Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Path of the Divine

The issue of his avatar's strength had always troubled Qingxu, leaving him helpless. After all, the path of immortal cultivation is riddled with obstacles, and the further one progresses, the greater the hindrances become. Look at those veteran Golden Immortals and quasi-saints, who toil for hundreds or even thousands of eras without the slightest progress.

The Xuanhuang Pure Water contains supreme power, yet to fully unleash it is no easy matter—it demands a formidable vessel. Even a Silver Giant Spirit at the True Immortal level falls short; perhaps a Great Shaman might suffice. Therefore, Qingxu had never considered this approach, for he lacked the ability to obliterate the soul of a Great Shaman and refine it as an external avatar. The souls of the shaman race are fused with their bodies, especially the Great Shamans and Ancestor Shamans, whose souls and limbs are one. Destroying the soul would instantly cause the shaman body to collapse—they flourish and perish together. Under such circumstances, he naturally abandoned any extravagant hope of ascending in a single step.

“To wield the power of Xuanhuang Pure Water, the prerequisite is a sufficiently mighty body—at least equivalent to a Silver Giant Spirit at the True Immortal realm. Seizing another’s is nearly impossible, and relying on good fortune is not realistic. The only way is to create the conditions myself,” Qingxu mused, pondering possible solutions.

The Path of Divinity!

Upon seeing his own faith and incense power, he suddenly recalled the gods of the Western world from his previous life, and his mind flashed with inspiration—this perfectly suited his need for an avatar. He was overjoyed.

The Path of Divinity greatly differs from the Immortal Path; it is an unorthodox side-path, not part of the true lineage, with almost no hope of attaining the Dao. Yet it has its unique aspects: as long as the faith and incense are sufficient, a god can elevate their divine body unhindered up to the peak of the quasi-saint level. However, the drawbacks are significant—deities rely heavily on their followers, especially devout ones. If their followers are slaughtered en masse, the gods are severely affected. Their consumption cannot draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth—it can only be converted from pure faith and incense into divine power. Without followers, they become like rootless trees or water without a source.

The issue is not only followers; the hierarchy among gods is extremely strict. It does not depend on cultivation realms but primarily on the strength of the divine body. The divine body is fundamental, and the reserve of divine power depends entirely on its limits. Without followers, a god’s divine power is depleted bit by bit, and once exhausted, they rely solely on the brute strength of the divine body—such limitations are considerable.

Speaking of the Path of Divinity, one cannot ignore the Investiture of the Gods. The Investiture of the Gods is a mystical treasure of heaven and earth, with countless marvelous uses, most notably transforming immortals into gods. Below the quasi-saint level, even at the peak of Golden Immortal, if one’s name is on the list, upon death their true spirit is drawn into the ranking, then a matching divine body is produced based on their immortal power in life. But it ends there—no further progress is possible. It is a somewhat useless artifact for transforming gods, yet for immortals it is a formidable weapon, a supreme tool for competing with the divine path!

Using the Investiture of the Gods, firstly, the entrant perishes and their power dissipates into the world, compensating for the deficiency of spiritual energy. Secondly, it seizes divine power. Nothing arises from nothing—when the Investiture of the Gods produces a divine body, the required power is drawn from the reserves of the gods. In Hongjun’s hands, this is pushed to the extreme, using a bit of heavenly authority from his Dao union to extract divine power. Qingxu does not fully understand the specifics of the Investiture of the Gods—these are only his conjectures, but he believes he is not far off.

Of the three thousand great paths, the Path of Divinity is one, though a minor side path, not to be compared with the orthodox Immortal Path. Yet, with this path, entering the quasi-saint realm is not impossible.

“Come to think of it, the Path of Divinity is much like the Western Buddhist sect. No wonder Jieyin and Zhunti, after occupying a major continent’s fortune, still bowed to Hongjun—they are not orthodox, and though side paths might seem promising, they are just illusions, like flowers in a mirror or the moon in water,” Qingxu instantly understood much, but he was unconcerned. He had no intention of cultivating the Path of Divinity himself—he only wanted to harness the power of Xuanhuang Pure Water. As for attaining the Dao as a god? Not to mention becoming a saint, even quasi-saint is far out of reach, and avatars cannot attain the Dao anyway.

The Primordial Heavenly Lord is one of the Three Purities, a disciple of Dao Ancestor Hongjun, a guest of the Purple Heaven Palace, who attended all three lectures on the Great Dao and thus has touched upon all three thousand methods, making him truly “learned and knowledgeable.” As Primordial’s chief disciple, Qingxu naturally understood much about the Path of Divinity. Though it is not part of the true lineage, ignorance would only disgrace Primordial. This motivated Primordial to give his disciples extra lessons in strange tales and the three thousand methods.

“The hierarchy of divine power progresses from lowest to highest as follows: Epic (Golden Core), Myth (Spirit Transformation), Demigod (Earth Immortal), Lesser God (Heaven Immortal), Middle God (Mystic Immortal), Greater God (True Immortal), God King (Golden Immortal), Supreme Creator God (Quasi-Saint). I now have 100,000 points of faith incense; with the consolidation of the human race, it will immediately rise to 3,500 more. Pure faith incense converts to Lesser God power at a ratio of 100:1. Thus, I should have 1,035 points of Lesser God power, enough to ignite divine fire and condense a divine spark.” Epic-level gods have a few dozen points of power, Myth-level over a hundred. To ignite divine fire and ascend to Demigod requires at least 500 points of power, and condensing a divine spark needs 1,000.

Do not underestimate the requirements for ascending to Lesser God—it demands 1,000 points of divine power, which equals 100,000 points of faith incense. One point of faith incense requires one devout follower praying for a day, while less devoted followers need ten days or more to provide a single point. One hundred thousand devout followers praying daily can elevate a mortal to Lesser God, but the difficulty is self-evident. True devotion means being willing to sacrifice one's life for their god, worshiping from the depths of their soul.

The divine body evolved from a Lesser God’s spark is enough to wield the full power of Xuanhuang Pure Water. It is not a flesh-and-blood creature; a divine body is, to some extent, similar to a magical treasure. The Path of Divinity is less restrictive than the Immortal Path—if the divine power is sufficient, one can instantly rise to the God King level. This is a boon for Qingxu; using the Investiture of the Gods system to convert Xuanhuang Pure Water into divine power, he could ascend to God King level (God King primordial spirit) in one stroke. If he later amasses enough faith incense at the God King level, he could cultivate divine sparks repeatedly. This would result in two God Kings overlapping—he would be unrivaled in the Divine Path!

“Damn, this is too fierce—simply defying heaven! The Supreme Creator God starts from the God King level; if I begin with double God King power, once I reach Supreme Creator God, who could rival me? I would be able to laugh at the world, fearing no one beneath the saints!” But this is still far off; he has not yet reached the first step of God King, and without it, he cannot condense a divine kingdom or deduce virtual laws for his own use, let alone transform illusion into reality and possess true laws. This step is exceedingly difficult—a vast chasm.

The future was bright, but he could not act rashly. Everything has its priority; uniting the human race was the most pressing matter. Without resolving this, Qingxu could not calmly retreat to cultivate the Path of Divinity.

【PS: A bit stuck writing this chapter. Recently, too many things have happened, and I’m quite troubled, so I’m not really in the mood to write. This chapter is full of rambling—please bear with it! Finally, for the first time, I’m asking for your collections and votes. Thank you all!】