The more they oppose, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing

Sacrifice is an art.

Believers of the Life religion, a kind of sea creature that grows in the southernmost part of the Empire's border, are coveted by heavenly gourmets for their delicious taste. The quality of these ingredients is judged by rank, with saints being the best, closely followed by Fourth Order. As the topmost chef of the entire imperial capital—the Culinary Saint An Su Moningsta—he had a unique way of cooking such delicious delicacies.

First, he would prepare twenty or thirty Fourth Order believers by laying them next to the altar, simply processing them by scraping off scales, removing gills, and cutting the hair. For an even more luxurious cooking method, he would take two or three of the top-tier ingredients, the saints, and calm their frightened hearts with the recitation of scriptures, achieving the best meat quality.

Every small detail was infused with Mr. An Su's artisanal craftsmanship.

Once the preparation work was done, An Su began the cooking heating process without directly taking lives. For the topmost Culinary Saint, keeping the ingredients alive was essential for the best taste.

His method of heating was also unique, using radiant light for microwave heating, moving back and forth five times, each for a total of five minutes, not a minute more or less. This locked in the freshness of the ingredients and increased the return rate of cooking.

After his operations, there were already thirty cultist geniuses kneeling below the platform, all at least of Fourth Order and even three of Fifth Tier saints among them, with many more geniuses and saints being converted,

They all now looked very appetizing, with tentacles wriggling all over their bodies, yet their mouths held the happiest of smiles. This was the ultimate realm of culinary skill and the professional benchmark for every chef, to let the ingredients be sacrificed happily. An Su felt he truly was a great benefactor.

Merlin's side must be nearly finished by now; he needed to wrap things up quickly too.

[Demigod physique remaining time: one minute]

And the Demigod experience card was about to expire.

After he had braised the ingredients with radiant light, it would be time to add them to the fire for a quick stir-fry.

In the most holy Heaven, An Su began the ritual himself. He instructed the brainwashed believers, "I say one line, you repeat after me."

"Desire and the Mother Goddess of the moon, great Mother of Life above the spirit world—the eternal motherhood—"

"Your devout believers call out your name."

An Su said softly, his smile becoming more sanctified and merry, calling out the name of the Mother Goddess. Holy and radiant starlight poured down as An Su's sacred and eerie giant silhouette backed against the light, casting shadows over all the cultists kneeling beneath him.

An Su slowly stepped down from the platform, passing each believer, who would prostrate themselves and echo him, 'Desire and the Mother Goddess of the moon...'

They were sacrificing themselves along with An Su.

Premium ingredients would serve themselves up on the table.

For a moment, countless deep and cold prayers echoed through the starry sky. Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

"This is the hymn of the sincere,

This is the feast of spirit and soul,

This is the delicacy of blood and flesh."

[You have attracted the attention of the Mother Goddess of Life]

With An Su's words, the Sacred Fire on the altar instantly intensified to its maximum. The ceremonial flames circled the sacred Heaven, and the red moon above in the starry sky grew ever brighter and more terrifying. Moonlight was the gaze; when the moonlight intensified, the Mother Goddess's gaze also reached this spot!@@novelbin@@

The Mother Goddess bestowed her grace, and they were the offerings of sacrifice.

Bishop Bram felt the arrival of that great presence. What troubled the bishop was that the saintly shell he had merged with was also undergoing a transformation under An Su's judgmental light and radiant heating. He realized that horrific truth—if he kept entangled, he would be in danger too.

The physical body could also influence the soul.

This was the Church's world; death here meant true death.

As a bishop in charge of sacrifices, being placed on an altar by someone else was an ultimate insult.

At this point, he could no longer care about the lives of his subordinates.

The shell he had merged with had become an impediment to Bram; he forcibly separated his soul from the saintly shell.

Free of the encumbrance of the mutated flesh, his movements were unimpeded. The Life saint abandoned by his soul, on the other hand, underwent rapid transformation, distorted gradually, and brainwashed by An Su, took part in the grand chorus of sacrifice automatically.

Bishop Bram's situation was also not easy; now, his soul was directly exposed to the radiation of knowledge. Knowledge was aggressively and unreasonably cramming into his cognition in a robust posture, making Bram quite uncomfortable.

The bishop looked at the large group of believers brainwashed by An Su; all were resources following An Su's guidance to sacrifice their bodies, believing this to be the ultimate blessing.

Of course, a small part of the brainwashed believers, mostly saints, although not actively fleeing, had eyes full of uncertainty and confusion, obviously not completely affected by An Su's set of meme contamination.

Perhaps there was still salvation.

Bishop Bram saw an opportunity; his soul shouted to those not yet completely fallen believers, directly projecting his words into their ears,

"All of this is false."

"Xianzong is lying; sacrificing oneself does not bring salvation."

"And the afterlife is not salvation at all!"

"If sacrificing oneself is so wonderful, why doesn't Xianzong sacrifice himself first!"