The Era of Gods

This shattered half-plane had been severely damaged; in fact, it should have disappeared long ago, but within this plane existed a colossal ancient structure, emitting a faint divine light that resisted the erosion of void energy, protecting a small area surrounding the structure.

This half-plane was not their destination, but a transfer station.

Nearly twenty people stood before the portal exuding a desolate and ancient aura, looking at the towering stone portal at its center, with luminescence rippling through it, exchanging glances with uncertainty.

The door resembled those of ancient temples, constructed from huge blocks of dark stone. From a distance, the design looked familiar to Lin Xiao. On either side of the door stood a statue of a warrior wielding a greatsword. At the top, a dragon’s head with pupils ablaze with flames, and on each of the upper corners of the door rested a massive claw, the dragon’s head looming over the entrance.

“emmm… Isn’t this the Dark Portal from Warcraft?”

As a veteran player, he quickly matched the appearance of the portal with the one etched in his memory, feeling a sense of dislocation in time and space.

But one thing was certain, this massive stone portal was indeed the entrance to the God’s Tomb, it was clear from the first glance.

Obviously, this was a very ancient transfer portal; the real God’s Tomb was in an unknown space, and they had to pass through this portal to reach it.

There’s nothing to be said about that, time to go in.

Like before, two would lead the way, and the others would follow up.

As Lin Xiao stepped into the gateway of God’s Tomb, he felt his entire body sink, an invincible force pressing down. His protective Divine Shield rapidly deteriorated, prompting him to hurriedly channel more Power of Faith. However, the force was too strong, tens of millions of the Power of Faith were infused into the Divine Shield, yet it collapsed on the spot without so much as a glimmer.

“Damn it, it’s….”

Just when Lin Xiao was ready to face the crushing might, the force that he couldn’t resist disappeared out of thin air after shattering his Divine Shield, and he landed on all fours, maintaining the posture he had when being pressed down, on….

“Grass?”

By now his vision had returned, and indeed, he saw he was sprawled on ordinary grass, recognizable as common weeds, with nothing special about them.

Quickly looking up, the sky was clear, a gentle breeze blew, fluffy clouds drifted by, trees in the distance gave shade, and the scenery was picturesque, showing the charm of a beautiful rural landscape.

Not just him, the whole group that lay sprawled on the ground was dumbstruck, examining each other, unable to utter a word.

If it weren’t for the continued sense of an overwhelming Divine Nation force, they would have thought they had arrived in some unknown plane.

Yes, the terrifying force that nullified their resistance just now was the force of Divine Nation; as players from the Divine Territory, they were one hundred percent certain, meaning their current location was indeed inside the Divine Nation.

Moreover, it revealed a frightening fact to them; the God’s Tomb was not just composed of Divine Nation, it was still intact.

This meant the owner of the God’s Tomb… might still exist.

That was alarming; regardless of what level of Deity the owner had been, even a mere wisp of a remnant soul of a True God, using the power of Divine Nation, could effortlessly arrange them neatly without the slightest resistance.

But on the other hand, since the force of Divine Nation only nullified their defenses without killing them on the spot, it suggested that the owner was not an Evil God—there was still a sliver of hope for survival.

If it had been an Evil God, they would have been crushed to death by that force already.

Regardless of the specifics, their situation at the moment didn’t seem to be good.

There’s a world of difference between a God’s Tomb with a master and one without; even the kindest of Deities wouldn’t take kindly to intruders in their tomb, the only difference being the manner of death.

Fortunately, they were not destined to die immediately.

Lin Xiao got up from the ground, dusting the dirt from his hands.

“It’s quite realistic.”

He pinched the soil and rubbed it between his fingers; indeed, it was real soil, which made him raise his eyebrows in surprise, disbelievingly squatting down again to grab another handful of dirt.

Shen Yuexin, who was also coming out of her daze and brushing off the dirt, saw his actions and asked,

“Have you discovered something?”

The others turned their heads towards Lin Xiao.

He stared intently at the dirt crumbling in his hands, then raised his hands to show everyone, saying,

“Don’t you find it strange?”

They all looked closely at his hand, and after a while, they shook their heads.

Lin Xiao had to point out,

“This place should be a Divine Nation, right? But this soil, it’s not conjured out of divine power within the Divine Nation, it’s real soil.”

Some of the ordinary adventurers might not fully grasp the significance, but the Divine Territory players instantly understood his meaning, all of them grabbing a handful of dirt or a blade of grass to rub and feel it closely, exclaiming in amazement.

“It really is, but how could this be?”

“How could there be real matter inside a Divine Nation?”

“But this is definitely a Divine Nation, right?”

The group was confounded, and Lin Xiao threw the soil from his hands, looked up at the sky, with an idea dawning on him, but he dared not believe it.

The thought was straightforward: it was indeed impossible for real matter to appear in a normal Divine Nation, but what if it were the Divine Realm?

If this was the Divine Realm, then it would be a different story.

The reason it was so unbelievable was that this God’s Tomb already had a history of millions or even tens of millions of years. Back then, the Main World hadn’t even reached this region, or rather, it hadn’t discovered this Crystal Wall System. Now, a Divine Realm with tens of millions of years of history had appeared before him. There was only one possibility, and that was…

“Could it be that this God’s Tomb is actually a Divine Realm?”

Shen Yuexin gave the answer.

The moment her words fell, an old voice suddenly appeared in everyone’s ears:

“Congratulations, you guessed right.”

The next second, everyone’s vision warped as space and time shifted, the grassy ground rapidly transformed into a golden glassy floor, and they were teleported to an unknown place by an unseen force.

Lin Xiao quickly looked around and found they were standing on a square paved with golden glassy flooring that stretched beyond sight. On the flawlessly smooth floor, aside from their group of a dozen or so, there were many statues standing erect, such as Dwarven warriors clad in thick plate armor, Knights wielding Dual Hand Greatswords, beautiful Elves carrying magnificent bows, Mages in luxurious robes holding Magic Wands, and exceptionally handsome Vampires, even roaring Dragons… and so on. His gaze fell on the exceptionally handsome Vampire—why did it look so much like the Semi-God Vampire they had killed earlier?

In the distance, beyond these lifelike statues, there was a thin layer of mist becoming denser and murkier towards the back, making it difficult to see clearly.

Clearly, the square wasn’t truly infinite; there was a limit to it.

Of course, these weren’t the focus of his attention. He only glanced over them briefly and soon turned his gaze to the center of the multitude of statues, towards a giant sphere of light floating above the golden glassy floor. The familiar shape triggered his recognition, and he blurted out:

“Lord God’s Space?”

At that moment, an indescribable will descended. A terrifying force slammed down, and a series of ‘crack’ sounds signifying bones breaking could be heard. Everyone fell flat to the ground.

The orb of light radiated a soft glow that began to shrink slowly, gradually taking the shape of a human outline before finally materializing into an old white man with a cane. He walked over to them, cane in hand, and everyone looked up to this being shrouded in light, visible yet unfathomable, unsure of what to say.

The old man stood there with his cane, thoughtfully silent for a few seconds, then suddenly extended his cane in a pointing motion, and just like that, the majority of the group vanished into thin air.

The remaining eight nearly lost their souls in fright. Shen Yuexin instinctively reached for her forehead, but noticing that the old man showed no further intent to act, she bit her lip and refrained.

Lin Xiao didn’t notice her action; he was too perturbed at the moment, catching his breath.

Now he somewhat regretted coming here. It hadn’t occurred to him that this God’s Tomb would be so bizarre, housing an entity so aberrantly powerful. This was utterly beyond the realm of play.

“Reckless!”

At this moment, the old man’s hoary voice came to their ears:

“Don’t worry, they’re not dead. I’ve merely sent them where they belong.”

Everyone was taken aback and looked at each other. Lin Xiao was inwardly astonished. Those who were sent away were precisely the non-Divine Territory players from Yu Ming Trade Co., Ltd., while all of the remaining eight were Divine Territory Players.

Just then, the old man turned and began to hobble back to his original position, speaking as he moved:

“I hadn’t expected that after millions of years, I would still see Divine Territory players. Tell me, children, how much time has passed in the Main World since the discovery of the Divine Realm game?”

“Holy moly…”

All eyes were wide open as they stared at the old man. Even though Lin Xiao had his suspicions, he was still shocked to hear the old man confirm it himself. This was truly a predecessor Divine Territory player from the Main World, like himself.

They looked at each other in dismay, even Shen Yuexin was caught by surprise by this information.

After a long pause, Li Cheng, the team leader of the adventurers from Yuming Trading Company, hurriedly said:

“Predecessor, unkown to you, more than three hundred thousand years have passed since the Main World discovered the Divine Realm.”

His heart was filled with excitement. If this was one of the first human explorers from hundreds of thousands of years ago, it meant not only that their lives were spared but also that they had the chance to gain the inheritance from this clearly fallen predecessor, which was an exciting prospect.

“Three hundred thousand years!”

The old man stood motionless for a while, then heaved a sigh. Lin Xiao felt the force binding him dissipate and the old man’s voice rang out:

“I never imagined so much time has passed. To see you now means that the invasion from the Tilde Gala Crystal Wall System has been held back. The Main World must have changed a lot.”

“The Tilde Gala Crystal Wall System?”

Lin Xiao had never heard of this name, and, looking back at the others, they all seemed clueless as well.

The old man didn’t pursue the question and merely chuckled:

“Indeed, at your level, it’s likely you haven’t come into contact with this.”

Before the words fully faded, the Divine Realm suddenly shook violently. Then, amid the hazy edges of the endless golden glassy platform, a blinding divine light emerged from nowhere, rapidly expanding. Everyone watched as the expanding divine light formed an oval portal of light, and from it, a figure enveloped in dark golden flames stepped forward. A crisp voice rang out: “Allow me to answer that question for our predecessor!”

The flames slowly contracted to reveal the composed face of Colonel Xie Yufei, dressed in a colonel’s uniform. She stood erect and saluted the old man, saying loudly:

“From Yan Huang’s fifth War Zone, the First Expeditionary Army’s Third Brigade, deputy leader of the Furious Flame Battalion, Colonel Xie Yufei, at your service, predecessor!”

The old man stared intently at her for a while, then suddenly a smile spread across his face, growing wider until he burst into hearty laughter.

Seconds later, the laughter stopped and his expression turned serious again.. He returned a slightly different military salute and spoke solemnly: