“Naturally, it would affect them,” said Gao Han with a smile. “Upon reaching a certain realm, the heretical martial art pract.i.tioners could already enjoy the benefits of the faith power. If their connection to the faith power were cut off, even if their cultivation realm wouldn’t plummet, they would still slowly decline in their current realm.”

“As for to what extent it declines, it differs from each person. Rarely any heretics wouldn’t get affected by this. However, if there were people that wouldn’t be affected…” After pausing for a while, he continued, “That would be those prodigies that don’t walk the path of heretics. Using their talents and potential, they would attempt to rise to the same realm as others.”

Yan Zhaoge and Feng Yunsheng understood, “People like the Sword Devil – Yin s.h.i.+yang.”

Gao Han nodded, “That’s right.”

“Speaking of it, I’ve encountered a heretic Emperor that originated from the Immortal Court. It was a woman. Although her talents and strength pales in comparison to the Sword Devil, she was still outstanding.” said Yan Zhaoge. “She claimed to have enjoyed five territories’ worth of faith power [1].”

“As expected, she’s a more outstanding individual among the True Immortal heretics,” said Gao Han. “Among the heretic’s Three Thousand Immortal Territories, under normal circ.u.mstances, every True Immortal can only enjoy the faith power released by four to five territories.”

A scornful smile appeared on his face, “The higher the heretic martial art pract.i.tioners reach, the higher the possibility of them coming in contact with the truth. They would slowly understand that their path wasn’t as righteous and equal as others made out to be. As long as they were sincere, everyone else would have a chance as well. Of course, the chances also differ with each individual.”

The more outstanding True Immortals could enjoy the faith power coming from five territories, while normal True Immortal heretics could only enjoy four territories’ faith power.

Yan Zhaoge touched his chin, “To be frank, I had been moving around within the Immortal Court heretic’s lands for a while in the past. Only, the Immortal Realm heretic experts that I’ve encountered were comparatively little, and their understanding of the subject was limited.”

“At that time, there was someone called the Han Emperor, who was killed by the Exalted Fire Luminary. Some said that he enjoyed the faith power of twelve territories. What kind of level was he at?”

He looked towards Gao Han and asked.

Han Emperor was one of the two Profound Immortal heretics that Yan Zhaoge, the Brocade Emperor, and the Encompa.s.sing Emperor had encountered when they first entered the Nine Underworlds in search of Feng Yunsheng.

Afterward, they injured the Mars Halberd, driving Suo Mingzhang to incite immense havoc within the Immortal Court.

During that time, Suo Mingzhang had unintentionally captured an Immortal Court expert that had besieged the Exalted Wood Luminary – Shao Huangjun in the past. With this, he finally knew that the location in which Shao Huangjun had disappeared was the Original Nebula.

“Twelve territories should be considered quite little. He must be a Duo Qis Fused Aura Profound Immortal,” answered Gao Han. “Normally speaking, a Profound Immortal heretic can only enjoy the faith power coming from twelve to fifteen territories.”

Typically, an Exalt Martial Saint could only enjoy a few worlds’ faith power.

For example, the Vast Yang Exalt – Pei Hua could only enjoy the faith power coming from the Loathing Square Immortal Territory.

As for the faith power used to wors.h.i.+p the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord was released by the lifeforms of the Loathing Square Immortal Territory, which included Pei Hua himself, these faith powers would instead be used by other Immortal Court heretics.

This Immortal Court Emperor could enjoy the faith power coming from four to five territories, including the Loathing Square Immortal Territory. The world that these territories governed over could be a few dozens, or even close to a hundred.

By a.n.a.logy, the faith power enjoyed by about three True Immortal Emperor heretics, as well as the faith power released by the dozens of worlds governed over by their Immortal Territories, would be enjoyed by other Profound Immortal heretics as well.

The reason why it’s called “enjoy” rather than “share” was that these worlds’ faith power belonged to the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord.

“Generally speaking, a Virtual Immortal heretic could enjoy thirty-six to forty-five Immortal Territories’ faith power.” Gao Han continued, “Meanwhile, a Heavenly Immortal heretic can enjoy two hundred and sixteen Immortal Territories, up to two hundred seventy Immortal Territories. Of course, it differs from person to person.”

“There were originally twelve Heavenly Lords within the Immortal Court. There should be around seventy-two Virtual Immortal Heavenly Monarchs, right?” Yan Zhaoge touched his chin.

Gao Han said, “That’s right. There are twelve Grand Heavenly Immortals within the Immortal Court. Due to how rare the Grand Heavenly Immortals perished and how hard it was to ascend to that realm, this number was comparatively stable. Very rarely would someone among them be changed, or even an additional member be added within. Due to their fight against the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus, starting from the Virtual Immortal Heavenly Monarch Realm, their numbers slowly became unstable. Whenever someone was being replaced, or whenever they lacked the manpower, they would require time to condition themselves to compensate for their losses.”

“As for the Profound Immortals and True Immortals, although there’s quite a large number of them, they were changed the most frequently. After all, they were continually peris.h.i.+ng as their battle against the Buddhist heretics continued. Only, it’s much easier to compensate for their deaths.”

While he was talking, he looked towards his surroundings, “This time, due to Daoist Suo’s surprise attack, the Immortal Court had truly suffered a heavy amount of loss.”

Yan Zhaoge nodded, “Four Heavenly Immortals perished, which was sufficient in hurting their foundations already. Moreover, they had even lost more than twenty Virtual Immortal Heavenly Monarchs. Such losses couldn’t be compensated for within such a short amount of time.”

The Blessed Lands of the White Lotus quickly took this chance to invade the Immortal Court. With a forceful stance, they forced the Immortal Court into a vicious cycle.

Their lack of combat prowess caused them to lose their lands. They strongly required the replenishment of their combat prowess to turn the tides of battle into their favor.

However, them losing their lands made it extremely difficult for them to replenish their combat prowess.

Since they couldn’t replenish it, they were still being oppressed by others.

Fortunately, they had the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord presiding over the Immortal Court. In addition, the Immortal Court’s foundations were extremely st.u.r.dy. After losing eight hundred of their Immortal Territories, they finally managed to regain their footing and prevent the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus from advancing any further.

Only, it was too difficult for them to counter-attack.

After the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus occupied the Immortal Territories, which contained a myriad of worlds, they didn’t just leave it be.

The locals were all brought away by the Immortal Court to prevent leaving anyone behind for the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus. However, on the other hand, the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus could also migrate their citizens inside these worlds. These migrated citizens would then continue breeding and even latch their roots in the Immortal Territories.

Now that twenty years had pa.s.sed, based on a mortal’s lifespan, it was sufficient in allowing the growth of a generation of children into adults.

As they continued developing, the balance of strength between the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus and the Immortal Court would be toppled off.

“If you’re a heretic, and you’re facing the Buddhism heretic’s overbearingness with you being in a disadvantageous situation, what would you do to turn the tables around?” Yan Zhaoge suddenly asked.

Gao Han smiled upon hearing Yan Zhaoge’s question. Without any hesitation, he immediately answered, “I would find an opportunity to bait, or even forcefully illuminate our Three Clear Lineage’s Virtual Immortals and Profound Immortals, or even the Demon Race’s Small Saints.”

“Doing so would be extremely difficult, and executing it within a short amount of time would consume quite an amount of energy. Moreover, I might not even have the freedom of doing so, with how oppressive the Blessed Lands of the White Lotus are. However, to compensate for my shortcomings, and to escape from the situation where my manpower isn’t sufficient, doing so would be the fastest way.”

In fact, while this method strengthened themselves, it would also damage their enemies or even potential enemies.

Forcefully illuminating someone requires a huge disparity in cultivation between the caster and the victim.

As such, it was much easier to lure and fulfill the desires of a Virtual Immortal.

On the other hand, the Immeasurable Heavenly Lord might be able to illuminate a Profound Immortal forcefully.

Of course, if the illumination was done involuntarily, whether the illumination could be maintained for a long span of time was a different problem.

Yan Zhaoge believed that if he were truly related to the Supreme Elder Lord, Gao Han would still plot a scheme against himself. But, Gao Han wouldn’t sell him off to the Immortal Court.

However, from the perspective of an Immortal Court expert, there’s a possibility of them thinking of such a plan as well. They might even be attentively searching for such an opportunity.

No matter if it were him, Feng Yunsheng, Gao Han, or the others, they would have to be wary of the Immortal Court’s plans in the future.

“We’re nearing that universe.” Gao Han suddenly smiled and said, “Let me introduce some fellow Daoists to your wife.”

[1] It’s previously translated as the “Five Realms Incense.” Incense is the item burnt to wors.h.i.+p G.o.ds. In a way, it sort of represents people’s faith to G.o.d. With the context being clearer, we will go with five territories’ worth of faith power. After all, territories are now a quantifier on faith power.