CHAPTER 381: CHAPTER 381: BECAUSE HE IS KIND

Jiang Yuan forcefully suppressed the urge to try changing his title to see the effect, as the last phrase "no upper limit" left him feeling uncertain.

At this moment, most of the cultivators here were saved by him. If the affinity triggered had no upper limit, and someone recognized him yearning to repay their gratitude to death, Jiang Yuan believed he couldn’t handle such an emotional mess.

Even Tang Qin changed into low-profile attire after saving people to avoid recognition. He definitely didn’t want people rushing to thank him.

"Such an unexpected harvest, truly lives up to this journey!" Xie Chenyuan looked at the smaller statue belonging to him, his eyes slightly red with excitement.

Before going down the mountain to explore and train, his master personally divined that he would have great opportunities on this trip.

With expectations, he went through a lot but never experienced anything that could be considered an opportunity. Thus, he asked around and joined any lively scene, which led him to Wo Hu Mountain thousands of miles away to witness the "Immortal Peach."

He originally thought that saving those cultivators during the Wo Hu Mountain incident was his biggest opportunity, accumulating some Yin Virtue for himself. Unexpectedly, the monster saved most cultivators, triggering a crowdfunding act—resulting in the construction of a divine statue for the savior here!

It was simply a pleasant surprise!

Of course, this harvest still benefited from the unknown monster, and had it not appeared to solve the major problem, Wo Hu Mountain would have been littered with corpses, saving a few people would have been insignificant.

"Indeed, although I couldn’t obtain the Immortal Peach, but..." Tang Qin also looked at her divine statue excitedly, her lips lightly trembling, "This is far better than a lifespan of one or two hundred years with a curse!"

Occupying two of the four divine statues, Jiang Yuan felt a bit overwhelmed. Wasn’t it just a stone statue?

Although the cultivators built it with dedication, making it incredibly beautiful and majestic, covered in a haze of incense and looking quite mystical, but still, it was just a commemorative statue; it shouldn’t be so touching, right?

If remembered correctly, wasn’t the female corpse in Yin Mountain also worshipped by many towns on the deserted island? For her, it shouldn’t be a rare occurrence.

Facing his confusion, Xie Chenyuan didn’t doubt at all, as the saying goes, every man has his merit and shortcoming. To be unfamiliar with incense worship is quite normal.

"Does Jiang Dao You know where the first gods came from?" he appreciated the divine statue which the Bear Demon helped suggest, resembling him about seventy to eighty percent, patiently explained: "The first gods were mortals who made great contributions and were spontaneously worshipped by ordinary people, also known as enshrinement.

These people might also be mortals rather than cultivators, without the ability to move mountains and fill seas but act as Celestial Gods with mortal bodies, showing compassion and saving all beings. They were worshipped as gods during their lifetime or posthumously.

Thus, the initial agreement was reached—the person with compassion and saving ability was revered by mortals as a god, offering incense and prayers for protection.

And the bestowed Power of Faith empowered the gods, enabling them to protect their believers, forming a positive cycle. The more effective the gods, the more believers flocked; the fervent faith and incense produced stronger protective power, enabling the gods to do more."

"I’ve heard that the first divine beings increased, eventually establishing the Celestial Realm. Later, they formed a special system unique to gods, dispatching gods to areas without enshrinement." Bai Yunqi finally spoke up on a topic he was interested in.

Xie Chenyuan nodded, "Correct, it’s said those dispatched gods often struggle. Firstly, the populace in governing areas usually lacks the habit of worship, weakening them due to a lack of Power of Faith empowerment; secondly, many places without true gods might have various beliefs, likely encountering situations where a strong dragon cannot suppress local snakes.

Overall, a true god must first make contributions and complete merits to be enshrined, then enjoy the nurturing of incense power.

However, now many demon cultivators have strayed off the path, Jiang Dao You should know about demon cultivators providing protection when the Wilderness descends at night, yes?

Those demon cultivators aim to seize the opportunity when the Nether is near while god is far, to preemptively occupy the divine position and receive worship, thinking by doing so they can complete their merits and attain immortality, but in fact, they are only trading with humans."

Tang Qin couldn’t help but blush at hearing this, slightly lowering her head.

She attained opportunities in the Netherworld after her death to become a ghost cultivator with some fame on her own, not knowing any prominent figures, naturally lacking the foundation of disciples from prestigious sects, and could only do what she saw as beneficial for her cultivation.

"Xie Dao You says, us being enshrined and worshipped with incense is authentic?" Jiang Yuan’s eyes shone upon hearing, opening the relationship interface yet discovering no new items, this thing.... does it not add Faith Value?

"Indeed, this is the proper process. Contributing and being repaid, we accumulate merit;

Demon cultivators establish trade relations with humans, demanding offerings before providing help, losing the god’s compassionate essence, therefore, they merely receive some incense.

For completing merits and attaining immortality, merit is naturally superior to incense. Moreover, despite mutual benefit trading, many demon cultivators deviated to the point where not only did it not earn merit, it even harmed Yin Virtue, thus outweighing the benefits."

"Harm Yin Virtue?" Tang Qin was puzzled regarding her actions, "Senior, when humans offer incense and worship to obtain protection, even if it’s not much, they actually did something, how can it harm Yin Virtue?"

Having gained a lot today, Xie Chenyuan was happy to share, "There are many aspects concerning incense offering. Even a true god should have its incense and faith power adequately match their contribution; otherwise, over time it would be merit inadequately supported.

Since I descended the mountain, traveling here, I’ve seen the protection provided by demon cultivators often limited in effectiveness, extracting much yet offering little.

Demanding incense and tributes, yet providing only minimal protection while asking for tenfold or hundredfold return, thus wouldn’t even count as trading. That’s deceiving and exploiting all beings, severely harming Yin Virtue."

Bai Yunqi pondered upon hearing this, "The stronger in power, the more cautious in self-examination, and rigorously ensuring merit adequately supports position; otherwise it’s acting like a bully. Senior, you’ve enlightened me!"

Realizing this, he suddenly thought of the Venerable Family personally cultivating the Family Immortal into a "pet," it turns out they worried about inadequate merit supporting position, willingly shouldering more, rather than using capability to "tempt" or "coerce and exploit" members of the small courtyard.

Looking back at the Venerable Family’s seemingly confused expression, Bai Yunqi thought to himself that perhaps he didn’t understand these, just being kind, unintentionally avoiding pitfalls in the cultivation path.

"Now that the divine statue is newly built and short-lived, it’s hard to feel anything, with time passing, everyone will sense it in due course." Xie Chenyuan stretched lazily, seeing the late hour, took out the Communication Stone, inviting: "Today meeting by chance and having pleasant talks, how about becoming friends, and visiting Carefree City if passing by?"

Just waiting for this occasion!

Jiang Yuan quickly took out the Communication Stone to add as a friend, inquiring: "I wonder where your Carefree City is located? I’ve only heard about it but never seen it, if I can teleport there, it would be great to broaden my horizons."

In fact, before tonight, he never heard of Carefree City before, seeing only Cloud City on the system map that’s inaccessible except through Teleportation Scrolls, unaware of its specific name, if there were coordinates or an exact name, he could search and teleport there for a visit.

Xie Chenyuan, having added as friends, stored the Communication Stone, smiled: "If interested, why not travel together? Considering my strength, I dare not walk freely in the Wilderness during daylight, and daytime in the Human World is quite boring, staying in the city is the optimal choice.

If Dao You wishes to go, better hurry, else when the Wilderness rises, it would be challenging to arrive."