Fey Evolution Merchant (Web Novel)

Each time the village leader changed, the village would have to change its faith.

In a village of this size and level, no bigshot would truly be willing to guide and enact change in the village. They would be more likely to do what was happening now, which was to send their subordinates to forcefully collect faith.

The older individuals had heard that a village like this, comprising hundreds of millions of lifeforms, was traded around like objects.

If a lifeform wanted to supply faith power to a sculpture, it would need to continuously lie to itself to change its mindset and self-hypnotize. Otherwise, the faith power would never be generated!

How could anyone naturally have faith in a sculpture?

The elderly man had never given any explanation of the lifeform that the sculpture represented. All he did was address this sculpture using various terms for gods and celestial beings.

They could only hope that once there was a change in the village's ownership, their lives would become less agonizing. It was torturous to have their food so strictly restricted!

The villagers who did not provide sufficient faith would have to suffer violent punishment from the elderly man, while those who were able to provide sufficient faith would have their supply of food cut down. Only the villagers who were able to provide more faith power than was expected of them would not have their supply of food reduced and receive meager rewards.

This elderly man was currently a beginner spirit fire expert and was much weaker than Lin Yuan.

However, he was slightly stronger than Genius.

If Lin Yuan instructed Genius to use Connected Tails on the elderly man and the elderly man put up resistance, Genius would be harmed.

Lin Yuan would never want to see Genius harmed!

Lin Yuan lifted his hand, and the Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom released a large amount of spores. The spores entered the elderly man's body, and Lin Yuan shot a look at Green Vine.

Green Vine's vines formed a treehouse in the sky, where Lin Yuan interrogated the elderly man.

First, he wanted to know the exact coordinates of his place. Next, he also wanted to learn about the Quiet Rain Evil Crows. This would allow him to make preparations in advance if they possessed a certain level of power.

The elderly man had begun a new round of offerings today. He had instructed the villagers to begin worshiping the stone statue.

The elderly man had not been collecting faith power for long, but the faith power in the storage stones had been less than expected.

The World Emperor/Divine Kingdom Quiet Rain Evil Crow would be able to sense this and eventually come to investigate the situation.

Lin Yuan did not need to act personally to obtain information from this elderly man.

Lin Yuan released the Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom in human form, and it demonstrated professional interrogation techniques.

The elderly man spilled all the information that he possessed.

They were currently located in an area known as North of the Lonely River.

This was the most remote region of the East Universe. However, this did not mean that this area was barren. It was actually the opposite, as North of the Lonely River was filled with resources.

No faction had crossed the Lonely River and broken ground on North of the Lonely River because there were many powerful aquatic species residing in the Lonely River.

These aquatic species not only occupied the waters of the Lonely River but the air above it as well.

They only respected a faction like Honor Absent Palace, who were the rulers of the East Universe.

A few of the experts from the species living in the Lonely River were also members of the Honor Absent Parliament.

Honor Absent Palace had thought of venturing into North of the Lonely River, but it would require them to cross the Lonely River.

The species living in the Lonely River might not obstruct the people from Honor Absent Palace, but they would definitely charge a high fee for each crossing of the Lonely River.

In the end, the costs exceeded the potential benefits. Hence, Honor Absent Palace lost interest in developing North of the Lonely River.

Since no one had begun harvesting the resources from North of the Lonely River, the area was extremely impoverished.

The elderly man had accidentally ended up joining the Quiet Rain Evil Crows a few thousand years ago. He was not a true member and did not have a good grasp of the Quiet Rain Evil Crows' circumstances.

All he knew was that the two Quiet Rain Evil Crows he usually interacted with had reached World Emperor/Divine Kingdom. It was a level that he could only dream of reaching.

Once Lin Yuan gleaned the information he wanted, the Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom looked at him. It was clear that it wanted to know what Lin Yuan wanted to do with this elderly man.

The Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom had been molded by Lin Yuan. He could not say that it was kind, but it had an objectively decent character.

At that moment, the Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom was filled with killing intent toward the elderly man. He had misused his power for profit and committed too many wicked acts.

Lin Yuan sighed and nodded at the Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom.

It was true that the elderly man deserved to die. However, killing the elderly man would not be able to save all the lifeforms that had died at his hand over the years. The number of lifeforms that had been killed for failing to provide sufficient faith power was greater than the current population of the village!

Once it received Lin Yuan's signal, the Sky-Questioning Flaming Heart Mushroom used Thought-Separating Flames to burn the elderly man to ashes.

Lin Yuan left the treehouse that Green Vine created out of its vines.

The lifeforms in the village dared not move about carelessly and remained timidly rooted to the spot.

Lin Yuan was aware of how the elderly man maintained order in the village and knew that the villagers were all starving and undernourished.

Lin Yuan summoned five of the Deposit Vegetable Pods in human form. They then began distributing the Soldier Ration Radish's leaves and vines.

The Soldier Ration Radish was a lifeform that Chef Supreme had accidentally cultivated. When lifeforms from the main world consumed them, a small quantity would be enough to fill their stomachs.

The same went for the lifeforms in the Sky Beyond the Clouds.

When Lin Yuan summoned Green Vine, the villagers realized that he was a spirit contractor.

Normally, spirit contractors did not contract many entities, as it required resources to nurture each contracted entity. If they contracted too many, they would be overstrained.

The villagers also saw the five Deposit Vegetable Pods Lin Yuan summoned as entities he had contracted.

The Deposit Vegetable Pods continued to distribute the Soldier Ration Radishes and urged the villagers to consume as much as they wanted.

The Deposit Vegetable Pods had only just been summoned by Lin Yuan and could not speak in the Sky Beyond the Clouds' language. However, they could use signing and gesturing to convey their meaning.

The villagers had never eaten anything like the Soldier Ration Radish. But they were so hungry that it was difficult for them to stay on guard. Under the stress of starvation, the villagers who had been failing to supply sufficient faith power to the sculpture stuffed the Soldier Ration Radish's leaves into their mouths.

With the first chew of the Soldier Ration Radish, the villagers felt vitality flowing through their bodies. It did not take long for them to feel full.

This feeling of fullness took the villagers by astonishment. This was an extremely precious feeling to them. They had almost forgotten the last time they felt this way.

The villagers who had consumed and were experiencing the benefits of the Soldier Ration Radish looked up at the 12-winged Lin Yuan. They instinctively felt reliant on him.

In a place like the Sky Beyond the Clouds, the weak lifeforms lived arduous lives akin to that of insects.

But weak lifeforms also had a way of pursuing survival. This was done by seeking the protection of stronger experts. The villagers now saw Lin Yuan as a source of protection.

The instant these villagers placed their hope in Lin Yuan, he could distinctly sense that many weak dots of light had appeared in his fountain of faith. These dots of light represented the lifeforms that were present.

It was just as Summer had said. Saving them was the best way of obtaining faith power!

However, generating the glowing dots of faith power was vastly different from receiving a constant stream of faith power.

In order to receive a constant stream of faith power from these targets, he would have to maintain the protection he offered them.

But it would take a large amount of resources to deepen their faith in him and raise their happiness levels.

This was why so many experts in the Sky Beyond the Clouds chose not to protect the weaker lifeforms and enable them to become a stable supply of high-quality faith power despite being clearly capable of doing so.

Lin Yuan had been thinking about one thing ever since he heard all about North of the Lonely River from the elderly man. He contemplated whether this was the place to develop his faction.

Once he developed his faction to a certain extent, he would then be able to cross the Lonely River and extend his enterprise to other areas.

Lin Yuan was never the type to be reckless. He intended to wait for Fan Lou to arrive so he could ask him about the allocation of resources in North of the Lonely River. It would be best if he could obtain the resource allocation plan for North of the Lonely River.

It would not be too late for Lin Yuan to make his decision after he gained an understanding of the resource allocation there!

Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter had been watching over Lin Yuan from the shadows.

The four of them were not surprised when they saw Lin Yuan put a clean end to the elderly man's life.

Lin Yuan was in a constant state of rapid growth. The four of them had been with Lin Yuan all these years, and at each milestone, they could not help but be amazed at his growth.

Once the starving villagers had their fill of the Soldier Ration Radish, those who had been able to supply above-average quantities of faith power to the sculpture and had not had their food allowance reduced got their first taste of the Soldier Ration Radish.

No one was exempt from group mentality, especially when benefits were involved.

Once Lin Yuan saw that almost all the villagers had consumed the Soldier Ration Radish, he said in a low voice, "Rather than supplying your faith to a sculpture from an unknown source, why don't you decide for yourselves who you give your faith to?

"The entire village has been consuming the sour fruits growing outside the village as well as wild beasts that you catch with traps. The number of beasts you'll be able to catch varies day by day. It's impossible that all of you will get to eat meat every day.

"However, the sour fruits grow in large quantities. I will send people to harvest the sour fruits later. The sour fruits will make up most of your daily diet, while the beast meat will be distributed fairly. If any of you has a larger appetite and needs more to feel full, you can submit a request for the Soldier Ration Radishes!"

Lin Yuan was not using the Sky Beyond the Clouds' lingua franca.

Since the three escapees had not been able to understand this language, it was unlikely that these villagers would be different.

The best way to become closer to these villagers would be to use the language they were familiar with.

Lin Yuan was not making empty promises when he told the villagers to decide for themselves to whom they gave their faith.

Lin Yuan did not dictate that they offer their faith to him.

Sky City had many main members. Regardless of whom the villagers offered their faith to, they would be able to strengthen Sky City's overall power.

In the main world, Sky City only followed the most excellent path of development.

Given the current circumstances, they would have to gather lifeforms in large quantities to develop Sky City in the Sky Beyond the Clouds. They would simultaneously protect these lifeforms while receiving faith power from them.

Thus, Sky City needed to build a massive faction that was akin to a kingdom in the Sky Beyond the Clouds. In this kingdom, Sky City's main members would be able to steadily increase their strength.

It went without saying that this was just an idea Lin Yuan had. He would have to have a discussion with the Moon Empress, Liu Jie, Wen Yu, and the rest before he decided whether he would put this idea into action.

Su Yiren and Luo Lan had been rulers of federations in the main world. They would be of great help to Lin Yuan when it came to managing an enormous kingdom!

Lin Yuan's words caused disbelief to spread across the villagers' faces.

But it did not take long before the villagers started to whoop loudly with joy.

Lin Yuan could sense that the glowing dots of faith in the fountain of faith were now much brighter.

Winter moved over to Lin Yuan's side and said, "Young Master, I have contacted Fan Lou and informed him of our location. He said that he will find the opportunity to slip away from his current master and meet up with you!"

Winter had expressed his displeasure toward Fan Lou.

In Winter's eyes, Fan Lou was no different from an ant. Yet, someone like him dared to make Lin wait. This was over the line!

However, Lin Yuan did not find anything wrong with this.

After meeting with Lin Yuan, Fan Lou would have to go back to his master. It was crucial for him to maintain a positive relationship with the Chaos Wind Demon Wolf, a member of the Honor Absent Parliament, to fulfill the tasks assigned by Lin Yuan. Additionally, he had to leverage his position as the captain of the Sixth Boundary Patrol Team to safeguard the main world.

"Winter, we're not in a rush. We can wait here for Fan Lou. There should be many other similar villagers around the area. Go and send word to Wen Yu, Liu Jie, Su Yiren, Luo Lan, and the rest. They have reached the Divine Kingdom level, and it's unlikely that anything in this area will be able to pose a threat to them. Tell them to lead a team of white-clothed followers each to save the villagers and collect as much faith as possible."

Winter bowed to Lin Yuan before relaying Lin Yuan's message.

Winter knew that Lin Yuan wanted to give the people around him the opportunity to collect faith power.

If Lin Yuan was greedier, he could collect all the faith power for himself and increase his own power first.