Faith was not something to meddle with lightly.
The First Generation Sea God had gained the faith of the sea soul beasts and become the Sea God.
The First Generation Angel God had single-handedly ended the era when evil soul masters ravaged the continent, thereby attaining the divinity of an Angel God embodying light, holiness, and judgment.
Xu Qingjia remembered the premise of a certain mythology from his previous life: whatever people believed a god to be, that was what the god would become.
The same principle applied to forging a divine seat through faith.
But that did not mean one could imagine just anything.
For example, suppose believers thought their god possessed the mighty power to create a world. Did those believers know what world creation looked like? Did they know how a world was created?
Taking that approach would only build a castle in the air, wrapped in a dazzling but hollow veneer.
Of course, a god could also create a world first, then gain believers afterward.
The believers might not know how to create a world, but they knew their god had done so and sang praises of that accomplishment.
That was how it worked for Xu Qingjia.
Unlike the First Generation Sea God and Angel God, Xu Qingjia already possessed the embryonic form of a divine seat. He already had a "seed of divinity"-the exalted seat of the Yanluo Heavenly Son-and already held authority over life and death, judgment, and reincarnation.
Others went from cause to effect.
He reversed effect into cause, going from the result back to its origin.
That meant his authority could never "grow crooked." Its form had already been fixed.
Becoming an idol might gather faith more quickly, but he could not recklessly "feed" himself the power of faith.
It was like feeding meat to herbivores or fruit to carnivores. Something was bound to go wrong.
Xu Qingjia discussed it with his parents for a while.
At first, he did the talking.
Later, Xu Ye and Shen Xi brought out several corresponding plans.
Setting aside the advantages of transmigration and things like the Book of Life and Death, Xu Qingjia fell far short of Xu Ye and Shen Xi in knowledge and experience. They had already lived for a century and stood at the pinnacle of the colossal Sun Moon Federation.
An hour quietly slipped by.
"This one, then?"
"Yes."
"All right." Shen Xi affectionately stroked her precious son's head. "Mom will polish this plan for you later. I'll make sure everything is just right for my Qingjia."
Want to spread a religion in the Sun Moon Federation?
An ordinary person would have long since been arrested as an evil soul master and thrown into prison.
Even families with considerable influence in first-tier cities could not escape a heavy-handed crackdown by the Federation. Their entire families might even be arrested outright.
For the Xu Family, however, while this was no small matter, it was not a particularly major one either.
Exchanges of interests, political considerations, personnel, startup funds, the effects of spreading a religion, other families' opinions and probing moves-all that tangled mess was nothing Xu Qingjia needed to worry about.
Under his parents' protection, he only needed to eat the best food, drink the best beverages, enjoy the finest resources in the entire Federation, and cultivate with peace of mind.
Then, once his cultivation had borne fruit, he could take over and broaden and deepen that faith.
"Mm."
This was the foundation of a truly elite family!
Compared with secluded families boasting plenty of powerful experts, the Xu Family left them countless streets behind when it came to connections within the Federation.
"As for soul spirits," Xu Ye said, moving on to another matter, "do you have any thoughts, Qingjia?"
"Are there any soul spirits with a death attribute, or ones that are spirits left behind after death?"
"I'm not sure." Xu Ye gently shook his head.
"Then I'll absorb the soul bone first," Xu Qingjia said. "We can visit the Spirit Pagoda tomorrow."
"Let's do that, then."
Xu Ye left first to attend to some family affairs.
Shen Xi stayed to watch over her precious son. In theory, even a rank-one Soul Scholar would encounter no trouble absorbing a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. After all, it was not like the external soul bone of a Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's paw. But there was a kind of worry called "Mom worries about you," and a kind of cold called "Mom thinks you're cold."
Holding the hundred-thousand-year Mermaid Right Leg Bone, Xu Qingjia sat cross-legged on a carpet sewn from the hide of a Ten-Thousand-Year Silver Moon Wolf King. He silently circulated the meditation method passed down through generations of his family, using his own soul power to draw upon the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone in his hands.
His powerful soul granted him perception far beyond that of soul masters his age, along with far finer control over his own soul power. Vast yet exceedingly gentle soul power poured into his body, traveling along his resilient, spacious meridians and entering his circulation.
At the same time, several drops of Mermaid's Tears released strange mental fluctuations, slowly merging into Xu Qingjia's soul through the silver necklace, a specially crafted soul tool.
On the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone merging into Xu Qingjia's body, a slender golden thread seemed to sense something. It likewise began slowly releasing strange mental fluctuations, resonating with them.
Shen Xi sat beside the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, brilliant midday sunlight spilling through the glass onto her. The noblewoman, radiating motherly affection and feminine grace, took a delicate sip of tea and observed every detail of her precious son's condition as he absorbed the soul bone.
"What a pity. Although this mermaid's cultivation was considerable when she was alive, she never fully awakened her golden bloodline."
"If we slaughtered the Sea Princess and her daughter who possesses the golden bloodline, they would surely yield the finest mental-type soul bones and soul rings in the world. According to the rumors, that Spirit Ice Douluo formed a soul spirit contract with another daughter of the Sea Princess who possessed the golden bloodline."
That was also why two Limit Douluos wearing Four-Word Battle Armor had gone there at the time. In the end, however, they had failed to accomplish their goal. Besides showing consideration for Vast Sea Douluo Chen Xinjie, there had also been issues such as an uneven division among the families.
With that Sea Princess's cultivation of over six hundred thousand years, if she yielded a Head Soul Bone, it would undoubtedly be the finest mental-type soul bone in the world. Passed down within a family, it would guarantee the emergence of someone with Spirit Domain Realm mental power every few generations.
Every family and organization wanted it.
Only something like that could be called a family's true foundation.
Meanwhile.
Within Xu Qingjia's Sea of Consciousness.
Wisps of golden light silently fell into the surging waves. Without a sound, the entire Sea of Consciousness took on a faint golden tint and a touch of sacredness beyond the mortal world. Its waters grew denser, and it began expanding at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The Sea of Consciousness churned, while the black-and-gold Book of Life and Death floated quietly above its waters.
The golden crow sank in the west, and the jade rabbit rose in the east.
One day and two nights quietly passed.
The boy who had sat cross-legged in the hall for so long finally stirred.
Compared with before he absorbed the soul bone, his figure had grown a little
taller, as though a year's worth of changes had passed over him. The refined contours of his features had become more pronounced, offering a faint glimpse of the handsome, radiant young man he would one day become.
Xu Qingjia opened his clear, dark eyes, brimming with joy. He could feel unprecedented strength sweeping through his whole body, as though every cell were leaping with delight, as though a single punch could make a female dragon whimper.
He rose to his feet. As his body gradually straightened, his bones gave off a dense succession of deep cracks, like festive firecrackers celebrating, like a tiger's roar and a dragon's cry.
"How do you feel?" Shen Xi closed the book she had been reading.
Xu Qingjia blinked. "Hungry."
Once his soul gradually adjusted to his increased strength, intense hunger followed. His blood and vital energy felt depleted, leaving him weary and weak. Only his greatly improved physique kept him standing.
The improvement brought by a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone was undoubtedly enormous, especially for someone Xu Qingjia's age. It had greatly accelerated his physical growth. Although he had not suddenly shot up by a huge amount, he had still grown a few centimeters.
But physical growth naturally required energy.
The Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone had supplied a tremendous amount of energy and completed the transformation of his body, but it had also used up nearly all the blood and vital energy originally within him. Xu Qingjia had yet to reach a realm where he could live without food, so he could not convert his soul power into the energy his body needed.
Shen Xi, who had been keeping a close eye on the changes in her dear son's internal energy, had already prepared for this.
The hall doors opened, and a group of attractive maids brimming with youthful vitality brought in plate after plate of steaming food.
He ate.
He washed and changed.
Morning light spilled through the window into the bedroom.
Dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt and long trousers, Xu Qingjia stood before the mirror, which reflected a spirited young boy with an air of nobility. He studied the changes in himself. His dark eyes reflected the tiny motes of dust in the air, while the splashing of a maid watering the garden outside reached his ears. After tucking the Mermaid's Tears pendant close against his body, he gave a small, satisfied nod.
Both his mind and body felt better than ever.
Xu Qingjia left the bedroom. His mother, Shen Xi, was already waiting in the main hall.
"What's the other soul skill?" Shen Xi asked curiously.
"Mermaid Duet." Delight shone in Xu Qingjia's eyes. "It gives every mental-type soul skill I possess a double effect."
The numbers were still stacking!
Shen Xi frowned slightly. "Only mental-type soul skills?"
"It doesn't matter." Xu Qingjia was not particularly concerned; he had plenty of ways around that. "Yama absorbs faith. That's my path to godhood, and one part of that process is shaping a divine body. All the soul bones in my body will gradually become the Yama Divine Armor."
The soul bones would take on his form.
There was one thing Xu Qingjia had not lied about earlier.
Yama was a body martial soul.
King Yama was his martial soul.
But Xu Qingjia himself was King Yama. He was a god.
His entire being would gradually transform into the true King Yama.
"And if there aren't any soul spirits related to death or ghosts, I was already planning to find one with a pure mental attribute for my first soul spirit."
The Nether God, the Ghost God-wasn't a ghost simply the state of a soul after death?
That would also conveniently spare him from being suppressed by the Dragon King's bloodline.
The Silver Dragon King might have powerful mental power, but surely she could not suppress the mental attribute itself too.
Otherwise, he would have to report it-this Legend of the Dragon King was playing far too dirty.
"Shall we go now?" Shen Xi asked. "Don't you want to prepare a little more?"
Xu Qingjia gently shook his head, his eyes full of impatience. "Let's go now."
Both his current soul skills enhanced him, and he desperately wanted an offensive soul skill that could put those abilities to use.
Shen Xi chuckled. It was rare to see her precious son act his age.
"All right," Shen Xi said. "But before we go, let's test your mental power again."