Thinking back to Chang Tianxiong's thunder whip that could shatter anything in its path, Qin Siyang still felt lingering fear.
Then when he remembered the sandworm's world-destroying power, his whole body started trembling again.
"Fishing really is a high-risk profession."
His drill pod had already been stopped in this area for two hours. He hadn't noticed anything unusual around him.
Qin Siyang steadied his breathing, cleared his mind, and prepared to open the Path of the Believer, the true opening of the Path of the Believer.
This time, he chose the most reliable method.
To break through the Path of the Believer deep underground, nearly two hundred kilometers from the safe zone and more than two thousand meters beneath the surface.
He folded up all the seats in the back of the drill pod to clear some space on the floor, then placed the sacrificial offerings there.
After carefully checking, he confirmed that the small god round plates used as secondary offerings all had one hundred ninety-three points. Then he placed the round plates of the Lava Crocodile and the Ice Crystal Giant Moth in the center, and lay down on top of them.
After finding a somewhat comfortable position, he closed his eyes and began to wait quietly.
Qin Siyang didn't move at all, but in truth his thoughts never stopped running.
Fortunately, lying on the offerings didn't require him to empty his mind completely. Otherwise, he really didn't know when he would succeed in opening the Path of the Believer.
An hour slowly passed in silence.
Just as Qin Siyang was thinking about what name his future grandson should have, he suddenly felt his consciousness swallowed by darkness, and an indescribable pain spread through his entire body.
A sudden tearing sensation appeared, as if something was trying to rip his consciousness straight out of his body.
Then countless strange colors appeared before his eyes, clumsily pieced together without any order. Gradually those chaotic layers of color began to separate and fade, slowly becoming more organized.
In the end, most of the intense colors disappeared, and a picture that wasn't particularly bright slowly unfolded before him.
When the scene finally began to hold some real meaning instead of abstract blocks of light, Qin Siyang discovered that he was floating in a space.
There was no ground here, and no sky either. Only endless tiny points of faint light flowing before him like a stream.
These weak glimmers of light gradually gathered together under some unseen guidance. They grew brighter and brighter, until they finally shone with a dazzling brilliance.
Suddenly, the light scattered and burst apart, and a straight road appeared before him.
The road before his eyes was paved with unevenly arranged bricks, though the material of the bricks couldn't be identified.
Each "brick" emitted a brilliant golden glow, as if pure light had wrapped around emptiness and forged them into shape.
"So this is the legendary Path of the Believer?"
Li Tianming had told him before that the Path of the Believer was divided into four grades: [Dark Grade], [Starlight Grade], [Moonshadow Grade], and [Dawn Grade].
At the highest level, [Dawn Grade], the Path of the Believer would be bathed in soft golden light.
Based on the strong opposing relationship between his primary offerings, the Lava Crocodile and the Ice Crystal Giant Moth, Li Tianming had also judged that Qin Siyang's Path of the Believer would definitely be [Dawn Grade].
But Qin Siyang looked at the road before him. The light was extremely dazzling, almost painful to look at directly.
He couldn't recall ever seeing sunlight this intense in the morning.
'If I try to describe it more precisely, it should be… a [Noon Grade] Path of the Believer?'
Qin Siyang could almost feel his blood rushing faster.
Perhaps his Path of the Believer, just like his sequence, was an unknown yet powerful existence.
The brighter the Path of the Believer, the more rewards one would receive after the breakthrough.
A [Dawn Grade] Path of the Believer allowed two sequence skills to be selected for enhancement.
Then what kind of reward would his [Noon Grade] bring?
Wouldn't that mean his sequence abilities would receive an unprecedented boost?
Qin Siyang took a deep breath, his heart surging with excitement.
He looked farther along the straight road of light.
The road began beneath his feet, while its end vanished into an infinite distance.
Within the void at that distant end, Qin Siyang could vaguely see countless mysterious shadows.
'Those should be the divine images that the secondary offerings allow me to see.'
Qin Siyang realized that even when he stared directly at those shadows, he couldn't make out what they actually looked like.
They seemed to be existences that couldn't be clearly perceived.
And every one of those vague shadows emitted an incomparable pressure, so powerful that Qin Siyang could feel it even while standing at the beginning of the Path of the Believer.
"So these are the gods on the Path of the Believer."
Even though Qin Siyang had never believed in the gods of this apocalyptic world, he couldn't help feeling the smallness of himself.
Like a speck of dust facing the vast universe.
Even if it were the Sacrificial Giant Vine, the Nightmare Lantern Tree, or even that sandworm, if they stood on this road and looked toward those distant shadows, they would probably only be able to kneel down in submission.
Qin Siyang gazed at the distant shadows, and his eyes gradually became reverent.
Among that sea of shadows, there was one mysterious existence whose outline was slightly clearer.
As if among all the mysteries, it stood closest to the Path of the Believer.
It was a gigantic eye.
It didn't look like a human eye, but more like the enormous eye of a bird.
As Qin Siyang stared at it, he felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Is it the eye I saw when I awakened my sequence?"
Before Qin Siyang could think any further, his heart suddenly thumped violently.
The overwhelming pressure emanating from those shadows filled him with awe and dread.
Immediately afterward, like a divine revelation, an instruction came from that incomparably bright Path of the Believer, striking deep into his soul. A powerful thought appeared in his mind: [Step onto it! Become a powerful believer of the gods!]
His sea of desires churned. Greed howled within him. The urge to grow stronger nearly burst out of his body, desperately wanting to crawl onto the Path of the Believer and move forward on his knees.
Countless convictions guided him, telling him that if he stepped onto this road, he would gain the ultimate power.
From then on he would soar into the sky, unstoppable, fearless before all except the gods.
His gaze burned even hotter. His entire body trembled with excitement as he prepared to take that step and walk onto the Path of the Believer.
Just as his left foot lifted and was about to fall—
In his feverish mind, a faint thought suddenly emerged.
This scene felt strangely familiar.
Qin Siyang frowned in confusion, 'How can it feel familiar?'
He suppressed the greed and longing in his heart and focused his thoughts.
After a brief search through his memories, what surfaced in his mind was the experience of being attacked by the Nightmare Lantern Tree.
He had stood before the Path of the Believer then, filled with burning enthusiasm and unable to resist stepping onto it. Just like how the Nightmare Lantern Tree kept guiding him to choose the endless cycle of a happy life.
The Path of the Believer offered by the gods made him yearn for it, just like the life woven by the Nightmare Lantern Tree had once made him crave it.
Now, just like back then.
Qin Siyang frowned slightly.
'If now is the same as back then, then is the Path of the Believer really the only choice I have?'
Qin Siyang's gaze was still burning. His body still desperately wanted to step onto the Path of the Believer. His mind was still filled with the desire to grow stronger.
But the small fragment of rational clarity within him firmly held control, forcing him to pull back the left foot that had been about to step onto the Path of the Believer.
Within the void, it felt as if countless voices were telling Qin Siyang that the Path of the Believer was the ultimate truth.
And after feeling that endless power and those mysterious existences, he himself also believed the same.
The Path of the Believer was the only correct answer.
But before stepping onto it, he still wanted to deny this absurd suspicion.
He wanted to prove whether there truly were no other choices besides the Path of the Believer.
He wanted to open the most powerful Path of the Believer without a single worry. To become the undefeated and strongest person within the safe zone with an undistracted heart.
So, Qin Siyang steadied his body and suppressed his desires.
Standing before the Path of the Believer, he turned back for a look.
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