The Era of Gods

In agony, numerous members of the Clan clutched their heads and squatted down, their muscles twitching and twisting, showing faint signs of contamination and corruption.

Within Lin Xiao’s Sea of Gods, more than half of the remaining Power of Faith lines began to dim, as if a layer of sludge was spreading over these pure lines of faith.

“Divine Power Wash!”

Regaining his senses, Lin Xiao immediately spent a hundred units of Divine Power to cleanse along the lines of faith between himself and his followers, washing away the gray and sludge from the Power of Faith lines as if with water. Then he immediately issued a Divine-mandate. His voice, imbued with divine strength, reverberated like thunder, awakening his followers and ordering them to quickly retreat into the city and activate the defensive installations.

The absence of a physical body made these bizarre otherworldly entities even more terrifying than when they possessed one. Unconstrained by physical form, their sinister souls, which were agglomerates of countless spirits, directly targeted the soul, even contaminating the Power of Faith lines—it was super terrifying.

In this moment, Lin Xiao thought of an extremely terrifying existence within the Chaotic Void Sea—the Ancient Evil Objects!

This thing, after amalgamating millions of souls, had undergone a qualitative change and began to metamorphose into something vile.

Now possessing the foundation to transform into an Ancient Evil Object, as long as one of the countless soul remnants within this Soul Agglomerate could defeat the others and unify the Soul Agglomerate, it would immediately transform into an Ancient Evil Object that even True Gods would be powerless against.

And such vile objects, even those not yet transformed, were extremely terrifying; Lin Xiao was prepared for immense losses.

Even so, this vile thing’s current target was the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate.

Of course, leaving aside the Soul Agglomerate that might transform into an Ancient Evil Object, even this Nightmare’s Will Incarnate, which seemed to have seized a Children of Nightmare, was also very terrifying.

Both these entities had given up their physical bodies and returned from exile, and moreover, they had come to Lin Xiao’s Divine Realm.

As for the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate, it was akin to an aspect of Gaia Will—even a mere sliver of that might was supremely terrifying.

Both super terrifying monsters returning from exile collided heavily upon meeting, looking like a cluster of grapes smeared with sludge colliding with a mass of light orbs. There was no earth-shattering light or shadow effects, only consecutive soul-shaking shockwaves that spread throughout the entire Main Divine Realm.

The two cities at the center of the Main Divine Realm had raised a thick Shield of Faith, a barrier formed from the purest Power of Faith. Its defensive capabilities were practically non-existent, probably unable to withstand even a simple arrow, but it was incredibly strong against mental attacks, managing to block the frightening psychic impacts generated by the savage fight between the two terrible beings.

However, as the battleground of the horrific struggle shifted, the terrifying psychic impacts gradually approached, and one Clan member after another could no longer withstand it and collapsed.

In Lin Xiao’s perception, what were once vibrant lines of faith within his own Sea of Gods were collapsing, each collapse signifying a Clan member’s fall or distortion into a monster by the twisted will.

In less than a minute, several thousand lines of faith had collapsed, indicating that thousands of Clan members had perished.

“This can’t go on,” he exhaled deeply, and commanded Slarda to abandon everything in the Main Divine Realm and evacuate everyone to the Heaven Divine Realm.

Although opening the passageway might be risky, the situation was already at its worst. If they didn’t move, all these Clan members might die.

The two cities might be destroyed in the war, but if a city falls, it can be rebuilt. However, if the Clan perished completely, there would be nothing left. It was essential to preserve the Clan, so everything could start anew.

The order was given, and the Teleportation Array in Naga City was activated. A large number of Clan members used the Teleportation Array to leave the dangerous Main Divine Realm, while Mages in the City of Truth teleported Clan members on a large scale.

The sporadic teleportation caused spatial fluctuations, finally catching the attention of the battling supreme entities above. The Nightmare’s Will Incarnate did not react, but the Soul Agglomerate, like a shark that had smelled blood, broke free from the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate’s entanglement and pounced.

The sky was filled with nefarious black sludge raining down everywhere, leaving traces of contaminated grey scars even in the Void, causing swathes of already struggling Clan members to collapse, either dying on the spot or transforming into irrational monsters due to contamination and corruption.

In an instant, over twenty thousand lines of faith snapped, unparalleled in terms of losses.

Seeing the vile creature pounce, Lin Xiao could no longer maintain his composure on the fishing platform. His True Body rose from his throne, reached out with an empty grab, and plucked the cards of the ancient arena and the Tower of Truth. Stepping out from within the Divine Palace, ripples of space unfolded above Naga City and a blinding flash of Gold light exploded, blocking the falling sludge. Clouds of grey smoke billowed, and the golden light born of Divine Power quickly dulled and turned black, spreading contagion toward him.

“O Supreme of Truth and Creation, you are one, you are many, you are the moment and the eternity!”

In that moment, countless devout followers silently invoked Lin Xiao’s name in their hearts. That instant of intense faith was unprecedented, also bringing him a stream of pure Power of Faith. The white Power of Faith burned upon the surface of the divine golden light and miraculously held back the spreading force of contamination.

With the support of this unwavering Power of Faith, Lin Xiao was able to withstand the impact from the Soul Agglomerate.

“`

During this time, a large number of the Clan had withdrawn, leaving behind only an empty city soon after.

As the last of the Clan evacuated and the Teleportation Array was destroyed, Lin Xiao sighed in relief.

But the moment he sighed, the Divine Power shield above his head could no longer hold and shattered, engulfing him in a sky full of contaminating black mire.

In the Heaven Divine Realm, more than a hundred thousand members of the Clan gathered outside the Heavenly Cathedral, where the believers, with devout gestures, prayed in low voices to the cathedral, chanting Lin Xiao’s divine name, without exception.

The Divine Realm suffered heavy losses, with nearly three hundred thousand of the Clan, over a hundred thousand perished, but their faith was not shaken in the slightest, rather it grew even more devout.

Every believer was convinced that the current hardship was only temporary and that the great Master of Creation and Truth would eventually lead them to defeat their enemies and retake the Divine Realm.

In the Main Divine Realm, as the polluting black mire fell, Lin Xiao immediately felt a strong murmuring whisper appear directly in his Sea of Gods, but it was instantly devoured by the Creation Rubik’s Cube at the center of his Sea of Gods.

This Creation Rubik’s Cube automatically activated at the moment Lin Xiao was contaminated and automatically devoured the surging power of contamination.

Externally, the contamination black mire covered his True Body, and the golden divine light was extinguished, making him look like a mud figure that had just crawled out of the mire, with Divine Power and the power of contamination struggling against each other, continuously emitting grey smoke. But in reality, his Soul was unaffected.

However, his True Body was inevitably affected; although the Creation Rubik’s Cube could devour contaminating forces entering the Sea of Gods, it could not expel the contamination within his flesh.

And so, in less than a minute, his golden divine light had dimmed, the golden flesh of his True Body began to blacken, and his flesh started mutating.

But at that moment, Lin Xiao could not worry about these things, as the Soul Agglomerate found him an irresistible morsel and suddenly gave up its entanglement with the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate and pounced towards him, several tendrils from the Soul Agglomerate winding around him and pulling him up into the air.

Lin Xiao was well aware of what was befalling him, but now he had no way to counter, insufficient Divine Power to resist—he could only…

Cling to his core, hoping his Golden Finger was robust enough to protect his Soul of God.

As long as his Soul of God did not perish and his will was not contaminated, anything was possible.

As for the flesh, let it be as fate would have it.

Tendrils entwined around his flesh, dragging it through the air, the soul-formed chains embedding within him, and his contaminated divine physique, no longer solid, slowly began to swell and deform.

Upon being pulled high into the air, closer to the Soul Agglomerate, which was entangled in combat with the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate, the Soul Agglomerate extended several more tentacles to snatch him and incorporate him into its immense body.

At that moment, the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate suddenly burst into dazzling light, the light twisting and coiling into tendrils of light that flew out and hooked onto Lin Xiao’s True Body. As soon as the tendrils of light touched his True Body, grey-white smoke arose.

Yet, the Nightmare’s Will Incarnate did not bother and continued to infuse a steady stream of power against the force of contamination, dragging Lin Xiao’s True Body away.

This act incensed the Soul Agglomerate, which immediately abandoned its tussle with the Nightmare’s Will and lunged for Lin Xiao’s True Body.

The Nightmare’s Will seemed to have anticipated this, diving down at the same moment. A brilliant orb of light collided with the horrifying entity, striking Lin Xiao simultaneously and immediately blanketing earth and sky in blinding light.

How much time had passed was unknown but the light slowly faded, revealing a sphere tangled with pitch-black muck and dazzling chains of light suspended in mid-air.

Within the Sea of Gods, Lin Xiao looked at the ominous muck and terrifying light that surged from every direction and, looking down at the ever-turning Creation Rubik’s Cube, suppressed his fear and murmured:

“Darling, we’ve been together for so long, and you’ve always been so reliable. I hope this time will be no different!”

Having said so, he silently immersed himself into the Creation Rubik’s Cube.

The instant his Soul of God disappeared into the Creation Rubik’s Cube, the sun in the vault of the Divine Realm suddenly darkened, colors of earth and heaven shifted, and it quickly plunged into night.

“The night will eventually pass, and light must come!”

Inside the Heavenly Cathedral, Slarda looked up at the dim sun in the Vault of Heaven, his powerful voice echoing across the entire Heaven Divine Realm.

The believers, with unyielding will, bowed down and loudly hailed Lin Xiao’s divine name:

The Supreme Master of Creation and Truth, you are the one, you are all, the fleeting moment and the eternity!

“`