Just a moment ago, she had another Nightmare.

It was a Nightmare identical to the one from yesterday.

The dream was brief, just a few stitched-together images.

In it, she died horribly, her body torn into several pieces.

Blood stained the white sheets, the walls, the floor.

The only difference...

...was that the surroundings had changed.

Her original bedroom had been replaced by the hotel room she was currently staying in.

At first, she thought it was like before—that she could avoid it simply by changing her location ahead of time.

But this time was clearly different.

For this to be happening, there was only one possibility.

This Nightmare was coming for *her*.

No matter where she went, the ending would be the same.

...

’If this doesn’t work, I’ll try changing locations again tomorrow! Under normal circumstances, there should be a buffer of three days to a week before a Nightmare becomes reality. It’s only the second day. I still have a chance.’

She gritted her teeth, clinging to an Undying Heart.

But because of the Nightmare, she had completely lost the will to sleep.

She picked up her phone from the side.

Her gaze fell on the saved information about the Sun God.

She looked at the prayer ritual described there.

After a moment’s thought, she sat up straight, preparing to go through the ritual once.

She would treat it as a practice run.

The prayer method was divided into three hand signs: Sun-Lifting, Light-Welcoming, and Sun-Wheel.

However, the first two required one to face the direction of the rising sun at dawn.

The last one did not.

Thinking of this, she straightened her clothes.

Then, with her palms facing each other and fingers slightly spread, she interlocked the thumb and index finger of each hand to form two connected rings. Her remaining three fingers were held straight and together as she slowly raised her hands to the height of her chest.

This was the Sun-Wheel hand sign.

"O great Sun God, Master of Heaven, you are the resplendent ruler of the firmament, the eternal source of life and hope, the one and only dawning light in the endless dark..."

She closed her eyes and began to pray.

This was a passage from the recorded prayer.

At the same time, she visualized the appearance of the Sun God in her mind.

Performing the hand sign, reciting the prayer, and maintaining the Visualization Image all at once was quite difficult.

But as a woman who prayed to over a dozen gods daily, she performed these actions with practiced ease, quickly entering the proper state.

Her mind was free of distracting thoughts, her expression one of utmost piety. In that moment, it was as if she were the Sun God’s most devoted follower.

...

In a blood-red space, a four-meter-tall Divine Statue stood silently.

At this moment, the Divine Statue had undergone a significant change.

Before, the Divine Statue had been pitch-black, without a hint of any other color.

It had exuded a cold and sinister aura.

But now, it was different.

The Divine Statue now glowed with a golden sheen, as if forged from pure Gold. The creepy, uncanny feeling from before was completely gone, replaced by a sacred warmth that felt like the great sun itself.

And inside the Divine Statue was a hazy, chaotic space.

A figure radiating a faint golden light sat cross-legged within, like a deity descending upon the world.

The figure’s silhouette was sharp and profound, every line seemingly imbued with endless mystical power. This was Hu Qi’s second Divine Avatar.

’The Foundation of Faith is finally complete!’

Hu Qi’s second Divine Avatar murmured to itself.

This was a qualitative leap.

To truly build a powerful and stable system of faith, it wasn’t enough to simply increase the number of followers. One also had to focus on improving the quality of those followers, making their faith purer and more steadfast.

To achieve this goal, there were only two viable paths.

The first was to arrange for dedicated clergy to explain doctrine and spread the faith.

They would need to connect the illusory and abstract doctrines to real life, allowing followers to truly grasp the teachings’ guiding significance for their lives.

Furthermore, they could hold grand and solemn Church ceremonies, prayers, and solemn sacrifices.

These events would allow the followers to participate with their entire beings. In such a solemn and majestic atmosphere, their hearts would be deeply shaken on a spiritual level, thereby strengthening their devotion and commitment from within.

This was the traditional path and method commonly used by ordinary religions to spread their faith.

However, this method had a huge drawback: it took an incredibly long time. For ordinary clergy, it often required generations of successive, unflagging effort just to see initial results.

The second method was simpler, faster, and more effective than the first.

However, employing this method was not simple at all.

It was to perform miracles and grant powerful abilities to followers.

Similar things had happened in the past.

But those were all just magic tricks and deceptions.

But to grant followers a Divine Technique, only a deity who had consolidated a Foundation of Faith could do so.

The so-called Foundation of Faith was, to put it plainly, the Divine Statue’s Golden Body, built by converting absorbed Power of Faith into Divine Power.

This "Golden Body" was not a physical representation made of Gold or gilt in the worldly sense, but a deeper, more mysterious transformation.

It caused the statue to take on the properties of a god.

Only by constructing a Divine Statue’s Golden Body could one be considered to have truly stepped onto the Extraordinary Path of a god.

Only then could one be considered a True God.

And now, Hu Qi’s divine Golden Body was complete.

Coupled with the fact that he didn’t need to worry about the poison of incense offerings, all he had to do in the future was proceed step-by-step.