The Era of Gods

“Makes sense!”

Lin Xiao turned and extended his right hand, making a grabbing motion, and another golden spear materialized, although this time it was only about half the size of the one used to kill the giant clam. With a fierce throw, the spear flashed with golden light and disappeared instantly.

The next second, a particularly tall Snake Man Leader blocking the entrance of Sacred Mountain was impaled by the spear, killed on the spot.

Then, a burst of blue light shot up into the sky above the entrance of Sacred Mountain and exploded into countless sparkles of seawater essence, falling among the Fishman troops. A mighty voice rose over the battlefield:

“Kill!”

Without their leader, the Snake people were thrown into disarray. The Naga, who had stealthily approached, seized the opportunity to surge forward, toppling rows of Snake people. The Fishmen took advantage of the opening to surge forward, overwhelming the defenders of Sacred Mountain.

He did not let Yan Renjie take part in this, indicating both a desire to show off the strength of his own Clan and a slight ulterior motive.

The defense of Sacred Mountain wasn’t particularly difficult, the real challenge lay within the Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary was akin to a Deity’s God Country; inside were numerous Serpent Followers and Prayers, who had likely accumulated over thousands of years. With the current strength of Lin Xiao’s Clan, it would be quite strained to eliminate them all, not to mention there was a Demigod inside. He intended to kill a Demigod within the Sanctuary, and, even if it was a grievously injured one, it would still be exceptionally hard. In other words, the success rate was quite low, less than fifty percent.

This was the main reason he agreed to give up two points of Divinity to let Yan Renjie and Wan Ying join the cause: the certainty of success was too low.

If he had more than a fifty percent chance, he wouldn’t have shared with others.

Just then, another beam of golden light descended from the sky, revealing a large flock of Harpies flying in mid-air, escorting a large and a small Harpy.

The smaller one was one of Wan Ying’s Harpy heroes, slightly taller than her companions at around two meters, with bright yellow wings, and holding a large bow. She had a rhombic crystal on her forehead, which occasionally flickered with tiny streaks of lightning.

The larger figure was Wan Ying herself, standing at about three meters tall, her plumage a golden yellow, shining as if made of gold feathers. She had less fur than a typical Harpy, a curvaceous figure with a pert behind, and a delicate face full of authority. The only drawback was that her breastplate, which partially covered her armor, made her chest seem smaller, especially compared to her Harpy hero subordinate, who was quite well-endowed.

Her weapon was not a bow, but a golden scepter, with a large gemstone shining at its top, occasionally emitting small crackling lightning.

As they flew to the front of the two, Wan Ying looked at Lin Xiao with interest and then suddenly said,

“I didn’t expect that this batch of students had someone like you besides Yan Renjie.”

Lin Xiao, with an expressionless face, replied,

“You’ll get used to it.”

Seeing that she wanted to say something else, he cut her off, saying,

“Delay can lead to change; the longer we take, the more strength It recovers. We should act immediately.”

Yan Renjie nodded solemnly in agreement,

“Exactly, there’s no time to lose. It’s better to act sooner.”

Wan Ying, having to swallow the words she had wanted to say, also nodded and added,

“Then let’s get to it.”

At their command, the many Clan members gathered outside Sacred Mountain, and masses of Fishmen swarmed the mountain from all directions. They soon located the exit to the Sanctuary, a spiraling stone staircase leading to a platform halfway up the mountain. At the end of the platform stood a colossal Demi-God Statue of a Snake Man, with the entrance to the Sanctuary right at its feet.

Or perhaps, the Snake People Demigod statue is the very entrance to the Sanctuary, the gateway.

What follows is simple, with the Fish People cannon fodder leading the charge into the Sanctuary.

Harpies followed by Lava Lizardmen and Naga wait behind, only entering after a sufficient number of Fish People cannon fodder has gone in.

They also don’t know what the situation inside the Sanctuary is like. The first to enter are sure to die miserably as cannon fodder. They wait until they’re sufficiently depleted before making a concerted assault.

About ten minutes later, it’s likely that twenty to thirty thousand Fish People have crowded in, making communication between the inside and outside impossible. The Fish People outside have no idea how dire the situation is for those inside. With Lin Xiao personally present to oversee, the morale remained relatively stable.

As another large wave of Fish People rushed in, Lin Xiao didn’t want to wait any longer and said to Yan Renjie and Wan Ying,

“Prepare to take action.”

Both of them naturally had no objection. Wan Ying waved her hand, and Harpies gathered in midair on a platform before following the next wave of Fish People into the Sanctuary.

Yan Renjie also waved his hand, as nearly two thousand Lava Lizardmen formed a line and closely followed them in.

Lin Xiao issued the Divine-mandate, and the remaining Naga, fewer than six hundred, assembled and also followed closely into the fray.

The last thing the three of them did was to exchange glances. Yan Renjie remained silent, Wan Ying looked at Lin Xiao with interest. He himself bore no expression, simply dropping the command,

“Follow.”

He took the lead, walking toward the towering Snake Man statue, heading toward the coiled serpentine tail, where there was an almost invisible transparent membrane. Passing through the membrane meant entering the Snake People Demigod’s Sanctuary.

Touching the highly elastic membrane, Lin Xiao took a deep breath, knowing that success or failure hinged on this moment, and stepped in without hesitation.

Passing through the membrane felt like pushing through a thin, tangible film that brushed against the body, followed by a sensation of sudden heaviness as if carrying an invisible weight.

Simultaneously, influenced by the Snake People Demigod’s Blood God’s Duty, he felt his blood particularly heavy, circulating poorly within his body. This resulted in slowed blood flow, inadequate nutrient supply throughout the body, and an additional burden that made the whole body feel weak.

Of course, with the resistance of Lin Xiao’s Divine Body, the effect was almost nil; after all, it was only a Sanctuary, not a true God Country.

But for ordinary Fish People, the rules of the Sanctuary had a significant impact on them. Inside the Sanctuary, every move they made required more effort than usual, compounded by the blood rules affecting their own blood circulation, the combined effect meant their combat power was decreased by at least thirty percent.

As soon as Lin Xiao stepped through the Divine Eye, his vision was filled with a sky of blood clouds flashing with scarlet lightning, the manifestation of the Snake People Demigod’s control over blood rules within the Sanctuary.

Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt as if there was something in the dome of blood clouds that made him feel uneasy.

The second thing he saw was the ground littered with Fish People corpses.

More than seventy percent of the thirty to forty thousand Fish People who had previously entered as cannon fodder were dead. Now, fewer than ten thousand Fish People were being encircled and slain by twenty to thirty thousand Snake People and Frog People.

All these Snake People and Frog People were Prayers, elite devotees accumulated by the Snake People Demigod over the years.

This was because the Sanctuary had a limited capacity and could not accommodate all followers; only the most devout Snake People or Frog People devotees were chosen to be admitted into the Sanctuary. If this were a true God Country, a True God who had lived for thousands of years could have millions of elite Prayer devotees—the difficulty of attacking such a place would be astonishing.

Thus, the gap between True Gods and Demigods is enormous, an entirely different level of distinction.

Perhaps certain monstrously powerful Supreme Demigods could slay gods under specific conditions; history has not lacked such prodigious figures. But there has never been a case of a Demigod directly conquering a true Deity’s God Country, even if that Deity had just achieved Divine Enthronement and was at zero God Level with only Weak Divine Power.