The eighteenth layer of the Necropolis of the Gods had become an ocean of earth-yellow elements, and Lin Lei floated there with his eyes closed, waves of pressure radiating outward from his body. Beirut, Qing Huo, and Bei Bei watched intently from nearby.
Within Lin Lei's soul ocean.
His true body, Wind clone, Water clone, and Fire clone sat cross-legged on the surface of the soul ocean. The four figures were positioned in a perfect square, and above them hovered a crystal spinning rapidly like glazed glass. Waves of strange, intangible "willforce" coursed through Lin Lei's five souls.
The true body and the four clones had originally shared a single soul.
At this moment, the Earth clone's soul was improving the fastest, while the true body and the three other clones progressed at a slightly slower pace.
"Just as Lord Beirut said, a Deity's power is nearly limitless, but it is concentrated mostly in the 'Deity Spark.' The soul itself contains very little willforce." Lin Lei could sense that although the willforce in all five souls had increased, the improvement was quite limited.
The Earth clone's soul, having undergone the Deity transformation, had raised its inherent willforce to roughly the level of a Perfected Highgod.
The true body and the three other clones, meanwhile, had only improved to perhaps eighty percent of a Perfected Highgod's willforce.
"No wonder a Deity, even by sending clones into a material plane, cannot kill a Perfected Highgod," Lin Lei sighed inwardly. Then he thought, "But before I became a Deity, my willforce already surpassed that of a Perfected Highgod. Now it's being strengthened once more!" Just at that moment—
A vast, surging golden torrent suddenly flooded into his mind—an endless stream of golden power that merged into his soul ocean and into his very soul itself.
"This—"
Lin Lei felt his entire being grow dozens of times clearer in an instant, his soul's capacity for deduction skyrocketing.
"This is... Faith Power!" Lin Lei was stunned.
In truth, Lin Lei had always been absorbing Faith Power. But the trickle sent from the Yulan Plane alone was negligible to someone of his current level. Even so, even that small amount had noticeably accelerated his cultivation speed.
But now, this ocean-like torrent of Faith Power surged in, and in a single instant, its sheer volume surpassed what he had accumulated over thousands of years.
The eighteenth layer of the Necropolis of the Gods. The earth-yellow elements dissipated, and the world returned to its original blue-green hue.
Lin Lei opened his eyes, looking at Beirut and Qing Huo in astonishment. "Lord Beirut, this Faith Power..."
"You're a Deity now, no weaker than me—you don't need to call me 'Lord Beirut.' Just call me Beirut!" Beirut said with a smile.
Lin Lei was deeply grateful to Beirut. The Deity Spark had been given to him by Beirut—two, in fact. And the meticulous care Beirut had shown him over thousands of years was something Lin Lei could never forget. "Lord Beirut, for strangers, rank is naturally determined by strength. But the kindness you have shown me, Lord Beirut—I don't even know how I could possibly repay it..."
After his Soul Mutation, Lin Lei had already surpassed Perfected Highgods.
If rank were judged purely by strength, then Lin Lei—who back then had not yet known of Beirut's status as a Deity—should have simply called him "Beirut" from the start. But Lin Lei had not.
In Lin Lei's heart...
Beirut was a patient, guiding elder. An elder who cared for him.
"Haha! Since you put it that way, then I'll be shameless just this once—why don't you call me Grandpa Beirut, like Bei Bei does?" Beirut said with a hearty laugh. Back when he had first discovered Bei Bei's existence, Beirut had taken an interest in Lin Lei. From his youth onward, Beirut had watched over him.
Subconsciously, the care he felt for Bei Bei had naturally extended, in part, to Lin Lei.
"Grandpa Beirut," Lin Lei said immediately.
"Haha..." Beirut was overjoyed to hear it. At that moment, something shifted in his heart as well. Between him and Lin Lei, Bei Bei's presence had always created an unspoken bond of elder and junior—but it had been vague, never explicitly acknowledged.
Beirut had chosen Lin Lei. While that choice had fundamentally elevated Lin Lei's strength, it also carried the intent of using Lin Lei to stand against the Light Sovereign.
But now—
With Lin Lei, just like Bei Bei, calling him Grandpa, Beirut's heart naturally shifted. He understood that Lin Lei's strength would far surpass his own. To have nurtured a supreme powerhouse who was also his own junior—Beirut felt a deep sense of pride and satisfaction.
"Good, good," Beirut said, smiling. "You were just asking about Faith Power..."
"Yes. Right after I became a Deity, I felt Faith Power—thick and terrifyingly abundant—surging violently into my mind. What was that about?" Lin Lei was deeply shaken.
Qing Huo smiled from beside them. "Lin Lei, didn't you once ask why every Deity can fuse at least five profound mysteries?"
"Right. A Deity's talent isn't necessarily the highest, yet they can all fuse at least five profound mysteries—it really is incredible." Lin Lei suddenly realized, "You mean... it's because of this Faith Power?" He recalled the function of Faith Power: it helped cultivators gain insight and accelerated their cultivation speed.
Of course, the improvement granted by Faith Power was not limitless.
Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few Perfected Highgods among the Deities.