When the giant tiger suddenly left, Da Niu quickly guessed what had happened. Propping up his bleeding body, he knocked his head repeatedly on the ground in Li Chang’an’s direction.
As he kowtowed, Da Niu said, "Thank you for your protection, Mountain God! Thank you for your protection..."
Clearly, he had mistaken Li Chang’an for the Mountain God of this mountain.
This was not surprising.
After all, this world lacked many things, but it was never short of gods, ghouls, and Spirit Monsters.
Hunters who often went into the mountains encountered basketfuls of strange occurrences. In a sense, they were quite worldly and had a high tolerance for things that defied common sense.
Looking at the blood still seeping from the man’s abdomen, Li Chang’an knew that if it wasn’t treated promptly, he likely wouldn’t survive long enough to get down the mountain for help.
Li Chang’an waved his hand, and his petrified body suddenly bloomed with a white light.
The light flew toward Da Niu.
At first, Da Niu tensed up, clearly frightened.
But upon discovering that the white light held no hostility and was even healing the gash on his abdomen from the tiger’s claws, Da Niu quickly prostrated himself again. His face was filled with emotion as he said, "I, Zhang Daniu, thank you, Lord Mountain God, for saving my life today! As long as the Zhang Family has a single descendant left in this world, we will worship you for all generations to come!"
After thanking Li Chang’an profusely, Zhang Daniu headed home along the small path.
Watching Zhang Daniu’s retreating figure, Li Chang’an remained very calm.
After all, being stuck alone in these desolate mountains was truly boring. Being able to do something helped, at the very least, to alleviate that boredom.
As for Zhang Daniu’s so-called reward, Li Chang’an wasn’t really counting on it.
As long as the man was willing to keep taking this path up the mountain and pay a certain toll, this transaction would already be a surefire profit.
Any other reward would just be a pleasant surprise.
Of course, that was what he thought.
But Zhang Daniu was clearly more earnest and devout than he had anticipated.
Just three days after that incident, Zhang Daniu came up the mountain with his wife, his children, and the younger siblings his parents had left behind—a great procession of five or six people.
They carried rabbits, deer, and wild boars as offerings, and also brought a good amount of Incense and joss paper for worship. They respectfully expressed their gratitude to Li Chang’an.
After the ritual was complete,
Zhang Daniu brought his two sons before the great boulder that was Li Chang’an. He had them kowtow and solemnly declared that as long as his two children had a bite to eat, they must bring offerings to Li Chang’an at this time every year to worship him.
As the wisps of burning Incense began to rise,
Li Chang’an felt as if his entire being had gained a bit more Spirituality.
At first, he thought it was just his imagination.
But after sensing it several more times, he realized it wasn’t a mistake. His Spirituality had truly grown stronger!
The manifestation of this increased Spirituality was that Li Chang’an discovered a new connection between himself and the world. For now, however, he was still unable to absorb Spiritual Power through this connection.
But there was no doubt that if he continued in this direction, this Incense would transform into Spirituality, greatly shortening his growth time!
According to the cultivation progress of his original trajectory of Destiny, he would have had to wait until he was a thousand years old to learn how to absorb the essence of heaven and earth and extract Spiritual Power.
But now, Li Chang’an discovered that as long as he absorbed enough Incense, this time could perhaps be shortened by ten, or even dozens of times!
No wonder the countless gods, buddhas, Devils, and Spirit Monsters of this world all fed on the Destiny of the Mortal Realm.
This damn Incense and Candle Divine Dao was basically a cheat code for cultivation speed!
After this discovery, Li Chang’an’s mind started racing. He began to ponder how he could obtain even more Incense.
After all, this stuff was far more efficient than using Soul Fire to steal things. Moreover, it was all aboveboard and could form a perfect, self-sustaining loop.
Furthermore, Li Chang’an had encountered a bottleneck on his path of cultivation.
His Heaven-defying Comprehension could deduce a Cultivation Technique for the Enlightenment of Spirituality.
But it had been unable to deduce a Cultivation Technique that would allow him to formally embark on the path of cultivation.
This was clearly not normal.
Given Li Chang’an’s foundation, even in a world where cultivation was impossible, he should have been able to deduce some method to practice, however rudimentary.
But now, after spending so much time, he had come up with nothing.
Li Chang’an suspected the problem lay with the unfamiliar concept of "Spirituality." After all, aside from this mysterious concept, he felt he had already met all the other requirements.
After Zhang Daniu finished his worship and led his family back down the mountain, Li Chang’an devoured all the offerings and began to wait patiently.
Over the next year, Li Chang’an began to actively help the herbalists and hunters who came up the mountain.
Before long, news of a magical stone Mountain God on Floating Hill spread among the communities of hunters and farmers. The rugged mountain path, which had seen few travelers, gradually began to teem with people again.
Everyone who came up the mountain would bring a few incense sticks and candles. When they passed Li Chang’an, they would respectfully light them, pray for the Mountain God’s protection, and only then continue deeper into the mountains.
As long as they could receive the Mountain God’s protection, even if it meant buying incense, candles, and offerings, it was a much better deal than risking their lives to come up the mountain with nothing.
Of course, this wasn’t the main reason.
The main reason was that the other path up the mountain, which the hunters and herbalists had cleared, had been taken over by several Wolf Demons. The villages at the foot of the mountain had paid an extremely heavy price for this.