Li Shuang didn't know, but there should be someone here who did.
"Senior Brother," Li Shuang asked directly, "After using the Divine Light of Rebirth, I feel as if an energy has been added to me. I can't actively use this energy, but it seems to automatically protect me. What is this?"
Li Shuang looked at Lin An with some curiosity.
"Oh?" A hint of surprise flashed in Lin An's expression. "It really works!"
Li Shuang looked at him, somewhat puzzled.
Lin An suppressed his fluctuating emotions and explained in detail, "I have never cultivated the Rebirth Art myself, so what I'm about to say is just my guess, but it should be close to the truth."
"The Dao of Reincarnation is a natural law of the heavens. After death, one enters the Underworld River, crosses it, and begins a new life. This cycle repeats, forming one of the most fundamental rules of this world."
"However, there are always some souls that, for various reasons, fail to enter the Underworld River and instead wander the human realm. This goes against the natural law of the heavens. The Divine Light of Rebirth can send souls into the Underworld River for reincarnation, which is equivalent to helping the heavens deal with these existences outside the rules. It's assisting the heavens, so the heavens will naturally bestow certain rewards."
"The energy you've obtained, if I'm not mistaken, should be merit!"
"Helping the poor brings merit."
"Aiding the weak and distressed brings merit."
"Delivering departed souls naturally also brings merit."
Lin An explained.
Li Shuang suddenly fell into contemplation.
Back then, when she went to Chen Kingdom with Luo Mingyue and others to destroy the heart of the demonic essence in the imperial palace, the Heaven and Earth Cauldron had helped her collect the power of sentient beings' wishes, and she had used this power to destroy the demonic essence in one fell swoop.
At that time, the Heaven and Earth Cauldron had said:
Due to the lack of specific cultivation methods, if not used immediately without the cauldron's assistance, these collected wishes would gradually dissipate.
Listening now, Li Shuang felt that the "merit" Lin An spoke of sounded somewhat similar to the "power of sentient beings' wishes."
With this thought, Li Shuang directly voiced her confusion.
She briefly described her experiences in Chen Kingdom, omitting the existence of the Heaven and Earth Cauldron, only saying that she suddenly felt a certain power and used it to slay the demonic essence.
"What was that power again that day?" Li Shuang asked.
Lin An thought for a moment and said, "That should be the power of wishes. When sentient beings face difficulties, they pray to the heavens, forming the power of wishes. At that time, the goal of those wishes was to eliminate the demonic essence. After you accomplished this, you would gain some merit."
"However, merit is something intangible. Without a corresponding cultivation method, it cannot be utilized. Those merits might grant you some brief good fortune for a period of time. After that, they would gradually dissipate."
"But now, your Rebirth Art has reached the second major stage, and you have cultivated the Divine Light of Rebirth. The Divine Light of Rebirth delivers departed souls, earning heavenly merit. With heavenly merit within your body, any other merits you obtain in the future will not easily dissipate."
Lin An sighed, "Fifty thousand years ago, there was a sect called the Sect of Merit. They did not cultivate spiritual energy or divine souls, but only merit. When merit cultivation reached a profound level, it was equally astonishingly powerful, no less than other cultivators. If one had enough merit, they could even become an immortal through their physical body and ascend directly to the immortal realm."
"However, this method of cultivation becomes increasingly difficult the further one progresses. Especially to reach the stage of becoming an immortal through one's physical body, one would probably need to save the world from an apocalyptic crisis."
"The cultivators of the Sect of Merit were always unable to reach the pinnacle, and slowly, the sect declined. Today, the cultivation methods of the Sect of Merit are kept in the Cangjing阁 (Scripture Repository) of Langya Palace. If you are interested in the future, you can read them."
Li Shuang listened with great interest.
Cultivating merit?
That's interesting.
When the Dao of Merit is used as a primary cultivation method, advancement would be quite difficult.
But if it's used as a supplementary cultivation method, it would be quite useful!
Li Shuang temporarily kept this in mind, and then continued to recover.
When she felt that the Divine Light of Rebirth could be formed again in the Underworld River, Li Shuang stood up.
"Senior Brother Lin An, I can use the Divine Light of Rebirth again now. I wonder... who should I deliver first?"
There were tens of thousands of disciples in Langya Sect.
Now, these true spirits were all eagerly watching Li Shuang and Lin An's direction.
They dreamed of ending their endless torment and beginning a new reincarnation.
But vaguely, they were also somewhat afraid.
After all,
So far, Li Shuang's Divine Light of Rebirth had left no survivors.
Although they considered themselves not to be unforgivable sinners, they couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.
"Your Divine Light of Rebirth has just been cultivated, so don't expend too much. The lowest cultivation level of disciples in Langya Sect is at the Nascent Soul stage, so let's start with these disciples." Lin An looked at these Nascent Soul stage disciples.
Some true spirits subconsciously took a step back.
"Those who wish to try voluntarily, step forward." Lin An said.
This was the first time the Divine Light of Rebirth was demonstrated, and he knew these disciples were still apprehensive.
However, everything had to start somewhere.
After a brief silence.
A delicate-looking woman suddenly stepped forward. She timidly said, "I... can I try first?"
She believed she had never committed any evil deeds. When Langya Sect attempted mass ascension, though her voice was weak and she couldn't change anything, she held her ground and did not go along with the corruption.
If the Divine Light of Rebirth still deemed her deserving of death, she would accept her fate and let her soul dissipate.
"Come closer," Lin An nodded.
This disciple stood nervously before Li Shuang.
If she succeeded.
She would be the first person in Langya Sect to enter reincarnation in fifty thousand years.
If she failed...
Then the other true spirits might only face inevitable death.
The other true spirits also watched silently.
They were watching this woman's fate, and likewise, their own fate.
Li Shuang raised her hand, and the brilliant golden light once again gathered at her fingertips.
The female disciple closed her eyes nervously.
The golden light enveloped her, and her soul body also became transparent.
Inside her body, there wasn't a large amount of black impurities like in the Third Elder's case, but only a small gray area appeared.
The Divine Light of Rebirth burned this gray area, and the female disciple clearly felt some pain, but this pain was completely within a tolerable range.
When this small gray area was completely burned away.
Her soul body also became completely transparent.
Under the guidance of the Divine Light of Rebirth, her soul body slowly floated upwards, and then, little by little, entered the Underworld River.
Everyone watched without blinking.
The female disciple's soul body showed no unexpected signs; she stood steadily on the waters of the Underworld River.
She stood quietly for a while, and then a soul imprint suddenly appeared on her forehead.
The female disciple felt something, and with gratitude, she knelt down and bowed, "The demonic seed is not extinguished, and its sins have not dissipated. I understand. After reincarnation, if I am fortunate enough to achieve something, I will certainly fight the demonic seed to the death."
Within the Underworld River, the woman, unbound by rules, smoothly uttered the words "demonic seed."
At this moment, it was clear that the heavens had given her some guidance, reminding her that everything was not yet over.
The female disciple finally kowtowed three times in gratitude towards Li Shuang and Lin An, then she stood up and walked into the depths of the Underworld River.
"She's reincarnated!"
"She really went to reincarnate!"
"The heavens have forgiven us!"
"Fifty thousand years, fifty thousand years..."
A chorus of voices immediately rose, and some true spirits even burst into tears on the spot.