[Host has obtained Faith Points for the first time, the System Mall has been opened for you.]
"Faith Points? System Mall??"
Ao Yuan maintained a calm exterior, his mind filled with questions.
"System, what are Faith Points?"
[Ding, Faith Points are the faith the people of Great Xia have in you. The more people who believe in you, the more Faith Points you will obtain.]
[Faith Points can be used to purchase items in the System Mall.]
Upon hearing this, Ao Yuan pondered and finally understood.
Faith!
It wasn't an unfamiliar concept to Ao Yuan. After all, many people now believed in Buddha, gods, and similar entities.
In Ao Yuan's understanding, this concept of faith in oneself should be quite similar.
"So... because I just taught cultivation, I obtained Faith Points?"
Ao Yuan recalled the events that had just transpired and tentatively asked.
[Correct. Please continue to strive and maintain the image of the Great Xia totem.]
"I see." Ao Yuan nodded in understanding and, unable to contain his eagerness, silently commanded, "Open the System Mall for me!"
He was now curious to see what good things were available in the System Mall.
[Opening System Mall for the host.]
[Opening complete!]
As soon as the system finished speaking, Ao Yuan felt a momentary blur before his eyes.
When his vision cleared, a screen, visible only to him, appeared before him.
Various items were displayed on the screen.
There were skills like the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, pills like the Form Transformation Pill, Dragon Pearls, Innate Spiritual Body, and so on.
In simple terms, any item obtainable from the lottery could also be purchased individually in the System Mall.
Ao Yuan scanned through them one by one, his dragon eyes burning with intensity.
Putting aside other items, just seeing the Form Transformation Pill made Ao Yuan very tempted.
After all, Ao Yuan's greatest wish right now was to transform into a human.
However, as Ao Yuan's gaze shifted downwards, his body stiffened, his dragon eyes widening in disbelief.
"Holy cow, how many zeros are there!"
Ao Yuan smacked his lips, his gaze fixed on a string of numbers beneath the Form Transformation Pill.
He began to count softly: "Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, hundred thousands, millions, tens of millions, billions..."
His voice trailed off at the eighth digit, his pupils nearly bulging out of his sockets.
Because!
Upon reaching this point, Ao Yuan realized there was still another zero following it!
This meant that one Form Transformation Pill cost a staggering one billion Faith Points.
One billion Faith Points.
That was almost equivalent to the population of Great Xia.
If converted to Great Xia currency, it would take an average commoner one hundred people one hundred years to earn ten billion.
And here, a single Form Transformation Pill cost ten billion?
"Do you really think I'm a celestial being? That Faith Points can be conjured up so easily?"
"Damn it! Why don't you just rob someone!"
As is well known, "Damn it" is an exclamation of frustration.
Ao Yuan grumbled in dissatisfaction and simply closed the System Mall with a flick of his wrist.
He feared he might choke on his own blood if he continued to look.
"Daidaidai, Daidaidai!"
As soon as Ao Yuan closed the System Mall, Dai Xiaomei and Mozi, acting affectionately, clung to him again.
"Wow, Daidai, look, you're on the news again!"
Ao Yuan turned his head. Dai Xiaomei and Mozi were holding their phones.
He took a few steps forward and saw a post from the official Great Xia media.
[Great Xia: In this era of spiritual energy resurgence, our nation has reached an agreement with the guardian divine beast Ao Yuan. We shall henceforth stand together and form an alliance of life and death.]
[The agreement reached between our nation and the guardian divine beast Ao Yuan is as follows. We hope all citizens of Great Xia are informed.]
...
Ao Yuan scanned through the lengthy text, finding that it was consistent with what Bai Feng had said.
Further down was a photograph.
The photo showed Bai Feng and Ao Yuan, one person and one beast.
After reviewing it, Ao Yuan gestured for Dai Xiaomei to scroll to the comment section.
Although the post had only been up for less than a minute, the view count had already surpassed a million.
Countless netizens had left comments below.
"Hahaha, does this even need to be announced like the other demons?"
"Daidai is our Great Xia's guardian divine beast!"
"Exactly, I was just listening to Daidai explain cultivation in Dai Xiaomei's livestream."
"My strength has already broken through a level, it feels great."
"Huh? I didn't watch the livestream earlier, Daidai taught cultivation?"
"When is the next session? I want to watch too."
"Me too, me too."
"Fortunately, Great Xia has Daidai, otherwise, Great Xia would likely be plunged into war like other nations."
"Thank you, Daidai!"
...
Ao Yuan looked at the comment section. He genuinely wanted to control his expression to maintain his image, but his head couldn't help but lift, a smile playing on his dragon face, though he felt he needed to maintain his dignity.
At that moment, a system electronic voice abruptly sounded in his mind.
[Ding, congratulations to the host for maintaining the image of the Great Xia totem. Faith Points +2000]
"Hmm?"
Ao Yuan could no longer suppress his smile and let out a hearty laugh, baring his dragon teeth.
In fact, he hadn't thought that much about it before. He simply felt that as a citizen of Great Xia, he needed to do something for the nation in this time of crisis. That was all.
He hadn't expected to coincidentally gain Faith Points.
This was truly wonderful!
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck Ao Yuan.
One billion Faith Points was indeed difficult to acquire.
But the system never stated that Faith Points could only be obtained from humans!
Did this mean that they could be obtained from animals, or more accurately, from any intelligent creature?
With this thought, Ao Yuan's mind cleared.
He had been worried about not being able to recruit subordinates, and now here was an opportunity!
With this in mind, Ao Yuan immediately commanded silently, "System, what cultivation techniques can I currently exchange for?"
He paused for a moment, then added, "Techniques suitable for all animals to cultivate."
[Ding, the current cultivation technique that meets the host's requirements is the Demonic Scripture.]
[Description: Cultivating this technique can increase the chance of animals awakening their bloodline and unlocking their spiritual intelligence.]
[Price: 4000 Faith Points]
Ao Yuan hesitated upon hearing this.
Bloodline awakening.
He had previously inquired with Ao Guang, and after awakening their bloodline, their strength would increase significantly, and sometimes they would inexplicably gain new memories.
Although Ao Yuan didn't fully understand the specifics, he was certain it would bring no harm to Ao Guang.
This was indeed a good thing, but the hefty price of 3000 Faith Points made Ao Yuan a little hesitant.
After much deliberation, a flicker of heartache crossed Ao Yuan's face, and he finally said, "System, I want to exchange for the Demonic Scripture!"