"You mean... just like the Taoyuan Village Master believes in 'Paradise', I should also establish something similar to believing in myself, and then... what would happen?" I tried to understand Dong Che's line of thought.

Jiaoshu seemed to quickly embrace this idea and bluntly said, "You wish for Zhuang Cheng to use himself as the object of belief, and then leverage the connection between believers and Gods to summon complete power into the City Barrier, achieving full restoration of strength?"

Believers can summon the power of Gods, and the deeper the faith, the more power can be summoned.

At the same time, personal talent and compatibility with the Gods are also crucial. The more a believer can summon God's power, the more they will exhibit the characteristics of the God's nature; conversely, if someone's mindset is inherently in perfect harmony with the target God, then under the same intensity of faith, they can summon more of God's power.

This involves many complex factors and also relates to the theory of similitude in Mysticism. Simply put, if there exists a person in this world who is infinitely close to one hundred percent similar to me, and they become my devout believer, then they might naturally become something like the Holy Son or Daughter of 'Zhuang Cheng Faith'. Should I die, such a person might still claim to be my Reincarnation of the Holy Child, effortlessly drawing power from my retribution body and easily displaying Mana at the Great Success Rank.

So what if I became my own believer?

Firstly, I feel it is inherently quite difficult. To be one's own devout believer—how narcissistic must one be to achieve that? Although I've never been prone to self-deprecation, neither do I revere myself as a God.

Moreover, even if I could achieve this, as my own believer, I would only reach a state of using my power with fluid ease. Thinking about it this way, the end of the path of believers could also be interpreted as "becoming God itself", a notion tinged with the black humor of the ancient ambition to ascend the throne after reaching the top. According to such a standard, am I not already at the finish line?

Unless I conducted a strong mental partition of my own, separating the weak self present here from the complete self that couldn't entirely enter the City Barrier—since Taoyuan Village Master Meng Zhang and "Paradise" are distinct entities, if I were to emulate this relationship, of course, I must reach this level.

Then, using a strong sense of faith and my own special nature, along with the cooperation of the complete self, let the weak self draw strength from the retribution body, or even from the complete self within the City Barrier. Given the strength of the connection between the weak self and the complete self, it might be possible to transmit a massive amount of Mana at a power level that no resistance can hinder.

Thinking of this, I remembered Yinyue. Although Yinyue, an incarnation of Changan, and Silver Moon from before could be considered different entities, the former could immediately inherit the latter's Mana and superpowers upon revival, even reattaining peak state by devouring the retribution body Silver Moon—the Ancient Moon God. There might be some kind of reason behind this process.

However, I have no intention of causing myself a split personality. When I voiced my opinion, Dong Che also hurriedly shook his head and said, "In any case, it's impossible to take such a route. The feasibility is extremely low, aside from which, the act of partitioning the self is inherently hazardous and fraught with endless future troubles, who knows what disasters might result..."

"Then what is your method?" Jiaoshu asked.

"This..."

Dong Che seemed to have only a vague direction, unable to elaborate further for the time being. His gaze wandered constantly around, as if searching for clues that could serve as hints.

He glanced at the totem mark on the back of Xiaoqiao's hand, then at the Furnace Slag Impermanence Sword hanging at his waist, and finally looked at me. Suddenly, as if a light bulb went off above his head, his eyes began to shine brightly.

"I've got it... it's 'incarnation'!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Incarnation?" Jiaoshu's face changed after thinking it over, "So that's it... this method can work!"

"What method?" I was curious.

"Whether we can transfer all of Zhuang Cheng's power into the City Barrier hinges on whether we can prepare a sufficiently strong connection channel, and whether we can prepare a medium container for receiving all the power," Dong Che explained with great pleasure, "Before, I used the Furnace Slag Impermanence Sword. As a spiritual material bound to Zhuang Cheng, 'Furnace Slag' is fairly superb by the standards of a summoning ceremony medium, yet it's still not powerful enough, so we must prepare an even stronger medium...

"And the current medium is right before us, which is none other than Zhuang Cheng himself!

"What could be more suitable than God's power's avatar to serve as a medium for carrying the full power of summoning God? Moreover, this doesn't seem to be a simple concentration of Mana but constitutes a complete body and soul, like a legendary Manifestation and Enlightenment...

"Those who inherit the ancestral bloodline can rely on this bloodline connection to summon the ancestors' souls onto themselves, the deeper the bloodline, the easier it is. And if it is oneself? The principle is the same. If even this doesn't work, then there truly is no second feasible path.

"Moreover, the current Zhuang Cheng can still become the most suitable vessel. According to past records, Zhuang Cheng has the ability of Flame Elementalization, allowing absorption of external flames to temporarily expand the scale of existence or instantly restore any missing parts. With this attribute, regardless of the amount of power summoned, it can certainly be contained, elevated a thousand-fold or ten thousand-fold with ease, returning directly to the complete state without issue!

Impermanence can turn others into vessels of power, making them avatars walking in the world. The Divine Son can do similar things, and now Little Bowl is such a creation.

In the history of Luo Mountain, sometimes extraordinarily devout believers voluntarily offered their bodies and minds to become the avatar of God.

Dong Che's idea isn't for me to become my own believer but to become my own avatar.

I also believe this is a reasonably sound method. Intuition too was hinting at—yes, this was it. This was the breakthrough waiting for me to syncretize with my believers.

"Let's go with this solution." I decided, "Then, what exactly should I do next? I'm a complete novice in this Spirit Summoning Ceremony knowledge."

Though I've never turned others into my Spirit Summoning Container, through metaphysical and abstract manipulation, I should also be capable of it. Turning myself into my own Spirit Summoning Container shouldn't be impossible with a slight tweak in perspective. However, given the resistance faced and my currently limited power, I cannot perform large-scale summoning. Some external power or ceremonial arrangements are necessary.

"No worries, I possess knowledge of the Summoning Ceremony and know how to arrange it," Dong Che eagerly stated, "I can't set up this ceremony alone shortly; I must call upon others..."

As he continued, he sent a telepathy message towards a particular direction. I directly sensed its content, which was the conclusion from the previous discussion. The receiver was likely that leading believer from before.

The lead believer soon sent back a message of "Received".

"The ceremony should be ready in a few hours," Dong Che told me.

Xiaoqiao asked cautiously, "Senior, if all your powers are restored, can you then send all the people here out of this city?"

"I'm sure of it," Dong Che confidently stated, "After all, Zhuang Cheng is Impermanence."

"Then should I leave you all be now?" Xiaoqiao tentatively asked.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work, please go back and rest well," Dong Che nodded.

However, Xiaoqiao did not immediately turn and leave; she hesitated and stood where she was, seeming to want to ask something.

Dong Che, adopting a gentle tone, inquired, "Is there anything else? If there's something I can assist with, please don't hesitate to speak up, I'd be delighted to help."

"Well, it's not really anything troublesome; I'm just puzzled as to why you wanted me to witness the interrogation previously?" Xiaoqiao asked in confusion, "It was obviously something I shouldn't have been involved in. In fact, I wasn't of any help. Even just now, I couldn't understand anything you were talking about, let alone join the conversation."

Jiaoshu didn't comment on this, but her gaze seemed to agree, implying that Xiaoqiao was of no help. While I didn't plan to criticize Zhu Shi's classmate, I couldn't find any point to Xiaoqiao's presence, and was equally curious about Dong Che's intentions.

Dong Che, taking a moment to prepare his words, replied, "…Because I'm hoping to hear your perspective."

"My perspective?" Xiaoqiao was even more bewildered.

"The ideal vision pursued by Governance Ideology is one where ordinary people and demon hunters can jointly govern society. Therefore, in the past, I've recommended several ordinary people with management experience to become part of the management team running this sanctuary." Dong Che explained seriously, "Beyond those in management, I also wish for a person with the view of the general populace to stand beside us, watch our every move, and provide their insights..."

"So... I've become the person you chose?" Xiaoqiao inquired.

"Not fully determined yet, and it's not necessarily a fixed position. Today it might be you, tomorrow someone else. However, given the fact this sanctuary will soon conclude, there might be no future opportunities for others," Dong Che replied, "Therefore, taking advantage of this opportunity, I wanted to ask you a question..."

"What question?" Xiaoqiao asked.

"As one of the survivors of this city, how do you perceive everything you've been through, the current state and future of this world, and us demon hunters?" Dong Che queried.