Refining Qi starts from repairing the panel.

Chapter 197: Divine Court, Gods

The pitch-black curtain is dotted with endless stars, some of which are as bright as pearls, sparkling, while others are like candles in the wind, dim and uncertain.

A streak of light flashed across the starry sky and disappeared in a flash.

The vast universe is no longer unfamiliar to Chu Zheng, but every time he visits the universe, he is still attracted by these celestial bodies that contain endless mysterious aura.

Crossing the starry sky again and traveling to foreign lands was already a familiar thing for Chu Zheng.

In a flash, he saw the starry sky shrouded by the power of incense.

Compared to the first time, Chu Zheng now has a little spare energy and can stay in the starry sky for a while longer.

Compared to the Tianyao Federation, this time, he could clearly feel the existence of destiny in the universe. In this starry sky, there existed a relatively complete way of heaven.

After a brief hesitation, Chu Zheng chose a larger star.

The moment they passed through the star barrier, abundant spiritual energy waves came over, which was even better than the Cang Yun Realm before the world changed drastically.

The world was filled with extremely rich incense and prayer power. Chu Zheng took a casual glance and saw countless shrines and temples.

Everyone worships gods, and every family worships the saints.

All kinds of divine sounds echoed in the void, and legends about various gods continued to circulate among the people.

Powerful fluctuations of divine thoughts echoed between heaven and earth. Some divine thoughts discovered Chu Zheng's existence, but just glanced past him and did not pay any attention.

Chu Zheng began to search for a suitable body. This time, he still wanted to find a suitable body, preferably a child.

The innate energy in children's bodies has not yet dissipated, so the step of refining essence into qi can save a lot of hard work.

During his last tribulation, most of his consciousness was in his original body, but that time, his cultivation level still increased extremely rapidly, which shows the benefits of having a child's body.

There are gods above this star, but wars are still happening between tribes, and there are many dead bodies. Unfortunately, there are very few suitable options for Chu Zheng.

After crossing mountains, rivers, lakes and seas, and passing by ancient tribes, Chu Zheng stopped when he passed by a river.

This place belongs to a small tribe with a population of no more than 10,000 people. They live by the water, and the god worshipped in the tribe is a river god.

At this moment, this tribe is holding a sacrifice.

By the river stood a meter-tall statue of a god with a human body and a fish tail, a burly figure, holding a steel fork in his hand, and a stern face.

On the altar in front of the statue, there were many offerings, including cattle, sheep, vegetables, fruits, and... a pair of sleeping boys and girls.

There is innate qi in children's bodies, and boys and girls are divided into yin and yang, which is of great benefit to both evil spirits and ghosts, as well as living goblins and monsters.

The high priest in a long robe kneeled before the statue and chanted the "words of God".

After a while, the high priest slowly stood up and led everyone back, with a hint of a sigh in his cloudy eyes.

Chu Zheng listened for a moment and learned some information.

This starry sky is governed by the Divine Court, which governs all the gods in the world. There are 36,500 deities, which is the number of stars in the sky. Incense and vows are offered to them at all levels.

The most top emperor god, who presides over the divine court, is called "Sky Frost Demon Luo Mingtian Supreme God Emperor" and enjoys the worship of the entire star field.

The title of the Great Emperor is above that of the Heavenly Lord. The power of this Divine Emperor is probably unfathomable, comparable to the giants above the Immortal Kings.

This kind of sacrifice is held once a year in this small tribe, but usually there are no boys or girls among the sacrifices.

There were boys and girls present, and it was a grand sacrifice held once every ten years. For such a small tribe, a grand sacrifice held once every ten years was a rare event.

The boys and girls who will be used as sacrifices will be prepared two years in advance.

First, healthy young men and women are selected from the tribe to pair up, the gender of the fetus is identified in the womb, and then the babies are born on the most yang day and the most yin day of the year respectively.

After birth, the chosen child will be taken away by the high priest to be raised on the spot to prevent his parents from interfering with the high sacrifice due to emotional attachment.

Separation of family members is the greatest pain in the world, and this can also alleviate some of the parents' sorrow.

Chu Zheng was attracted by the pure yang energy in the boy's body. The child, who had just turned one year old and was born on the day of the most yang, was the perfect body for him.

However, Chu Zheng had no intention of interfering with the conduct of the grand sacrifice. This was the way of survival for this tribe. If he forcibly interfered, it would involve the cause and effect of tens of thousands of people.

By then, perhaps more people will die.

What's more, he is just a remnant soul now, and he is powerless to intervene.

At this moment, Chu Zheng just wanted to know the final outcome of this pair of boys and girls, and also wanted to see the strength of the deity who was accepting the sacrifice.

Soon, the sky gradually darkened and the sky was dotted with stars.

After nightfall, the river water began to rise gradually. Not far away, the high priest and the tribesmen were still watching.

Soon, the river water flooded the altar, and the statue seemed to come alive, with a divine light flashing in its eyes. It opened its mouth and gently inhaled, drawing wisps of pure life essence from the bodies of the two children.

Flesh and blood are useless to the Yin Spirit; only the vital energy of life is a great tonic.

[Hebei Spiritual Lord (Level 3): A spiritual deity with over 700,000 followers. His predecessor was a mermaid. After his death, his spirit remained immortal and resided in a clay body. He was worshipped and became spiritual. Under his rule, the weather was good and the incense was prosperous every year.]

In addition to the tribe in front of us, there are other tribes under the command of this deity.

For a third-rank deity to ensure the survival of more than 700,000 believers, it would probably take a lot of energy. The sacrifices offered by these tribes, minus the loss of their own divine power, would not leave much.

If not, there would be no believers willing to offer sacrifices willingly. Without believers, the incense and gods could not even guarantee their own survival.

No believers would be willing to worship a god who only knows how to take without giving anything in return.

Looking at the child on the altar who was barely breathing, Chu Zheng sighed softly. His life essence had been sucked away and there was no way to save him.

I just don't know if the repair panel can replenish this strand of innate Qi.

The grand ceremony was just halfway through when suddenly a ray of sword light appeared in the sky.

hum-

The cold light was blinding, an ear-piercing scream rang out in the void, and the sword light swept across the statue and beheaded it with one blow.

The huge head was thrown high into the air and smashed into the river, splashing up a wave.

Not far away, the high priest and a group of tribesmen were horrified. After they reacted, they all looked terrified, knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly facing the headless statue.

A figure came walking in the air and stopped above the river. He was wearing a white robe, about forty years old, with extremely powerful energy fluctuations surging in his body.

[Tong Tianye (Level 3): A cultivator of the Qi-gathering Dao, practicing the "Bu Yuan Jing", bone age 93, also practicing the Dao of Incense, Fire and Spirits, currently in the process of compiling a book and biography.]

After seeing Tong Tianye's message clearly, Chu Zheng frowned slightly. He didn't expect that he would meet a cultivator who practiced both the incense and spirit ways so soon.

Tong Tianye looked indifferent as he looked down at the tribesmen kneeling on the ground and said calmly:
"Instead of worshipping this little demon god, it is better to worship my Tianyue Sect's Changming Patriarch, 'Jiuxiao Changming Ming Monarch'."

"I, the Changming Patriarch, do not need you to sacrifice your children. All I need is a tablet for longevity, three kowtows in the morning and evening, and a stick of incense in the morning and evening, and I will protect your safety."

Before he finished speaking, the severed head of the River Guarding Spiritual Lord suddenly emitted a burst of intense divine light, and the severed head gradually grew completely, the color of the clay gradually faded, and turned into a solid body. Once manifested, the River Guarding Spiritual Lord did not say a word, stepped on the waves, went straight into the sky, raised the steel fork in his hand and stabbed, with great force, as if to pierce the void.

"How dare you, a mere Spirit Lord, act so rashly!"

Tong Tianye sneered, remained unmoved, opened his mouth and took a light breath. The vital energy of the surrounding heaven and earth surged and poured into his mouth. As his lips and teeth opened and closed, a hint of sword light appeared in his throat.

The next moment, he suddenly spat out, and a sword light burst out from his throat, brilliant and dazzling.

clang--

The sound of metal clashing exploded, piercing through gold and splitting rocks.

boom!
There were bursts of divine light in the sky, and two figures were constantly fighting.

Everyone around was paying attention to the battlefield in mid-air, and no one noticed that the children and the many sacrifices on the altar had fallen into the river after losing the divine power, floating in the turbulent water and drifting downstream.

Chu Zheng frowned slightly, and without further delay, he dived into the river and entered the boy's body.

As soon as he entered this body, Chu Zheng felt an indescribable chill. The yang energy in his body dissipated and his life force was gone.

Without hesitation, Chu Zheng immediately used the panel to repair the body.

However, this body was too weak and could only go with the flow, floating in the river, and gradually moving farther and farther away.

Chu Zheng could only keep using the repair panel to maintain his fragile life. He didn't have time to open his eyes. Water filled his mouth and nose, and he floated downwards along the river.

It was unknown how much time had passed before Chu Zheng followed the current and entered a shallow area, his stomach already filled with river water.

The child, who had just turned one year old, had weak limbs. Chu Zheng could only struggle hard before he got close to the shore and lay down on the muddy shore.

Chu Zheng wasted no time and immediately began to look for the qi and try to guide the qi into his body.

After a moment, a warm current flowed into the body from the top of the head and began to grow rapidly.

In a blink of an eye, two days had passed. Chu Zheng had been lying on the shore, motionless, until the feeling of weakness in his limbs subsided, and then he slowly stood up.

After absorbing the essence of the sun and the moon for two days, his physique, originally a one-year-old child, has become as strong as that of an ordinary adult.

The constant feeling of hunger loomed in his heart. If it weren't for the repair panel, he would have starved to death.

Before entering the spiritual transformation, one cannot eat Qi to nourish the body and cannot do without whole grains.

After jumping into the river again and catching some fish and shrimp to fill his stomach, Chu Zheng began to explore the surrounding tribes.

There were still many unknowns about the vast world before him. The first thing he had to understand was the mystery of the incense, gods and spirits.

There are not only gods and believers here, but also many people who practice the way of worshipping gods and spirits.

From what happened to Tong Tianye before, we can see that the competition for believers here is quite fierce.

Moreover, Tong Tianye himself was practicing the way of incense and spirits, but he did not preach for his own sake. Instead, he was trying to expand the number of believers for the founder of the sect, which made Chu Zheng a little puzzled.

After trekking in the mountains for several days, Chu Zheng began to hunt wild beasts in the mountains for nourishment, relying on his daily increasing strength. As he devoured large amounts of flesh and blood, his muscles and bones began to gradually stretch.

By the time he arrived in front of a tribe, more than a month had passed. His body had grown to the size of a five or six-year-old child, wrapped in animal skins.

Looking at the gate in front of him, Chu Zheng was a little confused for a moment.

Rather than a tribe, what he saw was more like a city, with a nearly ten-foot-high wall, a pitch-black gate covered with colorful patterns, and a statue of a god standing on each side of the gate.

In front of the statue, there is an incense burner with three sticks of incense as thick as fingers burning.

The door was open, people were flowing in, and it was very lively.

There were no soldiers guarding the city gate and people could enter and exit freely.

Chu Zheng followed the crowd and squeezed into the city, trying his best to collect information from the gossip from all directions.

As he walked along the long street, Chu Zheng's thoughts gradually calmed down, and he seemed to have realized something.

On this planet, there are many people who practice the way of incense and gods, but most of them practice both.

After these monks died, based on the reputation they had established during their lifetime, someone would create golden bodies for them, allowing them to return to the world through the power of incense and vows.

This is equivalent to resurrection from the dead, therefore, many cultivators flock to it for the worship of incense and gods.

There are people who achieve godhood by relying on their physical bodies, but as time goes by, the physical body will eventually wither and the Yin spirit will be the final destination.

Compared with being bound by a physical body, the Yin God's way of action is undoubtedly more flexible and changeable. With a golden body as a node, mountains and rivers across billions of miles can be reached in an instant.

As Chu Zheng's understanding of the way of incense and gods deepened, his expression became a little hesitant.

This is certainly a great way that can communicate with the gods and even allow one to live forever in the world.

However, for Qi cultivators, the more causes and effects involved, the greater the probability of sudden death.

For a moment, Chu Zheng suddenly thought of Daozu again, and his heart was slightly shaken.

No one knows the real name of the Taoist Ancestor. The golden body he sculpted has various images of people and has no fixed appearance at all.

As long as this golden statue is given the name of "Taoist Ancestor", the Taoist Ancestor should be able to receive incense and prayers without having to bear too much cause and effect.

This method is undoubtedly quite against the will of heaven.

As his thoughts gradually became distracted, Chu Zheng accidentally bumped into someone's waist.

Chu Zheng raised his head and was about to apologize when a wrinkled smiling face appeared in front of him:

"It doesn't matter."

[Yuan Dazun (Level 1): Bone age is 43, he is roughly proficient in martial arts, and also practices incense and spirits, but he has very few followers.]

This was another cultivator who also practiced the Dao of Incense and Spirits. Chu Zheng's eyes fixed on him and he subconsciously took a half step back.

“Do you believe in God?”

Yuan Dazun looked Chu Zheng up and down and suddenly asked a question.

Chu Zheng shook his head subconsciously, and then nodded suddenly.

"Little guy, I see that you are born with a different appearance and are not an ordinary person. You will definitely be a dragon among men in the future. Do you want to practice with me?"

Yuan Dazun's expression gradually became serious: "If you believe in me, I can fulfill all your wishes."

Compared to those gods who have been famous for a long time and have their own loyal believers, it is undoubtedly quite hard for those who have just started to practice the way of worshipping gods.

As gods, the easiest way to have believers is to prove one's own power by fulfilling the wishes of believers.

(End of this chapter)