Chapter 13

[Ding! Yang You has become your believer, gaining ten points of incense]

[Ding! Ning Feng has become your believer, gaining ten points of incense]

[Ding! Chu Shan has become your believer, gaining ten points of incense]

[Ding! Wei Hailing has become your believer, gaining ten points of incense]

[Ding! Liu Qingqing...

"..."

In an instant, Lu Qingyang sensed his accumulation of incense points surging like a torrent.

Within mere moments, the total exceeded ten thousand, nearing the twenty thousand mark.

After a while, the overwhelming surge of incense gradually subsided.

[Name: Lu Qingyang]

[Main Body: Ancient Tree]

[Lifespan: 15/]

[Cultivation: Early Third Tier (/)]

[Heavenly Court: Not Established (/)]

[Divine Abilities: Ancient Tree Roots (Third Tier), Ancient Tree Spiritual Roots (Third Tier), Divine Immortal Fruit (Third Tier), Divine Immortal Whisper (Third Tier), True Sight (Third Tier), Ancient Tree Domain (Third Tier)]

Facing the rapidly increasing number of incense points, Lu Qingyang was momentarily stunned.

He then immersed his consciousness within himself, seeing a cluster of radiant golden light deep in the core of the ancient tree.

Around it, intangible and invisible wisps of incense smoke flowed into the golden light like a tide.

These wisps varied in thickness.

Most were extremely slender, almost imperceptible.

However, one wisp was particularly robust, its width exceeding that of several hundred others combined.

Lu Qingyang focused his mind on this thick wisp, immediately sensing the information within it.

[Name: Wanqing Ancient Tree]

[Main Body: Ancient Tree]

[Realm: Late Second Tier]

[Devotion Level: Devout Believer]

"Devout Believer... This must be the highest level of devotion among believers. Judging by the density of the incense, it exceeds that of others by a hundredfold, indicating it is the most steadfast believer."

Lu Qingyang murmured to himself, finally making some sense of the sudden influx of believers and incense.

He then turned his attention to the other wisps of incense.

Indeed, each wisp also carried detailed information.

[Name: Yang You]

[Main Body: Human]

[Realm: Early Third Tier]

[Devotion Level: Ordinary Believer]

[Name: Ning Feng]

[Main Body: Human]

[Realm: Late Second Tier]

[Devotion Level: Ordinary Believer]

Lu Qingyang examined each believer one by one.

Apart from Wanqing Ancient Tree being a devout believer, the remaining 5,381 were ordinary believers.

Therefore, Lu Qingyang deduced that ordinary believers were the lowest tier among believers.

He also tallied the total number of incense wisps.

5,382 wisps of incense.

Representing 5,382 believers.

Excluding Wanqing Ancient Tree, he was unsure of the origins of the remaining 5,381 believers.

After a while, Lu Qingyang's attention refocused on Yang You and Ning Feng.

One was at the early third tier and the other at the late second tier.

"Early third tier contributes a hundred incense points, while late second tier contributes as much incense as Wanqing Ancient Tree, indicating that the level of devotion determines the amount of incense."

"The true determinant of incense quantity lies in the believer's cultivation realm. So, what is the role of different levels of devotion?"

At this moment, Lu Qingyang was full of questions. These matters could only be explored gradually over time.

Seeing the sudden increase of ten thousand incense points, compared to the million needed to establish the Heavenly Court, this was just the beginning.

Setting aside his complex thoughts, Lu Qingyang turned his gaze toward the mountains.

Having advanced to the early third tier,

The ancient tree's body now stood at a towering height of fifteen hundred meters.

At this moment, Lu Qingyang was undoubtedly the most towering presence in the entire mountain range, unmatched.

Even the once formidable Golden Jade Sculpture, before its demise, was not half as tall.

This, in Lu Qingyang's view, was a natural advantage of ancient trees.

After all, trees inherently possess strong vitality.

Now, having advanced to the early third tier, its stature was even grander.

As the saying goes, "to see further, climb higher."

With the ancient tree's height now surpassing fifteen hundred meters,

Lu Qingyang could finally gaze upon the vastness and mysteries of the mountain range.

He saw ancient trees spanning hundreds of meters and numerous demonic beasts preying on each other.

Notably, these demonic beasts seemed to have reached some tacit understanding.

No matter how they fought, they never approached the area occupied by Lu Qingyang.

It was as if they instinctively knew this place was forbidden.

To this, Lu Qingyang felt a tinge of helplessness.

But at the moment, there was no alternative, he could only proceed cautiously.

Fifteen years of accumulation had accustomed Lu Qingyang to solitary cultivation.

After all, during those years, opportunities to successfully hunt demonic beasts were rare.

His current achievements were largely due to the power of celestial blood and the assistance of the Golden Jade Sculpture.

"Hmm..."

Lu Qingyang's mind trembled slightly.

As he looked beyond the mountains, countless ethereal wisps of incense appeared.

These wisps of incense connected him to the human cultivator army.

Seeing this, Lu Qingyang suddenly understood.

He had been puzzled as to why he suddenly gained over ten thousand incense points and thousands of believers.

But now, Lu Qingyang realized the reason.

All the believers came from the human cultivator army.

"The human army wouldn't revere me without reason. It must be because of my previous actions of slaying the Golden Jade Sculpture and devouring the beasts, leaving a deep impression on them."

"Humans revere the strong. The power I displayed was enough to inspire awe, leading them to revere me."

"Therefore, as long as I display divine power before people, I can attract more believers!"

Lu Qingyang had been keeping an eye on the human army. This time, they had come in large numbers, three to four thousand in total.

Among these people, only five thousand had come to revere him, indicating the ratio of believers was not high.

However, this was understandable.

Expecting one display of power to inspire awe and complete devotion from everyone was unrealistic.

Moreover, judging by the level of devotion, these were just the beginnings of reverence, not true piety.

Even so, Lu Qingyang had finally understood the surge in incense.

He also realized how to attract more believers.

The current challenge for Lu Qingyang was that being within the mountains, displaying divine power to the world was not easy.

"However... the news of this battle will surely spread quickly, possibly attracting more believers. For now, there's no need to rush. Let's wait and see!"

4o