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*****
The expressions of the two Holy Sons shifted instantly. They had not expected Su Wen to blunty expose the existence of the gods.
This man knows about the gods!
No—it wasn't just that he knew of them; he seemed to possess a deep understanding of divine inheritances. At the very least, he was aware that the two of them possessed the ability to communicate directly with the divine beings they served.
The Holy Son of the Blazing Sun turned his gaze toward Su Wen, his eyes narrowing with a sharp sense of vigilance.
Since Su Wen had ascended the Holy Mountain and pulled everyone into his Academic Realm, his true objective had remained hidden. But now, with his first words of genuine dialogue to the two Holy Sons, his final purpose was laid bare. He wanted to commune with the two gods! From the very beginning, his target had never been anything else—it was the gods themselves.
"What do you intend to do? Even we only listen to the decrees of the Great Deities; we do not dare disturb them!" the Holy Son of the Waning Moon declared, his voice cold and defensive.
Su Wen merely smiled.
Even before he had set foot on the Holy Mountain, he had been silently observing and making comparisons. He had already reached a judgment.
The power of faith gathered on this Holy Mountain was incredibly dense. This was the accumulated devotion of the entire Sun and Moon Continent. In terms of sheer volume, it was not at all inferior to the faith found within the Spirit Hall of the Douluo Continent, which had been established by the Angelic Deity—a first-class god.
In fact, looking up from the foot of the mountain and sensing the thickness of that spiritual energy, the faith here felt significantly more concentrated than that of Spirit City.
Geographically, the Douluo Continent and the Sun and Moon Continent were similar in size, though the Douluo Continent was technically larger. Even if one excluded the Far North, the total area inhabited by human Spirit Masters on the Douluo Continent exceeded that of the Sun and Moon Continent. Yet, the faith commanded by the Sun and Moon Cult was denser than that of Spirit Hall.
Of course, this did not necessarily mean that the two gods of the Sun and Moon Cult were more powerful than the Angelic Deity. On the contrary, it proved that the overall strength of these two deities was likely weaker than that of the Angel God.
The logic was simple: based on the total population and degree of devotion, Spirit Hall should have generated far more faith. However, the "leftover" faith lingering in the air at Spirit City was less. This indicated that more of it had been successfully refined into Divine Power and siphoned away by the Angelic Deity.
Upon reaching the summit, Su Wen confirmed this theory. While the gathered faith here was immense, the quality of the Divine Power it produced was clearly inferior to that of the Angelic Deity, and it paled in comparison to that of the Sea God.
Still, that didn't mean it was weak. At the very least, it was no weaker than the faith power of the God of War or the Stone God. This suggested that these two deities were at a level where they were nearing a breakthrough, standing on the threshold of becoming first-class gods.
Just as Su Wen had anticipated, within the Divine Realm, the two deities had already been stirred by his own massive aura of faith.
The God of the Blazing Sun and the Goddess of the Waning Moon were currently gathered together, casting their divine gaze down toward the mortal world.
"The faith power surrounding this mortal is so dense... and so pure!"
A fervent light erupted in the eyes of the Sun God. He felt a primal impulse to simply reach down and seize Su Wen's faith for himself. If he could absorb and refine such a concentrated source, perhaps a breakthrough to the rank of a first-class god would actually be possible.
The Moon Goddess shared the thought. However, after a moment of instinctive greed, they both abandoned the idea.
Su Wen carried too many "labels" on him. He bore the marks of the God of War's quartet, the aura of that mysterious Stone God, and even the scent of the Sea God.
"This aura... could it be the work of that one?"
Thinking of a certain high-ranking deity, the two second-class gods shuddered, instantly pulling back any ill intentions. They couldn't afford to provoke such a figure.
"To think that after twenty thousand years, the Douluo Continent has produced another genius capable of achieving godhood through their own power," the Sun God sighed with emotion.
Because they existed in different dimensions, there was a significant disparity in the flow of time. One year in the mortal world was but a single day in the Divine Realm. Thus, ten thousand years on the continent was less than thirty years in the heavens. Twenty thousand years was a mere fifty-odd years to them.
To deities who possessed eternal life, fifty years passed in the blink of an eye.
Most gods in the Divine Realm had held their positions for centuries. Even so, those who grew bored with their lives and sought successors were a small minority. Furthermore, with the exception of first-class gods, it was common for second or third-class gods to spend over fifty years just testing a potential candidate. Some divine trials lasting a century were perfectly normal.
Only top-tier first-class gods like the Sea God would set their trial timelines to be so short. Even then, the average age for achieving such a rank was usually in the forties.
Therefore, fifty years was a very brief period for any god.
Of course, while the absolute duration was the same, the perception of time between the Divine Realm and the lower planes was fragmented and difficult to compare directly. In reality, a new god appearing in the Divine Realm was a rarity that happened perhaps once every ten "divine" years.
And that wasn't just for the Douluo Continent—that was for the dozens of mortal planes under the Divine Realm's jurisdiction.
Among these new arrivals, the vast majority were those who inherited existing positions. Out of ten new gods, there might not even be one who had created their own divinity. Statistically, hundreds of divine years could pass without a single instance of a self-made god.
Yet, it had only been fifty-some divine years since the first Sea God created his own path to divinity, and now, another potential self-made god had appeared. It was naturally a sensation. What was even more startling was that this new candidate also hailed from the Douluo Continent.
"Judging by the level of his faith, this new god's ambitions are not low," the Moon Goddess remarked. "Even the Sea God and that person have placed their bets on him. I expect him to at least become another Sea God."
"Indeed."
The Sun God turned his gaze toward the entrance of the Sun and Moon Divine Palace as a powerful, overbearing aura approached.
"The Sea God has arrived. Forgive us for not greeting you at the gates."
"Haha, I've come uninvited. I hope I'm not disturbing you two," the Sea God replied, appearing perfectly polite.
In the Divine Realm, social graces and "face" were important. Even if they belonged to different factions, they maintained a veneer of harmony.
Furthermore, while the Sun God and Moon Goddess were second-class gods, their combat power was far from low. The Moon Goddess, in particular, had seen her influence grow after the fall of the Ice God; though her rank hadn't officially evolved, her actual strength had reached the entry-level of a first-class god. As for the Sun God, he had gained deep insights into the Dao of the Stars, making him a formidable power in his own right.
Crucially, these two were also from the Douluo Continent and had grown up together. They possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, which had now evolved into a Divine Soul Fusion Skill. Because they hadn't fought since ascending, their combined power wasn't well-known in the Divine Realm—but the Sea God knew.
After all, these two had achieved godhood even before he had.
Back in the era before the Sea God's ascension, the Angelic Deity had not yet reached divinity either. Later, the Sea God created his own path while the Angelic Deity inherited their title. Though the two had clashed before their ascension, their conflicts were never truly dire—after all, one ruled the sky while the other ruled the sea, leaving little room for actual dispute.
(End of Chapter)