"Alas, a parent's heart knows no bounds..."
Ding Yun sighed with lament and pity for those parents whose children suffered from severe, incurable illnesses. However, she did not immediately intervene.
Gods who were too approachable would lose their authority.
The saying "a favor of a peck can be repaid with a bushel, but a favor of a bushel can lead to enmity" applied not only to ordinary people but also to gods and mortals. If blessings were bestowed too frequently, and then suddenly reduced or ceased, it could easily lead to resentment.
Some gods, in a fit of rage, would initiate world-ending calamities.
This was likely triggered by insatiable, greedy believers, leading to floods or devastating lightning strikes that implicated countless followers.
Therefore, how to bestow blessings, how to perform miracles, and the specific frequency of such actions all required careful consideration and could not be done carelessly.
Thus, although Ding Yun felt pity, she ultimately only made a mental note of them for now, refraining from bestowing blessings uniformly. At most, she would secretly grant a wisp of life force to children who were critically ill and nearing death, allowing them to hold on for a little longer.
Then, she continued to proceed with her original plan.
After some more time, Ding Yun had a rough idea of how many believers she had, and how they were categorized into different levels, along with the approximate number in each category.
Believers could be divided into several tiers based on their faith: shallow believers, true believers, devout believers, and saints.
Shallow believers were also known as general believers.
These were people who believed casually, worshipping any deity they encountered, holding a somewhat indifferent faith, akin to a casual acquaintance. They provided very little divine power.
This category was the largest. Out of the current global population of over 8 billion, nearly 4 billion were shallow believers. Their reach was extensive, but their contribution was minimal.
Their faith offered Ding Yun very little help.
Not only was it difficult to achieve a qualitative change through sheer quantity, but absorbing their divine power required numerous purifications through her divine kingdom and divinity to prevent the inferior quality of their faith from contaminating her divine power and weakening its efficacy.
True believers, as the name suggested, were those who had sincerely begun to believe in Ding Yun, moving beyond the initial casual acquaintance and forming a closer connection.
They were the kind who genuinely believed and frequently invoked her name or offered supplications.
Their current total number was around 300 million.
Most of them were individuals who had personally witnessed miracles or whose friends and family had received blessings. The divine power from these believers was generally stable, forming a solid foundation.
Above them were the devout believers. These were people who believed in Ding Yun with utmost conviction. If anyone spoke ill of her, they would vehemently defend her, even treating Ding Yun's words as sacred truth. While they still retained their own thoughts and beliefs, Ding Yun's ideas and pronouncements had taken precedence, becoming a standard they adhered to.
Their number was also considerable, approximately ten million. Most of them were those who had recently experienced Ding Yun's bestowed healing light, or those who hoped Ding Yun would continue to bless them and cure their children.
As for the final tier, saints, they were even fewer in number.
There were less than five, to be precise, three.
Saints were highly anticipated and valued by all gods. They were not simply born from fervent, selfless faith. The emergence of a saint required the fulfillment of three extremely stringent conditions.
First, faith: their faith must be pure, without any demands, not expecting personal gain through belief in a deity. Those who prayed devoutly for their children or were willing to sacrifice their lives or even souls did not meet this standard.
Second, soul: their soul must be pure, possessing what is colloquially known as a child-like heart, embodying truth, goodness, and beauty. Not only could they not have committed evil deeds, but they could not have even entertained the thought of doing so.
Third, physique: their physique must be pure. Here, purity did not mean an immaculate, crystal-clear body, but rather the presence of relatively pure bloodlines or special constitutions within their bodies.
For example, a congenital Dao body or a five-element holy body.
A pure glass body would also suffice.
Each of these conditions was exceedingly rare, let alone all three being present simultaneously. Many gods, eager to acquire more saints, would personally intervene to falsify or cheat, bestowing special bloodlines upon those with pure faith and souls to help them transform into saints.
Even though these fabricated saints were slightly inferior to naturally occurring ones, they were still far superior to devout believers and remained exceptionally rare and important.
They were generally protected within the core of the gods' divine kingdoms.
This was because every saint possessed the potential to become a god. With sufficient resources, they could easily be transformed into subordinate gods. Crucially, they were also loyal, virtually all of them being utterly devoted.
Where else could one find subordinates with both talent and loyalty? They had been rare since ancient times!
Ding Yun had found three saints with just one display of divine power, which could be considered a stroke of immense luck, a clear sign of divine favor. Even though two of these saints were a bit older, she did not hesitate to guide them into the solar divine palace she had just constructed.
Of course, they were brought in with great care. Her solar divine palace was at the core of the sun; without protection, they would have been turned to ash just by being brought in!
After a moment of daze, the three individuals found themselves abruptly transported to a magnificent, golden hall. Before they could express surprise, astonishment, or discuss their situation, they looked up and saw Ding Yun seated on high.
As believers of saintly caliber, they completely disregarded their own confusion about their sudden appearance and immediately prostrated themselves, chanting her divine title.
Ding Yun remained silent. With a wave of her hand, three golden lights shot into their bodies. These lights began to burn away all impurities and filth within them, revitalizing and restoring the lost magnificence of their special physiques and bloodlines, which had been buried beneath the contamination of everyday sustenance.
"Your faith is devout, and this god is greatly pleased. As I have just reawakened, I am in need of subordinates to manage affairs. Therefore, I bestow upon you the methods of cleansing marrow and forging divinity. You must cultivate diligently and attain the ultimate fruition soon, so that you may serve this god."
As Ding Yun spoke, the golden lights that had entered the bodies of the three saints gradually receded. They then divided into two parts. One part transformed into energy, helping them establish a foundation imbued with a wisp of immortal divinity, thus laying a solid groundwork for their future godhood.
The other part materialized as the "Solar Sacred Scripture," integrating into their souls.
The "Solar Sacred Scripture" was a cultivation technique specially compiled by Ding Yun, adapted to the various laws of this world. It was a method for achieving godhood, capable of building a foundation from scratch, advancing, igniting divine fire, and ultimately condensing a divinity.
Naturally, it had its drawbacks.
To ignite divine fire and condense divinity while practicing this technique, one would require Ding Yun's permission. Only with her consent and the bestowal of faith and immortal divinity could divine fire be ignited and divinity condensed.
This way, even if they achieved godhood, they would remain beneath Ding Yun, serving as her subordinate gods or auxiliary gods.
Regardless of their innate talent, they would always be one tier below Ding Yun.
In other words, as long as Ding Yun had not ascended to the level of a supreme god, no subordinate or auxiliary god practicing the "Solar Sacred Scripture" could surpass her to become a main god.
However, generally speaking, unless one was a destined protagonist of a novel, achieving godhood within three to five years was not an easy feat.
Therefore, this drawback was inconsequential for ordinary beings.
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