Qi Xuansu wore an ordinary Daoist robe. On the left side of his outer belt hung a sword, while on the right side, a gleaming pistol was strapped. This reminded him of his days as a seventh-rank Daoist.

Once, he had relied on pistols. Now, his appetite had shifted toward heavy artillery.

Qi Xuansu had visited Cusco. New Paititi shared many similarities with it, though it was significantly larger. Cusco might suffice as the capital of an underdeveloped agrarian state, but for a newly emerging industrial nation, it was far from adequate.

The tides of the world surged forward irresistibly. The Westerners’ steam revolution propelled the rise of the West, sweeping across the globe. The Easterners followed close behind, forging their own path through their creations. Meanwhile, the unchanging New Continent had nearly been annihilated.

The Tawantin Empire had no choice but to change. In the face of survival and the continuation of their people, ancient traditions meant nothing. They could not stand against the tide of reform. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Thus, the Western Daoist Order successfully initiated a comprehensive transformation of the Tawantin Empire, gradually securing supreme authority in the process.

Of course, the Western Daoist Order alone could not accomplish such a massive undertaking that required vast resources.

After their breakthroughs, the Westerners turned to external plunder. Meanwhile, the Western Daoist Order chose a more pragmatic path—securing external financial support from the Daoist Order.

The Daoist Order provided large-scale aid to the Western Daoist Order while also cultivating numerous pro-Daoist factions within it. They were called the reunification faction, advocating for reintegration into the Daoist Order. They likened this to a wanderer returning home, strengthening the Daoist Order’s influence within the Western Daoist Order and thereby indirectly influencing the Tawantin Empire.

Strictly speaking, there was no true anti-Daoist faction within the Western Daoist Order, only factions opposing reintegration. Thus, internal conflicts appeared paradoxical. While disagreements existed, they remained unified in seeking Daoist support and maintaining its approval.

The first step to transforming the Tawantin Empire was to abandon Cusco and construct New Paititi, along with numerous manufacturing plants.

Among all sectors, the military was the most successfully transformed by the Western Daoist Order. This was unsurprising, as security was the most critical concern of the Tawantin Empire. In large-scale warfare, relying solely on Daoist support from across the vast ocean was impractical.

The nature of warfare had fundamentally changed. It was no longer the age of cold weapons, where feeding soldiers was enough. With the widespread use of firearms and artillery, the demand for ammunition had skyrocketed. Thus, relying solely on Daoist support could result in ammunition depletion after just one or two major battles, rendering guns and cannons as useless as scrap metal.

This forced the Western Daoist Order to establish its own production system. The Daoist Order would supply only high-end weaponry, so the first industries to develop were those related to military manufacturing.

The advancement and development of the military industry placed higher demands on its operators, requiring continuous learning.

The Tawantin Empire lacked such knowledge and had to learn from outsiders. Since the Westerners were their enemies and thus not an option, they could only learn from the Daoist Order.

Learning began with writing, which was the foundation and core of a civilization. Eastern script carried Eastern modes of thinking and ingrained concepts, so in learning Eastern knowledge, the Southern Continent natives were gradually assimilated into Eastern culture. Coupled with admiration for strength, they also began to imitate the behaviors and habits of those they learned from.

This was precisely why Zhang Yuelu disliked Western culture. While the spread of Western learning brought its strengths, it also introduced its flaws into the Central Plains, even reshaping many people’s ways of thinking. Fortunately, the East was not weaker than the West and could resist such erosion. But if the East were to decline, voices advocating complete Westernization would inevitably arise, erasing its own civilization.

Thus, the sinicization of Tawantin’s military was inevitable. Centered around the army, other social classes also underwent varying degrees of sinicization. Only the priestly class remained the most conservative and kept their traditions. Other classes, including the royal family, had already drifted somewhat from their original identity.

Due to these unique factors, New Paititi had developed a rather strange aesthetic. It largely retained the style of Cusco, especially in the temple district, which preserved the most traditional elements. However, elsewhere, the traces of sinicization were evident.

For example, mythical creatures of the Central Plains, like the Pixiu and Qilin, appeared among decorative sculptures. Bells of Eastern design hung beneath temple eaves. Not far from the statue of Kukulkan stood a statue of the Primordial Daoist Ancestor.

While the locals might have grown accustomed to it, to Qi Xuansu, who was from the Central Plains, it felt jarringly inconsistent, an unsettling clash of styles.

Just as Qi Xuansu was about to find a place to settle down, a wave of bloody aura suddenly emanated from the direction of the temple district.

This aura was an intangible presence, akin to killing intent.

Surprised, Qi Xuansu followed the flow of people toward the temple district.

There were quite a few people here fluent in the Central Plains tongue, so Qi Xuansu casually asked around and learned that a blood sacrifice was being held in the temple district.

Blood sacrifice had once been common in the era of the Ancient Wuist Sect. After the Daoist Order defeated the Ancient Witches, such practices were abolished. Now, in the Central Plains, any act of blood sacrifice was regarded as heretical.

However, the Southern Continent still retained this practice. The Western Daoist Order had failed to abolish it because the driving force behind it was the ancient gods.

Following the crowd, Qi Xuansu arrived at the plaza before a pyramid and witnessed the blood sacrifice ritual.

The temple stood at the top of the pyramid, connected to the plaza below by a long staircase. The crowd gathered in the plaza, while midway up the steps was a protruding platform for such sacrifices. The highest-level sacrifices, however, were conducted within the temple itself.

At this moment, priests wearing emerald masks and temple warriors stood upon the platform. They wore green feathered headdresses, wielded obsidian weapons, and guarded prisoners who were bound tightly by the limbs.

Below the platform, numerous corpses had already piled up into a giant mound, yet the blood sacrifice ritual had not ceased.

Around the platform, drummers struck their drums with both hands in a strange rhythm, chanting ritual songs that sounded like eerie howls to those who did not understand the language.

Standing among the crowd, Qi Xuansu fell into thought. Have these ancient gods become this weak? Is gathering faith and offerings no longer enough, forcing them to rely on blood sacrifice to hasten their recovery?

This reminded Qi Xuansu of Great Sage Yan’s Records of the Western Region. At that time, the Seven Ancient Immortals had only recently revived and were still weak. Led by Wu Luo, some of them began large-scale blood sacrifices. However, aside from Wu Luo, who was an Ancient Great Witch well-versed in such rituals and able to withstand its backlash, the other Ancient Immortals who performed blood sacrifices gradually perished. Though blood sacrifice was not the sole cause of their deaths, it had played a role in it. After all, blood sacrifice bred karmic fire, so it was akin to drinking poison to quench thirst.

Those who refrained from blood sacrifice, such as True Lord Taiyin and True Lord Ziguang, survived.

Meanwhile, True Lord Siming took a different path. Rather than direct blood sacrifice, he incited wars, spread curses, and harvested living souls, so he avoided downfall.

From this, Qi Xuansu surmised that the condition of these ancient gods was far from optimistic.

Soon, one batch of people was slaughtered, and temple warriors brought another dozen shackled victims onto the platform.

During the brief pause, the priests began chanting prayers in a native tongue Qi Xuansu could not understand, accompanied by ritual dances.

The faces of these “offerings” were painted with various pigments, like theatrical masks, obscuring their true features.

The warriors forced the victims to kneel at the center of the platform. The priests then circled them, dancing, chanting, and praying.

The sound of ancient instruments reverberated in the air.

After a while, the thousands of onlookers joined in the prayers.

Qi Xuansu could sense that the souls of these “offerings” were in a dazed, confused state. They were lost and unaware of the situation they were in.

About an hour later, the priests completed the ritual. They took out their blades and skillfully cut open the offerings’ abdomen and chest cavity to extract the heart.

Throughout the entire process, the offerings showed no resistance, like livestock awaiting slaughter. They did not even make a sound.

Instead, the watching crowd burst into cheers.

The priests then pushed the disemboweled corpses off the platform, where they fell onto the growing mound below. Only then did Qi Xuansu notice that the plaza had channels carved into it. Blood from the corpses flowed along these grooves into a pool, where it quickly disappeared.

As a Heavenly Being, Qi Xuansu could see many things invisible to ordinary people.

One by one, illusory souls were being devoured by a mysterious force, while the flowing blood rapidly lost all vitality and spiritual essence, turning into filthy blood.

Godly Immortals did not subsist solely on faith and incense offerings. Since such offerings originated from people, human souls were also sustenance. For sustainability, most deities avoided exhausting their sources.

In this regard, the Holy Court and the Buddhist Sect excelled at gathering faith, establishing long-term systems where gods and followers benefit each other. By contrast, the more primitive ancient gods often caused great destruction. From this perspective, the Holy Court did have its merits.

Qi Xuansu had no intention of intervening, as this blood sacrifice involved ancient gods. If even the Western Daoist Order could not change it, neither could he. Cutting off such a practice would only incur trouble and enmity. Even if he wished to change things, it would have to be done gradually. Exposing his intentions prematurely and without a plan would be unwise.

He shifted his gaze to the temple priests, who bore traces of divine power, likely granted by the ancient gods. However, they seemed to be running low on divine power.

Without waiting for the ritual to conclude, Qi Xuansu turned and left the scene.