Over those three weeks, after Howard took Tony away, Su Ming naturally did not remain on Earth the entire time. He continued with his plan.
That was to go to Faerûn and find Elminster, the Chosen of the Goddess of Magic, in an attempt to find a way to use the Spider Totem through knowledge of the Weave.
This entry into the Crystal Sphere went far more smoothly than the last. No gods even had time to cast a glance at the intruder; they were busy dealing with their own affairs.
Civil war.
Yes, the iconic Godswar. The gods had launched a civil war spanning the entire world, divided according to their doctrines and alignments.
In truth, it all came down to the struggle for the Power of Faith. All manner of creatures could provide the Power of Faith, and once that faith was accepted by divine fire, it became a god's strength. Thus, population became a form of resource.
Faerûn was only so large. Even counting the various planes occupied by the Hell Lords, there was a fixed limit to the population it could sustain.
The more you gained, the less I got. And since the Power of Faith was tied to the gods' path of advancement, more was always better, so conflict was inevitable.
Some gods understood that faith was both power and poison, while others did not. In Su Ming's view, though, this system of attaining godhood through faith bound gods and mortals together. It was truly a hidden danger.
But none of that had anything to do with him. Faerûn was not part of his overall plan, or rather, it held no important strategic value.
If Faerûn had been an intact cake, taking it would have had some value.
But that cake had been divided up