CHAPTER 528: The Ranking Of The Gods

In the infinitely vast universe, there were countless planes of existence. There could have been as many planes of existence as there were stars in the sky. Many of these planes were inhabited by advanced intelligent life forms. The Profound Continent and the Abyss Realm were just a few of these countless planes.

An indefinite amount of time had passed since certain high-level beings had learned to harness the energy that existed between heaven and earth. By cultivating their bodies, they gradually acquired terrifying powers, powers that would allow them to transcend life and death, to stand above the mundane, and to be called gods.

They were a small fraction of the population who could manipulate the elemental energy around them, or perhaps master some profound laws of nature. Through constant cultivation and evolution, they placed themselves far above the ordinary and gained the admiration and worship of all.

One could become a god by mastering any kind of energy to the peak, be it the energy of fear, hatred, desire, or any other. As long as you cultivate methods to use that energy to the extreme, you will gain miraculous powers and become a so-called 'god'.

In the limitless universe, there were two kinds of fundamental energies that were omnipresent. These energies had the most intense presence, and the gods who mastered them were the most powerful. The first type consisted of eight elemental energies - light, darkness, earth, fire, wind, water, lightning and death. The second type consisted of four edict forces - Fate, Spacetime, Destruction and Life.

Elemental energies and Edict forces could be found in every corner of the universe. Since these two types of energy were present in most planes of existence and were the most rudimentary components between heaven and earth, those who cultivated them had boundless potential and were usually stronger than those who cultivated other energies.

The gods were divided into classes based on their strength. There were Demigods, Basegods, Lowgods, Midgods, Highgods, Overgods, and Creators. To become a demigod, one had to form at least one of the following: elemental body, elemental soul, edict body, or edict soul. Those who combined both body and soul with elemental energy or edict powers would possess powers greater than Demigods and would be known as Basegods.

Crosius, Little Skeleton, the six-horned tribal king of the Soul Race, the Saintess of the Church of Light, they were all Basegods. They were existences whose souls and bodies had completely merged with elemental energies.

Basegods had the makings of a god, but although they were considered actual gods by the average person, they still had a long way to go in the eyes of higher-level gods. It was only when they had progressed to the point where they had numerous followers and were able to form the Domain of Divinity and possess Divine Powers that they could be considered legitimate gods.

To be worshipped, to be able to form the Domain of Divinity, and to possess Divine Energy were the three key requirements for being a true god.

Of the three, divine energy was the key. When a base god cultivated and understood his domain to a certain deep level, he would possess divine power. Of course, this was the most difficult step of all, because you had no one to help you figure out how to generate divine energy. One could only generate divine energy through one's own realisation and understanding of the manipulation of Elemental Energy and Edict Forces.

When a practitioner was finally able to produce divine energy, he would be even more adept at manipulating the energy he cultivated. At this point, they would be able to establish a religion or similar organisation and recruit a large number of intelligent beings to worship them. After gaining a certain number of followers, the principles of the faith would be transformed into some kind of extraordinary energy that could be harnessed by the worshipped being. By fusing the power of faith and divine energy, the Domain of Divinity could be formed.

Self-cultivation was the most time-consuming and least productive method.

Another method was absorption, which involved killing another god who was cultivating in the same energy and then absorbing the homologous divine energy from their body. This method was not without great risk. If one was not careful, one could turn from the hunter to the hunted.

Another method was to absorb the energy of some of nature's wondrous creations. Eternal and boundless luck was the first requirement for this method, which had a much lower chance of success than killing another god and absorbing their divine energy.

Gathering faith to increase divine energy was much more difficult, but it remained the preferred method for most gods. As long as enough people believed in them, they could increase their divine energy through the millions of strands of the power of faith.

Furthermore, as the power of the faith increased, the domain of divinity would also become more powerful. In a battle between gods, it was usually the strength of their Divine Domain that determined which side had the upper hand. For all these reasons, the power of Faith was very useful.

The Church of Light, the Church of Calamity, the Druidic Order, the Shrine of Ice, even the dark elves and the forest trolls; each worshipped their own gods. These gods drew divine energy from the faith of their followers. In reality, different religions fought each other for believers in order to gain substance.

Eight types of elemental energies and four edict powers. Of all the great and small gods who cultivated in one of these twelve energies, the majority of them chose to gain divine energy by cultivating and accepting followers.

But this was certainly not the rule for all gods. There were some who increased their divine energy in other ways.

For example, gods who cultivated in the Death Element could gain divine energy by killing living beings. Gods who cultivated in the Edict of Destruction could gain divine energy by destroying life. Gods who cultivated in the edict of life could gain divine energy from material planes full of life...

However, these methods would often conflict with the interests of other gods. For example, the Gods of Death and Destruction could gain divine energy from death and decay. On the other hand, the Gods of Life couldn't draw energy from the life force of the millions of living beings in existence.

It was precisely because of this clash of interests that conflict between the gods was an inevitable constant.

As Wolf of the Church of Calamity had said before, the Cemetery of Death did not actually originate from the Profound Continent. The most important feature of the Cemetery of Death was the large transportation matrix at its centre, which was capable of navigating through different planes. A powerful Overgod who cultivated the energy of death allied himself with an Overgod who cultivated the energy of destruction. They worked together to spread death and destruction to every material plane, gaining even greater power in the process. Meanwhile, an Overgod of Life joined forces with other gods to stop them on all these planes. As a result, wars broke out on every major plane of existence, with the Profound Continent being one of the affected planes.

The Cemetery of Death was a gateway for the two powerful Over-Gods to travel between the various material planes. Its availability was not limited to the Profound Continent - it could also be found on some other material planes. These cemeterys made it easier for their subordinates, lesser gods under their control, to bring death and destruction to other planes.

When they first set foot on a new plane, they would establish a religious organisation and persuade the organisms on that plane to worship them. All those beings who worshipped them were granted protection, as they reaped an endless stream of the power of faith from them. However, if the beings on that plane already worshipped other gods, they would rain death and destruction on them and gain energy from their deaths.

The Profound Continent was only a small plane of existence. Five thousand years earlier, a great war had ravaged the Profound Continent, involving practically every powerful being on it. The two Overgods of Destruction and Death had only sent a few lesser gods to participate on their behalf. Although their forces were eventually defeated, they left behind a seed of evil on the Profound Continent - the Church of Calamity. These gods of death and destruction retreated from the Profound Continent, but left behind a cemetery of death so that they could return in the future.

The Skeletal Staff had been left behind by a Midgod of Death. This being was one of the main leaders of the Great War. He left some information in the skeleton staff and in the Cemetery of Death, hoping that it would help the necromancy experts. In addition, the skeletal staff was the key to accessing the cemetery of death. He was convinced that it would allow the faithful of the Profound Continent to become stronger, thus giving them even more power of faith.

However, the original Skeletal Staff Master also left the God Brand in the Cemetery of Death and the Skeletal Staff. Therefore, as soon as the new master got hold of the powers of the Skeletal Staff or the Cemetery of Death, the spell would be activated, causing the new master to serve them forever.

No wonder! This explains why my soul was affected by some kind of energy in the Cemetery of Death, Han Shuo thought inwardly. A colossal figure had once appeared in his mind, pressuring Han Shuo to surrender his soul and serve him forever. However, it was stopped by Han Shuo's tremendous willpower and his mighty demonic arts, and so he was not stamped with the mark and lost himself.

After Han Shuo broke through the barriers inside the Three-Eyed Skull, he was so enlightened. Han Shuo's eyes were wide open. A world beyond his imagination was unfolding before him. It was only at this moment that Han Shuo realised how magnificent and vast the universe truly was, and how many unimaginable and wonderful things were waiting for him to discover.

For the first time, Han Shuo recognised the never-ending battles between the gods and beings with powers beyond his own understanding.

Han Shuo turned his gaze to the other two skulls. He wondered if the information contained within them would be the secrets to setting up a magical transportation matrix similar to the one in the Cemetery of Death.

With such wishes in his mind, Han Shuo calmed his heart again and tried to attack the boundaries in the two skulls using the same method. However, Han Shuo felt that his mental strength hadn't reached the necessary level yet. He felt rather powerless against the secrets within the skulls.

Suddenly, a pure, melodious call reached Han Shuo's ears through the magical formation he had used earlier, "Mister Han Shuo, is Mister Han Shuo in there?" Han Shuo could recognise the voice as Lord Crosius' daughter. After considering for a while that he couldn't unlock any more secrets from the skeleton staff for the time being, Han Shuo stood up and walked outside.