The Council of the Gods

The battle between gods might have seemed long, but in reality, it had only lasted a short while.

Even after the battle ended, Walker on the ground hadn't even realized what had happened.

Only when Huosi's voice rang across the heavens and earth did he finally understand that all was lost.

When their family's ancestor, Ryan, had just died, he hadn't even had time to grieve.

And now, even the empire's God of War, Lord Lingester, had fallen.

At that moment, he understood that they were utterly finished. There was no turning back.

"Hahahaha!"

Walker threw his head back and laughed. As he laughed, tears streamed down his face. In that moment, he suddenly remembered the elder from the family meeting.

"If we'd listened to his advice back then, perhaps everything would have turned out differently."

Walker sighed inwardly, then stopped hesitating and drew his sword to take his own life.

In his final moments, he seemed to see the young elder speaking to him, trying to persuade him.

[Clan head, we can't go on like this. We need to break free from the mercenaries' mindless, domineering attitude. Otherwise, we may well meet a violent end.]

Back then, Walker had thought those words absurd. In his eyes, as long as you were strong enough, doing whatever you pleased was only natural. Anyone who objected could be killed.

Now, he suddenly realized that this way of thinking wasn't exactly wrong, but it overlooked one thing: what did it mean to be strong enough?

The Saint Realm? A god? Or something even greater? Cultivation had no end.

With Walker's suicide, the Ryan Family was sure to be wiped out completely before long.

At the same time, Lingester's death signaled that the Linggeste Empire was about to descend into chaos.

"Lingester was a peerless genius in his time. He eventually reached the Divine Realm, yet who would have thought he'd fall here today?"

As a sigh sounded from the void, a graceful figure in a light blue robe slowly emerged. She looked at Huosi with a hint of emotion.

Huosi was the only one among the continent's gods to have become a god by refining a divine spark. No one had expected him to grow so powerful so suddenly, powerful enough to kill Lingester.

"I truly didn't expect your strength to improve so much, Huosi. The weapon you used just now—is it an artifact you forged yourself?"

As soon as she finished speaking, another figure appeared in midair: a tall, slender young man with brown hair. His voice was full of amazement.

"It's been a long time, Salanna, Alsop. You're both here."

Huosi looked at the two who had appeared, utterly unsurprised.

The Linggeste Empire bordered both the Alsop Empire and the Ice God Empire, so the gods of those two empires had naturally noticed what was happening right away.

Their appearance was entirely expected. It would have been strange if they hadn't shown up.

As for the others who hadn't come, they surely knew what had happened by now. The divine senses of gods covered a vast area.

Besides, the shockwaves from a battle between gods couldn't be concealed on the continent. Huosi hadn't intended to hide his actions in the first place.

"You two didn't come here to hold me accountable, did you?"

Huosi looked at them and spoke calmly.

"Of course not. This didn't start with you. Lingester was the one who attacked first. His death can only be called a consequence of his own actions."

Salanna spoke softly, making her position clear.

Although she hadn't involved herself in the empire's affairs over the years, she had heard a little about the Ryan Family's conduct.

She and Alsop had already arrived while Huosi was fighting Lingester. They had simply chosen not to intervene.

They more or less knew the whole story, so they naturally wouldn't blame Huosi without cause.

"That's good."

Huosi nodded slightly and said no more. He knew there was little chance they would hold him accountable.

For one thing, he hadn't actually violated the Council of Gods' agreement. For another, though the gods had made an agreement, they were still pursuing their own interests. Who would fight him over Lingester?

"Still, it's been many years since a god died on the continent. We should discuss what to do next, don't you think?"

Alsop looked at Huosi as well and spoke in a low voice.

"No problem. We do need to deal with the aftermath."

Huosi nodded and sent a mental message to Adkins and Bernas, telling them to head back first.

Adkins and Bernas landed on the ground and rescued Saiwode, who had been imprisoned for a long time.

As for wiping out the Saint Realm members of the Ryan Family, they didn't need to trouble themselves with that.

The people from Xuanshen Island would handle it. The two of them were Saint Realm experts; they didn't need to personally deal with people whose strength was so low.

Of course, even if Xuanshen Island did nothing, the Ryan Family was doomed anyway.

Not a single member of the family would survive.

The Ryan Family had acted domineeringly for many years and had offended plenty of people.

Those people hadn't dared to oppose the Ryan Family before, but now that Ryan was dead, they would surely retaliate with a vengeance.

"Then let's go!"

Seeing that Huosi had nothing more to say, Alsop let out a sigh of relief and spoke.

Elsewhere, at the summit of Mount Tai, stood the Hall of Gods.

Ever since the divine war on the Qingya Continent ended ten thousand years ago, the continent's balance of power had more or less settled.

At the time, there had been several Midgods on the continent, along with many Lowgods. It had been a time of great turmoil.

Then a great battle broke out. Many people died, and even a Midgod fell.

Afterward, the two Midgods left on the continent departed the Yulan Plane together.

Most of the remaining Lowgods also left the plane. A few stayed behind, each establishing their own nation or faction and agreeing to the Council of Gods' pact.

At first, several Lowgods met at the summit of Mount Tai and made an agreement: unless there were special circumstances, gods and Saint Realm experts could not interfere in mortal wars or fight one another at will.

Alsop had founded an empire under his own name. Salanna had founded the Ice Empire in the name of the God of Ice and Snow. Airlock had taken control of the former Qingya Empire, while the Light Church and Dark Church had each established their own organization and gained control over numerous kingdoms.

Over the years, they had continued to spread their faith, hoping to advance further through the power of belief. The faith they gathered wasn't entirely useless to them, but its effects were meager at best.

The three empires and the two churches kept one another in check. Meanwhile, the only divine-level dragon left among the magical beasts, the Dragon God Pulamier, had joined them in agreeing that gods would not interfere in the battles below.

Then, five thousand years ago, the genius Sword Saint Lingester rose to prominence. He unified several chaotic coastal regions, founded a new empire, and broke through to godhood in one fell swoop.

Since the territory Lingester occupied had always been sparsely populated, lay near the coast, and wasn't very large, the others tacitly accepted the new empire's founding.

More than three thousand years ago, the Saint Realm expert Huosi had the good fortune to obtain a lost divine spark and become the continent's newest god. However, Huosi seemed to have no interest in ruling territory, so he had no conflicts with the others.

It wasn't until a few decades ago, when Huosi relocated people to an island and established his own faction, Xuanshen Island, that he finally gained a territory of his own.

And today, the Hall of Gods, which no one had visited in ten thousand years, welcomed the gods once more.

Four figures were already seated at the round table. Three other chairs stood empty, as if waiting for someone.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

With three sharp sounds cutting through the air, three figures appeared in the chairs.

"You've certainly made quite a splash, Huosi."

A lazy voice rang out first. A blond young man lounged with one leg crossed over the other, his expression carefree.

The blond young man was named Pulamier. He was the only divine beast present, and his true form was a Golden Iron-Armored Dragon.

"The continent hasn't seen a god fall in many years. Who's going to take responsibility for this?"

Pope Cohen of Light spoke with a low, stern voice, questioning Huosi as if accusing him.

When he was young, Lingester had lived for many years in a kingdom under the Light Church's control and had developed some goodwill toward the Lord of Light.

Pope Cohen of Light had probably been closer to Lingester than anyone else present, so he naturally had no kind words for Huosi.

"What's the big deal? Lingester brought this on himself. He's dead. So what?"

Brent, the Pope of Darkness seated opposite him, immediately retorted, refusing to back down.

Light and darkness were opposing forces, and the doctrines preached by the Light Church and Dark Church were also deeply at odds.

The two were natural enemies, and they had often struggled against each other, openly and in secret.

The Dark Pope hadn't felt much over Huosi killing Lingester, but since the Light Pope objected, he had to take the opposite side.

"Enough. We're not here to argue."

The blue-haired man in the middle furrowed his brow and cut them off. Those two had argued countless times before, leaving everyone else rather exasperated.

The moment the blue-haired man spoke, everyone fell silent.

The blue-haired man was Airlock Qingya, the supreme ruler of the Qingya Empire. He was also the oldest and strongest among those present.

After the other gods left, he had been the one to push through the creation of the new Council of Gods' pact.

Of course, it was hard to say whether he was still the strongest now. Huosi had killed Lingester so easily, and he seemed to have made a major breakthrough as well.

No one knew how he had done it. According to past experience, a god who refined a divine spark shouldn't have been able to improve any further.

Everyone was surprised by Huosi's newfound strength, but no one asked about it. Such matters were personal secrets, after all.

"Everyone knows what happened in the battle between Huosi and Lingester. It was Ryan and his family who provoked him first."

"Although the Council of Gods' pact forbids gods from interfering in mortal affairs, that applies only under ordinary circumstances. A god's dignity cannot be violated. The Ryan Family insulted a god, so wiping them out was only to be expected. Lingester chose to intervene and should have been prepared to be killed."

"What we need to discuss is how to handle the Linggeste Empire and what impact this incident will have."

Airlock spoke unhurriedly, setting the matter's terms.

Lingester's death had surprised them, but that was all. He was dead, and they hadn't been particularly close to him. A few words of regret were enough; there was no need to dwell on it.

What mattered to them was how the empire would be divided and what effect that would have on the continent's stability.

After all, Lingester had ruled a large empire. Now that it had lost its god's protection, the empire was bound to fall into chaos.

How to divide up the empire and how that would affect the other powers were what they truly cared about.

"Well, Huosi, strictly speaking, the Linggeste Empire should all belong to you. That's not a problem. But its people have worshipped Lingester for many years, so I'm afraid that could cause trouble."

Alsop glanced at Huosi and spoke first.

"Oh? And what do you suggest?"

Huosi narrowed his eyes and glanced coolly at Alsop.

He remembered Alsop from the original story. Olivia had breached the Bosha Dike, releasing a large number of gods from the Plane Prison.

At the time, it was the Midgod Alsop who had occupied the Yulan Empire.

But now, he was only a Lowgod.

Adkins hadn't even become a god yet. Though Alsop had the potential to become a Midgod, breaking through would probably take him a few million years at the very least.

After spending billions of years imprisoned in the Plane Prison, Alsop was still only a Midgod. With talent like that, reaching the next level would surely take him a very long time.

"You can have the territory, of course. But if the people there want to come to my empire, I hope you won't stop them."

Alsop rubbed his hands together and stated what he really wanted.

He certainly wasn't asking for the Linggeste Empire. Even he knew that was impossible.

But he didn't want the faith in his own Alsop Empire to be shaken.

Normally, the nobles and people under the various empires and churches looked down on one another. Each believed in their own god and thought their own god was invincible.

With the Linggeste Empire changing hands, Huosi's prestige would rise dramatically.

People in neighboring countries might also start wondering whether Huosi had surpassed the gods they worshipped. Some in the Alsop Empire might even suspect that Huosi was stronger than Alsop. That was the last thing Alsop wanted.

Although the battle earlier had made him feel that he might not be Huosi's match anymore, it was enough for him to know that himself.

The people of his empire needed to sincerely believe that he, Alsop, was the strongest. Only then would the power of their faith be pure enough.

That was why Alsop hoped he could take in people fleeing the Linggeste Empire.

Normally, Huosi's killing Lingester would greatly boost his prestige in the short term and also unsettle the faith of the people in the Alsop Empire.

But plenty of nobles from the Linggeste Empire were bound to flee. If the Alsop Empire took them in, its people would feel that their god wasn't afraid of Huosi and would continue to believe in Alsop wholeheartedly.

Huosi might be strong, but our Lord Alsop isn't afraid of him. Otherwise, why would he dare take in people from the Linggeste Empire? Wouldn't he be afraid of a fight?

Once Alsop returned, all he had to do was spread that story around, and his people's faith would remain firm.