Chapter 388: Chapter 195: Temple, Expedition

War. War. Nothing but war.

The history of human civilization is the history of warfare’s evolution. Conflicts of interest among one’s own people are, in the end, unavoidable.

But after so many wars, the only power that had managed to silently provoke such immense fury in Li Chang’an was, it seemed, the Sunlight Tribe.

After a great deal of effort to control his emotions, the grand ceremony of the Fusang Tribe to welcome their new Guardian God finally came to a close.

It was also worth mentioning.

—The ceremony had gathered a crowd of nearly ten thousand people.

Evidently, although the attitude Li Chang’an displayed before them was strange, welcoming a new Guardian God at such a critical juncture was still a tremendous morale boost for the current Fusang Tribe.

As a result, the Fusang Tribe’s attitude toward Li Chang’an was reasonably friendly.

Even Princess Biyue, who had not been particularly well-regarded within the tribe, saw her status rise with the tide.

In the entire territory, she was currently the only one who could communicate with Li Chang’an.

...

Although this ritual lacked the final step of human sacrifice, the benefits it brought Li Chang’an were by no means small.

To put it simply, the Incense Fire Divine Power gained from such a large-scale ceremony was equivalent to a hundred years of nonstop cultivation for Li Chang’an.

With such immense benefits, it was no wonder that everyone—from the gods and buddhas in the heavens to the mountain sprites and wild monsters below—hoped to become a Guardian God.

If not for the fact that Li Chang’an’s own cultivation speed was already fast, and that he had witnessed—and even once been one of—the peerless experts outside the Incense and Candle Divine Dao who could likewise destroy heaven and earth, he too would probably be gloating over the progress in his Divine Power after the ritual.

...

The sun and moon raced across the sky, and the seasons turned.

In the blink of an eye, another hundred years had passed. Li Chang’an was now one thousand, three hundred years old.

During this time, Li Chang’an learned about the fundamental components of this world through Bi Yue.

This world was divided into three different regions: the Celestial Realm, the Mortal Realm, and the Underworld.

The main Cultivation System was divided into ten Levels: Dao Entry, Transformed Form, Attaining the Dao, Molting, Divinity Transformation, Pseudo-God, Incense Fire True God, True God, Emperor, and Celestial Monarch.

The so-called Celestial Realm was the place where gods resided.

As for the Mortal Realm, there was even less need for explanation.

Countless beings toiled diligently like worker ants in a colony, inhabiting a land of unknown size and breadth. Clashes of faith and tradition made them as incompatible as fire and water, and war was a constant with no end in sight. Such was the Mortal Realm.

As for the Underworld, it was a mysterious place compared to the Celestial Realm and the Mortal Realm.

The Celestial Realm was also mysterious, but the existence of gods and the Celestial Realm itself was indisputable. Some had even set foot in the Celestial Realm and had an audience with the supreme Saint King. Others had entered the Celestial Realm to become Incense Fire True Gods, personally appointed by the heavens.

The Underworld’s existence, however, was merely a matter of hearsay.

Whether it truly existed, and if so, where it was located—most people had no idea.

At least, the people of Floating Hill did not know.

Perhaps only the Immortals of the Celestial Realm—and at the very least, a regional lord at the True God Realm—would know what the Underworld truly was.

Ever since leaving Floating Hill and arriving at Santi Town, which the Fusang Tribe had rebuilt at the mountain’s base, it would be no exaggeration to say Li Chang’an’s cultivation speed was like using a cheat code. In just a short hundred years, his body underwent changes that rivaled those of the previous thousand.

The Incense and Candle Divine Dao’s cultivation has a total of ten Levels. The lowest is the Dao Entrance Realm, a Realm Li Chang’an had already set foot in a thousand years ago.

The so-called "Entering the Dao" refers to when a Cultivator with Spirituality develops self-awareness and absorbs the Power of Incense for the first time. This is called the Dao Entrance Realm.

A Cultivator at the Dao Entry Realm has very limited combat power, and this is also their most vulnerable stage.

Without a guardian nearby, even a large number of ordinary people could pose a threat to a Cultivator at the Dao Entry Realm.

After completing Dao Entry, the next step is the Transformed Form.

Only by achieving a Transformed Form can one be considered to have truly stepped onto the path of the Incense and Candle Divine Dao and begun to possess the formidable combat power that inspires worship in mortals.

The Guardian Gods worshipped by the vast majority of small tribes are Spirit Beasts or Spiritual Objects that have achieved a Transformed Form.

A casual strike from them can easily change the tide of battle. They are the trump cards, the decisive force that the major tribes only use in times of life and death.

Most of the time, the role of a Guardian God is actually to deter other tribes.

Furthermore, the Transformation Realm is actually a watershed moment.

For beings with an exquisite Transformed Form, their complex and intricate bodies not only allow them to use a wider array of attacks but also earn them greater favor from heaven and earth. And greater favor from heaven and earth means more Spirituality and Destiny...

Therefore, the more exquisite a being’s Transformed Form, the higher their growth potential.

It is worth mentioning that there are two standards for measuring the combat power of an Incense and Candle Divine Dao Cultivator at the Transformation Realm.

One is the intricacy and complexity of the Transformed Form!

This is self-explanatory. An exquisite Transformed Form means high talent and strong combat power, while a crude one means low talent and weak combat power. Moreover, there can occasionally be relationships of mutual promotion and restraint between the specific things one transforms into.

For example, a tiger and a sika deer are on different tiers of the food chain. If they were to truly fight, the tiger would naturally have the upper hand.