Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“The most important thing about a belief is the degree of faithfulness. The more faithful a believer is, the more belief they can provide. Moreover, besides belief, the number of believers are also considered,” the Windstorm Water Magic Spider said. It leisurely left once it had finished its words.
Gao Peng muttered, “Apparently, we need to plan this well. It would be great if we could produce a congregation similar to that of a church for the Growing Brain.”
Later, Gao Peng had a discussion with his familiars, but they had absolutely no idea what was going on. Their experiences weren’t varied enough, hence the advice they gave was similar—catch a group of people to believe in the Growing Brain, kill more monsters to make others have faith in it, and shave it, since only a god without hair would have believers.
As Gao Peng was speechless with their ideas, he went to find his grandfather for a discussion. Before he left, he purposely dropped by to sneak a glance at Xiao Cao.
Now, Xiao Cao’s graft had already started the right path. The Magic Willow, which was rooted in the earth, was crazily absorbing the nutrients from the earth while Xiao Cao was settled on the Magic Willow, absorbing the nutrients from its body with all its might.
An electric fence had been built around this region to prohibit the entry of trespassers. The thick roots of the Magic Willow appeared like veins that penetrated the earth, with the soil swelling, causing the surface of the ground to look like a broken, ruined sight.
The flat ground was filled with pitted holes, resembling a patient whose body was severely injured and full of needle tubing for blood transfusions that continuously extended deep into the earth.
The radiance around Xiao Cao’s body was growing more mystical, faintly beaming a flash of flirtatious red light. A gust of wind swept in from a distance away, and Xiao Cao swayed with the movement of it.
“Xiao Cao has turned to the right path.” Gao Peng nodded, satisfied, calling out for the married birds, Goldie and Flamy, to take good care of Xiao Cao. Just then, he took the rest of the familiars to leave for the new Headquarters of the Southern Sky Group in the city of Hope.
“Faith to God?” Ji Hanwu murmured. “I know about this. I’ve heard about it from the historical accounts, but the Faith to God method isn’t that simple,” Ji Hanwu uttered seriously.
Gao Peng chuckled as he said, “I know it’s not easy, but don’t we have you, Grandfather?”
Ji Hanwu smiled faintly. “I can’t guarantee it will be a success, but we can try our best.”
“To believe in a god isn’t a big problem, because many people are in need of spiritual support in an environment like nowadays. The spiritual support many of them look for is based on belief,” Ji Hanwu said. “Maybe you don’t pay attention to this issue normally, but in fact, based on the knowledge and understanding of the people now, it would be too hard to turn them into faithful believers.”
“Especially when it comes to the people of the Huaxia region,” Gao Peng confirmed.
“Yes… In ancient times, there were numerous devoted believers, but that was also due to their foolishness. Now, even if science isn’t talked about… to transform them into faithful believers is still a rather difficult thing to achieve, but to make them common believers is simple.
“Common believers are also the simplest and easiest, because you don’t need to truly believe in a god; you only need to make sure that you don’t hate it or feel disgusted at it. As a matter of fact, many people are common believers, as they only pray once in a while or even only worship their god once a year. Moreover, they wear all sorts of pendants that represent gods on their necks or place a god’s statue around their house or public areas. Even worse, they pray in their heart the day before an exam to make sure they can pass it. All these belong to the category of a common believer.
“Although common believers provide the least faith, the number of common believers is the highest.” Ji Hanwu continued, “So we don’t have to force these people to be faithful in the Growing Brain. We only need to make them change the name they’re used to whispering during prayers to a new one.”
Gao Peng seemed to be deep in thought. That being said, the simplest strategy for a god was to cooperate with the current royal court. That was why many dynasties loved to “create gods,” and strictly forced the citizens to only believe in a certain god while labeling other gods evil. All this made sense.
“If you trust me, then just leave it to me. It just so happens that the senior officials from the Huaxia region invited me to collaborate with them not long ago. I can use this as an exchange of conditions with them.” Ji Hanwu blew on his tea and slowly sipped it.
“Thanks for going to the trouble, Grandfather.”
“These tea leaves were delivered by the Little Sparrow earlier. It said it was from a tea tree grown near the volcano. To put it in layman’s terms, it has a strong desire to live.” Ji Hanwu started laughing as he said, “That’s quite cute.”
“Let me try it.” The curious Gao Peng lifted the teapot to fill a cup of tea for himself. The tea was red in color, and inside, a few pieces of pure white tea leaves floated on the surface of the cup.
Gao Peng looked like a cow chewing a peony, finishing the drink in one sip. The bitterness and stimulating feelings sprinted toward his taste buds. After these strong feelings disappeared, a strong aroma filled his mouth, leaving behind a faint fragrant smell and bitterness in the end.
The smell remained for a long time. A cup of tea was enough to make the aftertaste remain in Gao Peng’s mouth for exactly half an hour. Gao Peng wasn’t an expert in tasting tea, but he had a feeling that this type of tea leaves wasn’t bad.
“Is the production rate high?” Gao Peng asked curiously.
“It’s okay. About 75 to 85 pounds per year,” Ji Hanwu answered. “I didn’t ask anyone to harvest it because I felt that this type of tea leaves needs to be natural for the best quality. Human cultivation will cause that kind of smell to vanish.”
“Oh, yeah! Your younger cousin was here recently. Anyhow, she’s your younger relative, and you always bullied her when she was little. I figured you could help her search for a familiar.” Ji Hanwu was discussing the matter with Gao Peng.
“No problem.” Gao Peng nodded and recalled the little girl in her red robe with mucus flowing out of her nose.
After having dinner that night, Karen Chen came over.
“What type of familiar do you want?” Gao Peng was ready to bring Karen Chen to the laboratory. There were a few testers in the laboratory. Some were successful, while others were out of shape.
“You can choose one for me, older cousin. It’d be best to find one that has a similar personality to me.” Karen Chen, who had tied her hair in a ponytail, was walking in front, as though she was bouncing about, She looked like a rabbit.
“Similar personality?” Gao Peng was astonished, then he nodded. “Now I know.” As he brought Karen Chen to the laboratory, the familiars that were locked in each cage in the basement abruptly emitted continuous howling sounds. At that moment, it was complete chaos in the laboratory, as all sorts of monsters were shrieking loudly.
Gao Peng called out the Desolate Frost Lion. Desolion hit its foot on the ground, and a circle of cold and dignified blue light rays enveloped the whole laboratory, causing all the monsters in the laboratory to immediately calm down.
“Come and check a few of these familiars.” Gao Peng opened the door and took out a few monsters from the cage to put them in front of Karen Chen.
Gao Peng looked like a farmer who had walked to his backyard to choose two big, fat hens from his poultry pen to serve his guests.
“Well… older cousin, can you introduce these monsters to me?” Karen Chen could sense that something was amiss.
“Oh, oh. You see, this is Big-Mouth Toad, Big Eater Pig, Greedy Devil Squirrel, and Hungry Giant Python,” Gao Peng introduced the monsters to her one by one.
Karen Chen was speechless.
