Another day, in the Bufang Kingdom of the North Sea.
Li Ling stood atop a towering sea cliff and looked up at the sky.
Brilliant golden light shone overhead, and wondrous visions of heavenly flowers raining down appeared. The merit golden clouds spread a hundred miles of rosy radiance, and several descended one after another.
"Has this triggered a response from the Great Dao of heaven and earth?"
Long ago, Li Ling had thought this was a means by which the Heavenly Dao punished evil and rewarded good. Later, he gradually understood that the Heavenly Dao was utterly impartial, knowing neither good nor evil. The path of merit did not, in fact, take worldly human judgments as its standard.
Li Ling still had not figured out the mechanism behind the descent of merit golden clouds, but he vaguely sensed that what mattered to them was the harmony of heaven, earth, and nature.
This time, he had restored people to life, saving at least a hundred million mortals, yet he had received only a scant dozen or so merit golden clouds. It could hardly compare with his past experience of defeating the remnant soul of a Demon Venerable-level mighty being and receiving several hundred clouds in one go.
Still, Li Ling had long been prepared for this. After drawing them into his Nascent Soul dharma form, he paid them no further attention.
He had not saved those mortals to earn merit, but for reasons of his own.
"Reviving so many mortals this time has brought considerable progress to my methods of resurrection and rebirth. I've already reached the bottleneck of my current realm.
"It seems that if I want to advance further, I'll still need the assistance of treasures such as Returning Soul Incense.
"Without something to guide mortal souls, relying