The first words out of Qi Tian's mouth as they left were: "People can truly become gods."
The second: "If I become a god, will I be safe from future tribulations?"
The third: "I want to become a god too."
These three sentences led Lin Xiao into thought as well.
It wasn't until the two returned to Longhu Mountain and informed the Old Celestial Master about the Pope that any further discussion occurred.
"Western gods are quite different from Eastern ones. The West can use the power of faith to turn an ordinary person into a demigod, and also to elevate a demigod into a god," the Old Celestial Master mused. "However, their so-called godhood, while their souls may ascend to another level, their actual strength is only slightly superior to what you two can achieve."
"Being superior to us is already very good. It's a drastic change that happened almost overnight," Lin Xiao said, finding a lounge chair and sinking into it. He took out his phone, intending to call home.
Meanwhile, Qi Tian looked at the piece of meat in his hand and asked, "Old Celestial Master, is it alright if I use this as material for my artifact refining?"
"No problem."
The Old Celestial Master's eye twitched. Even he had to admire Qi Tian's obsession with artifact refining. He decided to check if the previous seal was still intact, wondering if Qi Tian had secretly taken anything from it.
"Now that this notice has been issued by the Dragon Country, we've received quite a bit of news. There seems to be some activity in the far north, though we don't know what it is yet. There's also movement in the far south, but again, we're unsure of the specifics. No other issues have been detected elsewhere for now."
Lin Xiao frowned as he looked at the report in his hand. If it was the far north or far south, places that ordinary people could rarely access, it would be difficult to ascertain if a part of the Dark Archmage was there based solely on civilian reports. The best approach would be for them to go and investigate themselves.
The frigid lands that were uninhabitable for ordinary people would pose no challenge to them; the Earth's ambient temperature wouldn't bother them.
"You don't need to rush. Haste makes waste," the Old Celestial Master said, giving Lin Xiao a few talismans. "Focus on comprehending the lightning arts during this period. If you can master your Yin Lightning, even the gods of the Western world will be no match for you."
"Okay."
Lin Xiao stared at his palm, where dark purple lightning flickered.
Then, the lightning vanished, and a ball of faith power appeared in his hand.
This was a portion of power he had absorbed into himself when he had the chance. However, he could only ingest it; he couldn't convert the faith power into any other form of energy.
This was the first time his cultivation technique had encountered such a situation.
If he couldn't utilize this power, then bringing it into his body was meaningless.
Or perhaps…
He could try it on Qi Tian.
Didn't he want to become a god?
With that thought, he located Qi Tian and sent the ball of faith power over.
At that moment, Qi Tian was analyzing his new materials on his computer, planning to use them to great effect. He still had a good amount of materials for most spiritual artifacts. Combined with this precious material he had finally obtained, he might be able to create puppets that were a level higher. Most of his current puppets were no longer strong enough.