In a classically furnished office, Xu Qingjia was dangling a tempting promise before a Quasi-God.
But the pie he promised was one that could actually be seen-and eaten.
Throughout history, how many dazzling heroes had seen their broken halberds sink into the sands over the word "immortality"?
How many emperors, commanding the winds and clouds in middle age, wise and mighty, had become muddleheaded and suspicious in their twilight years in pursuit of immortality? How many powerhouses, at the pinnacle of their lives, with blood surging hot and bodies strong and nimble, had never worried about life and death-only to pass middle age and watch their vitality slip away like sand between their fingers, their boiling blood gradually cooling, their agile bodies growing sluggish day by day?
That sense of helplessness was enough to crush even the most resolute will.
How many people in this world could resist the temptation of longevity and immortality in their old age?!
Xu Qingjia was very confident about this.
Because in his first life, he too had experienced the taste of watching his life drain away.
But in this second life, the immortality that lay so far beyond everyone else's reach was something he had several ways to attain.
This time, however, the promise he offered was not a way to obtain immortality by becoming a Yin Marshal or Ghost Messenger.
"Oh?" Elder Shen raised an eyebrow, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes.
Xu Qingjia continued, "Grandfather, you should know that Mom and Dad have been helping me gather faith."
Establishing a religious order, gathering faith.
Apart from a handful of people at the very top of the Federation, even some council members did not know that this directive had come from the Xu Family. Ye Xinglan and Na'er naturally knew nothing about it either, which was why Xu Qingjia needed them out of the room. There was no branch of the Netherworld Order in Mingdu at all.
But something like this certainly could not be hidden from the old master.
Xu Ye and Shen Xi, however, had not told him about the Underworld King.
To the couple, the implications were simply too enormous; the fewer people who knew, the better. This concerned a divine position. Had Xu Qingjia not been their child, even they would have been unable to resist such a temptation.
"Mm." Elder Shen nodded slightly. "Your mother said you needed the power of faith to cultivate."
That was the explanation Shen Xi had given.
After all, Xu Qingjia was not the only special case who cultivated with the power of faith.
Certain unusual martial souls had such requirements.
There was one such person in their own era: Holy Spirit Douluo Ya Li. Back then, she had exhausted her vitality treating disaster victims, and that kindness had been rewarded. Her martial soul, the Wish Angel, had absorbed enormous quantities of the power of faith, raising her cultivation directly from Soul Saint to Titled Douluo in just a few months.
"My Yama martial soul does have that need," Xu Qingjia said.
"What I want to tell you today, Grandfather, also concerns the power of faith and my martial soul."
"The religious order I founded describes the Yanluo Heavenly Son, a deity modeled on my Yama martial soul, as governing life, death, and reincarnation. Some of those descriptions are exaggerated, but my martial soul really does possess a similar ability. I unlocked it after breaking through to Soul Elder. To be precise, I can expend the power of faith to extend another person's allotted lifespan in the living world."
The Book of Life and Death governed life and death.
It could increase or decrease a living being's allotted lifespan.
Xu Qingjia presented this as an ability of Yama.
He had previously bought a three-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit to test it.
Then, taking advantage of his family's influence, he had found several Evil Soul Masters sentenced to death.
He had reached two conclusions. First, altering a living being's allotted lifespan in the Book of Life and Death consumed not only the book's energy; he also had to pay a price. Depending on the difference between their level of life and his, and the extent of the change, the cost could be as light as expending soul power-or as heavy as consuming his own vitality.
Second, paying with the power of faith could directly eliminate the price he otherwise had to bear.
Everything in the world came at a price.
Altering the Book of Life and Death meant tampering with another person's karma.
In the myths, Sun Wukong had crossed his own name out of the Book of Life and Death. That was probably because he had already cultivated to the point of immortality. Patriarch Subhuti had not taught him the art of everlasting life for nothing. Even without crossing out his name, the Great Sage could have sent his soul straight back into his body and returned to the living world.
If just anyone could alter the Book of Life and Death at will, immortality would have been far too cheap, and the divine artifact itself would have lost far too much of its stature.
At those words, Elder Shen's gaze grew more serious. "Really?"
"Really!"
Xu Qingjia nodded and said with certainty, "Why don't you try it, Grandfather? I've saved up some power of faith over these past few years."
After what he had absorbed himself and spent on the Divine Investiture of Black and White Impermanence, a small portion still remained.
He needed more forces to help him expand his religious order.
The Xu Family was undoubtedly a colossus, with people installed in important positions in the military, the Spirit Pagoda, and several other organizations. It also held seats in the council, including even a deputy speaker's position. Yet compared with the Shen Family as it stood now, there was still a gap.
After all, the Shen Family's Old Master was still alive. But Xu Qingjia's paternal grandfather, the Xu Family's previous Family Head, had passed away before he was born. He too had been a Limit Douluo, as well as the previous commander of the Blood God Legion. At the peak of his prime, battles against several Abyssal Lords had left numerous hidden injuries in his body. Later, even with the aid of the Yu Family's divine artifact, Life's Benediction, his lifespan had not been extended by much.
Damn Tang San!
Elder Shen did not believe a Soul Elder could extend the lifespan of a Quasi-God like him. As the Shen Family's Family Head, he had even used divine artifacts associated with the life attribute. Apart from Shrek's Golden Tree, he had already tried all manner of life-extending treasures. Now, extending his life through one person's power alone was something even the Holy Spirit Douluo could not accomplish.
But martial souls connected to the power of faith had always been exceptionally unusual.
"All right." After considering it for a moment, Elder Shen nodded in agreement. "Let's try it, then."
Xu Qingjia reached out and took his grandfather's wrist, making a show of casting a spell.
Within his Sea of Consciousness, he summoned the Book of Life and Death and poured one unit of the power of faith into it.
Xu Qingjia had taken the amount of faith required to perform the Divine Investiture of a Yin Marshal or Ghost Messenger below god level as his benchmark, defining it as one hundred units. Over the past two years and more, he had obtained a total of five hundred units of the power of faith. After all, the vast majority came from shallow believers attracted by free eggs. He had only managed to gather this much through their sheer numbers.
At first, Elder Shen felt nothing unusual. He merely watched his grandson's actions calmly, using his spiritual power to sense the changes within his body.
The next instant, his gaze abruptly changed.
An extraordinarily pure, mysterious power beyond his control appeared inside him as though out of thin air, quietly erasing some hidden injuries that had been difficult to heal even with the power of divine artifacts.
A few words quietly appeared in the Book of Life and Death.
[Lifespan extended by 361 days]
"How do you feel, Grandfather?" Xu Qingjia asked.
"Very good." Elder Shen could not hide the delight in his voice.
As a Quasi-God with high-level Spirit Domain Realm spiritual power, he could clearly sense the limit of his lifespan. Yet now, around another year of life had appeared out of nowhere.
He looked at his eldest grandson, never having expected such a pleasant surprise today. "Qingjia, does using this ability once place any burden on you? How much power of faith does it consume?"
"There's no burden." Xu Qingjia shook his head gently and said without blushing or missing a heartbeat, "As for the power of faith, it takes roughly a little over half a year to gather that much."
"But if my religious order could reach a wider area, gathering the power of faith would certainly be faster."
The map of Yan that Xu Qingjia had unrolled finally revealed the dagger hidden within.