Xuan Zhang departed, yet the divine hall remained unsettled. Li Fan could sense an invisible, rule-based surveillance network enveloping his divine kingdom more densely than ever before. Every shift in faith, every subtle fluctuation of divine awareness, risked being recorded and analyzed as evidence in the Order Division's files.
He returned to the Starry Throne, his fingers unconsciously tapping the armrest. This time, the rhythm wasn't anxious but carried the cold patience of a hunter.
"No more direct probing with divine power," Li Fan warned himself. The system's sensitivity exceeded expectations. Any unconventional divine operation was like dancing in a minefield. He needed a subtler weapon, one the system couldn't easily monitor, perhaps even deemed beneath notice.
His gaze pierced the hall's barriers, settling upon the bustling Prayers within his kingdom. These souls, transformed by devout faith, were the foundation of his divine realm... and potentially the most overlooked information carriers by the system.
An idea flashed through his mind like lightning in the dark.
Information.
The system monitored energy, monitored laws, but did it monitor the most primitive information flow between these souls?
Li Fan slowly closed his eyes. This time, he didn't summon vast divine power but immersed his consciousness in an extremely subtle state. He stopped "listening" to the roar of faith and instead focused on "listening" to the emotional ripples within the Prayers' endless, joyous hymns - their most fundamental essence.
Joy, peace, worship, dependence... Countless positive emotions merged into a golden sea. Yet, with his transcendent perception, Li Fan detected a minute, discordant tremor within - a trace of confusion buried beneath utmost faith.
A newly arrived soul felt an instinctive, almost self-negated puzzlement toward this eternal bliss.
This was it!
With utmost care, Li Fan separated a wisp of divine awareness finer than a hair. It carried no power, only a pure information command, like coding a fundamental program. Disguising this command as accidental divine comfort, he implanted it deep within the confused soul.
The command wasn't to probe the system but to make this Prayer subtly spread a seemingly meaningless "mythical fable" through unconscious resonance with other souls. The parable told of a "shepherd" discovering that most wool from his carefully tended flock was taken by an invisible "market," leaving him with meager rewards.
Like a stone dropped into still water, the information began spreading silently among lower-tier Prayers through the soul resonance network. This process involved no energy exchange, triggered no laws - merely natural information flow, like wind over grasslands.
Li Fan held his breath, focusing all perception on this information stream's path.
One day, two days... Time flowed slowly in the divine realm.
The "shepherd" information spread, replicated, and evolved like a virus among countless low-level souls. It was too insignificant, mere thermal noise in the divine kingdom's vast machinery, utterly drowned in grand hymns of faith.
Until the third day, the "anomaly" Li Fan awaited finally appeared.
As the information stream accidentally passed near a "void channel" (the system's faith siphon), the information itself underwent a minute distortion!
The phrase "invisible market" in the fable was automatically "corrected" to "divine blessing and test" when it approached the "void channel"!
Li Fan's Divine Spark shuddered!
Not an energy feedback,not a law confrontation, but automatic filtering and correction of information!
The system wasn't just harvesting energy; it was also manipulating information at a subconscious level! It ensured all information circulating in the divine kingdom adhered to its underlying logic. Any information hinting at its exploitative nature would be silently altered, purified!
At that moment, the wound in Li Fan's divine soul connecting to his sister's memory stirred again. But this time, it wasn't a "pulling sensation" but a... resonant grief.
As if the last imprint his sister left in this world was mourning his discovery.
In that flash of understanding, Li Fan comprehended everything.
Why did he still feel emptiness after becoming a god?
Why was the system's harvest tightly bound to his deepest wounds?
Because this exploitation wasn't just at the energy level but at thelevel of cognition and soul!
By controlling information,the system defined what "god" was, what "faith" was, what "order" was. It made all gods and believers incapable of conceiving rebellion from their very roots! It made the exploited genuinely grateful for their exploitation!
Had his sister's death occurred because she glimpsed a corner of this cognitive prison during that "cleansing"?
Just then—
"Hum..."
Spatial ripples spread for the third time.
Xuan Zhang appeared on schedule. His presence had become the most precise pendulum in this silent war.
This time, he didn't immediately interrogate. His data-stream eyes scanned the entire hall before settling on Li Fan.
"Your Majesty." His voice remained even. "Over the past three divine days, unexplained anomalous fluctuations in underlying information entropy values have been detected in your kingdom. While not violating laws, they deviate from the 'Pure Faith' standard model. Explain."
It had come! Even subtle information disturbances could be monitored!
Li Fan sat on his throne, leaning slightly forward, hands clasped under his chin, gazing at Xuan Zhang with a look mixing weariness and scrutiny.
"Patrol Envoy," Li Fan's voice held faint mockery, "are you overreaching? Must I report even occasional confusion in my subjects' hearts and my... 'adjustments' in faith guidance?"
Once again, he reframed the "anomalous fluctuations" as "faith guidance."
Data flowed steadily through Xuan Zhang's eyes. "According to Supplement VII, Clause 550 of the Divine Fundamental Laws: Gods must maintain their faith system's purity, preventing 'cognitive pollution.' Any information disturbance potentially leading to impure faith falls under Order Division supervision."
Cognitive pollution!
This term,like a key, unlocked many puzzles in Li Fan's heart.
"Cognitive pollution?" Li Fan repeated as if hearing it for the first time. He rose slowly and approached Xuan Zhang. "Then, Patrol Envoy, tell me: what is 'pure'? What is 'pollution'?"
He stopped several steps from Xuan Zhang, his gaze piercing.
"Defined by you?By the Order Division? Or by that... lofty 'System'?"
"When a god contemplates the meaning of existence,is that 'cognitive pollution'?"
"When a soul questions eternal bliss,does that commit an unforgivable sin?"
His questions were no longer legal arguments but challenges to the very legitimacy of these rules.
The Oculus of Equilibrium emblem on Xuan Zhang's chest flickered slightly, as if processing this irregular logic. He remained silent longer than usual.
"The right of definition belongs to the 'Root Protocol,'" he finally answered, his voice still cold, but that absolute certainty seemed to develop a minute crack. "Questioning itself constitutes risk."
"So, thinking is a crime?" Li Fan pressed.
"Stability supersedes all." Xuan Zhang avoided direct answer, stating the Order Division's core tenet. "Your 'adjustments' have been recorded. Mind the scale, Your Majesty. Excessive 'contemplation' accelerates Divine Spark... 'depreciation.'"
With that, he gave Li Fan no further chance to question, his form directly fading and vanishing.
"Depreciation..."
Li Fan tasted this icy term,so suited for describing tools, watching where Xuan Zhang disappeared, a cold smile gradually curling his lips.
He had found it.
Though immensely risky,he had found another battlefield - the battlefield of information, the battlefield of cognition.
On this battlefield, his weapons weren't divine power but thought, language, and truth buried deep in souls.
His war with the system had evolved from energy confrontation to a struggle for the right of interpretation.
And he had already fired the first shot.