A month passed quickly, and the changes in Saboten were evident, except that the city had now been renamed Taizai no Machi (City of Sin), just as Toji had planned.
One month was enough for noticeable changes, the upper part, 'Heavens', had changed considerably, a large chunk of the northern area of the city had been remodeled into a 'light' version of the Underworld. Even so, due to Mukade's fierce marketing, the number of tourists grew rapidly, to such an extent that the city had tripled its population.
Mukade's biggest strategy was also simple: offering free vacations through various promotions and at different establishments.
More than half of the tourists were drawn by these 'free family vacations', the cost of this would have been astronomical if it weren't for the fact that Jugo practically paid for everything himself.
In reality, the cost was minimal, whether it was the amenities or the food offered free of charge, everything was created at zero cost, purely using wood release.
The biggest cost was actually the transportation, which required him to have Oto's ninjas serve as security for the journey, since, whether they were rogue ninjas or natural dangers, ordinary civilians couldn't handle it.
Well, most of the rogue ninjas in the area, as well as bandits, loan sharks, pimps, and anyone else sinful enough to be dragged away by Toji and Afro, were cleared from a good area around them.
Most of those who came were merchants and nobles, especially those merchants who bought tickets from the lucky civilians.
There was no way around it, civilians didn't have enough money, and even if they did, leaving their homes and jobs behind to have fun was a completely foreign concept to them.
The ninja world was still in the feudal period after all. Well, a strange feudal period mixed with modernism, but still, a feudal period.
Well, the civilians made some money selling tickets, so it could be considered a 'good deed'. Sure, some of them were taken by force, but in those cases, the people who did it ended up joining the Underworld.
Heavens was overcrowded, but fortunately Jugo had created enough hotels, the workers were precisely some of the less serious sinners. Toji made contracts with them, though he didn't take their souls, but only years of service before they were released.
The underworld was not far behind, the completed structure was gigantic, with a height from floor to ceiling alone reaching 100 meters, in a circular shape with a radius of ten kilometers.
Initially they were going to create a representation of the sky only in the Pride District, but in the end they decided to do it throughout the entire city.
The sheer number of seals required was absurd, Jugo had to separate thousands of clones and even drag Karin along to help. The end result was a mix of area-of-effect genjutsu and diverting light from the outside in.
For example, when the sun was shining, the sunlight was transmitted directly to the city, while the genjutsu made it seem like they were actually outside. It was complicated, but while working on it, Jugo progressed quite a bit in the use of seals, so it can't be said that it was really a waste of time.
The Genjutsu also altered the night, the moon appeared as a blood-red moon. It was partly aesthetic, but the true effect was a very faint radiation of the Tenebrous World's energy. The effect was that it slowly transformed the inhabitants into followers of the Father of Devils. For people with strong minds, it was useless, but for ordinary civilians, over time, they would all become followers.
The areas were created according to Toji's original plan, except for a few changes.
The center had a huge castle, 30 meters high, made of black stone. The castle was a church that could hold a service of tens of thousands of people at a time. Jugo even brought some Priests from Otogakure to serve there.
Ironically, there was no 'tithe' in that place, at least not in the way most people would think. There were donation points where you could donate your vitality for money, ridiculous, yes, vitality was directly absorbed by Saisei no Ki, the more you donated, the more you could receive.
It is also very profitable, because everything these people earn, they spend back in the city.
It was ridiculous, but as soon as the first inhabitants discovered this mechanic, they became completely addicted to it. Their physical appearance quickly deteriorated, but Toji didn't care. Every inhabitant of that place, with a few exceptions like Karin and Afro, was under Toji's contract, the closer to death they got, the better.
The other change was on the Rage District, Jugo directly created a forested area there, with only an arena in the center. Since that place allowed for violence at all times, there was no point in building things for others to break, so a huge forest was created. Entering there meant you could die at any moment, but ironically, that area was very popular because even the bodies could be sold for money.
The other locations followed the previous pattern, the Luxuria District was also popular, for obvious reasons, most of the women and men who worked there had been transformed by Jugo himself, he performed extreme plastic surgery on these people, each one more beautiful than the next.
Unfortunately, it was very difficult to find women with sins so extreme as to be brought to that place, so Jugo had to revive some of the demonic souls he stole from Jashin. Those revived women were true demons, they were not only unhappy about it, but they even sucked the essence from men as a way to strengthen themselves. Jugo didn't stop them, after all, that would only cause those men to die sooner.
The districts of Gluttony, Sloth, and Pride were most popular among the nobles and merchants who were 'lucky' enough to be selected to come here, these guys loved these places, and many of the nobles even bought permanent residences there.
The Ganancia district primarily targeted civilians who ended up there, few wealthy people had gambling addictions, and those who went there saw their savings dwindle rapidly.
The last district, the District of Envy, was extremely popular among merchants and nobles alike, merchants eagerly bought shops there, while nobles adored all kinds of products sold there.
Toji had succeeded, and although the Underworld still only had a little over ten thousand inhabitants, the rate at which it was growing was not slow. Even the high death rate could not outpace the speed at which people were arriving.
Toji, who lived in the church in the center of Taizai no Machi, was grinning from ear to ear. This was because his performance had concluded just three days after the place opened. Toji also felt extremely good there, happy was the word that best described him now.
Furthermore, he was also ready to receive Jugo's help to advance.
The souls he collected every day numbered in the hundreds, soon he would reach 10,000. It was almost time to advance again.