"What are you thinking? What respectable immortal uses the power of faith to get stronger?" The system rolled its eyes at him.
"The power of faith was something a powerhouse from an ancient civilization came up with. Back then, that civilization had only one strongest person, and this strongest person was something else. He treated the entire civilization as a talent show."
Li Xingkong could hardly imagine how powerful someone had to be to toy with an entire civilization as if it were a reality show.
"He distributed his authority throughout the world. The more popular someone was, the more authority they could obtain, and the stronger they became accordingly. You could think of it as a worldwide reality talent show."
"So the so-called power of faith is just the number of fans?" Li Xingkong found that a little hard to believe.
"Of course not. An ordinary fan counted as one, and a brain-dead fan counted as five." The system curled its lip, seemingly looking down on this person's behavior.
"So what happened to that civilization in the end?" Li Xingkong was still a little curious. A civilization like that seemed to have plenty of problems.
"Someone named Cai Kunkun taught himself how to buy votes, even though he'd only been a trainee for two and a half years..."
"This is a new book of mine! Don't go maliciously slandering people!" Li Xingkong was terrified that his life would last only three chapters.
"Although he was punished, the practice of buying votes proved hard to stamp out. In the end, the planet went from choosing who to support based on benevolence, righteousness, and morality to whoever had money having more fans. That powerhouse found it boring and abolished the whole system."
"So there really is no such thing as the power of faith, then." Li Xingkong was a little disappointed. After all, it counted as a way to take a shortcut.
He would never buy votes to cheat his way to the power of faith. Really.
"Of course not, though you can always set something like that up for fun later," the system replied. "As for the third qi refining method, simply put, everyone has a magnetic field, and this method charges you up by cutting magnetic field lines. The more people there are, the easier it is to develop in the early stages."
"So supporting a dragon court is about increasing the population? But isn't Earth Star's magnetic field stronger?"
"If you used a 50-volt fast charger on your Nokia, what do you think would happen?" The system smiled. "That's a good idea too: human bombs at no cost."
"Simply put, it's about increasing the population base to speed up early cultivation. Once you can withstand energy at Earth Star's level, you can leave the sea of people behind."
"That method's pretty good too. Our Divine Land has 1.6 billion people now, so early development should be very fast." Li Xingkong counted on his fingers. The qi refining methods were all pretty good, each with its own advantages.
"There are some other qi refining methods too. For example, gathering earth qi uses geothermal energy, but the drawback is that you have to do postpartum confinement; gathering the long winds uses wind energy, but the drawback is that you have to sit and wait when there's no wind; gathering earthly baleful qi uses natural energy gases, but the drawback is that you really do have to gnaw on coal, eat oil, and inhale natural gas in the early stages. These have more limitations, but they can still be used."
"So which one should I choose?" Li Xingkong was having a little trouble deciding.
Then he remembered a classic saying: Only children make choices. As an adult, I want them all!
"Can I choose them all?" Remembering that saying, he tried asking the system.
"Of course you can. I won't offer any opinion favoring one choice over another, and these qi refining methods don't conflict with one another." The system's answer put Li Xingkong at ease. If he could have them all, who would choose just one?
"I think I can start with the first one, the Sun and Moon Qi Refining Method." Although he could choose them all, he still had to decide which came first. He decided to begin his qi refining career in the order the system had explained them.
"Of course. The qi refining stage is generally fairly easy. You just need to understand the relevant knowledge and principles, then use spiritual qi to reshape your body."
"The progress of qi refining also depends on how quickly spiritual qi reshapes your body. The faster the reshaping, the sooner you can begin accumulating energy."
"Okay, I understand!" Li Xingkong nodded. At that point, the system also brought out the relevant literature on the Sun and Moon Qi Refining Method. Although the system existed in his mind, it could project books into Li Xingkong's nervous system. He could see and touch books like these, but no one else could see them.
The projected book was about a fist thick, and just looking at it gave Li Xingkong a headache.
"How long will it take to read this..."
"Don't worry, it'll be quick. This one won't take a month."
"Read, read, read! I'll read it!" Li Xingkong quickly prepared to plunge into the sea of books, but in his haste, he remembered another question.
"System, you just said qi refining requires spiritual qi, right?"
"Yes. All qi refining methods require the assistance of spiritual qi. Is there something you're unsure about?"
"Then, is there spiritual qi on our Earth Star?" Li Xingkong asked subconsciously.
"Good question, Host. I just took a look, and there really is no spiritual qi on Earth Star!" The system's answer was so plain and unadorned that Li Xingkong wanted to cough up a mouthful of blood on the spot.
"So what now? Can I still cultivate immortality or not?" Fate had played a huge joke on Li Xingkong. He had been preparing for more than ten years, only to get stuck because there was no spiritual qi.
"No spiritual qi detected on Earth Star. Elementary school curriculum adjustment commencing," the system said. "In addition to qi refining class, a new course will be added: artificial spiritual qi."
"Huh? Artificial spiritual qi? Me?" Li Xingkong's eyes rolled back. "Why don't you just tell me to go kill Tang Sanzang and his disciples?!"
"Don't worry. For you as you are now, killing Tang Sanzang would be much easier than creating spiritual qi." The system's comfort was as timely as ever. Li Xingkong was about to cry. "I want a refund!! Aah!!!"