Early the next morning, Ian Song returned to the Inner Palace.
"Well?" asked the Head of State.
Ian Song reported his findings. The Head of State and the Cabinet Elders all looked stunned, then gradually grew more worried.
Ian Song said gravely, "Six hundred years ago, the Heavenly Court lost contact with the mortal world. We don't know if it will reappear. Until we figure out the Heavenly Court's true strength, it's best not to act rashly!"
"Actually, I have some theories about why the Heavenly Court lost contact with the mortal world!" Elder Stone suddenly spoke up.
"Oh?"
Ian Song looked at Elder Stone, waiting for him to continue.
After a moment's thought, Elder Stone said, "Three Kingdoms had Zhuge Liang; the unification of the realm had Bowen Liu. After Liu Bowen helped Emperor Yuanzhang Zhu unify the land, the emperor feared that someone else might seize the Zhu family's dynasty. So, he ordered Liu Bowen to cut the Dragon Vein. But in truth, cutting the Dragon Vein was just a cover—the real act was severing the Heaven-Pillar. That cut broke the path between the mortal world and the Heavenly Court. Once the Heaven-Pillar was broken, celestial immortals could no longer descend, and spiritual energy in the mortal world steadily thinned. Now that heaven-and-earth vitality is reviving, it's likely that the Heaven-Pillar is repairing itself!"
After leaving the Inner Palace,
Ian Song directly asked Meow-Meow, "Was Elder Stone's guess just now about the Heaven-Pillar repairing itself actually true?"
"That question costs one hundred million Fame Points!" Meow-Meow said.
"Deduct it!" Ian Song was long used to Meow-Meow's money-grubbing ways.
"The Heaven-Pillar really is repairing itself!" Meow-Meow said.
"Where is the Heaven-Pillar, when will it be fully repaired, and what's the real combat level of the Heavenly Court's immortals?" Ian Song fired off several questions in a row.
"Three hundred million!" Meow-Meow demanded again.
"Deduct it!"
Meow-Meow said, "The Heaven-Pillar is in the Kunlun Mountains. You'll have to find the exact spot yourself. The pillar will be fully restored in at most three months. As for the Heavenly Court's immortals, you don't need to worry—the strongest among them is only peak Human-Immortal."
Ian Song frowned. "That can't be right. How could the immortals of the Heavenly Court be so weak? The Supreme Old Lord is one of the Three Pure Ones, formed from Pangu's primordial spirit. How could he possibly be that weak?"
Meow-Meow sneered, "Because this Heavenly Court isn't the real Heavenly Court. The immortals there are just one-in-billions avatar fragments of those true gods!"
"You mean every world in the multiverse has its own Heavenly Court? Then why didn't the worlds I traveled to have one?"
Meow-Meow scoffed, "Are you stupid? The worlds you traveled to were all created by the System, so of course they didn't have a Heavenly Court!"
"Then why bother setting up so many Heavenly Courts?"
"Idiot, it's obviously to collect Faith Power! Faith Power is one of the most mysterious forces in existence. Where do you think the System's rewards, divine arts, and bloodlines come from? They're all converted from Faith Power!"
"Isn't it all exchanged for Fame Points?"
"You're hopelessly dumb. Fame Points are just a low-level form of Faith Power!"
With a flash, Ian Song returned to his villa.
Even now, he couldn't say whether reconnecting the Heavenly Court to the mortal world was good or bad. Plus, the System had tasked him with collecting more than half the world's Faith Power. Would the Heavenly Court's return conflict with his mission?
Forget it—he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. For now, he'd gather as much Faith Power as possible before the Heavenly Court fully reconnected with the mortal world.
Thinking this, he couldn't sit still. He decided to launch the Heart-Saver Pills and Cancer-Curing Pills ahead of schedule.
He called Gaopeng Shangguan and told him to arrange advertising for the Heart-Saver Pills right away. Three days later, the Heart-Saver Pills officially hit the market.
Gaopeng Shangguan didn't know why Ian Song suddenly changed his mind, but he immediately arranged the staff.
Previously, the spokesperson for the Fast-Acting Diabetes Pills was Zhen Liang. As the special medicine sold like hotcakes, her fame quickly caught up to Cynthia Murong's. With the pills selling abroad, her reputation spread overseas, and in a short time, she became a top-tier A-list star.
So, for the Heart-Saver Pills and Cancer-Curing Pills, Ian Song planned to have Cynthia Murong do the endorsements, aiming to propel her into the ranks of superstar idols.
In the past, celebrity endorsements relied on their fame to drive product sales. Now, it's the products that boost the celebrities' fame.
That night,
Ads for the Heart-Saver Pills aired on the national station and all major provincial networks, causing another sensation.
With the launch of Ian Song Brand ready-to-eat foods and Fast-Acting Diabetes Pills, the name 'Ian Song Brand' had become a golden label. So when the Heart-Saver Pills ad appeared, countless heart disease patients cheered—their springtime had come.
As the ads aired, both Ian Song's and Cynthia Murong's Vibo accounts exploded in popularity once again.
Ian Song's Vibo followers had long since surpassed one hundred million, but this time he gained another ten million-plus, mostly older users. If you checked these new followers, you'd find most were seniors.
Taking advantage of this, Ian Song tossed two hundred million yuan in digital red envelopes for his fans to grab.
"Oh my god, he just gave away two hundred million in red envelopes at once! Ian the Tycoon, my admiration for you has reached the heavens!
"Tycoon, I want to have your babies!"
Comment after comment kept popping up.
The entire entertainment industry was shaken by Ian Song's wild two-hundred-million-yuan red envelope spree.
Five minutes after the red envelopes were gone, Ian Song posted on Vibo: Song Corporation will invest five billion yuan to build Hope Primary Schools in impoverished mountain regions nationwide!
If anyone else posted something like that on Vibo, people would think they were bragging. But for someone who'd handed out four hundred million in red envelopes in just a month, donating fifty billion to build schools was no big deal.
The revival of the Divine Path made Ian Song feel the pressure, so he sped up his collection of Faith Power.
After this period of study, it was time for his women to get out more. Keeping them cooped up at home would make anyone sick, so he decided to have all his women—except Coco Guan and Yingying Liu—work together on the Hope Primary School project.
Ten days flew by.
During this time, he kept a close eye on the revival of the Divine Path.
After ten days, thousands of Earth Gods and hundreds of Mountain Gods in Yanhuang had fully revived. Thanks to his presence, the newly awakened gods didn't resort to coercion—at most, they used a few dream tricks.
Meanwhile, the Heart-Saver Pills hit the market in just one week.
Sales were excellent.
The reputation was even better. Over ten million heart disease patients were cured by taking Heart-Saver Pills, and naturally, Ian Song's Faith Power surged to 1.2 billion.
After learning about the Heart-Saver Pills' incredible effects, countries around the world couldn't sit still. Officials were sent to negotiate imports.
This time, Ian Song lowered the wholesale price slightly, allowing other countries to purchase at an 80% discount.
With enough profit, they'd push the Heart-Saver Pills aggressively. This helped Ian Song harvest Faith Power faster. He also used the opportunity to meet with officials from around the world, hinting that Song Corporation had developed a special medicine to treat all kinds of cancer.