Chapter 540

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

He had thought that the one breaking into Xinzhou City was a wild Daoist without a document or travel permit, and intended to give him a few mace strikes to let him know how powerful he was and drive him out of here. But he hadn't expected that one strike of the copper mace would instead force out the opponent's Dragon-Tiger energy.

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 energy is also known as the energy of the Son of Heaven.

Only the Emperor is qualified to possess it. Of course, it doesn't exclude some imperial princes who also possess such energy.

"You, how can you have the Dragon-Tiger energy of the Son of Heaven on you? Who exactly are you?"

The city-guarding god retreated in shock. He no longer dared to swing the copper mace in his hand. This was not only because of the opponent's identity, but because that silver, colorful tiger was staring at him at this moment.

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

"I am just a practitioner traveling the world, nothing special. You already took action once just now, but considering it was your duty, I won't hold it against you. If you come again, I won't be polite. If I take action and don't have a sense of proportion, and kill you, don't blame me."

Li Yi didn't want to get entangled with this city-guarding god too much, so he continued to walk forward with long strides.

The city-guarding god's expression changed repeatedly. He held the copper mace in his hand, but he didn't dare to take action again, and could only watch him enter the city.

A Daoist possessing the Dragon-Tiger energy that only the Son of Heaven has—such an outrageous thing was not something he, a mere city-guarding god, could manage. This matter must be reported, and let others handle it. He'd better not get involved.

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

Li Yi also saw that wisp of green smoke, but he didn't stop it. As long as the other party didn't come to provoke him, it would be fine. If they were blind and still wanted to find trouble with him, he wouldn't mind blowing all these monsters and ghosts into ashes with one breath of the Wind-Calling Great Spell.

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

Passing through a tavern, Li Yi saw a divine position worshipped in a corner of the tavern, with three incense sticks inserted next to it. Although the divine position was very old, in his line of sight, it was glowing, with spiritual energy gathering. Besides that, there was the addition of incense belief.

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

He also saw two stone lions placed in front of a mansion. Those stone lions also had the addition of the power of belief, and after a long time, they became spiritual, watching the people coming and going on the street. 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 declined and the people were few, the power of the stone lions would also decay, finally becoming ordinary objects.

"Although those stone lions didn't accept the offering of incense, they accepted the addition of belief. The stone lions were placed there, and the people in this mansion subconsciously felt that the stone lions could suppress ghosts and evil things. Over time, belief attached to them, and the stone lions truly became spiritual, possessing the ability to suppress the house."

"There were no gods in this world originally; there were more people who believed, and then there were gods. So whether a lion can suppress a house, whether a statue will protect people, all depend on people's belief. If they believe, then it exists; if they don't believe, then it doesn't. So this power of incense belief is both a power and a shackle. Once others don't believe, then belief collapses, and everything will cease to exist."

Li Yi walked on the street, feeling enlightened in his heart.

"And if you want ordinary people to believe, everything must first take its form. A lion is majestic, so it can suppress a house. If it were replaced by a cat, the form would be much worse, and people wouldn't believe that a cat could suppress a house, so belief would be hard to gather. Therefore, the form must fit the image."

"The statue in the Earth Temple earlier was destroyed by my streak of 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 both is the same, dirt has no form, so it cannot become a statue, 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 statue possessed the ability of the Earth God."

"The Son of Heaven is also the same. The people believe that the Son of Heaven is the son of the True Dragon, so the Son of Heaven naturally has Dragon-Tiger energy. If the image of the Son of Heaven is gone, then 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 before, and Old Liu and those people believed that I was a high person who knew the Dao and would save people, so I obtained their power of belief. Earlier in the temple, I couldn't get their belief because they suspected that I was a wild monster transformed."

"No wonder the city-guarding god was unwilling to let the Daoist enter the city. There are many people in the city. If I cast spells to cure 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 power of incense belief be stolen by a wild Daoist. This is no different from rushing into a bank to rob 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. He saw an illusory and crystal-clear flower bud emerging above his head; that was the Primordial Spirit Flower planted in his body by Xiang Xiangzi.

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

As a top practitioner of the Three Flowers Realm, Xiang Xiangzi's understanding and talent were naturally extraordinary; otherwise, she couldn't have become one of the Seven Immortal Maidens of the Heavenly Dao Sect and mastered three top Daoist techniques.

"If I build a statue of Xiang Xiangzi in this world and receive incense offerings, then Xiang Xiangzi wouldn't even need to wait for me to break through to the Three Flowers Realm, her Primordial Spirit could revive and wake up again. Continuing to deduce, can I leave a wisp of Primordial Spirit power on the statue, use the power of incense to nurture a second Primordial Spirit?" Many ideas appeared in Li Yi's mind. He felt that this world of becoming a god through incense had infinite potential. If it could be used for his own purposes, that would be incredible.

"So, do I still have to rebel?"

Li Yi scratched his head. If he wanted to monopolize the power of incense and belief in this world, there was no other way besides rebelling and becoming the Emperor, because as long as one sits on that dragon chair, the belief of the people of the world will automatically be added to oneself. As for whether you are Li Yi or Tai Yi, or Da Yi, it doesn'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 needs to maintain his Emperor image so it doesn't collapse, and the power of incense can be continuous. At that time, cultivation wouldn't be a thousand miles a day.

"However, the power of incense has a big 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 to borrow the false to cultivate the true, use the power of incense to cultivate my own strength. Even if I leave this world in the future and incense is missing, it won't affect myself."

Li Yi became more and more enlightened in his heart.

Xiang Xiangzi's Primordial Spirit Flower is really easy to use, very suitable for a martial artist like him who has no culture; otherwise, he wouldn't have thought of such an excellent idea.

So he doesn't want to cast the Heaven and Earth Qi-Gathering Great Spell to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth anymore. His only goal now is to get incense and gather belief.

Because relying on self-cultivation is too slow. Borrowing incense to achieve the Dao is the shortcut.

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

In Xinzhou City, the voices of people were loud, and pedestrians were coming and going in an endless stream. Although there were monsters and ghosts causing trouble in the remote places outside the city, in this large city, it was still flourishing, just like cooking oil on a raging 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, nearly two meters long, looking fierce and terrifying.

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 back of the centipede in public and took out a bead the size of a thumb.

"It went up, it went up, I 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, put the treasure bead in it, 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 as a lucky bonus.

Li Yi stood on the side 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 the Wind-Fixing Pill.

The people who caught 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 Bazhou." 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 Bazhou. 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 of a Wind-Fixing Pill being 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 passing traveling doctor walked by, and after seeing it, he immediately became interested, discussed the price with the person selling the toads, and finally, with a heart-aching feeling, took out a considerable amount of money and bought a toad that had maggots.

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

That traveling doctor saw that Li Yi was dressed as a Daoist, and immediately bowed respectfully: "Daoist Priest, you are polite. Daoist Priest, you don't know, this toad with maggots is a rare and good medicine. Because toads are poisonous, after they die, flies and insects generally don't land on them, otherwise they will be poisoned to death. But among dozens or hundreds of toads that die, 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..."

Speaking to the end, this traveling doctor stopped. He chuckled and was unwilling to reveal the illness he was treating, fearing that the recipe would be leaked.

"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, leaving in a hurry, obviously to find a pharmacy to match the ointment.

(End of chapter)