Warring Kingdom World, Great Xia Dynasty:
Wang Wei spent a few days inside his cultivation room to heal his injuries and recuperate his lost stamina. Of course Wang Wei was not just doing this, but also reviewing what he learned during this battle.
Afterwards, he exited his room, however, on his way he saw Dong Lifen waiting outside the room for him. It seemed that she had been waiting for quite some time.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her.
"Your majesty, I was just worried about you."
After hearing this, Wang Wei looked her up and down before sighing, then he asked her to join him for tea.
After brewing and drinking the tea, Wang Wei got right to the point and was quite direct as he said, "I can feel that you have some feeling towards me, however, what I said to you when we first met is true."
Don Lifen lowered her head after hearing this, then she asked in a lowered voice, "Is it because of my low status? Does your majesty hate that I am weak and not worthy of you?"
Wang Wei was a little surprised at the question, but he shook his head before saying, "I have never judged a person based on their background. Furthermore, with your talent, as long as you arrived in my world, many powerful sects would be more than happy to make you their heir, thus your status would be the same as mine."
"And with high status and plenty of resources, your strength will of course increase dramatically."
"Then, if it is not humble birth, could it be that I'm not beautiful enough?" asked Dong Lifen with her head still lowered.
"I'm not that superficial," replied Wang Wei with a sigh. "The truth of the matter is I believe that a Fated Person is out there waiting for me."
"Although I know that it is a little ironic coming from the guy whose Dao involved controlling his own fate and the fate of myriad worlds and races, but when it comes to love, I still believe in fate."
"I believe that when I meet that person for the first time, I will instantly know that she was meant for me, that we belong together. Many might argue that this kind of love is superficial and shallow, but I still believe in it."
"I still believe that she and I will be together for eternity, that she will accompany me in my pursuit of the end of the Dao. And not just as my wife, but as my equal, as my companion, as a fellow pursuer of the truth."
After saying this, the face of someone suddenly appeared in his mind. Even with Wang Wei's unforgettable memory, the face was quite vague or blurred, however, he had a feeling that he would instinctively recognize that person the day that they actually met.
Meanwhile, Dong Lifen was surprised by Wang Wei's words as she had never seen him like this. More often, he gave her the feeling that he was mighty and strong, that nothing could truly bother, that he had a solution to every problem.
After thinking about this, she sighed before saying, "Well, whoever this woman is, she will be the luckiest woman in the world to have your majesty's affection."
"I'm the one who will be lucky," replied Wang Wei with a smile on his face. After that, the two of them drink their tea in silence. In the end, Dong Lifen got up to leave, however, Wang Wei stopped her one last time and said:
"I can see that you have a very ambitious side when it comes to cultivating and pursuing the Dao, so let me give you a piece of advice."
"If you truly want to go far in the path of cultivating, do not let anyone dictate your worth. Whether it is societal customs, your origin or birth, Heaven and Earth, and even me."
"You alone can determine what you are worth, what you are capable of and what height you can reach."
Dong Lifen's eyes lit up after hearing this as he realized the importance of these words. She decided to remember them and meditate on them when she has time. As such, she bowed politely to Wang Wei before leaving with fast and steady strides.
After finishing his discussion with Dong Lifen, Wang Wei went out to deal with the affairs of the dynasty. His territory has just been exponentially increased, as such, there are many things left for him to deal with.
Meanwhile, in the Great Shu Dynasty, Feng Heng had also watched the battle between Ji Song and Wang Wei. At first, he was also shocked, but eventually calmed himself down.
However, he noticed that his master seemed unsettled the entire time. So, he finally asked the reason.
"Disciple, I think you are in trouble," said Shi Fuyu with a frown on his face.
"Master, what do you mean?"
After thinking for a few seconds, he replied, "This Wang Wei reminds me of a young version of your sect's ancestor."
"The Absolute Beginning Emperor?"
"Yes."
"Master, since you were alive back then, what kind of person was your ancestor? Not a lot of records are left about him in the sect."
After pondering for a while, Shi Fuyu asked, "Tell me what you know?"
"All I know is the fact that the ancestor's real name was Li Taishuang, and he took the name Absolute Beginning after proving the Dao. And he is most famous for ending the Incense/Faith Era."
Shi Fuyu nodded before continuing:
"Things were not as simple as you state. Back then, during the Incense Era, Buddhism reigned supreme throughout the entire world. Due to the technique of absorbing Faith or Incense Power, the cultivation speed of most Buddhist cultivators was faster and they had more strength than other people--even compared to the Heaven Chosens of that era."
"During that time, even the Dao Opening Sect was nothing as they only had three Great Emperors by the end of the Incense Era. Although there were countless different sects or philosophies of Buddhism, they were still united when facing outsiders."
"The only group that could compete with Buddhism back then was the Heaven Race or God Race."
"God Race? Do you mean the Divine Clan of the Divine Dao League?" asked Feng Heng with a puzzled look on his face as he had never heard of any Heaven Race or God Race.
After seeing the puzzled look on his disciple's face. Shi Fuyu sighed melancholy before shaking his head, "No, they are different. As a matter of fact, the Divine Clans got the idea of inheriting bloodline from the Heaven Race."
"As for the Heaven Race, they were the physical manifestation of concepts like thunder, fire, water, earth...etc. As such, they were always referred to as Thunder God, Fire God, and so on."
"Isn't that the Spirit Race?"
However, Shi Fuyu still shook his head before saying, "It's still different. The God Race was created when countless mortals and cultivators prayed to a specific concept, such as praying to fire and treating it as a God. The Incense Power generated by all those people created a living being with unimaginable power that embodies all the prayers that people offered them, the God Race."
"As for the Spirit Race, they were born by Heaven and Earth themselves through a long time and using massive spiritual energy. Furthermore, Spirit Races still have to slowly cultivate, but the Heaven Race was born extremely powerful. The weakest one had the strength of the Primordial Spirit Realm, while some were born with a cultivation of the Supreme Realm."
Feng Heng nodded as he understood the difference between them. The Spirit Race was basically like demonic beasts that have turned into human shape and called themselves Demon Race.
However, the Spirit Race is mostly made up of plants, stones, or weapons that have gained sentience and mold a human body. According to Feng Heng's knowledge, these individuals refused to acknowledge themselves as Demon Race, so they blended together to create the Spirit Race.
After seeing that his disciple understood, Shi Fuyu continued, "The Heaven Race was able to compete with Buddhism at first because it was easier for them to absorb Faith or Incense Power than any other cultivators."
"At first?"
"Yes. The Buddhist Sects did not allow anyone to threaten their status, so they conceived a plan to weaken the power of the Heaven Race. You should be aware of the Conferred God List right?"
"Yes," responded Feng Heng while nodding his head.
"That's the method that we used. By conferring the title of Godhood to certain human cultivators, we can divide the power of the Heaven Race."
"How to divide it?"
"An example would be that a human was granted the title of Fire God. When people pray to the Fire God, who does the Faith Power go to? To the Heaven Race Fire God, or the Human Race that holds the position of Fire God?"
Feng Heng's eyes lit up after hearing this as he realized that this was indeed a good way to weaken the power of the Heaven Race. Then, he asked, "Master, if what you said is true, why didn't the other factions use Faith? Why haven't I heard of the Heaven Race?"