The Twenty-First Illustration: The Image of Faith

“Next is the purification of intent. Purification is a law of the life system, and it is one of the fundamental laws every cleric must master. Faith comes from belief, and belief is a kind of intent. Since it is intent, it inevitably carries the distractions of the believer, such as prayers for protection and the like. Distractions are poison; they must be purged, hence the need for purification. We are not gods, nor are we responsible for answering prayers. Everything is a fair exchange.”

Boyar imbued the law of purification into the World Painting, tracing a refining array with his fingertip.

“After purification comes the refinement of faith. At this stage, the faith can already be used, but it is too dilute and must be concentrated. Remember, the higher the rank of the believer, the more magnificent and pure the faith they contribute. It takes a hundred ordinary Heaven-class believers to refine a single standard faith pearl, which is equivalent to ten Star-class believers, or one Void-class believer. For those above the Profound class, the ratio is a hundred to one.”

The refining array faded, and now only the final step remained for the World Painting—the faith channel.

“The faith channel serves to transport and deliver the power of faith and should be completed in tandem with its storage. Choose a spiritual artifact capable of storing faith, and connect your work to it. I recommend using the storage artifact provided by the Temple. After a million years of refinement, it is flawless, highly secure, can be linked to an unlimited number of works, is automatically associated with a bank account, and is soul-bound—making it nearly impossible for others to seize.”

A dark green ring appeared on Boyar’s right thumb. He removed it and pressed the face of the ring against the World Painting before putting it back on.

“Most importantly, it is free.”

Sangsang was puzzled. “Wouldn’t storing faith directly in one’s own body be even more convenient?”

“In your own body as a vessel?” Boyar looked at Sangsang as if she had just told a joke. “Naive. Let me warn you—never leave any personal information such as mental or internal energy on your work. You can never predict whose hands your work may fall into, whether they’ll use such information to track you down, or even directly curse you. All your previous works are unqualified. Make sure to keep them safe, and if any have gone astray, retrieve and destroy them.”

Sangsang’s face turned pale. She had once taken great pride in the many pieces she’d sold or gifted, and some were even crafted as dark works to harm others. Each and every one bore her personal mark as a faith channel, and the formation arrays in the paintings were constructed not from elemental energy, but from her own mental force.

By Boyar’s words, every painting she’d ever made was a ticking bomb that could go off at any moment.

“Atlantis, scan.” Boyar tossed the World Painting into the air. A beam of light fell, forming a pale cyan protective barrier around it. With a flick of his hand, the World Painting floated to Sangsang. “Minors are not permitted to use faith items below the yellow grade. Here, you can play with this one. Next, let’s practice hands-on. Your energy control score is precise, so forming a vessel shouldn’t be difficult for you.”

Forming a vessel was indeed easy for Sangsang. With her natural affinity for all energies and balance among all systems, plus the aid of space law, she succeeded after a few tries, and Boyar let her go back early.

Returning to her dormitory in Sprout Valley, Sangsang thought of Boyar’s warning. The more she considered it, the more sense it made. Advanced civilizations could even capture souls; tracking someone through their mental energy would be child’s play. She grew increasingly uneasy. Last time in the Forest Realm, she’d already been targeted by the Hundred Flowers Saintess, and her vulnerabilities had been exposed on the very first day. If her adversary was ruthless enough, what if they sent people to the galaxy to collect her works as leverage?

Sitting cross-legged, Sangsang tried to reach out to her scattered works by vague spiritual sense, but the distance was too great. She could only sense their general direction, with no way to communicate, let alone retrieve her mental energy. Was it her imagination, or did their locations seem more clustered than she remembered? Was someone truly gathering her works?

Xiao Jin noticed Sangsang’s unease and, after inquiring, comforted her. “Don’t worry. There haven’t been any issues so far, and there won’t be any in the short term. Your mental energy is subtle and, in lower civilizations, no one strong enough to threaten you through it. The distance is probably giving you that illusion. The galaxy is so far away, and there are over a hundred civilizations to traverse, not to mention more than thirty desolate starfields, debris belts, dust belts, and supernova zones along the route. Even with a star map, it would take at least a year in Temple standard time to make the trip safely.”

Sangsang was still uneasy. “But the Temple has many teleportation arrays. Who’s to say the candidate saintesses who see me as a rival won’t send people to collect them? I sold a lot of custom paintings online—I can’t even find some of the buyers.”

Xiao Jin hugged Sangsang’s finger. “I’ve kept records. We can ask Senna to open a temporary external network and have Junlin help retrieve them. Even if your opponents wanted to send someone, they couldn’t get a bishop-level figure involved. I’ve already messaged Senna.”

Sangsang stroked Xiao Jin, accepting the comfort. “Grandpa Anthony is one of the Temple’s three chief bishops. Even he needs special privileges for ultra-long-range teleportation. The candidate saintesses likely can’t apply for that. If they go by the starmap, it’ll be at least next year or the year after before anything could happen—and the journey is so long they could get lost.”

Senna arrived quickly and, after hearing Sangsang’s concerns, laughed.

“Children shouldn’t worry so much. Your safety is, of course, the concern of your guardians. The moment you presented the ‘Narcissus Painting,’ I reported to Lord Anthony. When he brought you here, he instructed those setting up the teleportation gate and star network to secretly recover your works. After all, you are a future saintess, possibly the key to the Anthony faction’s prosperity. We can’t be too careful.”

“Please thank Grandpa Anthony for me. I don’t know how to repay him for his care.” Sangsang finally sighed in relief, setting aside her lingering anxiety.

Senna said, “Passing the saintess selection is the best form of gratitude.”

“That’s been my goal all along.” Sangsang brought up another concern. “You mentioned setting up a teleportation gate and a star network? When will they be ready?”

“The teleportation gate is being set up by a Primordial-class expert, personally folding space between the Temple and the galaxy. It should be ready around the time you pass the second selection. The star network will be faster—it’ll be operational next month,” Senna replied. “Who do you want to contact? The Temple only restricts those under thirty from accessing the external star network, not communications, but your home is so far away and must pass through several civilizations, making it risky. It’s best to have a guardian accompany you. If you don’t mind, I can act as your relay.”

Sangsang was momentarily stunned, then looked at Xiao Jin in delight.

Xiao Jin was hugging Sangsang’s finger and gazed up with a dazed expression. Their eyes met, and the little machine nodded enthusiastically.

“Help me contact the Celestial Emperor. He’s on Grandpa Anthony’s ship.”

“Lord Anthony’s ship has a dedicated line, so no relay will be needed,” Senna replied with a raised brow. “That’s the child rumored to be even more gifted than you? I’ll have to see for myself.”