: Victory and Rest

At this moment, the Fire Crown Divine Cedar was utterly frustrated.

It had been on the verge of certain victory but was sneak-attacked by Sun Lingtong, completely squandering its advantageous position.

The primary reason was the public faith.

If the Fire Crown Divine Cedar had openly established temples and absorbed faith, its followers would have chanted its divine name before offering their devotion. That way, the faith would rightfully belong to it.

However, it had always concealed its true form; even Lin Chang Luochen, the guardian of the Ten-Mile Blazing Forest, was unaware of its existence.

It wasn't until the Three Generals Camp was on the brink of victory, with Luochen clearly intending to retreat, that the Fire Crown Divine Tree was forced to reveal itself.

It knew all too well: once the Two Pillars Kingdom took control of this place, they would conduct strict inspections, and it wouldn't be able to hide anymore!

"My faith!"

"Luochen, you must reclaim my faith, or we will both face defeat!"

Luochen: "Pfft!"

He spat out a mouthful of blood, instantly weakened, his momentum and fighting spirit plummeting to rock bottom.

His face was deathly pale, with the look of a corpse: "Where is the faith? Who stole it?"

Fire Crown Divine Cedar: "I don't know!"

Luochen: "Pfft!!"

He spat out another mouthful of blood.

The Fire Crown dissipated, and the three generals Liu, Guan, and Zhang stumbled, momentarily unable to attack and forced to quickly regroup.

At this time, the ordinary soldiers recovered more swiftly.

Ning Zhuo seized the moment, channeling military strength to bolster his own spells.

In an instant, metal-element spells were unleashed—golden blades, spears, and swords—unleashing a storm-like assault.

Gao Cuo grew restless: "Sword Elder, should we make our move?"

Sword Elder: "Wait a bit longer! You, the Fire Crown Divine Cedar, and Luochen are all allies, bound by divine decree. If you rashly attack your own side, you won't be able to stay in the Thousand Peaks Forest any longer."

"Patience is the best strategy for now!"

Gao Cuo nodded: "Understood. Let the Three Generals Camp kill the Fire Crown Divine Cedar first; then we can seize the Wood Core Flame."

His primary goal here had always been that rare fire seed.

Meanwhile, as they communicated, Ning Zhuo was also in contact with Lin Bufan.

"Leader Lin, it's up to you now to seize the Wood Core Flame!" Ning Zhuo transmitted mentally through a token.

Since the Ning family, the Ten Thousand Medicines Sect, and the Zhu royal family of the Southern Bean Kingdom had secretly formed an alliance regarding the Exquisite Reflection Wall, key members like them carried tokens allowing short-distance communication.

Lin Bufan wasn't surprised that Ning Zhuo had seen through his disguise.

When he had approached Ning Zhuo earlier, he'd used the One Leaf Obscures the Eyes technique, which Sun Lingtong had seen through with her Ten Thousand Miles Roaming Dragon vision.

"Alright, I'll coordinate with you," Lin Bufan replied straightforwardly.

The next moment, Ning Zhuo intensified his assault, aiming to create an opening.

The three generals, all at the Golden Core stage, recovered faster than Luochen.

Zhang Hei struck first, hurling his Black Serpent Spear.

Spear Technique—Serpent Fang Throw!

The spear shot through the air with immense force, reaching Luochen in an instant.

Luochen tried to dodge, but Guan Hong followed up immediately.

Innate Talent—Purple-Bearded Startling Swan!

Though not at the divine ability level, Guan Hong had devoted great effort to developing this talent, its power enough to restrain the severely weakened Luochen.

Though it only immobilized him for a moment, that was sufficient.

The Black Serpent Spear pierced through Luochen's chest, creating a gaping hole the size of a washbasin.

His heart, lungs, spine, ribs, and more were all destroyed!

With his physical body dead, Luochen sighed in despair and quickly fled as an infant soul.

Liu Er followed closely, brandishing the Profound Yellow Sword to attack the infant soul.

Spatial Traversal!

Without hesitation, Luochen's infant soul vanished into the void, escaping the battlefield directly.

"No—!"

"Luochen, you can't run!!"

The Fire Crown Divine Cedar roared in despair.

Without Luochen and without public faith, even as a deity, it was like a bow without arrows, a cannon without ammunition, a martial artist without strength.

It could only await its fate!

The Three Generals Camp surrounded the Fire Crown Divine Cedar, plunging it into the deepest despair.

Various attacks rained down on the cedar tree; relying on its inherent resilience, it could still hold out for a little while.

Ning Zhuo had already finished communicating with the three generals.

Their assault suddenly turned frenzied, causing the Fire Crown Divine Cedar to teeter on the brink.

In the next moment, Lin Bufan, who had been preparing for a long time, suddenly struck, splitting the cedar's trunk and seizing the Wood Core Flame.

The three generals Liu, Guan, and Zhang all "shouted in surprise," with Guan and Zhang ready to pursue Lin Bufan, but Liu Er and Ning Zhuo stopped them simultaneously.

"It's just a mere fire seed; losing it is no big deal."

"We need to secure this place."

"Capturing the Ten-Mile Blazing Forest is a great achievement in itself. Don't complicate things!"

"Exactly, beware of traps!"

Gao Cuo and Sword Elder: ???!!

"What? Are these four all useless? The spoils were right in front of them, and someone just snatched the fire seed."

"And now that it's stolen, aren't they going to chase?"

Gao Cuo and Sword Elder thought they still had time to act. They were patiently waiting when the three generals launched a fierce assault, briefly catching their breath, allowing Lin Bufan to "seize" the opportunity and publicly steal the Wood Core Flame.

"Let's go after him quickly! Any later, and he'll get away!" Sword Elder urgently shouted in Gao Cuo's mind, clearly agitated.

The two stealthily slipped away, closely pursuing Lin Bufan as he flew swiftly high in the sky.

Gao Cuo primarily cultivated the Leave Form Misplace Shadow technique, excelling at disguise and concealment. Lin Bufan was tracked all the way without any awareness.

"This Wood Core Flame truly lives up to being one of the Three Fires; it's indeed profound."

Having been a sect leader for many years, this was Lin Bufan's first contact with such an exceptional fire seed.

"The Three True Fires correspond to the Three Talents of Heaven, Earth, and Man. The Wood Core Flame is the fire of kindling, representing human fire."

"Using human fire as the seed in the Ten-Mile Blazing Forest, while ostensibly refining various artifacts, actually refines the Fire Crown Divine Cedar through collective faith."

"This must be part of the Whiskered Dragon King's scheme, indeed deep and cunning. Unfortunately, unable to withstand the Two Pillars Kingdom's army head-on, such strategies were cut short."

Lin Bufan had his own perspective and insight; even observing today's battle gave him a glimpse of the Whiskered Dragon King's plans.

"The Wood Core Flame has been refined by the Fire Crown Divine Cedar. That divine cedar will surely be imprisoned first, not killed. Therefore, this fire seed remains owned. Though I've seized it, I need to cleanse it before handing it over to Ning Zhuo."

Lin Bufan pondered secretly.

According to the agreement he'd just made with Ning Zhuo through mental communication on the battlefield,

Lin Bufan would help Ning Zhuo seize the Wood Core Flame, and Ning Zhuo would later compensate him in other collaborative aspects.

Given the alliance between the Ten Thousand Medicines Sect and the Ning family, even if not discussed in their battlefield scheming, Lin Bufan also voluntarily assisted Ning Zhuo in cleansing the fire seed.

One order after another was swiftly issued by Liu Er.

Luochen was defeated and fled, only his infant soul surviving.

Grand Artisan Yan Jin was captured, his deputy Flowing Flame Fairy died in battle, and the forest protection array fell into the hands of the Three Generals Camp.

The Fire Crown Divine Cedar was heavily sealed and placed under strict guard.

Thus, the battle concluded with the Three Generals Camp as the victors, having suffered over three hundred casualties, and they fully took control of the Ten-Mile Blazing Forest.

Reports of victory were sent out immediately.

Time to work!

Ning Zhuo entered his own tent and stepped into the Ten Thousand Miles Roaming Dragon, activating the three mechanical platforms to quickly replenish the mechanical puppets.

In this battle, his mechanical army had suffered heavy losses. If not for a mid-battle replenishment, they would have been completely wiped out.

One mechanical puppet after another was rapidly produced.

By now, Ning Zhuo had become quite proficient at this, with slight improvements in output and efficiency.

The real significant boost in efficiency, however, would come from the mechanical platforms.

"That storage pouch should contain other mechanical platforms. Too bad it's still unopenable." Ning Zhuo thought of the military supplies from the Mechanical Princess Shuang Ling.

With troops in hand, there's no panic in heart.

As more mechanical puppets were replenished, Ning Zhuo grew increasingly composed.

During rest, he reflected on this expedition.

"Infant souls can traverse space; Golden Core cultivators are hard to kill completely. Mu Lan's case is still a rarity."

"In the end, my limits still haven't been tested. Forget it."

"Ten-Mile Blazing Forest, Cloud Shoulder Audience Dragon Platform, Coiling Root Hundred Herb Cave, Thousand Vines Symbolic Sky Corridor, etc., are resource outposts built around the Dragon King Giant Wood Mountain."

"According to intelligence, these outposts were jointly funded and constructed by the Dragon King Temple and other major forces in the Thousand Peaks Forest. Each one came at a high cost!"

"Who would have thought the Whiskered Dragon King secretly pulled this off, covertly nurturing the Fire Crown Divine Cedar into a deity. Not only did it use the Ten-Mile Blazing Forest to forge a deity, but it also used the deity to secretly erode this outpost. Quite the clever plan."

"However, precisely because of this, public faith emerged, creating this fatal flaw!"

Having spent over a decade in Fire Persimmon Immortal City analyzing situations and powers, Ning Zhuo had deep insights in this area.

Like Lin Bufan, he too had glimpsed the Whiskered Dragon King's schemes.

Thinking of this, he touched his chest.

"I designed the Five Viscera Temple Spirit God Technique, never expecting it to be useful here."

Now, his Fire Element Heart Temple was filled with a vast amount of faith.

During the battle, Ning Zhuo had secretly handed his heart to Sun Lingtong, who took it out to steal the faith.

Faith, after all, can only be collected by deities.

And the Fire Crown Divine Cedar belonged to the fire element, perfectly matching Ning Zhuo's Fire Element Heart Temple.

If others lacked such a miraculous divine technique, even if they discovered the Fire Crown Divine Cedar's major flaw, they couldn't exploit it.

"Old Dice, you should be able to use this faith too, right?" Ning Zhuo flicked his wrist, releasing the prayer beads and summoning the Dice Bone Divine Spirit.

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit immediately knelt on one knee: "This old servant pays respects to the master."

"Master, your discerning eye is correct. Since this faith is public, it's effectively ownerless, suitable for me to use in repairing myself."

"However..."

Ning Zhuo: "However what?"

Dice Bone Divine Spirit continued: "However, my principles differ significantly from artifact refining. Though I can absorb this public faith and convert it into divine power, the loss rate is much higher than for the Fire Crown Divine Cedar."

Ning Zhuo waved his hand magnanimously: "No matter."

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit was immensely grateful, praising Ning Zhuo's magnanimity and kindness.

Ning Zhuo watched from the side.

This was his first time witnessing a deity utilizing faith.

Though well-read, his books hadn't covered such secrets.

Ning Zhuo first released the Fire Element Heart Temple, placing it in the cabin, shrunk to the size of a niche.

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit's sitting posture was peculiar—not cross-legged, but half-squatting, leaning forward with palms pressed against the cabin floor.

The small temple opened its doors, revealing the faith inside.

The faith gathered into a mass, appearing as a peculiarly shaped flame.

On the outermost part of the flame, gray smoke continuously drifted away. The flame itself had two layers: the outermost was bright red, and the middle layer was golden amber.

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit inhaled deeply, drawing the faith into its nostrils and mouth.

It rapidly refined the faith, converting it into new divine power.

Streams of divine power were quickly consumed, forming divine techniques to heal itself.

Ning Zhuo discerned some clues: "Though deities are powerful, they need to consume faith, refining it into their own divine power. With divine power as the foundation, they can perform many divine techniques."

"The Dice Bone Divine Spirit is severely injured and requires vast amounts of divine power for recovery."

"Its domain was destroyed; though its followers live, they've been with me, so it hasn't had the chance to gather faith."

"This is why deities usually need followers, doctrines, and tend to settle in one place."

"Do deities themselves have no means to increase their divine power?" Ning Zhuo pondered and directly asked the Dice Bone Divine Spirit.

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit replied: There are indeed methods, but compared to absorbing and converting faith, their efficiency is far inferior.

For deities, converting faith into divine power is the true path.

Many deities retain physical bodies, like some demon cultivators. Converting demonic power or magical power into divine power is far less efficient and effective than using faith.

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit also explained faith to Ning Zhuo: "Master, public faith has only two layers, but most personal faith has three layers."

"The outermost is the Mundane Shell,沉淀着信众们的无穷情欲 (precipitating the endless emotions and desires of followers)."

"The middle is the Wish Power Layer, the power of prayers and supplications."

"The core center is the Divine Nature Nucleus, often inscribed with a deity's divine name in divine script."

"Faith with a divine name is owned. Other deities can hardly use it unless the original owner lends it out."

Finally, the Dice Bone Divine Spirit looked deeply at the Fire Element Heart Temple: "Master, with your remarkable technique, you might also absorb faith and generate divine power."

"Oh?" Ning Zhuo became interested.

But the Dice Bone Divine Spirit added: "However, following the path of a deity has many drawbacks."

"Master, your future is bright; this old servant does not recommend you take this path."

Ning Zhuo nodded, realizing this as well.

For one, cultivating divine power would mean dual cultivation. The disadvantages of dual cultivation are numerous, and he's already cultivating three dantians simultaneously. This already significantly slows his progress; adding divine power cultivation would be all effort for little gain.

The Dice Bone Divine Spirit ultimately absorbed most of the faith, fully restoring itself.

Ning Zhuo continued his physical cultivation while waiting for Lin Bufan to return to him.

He was quite looking forward to the Wood Core Flame.

After waiting for three days, Lin Bufan didn't come. Instead, he received an envoy from Supervisor Zhao Xi along with a reply.

(End of )