After the Nightshade priests acknowledged allegiance, the war continued. But there was no more fighting in the section of the war theater that had been assigned to King Heaventide. Half of the Nightspirit Region was absorbed into the Holytide Region.12

Most of the army went home, but some forces were garrisoned to oversee the Nightshade priests.1

As for the senior high priest You Sang, he became the emissary of Xu Qing’s godly identity. He was extremely fervent in the way he prostrated to Xu Qing and explained his mission. In the future, he planned to build temples to the violet moon in all the prefectures of that half-region, with the purpose of gathering more and more adherents of the violet moon. Beyond that, he wanted to go to the Holytide Region, to the Moonrite Region, and to other regions to build temples there as well, to spread his gospel and make more disciples.1

His identity was different now. He was the first pope of the Violet Moon Church. Of course, that was just what was visible on the surface. The Nightshade priesthood had as many powerful experts as the sky had clouds. There were even multiple Smoldering Gods among them.39

That said, the priests operated differently than cultivators. They didn’t cultivate the dao. They were devoted to their god, and for the most part, their strength was a gift from that god. Because Crimson Mother was dead, they had become...0