"Yang You has become your follower, you gain a hundred points of faith!"
"Ning Feng has become your follower, you gain ten points of faith!"
"Chu Shan has become your follower, you gain ten points of faith!"
"Wei Hailin has become your follower, you gain five points of faith!"
"Liu Qingqing..."
"..."
In just a few moments, Gu Qingyang saw his faith points skyrocket to over ten thousand, just one shy of breaking through twenty thousand.
Moments later.
The surge in faith points slowly came to a stop.
...
Name: Gu Qingyang
Essence: Ancient Tree
Lifespan: 15/10000
Level: Tier 3 Low Grade (153000/200000)
Divine Kingdom: Not yet established (17800/1000000)
Innate Divine Techniques: Ancient Tree Roots (Tier 3), Ancient Tree Spirit Root (Tier 3), Divine Fruit (Tier 3), Divine Whisper (Tier 3), Eye of True Sight (Tier 3), Divine Domain (Tier 3)
...
Gu Qingyang looked at his skyrocketing faith points in a daze, and then he focused inward, seeing a golden mass forming at the center of the tree's trunk.
He saw countless invisible threads weaving in from all directions, all converging into the golden light mass.
These threads varied in thickness, most of which were so fine they were almost negligible, except for one particularly thick thread, much thicker than all the others combined.
When Gu Qingyang focused his thoughts on that thick thread, information surfaced immediately.
...
Name: Evergreen Ancient Tree
Essence: Ancient Tree
Level: Tier 2 High Grade
Faith: Saint Apprentice
...
"Saint Apprentice... It seems to be a level of followers, and just observing their faith is a hundred times more resolute than others, most likely the highest level of followers!"
Gu Qingyang murmured to himself.
The sudden influx of faith and followers left him a bit dazed, until now he was gradually piecing things together.
Following that.
Gu Qingyang looked at the other threads.
As expected, these threads also had corresponding information.
...
Name: Yang You
Essence: Human
Level: Tier 3 Low Grade
Faith: General Believers
...
Name: Ning Feng
Essence: Human
Level: Tier 2 High Grade
Faith: General Believers
...
Gu Qingyang looked at each follower, except for the Evergreen Ancient Tree being the Saint Apprentice, all the other followers were General Believers.
To this.
Gu Qingyang suspected that General Believers must be the lowest level among all followers.
Meanwhile, he also counted the number of threads.
Five thousand three hundred and eighty-two threads, representing five thousand three hundred and eighty-two followers. Aside from the Evergreen Ancient Tree, Gu Qingyang didn't know where the remaining five thousand three hundred and eighty-one followers came from.
Long after.
Gu Qingyang's attention returned to Yang You and Ning Feng.
One was Tier 3 Low Grade, the other was Tier 2 High Grade.
"The Tier 3 Low Grade gives me a hundred points of faith, while the Tier 2 High Grade provides the same faith as the Evergreen Ancient Tree, which means the level of faith determines the amount of faith provided.
What truly influences the supply of faith is merely the strength of the follower, so what is the purpose of the faith level then?"
Gu Qingyang was also confused, and he could only slowly research this further later on.
The current surge of over ten thousand faith points was just the beginning of the million faith needed to establish the Divine Kingdom.
Clearing his mind of distractions, Gu Qingyang did not dwell on it further and instead looked at the mountains ahead.
Breaking through the Tier 3 Low Grade.
The tree's body surged to fifteen hundred meters.
Now Gu Qingyang could be deemed the tallest existence in the entire mountain range, without question.
Even the Golden Feathered Eagle before it died wasn't half his size, which Gu Qingyang believed must be the advantage of an Ancient Tree.
After all, the inherent advantages of trees are naturally great, and now breaking through to Tier 3 Low Grade only means an even taller stature.
Being high up indeed allows for a farther view.
After breaking through to fifteen hundred meters, Gu Qingyang truly witnessed the vast and mysterious mountain range, seeing countless ancient trees hundreds of meters high everywhere, along with many mighty Fierce Beasts devouring each other.
Yet notably, these Fierce Beasts were all quite accommodating, never approaching even a bit close to Gu Qingyang's area.
As if they know, it is a dangerous place.
To this.
Gu Qingyang felt a bit helpless.
But for now, there was no way around it, so he could only take things one step at a time.
Fifteen years of solitude had accustomed Gu Qingyang to loneliness; after all, during those long years, the times he truly hunted Fierce Beasts were few.
His breakthrough to this point was largely due to Celestial Blood and the Golden Feathered Eagle.
"Hmm..."
Gu Qingyang suddenly felt a tremor in his heart.
As his gaze turned beyond the mountains, he saw countless illusory threads appear. These threads were the Faith Threads.
One end of the Faith Threads was connected to Gu Qingyang himself, and the other end was linked to the human armies originally present.
Upon witnessing this scene, Gu Qingyang fell into deep thought.
A moment later.
He awoke from his reverie.
"I see..."
Gu Qingyang realized internally.
He had been curious as to why, all of a sudden, his faith surged by over ten thousand, and several thousand followers appeared out of nowhere.
But upon seeing the scene before him, Gu Qingyang immediately understood what happened.
The so-called followers.
All came from the human armies.
"The human armies couldn't possibly develop faith in me for no reason; it's undoubtedly due to the indelible impressions I left on others when I previously slew the Golden Feathered Eagle and devoured numerous Fierce Beasts.
Humans worship strength, and when I display power strong enough, it evokes awe and even faith in them.
So, as long as I reveal my divinity before men, I can gain more followers!"
Gu Qingyang had always kept a watchful eye on the human armies, and their current numbers were quite significant, numbering thirty to forty thousand.
Out of so many people, only five thousand developed faith in him, suggesting the ratio of new followers wasn't high.
But this was quite normal.
After all, to awe everyone enough to inspire faith with a single display of power is an impossible feat.
Moreover, examining the faith level of these followers, all were General Believers, which indicates only a bare minimum of faith had taken root, not enough for deep piety.
However—
Be that as it may.
Gu Qingyang did manage to understand the cause of his swollen number of followers and how more could be generated.
At present, what's troubling Gu Qingyang is residing in the mountains, making ready demonstrations of divinity difficult.
"But... this battle's news is bound to spread gradually, and perhaps more followers will emerge from that. No need to rush; I'll see how things unfold later!"