God Visualization Art, Visualizing... the Three Pure Ones?

"The villagers of Qingshui Village are indeed weak right now, and they provide very little boost to Godfather. "However, Godfather must not overlook this. When achieving True God status, your strength, potential, and cultivation speed will all be tied to the subjects of your fiefdom." Qi Qi spoke with earnest patience. A soaring ambition had sprouted within her: she wanted to nurture her godfather into an unrivaled True God. "If I'm strong enough on my own, wouldn't that solve everything?" Qi Yuan mused. Back in the Liufeng Realm, he could mass-produce powerhouses at rapid speed. Here in the Mortal Heart Realm, however, things were a bit trickier. "The True God realm is known as the Seven Steps of Sky Treading. "The first three steps are Venerables, while the latter four are Great Venerables. "To become a Great Venerable, one must have at least one True God among the subjects of their fiefdom! "The more True God subjects you possess, the greater your cultivation as a Great Venerable will be!" Qi Qi painted a grand, lofty vision for Qi Yuan. In truth, reaching the realm of Great Venerable was far beyond their current reach, but she brought it up now just to give her godfather some motivation. After all, according to the villagers of Qingshui Village, Godfather had only recently awakened, and much of his memory might not have resurfaced yet. Hearing this, Qi Yuan asked slowly, "Does a Yang God also require this?" Qi Qi froze for a moment before replying hesitantly, "This... your daughter does not know." Qi Yuan looked up at the star-studded sky. The brightest star among them right now was clearly a Yang God. As for the others, they might not be Yang Gods, but they were at least Yin Gods. In the Canglan Realm, the Great Tribulation was drawing near. According to Old Man Wutian, two hundred thousand years ago, a supreme powerhouse had once defeated the Great Tribulation, only for the celestial host of immortal gods to descend, ultimately leading to that supreme expert's downfall. Behind that Great Tribulation lay a Yang God, along with countless immortal gods. If he had legions of immortal gods as subordinates, why would he fear that Great Tribulation? At worst, both sides could just call in their allies and see who could summon more and hit harder. "You have a point." Qi Yuan agreed with Qi Qi's words. "I'm thinking of renaming Qingshui Village to Pei County." He needed to cultivate these villagers. Yet the problem remained: how should he train them? By eating funeral banquets every single day? That wouldn't be enough. "What if I go plunder some treasures to boost their cultivation?" Qi Yuan asked, consulting Qi Qi. Qi Qi replied, "That is one way, but what matters even more is the God Visualization Art. However, that requires Godfather to recover your memories of your past life." "Huh?" Qi Yuan was somewhat confused. What past life memories? Seeing his confusion, Qi Qi continued, "Every Ancient God is a heroic spirit who fell in battle during the ancient Hongtang Great War. "In the Hongtang Great War, True Gods served as generals and Purple Mansions as foot soldiers; perhaps upwards of ten thousand True Gods took part in the conflict. "And all of those True Gods perished in the Hongtang Great War, their names lost to time. "Godfather, you are an ancient heroic spirit who witnessed many True Gods back then. "As long as you awaken your past memories, depict the True Gods from your recollections, and condense them into a God Visualization Art to bestow upon your subjects, they will be able to cultivate according to that technique. "The stronger the god visualized, the faster their cultivation will grow, and the higher their ceiling will be." Therefore, the higher an Ancient God's cultivation had been before falling in battle, the more True Gods they had encountered, and the more God Visualization Arts they could condense for others to visualize. Conversely, heroic spirits who had possessed lower cultivation might have seen very few True Gods, so they could condense fewer visualization arts, offering their subjects far less of a boost. "In today's Mortal Heart Realm, most cultivators visualize the Lord of Hongtang and his Twelve Heavenly Generals. "Their power is indeed tremendous, but far too many people visualize them, and the depictions are vague and fragmented. As a result, the boost they offer to cultivators isn't very significant. "If Godfather can recall ten True Gods in your memory, especially some who haven't been visualized by other cultivators, then... the subjects of Qingshui Village will advance with immense speed," Qi Qi explained reliably. Qi Yuan pondered this and asked, "Can gods from outside the Mortal Heart Realm be used for visualization?" He thought of the Yin Gods back in the Canglan Realm. Those Yin Gods were presumably equivalent to True Gods. Qi Yuan had encountered quite a few; if he depicted them for the villagers of Qingshui Village to visualize, wouldn't that work? "Did those gods ever receive incense offerings?" Qi Qi asked. "No." "If they never received incense offerings and never served as the faith of countless mortals, it most likely won't work," Qi Qi said seriously. In the past, every True God in the Mortal Heart Realm had received offerings from at least a city's worth of people. Only such True Gods could be condensed into a God Visualization Art. Hearing that, Qi Yuan realized his idea was dead in the water. Was he supposed to return to the Canglan Realm, summon those Yin Gods over, and have them erect shrines to receive the faith of thousands? Thinking about it, that was completely unfeasible. Besides, he hadn't encountered all that many Yin Gods in the Canglan Realm anyway. "Godfather, there is no need to fret. Once your memories awaken, you will be able to condense a God Visualization Art," Qi Qi comforted from the side. Qi Yuan wanted to say that he had no memories to awaken in the first place. He had never taken part in the Hongtang Great War, nor had he ever seen the True Gods of this realm, making it impossible for him to condense such an art. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "These New Gods also receive offerings from the people. If I condense them into a God Visualization Art, would that work?" Qi Qi thought her godfather was being entirely too whimsical, but remembering that he had only recently awakened and hadn't recovered his full memories, she understood his ignorance. "Visualizing these New Gods leads to terrifying consequences. The subjects may even be assimilated by them and turn into divine abominations," Qi Qi explained. That immediately snuffed out Qi Yuan's thought. "Godfather, don't worry about all this for now. Just focus on slaying more evil gods to amass evil god spiritual power. Condensing a God Visualization Art requires expending one's own divine spiritual power, but evil god spiritual power can be used as a substitute." "I do have a tiny bit of evil god spiritual power." After slaying the two evil gods, Qi Yuan had indeed obtained some evil god spiritual power, though he hadn't known how to use it. Only now, hearing Qi Qi's explanation, did he discover its purpose. "If I invent some fictional True Gods, can I use them to create a God Visualization Art?" Qi Yuan couldn't resist asking. He truly had never seen any True Gods of the Mortal Heart Realm. Qi Qi smiled gently. "If Godfather understands those gods thoroughly enough, you might genuinely be able to create one. "This records the method for condensing a God Visualization Art. Father would surely recall this later upon regaining your memories anyway, but your daughter will show you the condensing method early so you may give it a try." A failed attempt wouldn't consume evil god spiritual power; it would merely waste a bit of time. Thus, Qi Qi felt completely at ease handing the method over to Qi Yuan. After chatting a bit longer, Qi Qi departed from the divine shrine. Qi Yuan sat alone in the shrine, his brows furrowed tightly. *Am I really only suited for fighting solo?* Since he didn't know any True Gods who had received incense offerings, he truly couldn't condense a visualization art. *Can fictional ones work?* Qi Yuan suddenly fell into thought. Back on Blue Star, weren't there countless gods? The Three Pure Ones and Four Sovereigns, the Five Elders of the Five Directions, the Six Offices and Seven Stars... Qi Yuan's eyes lit up. Hadn't those venerable figures received incense offerings and the faith of millions? It was just that... they seemed to be fictional. Qi Yuan thought it over, then swiftly unfurled the condensing method Qi Qi had given him. It was a piece of black cloth inscribed with white characters, detailing the condensing method. "Before visualizing a god, one can enter a divine space to exchange God Visualization Arts with other gods?" Reading this, Qi Yuan was taken aback, his anticipation piqued. *Could it be another chat group?* Holding the black cloth, he began circulating his divinity according to the method inscribed upon it. A ripple spread across the surface of the black cloth. In the blink of an eye, Qi Yuan's consciousness entered within. A curious look appeared in his eyes. *As expected, the cultivation world has its own technology too—it just takes a different form than on Blue Star.* Different paths, same destination. In the Liufeng Realm, Ning Tao had worn black silk stockings; here in the Mortal Heart Realm, the emergence of something akin to a chat group was entirely normal. Before Qi Yuan floated an interface reminiscent of a chat group. As his gaze swept over the display, a message immediately entered his sight: "A newcomer? Have you visualized gods before? What tier of True God did you visualize?" A rapid-fire barrage of three questions. Qi Yuan looked at the speaker, whose name was Dong Jianghe. He seemed to be the group admin, appearing very enthusiastic and excited. "No, this is my first time visualizing a god," Qi Yuan replied earnestly. The group was filled with Ancient God seniors, so it paid to be modest. "A total newcomer!" Dong Jianghe seemed even more excited. "Back in the day, when I first visualized a god, I visualized a deity of the Second Step of Sky Treading! The gods here hailed me as a Young Heavenly Emperor!" Hearing that, Qi Yuan was filled with respect. "Big boss is awesome!" "Do you want me to share some visualization tips with you? It'll definitely help you visualize a formidable deity!" Dong Jianghe offered warmly in the chat. "A Young Heavenly Emperor? Nothing more than a fallen genius. "Your last two visualizations ended in consecutive failures. "Heh heh, this Venerable Shenmiao managed to visualize a Great Venerable!" Venerable Shenmiao taunted the admin in the group. Evidently, the two had an ongoing rivalry. "Plenty of people have already visualized that Great Venerable of yours; it's nothing special!" Dong Jianghe grumbled in dissatisfaction. "A Great Venerable is still a Great Venerable, more than enough to suppress a fallen genius like you!" Venerable Shenmiao retorted arrogantly. Immediately, several lurkers surfaced in the group: "The Eastern Heavenly Emperor shall fall, and Venerable Shenmiao shall rise!" "Dong the Heavenly Emperor, why did you have to run your mouth right before Venerable Shenmiao went to visualize, claiming his visualization wouldn't work?" Dong Jianghe ignored the chatter and instead turned back to Qi Yuan. "Newcomer, what do you plan to visualize? Tell me, and I'll give you some advice. "Normally, I rarely offer advice to newcomers. "My pointers can boost your success rate by at least ten percent." "I want to... visualize a divine hound," Qi Yuan replied after some thought. "A divine hound?" Dong Jianghe became anxious. "Newcomer, in the Mortal Heart Realm, there are virtually no True God divine hounds, let alone any that have received incense offerings. "The more incense offerings a True God has received, the higher the probability of a successful visualization. "This Heavenly Emperor advises you to choose another True God to visualize. Otherwise, you'll just be wasting your divine spiritual power in vain." Hearing this, Qi Yuan hesitated. Just then, Venerable Shenmiao chimed in: "Newcomer, you're set! "Last time, Dong Jianghe said my visualization would fail, and I immediately produced a Great Venerable!" "Newcomer, you're golden! Anyone Dong the Heavenly Emperor praises ends up failing or getting poor results. "Anyone he disapproves of takes off straight into the stratosphere!" "Every time we're about to visualize, we drop into the group to get Dong the Heavenly Emperor's critique. If he gives a good review, we immediately cancel the visualization; if he gives a bad review, we visualize on the spot!" The members of the group chattered on. Qi Yuan gradually grasped some of the nuances of god visualization. The resulting God Visualization Arts varied in value. There were two criteria used to judge them: First was strength, rated on a coefficient—for example, one through seven, representing the First through Seventh Steps of Sky Treading. Second was visualization exclusivity—meaning whether others had visualized it before and whether many subjects cultivated it—which also yielded a coefficient. Multiplying the two coefficients together, a higher product signified a greater value for the God Visualization Art. Value was divided into seven tiers: Common, Elite, Rare, Scarce, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic. It somewhat resembled monster classifications in games, and each tier was further divided into one to three stars. Once, Dong Jianghe had visualized a Rare Three-Star God Visualization Art, parading proudly in the group. Meanwhile, Venerable Shenmiao, whom he had once trashed, had visualized a Scarce One-Star art. A Scarce One-Star God Visualization Art, if not distributed recklessly to all subjects, was sufficient to nurture a True God—provided the requisite ascension treasures were available. Thus, Venerable Shenmiao had the capital to settle scores with Dong Jianghe. "Newcomer, don't listen to their slander. Trust me, switch to a different True God. "With this one, there is a very high probability of failure. Even if you barely scrape by, it will only be Common One-Star," Dong Jianghe urged earnestly in the group. "To be honest, I wasn't bullish on visualizing a divine hound either, but since Dong the Heavenly Emperor opposes it, I think you're definitely going to succeed, newcomer! Go ahead and visualize it boldly; we're rooting for you!" someone chimed in. "Thank you all for your kind intentions. I shall go visualize now." Qi Yuan exited the mental space and arrived at the visualization grounds. The visualization grounds took the form of a mountain—a mountain within the spiritual world. A visualizer needed to envision the god in their mind and ultimately carve it onto the mountain. Once completed, a visualization art would manifest. For the first god he attempted to visualize, Qi Yuan chose not to pick an overly powerful entity, partly out of fear of immense karmic repercussions, and partly to test whether it could be cultivated at all. He gazed at the mountain. All his memories of Blue Star surged to the forefront of his mind. Possessing the origin divine ability of the Great Oblivion Heart Scripture, every single glance he had cast in his previous life could be recalled in its entirety. Back when Qi Yuan was ill and living in isolation, he had idly flipped through countless miscellaneous books out of boredom. He hadn't committed them to memory back then, but now, every detail surfaced with absolute clarity. Within Qi Yuan's mind, a majestic, awe-inspiring divine hound materialized. "Its shape like a white elephant, its bearing like a dragon, Golden wings fluttering to dazzle the sky. One bark shocks the heavens and shatters divine gall, Three howls halt the waters and terrify ghost souls!" Wearing a three-peaked cap, solemn in an undergarment of red robe, sword slung across his waist, a terrifying three-eyed heavenly god rode clouds and drove the rain, with a terrifying divine hound by his side, exuding a dread aura. Within Qi Yuan's mind, the formidable image of the divine hound steadily coalesced. Right at that moment, a resonant, weighty voice boomed inside Qi Yuan's heart from the Mountain of Visualization: "Have you ever seen this god?" "Does this god truly exist?" These two questions resonated with terrifying majesty. Hearing them, Qi Yuan instinctively felt compelled to answer truthfully, unable to utter a single falsehood. Yet at that instant, he lifted his gaze toward his own Golden Core. Immediately, the Great Oblivion Heart Scripture sprang into action. Qi Yuan's gaze turned resolute. "This god exists!" "I once witnessed two heavenly gods engaged in an earth-shattering battle, fighting from the Ninth Heaven all the way down to the Eighteen Hells. "This divine hound stood to the side, biding its time to launch a surprise ambush!" The Mountain of Visualization fell silent. Qi Yuan's answer had already sunk into its depths. After about a breath of time, the Mountain of Visualization spoke once more: "Lacking incense offerings, this God Visualization Art may fail. Do you still wish to condense it?" "Yes!" Qi Yuan looked toward the Mountain of Visualization, his face filled with curiosity. A trace of nervousness stirred within his heart. If the condensation succeeded... the implications would be unimaginable!