Faith

In the courtyard.

Fang Yu employed the wonders of Molten Edge Flow, slowly molding a pool of molten metal and stone into a three-legged Pill Furnace.

The pills he had refined before were all first-tier pills, which he could refine directly without a medicine cauldron. But now he was going to refine a second-tier pill, and a Foundation Establishment Pill at that-an important pill tied to his own Dao Path. Naturally, he could not afford to be careless. He would follow the local methods of the Dao of Qi Refining and use a Pill Furnace to assist with the refinement.

Under his control and refinement, a mid-grade Spirit Artifact Pill Furnace took shape.

Fang Yu could not be bothered to name it. After checking it over and confirming there were no problems, he opened the furnace and began refining pills.

Naturally, the first second-tier pill he refined could not be a Foundation Establishment Pill, but an auxiliary pill that could improve cultivation, called the True Restoration Pill.

This pill was very common among second-tier pills and quite easy to refine. More importantly, the spiritual materials it required were relatively cheap, making it perfect for practice.

As all kinds of spirit herbs were tossed into the Pill Furnace, a rich medicinal fragrance spread through the courtyard. The courtyard had restrictions in place, however, so he did not have to worry about the fragrance drifting outside and attracting attention.

Several days later.

"Rise!"

Fang Yu shouted and formed a hand seal. The Pill Furnace's lid opened, and seven longan-sized pills flew out.

"Four standard-quality pills, three inferior ones."

Fang Yu examined the seven True Restoration Pills, somewhat dissatisfied.

Although it was his first time refining second-tier pills and succeeding at all was already a stroke of luck, that applied to ordinary alchemists. He was a master of the External Alchemy Technique, yet his first batch had produced three inferior pills. That meant his understanding of the spiritual materials was still lacking. Otherwise, with his mastery over the heat, he would have produced at most one inferior pill.

"I'll keep the inferior ones to sell and use the standard ones myself!"

Fang Yu murmured, tossing a standard-quality True Restoration Pill into his mouth. He sat down cross-legged and circulated his cultivation method.

A day later, his eyes flew open. "Something's wrong. My cultivation speed doesn't seem normal. Could it be because of the True Restoration Pill? No, that's not right either. How could the True Restoration Pill's medicinal power be this strong?"

He then closed his eyes and continued cultivating, but this time he carefully sensed the subtle changes in his body.

Soon, he discovered that the speed at which he absorbed Spiritual Qi and converted it into Law Power had increased slightly.

He ate another True Restoration Pill, and his cultivation speed increased another notch.

Hmm, even after accounting for the boost from the True Restoration Pill, my own cultivation speed really has increased.

I'm still using the Nine Transformations of the Flame Dragon, and both my absorption and conversion of Spiritual Qi have sped up. That means my Spirit Root has improved.

Fang Yu's eyes lit up at once. He immediately used a method to test his Spirit Root, and a point of red light emerged from his fingertip.

The red light representing his Spirit Root was slightly richer than before.

"Just as I thought, my Spirit Root has improved!"

Fang Yu's mouth split into a grin. With a thought, his presence changed at once, taking on that of the Dao of Qi Ingestion, and a strand of Law Power condensed in his heart meridian.

"My fate configuration is Wings Fire. Now that the Dao Foundation of Phoenix Sets the Plains Ablaze has reached Qi Ingestion First Layer, it has directly improved my Spirit Root!"

"Sure enough, I still have to cultivate my own fate configuration to increase my fortune."

Fang Yu sighed with emotion, giving his earlier decision to cultivate the Starfire Heart-Burning Instruction a big thumbs-up.

Although the cultivation method had no further stages, it suited his fate configuration. Cultivating just one layer had increased his fortune, which was reflected in his fate configuration as an improvement to his Spirit Root.

If I can complete the Dao Foundation of Phoenix Sets the Plains Ablaze, my Spirit Root will probably improve greatly too. Surely it can rise from a low-grade Spirit Root to a mid-grade Spirit Root, at least.

At that thought, Fang Yu's eyes burned with eagerness. He wished he could master Phoenix Sets the Plains Ablaze immediately.

But Phoenix Sets the Plains Ablaze, which used Mortal World Spiritual Qi and Fire of Ten Thousand Households as its Spiritual Qi, was different from when he had cultivated Molten Edge Flow.

The process of cultivating Molten Edge Flow had consisted of forging Metal Fire Stone day after day for decades. He had accumulated enough Dao Attainment that he could rapidly improve his cultivation by absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

But his Dao Attainment in Phoenix Sets the Plains Ablaze was still shallow. Even with ample Spiritual Qi and Spirit Stones, improving would be difficult.

This was just like the bottlenecks on the Dao of Qi Refining's side.

The difference was that the bottleneck on the Dao of Qi Ingestion's side was Dao Attainment itself. Without Dao Attainment, cultivation could not improve.

Thus, many stories that sounded rather mysterious circulated on the Dao of Qi Ingestion's side. For example,

A great Confucian scholar in the mortal world might spend his entire life reading, then one day achieve sudden enlightenment, ascend on the spot, and become a Purple Mansion True Person.

Or someone who had killed countless people and committed every evil might lay down the butcher's knife one day, immediately achieve enlightenment, and attain the Buddhist Arhat fruit.

Or an old fisherman who had fished all his life might enter a river one day and directly transform into a river god.

There were many more such stories of attaining immortality and the Dao. Although Fang Yu believed these people were probably all disciples of some major sect cultivating the Dao in the mortal world, such Dao Attainment could by no means be achieved in a single day.

Thus, cultivation on the Dao of Qi Ingestion still had to be taken slowly.

He tossed another True Restoration Pill into his mouth and continued cultivating the Nine Revolutions of the Flame Dragon.

Spring passed and autumn came, and the years flowed by.

In the blink of an eye, six years had passed.

Fang Yu slowly opened his eyes, flames seemingly burning in their depths. His cultivation had impressively reached the realm of Qi Refining Ninth Layer Great Perfection.

"Although my Spirit Root hasn't improved much, it saved me quite a bit of time. I originally estimated it would take about ten years to reach perfection, but I've done it in just six."

The improvement of his Spirit Root was certainly important, but the assistance of various second-tier pills was just as important. Together, the two had saved him more than four years.

Next, I need to refine Foundation Establishment Pills and prepare for Foundation Establishment. But before that, I can harvest another batch of Fire of Ten Thousand Households, improve my cultivation in the Dao of Qi Ingestion, and improve my Spirit Root. That should also help increase my chances of successfully reaching Foundation Establishment.

As he pondered, Fang Yu connected with the Yuanchen Pearl, and his figure vanished.

"Not bad! In just six years, Great Peace Village's number of followers has surpassed a million!"

Fang Yu floated above a county seat, sensing the tens of thousands of townsfolk below through the clouds.

This city was occupied by a village chief named Wei Long. The more than a hundred thousand people in the surrounding towns and villages were all followers of Great Peace Village.

At that moment, tens of thousands of people below were celebrating the Great Peace Festival to commemorate Great Peace Village taking control of the county seat.

"Collect!"

Fang Yu paid them little attention, collecting the Fire of Ten Thousand Households here as usual.

Soon, tiny sparks of heartfire drifted out of the heart meridians of the many followers, gathering toward the sky.

"Halt! What monster dares use an Evil Method right under this general's nose?!"

Suddenly, a furious shout rang out. Wei Long sprang to his feet and looked up at the sky, bellowing a rebuke. At the same time, light appeared behind his head, forming a halo that made him look like a heavenly god descended to earth.

Damn, how did he gather the Power of Faith?

Fang Yu thought, speeding up his collection of the Fire of Ten Thousand Households before drifting away. He had no intention of greeting Wei Long.

Although Great Peace Village had originated with him, he had never considered becoming its leader. Now, after more than ten years of development, it had acquired a de facto leader, and after gathering the strength of its many followers, the Power of Faith had emerged.

To the various Dao lineages, the Power of Faith was an extremely precious resource that could be used to cultivate all kinds of cultivation methods.

If his Great Peace Village had not attracted Mount Longmen's attention before, it was certainly receiving special attention now.

"I'll have to be more careful when collecting the Fire of Ten Thousand Households in the future, so I don't run into anyone I shouldn't."

With that thought, Fang Yu rode a streak of escape light toward the next gathering place.