The orange cat read the glowing text in the void of space and appeared contemplative.
When both the black flames Scythe of Death and the Book of Prophesized Destinies were in my hands, the War God UI was able to sense some sort of opportunity.
It seems I made a correct conjecture.
A mass of white fog manifested around the orange cat and enveloped him.
The orange cat slowly retreated.
He vanished at the very next instant.
...
At another location.
The secret divine palace.
White fog filled the area.
The orange cat swiftly appeared.
[Fog Realm Descent] was a World Technique created by the many destroyed worlds of the past that now resided inside Gu Qing Shanâs eye, which had always served him well.
The orange cat lightly waved his paws to take out both of the black flames Scythe of Death and Book of Prophesized Destinies.
These two artifacts silently hovered in mid-air.
The orange cat narrowed his eyes and observed his surroundings. The numerous miniature statues of the Myriad Deities didnât change at all, but the statues of the Lord of Radiance and Death God began to give off a faint metallic noise.
Click click clickââ
The two statues slowly turned their heads to look at the two artifacts.
Following their gestures, the ground began to tremble.
Lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Youâve passed the Myriad Deitiesâ check]
[Some sort of mechanism had been activated]
A few moments later.
The ground suddenly began to shake intensely.
The surrounding barriers that were holding the water back suddenly disappeared.
The water poured in to fill the entire divine palace.
The miniature statues were crushed by the water pressure one after another.
Everything was swiftly destroyed.
ââ-this whole divine palace is done for.
The orange cat continued to float in the water and patiently waited.
Thereâs no way the Myriad Deities set up such secretive conditions just to destroy this place.
A few moments later.
The fountain that was now submerged in water began to give off a pure-white glow.
A voice swiftly followed:
âEnvoys from the future, with the last of our divine power, you shall be shown the truthâ
The glow expanded to fill the darkness of the water and displayed a beautiful world.
The voice from before continued:
âA long, long time ago, all the Laws converged together to create the first entity to have infinite Origin powerâ
âTheir name cannot be uttered, cannot be thought about, and cannot be written down, otherwise they would know about itâ
âThey continued to remain completely alone for countless years within the void, until one day when they sensed the threat that came from outside the Reality Gateâ
âThat threat was so horrifying that even they had no choice but to formulate a plan for the sake of survivalâ
âThey began to use the power of their Laws to create individual creatures born for the sake of battleâ
ââ-hundreds of thousands of Deities were then bornâ
Within the world reflexed by the water, sprites of beautiful light fell to the ground to manifest new lifeforms.
These lifeforms took numerous shapes, some were humanoid, some were beasts, elves, spirits, giants, elementals, etc., so many that it was dizzying to look at.
All of them knelt down on one knee, towards a certain direction with a devout expression.
These Deities were born from âthemâ, they are the Laws that âtheyâ had divided from themselves.
After that, the Deities began to occupy themselves with smelting metal, forging armor and weapons, researching magic as well as the essence of the Laws.
The land was prosperous.
The voice suddenly became solemn and low:
âWhile the Deities were born from âthemâ, they were individuals with their own will, so they gradually felt dissatisfied with their status as servantsâ
âHowever, âtheyâ were too powerfulââ during the Deities creation, âtheyâ had already prepared for such a situationâ
The vision changed.
On top of a certain tall platform, one of the Deities was bloody all over, having been punctured through his chest by another Deity who looked exactly the same.
The other Deity ripped off the first Deityâs head and roared towards everything below the platform.
The voice became a bit gloomy and continued:
âWhen âtheyâ created by the Deities, âtheyâ only used 40% of their Origin power to create the Deities, with the remaining 60% used to create the Deitiesâ shadowsâ
âThese shadows were Law-manifested beings without any consciousness, which was completely under âtheirâ controlâ
âââno matter how powerful the Deities became, their shadows would always be more powerful, with their strength being 40% versus 60%â
ââTheyâ can imbue âtheirâ consciousness into any of the shadows to kill a disobedient servantâ
âRealizing that it was impossible to rebel against âthemâ, the Deities could only remain as servantsâ
âUp until that dayâââ
The world in the vision around him changed again.
Locust monsters descended from the sky, innumerable Apocalypses appeared all over the world, causing unprecedented destruction.
A furious roar resounded throughout the void.
The Deities came forward and began to fight against the Apocalypsesâ
The voice continued: âAlthough the Deities had been prepared as a countermeasure, âtheyâ still underestimated the power of the Apocalypseâ
An intense crimson light struck the ground.
The entire world became dark.
And remained that way.
The voice resounded again: ââTheyâ were defeated by the Apocalypse, having nothing but the last bit of power, âtheyâ could only fall into slumberâ
The world lit up again.
In this tattered world, life was wilting, everything had been destroyed.
The Deities stood sparsely on the ground, their expressions filled with confusion and pain.
Among the hundreds of thousands of Deities in the past, barely 10,000 of them remained.
Two Deities laid on the ground at their deathbeds, enveloped by profound shadows.
A female Deity stood next to these two Deities, hurriedly chanting a mystical incantation.
All the other Deities stood behind this female Deity, praying.
âThe Lord of Radiance and Death God were two notable figures among the surviving Deitiesâ
âThey had survived numerous Apocalypses and found the method to remove their shadows just before their deathsâ
âHowever, âtheirâ remaining will did not allow this method to be passed downâ
âBy the power of the Time Deity, the Deities of Radiance and Death had tossed the method into a certain moment of the futureâ
âOnce someone in the future had inherited their Laws, they would have a chance to obtain that shadow removal method from within the Pantheonâ
In the vision, the two Deities drew their last breaths.
The light of their Laws flew into the sky as stars and vanished without a trace.
Time was sped up.
The civilization of the Deities became increasingly prosperous, the remaining 10,000 Deities [1]worked together to create a grand divine palace â the Pantheon and established themselves as the Myriad Deities.
Surrounded by the Deities, three female Deities accepted the scepter that represented absolute power.
âThe three female Deities of Fate ruled over the fate of all Deities, they were the embodiments of the Law of Fate, thus worshipped by the Myriad Deitiesâ
The voice continued:
âAfter countless years, âtheirâ consciousness would occasionally resurface, reminding the Myriad Deities about the pastâ
âThe Deities of Fate blessed the Foresight Deity with their powers and had him foresee the future of the Deitiesâ
âThe Foresight Deity made two crucial propheciesâ
âFirstly, âtheyâ will surely reawaken and attempt to consume all the Deities to replenish âtheirâ powerâ
âSecondly, the strongest person in the Realm of Life will be either the future Lord of Radiance or Death God, he still survive all challenges and calamities to eventually become the future Divine King, reestablishing the Pantheonâ
The vision slowly faded away.
A sacred chant resounded around the divine palace as illusions of the Deities descended from within the vision, blessing Gu Qing Shan with their voices.
The chant that they uttered was like nothing Gu Qing Shan had ever heard before, but Gu Qing Shan could sense countless unique powers slowly seeping into his body.
Gu Qing Shan felt cautious.
At this moment, a line of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Youâve received the blessing the past Myriad Deities]
The vision continued to fade away until eventually it thoroughly disappeared.
The water returned to darkness.
All the statues in the divine hall had also disappeared.
It was as if the statues only existed to display that vision earlier.
Faintly, the voice from earlier spoke up one last time:
âFuture Death God, we need you to find the secret of the pastâ
âAs you unlock the secret of the Deitiesâ shadows, the Myriad Deities will no longer be bound by âthemâ and once again obtain freedomâ
âYou shall lead us against âthemâ, triumph, and heed a glorious new era of Deitiesâ
âYou shall become the King of the Myriad Deitiesâ
[1] One of the authorâs plays on words was lost during translation here. If translated literally, the Pantheon would have been called the âHall of 10,000 Deitiesâ, and the Myriad Deities were literally the â10,000 Deitiesâ. However, since the number 10,000 was frequently used as a substitute for ânumerousâ, I translated it as âmyriadâ, and we would have found out here that there was literally 10,000 Deities, and not numerous deities