A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

A set of data panels gleaming with a faint light appeared before Duan Rong's eyes.

Artifact: Five-stone statue of the deity
Spirit Rank: Not yet Ranked
Devouring requirements: None
Devouring effect: None
Duan Rong stared at the data panel in front of him, his expression completely unchanged.

If the spirit within this stone statue contains the cultivation method of the Filthy Blood Divine Art, it means that this statue was originally used by the Filthy Blood cultists of this area to cultivate the Filthy Blood Divine Art. It was only later, with the construction of a temple, that it was moved here for public worship. If this is the case, then this temple must have been built by the Filthy Blood cult.

But now the stone statue of the Five Gods is empty, clearly indicating that the statue was newly carved and too recently created to have developed a spirit. He needed to investigate why the magistrate of Huangpi County would build this temple to the Five Gods.

Duan Rong turned and slowly walked out of the temple. The afternoon sun was just right, and he planned to stroll along the street to the teahouse not far from the county government office.

But as soon as he reached the street, he suddenly stopped, as if petrified, and stood there motionless.

At this moment, a thoughtful, cold glint flashed in his eyes.

Although the spirit of the Five-Stone Divine Statue was empty, it suddenly stirred some long-buried memories deep within his heart.

However, that memory dates back ten years.

At that time, he had just arrived in the Nine Provinces world and was only sixteen years old. But now, he is already over twenty-six years old.

That memory dates back to his first year after he transmigrated to the world of Kyushu...

"The City God Temple in Xiangu County..."

A complex, cold glint flashed in Duan Rong's eyes, because he was unsure whether what was surfacing in his mind at this moment was a long-buried memory or his own imagination.
Since he couldn't be sure, he decided to go back to Xiangu County now to take a look.

Compared to the fragment of memory from ten years ago in his mind, the matter of the Wutong Temple in Huangpi County was simply a trivial matter, like a sesame seed.

Having made up his mind, Duan Rong turned and entered a secluded alley. He stood in the alley, looked around to make sure no one was there, except for a big yellow dog lying in the corner.

A flash of red light suddenly appeared between Duan Rong's brows, and then vanished just as a moment later, like a ghost.

The quiet alleyway suddenly became empty. The big yellow dog, which had been lying there lazily, was so frightened that it jumped up and darted out of the alleyway.

Duan Rong reappeared, now in the outskirts of Huangpi County outside the south gate. He glanced in the direction, then transformed into a streak of black light and shot into the sky, disappearing without a trace.

Since the bloody scandal many years ago, Xiangu County has been renovated. The City God Temple in the county has a history of nearly a thousand years. The temple keeper, who was a bloody sorcerer, has been executed. The county not only appointed a new temple keeper but also renovated the City God Temple.

The county government did this because the people of Xiangu County have a deep faith in this City God. Incense is constantly burned there, and during festivals, everyone comes to worship, praying for wealth and peace.

The new temple keeper was an old Taoist priest, with a refined and otherworldly appearance. He was highly respected by the people of Xiangu County, and the county government had put some thought into choosing him as the temple keeper.

After all, a major blood scandal had just occurred, and the temple keeper serving the City God was actually a blood demon. People's hearts were filled with fear and needed to be calmed.

The old temple keeper yawned, closed the temple door, and bolted it shut. By then, it was already pitch black outside; it was time to close the temple.

The temple keeper turned around and looked at the incense table in front of the City God, which was laden with offerings. Offerings had been made to the City God all day, and now that it was getting late, these offerings were a welcome treat for him.

The old temple keeper was already drooling as he looked at a roast chicken among the offerings. Just as he was about to go over, he suddenly saw a tiny, firefly-like light flash by and disappear into the space between his eyebrows.

The old temple keeper's eyes widened in surprise, and he stood there dumbfounded.

Just then, a strange figure appeared in the City God Temple; it was Duan Rong, who had rushed over.

Duan Rong didn't even glance at the temple keeper before walking straight to the stone statue of the City God and taking a look at it by the light of the ever-burning lamp on the incense table.

This stone statue of the City God is dark and has been around for countless years; the original color of the stone is no longer visible.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered slightly. He placed his right hand on the City God's right foot, which had been smoothed and gleamed black by the people's touch, and thought to himself, "Reading the spirit."

Then a data panel shimmering with a faint light appeared before his eyes.

Artifact: Stone statue of the City God

Spirit Rank: Rank 20
Absorption requirements: Host's mental strength is at level 20 (met)

Absorption effect: Thousand-year-old incense (initial understanding of the complex laws of time)
Duan Rong stared at the data panel that appeared before him, his breath catching in his throat.

"A thousand years of incense?! A preliminary understanding of the complex laws of time!?" He looked at the description in the devouring effect and confirmed that the sealed memories touched by the Five Gods statue were not his imagination, but real.

What Duan Rong was particularly concerned about was the power of the complex laws of time, especially the word "complex".

This is also why he didn't think of the City God statue when he devoured the seal script knife character and the God-Slaying Whip from the Ancient Dao Mausoleum. He couldn't understand the four characters "the vicissitudes of time" at all when he first saw them ten years ago, and he didn't pay any attention to them.

But now, looking at the data panel of the City God statue, what struck him most was the word "chaotic," and the importance of these two words even surpassed that of a thousand years of incense offerings.

The term "mixed" implies the presence of multiple laws, which greatly increases the probability of it corresponding to the seventy-nine laws within his mind-body.

But how many kinds exactly? Just how complex is this? We'll only know by trying it.

Duan Rong's eyes were icy cold as he thought to himself, "Devour!"

The moment the data panel in front of him vanished, his figure disappeared like a ghost.

As soon as Duan Rong's figure disappeared, the old temple keeper who had been standing there dumbfounded suddenly woke up. He blinked and felt as if his mind had just gone blank.

However, he didn't think much of it and walked over to the tempting roast chicken on the altar.

Just as the old temple keeper picked up the roast chicken, he heard a soft cracking sound. His heart skipped a beat, and when he looked up, he saw a fine line suddenly appear on the face of the City God's statue.

This explosion had no serious consequences! It terrified the temple keeper so much that he was scared out of his wits!

He put down the roast chicken, knelt down with a thud, and kowtowed repeatedly before the incense table.

"Your Majesty, please don't be angry! I will never dare to be greedy again..."

Duan Rong flashed out of the City God Temple and transformed into a black streak, shooting off into the distance.

At his current speed, he would arrive at Wild Boar Mountain outside the city in the blink of an eye.

As Duan Rong flew through the mountains like a ghost, he released his divine sense and quickly locked onto a stone cave deep in the mountains. His eyes lit up and his figure suddenly disappeared in mid-air, appearing in a dark stone cave the next moment.

He hadn't been inside this stone cave for almost ten years.

This stone cave was left to him by Shen Ping when he left. Inside the cave, there were quite a few items, but they were all covered in dust.

Duan Rong didn't come here to revisit the old place; he wanted to find a quiet place to properly digest the spirit of the City God statue.

He knew very well that this artifact spirit was absolutely extraordinary.

This artifact spirit contains the complex and ever-changing power of laws, and it is very likely that it contains a portion of the power of laws that it can absorb.

In other words, if he digests and absorbs the spirit of the City God statue, his power of law may be deepened, and his Insightful Realm will be enhanced and grown.

If this path proves successful, he only needs to search for ancient statues of deities across the Nine Provinces to continuously deepen his power of laws. This is far simpler than searching for and comprehending a medium.

He had been searching for that corresponding medium for over a year with no results. Moreover, Chu Qiushan had been searching for over a hundred years and still hadn't found a medium he could comprehend; how could he be so sure he could find it himself?

As soon as Duan Rong entered the stone cave, he sat cross-legged in an open space, sensing the digestion of the artifact spirit...

He sat there for almost a month without moving.

Previously, whether it was the spirit of the seal script knife that devoured Gu Daoling, or the spirit of the God-Slaying Whip, he digested them all within a few hours.

Moreover, the spirit of the seal script knife in Gu Daoling's painting is at the nineteenth level, only one level lower than the spirit of the City God statue.

The spirit of the God-Slaying Whip is at the 20th rank, the same rank as the spirit of the City God statue.

However, it took Duan Rong a full month to fully digest and absorb the spirit of the City God statue.

Although their spirit levels seem similar and both contain the power of laws, the real differences between them are as vast as heaven and earth.

In the darkness, Duan Rong opened his eyes. His gaze was bright and deep, filled with joy and astonishment.

"The spirit within this City God statue actually contains nearly a thousand kinds of complex and varied laws of time."

"These laws are intertwined and tangled together, making them extremely difficult to digest."

But the fact that it took a full month is not the most crucial point.

Digestion is only the first step; the most crucial step is absorption.

Of the nearly one thousand complex laws of time contained within the spirit of this City God statue, seventeen correspond to the laws of Duan Rong's inner sanctum.

The spirits of the seal script knife that had previously devoured Gu Daoling, as well as the spirit of the God-Slaying Whip, were digested and absorbed within a few hours.

Besides being pure and singular laws, more importantly, neither of them corresponded to the laws within Duan Rong's Cave of Meditation. Duan Rong couldn't absorb them at all, so these laws dissipated.

However, during this process of digesting and absorbing the spirit of the City God statue, Duan Rong absorbed the power of seventeen different laws.

In other words, at this moment, the seventeen kinds of laws within his psychic field have all been deepened.

Although the degree of deepening was extremely subtle, because all seventeen kinds of laws had been deepened, Duan Rong could clearly feel the clarity in his dantian, and the vitality surging in the black light was even stronger.

Although the degree of deepening of the seventeen laws within the Cave of Darkness was very subtle, it was still excellent news for Duan Rong.

This proves that the method is feasible.

Although the depth of this exploration was very subtle, what if he did it a few more times?

He believed that in this vast land of China, there were countless statues of gods with incense burning for thousands of years. As long as he devoured and digested them one by one, the power of the laws within the cave would continue to deepen.

"There is hope for Nascent Soul!"

Duan Rong suddenly felt quite confident.

After all, compared to investigating things to find the medium, then immersing himself in understanding the medium and waiting for the right opportunity to break through, the path he is on now is simply too simple!

Duan Rong stood up, and in the darkness, a red light suddenly flashed on his brow. The next moment, his figure appeared high in the sky outside Wild Boar Mountain.

In the vast darkness of the night, he transformed into a streak of black light and shot towards Xiangu County.

He had just transmigrated to Kyushu and had stayed in Xiangu County for several years. He was already very familiar with the county and knew that Xiangu County had more than just the City God Temple.

This ancient county town, with a history of over a thousand years, still has several other temples.

In the pitch-black night, Duan Rong's figure flickered everywhere in Xiangu County, like a ghost.

He looked at the statue in the mountain god temple on the outskirts of the southern city, placed his hand on it, and thought to himself, "Read the spirit."

Artifact: Stone statue of the mountain god

Spirit Rank: 15
Absorption Requirements: Host's mental strength must be at level 15 (met)

Devouring effect: Four hundred years of incense offerings (a preliminary understanding of the meaning of time and change).

In the darkness, Duan Rong stared in astonishment at the data panel that appeared before him.

"Four hundred years of incense offerings?!"

"The atmosphere of time?!"

Duan Rong's gaze lingered briefly on the four words "initial comprehension" before he gave up on devouring them; the conception was no longer of any use to him.

"A four-hundred-year-old statue is only at the initial stage of understanding the essence... Does a statue containing complex laws require a thousand years of incense offerings?" A deep look of contemplation flashed in Duan Rong's eyes.

In the darkness, his figure vanished like a ghost.

Because he knew Xiangu County very well, he quickly went through several temples. Apart from the City God Temple, whose statues had been burning incense for a thousand years, the tallest of the other temples was a mountain god temple with four hundred years of incense burning, and there were even temples that were only a few decades old...

In the night sky, Duan melted into a black streak and headed east.

Having completed his investigation of the temple in Xiangu County, Duan Rong decided to explore the neighboring Jiuchong County.

However, he was unfamiliar with Jiuchong County.

He hovered high above the county town of Jiuchong, looking down at the rows of rooftops under the moonlight. Suddenly, his divine sense was released, almost enveloping the entire county town.

The next moment, Duan Rong had a thought and appeared in a temple. After some investigation, he found that the statue was less than a hundred years old.

By the time Duan Rong had finished exploring all the statues in the temples of Jiuchong County, it was already broad daylight.

He stood outside the gate of a temple, his face somewhat bitter.

In Jiuchong County, there isn't a single statue of a deity that has been worshipped for over a hundred years!

Duan Rong's eyes flashed, and he immediately realized that he did not know the history of Jiuchong County. Perhaps the county had not been established for more than a hundred years.
If the county town has a history of less than a hundred years, how could there be a statue of a god that is more than a hundred years old?

It seems that in this vast land, he cannot simply wander aimlessly like a headless fly in search of a statue of a deity that has been worshipped for thousands of years.

Duan Rong suddenly remembered something: Zhu He had once wanted to hand over the intelligence system in his hands to Duan Rong, but at that time Duan Rong was focused on his cultivation and found these matters too complicated, so he did not agree.

But now, he desperately needs this intelligence network that spans Qingzhou. (End of Chapter)