Most of the partygoers were ordinary people, but there was no lack of soul hunters, too .
Many ordinary folks, for some reason or other, would choose to do this .
The moral degradation of the soul hunters had been a concern . Ansel knew this problem, but it was not something he alone could change . Since the soul hunters were still relatively weak, the Darksider groups always found fault with and suppressed them .
Among the more self-indulgent soul hunters had several powerful ones . So everybody just had to groan and bear it .
Ansel meandered in the streets, scanning the goods that were spread out for sale on the ground . There were precious jewelry of the past, expired instant noodles, and also various weird-looking stones and woods .
The Blacktide was not static . It moved like a sea with low and high tides . So many people, to get some food, would wait for the tide to recede and salvage anything they could find useful near the edge of the Blacktide .
Ansel called them the scavengers, the number of which had increased recently .
He frowned when his eyes swept over a scavenger stall . There were few things for sale today . Asides from some stones and woods, there were only some food and water they scavenged from the abandoned buildings .
Many of these things were not consumable because of the contamination . But the soul hunters might have ways to purify them . They looked for the clerics, the believer of the holy light, to purify the things, separating the edible part from the non-edible part, which could be regarded as food .
Ansel was looking for a popular scavenger stall where he usually found the things he wanted . But today, the scavenger was not here .
“Where is Sola? I don’t see her around today?” he asked the other stall owner .
“Sola will not open her stall anymore . She has become a member of the Cult of Salvation . There is food and drink there and she won’t give a rip about this little money . ” The stall owner sounded sour grapes .
“The Cult of Salvation?” Ansel was a famous soul hunter leader around here with a dozen soul hunters in his group . One of the group members had joined the Cult of Salvation, and he had never heard from him again since then .
“What? The Salvation thing is growing that fast?” Ansel was surprised .
“They were neither here nor there last time . But for the past week, they have been growing . I heard that they were giving out food . The benefits are wonderful!” Another stall owner said enviously .
“Benefits are wonderful? Where do they get the food? Are they all from the holy cities?” Ansel was surprised .
“Holy cities? Who knows? They might be forces like the holy cities growing their down line,” one said in a low voice .
Ansel said nothing . People will find excuses, no matter what, if they want to deceive themselves .
Those stall owners started to waffle away about the Cult of Salvation . One particular sentence caught Ansel’s attention .
“It’s said that there are Salvation cultists in the holy cities!”
“The holy cities…” Ansel mumbled to himself . He had a bad feeling about it .
Khadula was walking in the drizzle with an umbrella in hand on the street of Shermanton .
It had been over two weeks since her original body was in cultivation . Within these two weeks, she and her avatars would roam around, patrolling the streets to make sure the city was in order . The city was safe and peaceful because of her .
Khadula Beauty Center was not just a taboo name but a hallmark .
“If you don’t listen, I’m going to send you to Khadula Beauty Center!” It was not just something parents said to make their kids toe the line .
“If you cry again, I’m going to ask Khadula to take you away!”
This was a phrase some parents like to use . These words just vividly showed Khadula had an upright image in the holy city .
Whoever found to have floated the law, especially those who willfully exploited the loopholes of the law and walked in the gray area, would be given a beauty package by Khadula for free . Of course, she was not making their faces but hearts better .
Using some whitewash technique exclusive to the Sanctum, every customer coming to Khadula Beauty Center would come out like a breath of fresh air . They were willing to drop everything and join the big family of Khadula Beauty Center, becoming part of Khadula .
“This is my plan to showcase my sense of aesthetics,” Khadula recalled what she had done and was proud of herself .
“My original body is in cultivation, I, as his brothers and sisters, should be helping each other . The beauty center not only beautifies people but also the city . I’m not only giving a facial but also the facial of the heart to the people of this city . ”
Khadula felt a heavy sense of mission and responsibility . People might find her scary, but that did not make her dislike it .
Walking past a newly opened bakery, she looked inside the shop through the glass entrance . A shopkeeper with a morbid face was explaining something to a few customers . Despite they were a dozen meters away from her, separated by a thick glass door, Khadula could make out their conversation .
There were terms related to the Cult of Salvation mentioned occasionally, as the woman shopkeeper explained . She seemed to try to persuade the customers to join the cult . They would get to buy bread at a 90% discount if they joined .
Ninety percent? That was as good as giving it out freely . Two customers were seemingly moved .
Khadula stood outside the entrance, quietly observing what was going on inside .
She used to hear about the Cult of Salvation, which seemed to be a harmless civilian society . It had even filed a record at the Sanctum for their activities .
It was all legal, no hanky-panky of promoting evil thoughts or riot . What they were doing was only one thing: collecting materials from the Blacktide at each tide interval and then reselling them to the members at dirt cheap prices .
Khadula did not give a hoot who this tiny cult survived and who they did recruitment . All she was concerned about was whether there was anything fishy going on with them .
Still standing outside the door and listening, she made sure there was nothing unusual in their conversation . After that, she moved on and headed to other places .
However, unknown to her, after the two customers consumed the food that the shopkeeper gave them, their pupils started to undergo very minute changes, unnoticed by the customers . They were genuinely glad that they were able to purchase some bread at an extremely low price .
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