The Power of Faith

Once he understood the basics, Lin Cheng successfully gained initial control of the Nine-Nine Creation Tower.

With the help of Xiao Jun, the tower spirit, Lin Cheng returned to the Library Pavilion.

At that moment, he could finally sense a faint connection, something beyond the ordinary. As long as he closed his eyes, he could vaguely "see" an immortal, blazing sun.

It hung high above the nine heavens, surrounded by darkness and stillness.

Only that blazing sun burned on without end, radiating an aura of eternal immortality.

Inside the sun, he could faintly make out an ancient golden tower, within which countless worlds seemed to be contained.

It felt as though this tower was a miniature universe.

The power it contained could erase the plane Lin Cheng inhabited with just the tiniest leak.

The thought of such power made his heart tremble.

However, Lin Cheng found that no matter what he tried, he couldn't activate the power within it.

He could see it, but not use it.

And he discovered another problem.

He could enter and leave the Nine-Nine Creation Tower at will only while he was in the Library Pavilion.

Once he left the Library Pavilion, that faint connection would instantly break.

That was damn frustrating.

Lin Cheng had thought that with the Creation Tower's unmatched defenses, he'd be able to go out and run wild from now on.

Whenever he ran into danger, he could simply duck into the Creation Tower.

Who could find him there?

What a pity. For now, he couldn't exploit that loophole.

"Next, I need to figure out how to absorb faith and activate the divine artifact."

"But how?"

Suddenly, Lin Cheng sensed something strange.

A speck of pure white light appeared in the space around him without warning, drifted toward him, then merged into his body of its own accord.

Another speck of white light, no bigger than a sesame seed, soon appeared.

Roughly every few seconds, a tiny white point of light would appear out of thin air and be absorbed by Lin Cheng.

"Is this faith?"

Seeing this, Lin Cheng immediately guessed that the white specks were the power of faith the Creation Tower's tower spirit had mentioned.

"Does faith appear out of thin air?"

Lin Cheng tried to sense the white specks more closely. The next moment, hazy scenes surfaced in his mind: the main hall of Jingyun Sect.

At that moment,

in the scene, inside Jingyun Sect's main hall,

grains of white light continuously drifted from the elders, then vanished into space.

Zhang Feng, Elder Hao, and the others who had met him gave off the most and brightest specks of white light.

Lin Cheng watched, lost in thought.

The next moment, white specks of light began to appear around Liu Yanran, Sun Li, and the others from Beast Taming Mountain as well.

Their lights were brighter and larger than those of the elders.

"So the power of faith comes in different strengths."

Watching from afar, Lin Cheng mused, "These people seem to be talking about me, and I can sense their awe and admiration. Could that be where the power of faith comes from?"

"Also, people who've seen me in person provide more faith than those who've only heard about me."

"But why is there such a big difference between Elder Zhang Feng and Liu Yanran's group?"

Lin Cheng fell into thought again.

By rights, Elder Zhang Feng had traveled with him through the Mist Forest and seen those scenes.

He should have been more shaken.

Why, then, did Liu Yanran and the other youngsters provide more faith? Was it because they were more shocked?

No!

A flash of inspiration struck Lin Cheng.

Youth!

Perhaps youth was the more important factor!

"Could it be that geniuses provide more faith than ordinary people?"

With that thought, Lin Cheng hurriedly looked toward his disciple, Meng Tangtang.

A white orb the size of a human head suddenly rose from Meng Tangtang's head, crossed the spatial barrier, and plunged straight into Lin Cheng's body.

At that instant, Lin Cheng could even feel the Creation Tower tremble faintly.

The effect was obvious!

The power of faith Meng Tangtang provided alone far surpassed that of everyone else in Jingyun Sect combined.

This discovery confirmed Lin Cheng's suspicions once and for all.

He'd more or less figured out how to absorb faith.

"So this is forcing me to show off in front of people..." Lin Cheng rubbed his chin.

Put nicely, it was showing off in front of people.

Put less nicely, wasn't this just forcing him to go around bragging?

"No way. I'm such a low-key person. How could I enjoy something as vulgar as showing off?"

At the thought, Lin Cheng felt indignant, as if his character had been insulted.

Then, the next moment, a tiny white orb appeared from Lin Cheng himself and was absorbed by the Creation Tower.

"???"

Lin Cheng stared, dumbfounded.

What kind of bizarre trick was that?

Absorbing faith from himself?

That was possible?

The Nine-Nine Creation Tower trembled faintly. "..."

The gist was: Stop pretending. You're exactly the kind of person who loves showing off!

Lin Cheng's face darkened. He opened his mouth to argue, his lips moving, but he couldn't find a word to say.

It did seem to have a point.

But then Lin Cheng found himself in a bind.

"Keeping a low profile makes me stronger, but for now, showing off seems to make me even stronger... That's a contradiction. Do I have to give up the Nine-Nine Creation Tower?"

The thought of giving up the divine artifact he'd already gotten made Lin Cheng shudder.

No way!

The meat had already landed in his bowl. How could he let it go?

Perhaps...

"I can show off while staying low-key?"

The moment the thought occurred to him, Lin Cheng fell silent, then slowly looked up at the sky.

"Sigh, I really don't enjoy showing off."

A tiny white orb was absorbed by the Creation Tower.

Lin Cheng: "..." Forget it, forget it.

As long as he could grow stronger, the process didn't matter much. Strength was what mattered most.

"Then I can't just keep hiding away. I need to find a way to earn a pile of faith."

But how?

Lin Cheng pondered for a moment, then suddenly came up with an idea.

He opened his palm. A tiny black tower appeared above it.

Of course, this wasn't the Creation Tower.

It was a little trinket Lin Cheng had gotten from a sign-in reward.

A spatial treasure, the Burning Heaven Tower.

Looking at the black tower in his hand, a flash of inspiration struck Lin Cheng. He decided to imitate the divine artifact, the Nine-Nine Creation Tower, and create a similar place of its own.

This treasure was a Royal Artifact, a tier above a spirit artifact.

After spirit artifacts came mystic artifacts, followed by Royal Artifacts.

They corresponded to the innate, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core stages, respectively.

Spatial treasures were worth considerably more than ordinary treasures. Even Golden Core experts would covet one, while Foundation Establishment cultivators would go green with envy.

It wasn't that Lin Cheng had no better treasures to use. The problem was that possessing a treasure could bring disaster.

The Southern Region might be a backwater.

But there could still be some reclusive big shots out there.

If an overly precious treasure attracted a powerful enemy, Lin Cheng's current strength would leave him in too much danger.

On the other hand, a treasure of too low a grade wouldn't be good enough.

The Burning Heaven Tower, a Royal Artifact, was just right.

"Okay, I need to hurry and set everything up. I can put in some little trinkets I don't use, then add a few checkpoints."

"...As for whether to give it a name associated with Jingyun Sect, I'll think about that later."

"Let's put something here, then over there, there, and there!"

"All right, that should be about it."

After working nonstop for a day and a night, Lin Cheng wiped the cold sweat from his brow. At last, it was more or less ready.

The work was done. Now all he had to do was wait for the fish to bite!