Chapter 199: Incense Divine Path, God and Demon Pasture

"Yangxue Tenfold, Lianxue Tenfold, Huanxue Tenfold."

Chen Mo looked at the cultivation techniques in his hands; most were obtained from various noble families within the city, and two came from the city's martial arts schools.

These techniques were largely similar, with the early stages of cultivation not differing much from those of body-refining martial artists.

All involved condensing and nourishing the Qi and Blood within the body, and during these processes, one could also use various types of pills to accelerate cultivation.

Because this world was teeming with demons and monsters, most of the resources cultivated by martial artists came from these demons and monsters.

While it was true that from the perspective of this world's situation, demons and monsters were very powerful, that applied to the strong ones.

Weak demons and monsters at the bottom of the hierarchy were still subject to the exploitation and slaughter of the strong ones.

Whether it was demons and monsters or the Human Race, those who suffered and endured hardship were always the ones at the very bottom.

Chen Mo carefully browsed through these techniques; there were no major issues with the Yangxue Realm and the Lianxue Realm, as the main problem lay in the Huanxue Realm.

Unlike True Qi martial artists or body-refining martial artists, after reaching a certain realm, one had to accommodate Heaven and Earth Power for one's own use in order for cultivation to progress further.

Yet the Heaven and Earth Power of this world was chaotic and complex, almost fused with the Mirage Sea; those with insufficient strength who forced themselves to absorb it would only trigger their own distortion.

Therefore, the Huanxue Realm was a true "blood replacement"; martial artists had to use the blood of demons and monsters to replace their own essence blood.

During this process, the martial artist would inevitably become demonized, and characteristics unique to demons and monsters would gradually appear on their body.

The higher the essence and the more powerful the demon or monster blood used to replace one's own blood, the stronger the power the martial artist could master.

Blood replacement did not necessarily require the use of extremely powerful demon or monster blood at the very beginning.

The most effective method was to use demon or monster blood that was compatible with the martial artist and just happened to reach the martial artist's limit of tolerance.

For example, a martial artist who had been bathing their body in tiger blood since they first began cultivation.

Then, when it came time for blood replacement, it was naturally most effective to replace their blood with the essence blood of a tiger demon.

Huanxue Tenfold was the process by which a martial artist continuously increased their own demon beast essence blood.

It could be said that the more compatible the demon beast essence blood replaced into the body was with the martial artist, the more formidable their power would be, and the stronger the martial artist would be in this realm, leading to greater future achievements.

After the Huanxue Realm, if a martial artist wanted to continue cultivating, they could no longer rely solely on their own strength; they had to find a way to accommodate Heaven and Earth Power into their body.

To walk this path, there were two methods; the first was "Condensing Intent."

Using an extremely strong will and conviction to forcibly draw Heaven and Earth Power into the body to fuse and integrate it; the mental fortitude of a martial artist who achieved this step was far beyond that of ordinary people by countless times.

Once Heaven and Earth Power entered the body, combat power would inevitably skyrocket, and one could continuously inhale and exhale power to temper one's own Blood Qi.

Not only that, because their will was sufficiently firm, a martial artist in this realm would comprehend a mysterious spiritual light, known as "Autumn Wind Stirs Before the Cicada."

A martial artist in this realm could predict an enemy's strike in advance, anticipating the enemy's moves to make a reaction.

From Chen Mo's perspective, this was because their will was strong to the limit, and their divine sense power was condensed to the extreme, allowing them to glimpse a trace of heavenly spiritual light.

Being able to see the signs of the movement of Heaven and Earth Power naturally allowed one to make judgments about the signs of an enemy's attack.

The Heavenly Palace's Strategy of Heaven Secret Technique was created with this as its foundation.

Chen Mo could also achieve this step, but simply observing with divine sense could not compare to the calculations of the Strategy of Heaven.

However, for the martial artists of this world, this was already an extremely rare treasure.

It was just that because the Heavenly Law was chaotic, the martial artists of this world only knew that it was so, but did not know why it was so.

Martial artists who cultivated through this method were known as Entry Realm martial artists.

Above the Entry Realm martial artists were the Grandmasters, who polished that captured wisp of heavenly spiritual light to take it a step further, resulting in even greater strength and an increasingly clear perception of Heaven and Earth.

Entry Realm martial artists had extremely strong combat power, but the difficulty of cultivation was very high, and there were certain risks during the process. The physical body might not be able to bear the impact of Heaven and Earth Power, and once a problem occurred, one would explode and die.

Aside from cultivating in this way, there was a second path.

It was called "Serving God," or "Worshipping God."

Worshipping those powerful gods, becoming their Subordinate God or divine messenger, obtaining a wisp of Divine Nature into the body, and using that Divine Nature to refine and master Heaven and Earth Power.

Gods were diverse; there were gods of mountains, rivers, and great marshes, as well as demons and monsters who became gods, just like that Venerable Ghost Tiger God; of course, there were also Human Race powerhouses who became gods, or some deities who were originally from the Human Race.

Gods needed incense and faith, and not all living beings could provide incense and faith; at the very least, they had to possess intelligence.

Furthermore, the Human Race also had several powerful gods, and it was precisely because of this that the Human Race had not been completely exterminated, and this world had not been completely occupied by demons and monsters.

Cultivation for a Serving God warrior was simple, almost without any difficulty, and relatively safe.

Most importantly, once a martial artist succeeded in cultivation, they could receive the protection of the deity, greatly enhancing their ability to save their own life; if they truly encountered danger, they could use their own Divine Nature to perform a "God Descending."

When a god descended, the martial artist's strength would multiply.

The drawback was that they were always controlled by the god; once the god withdrew the Divine Nature, the martial artist would die directly because they could not control the Heaven and Earth Power within themselves.

Besides this drawback, the biggest problem for this type of martial artist was how to find a god to serve and worship.

Worshipping a god was simple, but wanting to receive a bestowal from a deity was not an easy task.

Therefore, the stronger forces in this world all had one or several gods behind them.

Even the small noble families within the city maintained good relationships with many large forces; if a relatively strong martial artist appeared within the family, they could go to serve a god.

Then they could receive a wisp of Divine Nature bestowed upon them, from then on becoming a divine messenger.

The reason why that County Magistrate worshipped the Venerable Ghost Tiger God was likely because their own family had a close relationship with this Venerable Ghost Tiger God.

As a member of the Human Race, worshipping a demon god was absolutely a capital crime punishable by the extermination of one's nine generations.

Yet the County Magistrate placed it in the main hall in such a grand manner, which showed that although this law existed, no one cared about it anymore.

The reason was simple: because the number of those Human Race gods was too small, and the Divine Nature they could divide was not much.

Since the top forces did not have enough for themselves, how could they share it with others?

And becoming an Entry Realm martial artist was too difficult; under these circumstances, worshipping a demon god was undoubtedly the fastest and simplest way.

This was not just something the County Magistrate was doing; many forces in the world were doing it, only some were in the open and some were in the dark.

The Imperial Court could not manage it either, because it was impossible to kill everyone.

Moreover, doing so would undoubtedly offend many demon gods.

Therefore, the Imperial Court basically held an acquiescent attitude toward this matter; as long as it was not publicized widely, they would not interfere if one worshipped at home.

It is also because of Worshipping God and Martial Artists who have entered the mirror, plus the existence of a few deities, that the Human Race can still have a foothold in this world.

Even so, from Chen Mo's perspective, it is only a matter of time before this world is occupied by demons.

Because this world is no longer suitable for the Human Race to cultivate, the existing solutions only allow the Human Race to linger on in a desperate struggle.

Chen Mo put down the cultivation techniques in his hand, based on the situation he had currently gathered.

Apart from the two types of cultivation methods recorded above, there is another type of cultivation method not recorded therein.

That is the Incense Fire God Path; there is no need to worship other deities, one can gather faith and incense oneself, condense Divine Nature, ignite Godhood, and become a god oneself.

This step is indeed difficult to take; the Martial Artist themselves needs to have extremely strong power and have enough people believing in them to succeed.

Furthermore, this method, in this world, should only be in the hands of a few strong individuals.

Because the number of deities that the living beings of the world can support is limited; if there are too many deities and not enough faith and incense, it may trigger a God War.

Therefore, whether it is demons or Human Race deities, both sides are intentionally controlling the birth of new deities.

However, he now has a wisp of Divine Nature, perhaps he can try to tame it, so as to condense a God Position.

It is just that he does not know how much difference there is between the Incense Path cultivation method of this world and what he knows.

Chen Mo had thoroughly comprehended these few cultivation techniques; with his strength and vision, he could read them through completely just by looking at them once.

If he had the mind to, creating a few new cultivation techniques would not be too difficult.

Especially the Huanxue Tenfold; in his heart, he already had a plan to replace the blood of demons.

That is to use his own blood, but this method cannot be used on himself.

Although his avatar does not have strong power right now, the essence of his Qi and Blood is extremely high, far surpassing the vast majority of demons in this world.

If he were to divide a wisp of his own Qi and Blood for others, then that person could begin cultivation with his Qi and Blood as the foundation.

The reason why the Human Race in this world uses demon Qi and Blood to cultivate is because the Human Race is born with a weak constitution, coupled with the incompleteness of the world, making it impossible to accommodate Heaven and Earth Power to polish oneself, so they can only use the blood of demons to make up for their own deficiencies.

And Chen Mo comes from another world; his physical cultivation is far superior to the vast majority of strong individuals in this world.

Most importantly, his Qi and Blood is also Human Race blood, which is compatible with the Human Race of the world.

Cultivating with his Qi and Blood as the foundation is much safer and more stable than using demon Qi and Blood.

"Let's try cultivating for a bit." Chen Mo closed all the cultivation techniques and looked at Bai Yuxia.

"Can you give me a drop of your Qi and Blood?" Bai Yuxia asked in a condensed voice; with her vision, she could naturally see the details of this technique.

And in an instant, she understood that if she could replace her own Qi and Blood with Chen Mo's, it would allow the upper limit of this avatar of hers to reach a higher level.

"Yes." Chen Mo nodded lightly, forcing out a drop of his own essence blood and handing it to Bai Yuxia.

"Many thanks." She smiled, noting this favor in her heart; with her personality, she would definitely find an opportunity to repay it in the future.

Chen Mo did not take this to heart and stepped into the side room.

The building where the two of them were currently located was still the County Magistrate's residence, but this residence was now empty.

Chen Mo sat cross-legged to cultivate, calling upon the Qi and Blood within his body; the Qi and Blood surged endlessly to wash over and suppress that wisp of Divine Nature, wanting to obliterate the consciousness within it and turn it into something for his own use.

He sank his mind into the Reward Good and Punish Evil Order; having fought all the way here, the Good Merit he had accumulated now amounted to over thirty-seven thousand points.

It can be seen that the person he had just killed had conduct so vile that it surpassed many demons.

In fact, this is also normal; the evil of demons lies in devouring the Human Race, but the vast majority of demons, at most, only harm one or two villages or towns.

And the evil of corrupt officials and wicked gentry is even worse than demons; for every extra tax they collect, one does not know how many families will be forced into ruin.

Chen Mo's mind sank into it, first redeeming two Manxiang Huntian Pills, costing twenty thousand points of Good Merit.

With the remaining seventeen thousand plus points, Chen Mo kept searching within the Reward Good and Punish Evil Order, and finally found what he needed.

Its name is the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace, which is an item used by Martial Artists of the Incense God Path for cultivation.

Lighting the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace can help Martial Artists stabilize their mental thoughts and gather Divine Nature.

And after refining it, one can also use the treasure furnace as a foundation to ignite Godhood.

Most importantly, practitioners of the Incense Path using this treasure furnace can maximize the avoidance of believers' thoughts affecting themselves.

Practitioners of the Incense Path possess countless believers and will receive countless thoughts; these thoughts are too many and too chaotic, which will affect the practitioner themselves and may even lead to the practitioner falling into demonic ways.

The Ding Shen Treasure Furnace is designed to solve this problem, capable of refining believers' thoughts and transforming them into the purest Faith Power.

If Chen Mo wants to try cultivating the Incense God Path, then this treasure furnace is indispensable.

Fortunately, the value of a first-tier Ding Shen Treasure Furnace is not high, requiring only fifteen thousand points of Good Merit.

The disadvantage is that it can only accommodate and refine the thoughts of at most ten thousand believers, but it is enough to satisfy his initial cultivation needs.

After redeeming the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace, Chen Mo first swallowed the Manxiang Huntian Pill.

The two pills totaled twenty-five thousand catties of strength, plus his own twenty-seven thousand catties of strength.

But this is still not the upper limit of his own Blood Qi; Chen Mo's physical cultivation technique has reached the Creation Realm, and his physical body has undergone multiple Mortal Transformations.

Even if restricted in this world, according to his estimation, his own Blood Qi limit can still reach the one hundred thousand catty mark.

It is just that after reaching this limit, if he wants to improve further, he must use other methods.

Chen Mo sank his mind into his body, using Blood Qi to refine the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace.

The treasure furnace is not large, bronze-colored throughout, very exquisite and small, and can be held in one hand.

The treasure furnace is engraved with cloud patterns and has no other special features.

Chen Mo refined it with Blood Qi; the treasure furnace flowed into his body along with the Blood Qi and finally condensed within his Shenhai.

He divided a wisp of Divine Sense and merged it into the treasure furnace, waiting only until his cultivation was sufficient to ignite Godhood.

That wisp of Divine Nature within his Mysterious Aperture no longer had any reaction; the thoughts contained within the Divine Nature were washed clean by the surging Blood Qi.

According to the cultivation method of this world, Worshipping God Martial Artists must merge with this wisp of divine thought.

This process is completed passively, and the Martial Artist is completely controlled by that wisp of Divine Nature.

Chen Mo, however, wants to use the cultivation method of the Incense God Path to divide a wisp of divine thought to control this Divine Nature.

This step is difficult to say it is difficult, and easy to say it is easy; Chen Mo is not starting cultivation from scratch, as long as he can master the Divine Nature, his God Path cultivation can be considered to have entered the door.

The path of cultivation that follows is even simpler; one only needs a sufficient number of believers.

With enough believers providing an abundant quantity of Faith Power, this wisp of initially condensed Divine Nature can be continuously strengthened until the Godhood is finally ignited; this is the cultivation method of the Incense God Path.

Its difficulty does not lie in comprehension or aptitude, but only in resources.

Only with a sufficiently large number of believers can a cultivator of the Incense God Path possess sufficiently strong power.

Chen Mo used his Blood Qi to support this wisp of Divine Nature and sent it into his Shenhai, his own divine sense rapidly becoming active, all his power coalescing into one, attempting to refine and master this Divine Nature.

Not only that, the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace was also slowly operating, wanting to incorporate this wisp of Divine Nature into the treasure furnace.

The method Chen Mo used was very clumsy, but the effect was very good.

His divine sense power was formidable, even far exceeding this Divine Nature, so he was now using the method of "one force subduing ten techniques" to forcibly master it.

If ordinary cultivation of the Incense God Path takes oneself as the foundation, Chen Mo was now forcibly mastering this wisp of Divine Nature, using the Divine Nature as a weapon to wield.

Its greatest advantage is that it will not affect himself, nor will it be restricted by a God Position.

Even if a real problem arises, he can cut ties with this Divine Nature at any time, or directly disperse the Divine Nature to dissolve its power into himself.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Chen Mo finally mastered this wisp of Divine Nature.

The Divine Nature gathered his divine sense and merged into the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace; the appearance displayed by this Divine Nature was still very blurry, but vaguely, one could see it resembled Chen Mo somewhat.

Through this wisp of Divine Nature, Chen Mo was able to wield the Heaven and Earth Power of this world.

The surrounding Heavenly Law flowed and changed infinitely; the power of the laws and the power of the Mirage Sea were mixed together, as if covering the whole world in a layer of black fog.

The wisp of Divine Nature that Chen Mo possessed was truly too weak; although it could pry into the Heaven and Earth Power, the quantity was too small.

However, at this moment, wisps of Faith Power began to gather, and the Ding Shen Treasure Furnace operated, beginning to calcine those thoughts of faith, turning them into the purest Faith Power.

Chen Mo checked along these thoughts; Faith Power is just a simple term, and those who can give birth to this power may not truly believe in oneself.

Gratitude, fear, reverence, and various other emotions can all be attributed to Faith Power.

Even just simply knowing of one's existence can provide a portion of Faith Power, though the quantity is very small.

Therefore, many gods, even if they already possess countless believers, still tirelessly spread their teachings; besides expanding their faith, it is also to spread their divine name.

Chen Mo checked along the sources of those Faith Powers and vaguely saw people feeling gratitude toward him; these people were mostly laborers, as well as the women and children who had been in the hands of the human traffickers.

Bai Yuxia had sent them back to their homes one by one, and they also understood that it was Chen Mo and Bai Yuxia who had saved them.

Additionally, there were many people who felt fear toward him, and this number was quite large; for example, many young masters of noble families in the city, having seen the scene of him killing people, dared not confront him directly, and some even dared not harbor resentment toward him, with more feeling fear.

Besides this, there was an even larger source of Faith Power, and this power was very clear; all of them harbored reverence, or even worship, toward him.

Checking along the source of this power, it was quite surprising.

The source of this power was actually the Changsheng County Lieutenant and his subordinates; not only that, this feeling of reverence toward him seemed to be spreading continuously with this as the origin point.

Chen Mo really could not understand why the other party would harbor such reverence toward him.

But this point was not very important; an idea was continuously forming in his heart.

Since he could bestow Blood Qi upon others, allowing them to begin cultivation, and subsequently, this person could also worship him as a god.

With this as a foundation, he could build a force that belonged solely to him; through this force, he could master the power of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This path was indeed good; even if he did not seize the power of the dynasty, he would still do this, because he needed Faith Power to improve himself.

As Chen Mo was pondering his next plans in his heart, he suddenly felt his own Blood Qi throb.

He stopped his cultivation and rose to walk toward the room on the other side.

Bai Yuxia was refining his Blood Qi, replacing the blood in her own body with Chen Mo's Blood Qi.

What she needed to do next was to continuously use the power of her own Blood Qi to nurture the wisp of Blood Qi that Chen Mo had given her, in order to strengthen her own foundation.

However, Chen Mo could feel that as long as he was willing, he could withdraw the Blood Qi from Bai Yuxia's body at any time.

If he really did this, all her future cultivation would be helping his own cultivation; not only that, as her strength grew stronger and the Blood Qi power he gave her became more vigorous, the restrictions she received from him would instead become greater.

Once she cultivated to the perfection of Blood Exchange, he could withdraw all the Blood Qi in her body with a single thought.

And judging from Bai Yuxia's current performance, she herself could not perceive this point.

If even with her strength she could not perceive it, other Martial Artists would be even less likely to perceive it.

Chen Mo never expected that the cultivation techniques of this world actually hid such a secret.

If this was truly the case, then the situation in this world might be different from what he had imagined.

Chen Mo had originally thought that the Human Race of this world could survive because they at least had techniques that allowed them to struggle on and continue cultivating, and many gods stood on the side of the Human Race.

Even if the demons were strong, they were not a monolithic block and could not fight the Human Race to the death under such circumstances.

But now, the discovery of the new technique overturned his previous judgment.

If cultivation must use the blood of demons, then all the Human Race in this world might have been left behind by the tacit consent of some powerful demon.

The Human Race is just livestock in its pasture, being herded and raised in this world, and once they grow up, they are slaughtered to drink their blood and eat their flesh.

This is likely the reason why the Human Race of this world has been able to survive until now.

In the shadows, there is a god-demon herding the Human Race of the world.

(End of chapter)