For countless years, the influence of false gods had seeped into every facet of the world.
Whether one sought wealth, strength, power, health, peace, abundant harvests, descendants, or anything else, there were deities corresponding to each desire. As long as one sacrificed oneself, one could receive "returns." Qing Kingdom was no exception!
Within Qing Kingdom, there were tens of thousands of Orthodox Gods and evil gods, great and small. Yet only a scant few false gods had believers spread throughout the entire realm and even beyond its borders, their divine authority powerful to the extreme!
Before the last Divine Fall Cataclysm, the Ear Wisdom God, the Martial Might God, and eight other false gods had been revered by Qing Kingdom's court and populace as the Nine Great Orthodox Gods. They divided up more than eighty percent of all believers between them. The other, weaker Orthodox Gods all followed their lead; any slight defiance would see them branded evil gods, just as the Long-Eared God had been.
During the Divine Fall Cataclysm, the Martial Might God was slain by Shen Mo. Its "divinity"—a piece of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden's spine—was taken away by Guan Ling. Of the original Nine Great Orthodox Gods, three more fell in the divine war started by Jade Spring and Myriad Saints. After the catastrophe, only the Five Great Orthodox Gods remained.
Yet over the past nearly three hundred years, new Orthodox Gods had risen to power. Within Qing Kingdom, the Nine Great Orthodox Gods still divided the overwhelming majority of believers among themselves. The Ear Wisdom God's "divinity" and "authority" were even stronger than the Martial Might God's had been, and it showed faint signs of becoming the foremost leader of Qing Kingdom's divine path system.
In Qing Kingdom, from imperial nobles above to peddlers