Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 318 An Unexpected "Joy"

"Uh, are you sure this is a normal way of cultivating?" Sallyman looked at Rean, her beautiful face full of hesitation and unease.

“Confirmed.” Rean himself looked completely at ease.

"Are you sure I don't need to call a priest? If it's some kind of strange curse, the sooner it's exorcised, the better."

"No need. It really is a form of spiritual practice, taught to me by a rather peculiar mentor."

Faced with Suliman's worries, Rean could only offer kind words of advice.

Although he also felt that the posture was rather subtle, it seemed to be the only way to approach that heroic spirit.

"What kind of weird mentor would make his apprentice hang upside down from the ceiling and meditate with his eyes covered?" the snake woman muttered. Even though she vaguely guessed that it was a heroic spirit, this upside-down method of cultivation was too strange.

"Actually, it should have been hung on the city wall, but I saved some money here."

At this moment, Rean was hanging upside down under the roof, wearing an eye patch and even preparing to cover his ears.

The rope, pulled by gravity, slowly rotated, and he spun around like a piece of pork being hoisted up.

"Let's go eat at the rotating barbecue later," Rean said, trying to pretend he didn't hear Sallyman's mutterings and drooling.

He tried to listen to his own heartbeat, and tried to activate the soul power from the spirit. Since obtaining it, Rean had never really felt how to use it.

Now, it seems we finally have guidance.
[Soul Ability. Heartbeat (Diamond Level): Your heartbeat is the most moving music in the world.]

If we only consider the level, this is Rean's highest-level ability.

But the more effective it is, the less likely it is to have any effect. A few days ago, Rean was completely unable to start.

"Feeling your heart pounding, oh, it's pretty loud, but does it make sense?"

Rean's mind-body ability took effect; he could feel the vibration of his heart and even felt that he could control it to some extent. But was it meaningful?

After trying to control it a little, Rean's face turned bright red, and he felt like his blood vessels were about to burst.

He stopped abruptly, his face turning deathly pale, and he almost couldn't catch his breath.

"Phew, this is terrible, this is terrible!" Rean gasped for breath, quickly trying to get his heartbeat back to normal.

It seems that this is an instinct similar to breathing. You'd better not touch it unless necessary, otherwise you'll either bleed to death or die from blood loss.

"Huff, huff, I can't take it anymore."

After being tossed around like that, Rean fell to the ground. It seemed that the cultivation method he had borrowed had completely failed.

He sat on the ground, rubbed his chest vigorously, and took a few deep breaths before he gradually caught his breath.

"It makes some sense. At least it eliminated a wrong option and proved that this thing can't be messed up on its own."

This "mind-soul ability," judging from its literal meaning, is roughly equivalent to making your heart beat according to your will and produce a "drumming sound." Without the ability to coordinate with it, it can probably only be used for suicide.

"It seems we'll have to wait until the next lesson, and it'll probably still be terrible. The compatibility is almost nonexistent."

Rean has no real talent in music, so learning this skill must be quite difficult.

But Rean did get what he wanted.

The seemingly illusory holy emblem was already hanging around Rean's neck, and it was gradually becoming "real." It seemed that this was also a "sound creation" sculpted by the human form of that god.

However, things were a little different from what he expected, and Rean was hesitant to use it.
"The divine corpse is not in the Astral Plane."

The Astral Plane is a special plane where time and space are said to be chaotic, and without guidance one will be forever lost.

It is also because of its special state that it has become a "tomb of the gods". The "corpses" of the gods who have fallen into eternal sleep will naturally float into it, waiting for a vague possibility of being awakened.

Many false god churches, which borrow a trace of the true god's power, often do so by using the god's corpse.

They would hire specialized astral adventurers to find dormant "divine power servers" and use them as "meat servers." These divine corpses would instinctively draw upon faith to wield their divine authority, thus becoming a source of divine magic and power for blasphemers. In this process, they might also absorb a large amount of resources to awaken, so neither side actually loses out.

Even more outrageous beings can process the corpses of gods and use them as a resource, but they also have to bear the calamity of the corpses rising up.

The latter is not far off, but it doesn't mean that the gods will revive and slap them to death.

Rather, if the divine corpse itself is decomposed, it can easily produce various divine monsters, which may not be easier to deal with than the gods. Gods generally cannot interfere with the mortal world, but those divine abominations, divine-created creatures, and undead creatures born from divine corpses are all more insane than the last.

Basically, there's a common sense in this world: there's nothing wrong with using the power of a god's corpse, because that state actually uses the body of a god in "deep sleep." But if you try to kill them, you'll definitely lose more than you gain. With morning grumpiness and the madness before death, there's no need for a life that can withstand it to seek out a god's corpse.

However, there are always too many madmen in the world. Many guys who try to become gods or forcibly advance end up causing a lot of trouble, which are basically major disasters on a plane level.

"There's no reason for this. Wasn't this deity dead for many years? Why is he still slumbering in a higher plane?"

The god of drama and pleasure is still active in the higher plane of the Paradise of the Gods, which is clearly abnormal. He should be a soulless god corpse, so why is he qualified to occupy this precious land and still be able to "operate"?

"Could there be a large number of believers to support His actions? That doesn't make sense either. If the divine corpse is constantly fed with faith, shouldn't it give birth to a new soul and a new self? That would make it a new god. Why did Fisterion say that my plan could continue to be carried out?"

After confirming Rean's needs, Fisterion also gave him the basic theological knowledge that a "bishop" should possess, but this only made Rean more confused.

Judging from the development of the situation, this should be a good thing. The "divine corpse" left behind by Fisterion is far stronger than expected, and Fisterion himself has also stated that Rean's plan can be executed. Based solely on "soul fluctuations" and "faith coordinates," Rean has the authority to activate that divine power server.

"I feel like something's not right. Let's wait a couple more days."

For the first time, Rean actually doubted his own heroic spirit.

He couldn't see through this person, and his resume was also questionable, even though he only knew a third of him.

The third name, which was so garbled that it was impossible to decipher, made Rean even more hesitant. If he really wanted to activate the "God of Drama and Pleasure," he needed to at least know what His essence was and what His last existence was.

Rean asked yesterday, but the other party showed no intention of answering at all.
"If only the snake were here."

Rean suddenly felt that even a snake would be easier to deal with than this unknown spirit. The information about the dream he had during their meeting yesterday confirmed one thing for him.

"It is very likely that Fisterion knew the effects that would be once the Song of Peace began to spread. But he still sang it, choosing the civil war."

Yesterday's encounter confirmed to Li En that even if this "Li Ensu" was a "benevolent god," he was definitely not a naive and innocent person who did good deeds but ended up doing bad things.

He knew the consequences, yet he still chose this path. Rean could not deny the other's choice, because he had only met him for the first time and did not know the historical situation at the time, and needed more information for analysis.

"An extremely dangerous person."

Somewhat helplessly, Rean gave up on developing "Heart Soul. Heart Sound," which seemed to be the key to the entire system, but Rean seemed unable to unlock it.

"No rush, I'll learn how to use it from him later." Even if I can't learn it myself, I can do what Kuku did and let his inheritors learn it, and then I can acquire this power through these inheritors.

Despite being wary of this heroic spirit, Rean still intends to learn from him.

After all, if this church is truly to be revived, Rean will naturally need to understand the power system of this deity. The extra blessing brought by this "divine domain" is often the biggest competitive advantage of a church.

Followers and shepherds of the God of Wealth can easily become rich, while the priests of the God of War are all incredibly skilled fighters. The priests of the Lord of Storms can even disguise themselves as electric archmages, and the storm archpriests are even more proficient in storm magic than ordinary archmages.

Rean had initially thought that this deity's power was biased towards the "arts and literature" genre, but now it seemed that was clearly not the case. If everything originated from His "heartbeat," it was probably a completely unknown supernatural system.

"Let's look on the bright side; the newly established church and knightly order will be stronger than expected." It seems that this is the only way to put it.

Rean had already prepared for the worst. Breaking up completely wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but who knew when he would draw a god card again? And even if he did, it might not be a benevolent god.

"boom!"

But the sudden pounding of his heart made Rean stand up abruptly, followed by a sound that reverberated throughout his body.

This "heroic spirit" attached to Rean's body transmitted a message to him through the power of telepathy.
"Want to learn my power? Sure, you're a psychic, right? I'll introduce you to a special psychic advancement that will allow you to borrow my power even if you don't understand music."

(End of this chapter)