During the earlier battle of the soul projection, Lei Lin had ultimately lent Tifa a hand at the critical moment, bestowing upon her a tremendous surge of power.
Though there had been an element of using her as an experimental subject in that decision, if she could survive, she would not only become an immense asset for Lei Lin but also serve as extremely rare experimental data.
How could he possibly have left no backdoor in what he had given her? When it came to manipulating the power of the soul, who could rival the ancient Wizards?
"My own soul power cannot conform to the rules of the God World and can only be steadily eroded away. But Tifa is a native — she still has a chance of absorbing and retaining the power I left behind. In that case, the parameter data..."
A glint of sharp light flickered through Lei Lin's eyes.
The soul power of an otherworldly being could naturally never endure long in the God World. But the power Lei Lin had left with Tifa was like a seed, one that had triggered a complete and thorough transformation within her.
Moreover, with that foundation in place, no matter how Tifa might grow stronger afterward, she could never fundamentally resist Lei Lin's influence over her.
If leveraged properly, she would make a very useful pawn.
"I've been living abroad for a long time and never extended my reach to the mainland, so I never really looked into what became of her. But now... the time is ripe..."
With that thought, Lei Lin made his decision.
"Hello there, Bronze-ranked Mercenary, sir! How may I help you?"
The attendant behind the counter had barely glanced at the credentials Lei Lin handed over before responding in a polished, mechanical voice.
For a Bronze-ranked mercenary, this was about all the professionalism one could expect.
"Show me the detailed intelligence on the top three ranked missions!" Lei Lin didn't bother taking offense.
"Those devil worshipper missions?" The attendant behind the counter raised her head and looked Lei Lin up and down with an expression that clearly said he was overreaching. "High-rank missions require Gold-ranked mercenary status or above. Please work on improving your mercenary rank!"
"I have no intention of accepting a mission — I just want to view the intelligence. I recall that any mercenary has that right, correct?"
Lei Lin furrowed his brow.
"...That is correct!" The attendant answered reluctantly, likely encountering a mercenary like Lei Lin for the first time. "But intelligence is only freely available to Silver-ranked mercenaries and above. You'll need to pay a ten-copper-piece information fee!"
"No problem!"
Under the servant's gaze—the kind usually reserved for someone who'd lost his mind—Lei Lin casually tossed out ten copper coins, accepted several documents from the attendant, and settled into an empty seat nearby to read them carefully.
For him, being able to get organized intelligence documents in exchange for a small sum of money was already a tremendous bargain.
But after reading only a few lines, Lei Lin's expression changed abruptly.
Surprise, astonishment, and a dozen other emotions flickered across his face, culminating in a strange, peculiar smile. "Well, well… an old friend, after all…"
His gaze locked onto several lines in the report:
"…the victim's limbs were severed, portions of flesh missing entirely…"
"…when the Baron was discovered, he was kneeling on the ground in a bizarre posture, weeping tears of blood from his eyes. His tongue had been completely excised and stuffed down his throat…"
"…guards raided several danger zones but found nothing. Thieves discovered an interplanar communication array hidden within the walls of a residence. The coordinates were determined to lead to the Ninth Layer of Hell…"
"A Holy Emblem bearing the sigil of a twisted fanged maw, and this manner of killing… followers of Beilu Saibabu…"
A smile spread across Lei Lin's lips.
If he were to face any Archdevil right now, he would absolutely choose this particular one—the one he had swindled the worst.
"The real Beilu Saibabu should still be slumbering, shouldn't it? Then the Hell territory it occupies is probably in utter chaos… Moreover, unable to respond to prayers or bestow spell-like abilities upon its followers, its faith is surely being shaken to the core…"
A gleam lit up Lei Lin's eyes, as though he had just spotted the perfect prey.
"Judging from these scattered intelligence fragments, this should be the prelude to a large-scale blood sacrifice ritual, and the target is that Gluttony Monarch…"
His vast experience, combined with the memories he had obtained from Beilu Saibabu, allowed Lei Lin to identify everything immediately.
"Most likely, this is a desperate last stand by the Archdevil's followers on the surface—they haven't received any response in a long time, so they've decided to gamble everything!"
Lei Lin's expression grew somewhat solemn.
A large-scale blood sacrifice ritual of this magnitude would invariably engulf the entire city, with a death toll of at least a thousand.
Of course, all of it would be futile. No matter how much they offered in sacrifice, the heavily wounded Beilu Saibabu would not awaken. However, it would certainly provoke the unified hostility of the gods. And more importantly—it had gone and dragged Lei Lin himself into the affair!
"Fine then. That church of theirs—I'll just go ahead and take it off their hands."
For Lei Lin, a hollow church that had lost its divine protection and was so perfectly aligned with the Devouring Rules he had mastered was practically a grand gift package.
Although most of its members were vicious scum—even aberrations and demons—the sheer size of its priestly corps alone was enough to make Lei Lin covetous.
These were all accumulations for his eventual apotheosis!
As for the original tragedy of Beilu Saibabu, that was no longer within Lei Lin's considerations.