In the beginning, humans did not believe in gods; what they believed in were their ancestors. In fact, even now, humans still believe in their ancestors first, and only then in various deities. Whenever something happens, the first thing they do is pray for their ancestors’ blessing, and only afterward do they turn to the gods.

The underworld and the mortal world are adjacent, and the place where they meet is called Yin Mountain.

In the mortal world, no one can find Yin Mountain, but once a person dies, they are able to see this mountain and can feel the immense pull emanating from it, drawing the soul of the deceased behind Yin Mountain—into the underworld. The vast majority of souls cannot escape the pull of Yin Mountain, but there are exceptions.

The mortal world is vast, and there are some special places where the influence of the underworld cannot reach. If one dies in these places, they may not necessarily be drawn into the underworld.

However, ordinary souls have no divine seal and cannot cultivate; even if they remain in the mortal world, they are muddle-headed and unaware of heaven and earth, and will soon dissipate into the world.

Aside from these special places, there are also some people whose willpower at the moment of death is especially strong—perhaps a kind of resentment, or perhaps an obsession. This resentment or obsession helps them resist the devouring force from the underworld, allowing them to remain in the mortal world. These are ghosts.

Ancestral spirits are also a kind of ghost, but they are rather special. In addition to their own willpower, they are aided by the willpower of their family. If a person had an excellent relationship with their family during their lifetime, was able to bring great benefit to them, and their family does not wish for them to die—or hopes that after death they can continue to bless the family—then they can easily break through the devouring force of Yin Mountain and remain in the mortal world. These are ancestral spirits.

Compared to deities, ancestral spirits can only receive incense and willpower from their own family. Although this is less, it is more stable. Moreover, if a family is large and prosperous enough, the power of incense they receive can surpass that of ordinary deities. Since they are all family, the incense and willpower ancestral spirits receive is extremely pure, making their divine powers quite strong. When ancestral spirits discovered the secret of incense and willpower, they began to entice their clansmen to stop worshipping deities.

Therefore, for a long period, deities and ancestral spirits were in opposition to each other—this was the mainstream.

This mainstream changed three thousand years ago.

Buddhism spread.

The emergence of Buddhism fundamentally changed the structure of the mortal world, because Buddhism contains methods that allow people to sanctify their physical bodies. What does it mean to sanctify the physical body?

It means that ordinary people can also use incense and willpower to cultivate.

As a result, not only did ancestral spirits compete with deities for faith, but even some cultivators—especially those of the demon race—began to come into conflict with the deities. Cases of exterminating local deities, seizing their divine seals, exercising divine authority, and taking incense became commonplace. The struggle between Yin deities and Buddhist cultivators grew ever more intense.

Lucas Ethan’s location is in the Eastern Tang of the Southern Continent, one of the Four Great Continents. Originally, Buddhism flourished only in the Western Ox Continent, but eight hundred years ago, after Samuel journeyed west and Buddhism spread eastward, everything changed. Buddhism flourished in the Eastern Tang, and the Buddhist sect, which accepts all without discrimination, attracted many demons who learned Buddhist methods. Gaining the means to use incense and willpower to cultivate their physical bodies, they killed the local Yin deities, seized their divine seals, and claimed divine positions for themselves. For such obviously irregular acts, both the Heavenly Court and the Underworld kept silent. No matter who you are, as long as you exercise the duties of a Yin deity and refine a divine seal, the Heavenly Court and the Underworld will recognize you.

As a result, many Yin deities suffered misfortune. Old land gods like Charles Brooks, who were not skilled at managing affairs, were especially eliminated.

Originally, he could barely get by relying on his divine position, but six hundred years ago, a demon who had mastered Buddhist methods destroyed his idol, claimed his divine seal, first became the land god, and then, after winning the local gods’ war, killed the city god Edward Grant, merged the divine seals, and became the new city god of Deng Prefecture. However, this demon was clever; after killing Edward Grant, he even assumed his name, enjoying everything that should have belonged to Edward Grant. As for Charles Brooks, he was probably long forgotten.

The chaotic and complex memories made Lucas Ethan’s head ache, but after sorting out his thoughts, he realized that he seemed to have accidentally unearthed a great treasure.

Charles Brooks was a personal guard of General Thomas Brooks, serving him since childhood, much like a study companion. Thomas Brooks treated him well, and his abilities were originally quite good. He cultivated the same techniques as Thomas Brooks, and even knew the method for cultivating the yellow aura that made Thomas Brooks famous.

However, knowing does not mean one can cultivate it.

Because that yellow aura is a kind of divine power.

Divine power is different from qigong.

Qigong is when cultivators use special breathing techniques to draw the essence of heaven and earth into their bodies, merging it with their own strength to form internal energy—this is qigong.

Divine power, on the other hand, is very similar to qigong, but requires the aid of certain spiritual objects of heaven and earth to be cultivated. This is the most fundamental difference between qigong and divine power.