【Incense to Godhood System
Host: Song Xuanqing
Divine Lifespan: 20/??
Identity: Wild God
Cultivation: Unranked (12.7%) +
Cultivation Method: None
Divine Powers: Divine Might (Novice) +, Enter Dream (Novice) +, Merge with Deity (Novice) +
Domain: Song Family Village
Incense Value: 89.3
Evaluation: A Wild God unrecognized by the Heavenly Dao, with weak incense faith and no divine rank or position. Your fate is as uncertain as a drifting duckweed, and your power is negligible.】
Before him was a brand-new system panel.
Song Xuanqing took a closer look and found that compared to the previous, half-finished system panel, the current one was much more detailed.
First, his Cultivation now had a percentage progress bar after it.
Then, a Divine Powers panel had been added.
And, behind both Cultivation and Divine Powers, there was a plus sign!
With his countless experiences reading web novels in his past life, how could Song Xuanqing not understand what this meant?
Add points! It was finally here!
At this moment, Song Xuanqing really wanted to shout: System! Add points!
An excited heart, a trembling hand!
Filled with anticipation, Song Xuanqing tried clicking the '+' after his Cultivation.
It changed! It changed!
【Cultivation: Unranked (12.8%) +】
His cultivation had increased... by 0.1%.
At the same time, his Incense Value decreased by 1 point.
It was now 88.3.
Song Xuanqing: "...Hiss!"
He wasn't surprised that adding points required Incense Value.
He could tell just from the system's name.
But Song Xuanqing hadn't expected the Incense Value to be consumed so quickly.
1 point of Incense Value only increased his cultivation by 0.1%.
If he were starting from zero, wouldn't he need a thousand points to push his cultivation to the peak of this Unranked realm?
Even though his cultivation progress was already at 12.8%, he would still need another 872 Incense Value points to push it to 100%.
Song Xuanqing's gaze fell on his pitiful 88.3 Incense Value.
Pathetically little!
Don't be fooled by this 88.3 Incense Value; it was just the amount provided by the villagers of Song Family Village in a single day.
However, Song Xuanqing couldn't absorb Incense Value every day.
Barring special circumstances, he could normally only absorb Incense Value twice a month.
That is, he could only absorb it when the villagers offered incense on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month.
Even if someone offered him incense on other days, he couldn't absorb any Incense Value.
Moreover, Song Xuanqing didn't know the customs elsewhere, but in the area of Wanan County where Song Family Village was located, the common folk only offered incense on the first and fifteenth of the month, aside from major holidays.
Song Xuanqing did a quick calculation. Including the few points he had already spent today, he had harvested just over ninety Incense Value in total.
He could absorb Incense Value twice a month. Even with a generous estimate, Song Xuanqing could only gain about two hundred points of Incense Value per month.
In that case, wouldn't he need another four months to save up over eight hundred Incense Value points just to push his Unranked cultivation to 100%?
And this was just the Incense Value required for this realm.
Song Xuanqing had no idea how much Incense Value would be needed to cultivate the realms beyond Unranked.
This was just the cost for cultivation; there were also the Divine Powers.
The Divine Powers also had plus signs behind them, meaning they could also be upgraded with Incense Value.
However, for Divine Powers, it increased proficiency.
Based on a literal interpretation, higher proficiency should allow him to better utilize the effects of his Divine Powers.
How much Incense Value would it cost to increase the proficiency of a Divine Power?
Steeling his heart, Song Xuanqing tentatively dumped a whole ten points of Incense Value into the Divine Power: Merge with Deity.
Hmm, not the slightest change.
The proficiency was still Novice.
Song Xuanqing even tried to directly absorb 1 point of Incense Value himself.
As a result, this time his cultivation panel didn't even increase by 0.1%.
Now Song Xuanqing gave up. It seemed that using Incense Value to add points was the only correct way.
After all this fiddling and experimenting, his already pitifully small amount of Incense Value had dwindled to just 77.3.
He couldn't experiment anymore! Any more, and this little bit of Incense Value would be all gone!
Song Xuanqing melancholically swiped at the system panel, preparing to close it.
But it didn't close!
The system panel had turned a page!
Song Xuanqing's eyes widened!
It could turn pages?!
Excited, Song Xuanqing swiped again.
This time, it didn't turn another page.
It seems there are only two pages?
Song Xuanqing focused his gaze and realized this second page... was the System Shop?!
【Shop Level: 1
Current Items:
1. Hanlu Pill (Low-grade): A Divine Dao pill that can slightly increase cultivation.
Price: 10 Incense Value
Purchase Limit: 0/1
2. Life-Extending Pill (Low-grade): Brings the dead to life and fleshes out bones. Usable by anyone with a physical body, limited to mortals or those with low cultivation realms.
Price: 1 Incense Value
Purchase Limit: 0/10
3. Immortal Sol Art: A Divine Dao cultivation method of decent quality. Moderate, peaceful, and suitable for all deities to cultivate. Contains eleven Divine Powers.
Price: 1,000,000 Incense Value
Purchase Limit: 0/1
Next Rotation: 14 days 2 hours 13 minutes】
Staring at the price listed below the "Immortal Sol Art," Song Xuanqing's eyes widened!
How much?!
One million Incense Value?!
Song Xuanqing stared dumbfounded at the price of the "Immortal Sol Art," then glanced at the Hanlu Pill and Life-Extending Pill above it, seriously doubting how these three could be listed together.
One priced at 10 Incense Value.
One priced at 1 Incense Value.
And one priced at 1,000,000 Incense Value!
Just how highly did the system think of him? To place a one-million-Incense-Value cultivation method right in front of him!
Could he afford it?
All the Incense Value in his pocket wasn't even enough to buy ten Hanlu Pills!
Even if he squeezed every last drop out of the Song Family villagers until they were dead, he wouldn't get even a tenth of the cost of the "Immortal Sol Art"!
After a moment of shock and confusion, Song Xuanqing quickly pushed it to the back of his mind and didn't even look at it anymore.
Can't afford it, so why look?
Better to look at the Hanlu Pill and the Life-Extending Pill.
No, he didn't even need to look at the Life-Extending Pill.
Song Xuanqing didn't have a physical body, so what use was it to him?
Of the three items, only the Hanlu Pill was useful to him.
And it was limited to one purchase.
Fortunately, looking at the next rotation time at the bottom of the shop...
The shop's items should rotate once every half a month.
Hmm, it coincided with the times he could absorb Incense Value.
The system really knew how to do business, rotating new items on the exact two days a month he could absorb Incense Value.
But unfortunately, Song Xuanqing's Incense Value was nowhere near enough.
And precisely because it wasn't enough, Song Xuanqing was still debating whether to buy that Hanlu Pill.
It was ten points of Incense Value. Spending it directly on his cultivation would increase it by 1%.
He had no idea how much cultivation this Hanlu Pill would grant him.
If it didn't even give him 1%, wouldn't that be a huge loss?
Song Xuanqing had a bit of a headache. His Incense Value was too scarce, and he could only absorb it twice a month. He wished he could split every point in half to use it.
But soon, Song Xuanqing was no longer conflicted.
Because someone had come to offer incense.
In the deep of the night, Song Mugen held a torch, followed by his son, daughter, and wife. The family of four came carrying incense and offerings.
In truth, according to current customs, worship and incense offerings were usually done between 7-9 AM and 3-5 PM.
At this hour, it was not the time for offering incense at all.
But after Song Mugen and his son returned home and discussed it, they decided to come and offer incense right away.
Xuanqing Gong had shown his power, sending a cat demon into Wolf Head Mountain that very night to save the father and son.
If they waited until tomorrow, wouldn't that be showing disrespect to Xuanqing Gong?
Not only did they have to come, but Song Mugen felt his entire family should come to offer incense to Xuanqing Gong!
Arriving before the Xuanqing Temple, Song Mugen did not go straight in to offer incense.
Instead, he first had his family kneel before the temple and said respectfully, "Xuanqing Gong, please forgive us. This humble one means no offense by coming at this hour. We are simply grateful to Xuanqing Gong for saving my son's and my life today, and have come through the night to offer incense and fulfill our vow."
Only then did Song Mugen's family enter the temple.
Song Ming first placed the offerings on the altar: a bound, barely-living chicken and a plate of fruit.
In this era, for rural farmers, a live chicken and fruit were both rarities.
Chickens were kept for laying eggs and they couldn't bear to slaughter them for food. Fruit was also a luxury.
But to show their sincerity, Song Mugen's family had still tied up a chicken and brought the fruit they couldn't bear to eat themselves.
The family lit their incense and knelt respectfully before Song Xuanqing's divine statue.
"May Xuanqing Gong bless us..."
***
【Incense Value +8.5】
【Incense Value +8】
【Incense Value +8】
A total of 24.5 Incense Value was credited, coming from Song Mugen, Song Ming, and Madame Song.
Song Xiuxiu had already offered incense during the day and could not provide Incense Value again within the same day.
Song Xuanqing was delighted. The Song Mugen family was truly generous; each person provided no less than 8 points of Incense Value.
Most of the villagers who came to offer incense during the day had only given four or five points, with some giving as little as two or three.
The moment this Incense Value was credited, his dilemma about buying the Hanlu Pill vanished.
Of course, this wasn't the only thing that made Song Xuanqing happy.
He had discovered a way to harvest even more Incense Value.
Song Family Village had twenty to thirty households with a population of about a hundred, but not everyone came to offer incense to Song Xuanqing.
The local custom was that one person per household was enough.
Some would bring their young children along to pray for their intelligence and safety.
But most of the time, only one person per household came to offer incense.
That was why, throughout the entire day, only about thirty-some people had come to offer incense to Song Xuanqing.
But what if all one hundred or so people in Song Family Village came to offer him incense?
Wouldn't the Incense Value he harvested each time increase dramatically?
The only tricky part was how Song Xuanqing could get all one hundred or so people in Song Family Village to come and offer him incense on the first and fifteenth of the month.
He couldn't just personally go and say, "Come on, everyone, come offer me incense!"
That would be far too lacking in divine dignity.
The flawed nature of humanity meant it was best for him not to get too close to people.
Although these villagers seemed simple and honest now, Song Xuanqing, whose own power was still insufficient, didn't want to stir up unnecessary trouble.
Proofreader: Peter Pan