Infinite Professions

Chapter 318 - 169: Divine Art (Part 2)

Therefore, the people of this world place great importance on incense offerings, and are especially reverent towards deities. Even villages build tile-roofed temples rather than casually erecting small shrines as a formality.

Shen Hex entered the temple to find it in complete disarray, bloodstains remaining, as if a great battle had occurred. The central statue of the land god had its head shattered, cobwebs hung from the beams, and dust covered the altar, indicating years of abandonment.

According to the words of the Jinyang Civil Judge, the land god of Little Huang Village had been devoured by a demon of considerable renown, who then occupied the temple, conducting live sacrifices and devouring dozens of villagers. It was eventually discovered by a Wandering God, who summoned government soldiers to besiege it.

A fierce battle must have occurred, possibly involving the intervention of the Mortal Government.

While the demon was eventually driven away, Little Huang Village fell into complete desolation, the villagers dispersing and unwilling to return.

Looking at the shattered and broken statue of the land god, Shen Hex shook his head, swept his broad sleeves, and a golden light shone forth.

"Boom!!!"

The golden light flashed, and the old statue vanished, replaced by a new one, which upon closer inspection, bore some resemblance to "Song Xiang".

Shen Hex’s figure moved instantly, landing on the altar, merging with the statue. A golden light burst forth, sweeping through the entire temple, removing all traces of devastation, cobwebs, and dust, leaving a clean and empty Land God Temple.

The golden light did not dissipate there, but continued to expand outward, eventually sweeping through the entire Little Huang Village, forming a unique realm between Yin and Yang.

This was the Divine Realm!

The foundation of the Divine Dao lies in incense offerings, and its authority lies in dominion.

People offer incense, deities govern the heavens and earth, wielding various powers.

This Divine Realm is the manifestation of it, constructed with the temple as its foundation, allowing the deity to control everything within the realm, sitting between yin and yang, capable of entering the mortal world from the netherworld and vice versa.

The deity sits within the divine realm, strengthened by the incense offerings and faith, in an advantageous position to wield various techniques and even cross borders to battle formidable enemies pressing in.

The land god of the previous Little Huang Village perished, and its magic realm had long since collapsed. Now, as Shen Hex arrives with the Divine Seal, it is effortless for him to construct a new realm, centered around the Land God Temple, spanning roughly three miles in radius.

Once the realm was established, various magical arts from the Earth God Seal could be cast with a significant increase in potency.

Seated high above, Shen Hex felt the power of the realm, silently marveling at the wondrousness of the Divine Dao.

A mere village land god, a small deity not even at entry-level, would be akin to a Tier One rookie in another system, and yet it could construct such a realm, wielding great authority within it, capable of casting various spells, even divine techniques.

Comparatively, the Divine Dao was miles ahead of Immortal Dao and Martial Dao.

In Immortal Dao, a Tier One practitioner in the Spirit Gathering Realm merely collected spiritual energy to prolong life, without many mysterious techniques.

Martial Dao was similar, with a Tier One practitioner in the Inner Power Realm strengthening the body, capable of fighting off ten men with bare hands, but no spells or divine techniques were imaginable.

But the Divine Dao...

Earth Escape Technique: Traverse the earth with the skill of earth escape, reaching places instantly within the realm, and greatly reducing divine power consumption.

Steel Transformation Technique: Transform soil into steel, indestructible, to defend against enemies. Strength is enhanced within the realm, with reduced consumption.

Dream-Entering Technique: Penetrate the barrier of yin and yang without harming the dream target, with reduced consumption within the realm.

Fertile Land Technique: Use divine power to enrich the soil, enhancing effects within the realm and reducing divine power consumption.

Enlightenment Technique: Consume divine power and incense to enlighten living beings or ordinary objects, endowing them with various functions, with reduced consumption within the realm.

Spirit Capturing Technique: ...

General Summoning Technique: ...

Soldier Servant Technique: ...

The Earth God Seal records over twenty magic arts, including Combat and Protection Techniques, Spirit Capturing and General Summoning, Soldier Transformation, and others for training and communication, even consuming divine power to enrich land and aid cultivation.

Comprehensive and formidable!

A small deity not even at entry-level could command so many spells, leaving Immortal Dao and Martial Dao incomparable.

Thus, in the early stages, the Divine Dao clearly outperformed Immortal Dao and Martial Dao.

Of course, it did have its weaknesses.

Divine Power!

Incense!

This was a notable weakness of the Divine Dao.

Despite having numerous capabilities, they all required divine power as support, which could only be converted from incense offerings, making the Divine Dao highly dependent on incense.

However, Immortal Dao and Martial Dao are similarly dependent on nature’s spiritual energy and cultivation resources, so this weakness isn’t much of a shortcoming.

Seated high in his realm, Shen Hex considered the power he now held, then took stock of his resources, shaking his head in silence.

Rebuilding the realm consumed significant divine power, and the fifty taels of incense silver allocated by the Jinyang Civil Judge had dwindled to less than one-tenth. Including those offered by the Song Family, he had only slightly over thirty taels of incense left.

How could he utilize these thirty taels of incense to rebuild and develop Little Huang Village?

That was a problem.

However, Shen Hex didn’t ponder for too long, as something more urgent presented itself.

Song Xiang (Shen Hex)

Profession: Yin Soul.

Professional Talent: Food Fragrance.

Professional Level: Tier One Level Ten.

"Professional level already full?"

"Proceed with advancement?"

The Divine Dao was meant for rapid progression, and the way the Yin Soul gained experience was quite straightforward, by either absorbing incense or devouring souls.

Thus, after the Song Family’s funerary rites and subsequent incense offerings, the Yin Soul’s professional experience was maxed out, though due to a lack of influence, Shen Hex hadn’t immediately advanced.

Now, having received the divine decree and becoming a land god, and having absorbed dozens of taels of incense silver, he should have accrued some influence. Advancing at this point was logical.

"Retain professional talent!"

"Initiate professional advancement!"

"..."

"Professional advancement complete!"

"You have acquired a new profession—Land God (you have received a divine decree, becoming a regional land god. You can gain professional experience through consuming incense, enjoying offerings, governing the land, and protecting the village. Within your territory, the effects of Divine Dao magic are significantly enhanced, and each level increase raises the upper limit of divine power slightly).

"Your professional talent [Food Fragrance] has been advanced and enhanced to [Divine Dao Food Fragrance].

Divine Dao Food Fragrance: As a deity, your effectiveness in consuming incense far exceeds that of a Yin Soul, significantly increasing the efficiency of converting incense to divine power.

...

Professional advancement was unsurprisingly a horizontal transition, shifting from a Tier One Yin Soul to a Tier One Land God.

However, this was advantageous; the Yin Soul was a ghost, while the Land God was divine. Compared to the Yin Soul, which only possessed the skill of Food Fragrance, the Land God not only enhanced the efficiency of consuming incense and converting it to divine power but also improved the efficacy of casting Divine Dao magic significantly.

Having completed the career transition and acquiring certain aids, the overall situation remained unchanged.

Little Huang Village remained desolate.

Without people, there could be no incense offerings. A solitary land god would eventually exhaust his resources.

What could be done to attract villagers and rebuild Little Huang Village?

Shen Hex’s eyes turned towards the Dream-Entering Technique.

With a barrier between yin and yang, even a deity could not directly contact the living, at least not a small deity.

Otherwise, it would be a violation of the Celestial Rules. If discovered by the Night and Day Traveling God, it would surely be reported to the Prefecture City God, risking the little land god’s life.

Shen Hex suspected that these Celestial Rules were established by the creators of the Divine Dao system, or perhaps the First-class Great Gods, to prevent internal competition among deities.

After all, incense is highly valued; if there were no barriers between yin and yang, deities could interfere in the mortal world, openly and covertly warring over incense, leading to unpredictable consequences.

Thus, such a Celestial Rule was established.

However, while the rule prohibits direct contact, it does not forbid indirect contact. Small gods can enter dreams, and greater gods can guide souls or incarnate into the mortal world, creating folklore tales of deities and spirits.

Currently, Shen Hex was merely a small, unranked god, with not many tricks to play—only the ability to enter dreams.

But the target of entering dreams...

Using the power of the realm, gazing upon the empty Little Huang Village, Shen Hex fell silent.

But quickly, a thought flashed in his mind. He rose and left the Land God Temple, riding a paper horse towards the outskirts of the village.