Su Ming was being cautious.
At least for now, he was cautious.
The sudden reduction in control over the faith... if the original owner of this faith hadn't noticed a thief sneakily absorbing it, Su Ming absolutely wouldn't believe it.
"I'll just steal another tiny, tiny bit."
Su Ming carefully absorbed an amount of faith even smaller than his previous attempt.
In his perception, the faith permeating the sky didn't even show a ripple because of this minuscule drain.
Yet, absorbing just this little bit was enough for the other party to sense it?
Su Ming found it somewhat unbelievable. If a deity's perception was this exaggerated, then he really couldn't play this game.
"Moreover, if the Rakshasa God discovered a thief, shouldn't the response be to catch the thief? Why actively deliver the faith instead?"
Setting a trap?
Surely not?
Su Ming felt that if even such a weak absorption of faith could be perceived, then the deity should definitely be able to lock down the general city location. A simple divine sense sweep would be enough to find him.
"Unless..."
Combining this with what he knew, Su Ming formed a bold speculation!
"It's often said the Rakshasa God might be dead, leaving only a Godhood behind to find a successor. That's why Bibi Dong not only gets no benefits but also has to endure those absurd trials."
"Therefore, it's unlikely the Rakshasa God noticed me. Instead, these changes are probably Bibi Dong's doing."
Su Ming's eyes lit up.
If it was Bibi Dong's doing, then things were easier to discuss.
"Can she locate me?"
Su Ming looked up at the faith in the sky, conducting verification. He even utilized the Trinity, shattering the Borrowed Power Spirit Ring to maximize his perception.
"Just as I thought. It's not divided by region. Even in the faith near Gengxin City, only a portion has been relinquished, while another part remains the same as before. This means Bibi Dong is partitioning the faith, dividing it evenly, without focusing the partition on any specific region."
"Partitioning..."
Why would she partition the faith and give it to a competitor?
A smile appeared on Su Ming's lips.
Because the pressure from the Rakshasa Godhood was too great?
"To be able to separate such a large portion of faith... how can she be sure I can absorb it all? Wait, rather, the point is she can actually separate such a large proportion of faith."
"If faith could be partitioned so easily, she would have done it long ago. Now, with me as an extra competitor, she can directly partition such a large proportion..."
"Status..."
Su Ming pieced things together, unraveling the truth layer by layer.
Due to the repeated revisions of the timeline, Su Ming's status was extremely stable. Strictly speaking, his status was obtained from the future, making it remarkably pure.
His Soul Land I self was just a petty thief stealing faith, but his Soul Land II self was contending with the fragmented Rakshasa Godhood for faith, and his Soul Land III self even monopolized the faith——
"Wait, that's not right either. My Soul Land III self couldn't monopolize it completely. In the original work, Tang San didn't use Rakshasa God Power, so the fragmented Rakshasa Godhood was probably incorporated into a new plan... the Demonic Empress..."
Su Ming's thinking expanded, and he began observing the entire chessboard from an outsider's perspective.
"No, the current Soul Land II and Soul Land III timelines are connected. My appearance has led to the current Soul Land II Huo Yuhao not having Elder Yi, thus necessitating the use of Rakshasa God Power."
"That is to say, whether it's the Demonic Empress or others in the Soul Land III period, they definitely won't have access to Rakshasa God's power."
"So, the statement that my Soul Land III self monopolizes the faith holds true."
Therefore, after repeated timeline revisions, no matter how unorthodox Su Ming's current position in Soul Land I might seem, he held the status of the future正统 (orthodox successor). His status could not be considered low, which was why Bibi Dong could directly partition such a large proportion of faith to him.
"Even if I don't absorb it, this faith, under the influence of my status, won't actively converge back to Bibi Dong."
Su Ming understood.
This faith now belonged to him. Bibi Dong wanted to be rid of it, and if possible, she would probably actively partition out even more.
"It seems she has been thoroughly tormented by the Godhood."
"Unfortunately, my strength is too weak. I don't dare to truly reveal myself, so I can only take small sips."
If the faith above Su Ming's head was a river, he was now absorbing it drop by drop, and only one drop per day.
"This speed is about right. It won't affect the macro-level flow of the faith, so Bibi Dong won't be able to locate me by tracking its movement."
"Moreover, even just one drop of faith is enough for me to study."
Su Ming stopped concerning himself with major issues at the deity level and focused on his own immediate, smaller matters.
"The forging faith helped me break through to Spirit Refinement. The Spirit Soul faith turned the light sphere into a Fortunate Beast among Spirit Souls. This Rakshasa faith should also be useful, perhaps it can truly help activate the bug."
Utilizing the connection with his Soul Land II self, Su Ming and Electrolux conducted a cross-timeline dialogue, initiating the development of the Rakshasa faith.
"Just fuse it into the Martial Soul, and it can act as a barrier. Quite convenient."
After finding the method, Su Ming couldn't help but lamented how user-friendly this Rakshasa faith was.
Of course, fusing faith into a Martial Soul wasn't an easy task in itself. Without Elder Yi's help, Su Ming wouldn't have been able to accomplish it so quickly, just like how the forging faith also required the right opportunity to fuse during his Soul Land III self's forging session.
If Su Ming had to search for the opportunity for the Rakshasa faith to take effect on his own, who knows how many risky attempts he would have had to make. And Evil Spirit Masters themselves were no good people. If he truly fell into becoming an Evil Spirit Master during the attempts and couldn't reverse it, the loss would far outweigh the gain.
"Using faith to cloud the soul, making the Martial Soul not subject to the soul's restrictions, allows for distributing more imprints to Spirit Power, achieving rapid Spirit Power increase."
This was the explanation Electrolux provided. The Spirit Power cultivated by a Spirit Master carries the imprint of their Martial Soul. Every increase in Spirit Power signifies an enhancement of the Martial Soul, because only when the Martial Soul improves can it distribute more imprints.
The normal cultivation approach is to make the Martial Soul grow faster if you want Spirit Power to increase rapidly.
But Evil Spirit Masters cloud their souls, making the Martial Soul not subject to the soul's restrictions, so the authority to distribute imprints becomes very large, allowing for rapid expansion.
And precisely because of this, the consciousness of Evil Spirit Masters gets eroded. The soul and Martial Soul become mismatched, coupled with the excessively bloody methods that strongly impact rationality, resulting in Evil Spirit Masters generally having extreme and insane thought processes.
"If the method is controlled properly, it should be fine. Cloud the soul first to obtain the distribution authority, then cultivate using normal methods. Just use this form to speed up the process without adopting the Evil Spirit Masters' cultivation techniques of sacrificing others. Then, after the Spirit Power level is high enough, use the stronger Spirit Power and Martial Soul to nourish the soul in reverse, allowing the soul to catch up."
This routine sounded very familiar...
"Release the permissions, but there also needs to be an auxiliary stimulation method. Otherwise, normal cultivation is still too slow. The time for the teacher to reach Titled Douluo might be reduced from twenty years to ten years at most, which is still a drop in the bucket for me."
"The methods of Evil Spirit Masters can't be used, so what other ways are there to stimulate Spirit Power increase?"
Su Ming pondered for two days but found no answer.
He planned to first find an opportunity to cloud Zhu Jiuyang's soul and release his Martial Soul's permissions, and then search for a stimulation method.
Just as he emerged from seclusion, he ran into Zhu Jiuyang, who seemed to be heading towards his place with an elderly man.
"Xiao Ming, you're out of seclusion?" Zhu Jiuyang's voice carried surprise as he stepped aside to introduce the elderly man beside him to Su Ming: "Perfect timing. This is Lord Poison Douluo. He has come to our association to discuss some cooperation with you."
(Chapter End)