Deities: Rulers of Nature

Ji Xuan hovered above the Xishan settlement, with flickering firelight and the incessant cheers of the snake-people below him.

"This is faith."

After gathering a wisp of the snake people's faith at his fingertips, Ji Xuan sighed.

Having opened up the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm, evolved the Serpent People race, and adjusted the Divine Realm, Ji Xuan's divine power has now been exhausted, and his remaining faith points are also running low.

Fortunately, the snake people were quite capable.

Ji Xuan could clearly feel invisible threads rising from the depths of every serpent's heart, eventually connecting to the natural oak tree. These threads carried scattered golden faith, which, after being purified by the core of the divine realm, transformed into pure faith power and was transmitted to Ji Xuan.

Faith is toxic.

Directly absorbing the faith of believers can even cause irreversible damage to deities.

The gods of the old era needed to purify themselves before absorbing the new, but the core of the divine realm opened up by these lucky ones of the new era can automatically purify faith. It's truly a case of gods being better than gods, making even gods envious.

[Information: The Xishan settlement has received divine favor, gaining mastery of farming, fire sources, and the cultivation techniques for Yutong rice.]

[Information: We have gained 2 fanatical followers, 10 devout followers, 98 true followers, and 126 casual followers]

[Information: Faith Points +410.6]

"As expected of my first clan, they've already surpassed the general believer stage right from the start, with Seido and Seiraku becoming fanatical believers directly," Ji Xuan remarked with satisfaction.

Different levels of faith provide different levels of faith power. For example, consider the average human race:

General believers: cannot provide the power of faith;

Beginner believers: Provides 1 point of faith power per 10 people per day;

True believer: Each person can provide 1 point of faith power per day;

Devout believer: Each person can provide 10 points of faith power per day;

Fanatic: Each person can provide 100 points of faith power per day;

Saints: Extremely special believers, equivalent to God's representatives on earth, each of whom can provide 1 units of faith power per day.

Different races offer different beliefs. For example, low-intelligence races such as ratmen, goblins, and gnomes offer less than one-tenth the beliefs of humans.

The faith provided by higher races is ten times that of humans, and that of extraordinary races is a hundred times. Individual strength varies, so the amount of faith provided also differs. The faith provided is the same for the Mortal, Iron, Bronze, Steel, and Silver ranks; double for the Gold and Purple Gold ranks; and double again for the Legendary rank.

In other words, if Ji Xuan had a legendary-level dragon saint, he could receive 4 million faith points every day, which is equivalent to 400 drops of divine power.

For some reason, Ji Xuan thought of the five-headed dragon god in his dream again, wondering how much His daily income from faith was.

Getting back to the main point, normally when a deity spreads faith among a new race, the first to benefit are the general believers, who only know of the deity but don't have any special feelings about it and may only remember it when needed.

However, the Xishan Serpent Clan skipped this stage entirely, with the lowest level being mere believers. Moreover, Ji Xuan could sense that the faith of these mere believers was also increasing.

If He doesn't intervene, it won't be long before they all rise to the level of true believers.

But how could Ji Xuan not intervene? He decided to add fuel to the fire.

As Ji Xuan's faith points were depleted, the natural oak trees atop Xishan Mountain began to glow, their light extending all the way to the Xishan settlement. Along the way, the plants grew rapidly, soon blossoming with flowers and laden with fruit.

"Our lord has answered us! Praise be to the God of Nature!" Seido gazed fervently at the light source on the mountaintop, knowing that it was the location of the God of Nature.

"Praise be to the God of Nature!"

"Thanks to the God of Nature for his blessings!"

May the God of Nature protect the Xishan settlement.

Layer upon layer of prayers rang in Ji Xuan's ears. After setting the keywords, he blocked the prayers, otherwise he would be annoyed to death every day.

[Information: 126 new believers have been gained]

[Information: Faith Points +126]

Sure enough, after the miracles were performed, all the novice believers were converted into true believers.

A smile appeared on Ji Xuan's lips.

-----------------

There's an old saying that goes, "Thunder and rain are both the emperor's grace."

This year's harsh winter wasn't actually Ji Xuan targeting the Snake-People race, but rather he was adjusting some of the structures of the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm.

Since the beginning of this spring, He has guided the sun's rays to deflect, adjusted the temperature of the divine realm, and created several glaciers in the northern part of the Sea of ​​the World.

In winter, the north wind carries cold air masses from the glaciers into the Qingling Mountains, ultimately causing a sharp drop in temperature.

Ji Xuan had the ability to stop it, but there was no need. A greenhouse may produce beautiful flowers, but they can only be admired.

What He needs are warriors who have weathered storms and been tempered in adversity, so that the Serpent People can stand firm when exploring the fragments of the divine realm and facing the kin of hostile gods.

At this time, in the settlement, Qingdao had already led his people in completing their first formal prayer, which was not quite formal.

"Everyone, please work hard tonight." Qingdao cleared his throat and then began to assign tasks. "The elderly, pregnant women, and children stay here. The rest of you will be divided into three groups. Qinglu and Jinyan will lead the male snake people to cut down trees outside, Chifeng and Qingmu will lead some of the female snake people to pick fruit, and the remaining female snake people will work with me to build a fire pit and campfire."

Currently, only he and Qinglu have received divine grace. Others cannot mobilize their internal energy and can only start a fire by rubbing sticks together, which is too troublesome. However, once the fire pit is built, it will be much more convenient for each household to start a fire.

It was already past midnight, but the settlement was even more lively than during the day. The male snake people went into the woods and immediately extended their claws to chop down trees, working enthusiastically.

The snake-people who harvested the fruit were ruthless; they were quite adept at climbing trees, and the fruit was carried back to the settlement, one animal hide at a time.

Finally, the snake people of the settlement gathered stones of all sizes, mixed them with mud, and, under Qingdao's direction, built a large fire pit.

In just one night, the hearth was built. The elderly snake people would come over to watch over it to prevent the fire from going out, and each family also set up a small fire pit.

When Qingdao and Qinglu had some free time, they tried grilling meat over a fire for the first time. Although they had the knowledge in their minds to refer to, they still produced some indescribable things the first few times, but the two of them couldn't bear to throw them away.

Later, they gradually figured out the trick: the oil dripped onto the fire, sizzling and the aroma of roasted meat filled the entire settlement. Especially when a flash of green light appeared, crushing the Yutong rice and sprinkling it on the roasted meat along with salt, Little Red almost cried with envy.

Snake people also need to consume salt. There is a natural salt mine on Yunjin Mountain at the western foot of Xishan Mountain, where they usually go to collect salt.

They were able to discover the salt mine thanks to the short-legged musk deer. One of the first chieftains noticed that short-legged musk deer were frequently licking near the salt mine while hunting. After confirming that it was not poisonous, the chieftain tasted it himself and discovered that it was salt.

This was the happiest day Little Red had ever had in his life. He not only ate delicious food he had never tasted before, but he was also able to fall asleep in a warm environment.

The little guy's faith in Ji Xuan has become increasingly devout, and he has already become a devout follower of Ji Xuan.