“What’s happened to you?”

Unlike the other three, Wu Dao’an’s brow knit tight, and he walked quickly forward.

He could see at a glance that something was off with Shen Yi.

The man looked as though every ounce of energy had been drained out of him, his spirit worn down to its lowest point.

“I was cultivating a Golden Body method alongside the senior brother in the loft. A bit exhausted.”

Shen Yi shook his head and held the Golden Wolf jade token out toward him.

Prompted by Wu Dao’an’s reaction, the other three Custodians finally noticed something was wrong — and then heard the young man’s casual, offhand reply, which left their expressions turning faintly peculiar.

“You’ve already started working on a Golden Body method?”

“Still feeling my way through it.”

Shen Yi considered for a moment. It was only by actually touching this level of cultivation that one could appreciate the depth of what it involved.

All that enormous expenditure of demon lifespan, and he’d only grasped the entry-level approach — learned how to digest the wandering wills within accumulated faith.

Forging a golden dharma form would require repeating that process without end.

Even with enough demon lifespan to sustain it, his spiritual mind itself couldn’t keep up — after each derivation session, he’d need several days at minimum to slowly purge the lingering negative emotions.

The derivation process consumed vast stretches of simulated time, and had left its mark on Shen Yi as well, making him considerably more patient than he’d once been.

If he could break through to Spirit-Transformation within a month, he’d be more than satisfied.

“Still feeling your way…”

The round Custodian quietly looked away, swallowed hard, and found his throat had gone dry.

He glanced at his two fellow Custodians, and found their expressions even more dramatic than his own.

Feeling one’s way implied having already gotten through the door.

Most Martial Immortals were still standing on the outside of that threshold, wondering how to strengthen their divine spirit — who among them was remotely qualified to think about how to digest accumulated faith?

Senior Brother Wu really had stumbled onto something blessed by the heavens this time.

A young man brought back almost by chance — not only with a constitution beyond anything they’d seen, but with comprehension that far exceeded everyone’s imagination.

What had this barren land of Great Qian done to deserve nurturing something like this?!

“Hah…”

Wu Dao’an made no move to take back the jade token. He stood frozen for a long stretch, mouth slightly open, and let out a slow, long breath.

He’d made rough estimates about how fast Shen Yi might break through to the upper tier — probably faster than expected, he’d assumed — but he still hadn’t imagined that with sufficient faith available, it would take under two months.

“Use mine for now. I’ll find someone to make room for you afterward.”

He drew a thin golden booklet from his sleeve.

The War Temple’s accumulated faith was the very foundation of Great Qian.

Every portion of it, and what it was allocated toward, had long since been decided in advance.

Those of higher standing held priority in drawing on the faith.

Setting aside the War Temple’s Ancestor, whose mind was no longer clear, the next tier down was the armory’s lone guardian, equal in rank to the four rotating Custodians, with the five of them dividing the War Temple’s accumulated faith in equal shares.

One guarded the armory; the others held the imperial capital.

Only with their authorization could any other Martial Immortal draw on or absorb the faith.

“Senior Brother Wu.”

The round Custodian said nothing directly — just murmured that single address under his breath.

What this booklet represented was far too significant.

To put it plainly and harshly, if Shen Yi had any hidden agenda, in the event of an enemy attack on the imperial capital, he could theoretically lock away a fifth of the available faith and prevent anyone else from using it.

Though naturally, the round Custodian understood Senior Brother Wu’s reasoning as well.

Faith was a finite resource. If one person took a larger share, someone else would have to make do with less.

Without giving him enough authority to begin with, Shen Yi might not be able to compete for his share at all.

But was the risk not a touch too large?

“Junior Brother Shen, I had someone pull your service record from Qingzhou — everything since you joined the Demon Suppression Division.”

Wu Dao’an turned the golden booklet over in his hands, smiling with something like quiet wonder. “Nothing in it but demon-slaying and banishing evil, practically without exception. This old man wants to trust you once.”

With that, he held the booklet out. “Can I trust you?”

The other three Custodians said nothing.

Senior Brother Wu had chosen the Lion-Camel dharma form without a moment’s hesitation.

“Guarding” — that was how he digested the faith.

He looked past the desolation of Qingzhou and Song Prefecture, treating them as losses that could be temporarily conceded, because he had sworn long ago to guard the whole of Great Qian.

To achieve that, the only path was Spirit-Transformation.

If Great Qian fell, the accumulated faith would turn on him and scatter his divine spirit to nothing.

And it was precisely because of that oath that Senior Brother Wu had been able to call upon the fallen Lion-Camel dharma form.

Now that he’d found what seemed to him the chance to protect Great Qian, he would pour everything into it — no amount of persuasion would change that.

“I’ll do my best.”

Shen Yi took the booklet, without making any absolute promises.

He bowed his hands to the group in farewell, turned, and left the main hall.

A brief quiet settled over the hall.

After some time, one of the Custodians spoke. “Senior Brother Wu, this kind of unilateral decision could easily be called overstepping your authority. When the current rotation ends, I doubt anyone will vote to reappoint you as Custodian.”

Wu Dao’an smoothed down his sleeves. “Drastic sickness calls for drastic medicine. Junior Brother Shen has talent that surpasses Senior Brother Zhu’s, and yet none of Senior Brother Zhu’s barriers. If even he cannot do it, this old man genuinely cannot think of another who could save Great Qian.”

“If he succeeds.”

Wu Dao’an paused, and suddenly smiled. “Then in the future, let the Ancestor sit on the right, Junior Brother Shen in the center, and this old man ought to be able to claim the left seat on the altar.”

“As for all the idle talk…”

He turned around. “Old Ghost Wu’s skin is thick enough to take it.”

The War Temple, Jia section.

Shen Yi returned to his room and rubbed lightly at his temple.

He’d only just managed to recover from that state of being ground down by relentless wandering wills.

And yet he had no intention of resting.

If he truly couldn’t manage, he could always go to the armory and have the skeleton senior hum a verse or two of the Mind-Clearing Incantation.

By now Shen Yi had some real understanding of what Great Qian’s situation was.

A tall building, cracked through and barely held together, kept standing by sheer effort.

More than a few of his enemies — the Blood-Transmuting Demon Emperor, Qingqiu — were being kept outside by this building.

He absolutely had to build up enough strength to protect himself before it came down.

And if possible, he’d like to shore it up a little as well.

Speaking plainly, whatever the War Temple’s deeper motives might be, at least from where things stood right now, Shen Yi felt they had treated him well.

Techniques and resources given directly, and they’d never gone out of their way to cause him trouble.

Their only ask was that he stay quietly in the War Temple.

“Pity.”

Even that one and only ask, Shen Yi couldn’t honestly promise.

【Remaining Demon Lifespan: 56,100 years】

He closed his eyes, drew on demon lifespan, and poured it into the Three Origins Immortal Ascension Method — planning to push it through to Perfection first.

The method had already been fully derived. All it lacked was accumulated faith.

As time passed.

Several of the Jia section’s Martial Immortals all sensed something, and looked up curiously toward the sky.

“Why has there been a sudden fluctuation?”

Fortunately the shift in the white mist was subtle — after a brief flicker of unease, they withdrew their attention.

At the same moment, Shen Yi inside his room opened his eyes.

Another three-thousand-odd years of demon lifespan spent.

Within his qi sea, three cloud-patterns had gathered around the divine spirit, its presence dense and settled, as though it had pressed against some kind of ceiling.

【Martial Immortal · Three Origins Immortal Ascension Method: Perfection】

Talent can’t be helped — but at least the foundation could be made thoroughly solid.

Now, everything was in place…

A sharp gleam crossed Shen Yi’s eyes. In the next instant, an enormous surge of demon lifespan poured rapidly into the Arhat Golden Body Method!

His expression shifted between savage and relaxed.

The invisible white mist from the sky bored into Shen Yi’s body from all directions, and once he had digested it completely—

A thread of golden light drifted free from between his brows.

Like the faint flame of a candle, as though a single breath might extinguish it.

But it carried an ineffably profound presence.

Swaying lightly in the air.

Shen Yi recognized this immediately — it was remarkably similar to the presence he’d felt peeling off the golden body during his War Temple refinement, back when he’d first arrived. But this was refined beyond comparison, the difference between dross and pure essence.

He reached out toward it, and the intangible faith — here, now — had actual physical substance at his touch.

This — was Spirit-Transformation golden light.

Only a sliver. And yet it represented his first true step into an entirely new realm.

(End of Chapter 236)