The Sibi King said slowly, "Just as your modern mysticism has sumd up, the path of faith-based Divine Enthronent, although unimpeded and progressing at great speed,
its upper limit is no lower than those so‑called ’Great Daos’, and even a bit higher.
But there is a huge, unavoidable hidden danger—
the more you draw on the Power of Faith, the more you use the Power of Faith,
the more you will be affected and disturbed by the chaotic thoughts of countless believers, which in turn affect your own existence.
Humans are extrely complex animals,
when a believer prays to a god, he’ll be thinking that the cows and pigs at ho need feeding, the sheep need shearing, the bowls need washing,
he’ll be thinking about getting a wife, about making money, more and more money,
thinking about conflicts with his neighbors,
thinking about the god suddenly sending down heavenly thunder to strike dead the noble lord who oppresses him...
Believers will release all kinds of dissatisfied, negative emotions,
and even positive emotions, such as praying for favorable weather, abundant harvests, and good health for their family,
will never be fully satisfied, and are always mixed with impurities."
The Sibi King paused, then said, "If you put four spoonfuls of salt into a glass of water, it’s already unbearably salty,
what if half of that glass is salt?
If you keep drinking it like that for a long ti, it’s impossible not to be affected.
In the best case, your personality gradually changes, you slowly lose your own will,
in the worst case, you are directly overwheld by the massive chaotic thoughts, your self is drowned, and you beco a puppet, ignorant and unconscious, existing only in the form imagined by the believers.
A Deity is composed of the following parts,
Divinity, God Status, divine office, Divine Fire, Divine Power.
Divinity is the Deity’s essence,
God Status is the ’rank’ that spontaneously forms when power accumulates to a certain degree,
and the divine office exists to weaken the interference from chaotic Power of Faith, and to improve the efficiency of drawing Power of Faith.
Those who want children go worship Bodhisattvas and Buddhas who can grant sons and daughters,
those who want a bumper harvest go worship gods and Buddhas who govern autumn, harvest, and soil,
those who want success in the imperial examinations and official rank go worship gods and Buddhas who govern literature and writing.
The groups of gods and Buddhas who have stepped onto the path of faith-based Divine Enthronent, in order to reduce the impurities contained in the Power of Faith, deliberately divided among themselves different divine offices, each performing its own function,
so that believers would specifically worship the gods and Buddhas relevant to their needs, thereby reducing the negative impact.
Precisely for this reason, the earliest religious forms in human society in the real world were all polytheistic, not monotheistic—because a single Deity that governs all divine offices is almost impossible to maintain its self under the impact of the vast ocean of impure thoughts,
the greater the Power of Faith, the more it tests the Deity’s will.
That is why one must rely on Divine Fire.
Divine Fire is more like a sign that, once Divine Power accumulates to a certain level, quantitative change triggers qualitative change.
A Demigod like you clarifies his own divine office, gives believers a clear doctrine to rely on, accumulates sufficient Power of Faith,
then ignites the Divine Fire,
slts away the impurities within the Power of Faith, purifies the self, and officially becos a Deity.
And after becoming a Deity, the Divine Fire continues to bear the responsibility of Purification of impurities."
The Sibi King spoke calmly of the many matters concerning faith-based Divine Enthronent, and said lightly, "Of course, even Divine Fire absolutely cannot strip away all impurities one hundred percent.
Across various Divine Systems and eras, the myriad gods and Buddhas racked their brains trying to reduce the impurities in believers’ thoughts in order to maintain the gods’ sense of self, but no one could succeed.
At first they slaughtered commoners, deliberately plunging them into continual Natural Disasters and human calamities, so they would have to rely at all tis on the mighty power of the Deities,
only to discover that this was too inefficient,
the number of commoners was too small, resulting in a low total amount of Power of Faith, and nurous gods and Buddhas, in order to fight over this tiny pool of believers, instead started fighting among themselves.
So, they began to educate and civilize.
They sent out all sorts of ssengers, figures like Protheus and such,
to teach the people the skills of survival and life, to teach them farming and planting, animal husbandry and sericulture, and house building,
and at the sa ti, frequently displayed miracles, protecting the ordinary humans under their jurisdiction so they would not be hard by beasts and monsters.
Under the policy of education and civilization, the population grew rapidly, and the total amount of Power of Faith rose,
but before the gods and Buddhas could pop their caps in celebration, new problems arose.
The more intelligent and comfortable humans beco, the deeper their skeptical understanding of all things in the world, and the more chaotic their thoughts.
Just as a primitive person only needs to think about eating, drinking, and excreting all day long,
whereas a feudal farr has to think about farming and planting, dealing with tax collectors and corrupt officials, raising children, and so on.
To prevent commoners from thinking too much,
the gods and Buddhas began to stupefy the masses.
On one hand they sent ssengers and Prophets to spread their faith, attack all thoughts that could threaten their existence, and block technological progress,
and on the other hand, they actively eliminated ordinary people whose minds were particularly unrestrained and who possessed advanced ideas.
They wanted to pen humans in like sheep within the enclosures they had demarcated."
Li Ang frowned and said, "This plan didn’t succeed?"
"It both succeeded, and failed."
The Sibi King shook his head and said, "The era in which I was born was precisely the era when the Deities were implenting the stupefaction plan.
They ford groups and monopolized the path of faith-based Divine Enthronent,
and promoted their faith among the people, using believers to search for players hidden among the populace.
The positions of Deities were limited as well,
no Deity was willing to share their divine office with others,
all Transcendents who were powerful enough to achieve Divine Enthronent and were only one step away,
were either killed by the Deities,
or accepted by the Deity groups to beco new Deities—this usually happened when that Demigod bore Deity blood, and specifically the blood of a main god.
As far as I know, I myself did not possess any bloodline left in the Mortal World by Deities,
the fact that Di Shitian and Vishvakarman were willing to accept was, most importantly, because they had run into trouble."
"Trouble?"
Li Ang raised an eyebrow. The Sibi King had not explained the power level of Vishvakarman and Di Shitian, but Di Shitian, being the lord of the gods dwelling in the thirty‑three heavens of the celestial realm, could hardly be weak by any stretch.
He would certainly be stronger than the remnant body of the Sibi King in the Ajanta Stone Cave, and much stronger at that.
"That’s right,"
the Sibi King nodded and said, "Just as your modern mysticism has speculated, after each round of the killing‑field ga ends,
the killing‑field ga itself does indeed erase from history the overly conspicuous traces left behind by Transcendents,
such as the scarred earth created by Divine Battles,
the rifts and volcanic landscapes left behind by the slaughter among gods and Buddhas.
Only a very small number of things can remain, such as Pyramids, obelisks, and the like.
In this current era,
you, that Angel, and several other players,
already count as the strongest Transcendents of this world,
but compared to the flourishing era of gods and Buddhas, there is still quite a considerable gap."
Li Ang frowned and asked, "How big a gap?"
"Hmm..."
The Sibi King recalled for a mont, then said, "I rember that among the Eight Divine Dragons, the Mohuluoja,
that is, the Giant Python God with a human head and a snake body who is skilled at playing musical instrunts,
could lift a whole mountain and walk with it.
"His position in the pantheon of gods and Buddhas is more or less equivalent to the Giant Spirit God in Eastern mythology."
"So basically just there to make up the numbers, huh?"
Li Ang grinned. The Giant Spirit God was a Heavenly Warrior under Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King,
whose most famous battle record was getting the axe in his hand smashed into two pieces by a certain monkey’s single staff strike.
"You can understand it that way."
The Sibi King nodded and said, "Because the vast majority of miracles have been erased by the kill-field ga, the gods’ power at their peak was even greater than you can imagine.
Back then, gods and Buddhas stood at the very apex of the world. The ones who could kill them, who could cause Deities to fall,
other than the trials the kill-field ga periodically rained down, were only each other’s slaughter and campaigns.
To seize the Divine Source,
to monopolize the only godly office,
to seize more Power of Faith,
even within a single divine group, there was nothing but open strife and hidden struggle.
Those low in rank were constantly scheming to climb up,
those high in rank were constantly on guard against one another, and against the gods beneath them.
Even within the sa family, the sa bloodline, the sa Divine System,
they could not avoid fratricide—father killing son, son slaying father.
Just like Mount Olympus and the Egyptian God System.
And wars between different Divine Systems were even more cruel and blood-drenched.
In essence, gods are human as well. To stay alive, to live longer than ordinary people, they would stop at nothing.
The kill-field ga would periodically slaughter Transcendents who exceeded their lifespan,
and the only way to continue surviving was to walk further down the road of Divine Enthronent,
to beco a main god.
To plunder resources from other Divine Systems, Bishukjietian and Di Shitian recruited troops and bought horses, and even descended into the Mortal World multiple tis to teach gifted mortals.
At first, I accepted their invitation,
after all, from the mont I was born, I had been steeped in the faith that Di Shitian was the ruler of all gods in the heavens,
so to , to be able to serve the gods and Buddhas, to join their ranks, was an incomparable honor.
Yet before I could fully integrate into the group of gods and Buddhas, I discovered more of the truth.
The truth of God’s Kingdom."
The Sibi King paused, then said, "God’s Kingdom, Buddha Country, in themselves have no difference. They are domains spontaneously ford by Deities,
used to herd Petitioners and provide an endless stream of Power of Faith.
Compared to the mortal nations, where the total amount is large but full of impurities,
the Power of Faith supplied by a God’s Kingdom is less in quantity but far purer, needing almost no filtration.
When multiple Deities of the sa Divine System live together, their domains will rge with each other, forming a God’s Kingdom of even vaster extent.
In God’s Kingdom there are birdsong and fragrant flowers, gentle wind and beautiful sun, filled with incense, tranquility, and peace,
and an ocean of zombies."
The Sibi King exhaled a heavy, turbid breath. "The instant I stepped into God’s Kingdom at their invitation, I was stunned by what I saw.
In that God’s Kingdom, whose vastness rivaled a continental plate, mountains and plains were packed with countless Petitioners standing upright,
their expressions fanatical yet rigid, standing where they were, never pausing as they prayed desperately, without end.
They had long since lost their own will, becoming one ignorant, insensate battery after another.
Ordinary Petitioners are usually believers who have been devout their whole lives, and after death are guided by a Divine Envoy into God’s Kingdom, to enjoy eternal peace and joy.
Petitioners share the sa lifespan as the gods—so long as a god does not perish, the God’s Kingdom does not perish; so long as the God’s Kingdom does not perish, Petitioners do not perish. It is by relying on this sort of propaganda—"believe in gods and gain eternal life"—that Deities obtain hordes of believers.
However, when a Divine Battle is about to co,
the Deities will very tacitly change their policy in unison,
and use Petitioners as disposable batteries.
They squeeze the Petitioners, forcing them to continuously produce high-quality Power of Faith,
and when a Petitioner’s God Soul is damaged and the very essence of their soul collapses,
they crush them without the slightest hesitation,
turning Petitioners into Energy to continue nourishing God’s Kingdom.
Not only Di Shitian—other Divine Systems do the sa.
They even,
to prepare for Divine Battle, descend among the common folk and directly slaughter their devout believers on a massive scale,
drag them off into God’s Kingdom and erase that portion of mories,
and set them to work producing Power of Faith.
In Di Shitian’s God’s Kingdom, I saw my own ancestors.
They stood together with thousands upon thousands of ordinary believers, skin and bones, features withered, like matches, their whole bodies radiating flas."
The Sibi King seed to sink into so deep mory, and said calmly, "To prepare for Divine Battle,
the entire Divine System entered a warti state.
Di Shitian and other Deities helped ignite my Divine Fire, ascend to Deity, and beco one of them,
then,
they ordered to go to the Mortal World and slaughter my own subjects, converting them into Petitioners in God’s Kingdom.
Before becoming a Deity, I was the King of Depilatory city,
and my people at the ti thought that because of the episode where I cut my flesh to feed the eagle, I had moved Di Shitian and Bishukjietian and thus beco a Deity.
They were sincerely overjoyed that their benevolent King could beco a god,
they held festivals of song and dance, scattered flowers all over the city, dancing and leaping with joy, imrsed in endless happiness.
I refused Di Shitian’s order to slaughter my own people,
I would rather die than lay a hand on my subjects.
And Di Shitian’s response was,
he stepped down once."
The Sibi King took a deep breath and said, "He planted his sole into the Mortal World, slowly lowering it above Depilatory city.
The people in the city were suddenly shrouded in darkness as a world-covering foot, like a curtain of night, descended.
Tall buildings collapsed, rubble flew,
people scread and ran in all directions,
soldiers fired volleys of arrows into the sky,
mothers hid with their children in basents, comforting the trembling little ones, telling them that the great Sibi King had already beco a god and would co to save them.
Di Shitian, right in front of , with a playful attitude, looked down at the civilians in the city like ants, slowly lowered his foot, and stepped down.
Depilatory city was stamped onto the ground.
The very next second, my parents, my wife and children, my people,
all appeared before my eyes, in the form of Petitioners."
The Sibi King said calmly, "Because in life they had believed in and loved , after death they directly beca Petitioners belonging exclusively to ,
and the Deities around burst into loud laughter, mocking the searing hatred I had just erupted with.
In their eyes, for mortals to beco Petitioners is far happier than to struggle on in the Mortal World.
Di Shitian withdrew his foot, patted my shoulder, and told to build my own God’s Kingdom like the other Deities,
to prepare for Divine Battle.
But from that mont on, I had already made up my mind.
I will kill all the gods and Buddhas in the sky—leave not a single one."
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