The Era of Gods

The number of Earth Dwarves had risen slightly to exactly 30,000. Within the clan, there were 176 Rank 6 Earth Dwarves, two Rank 7 Earth Dwarves, one King of Dwarves, and one Leader.

The primary reason Earth Dwarves rarely produce a Rank 7 Leader is due to species limitations and the lack of a powerful profession bonus. Thus, advancing to Rank 7 is extremely difficult, not to mention becoming a Rank 8 legend. This race hasn’t even produced a single hero in all this time.

Luckily, Lin Xiao had no special requirements for this species. Dwarves, well, just needed to be serious about mining and blacksmithing. Leave the fighting to other races.

The reason Wise Goblins are stronger than Dwarves is that although their species isn’t very powerful, they possess a good Profession which is the main reason why so many Rank 7 Grand Magicians have emerged. It’s all because of the Mage profession.

This isn’t a profession obtained through Profession Cards, but a formal Mage profession acquired through their own abilities, without the limitations of Profession Cards. In theory, they could ascend to legend or even higher levels.

Wise Goblins and Supreme Naga are Lin Xiao’s two core races within the Divine Territory now, one warrior and one mage, with the Lesser Naga merely serving as reserves.

Three hours later, the first interdimensional channel opened in the wilderness to the south of the Main Divine Realm. Countless Nightmare Creatures poured into the barbaric wasteland filled with dense jungles and ancient forests.

As Nightmare Creatures entered continuously, no resisters were seen; at this time, all the Favored Ones of the Divine Realm were still clearing ruins in the center of the Main Divine Realm.

As more and more Nightmare Creatures invaded, vast amounts of Nightmare Power surged out, darkening the nearby skies, and a massive visage of a Child of Nightmare emerged in the Vault of Heaven.

This face was twisted and distorted; it seemed that these few Children of Nightmare were severely corroded, and even upon returning to their own realm, could not regain their original form.

Five Children of Nightmare had opened all the interdimensional channels in the same place, seemingly intent on joining forces for a decisive battle against him to flatten in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiao didn’t give them the chance. He just waited until a sufficient number of Nightmare Creatures had entered his Divine Territory, then the Vault of Heaven shone with streaks of light, quickly outlining a vast face that looked down majestically upon the Earth.

Lin Xiao’s gaze fell upon the Nightmare Creatures that had entered the Divine Territory. After some contemplation, he decided to test the power of the Minor Judgment Skill before taking real action.

With a thought, a mighty and majestic voice resonated:

“I decree, those who cross realms shall be punished!”

As the words fell, Lin Xiao saw the waterfall of Power of Faith at the Divine Palace Dome darken abruptly—the equivalent of an entire hundred units of Divine Power had been consumed. Taking a deep breath, he spoke again:

“By the name of Truth, I judge thee, cross-realm trespassers shall be blind!”

“By the name of Truth, I judge thee, cross-realm trespassers shall move slowly!”

“By the name of Truth, I judge thee, cross-realm trespassers shall lose strength!”

“By the name of Truth, I judge thee, the claws and teeth of cross-realm trespassers shall become frail!”

“By the name of Truth, I judge thee, cross-realm trespassers shall suffer doubled damage!”

Each statement of judgment consumed a definite amount of Divine Power. After reciting five judgments in one breath, Lin Xiao found he had used up more than 980 points of Divine Power. The consumption varied with the result of the judgment, almost reaching a thousand.

The outcome, however, did not disappoint him. As each judgment was declared, all the Nightmare Creatures that had entered the Divine Territory were affected by the judgment.

Instantly struck with blindness, slowed, weakened in strength, their bodies became fragile, and the damage they received doubled. These five BUFFs appeared simultaneously on the Nightmare Creatures, unable to be dispelled.

According to the precondition he set for the judgment, any creature that entered the Divine Territory without permission would automatically be judged, whether now or those entering later.

Of course, if he wanted the effect to continue, he would need to keep spending Divine Power to maintain it, and the maintenance cost was very high, not much different from the initial activation.

Naturally, Lin Xiao would not keep it up indefinitely. Battles of this sort were calculated by days; where would he find so much Divine Power to spend?

Besides, he did not intend to rely on this to face the enemy; he was merely testing the effects of this Minor Judgment Skill for now.

In actual use, the effect and power were stronger than he had anticipated, probably because his Divinity Level was high enough.

Divinity is the core essence of a deity. With a high level of Divinity, not only do the spells cast become more powerful, but so do the extraordinary abilities, and even direct impacts with Divine Power receive a bonus in force and an enhanced suppression effect on enemies.

Under the Fivefold Judgment, the strength of this batch of invading Nightmare Creatures plummeted dramatically. Led by the legendary hero Alemente, the Mage team summoned a vast Meteoric Fire Rain spanning tens of kilometers, burning a large swath to death.

Then, without waiting for the Children of Nightmare to react, the skies began to darken. The vast face suddenly contorted and transformed. Endless mists of gray converged into the twisting vortex, casting dusk upon land and sky.

“Game over, time for the main course!”

Within the Divine Palace, Lin Xiao looked up at the dome where Divine Power stored like a tide was disappearing; in his perception, within the Divine Territory, an extremely terrifying existence was about to take form around two points of Divinity as its core.

With Divinity as the core and Divine Power building the divine body, a Divine Incarnation was being condensed.

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This was the normal Divine Incarnation cohesion process, but for Lin Xiao there was an additional step. In addition to Divine Power, there was also a continuous stream of Evil God’s power.

The newly coalesced power of the Evil God from that strange, extraplanar world.

Although different in nature, it was still his own power, and of course he could make use of it.

A true Evil God, even borrowing only a small portion of its strength, reached the limit that the Divine Realm could accommodate in just a few minutes. As the twisting mist formed of dark fog slowly dissipated, a Titan towering two kilometers high was revealed.

This Giant was even more powerful than the incarnate Nightmare’s Will and that fleshy orb from before. Upon taking shape, a horrendous power field, exceeding Rank 8 and reaching the heights of Rank 9 legendary status, burst forth. The sky and the earth cleared, and only the towering Titan stood between heaven and earth, emitting a terrifying aura that chilled all Children of Nightmare to the bone, taking great strides toward the passage between the Nightmare Realm and the Divine Realm.

The Nightmare Creatures that had just invaded from the Nightmare Realm instantly erupted into chaos, fleeing in all directions, regardless of the commands of the Children of Nightmare.

With massive strides, the Giant reached the portal between the two worlds. Each step of its hundreds of meters long feet could crush a swath of creatures, and the terrifying combination of weight and strength emitted a fearsome power that could kill everything in the vicinity. The interface of the two realms, which had just gathered more than a hundred thousand Nightmare Creatures, instantly became chaotic, with countless dead or injured.

Lin Xiao’s consciousness directly descended upon this formidable incarnation, slowly lowering its head to look at the passage between the two realms, feeling the presence of five weak wills on the other side.

Whether looking from the perspective of this incarnation or judging with his True Body’s Rank 6 Divinity, these five Children of Nightmare seemed extremely weak in his eyes, even though their strength was indeed not much different from the other Children of Nightmare he had encountered before.

It wasn’t that the enemies had weakened, but that he was now too strong.

A giant hand, spanning hundreds of meters, reached into the passage between the two realms, grasping at the edge. He felt the impact of five powerful forces against his own, but the difference in quality was too great to be significant.

With both hands gripping the edges of the passage, he invoked his Divine Power, and with a piercing tearing sound, he forcibly ripped the portal open, revealing the Nightmare Realm on the other side. Even more powerful Divine Power surged into the opposing realm, rushing several kilometers into the Nightmare Realm in a single burst.

A large number of Nightmare Creatures had gathered at the edge of the portal, but as he forcefully tore apart the realm, they suffered heavy casualties and chaos ensued.

Lin Xiao paid no attention to these ordinary Nightmare Creatures. With his tremendous size, he couldn’t even see these tiny beings. His gaze was fixed directly on the core of the Nightmare Realm, and he strode towards it.

What does it feel like to be two thousand meters tall?

The mountains are beneath my feet, clouds wrap around my waist, all beings are as ants, and that feeling is as exhilarating as one can imagine.

With a fist nearly a hundred meters in diameter, he punched down, akin to a meteor from the heavens, producing a turbulent wave of energy hundreds of meters high, surging in all directions. He directly smashed open the core of the Nightmare’s Child and reached inside to pull forcefully.

“Boom!”

The entire Divine Realm shook violently, and the Nightmare Realm’s overall structure was twisted out of shape, with countless spatial rifts emerging.

“Alright then!”

The core of the realm was connected to the entire Nightmare Realm. If he continued to forcefully rip it out, the result would be the realm’s collapse.

Booty was still to be had, so Lin Xiao abandoned the violent idea and honestly extended a finger into the broken core of the Nightmare, pressing down on the Child of Nightmare hidden within to kill it.

Suddenly, the entire world became tranquil.

Divine Power swept through, directly plundering everything worth taking from the Child of Nightmare’s realm.

Then, all the panic-stricken Nightmare Creatures were herded into the Divine Realm like chasing little chicks. Hereafter, they would be left to the God Realm Kin to gain battle experience, and their corpses would be gradually consumed by the newly planted Flesh Tree to build up a sufficient gene pool.

Effortlessly taking down a Child of Nightmare startled the remaining ones, but they were powerless.

If the human and Human Divine Territory Players’ Divine Realms had fully integrated, surrender and cancellation were still options, but once the realm of a Child of Nightmare interfaced with a human’s Divine Realm, they could not be separated without one dying.

Well, it’s not absolute. If the disparity in strength between both sides was too great, the stronger side could also forcefully sever the connection at some cost.

Like Lin Xiao and the Children of Nightmare now, he could sever it forcefully.

Or, there are some extremely rare special Divine Artifacts or Ancient Treasures that could also do this.

But he wouldn’t do that, of course. Why would he let go of a head delivered to his doorstep?

Next, he repeated the process, ripping open each of the Children of Nightmare’s realms entirely, effortlessly crushing each Child of Nightmare like slaughtering small chickens.

All Nightmare Creatures were driven into the Main Divine Realm, many of which were valuable, including all Nightmare Creatures of Rank 6 and above, and several legendary Nightmare Creatures, all imprisoned in the deepest part of the Divine Realm in the Underworld Divine Realm Space.

After all, Transcendental Nightmare Creatures were worth more than just fertilizer.

However, it’s not about subjugating them as imagined; Nightmare Creatures cannot be subdued, as they are already transformed into nightmares and beyond taming, but they can be confined for the sake of providing the God Realm Kin with combat practice and building up their battle experience.

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