Hidden deep within Tu Sanyi's soul, Jiang Ding was not simply dormant. He was conducting scientific experiments, studying the rules of this world, testing data on its rules and souls, recording his findings, and transmitting them back to the Ancient God World Cluster at set times.
Such was the tedium of his life undercover in a foreign realm.
Lie low, lie low, and wait for fate to run its course until he met the person he was waiting for—a living being who would appear thousands of years later.
The sun stood at its zenith, its rays scorching.
Tu Sanyi stopped working, found some shade, set out incense and candles, and prayed softly: "...ruler of all things, subduer of demons and guardian of the mountains..."
Jiang Ding's attention snapped to him.
It was a prayer addressed, apparently, to a deity of exalted status. Jiang Ding had known of it for some time from Tu Sanyi's memories: a hymn of praise, unremarkable except that it was rather long and complicated.
Religions liked to wrap things in mystery. Nothing unusual there.
That was what Jiang Ding had thought.
Now his view changed at once.
As Tu Sanyi recited the scripture, the surrounding world changed with him. Invisible spiritual energy converged through the omnipresent network of incense offerings, settling on the ancestral aperture between his brows. It began to wash and strengthen his soul.
This was, unmistakably, a scripture for cultivating the soul.
And it had fooled Jiang Ding from the outset. He had overlooked it entirely, taking it for an ordinary religious prayer.
Jiang Ding grew grave and fell into thought.
A long while passed.
"What is this?"
"A cultivation method for the soul alone?"
As Jiang Ding pondered, he gradually saw how it worked. "It draws in spiritual energy through the network