Nuwa, the goddess of immortality, said that cultivating immortality does not require spiritual energ

"I never imagined... this place would be so desolate."

Upon entering the ancestral land of the demon race, Qin Le was quite surprised by the scene before him.

The solemn, sacred, and magnificent scene he had envisioned did not appear. Instead, he saw a vast and desolate land, as if it had been eroded and silenced by endless years, carrying a heavy sense of history.

The most eye-catching feature is the dozen or so well-preserved giant stone statues scattered in front.

They are all in different poses, some majestic, some serene, some poised to take flight, exuding an ancient and powerful aura. Behind each statue, a strange halo, several meters in diameter, floats and slowly rotates.

The halo emitted a soft yet profound light, containing a strange and immense power that Qin Le had never encountered before, which aroused his curiosity.

Besides that, there is mostly ruin and blank space.

Many stone pedestals are empty, or only incomplete statue bases remain. Many more statues, though barely standing, are mostly broken, their luster lost, and their spiritual charm gone, like ancient relics forgotten in the long river of time.

Qin Le gazed at the halos behind the intact ancestral statues, a thought stirring within him. He silently asked, "Mother Nuwa, what power do those halos represent?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt a slight weight on his head. The palm-sized clay figure of Nuwa had quietly sat down in his hair.

"That's the power of faith," the little clay figure Nuwa replied casually.

"So this is the power of faith..." Qin Le suddenly realized.

Although he had never seen it with his own eyes, he knew roughly about its origins.

The power of faith is the condensation of the will and power of all living beings. The righteous gods in Heaven, to varying degrees, carry the incense and faith of the mortal world.

What puzzled him was that none of the deities he had ever seen had such a conspicuous halo behind them.

"Mother Nuwa," Qin Le asked, voicing his doubts, "why don't the righteous gods in Heaven have this kind of halo behind them?"

The little clay figure of Nuwa seemed somewhat speechless, and curled her lip: "Do you think the power of faith is some kind of good thing?"

"Huh?" Qin Le was taken aback. "What do you mean by that?"

"The power of faith is indeed strong," the little clay figure Nuwa explained, her tone tinged with a hint of caution, "but using this power comes at a price."

"The price? Is it... paying for the cause and effect?" Qin Le was quick-witted and immediately thought of the key point.

"That's right." The little clay figure Nuwa nodded: "Faith comes from the will of all living beings, and its essence is a kind of 'prayer' or 'entrustment.' If you accept it, it is equivalent to taking on the 'cause' of all living beings, and you will have to repay the corresponding 'effect' in the future. Otherwise, under the rules of Heaven, there will be a backlash."

"I see..." Qin Le said thoughtfully, then asked, "So, what exactly is the function of this power of faith?"

"It has many uses," the little clay figure Nuwa casually listed. "One of the biggest benefits is perhaps that it can help people directly break through cultivation bottlenecks."

"A direct breakthrough?!" Qin Le exclaimed in surprise, "That's amazing? Then why does it seem like not many people specifically choose this path?"

In his view, if such a shortcut really existed, wouldn't those cultivators who had been stuck at the bottleneck for countless years flock to it?

"It has happened before," the little clay figure Nuwa said calmly.

"Who is it?" Qin Le asked curiously.

"It was probably... several thousand years ago," the little clay figure Nuwa recalled. "Shortly after the passage between the mortal realm and the celestial realm was severed, a little fellow who was stuck at the peak of the Celestial Immortal realm spread his faith extensively in the mortal realm and gained a large number of believers. With the help of the massive power of faith, his cultivation speed increased by leaps and bounds, and in just over two thousand years, he reached the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm."

Upon hearing this, Qin Le was also moved: "That speed...it's simply terrifying!"

He knew all too well how difficult it was for cultivators to break through. Countless people in the Heavenly Realm were stuck at the Perfection of the Heavenly Immortal realm, unable to make any further progress, and many had been trapped for tens of thousands of years.

This person was able to reach the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm within two thousand years by borrowing external forces, which can be described as a miracle.

"It's fast," the little clay figure Nuwa said, her tone turning slightly mocking, "but the price is also terrifyingly high."

"What price did he... pay?" Qin Le had a vague premonition.

"As for the price," the little clay figure Nuwa smiled, "because the karma he owed was too much and too heavy. In the end, the Heavenly Dao punished him, directly cleaving his cultivation level and casting him into the 'Heavenly Dao Prison,' where he would suffer the torment of being devoured by lightning for eternity. Moreover, all traces of his existence were completely erased from the world by the Heavenly Dao."

"This..." Qin Le's lips twitched slightly: "This is too tragic."

After working tirelessly for over two thousand years, seemingly reaching the pinnacle, they were instantly reduced to their original state, imprisoned and punished for eternity, with even the proof of their existence erased—a fate more tragic than complete annihilation.

He finally understood why worshipping gods in the mortal world often failed—to the gods, the meager power of a single mortal's wish was not worth taking, and they would have to bear the karmic consequences of fulfilling the wish, which was not worth the loss; and when a large amount of wish power was gathered, the weight of the karma was even more unbearable.

"So, don't overthink it." The little clay figure Nuwa reached out her tiny hand and gently patted Qin Le's head: "You don't need this thing, and don't get involved with it."

Cultivating through the power of faith is not entirely impossible, but its difficulty and risks far exceed those of normal cultivation. For this reason, no one in the Three Realms dares to venture into this path now.

Qin Le could steadily grow stronger even while lying down, so the power of faith was purely a burden to him. Nuwa didn't want to see her precious son spending his future days busy paying off debts.

Just then, a deep, majestic voice, seemingly from ancient times, resounded without warning in Qin Le's mind:

"Little fellow... help me repair those stone statues."

The voice carried an undeniable ancient aura, and Qin Le's heart trembled. He immediately guessed the owner of the voice—the legendary Heavenly Emperor of the Demon Clan, Di Jun!

Before he could respond, the little clay figure Nuwa sitting on his head objected, hands on her hips, glared at the void, and snorted in dissatisfaction:

"You idiot! Make this clear first, what are the benefits? Don't expect my son to work for free!"

The authoritative voice paused for a moment, seemingly with some helplessness, before saying, "Is this... enough?"

Before he finished speaking, Qin Le felt a slight sinking in his sea of ​​consciousness, as if something had appeared.

As I focused my mind, I saw a fist-sized, gray-black stone, seemingly ordinary, like a random stone that you could pick up anywhere on the roadside, quietly floating there.

Qin Le carefully sensed it, but couldn't detect anything special about it; it looked like an ordinary stone no matter how you looked at it.

However, the little clay figure Nuwa let out a soft exclamation: "Huh? This thing... you didn't even use it all back then? But... just this small piece? Hmm... barely enough to pay for the labor of building ten stone statues."

"Can."

Di Jun's voice was concise and to the point, then fell silent, as if it had never been heard.

Qin Le finally had a chance to ask, "Mother Nuwa, what exactly is this stone?"

He looked left and right but couldn't see anything special. But to catch Nuwa's eye, it must be something extraordinary.

"You'll find out later," the little clay figure Nuwa said, keeping him in suspense instead of answering directly. "Anyway, it'll be of great use to you."

"Alright." Qin Le didn't dwell on it and instead asked a more practical question: "So... how should I repair these stone statues?"