BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions kept erupting from the crowd.

Frenzied Black Cultists were self-detonating within the crowd, harming innocent bystanders.

The pillar of summoning light on the altar was also tinged with a bloody hue.

Otz’s expression darkened.

The Cleric said anxiously, "City Lord, you must find a way to stop them! Otherwise, we might attract an Evil God."

"I know."

Otz’s gaze swept over the crowd before him.

’There must be a problem within the crowd.’

’Otherwise, the Black Cultists’ slaughter in the crowd alone shouldn’t be enough to interfere with the Divine Worship Ceremony.’

"Subdue them!"

At Otz’s command, a group of Professionals in civilian clothes burst from the crowd.

Li Wei looked up, his expression surprised.

He saw several familiar faces.

The three members of the Grass Fox Squad.

Lanya, Dias, and Lisa.

Kunan was nowhere to be seen, and Li Wei wondered if he was still alive.

Reina also spotted her friend Susan in the crowd.

All of them belonged to City Lord Otz’s special operations unit.

It was composed entirely of Professionals.

After professional training, they had already become a formidable force.

The Black Cultists hidden in the crowd were all deluded commoners.

They were quickly subdued by the Professional special operations team.

Soldiers evacuated the crowd and treated the wounded.

Otz ignored the chaotic scene below and turned to the Cleric.

"Please continue the ceremony."

The Cleric, hearing his words, quickly came to his senses and continued officiating the ceremony.

It took a large number of extra sacrificial offerings to dilute and cleanse the blood-red color from the pillar of light before the ceremony could return to normal.

Li Wei scanned his surroundings. He felt this was far from over.

On the altar, a Professional suddenly began to convulse and collapsed to the ground.

"Hey, what’s wrong with you?"

The people around him asked hastily.

"Don’t go near him!"

Someone shouted a warning from a short distance away.

BOOM!

The fallen Professional’s body exploded, splattering several people nearby with blood.

Others were unlucky enough to be injured by the explosion.

After the explosion, a twisted, bizarre rune formed from a pool of blood appeared on the altar.

Li Wei’s heart lurched.

’These are the methods of the Blood Cultists. Have they teamed up with the Black Cultists?’

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Several more Professionals collapsed in the crowd.

Those who reacted quickly yelled, "Hurry, stop them!"

One person collapsed not far from Li Wei.

He was convulsing, blood gushing from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth to form a bizarre rune on the ground.

Without a second thought, Li Wei raised his hand and blasted him with a Fireball.

BOOM!

The fiery light engulfed the man’s figure.

SIZZLE! CRACKLE! POP!

The blood rune, not yet solidified, was scorched and lost its effect.

The scorching flames incinerated the corpse, reducing it to ashes.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The others in different areas weren’t so lucky.

Even if the fallen Professionals were killed, their bodies would still self-detonate.

It seemed to be completely beyond their control.

The altar descended into utter chaos.

The pillar of light was stained red again, this time with a tinge of black.

Otz’s expression had been grim the entire time.

He hadn’t expected that so many people had been deluded by the Evil God Cultists.

But stopping everyone from participating in the Divine Worship Ceremony was impossible.

They were, after all, part of the Divine Worship Ceremony.

Their faith was also an offering meant to attract the descent of a Divine Spirit.

The more people, the more faith, and the more powerful the Divine Spirit they could attract.

A Divine Spirit might not descend even with perfect preparations.

But with no one to witness it, a Divine Spirit would certainly never descend.

Without needing an order from Otz, the City Lord’s Personal Guard responsible for maintaining order in the crowd had already begun to subdue those acting erratically.

Reina wanted to go down and help.

Old John stopped her. "Don’t get involved. Stay here."

Reina glanced at her father, wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent.

She stood quietly in place, waiting for the Divine Spirit to descend.

"The Saint Ancestor descends! I will attain eternal life!"

A Professional suddenly went mad, screaming and yelling.

Then, he charged toward the second tier of the altar.

"Stop him!"

The Professionals at the front were by no means weak.

Most of them were Tiers Two and Three.

However, an astonishing amount of Power erupted from the man.

A bloody energy exploded forth.

For an instant, his Power even surpassed Tier Four.

Everyone was shocked and dared not advance.

Some tried to attack from a distance to halt the man’s advance, but it was completely useless.

Reina watched the man charge toward her.

She raised her right hand.

"We welcome the descent of the Saint Ancestor!"

The man let out a great roar, the bloody energy inside his body becoming extremely frenzied.

BOOM!

He self-detonated on the spot.

"Absolute Defense!"

A golden wall formed from Fighting Spirit appeared in front of the man.

The self-detonation, comparable to a full-power strike from a Tier Four Professional, was unable to shake the Absolute Defense.

The force of the explosion was blocked.

The Absolute Defense could block the explosion, but it couldn’t stop the bizarre, bloody rune from falling onto the altar.

The bloody rune landed on the altar.

In the blink of an eye, it stained a section of the altar red.

The pillar of light turned blood-red, emitting an ominous aura.

Reina looked up. The once clear, bright sky was now shrouded in dark clouds.

The blood-red pillar of light shot straight up into the dark clouds.

Li Wei looked up and could vaguely see something moving.

The massive shadow overhead wasn’t a layer of dark clouds at all.

It was something from beyond this world.

It was so unimaginably vast that it blotted out the sun, making the sky look like it was shrouded in dark clouds.

Expressionless, Otz took a Crystal brimming with Holy Light from his Spatial Ring.

He handed the Crystal to the Cleric.

"You know what to do."

The Cleric silently accepted the Crystal and nodded firmly.

They had reached the worst-case scenario.

If an Evil God was summoned, they would have to destroy the altar immediately.

To prevent the Evil God’s descent.

But that would also mean the end of the Divine Worship Ceremony.

Otz would not have the chance to hold another grand Divine Worship Ceremony for at least several years.

This ceremony had already cost him nearly his entire fortune.

A faint, black phantom appeared in mid-air.

The colossal phantom occupied the entire sky, its height surpassing thousands of miles.

Li Wei quietly backed away, preparing to make a run for it.

Things were not looking good.

"What are you doing?"

Cries of alarm rang out on the altar.

Martin, Komas, and a few others stared wide-eyed at Jonas.

Jonas was holding a black heart in his hand.

It was his own heart.

He crushed the heart, which burst into a black mist that burrowed into the altar.

"Why would you do this?"

Old John looked at him, utterly bewildered.

The Bieber Clan and the Reinstein Clan were both top-tier families in Maple City.

There was no shortage of conflict between the two great families.

Old John and Jonas were, one could say, both friends and rivals.

He simply could not understand why his old friend would do such a thing.

This was completely out of character for Jonas.

Jonas glanced at Old John and said flatly, "It’s too late. Everything is too late."

"Arnold is the true mastermind."

Otz’s heart leaped in shock upon hearing this.

Jonas’s head tilted to the side, and he collapsed to the ground, dead.

The black mist that had burrowed into the altar stained it black, causing the pillar of light to gradually shift from blackish-red to pure black.

The projection of the Evil God that had been gradually materializing in mid-air began to fade.

A gigantic black claw descended from the sky, tearing the miles-high projection of the Evil God to shreds.

The sky tore open, revealing a rift. An eyeball as massive as a star appeared within it.

The star-like eye swiveled, looking down upon the crowd.

Everyone shuddered in terror.

Yet as Li Wei looked at it, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.