"The original Pantheon, with the Supreme God's adjudication, was the final destination for all conflicts. The gods would deliberate on whether a certain deity was worthy, and submit the matter to the Supreme God for judgment—even trial—to determine promotion or revocation of divine authority... Under the Supreme God's radiance, the entire multiverse ran safely and smoothly... It's a pity that ever since the Supreme God fell dormant, this place lost its original meaning and majesty, becoming more of a gathering place for gods to exchange words..."
Amborí seemed somewhat nostalgic for the past.
"And now... the gods have split into factions, scheming and plotting against each other, desperately accumulating power, eyeing the supreme throne..."
As she spoke the final words, her voice grew softer and softer, turning ever more somber.
Hummmm!
The gates, inscribed with sacred hymns praising the gods and imbued with the power of time and space, seemed to sense Amborí's arrival. As she pushed against them, the two doors began slowly swinging inward.
In that instant, blinding divine light poured ceaselessly from within the Pantheon, carrying with it the majesty of a terrifying existence!
"It's the will of the
Having experienced the
That feeling—as if the entity before him was the entire Gods' World itself—he had only encountered once before, in the place where the underground Wizard's will slumbered. He could never mistake it.
A kinship born from the depths of his soul stirred in Raylin, filling him with a few extra threads of goodwill toward the entity—and even an urge to submit.
"Truly worthy of being the Supreme God—even dormant, it's this terrifying. If not for my baptism through the
"Once you step through the gates, the Pantheon's verification begins!"
Amborí entered the temple first, and in that instant Raylin felt countless divine gazes piercing into him.
These gazes from superior beings carried hostility, hatred, curiosity, indifference, and other emotions—and among them were the stares of several gods with Greater Divine Power, more than enough to incinerate ordinary mortals or even a [Legendary].
However, by now Raylin was a [True God] of equal standing, and only an incarnation had come here. He was naturally fearless.
He shifted his steps lightly and crossed through the gates of the Pantheon.
BOOM!
In that very moment, as if ages had passed in the blink of an eye, a terrifying will swept across his soul.
Had he not been reborn, his entire background would have been exposed in the process. Even so, Lei Lin was frantically concealing everything about himself, streams of information from the Chip flickering across his vision.
"The final verification of divinity? How thorough…" Lei Lin sneered inwardly, though on the surface he wore an expression of effortless composure.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The entire Pantheon rumbled, and a brand-new divine throne slowly rose into place, signifying that Lei Lin had passed the trial and been confirmed as a native deity.
Only after the terrifying waves of verification subsided did Lei Lin have the leisure to survey the entire Pantheon.
Golden divine seats radiated terrifying fluctuations, each bearing a distinct mark of primordial power. The instant Lei Lin laid eyes on them, he understood the identity of each occupant.
Greater Divine Power, Intermediate Divine Power, Lesser Divine Power…
The Good alignment, the Neutral alignment, the Evil alignment, the Chaotic alignment…
The numerous divine seats were arranged in an orderly yet staggered formation according to some unspoken rule. In general, the thrones of Greater Divine Power deities stood furthest forward and tallest, nearly ten times the size of those belonging to Lesser Divine Power, while deities of the same alignment were grouped together.
Given Lei Lin's current standing as a Lesser Divine Power deity, his seat naturally fell well toward the back, firmly positioned within the Evil alignment.
Anbori's throne was located some distance ahead of his own but already leaned toward the Chaotic alignment, its Intermediate Divine Power radiance squeezing the other Lesser Divine Power deities to the side.
"There are laws set by the Supreme Deity here — even Greater Divine Power deities cannot make a move…"
The moment Lei Lin took his seat, Anbori's divine thoughts reached him.
"And for convenience, we usually just place an avatar here and leave it at that…"
Lei Lin nodded in understanding. With a casual glance, he could spot
Naturally, Lei Lin was not the least bit afraid. After all, the Supreme Deity's laws provided protection here, and he had only sent a negligible avatar. If it were lost, it would matter very little.
"Ever since the Supreme Deity fell into slumber, the Pantheon has completely lost its original purpose and turned into nothing more than a place for idle chatter and verbal sparring?"
Lei Lin stroked his chin, distinctly aware of the shifting expressions on the surrounding deities' faces.
Most of the evil deities regarded him with mockery in their eyes, clearly eager to watch what would happen after he had provoked two Greater Divine Power deities.
For these evil gods, scheming against one another and weaving conspiracies had long since become second nature. With Lei Lin in trouble, it was only natural for them to gloat from the sidelines — refraining from kicking him while he was down was already a courtesy paid to their shared alignment.
Amidst all those mocking gazes, there was also a thread of fear-laced intent mixed in, carrying a familiar scent.
Lei Lin looked toward the source of that intent and spotted the avatar of Kothulmack, the Kobold God. The divine power emanating from the figure was somewhat dim, clearly a lingering aftereffect from the earlier relocation of its divine kingdom.
As a fellow evil god, it naturally stood close to Lei Lin, though positioned a tier below him — an unmistakable sign that its divinity rank was inferior.
Facing those eyes that mixed reverence with ingratiation, Lei Lin returned a smile, though inwardly he couldn't have cared less.
Right now the creature was frightened by his strength, but if Lei Lin ever hit a rough patch, he had no doubt Kothulmack would pounce on him more frantically than any other true god, tearing off a massive chunk of flesh.
However, Lei Lin would never give it the chance.
This Kobold God would live under Lei Lin's shadow for the rest of its days.
Since private combat was prohibited and all attendees had sent avatars, the atmosphere in the Pantheon was quite relaxed — quite a few gods were even exchanging thoughts through divine consciousness in the corners.
"Truly a fine place for deliberation…"
Lei Lin gazed past the assembled gods, directing his attention straight to the heart of the Pantheon.
There sat a throne of staggering scale, presiding over all other seats of divinity — like the core of the entire universe, a sovereign who commanded all gods.
His keen perception told Lei Lin that a terrifying will slumbered upon that throne, with vast streams of law power manifesting outward, not unlike the Wizard World.
Beyond the Supreme God's throne, massive quantities of primordial force crystals had frozen the surroundings, forming a terrifying mountain of primordial power.
"Those are… World Crystals!"
Lei Lin recognized the true nature of those crystals at a glance. However, compared to
The enormous World Crystals encased the throne in ice while the Supreme God's will slumbered within.
Given the primordial force of the Gods' World, the World Crystals formed here were ten thousand times more resilient than the Crystal Wall System itself — not even a coalition of Greater Divine Power deities could shatter them.
It was precisely because of this protective layer that the will of the Gods' World, the Supreme God who ruled over all deities, had been able to sleep peacefully until this very day.
"But…"
Lei Lin glanced at the Greater Divine Power thrones ahead, a mocking smile playing across his face.
The self-sealing of the
This was understandable, though. The Greater Divine Powers already stood at the pinnacle of the Gods' World. Surely, there must be some ambitious deity among them who wished to advance further and become the new Supreme God!
This would be especially true while the Will of the Gods' World was asleep.
And now, it was only thanks to the mutual restraint among the Greater Divine Powers, coupled with the protection of the Crystals of the World, that the original Supreme God could remain unharmed until this day.
"The wills of the Gods and the Wizards, these two worlds' wills, were actually the ultimate combatants of the End War... Judging from the Pantheon's arrangement, they should be at the level of Ninth-Rank Wizards or half-Ninth-Rank, infinitely close to Eternity..."
With his current divine gaze, even Lei Lin could only perceive a hazy orb of light at the core of the Crystals of the World. He couldn't discern the true appearance of the Supreme God at all.
The externally manifested laws obviously held great benefit for the Gods, which was why they had all left avatars here.
Just as Wizards preferred to comprehend laws alongside the will of the Wizard World, within the Pantheon, the Gods' resonance with the Origin Force was closer and more harmonious, making it easier to condense divine authorities.
Lei Lin observed several meditating divine avatars, some so still they were nearly petrified.
They were clearly in a state of profound enlightenment, perhaps only a single step away from condensing a new divine authority.
"Therefore... perhaps I should devise a way to inflict a significant blow on them right from the start of the End War..."
Lei Lin gazed at the Supreme God within the throne, his eyes filled with reverence.
Even the Greater Divine Powers and deities proficient in prophecy would fail to discover Lei Lin's true thoughts at this moment.
"Perhaps... leveraging the ambition of those Greater Divine Powers is a good idea..."
His thoughts raced, and in an instant, Lei Lin conceived the method with the highest probability of success.
Since those Greater Divine Powers coveted the Supreme God's throne, then by giving them a nudge from the sidelines, he could achieve the greatest result with the least effort.
Before the End War officially began, using the Gods against the Gods was the best way to wear them down!
"No matter how lofty they are, ascending to Supreme God, what does it matter? Those who cannot achieve Eternity are merely ants..."
Lei Lin's gaze held a cold indifference as he swept it over the divine seats within the Pantheon. When the End War erupted again, how many gods here would fall?
This thought struck him, and suddenly, Lei Lin felt a wave of ennui. He left his avatar here but retracted most of his attention back to his main body within his Divine Kingdom.