Chapter 540: Borrowing the False to Cultivate the True

The city-guarding god holding the bronze mace stared at Li Yi in great shock.

He had thought that the one breaking into Xinzhou City was just a mountain Daoist without a document or travel permit, and he had intended to give him a few mace strikes to let him know how powerful he was and drive him out. But he hadn't expected that one strike would instead force out the other's dragon-tiger Qi.

As one of the city-guarding gods of Xinzhou City, a true god appointed by the imperial court, he still had some knowledge.

Dragon-tiger Qi was also known as the Son of Heaven's Qi.

Only the Emperor was qualified to possess it; of course, it didn't exclude some imperial princes who also possessed such Qi.

"You, how could you have the Son of Heaven's dragon-tiger Qi? Who exactly are you?"

The city-guarding god retreated in shock. He dared not swing the bronze mace in his hand anymore. This was not just because of the other's identity, but because that silver, colorful tiger was staring at him.

If he were to swing the bronze mace again, that silver tiger would definitely pounce and swallow him in one bite.

"I am just a practitioner of the Dao traveling the world; there is nothing special about me. You have already acted once, but considering your duty, I can choose not to hold it against you. If you come again, I won't be polite. If I don't know my own strength and kill you, don't blame me."

Li Yi didn't want to get entangled with this city-guarding god and continued to walk forward with long strides.

The city-guarding god's expression changed repeatedly. He held the bronze mace in his hand but dared not act again, only able to watch him enter the city.

A Daoist holding the dragon-tiger Qi that only the Son of Heaven possessed—such an outrageous thing was not something a mere city-guarding god like him could manage. This matter had to be reported, letting others handle it; he had better not get involved.

Thinking of this, this city-guarding god immediately left his post and turned into a wisp of green smoke, flying toward the City God Temple in the city.

Li Yi also saw that wisp of green smoke when he looked up, but he didn't stop it. As long as the other party didn't come to provoke him, it was fine. If they were still ignorant and wanted to find trouble with him, he wouldn't mind blowing all these ghosts and gods into ash with one breath of the Wind-Calling Great Method.

After entering the city, he found that the power of belief in this world was truly everywhere.

Passing by a wine shop, Li Yi saw a god position worshipped in a corner of the shop, with three sticks of incense inserted beside it. Although the god position was very old, in his sight, it was glowing, with spiritual energy gathering, and besides that, there was the addition of incense belief.

It could be seen that the god position truly had a god, but the god was not at this place.

He also saw two stone lions placed in front of a mansion. Those stone lions also had the addition of belief power, becoming spiritual over time, watching the people coming and going on the street. But if any ghosts or monsters dared to break into the mansion privately, they would be pounced on and bitten by those two lions.

And the longer the mansion flourished, the stronger the power manifested by the stone lions would be. Conversely, if the mansion fell into decline and the people were few, the power of the stone lions would also decline, finally falling into ordinary objects.

"The stone lions don't accept incense offerings, but they accept the addition of belief. The stone lions are placed there, and the people in this mansion subconsciously feel that the stone lions can deter ghosts and monsters. Over time, belief attaches to them, and the stone lions truly become spiritual, possessing the ability to guard the house."

"In this world, there were originally no gods; when more people believed, there were gods. So whether lions can guard the house and whether statues will protect people all depend on people's belief. If they believe, then there is; if they don't believe, then there isn't. Therefore, this incense belief power is both a power and a shackle. Once others don't believe, then the belief collapses, and everything will cease to exist."

Li Yi walked on the street, a realization dawning on him.

"And to make ordinary people believe, all things must first take their form. Lions are majestic, so they can guard the house. If it were changed to a cat, the form would be far behind, and people wouldn't believe that cats could guard the house, so belief would be very difficult to gather. Therefore, the form must fit the image."

"The statue in the Earth Temple earlier was destroyed by my silver lightning because the image was gone, and the belief was gone. People will believe in a statue, but they won't believe in a pile of dirt. Although the essence of the two is the same, dirt has no form, so it cannot become an image, cannot gather incense belief. But the statue was processed and shaped by people, possessing the image of the Earth God, so people believe that the statue can protect them. Therefore, the mud-sculpted statue possessed the ability of the Earth God."

"The Son of Heaven is the same. The masses believe that the Son of Heaven is the son of the True Dragon, so the Son of Heaven naturally has dragon-tiger Qi. If the image of the Son of Heaven is gone, then the belief collapses, and the outcome will be the same as the Earth God statue."

"So, in this world, people, gods, and the Son of Heaven all need to maintain their image. I saved that woman earlier, and Old Liu and those people believed I was a high person who knew the Dao and saved people, so I obtained their belief power. When I was in the temple earlier, I couldn't get their belief because they suspected I was a mountain monster in disguise."

"No wonder the city-guarding god didn't want to let the Daoist priest enter the city. There are many people in the city. If I cast magic to treat illnesses and save people, I could easily obtain the belief of ten thousand people. In a short time, my strength would advance by leaps and bounds. The local City God certainly couldn't sit idly by and let the incense belief power be stolen by a wild Daoist. This is no different from rushing into a bank and robbing money."

"Wait, I haven't read many books; why do I have such an understanding?"

Li Yi suddenly discovered that something was wrong with him, actually being able to understand these cultivation principles.

But soon.

He noticed his abnormality, seeing an illusory and crystal-clear flower bud appearing above his head; that was the Primordial Spirit Flower planted in his body by Xiang Xiang Xiangzi.

Clearly, this understanding was not Li Yi's own, but came from Xiang Xiang Xiangzi.

As a top practitioner of the Dao at the Three-Flower Realm, Xiang Xiang Xiangzi's understanding and talent were naturally extraordinary; otherwise, she couldn't have become one of the Seven Fairy Maidens of the Heavenly Dao Sect, mastering three top-tier Dao methods.

"If I build a statue of Xiang Xiang Xiangzi in this world and accept incense offerings, then Xiang Xiang Xiangzi wouldn't even need to wait for me to break through to the Three-Flower Realm; her Primordial Spirit could revive and wake up again. Pushing the calculation further, could I leave a strand of Primordial Spirit power in the statue, use the power of incense to gestate a second Primordial Spirit?" Many ideas appeared in Li Yi's mind. He felt that this world of incense becoming divinity had infinite potential. If it could be used for his own purposes, that would be incredible.

"So, I still have to rebel?"

Li Yi scratched his head. To monopolize the incense belief power of this world, besides rebelling and becoming the Emperor, there was no other way. Because as long as one sat on that dragon chair, the belief of the common people of the world would automatically be added to oneself. As for whether one was Li Yi or Tai Yi, or Da Yi, it didn't matter.

The common people only recognize the Emperor, not your identity.

This is the power of image.

If Li Yi really became the Emperor, then he only needed to maintain his Emperor image without collapsing, and the incense power could be continuous. At that time, wouldn't cultivation be a thousand miles a day?

"However, incense power has a great flaw. Once belief collapses, my outcome will be the same as that Earth God, very miserable. So the power of incense is false, not real. And what I want to do is borrow the false to cultivate the true, using the power of incense to cultivate my own strength. In the future, even if I leave this world and incense is missing, it won't affect myself."

Li Yi's understanding grew deeper and deeper.

Xiang Xiang Xiangzi's Primordial Spirit Flower was truly easy to use, very suitable for a martial artist like him who had no culture; otherwise, he couldn't have come up with such an excellent idea.

So he didn't want to cast the Heaven and Earth Qi-Gathering Great Method to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth anymore. His goal now was only one: to get incense and gather belief.

Because relying on self-cultivation was too slow; borrowing incense to achieve the Dao was the shortcut.

No mistakes, one read, one send, one content, one look!

In Xinzhou City, the voices of people were loud, and travelers were endless. Although there were monsters and ghosts causing trouble in the remote places outside the city, in such a large city, it was still flourishing, like cooking oil on a fire.

Li Yi walked all the way and saw many rare things.

He saw someone selling a centipede by the roadside, a black-red centipede, as thick as an adult's arm, a full two meters long, looking ferocious and scary.

However, this centipede was very popular and was bid on by many people.

Finally, it was bought at a high price by a wealthy merchant, and after buying it, he cut open the centipede's back in public and took out a bead the size of a thumb.

"It rose, it rose, it really gambled on a centipede bead." Some exclaimed, and some regretted not adding more money to buy it.

"It really produced a bead. It seems my luck is not bad."

The wealthy merchant was very happy, bought a brocade box, packed the treasure bead, and at the same time gave the centipede to the vendor who caught it, letting him sell it to a pharmacy to exchange for some silver money as a bonus.

Li Yi stood by and listened for a while before he knew what was going on.

It turned out that this kind of centipede had become a monster. If caught, if one was lucky, one could take out a treasure bead from its back, which was called a centipede bead, also known as a Wind-Fixing Pill.

The people who caught the centipedes didn't dare to gamble, fearing they would lose money, so they brought them to sell, letting wealthy merchants gamble on the beads.

"These things are similar to the mountain treasures and earthly treasures of the Four Seas and Eight Continents." Li Yi thought to himself: "The spiritual energy of this world is still quite abundant, and the mountain treasures and earthly treasures nurtured must be more than those of the Four Seas and Eight Continents. Moreover, many people are very knowledgeable about mountain treasures and earthly treasures and are not strangers to them. Most people know that there is a probability that a Wind-Fixing Pill will be nurtured on the back of a centipede."

Then he walked for another stretch and saw someone selling three toads. The three toads were covered with mosquitoes and flies and had maggots, looking very disgusting.

But it seemed the seller was deliberately selling toads that had maggots.

A traveling doctor passed by, and after seeing it, he immediately became interested. He discussed the price with the person selling the toads, and finally, with a pained heart, took out a considerable amount of money and bought a toad that had maggots.

"This doctor, what is the use of buying this toad with maggots?" Li Yi couldn't help but ask curiously.

The traveling doctor looked at Li Yi, who was dressed as a Daoist, and immediately bowed respectfully: "Greetings, Daoist priest. You don't know, Daoist priest, this toad with maggots is a rare good medicine. Because toads are poisonous, under normal circumstances, flies and insects won't land on them after they die, otherwise they will be poisoned to death. But among hundreds of dead toads, there are always some exceptions that are bitten by flies and insects and grow maggots, just like this. After I take it back, I will crush it and make it into an ointment, specifically to treat..."

After saying this, the traveling doctor stopped. He chuckled and was unwilling to reveal the illness he was treating, fearing he would leak the prescription.

"So that's how it is. Thank you, doctor, for clearing up my confusion." Li Yi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

The traveling doctor exchanged a few polite words and didn't stay long, hurriedly leaving, obviously to find a pharmacy to match the ointment.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 541 =====