, he was still short by more than one million Spirit Essence.
He narrowed his eyes and quickly came up with an idea.
Lin Xun used the Cain Holy Name persona to send a message to Vishnu through the Book of Letters.
[Cain: Lord Vishnu, with the Disciple war about to begin, your subordinate is doing his utmost to prepare so that he can render service to you in the great battle.]
Not long after the message was sent, he received Vishnu’s reply.
[Vishnu: Not bad. Strengthen your own power well. I am looking forward to your performance in the Disciple war.]
Vishnu was the Third Disciple, one of the upper-seat Disciples, an apex big shot of the New World.
Under him, aside from Lin Xun and the Twelfth Disciple Amos, there was also the Eighth Disciple Mattithiah among the middle-seat Disciples.
Vishnu’s faction had the most people among the Disciple factions, but its overall strength was not satisfactory, because Lin Xun and Amos were the last few among the Disciples and had not yet experienced a Disciple war. They were at the very bottom.
During the Disciple war, each Disciple could bring their personally cultivated trusted retainers into battle with them, so Vishnu’s faction would likely gather a host of experts.
Only Lin Xun was the special exception who had no retainers.
However, according to Amos, there was a limit to how many retainers each Disciple could bring. The fact that Lin Xun had none was actually a good thing for Vishnu.
Because this way, Vishnu could occupy Lin Xun’s retainer quota and deploy more of his own trusted elites to participate in the Disciple war.
[Cain: Lord Vishnu, I am a newly promoted Disciple and know very well that compared to those experts who have experienced multiple Disciple wars, I am lacking by far, perhaps even inferior to your most capable retainers.]
[I only hope that I can, while not holding you back, still kill enemies in your service.]
[To that end, so that I can strengthen my power before the war, I have held another Offering Ritual recently…]
[Vishnu: I know about this. The proxy agents have already handed the Spirit Essence offerings over to me.]
[Given the special circumstances with the Disciple war about to begin, your frequent Offering Rituals for the sake of strengthening your own power can be considered an unavoidable necessity.]
[But in the future, it is best that you still abide by the rules and take a longer view.]
[Cain: Thank you for your guidance, Lord, but even though I have been holding Offering Rituals so frequently, the Spirit Essence I have collected is still not quite enough…]
After Lin Xun sent this message, it was a long time before Vishnu replied.
[Vishnu: How much are you short?]
[Cain: Lord, I am a bit embarrassed to say…]
[Vishnu: If you are embarrassed, then do not say it.]
[Cain: I would not dare hide it from you, Lord. I am short by five million Spirit Essence.]
[Vishnu: …]
This time it was as if Vishnu had gone offline. He did not reply for a long while.
A good while later, there was finally movement again.
[Vishnu: Only this once. There will be no next time.]
[You have received 5,000,000 Spirit Essence gifted by Vishnu.]
Lin Xun’s lips curled into a wide grin as he continued to type, beaming.
[Cain: Many thanks for your generous support, Lord. I will definitely perform well in the Disciple war and live up to your trust.]
[Vishnu: Strengthen your power properly. I do not wish to see you die in the Disciple war, nor does the Master.]
Lin Xun was stunned for a moment, then thanked Vishnu once more before falling into deep thought.
Only after a long time did he come back to himself. “No matter who you really are, I will kill you and also… wipe out the entire New World.”