In the Da Chang Empire, the relationships among the Federation, the Imperial Court, and the Churches of the Gods are extremely complex and delicate.
Take the Son of Heaven, for example—he truly bears the Mandate of Heaven, being the literal son of the Celestial Emperor. Theoretically, he is protected by the entire pantheon of gods. As emperor, he even has authority over all local deities below the sixth rank, including spirits of the underworld and a hundred types of ghosts, wielding power so immense it is beyond imagination.
In practice, however, the existence of true deities capable of manifesting their divinity, together with the massive influence of the Churches, has kept divine authority aloof and even seemingly superior to imperial power.
There’s no help for it. Although the upper echelons understand that harmony and unification are the inevitable trend, for the middle and lower levels, sacrificing one’s own interests for the greater good is nearly impossible.
This applies to the Churches, and even more so to the Imperial Court.
Therefore, to counter the Churches, the Imperial Family had no choice but to support numerous extraordinary individuals and sects. The emergence of the Federation arose from precisely this background.
These terrestrial immortals, even if true deities descend, fear them not, effectively balancing the Churches’ influence and allowing imperial authority to assert itself.
However, the numerous sects and academies that constitute the Federation each have their own interests. Within their own territories, they act as local overlords—though not every one of them is guilty of heinous crimes or oppressing the people, none of them have clean hands.
These three factions check and balance each other, forming a uniquely novel political situation in the Da Chang Empire.
This time, the response to the calamity beast Fei was a joint operation led by the Churches, with the military as the main force and martial sects providing support.
Upon seeing that the sects directly intervened at the last moment, reaped the benefits and spoils of war, and then simply left, while the military suffered heavy casualties and losses, faced astronomical compensation costs, and had to deal with subsequent plague control and civil order restoration, the military could not help but feel exploited—even though the Churches could offer some assistance.
“General, be cautious with your words!”
Hearing General Han express dissatisfaction and grumble softly, one of his trusted aides immediately stepped forward: “We still have many mages and priests within the army; we must not demoralize them!”
“I understand…”
General Han raised his head and sighed deeply.
In such a world, to still dream of unifying all under heaven and ruling in all directions was somewhat delusional.
Yet, just after sighing, as General Han looked up at the dark red spots in the sky, his frown deepened.
These strange astronomical phenomena seemed to be occurring more frequently. Especially the dark red light blending with the moon’s usual purple glow, giving him an even stronger sense of unease.
“Report!”
At that moment, a rider galloped in at full speed, mounted on a Black Dragon horse. Even such a fine steed was foaming at the mouth. The rider collapsed the moment he stopped.
“General, urgent dispatch from eight hundred li away!”
The messenger, covered in dust, barely managed to gather his strength and knelt to report: “Another calamity beast, confirmed to be a Fei, has appeared at East City, causing a massive plague. Bailing Commandery is in crisis, with man-eating birds of prey appearing within its jurisdiction—suspected to be ancient Man-eating Peacocks. The Dongmu River has inexplicably frozen, causing panic along both banks… We beg the General to lead the troops and suppress the crisis immediately!”
“This… this…”
Even though General Han possessed the temperament of a great general, calm in crisis, seeing so many disasters erupting within his own jurisdiction still caused him to inhale sharply: “So many calamity beasts?”
Cold sweat was already sliding down his forehead.
He naturally understood that the Da Chang Empire had been retreating its defenses, abandoning even frontier prefectures and ports like Fengfeng Commandery. Now, with so many calamity beasts invading the interior faster than they could be suppressed, it seemed like the omen of an apocalyptic era.
“Could it really be necessary to fall back to the heartland of Zhongyuan, letting the calamity beasts run rampant and slaughter our people?”
General Han gripped his treasured sword, his face showing a determined expression: “Absolutely not!”
“Soldiers, heed my command! Follow me to quell the chaos!”
With a loud shout, he mounted his horse first, and the entire army immediately changed course, raising a vast cloud of dust under the moonlight.
At this moment, had he looked up again, he would have seen that on the moon, already tainted with a bewitching purple glow, patches of dark red spots had clearly emerged…
…
“The invasion of the Inner World… has come so quickly?”
Wu Ming on the continent of Saier immediately looked up, gazing at the moon that was already half transformed into a dark red.
Compared to usual, the moonlight now seemed to be shrouded in a layer of blood, exuding an ominous aura.
“The Moon Deity… is in danger!”
The Da Chang Empire was protected by eight supreme deities: Sky, Earth, Yin, Yang, Sun, Moon, War, and Seasons.
The Moon Deity’s domain was obviously tied closely to the moon!
Of course, it wasn’t only this deity—many deities of other races whose domains were related to the moon would inevitably be affected as well.
“If the Sun represents light, then the Moon represents darkness… and precisely because of this, it is most easily infiltrated by the Inner World?”
Wu Ming sighed.
This was purely a clash of worlds and cosmic principles. Even an existence like himself, at the eighth level, could hardly intervene.
Moreover, the怨力 in the world is growing even more intense. The nights to come will belong to the divine abominations and monsters!
Looking at this scene, Wu Ming suddenly gained a realization: “The most intense wave of calamity has finally arrived!”
…
“The moment I’ve been waiting for has finally come!”
Within the Inner World, the figure in black robes—manifestation of the Masked Void—stood silently in the void. A black eyeball seemed embedded on the back of his right hand. Several white masks floated around him, each displaying different expressions, but all with hollow eye sockets shedding tears of blood.
Behind him stood Orpheus and Dream Cocoon, reverently, along with countless other divine abominations and false gods who had taken human form.
They could all sense the immense power radiating from the Masked Void.
He was the chosen of the entire Inner World, the master of grudge force, embodying the vengeful will of the Inner World!
The hordes of monsters and vengeful spirits—the Inner World has no shortage of them. We need not worry about losses. As for those fanatical divine abominations, they neither obey our commands nor cooperate with us. Releasing them into the Prime World, no matter how much destruction they cause, is a gain for us… and now…
The human-shaped figure of the Masked Void suddenly exploded, releasing a torrent of black mist. Pale white masks whirled around him, transforming into an indescribable monstrosity: “There is no longer any existence in the Prime World capable of stopping us!”
At this moment, the power of resentment in the Prime World had boiled to its peak. After waiting and feeding, the Masked Void’s power had been amplified to the very top of the eighth level—some might even say it had touched the threshold of the ninth!
“Avengers, rise and act!”
With a maniacal laugh, countless divine abominations and monsters revealed their true forms. Under the leadership of the Masked Void, they pierced through the void and arrived at an outer plane, instantly descending upon a certain pantheon.
The gods of various pantheons liked to establish their divine realms in the outer planes, connecting them together to form a pantheon alliance.
In the outer planes, they would not suffer rejection from the Prime World, allowing true deities to unleash their full power. Combined with the enhancements of numerous divine realms, even against eighth-level beings, they could defend themselves.
But now, as the portal opened, the pantheon below trembled in fear.
The pantheon chosen by the Masked Void had a very unique structure, shaped like a pyramid. The newer and weaker gods were located closer to the base, while the more powerful ones rose upward, with the God King’s divine realm at the very pinnacle.
“Divine abominations from the Inner World?”
At the apex of the pyramid-shaped divine hall, a flash of light erupted, revealing an otherworldly deity with a lion’s body and a human face, its entire form shimmering in gold: “How dare you desecrate the sacred halls of the gods? Such blasphemy shall invoke the united wrath of all deities!”
Ah, the divine king of the Sphinx pantheon—Sphinx!
A pale mask drifted into view, wearing a mocking smile: “There’s no need for empty bravado. As a pantheon of the Prime World, your power is truly too weak—even ice giants are stronger than you. Such insignificant ants should just乖乖 go to their deaths!”
“Roar! Roar!”
Hardly had the words finished echoing when three strange lion-headed, human-bodied creatures rushed out from behind the Masked Void, their eyes filled with hatred toward Sphinx.
“Oh, here are a few divine abominations you once cast out, come to settle old scores with you!”
The Masked Void said with a smile.
The Sphinx, upon seeing the newly arrived divine abominations, could hardly believe his eyes.
For each of these abominations was nearly as powerful as himself, clearly reaching the peak of the seventh level! And judging from the divine energy they exuded, they were indeed offspring of his own pantheon—perhaps even his own “masterpieces.”
Within the pantheon of lion deities, the lion-bodied, human-headed forms were regarded as beautiful, while the reverse—human-bodied, lion-headed—were viewed as hideous and cursed. Furthermore, according to the prophetic memories within their lineage, such inverted offspring would be the spark that destroys the entire pantheon.
Thus, the Sphinx gods referred to such beings as divine abominations, killing them whenever possible, or exiling and sealing them into the Inner World when they could not be killed.
Now, the bitter cup they had brewed was finally theirs to drink.
“Roar! Roar!”
Without further words, the three divine abominations led the charge into the divine realm, beginning to devour the petitioners and wantonly destroy everything in sight.
“Ha ha… Finally, we have returned to the Prime World! Dragon gods, tremble beneath the fearsome reputation of Orpheis…”
Orpheis, the two-headed dragon, revealed his true form—a colossal dragon spanning the starry river—and charged into the pantheon, swallowing a sixth-level true god in one bite.
Only the Masked Void remained still, silently watching the divine abominations vent their fury, as if waiting for something.
“The Sphinx pantheon has only one supreme god—that is the Eternal Enigma, the god of trickery, nothingness, and deception!”
Suddenly, a beam of light descended, carrying mystery and the unique, vast aura of an eighth-level being.
“You’ve finally appeared…”
Upon seeing this, the Masked Void sighed softly: “To have lost most of your emotions and now only act according to rules—how pitiful!”
Crack!
A crack appeared on the mask’s forehead, revealing a black eyeball that emitted a sinister cackle: “Now, let me end you!”
…
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