Heaven's Will Bestows Favor

With a flash in the void, Fang Ming reappeared in the Grotto-Heaven. This time, more than a dozen wandering souls followed him, looking extremely weak, on the verge of dissipating.

Initially, he couldn't experiment on the souls of believers, of course. Fortunately, Anchang still had some old and weak wandering souls who were not believers and were close to vanishing. A careful search yielded some.

Fang Ming had examined these wandering souls using his Qi Observation Spiritual Power. Their merit and resentment were extremely weak; they were all ordinary civilians, minimizing potential errors.

"G-Great... Lord..." Fang Ming walked up to an elderly wandering soul. The mere pressure emanating from him, along with his official robes, made the soul tremble and kneel in greeting.

"No need to worry. My actions are beneficial to you all; it's a great thing!" Fang Ming said with a faint, comforting tone.

A flash of red light appeared in his hand, forming a red talisman. The talisman was extremely mysterious and somewhat blurry. Upon seeing it, the old soul felt his mind go hazy. Fang Ming pointed, and the talisman merged into the old soul's forehead.

This was a spiritual power he found in Mu Qing's memories, capable of completely erasing soul memories.

As the talisman completely merged with the wandering soul, red light flowed. The old soul's eyes grew increasingly vacant. In a moment, his appearance changed drastically. He was no longer an old man but had transformed into a white sphere of light. "It seems his memory has been completely erased. Since he's forgotten everything, unable to even remember his human form, it's natural he wouldn't retain his previous shape and could only revert to the most natural spherical form. This spiritual power is so potent; it seems to have erased his instincts as well..."

The white sphere of light floated motionless in the air, appearing like an inanimate object. Fang Ming was startled at first, then overjoyed. This was exactly what he wanted. Of course, for the old man who was before, all his memories were gone, and he could never get them back, making him no different from the dead.

"Ah!"

"Run!"

The surrounding wandering souls witnessed this scene and were naturally terrified, fleeing in all directions.

Fang Ming waved his hand, and dozens of red wisps floated out, transforming into talismans that entered the wandering souls' bodies, turning them into spheres of light as well.

Gathering the dozen or so spheres of light together, Fang Ming observed them carefully.

"Hmm, their sizes differ. This indicates variations in soul power. I can't discern anything else for now. I need more samples for comparison!"

The real work was about to begin.

Fang Ming silently activated his spiritual power and reopened the cycle of reincarnation. This time, he was prepared and wouldn't be as reckless as before, risking damage to his divine body.

Reincarnation spun, absorbing specks of true spirit, heading to an unknown destination.

Fang Ming moved the spheres of light before the rift. The spheres stirred slightly, seemingly drawn by the power of reincarnation, but they still couldn't pass through the rift to enter it completely. "As expected, it won't work! After all, the entire form has merely changed; the weight remains. It seems the influence of memory can be ruled out!"

"Let me give you another hand!"

Fang Ming raised his hand, and a sphere of light was enveloped in red. It passed through the rift, entering reincarnation, bobbing in the black current. Compared to its companions, it was like a small wooden boat among large ships.

However, they could all ripple on the black current and were eventually swept into the depths of the center, disappearing completely...

Fang Ming held his breath and waited for a long time. However, neither the great fortune nor the great disaster he envisioned appeared, as if his actions regarding reincarnation were insignificant.

"Something's wrong. According to my estimation, the Heavenly Dao grinds away ninety percent of the soul and then absorbs it into reincarnation. Before reincarnation, the world's power must reshape the soul again. Through these processes, the world's power must suffer some loss during its circulation. Now, I've erased the soul's memory and sent it into reincarnation. This should benefit this world, but nothing is happening..."

"Perhaps the impact is too small, hence no reaction?"

Fang Ming speculated, then took action, sending the dozen or so spheres of light into reincarnation.

As the white light disappeared into the center of the black current, Fang Ming observed his entire body again, this time employing his Qi Observation Spiritual Power. He watched intently and finally reaped a reward.

Red qi gathered above his head, churning and boiling, flowing into the Golden Seal, which was now half full. This was the limit for Anchang County.

The fortune was wrapped in a layer of golden light, which was the human way's merit. It was slowly seeping into Fang Ming's natal qi, altering his destiny, but it was very slow. After several months, his pure red natal qi hadn't even gained a speck of gold.

Far from the fortune, two masses of black qi loomed: one like a fierce tiger, eager to devour; the other like a cloud, vast and dense, yet giving a feeling of bluffing. These represented the hostility of the Supreme Dao and White Cloud Temple.

These observations were the same as his previous ones.

However, Fang Ming, with his keen insight, repeatedly examined and finally discovered a difference.

He saw that around the golden human way's merit, there was another wisp of green. This green light was extremely faint, just a trace, barely discernible. Fang Ming had missed it several times, obscured by the golden light.

"Green... this isn't fortune. I only have one county, and my believers are just over ten thousand. I don't even have yellow qi, so how could I have the aura of such a powerful entity? This is... Heavenly Dao Merit!"

Fang Ming identified it carefully. It was Mu Qing's memories that provided the answer.

"Hahaha... Hahaha..."

Fang Ming threw his head back and laughed heartily.

"Heaven's favor! This is true heavenly favor! The ancients did not deceive me!"

Merit naturally had subdivisions, but they were mainly divided into human way merit and Heavenly Dao Merit.

If one had merit in the human way, they would gain human way merit. If one benefited the Heavenly Dao, they would gain Heavenly Dao Merit.

However, human way merit was easy to obtain, while Heavenly Dao Merit was difficult to acquire. One could tell from their respective ranks: human way merit was golden, which was pure yellow. Heavenly Dao Merit, however, was pure green, a full rank higher than human way merit.

According to Mu Qing's memories, deities in his previous life highly valued Heavenly Dao Merit, but few could obtain it. Only those who truly contributed to the operation of the world could earn it. It was said to have infinite wondrous uses, and if accumulated to a certain extent, one could even use it to attain the status of an Ancient God.

Ancient Gods were deities naturally born between heaven and earth. Every action they took carried the power of heaven and earth, possessing immense power.

Furthermore, they did not require the incense and fire of the human way to shine alongside the sun and moon, coexist with heaven and earth, and live freely and at ease.

Of course, this required a considerable amount of Heavenly Dao Merit. In Mu Qing's previous life, he had never heard of anyone succeeding.

"Hahaha... My guess was correct. The reincarnation attraction force of this world is too weak. Only the true spirit can be absorbed into reincarnation. In reincarnation, world power must be consumed to replenish the true spirit and form a soul again before rebirth."

"The consumption in this process is not small. Now, by sending a complete soul into reincarnation, I save the consumption of world power, allowing this world to accumulate more power to promote its own growth. Naturally, this greatly benefits the world and heaven and earth. Therefore, I can earn Heavenly Dao Merit!"

"As long as I persevere, I will naturally receive heaven's favor and merit. This is what truly gives me the confidence to contend with the momentum of the Hidden Dragon!"

After his initial ecstasy, Fang Ming began to calculate the costs and contemplate the future.

Although this matter could earn him heaven's favor, in reality, it was Fang Ming substituting his own consumption for the Heavenly Dao's consumption, which was the compensation he received.

Fang Ming estimated that bringing wandering souls to the Grotto-Heaven would consume very little Spiritual Power since it was his own territory, negligible even.

Washing away the soul's memories required the power of Spiritual Power, consuming about five strands of red divine power.

The real cost was opening Samsara. Each time Samsara was opened, it consumed nearly a hundred strands of red divine power, and this consumption would continue over time.

Therefore, the shorter the time to open Samsara, the better, and the more souls invested at once, the better. However, the rift had limitations, and one couldn't just throw in as many as they pleased.

There were also issues like the soul's dissipation time to consider. After comprehensive comparison and estimation, the conclusion was that it would cost around ten strands of red divine power to wash away a soul's memories and send it into Samsara.

What about sending souls into Samsara without washing away their memories?

These souls reincarnating with their memories would inevitably cause chaos in the world. At that point, not only would there be no Heavenly Dao Merit to gain, but there would also be heavenly punishment, which would strike Fang Ming dead!

Ten strands of red divine power was roughly the amount obtained from a normal believer's hundred days of worship, not even accounting for the consumption from fulfilled wishes. Fang Ming had only been in this world for about half a year, and very few of his believers had over a hundred incense and fire accounts.

"It seems this can only be used on believers for now, it can't be widely promoted!"

When souls were sent into Samsara by Fang Ming, they carried their own soul power. It was possible the Heavenly Dao would even provide a boost. Upon birth, their foundation would naturally be more robust than others, manifesting as quick-wittedness and strong physiques. This was true whether they were born human or animal, which was why Fang Ming said it was a great thing for these wandering souls.

However, the cost was too high. If it were popularized, Fang Ming's divine power would be bankrupt immediately.

This could only be an additional option for the souls of newly deceased believers, and even then, only for those with over a hundred incense and fire accounts. Fang Ming didn't plan to charge any fees this time, as he urgently needed Heavenly Dao Merit.

"Sigh... To become an Ancient God, the required Heavenly Dao Merit is like mountains and seas, immeasurable. According to Mu Qing's calculations and my own comparison, at least hundreds of millions of souls need to be sent into Samsara to barely meet the minimum requirement. The road ahead is long and arduous!"

This was an ancient agricultural feudal society. Wuzhou province had a total population of only over three million. Furthermore, Fang Ming's jurisdiction had just surpassed ten thousand people. When he calculated the required divine power, Fang Ming felt dizzy.

Fang Ming realized he urgently needed to expand his territory and spread his faith. He needed to occupy at least one province to have any hope of becoming an Ancient God.

Not to mention, with the impending chaos and Fang Ming being swept up in the Hidden Dragon's momentum, if things went wrong, he'd have to hide in the deep mountains. Relying on that small group of people then would take until the end of time to achieve anything!

This meant conflict with the Hidden Dragon was unavoidable.

In Fang Ming's view, the Heavenly Dao was like an emotionless, intelligent computer. If divine power were represented as the computer's permissions, Fang Ming's current permission was one, while the Hidden Dragon's was at least in the millions. If the two came into conflict, who do you think the Heavenly Dao would favor?

As for finding the Hidden Dragon using Qi Observation Spiritual Power, that was impossible. Not to mention the Hidden Dragon's current fortune, even under normal circumstances, Qi Observation Spiritual Power couldn't detect it.

Moreover, the earth vein fortune the Hidden Dragon had accumulated was being used to protect itself and conceal its foundation. Fang Ming, with his hostile intent, couldn't possibly break through the earth vein's protection.

Only when the Hidden Dragon erupted, consumed fortune through conflict, and hadn't truly established its foundation, failing to gather the fortune of the masses to replenish itself during this transitional period, would be the best time to slay the dragon!

Even if he overcame all difficulties and killed the Hidden Dragon now, setting aside heavenly punishment, its dragon qi wouldn't be depleted. It could be transferred to his father or brothers. If that didn't work, there were still plenty of clan members as backups!

"If the Hidden Dragon were willing to decree the City God as the state religion and worship him day and night! Then I would wholeheartedly help him, but alas..." Fang Ming shook his head, discarding this unrealistic thought.

As for finding another Hidden Dragon in Wuzhou, that was even more of a pipe dream. Basically, there was no stronger Hidden Dragon in Wuzhou than the current one. The remaining individuals, though talented, were the founding civil and military officials the Heavenly Dao prepared for the Hidden Dragon. They were a level lower and would only bow down as subordinates to the Hidden Dragon. Defeating the Hidden Dragon with their help? Not even worth thinking about!

There were also a few who were merely minor obstacles the Hidden Dragon had to deal with in its early stages, used for gaining experience and reputation. Although they could hold their ground for a while, they were destined to be wiped out. If Fang Ming were to wholeheartedly oppose the Hidden Dragon, he would be one of them.

ps: Apologies, apologies. I made a mistake in the previous chapter. Thank you to the reader "Serene Heart" for the reminder. I have corrected it in the backend.

Thanks to Xin~Tongshuang for the tip.