Chapter 1336

Strictly speaking, in the Heavenly Realm, any deity is an eternal life.

After becoming a deity, as long as one does not perish, there is no concern over lifespan.

But...

Lin Yan thought of one more thing.

The Heavenly Realm has existed for hundreds of millions of years.

Even though first-tier deities have infinite lifespans, since the Heavenly Realm's inception, countless deities have been born—how many of them are truly eternal?

Now in the Heavenly Realm, deities with lifespans exceeding one hundred thousand years are rare.

Deities exceeding one million years are even rarer.

Where did the vast number of deities from a million years ago go?

So, even though all deities are immortal, in reality, there is no absolute eternity.

"Eternity is relative."

Lin Yan murmured.

The Goddess of Life heard Lin Yan's words; her eyes flickered slightly with interest—clearly, she appreciated his view.

The Goddess of Life nodded and said, "Yes, there is no absolute eternity. From a mortal's perspective, deities are eternal lives, but ordinary deities believe only the Supreme Deities are eternal."

She paused briefly, then added, "In truth, only power is eternal."

Lin Yan grunted, pondering how this topic raised by the Goddess of Life related to the rift among the Heavenly Realm's Supreme Deities.

The Goddess of Life said, "In the infinitely ancient past, this world was in chaos, with Ancient Deities reigning supreme. Some deities believed you were a severely wounded Ancient Deity in slumber, but I think you are not."

Here, she gazed at Lin Yan with clear, bright eyes.

Lin Yan said, "Correct, I am not."

The Goddess of Life smiled faintly, as if pleased that Lin Feng was so direct with her.

She did not press him for his identity, but continued, "Do you know how long the Ancient Deities ruled this world? It was even longer than the Heavenly Realm's current existence."

Lin Yan shook his head.

The Goddess of Life wore a look of recollection and said, "Back then, the starry sky held countless stars, each representing a world, and within that entire sky, there were innumerable lives."

Lin Yan could picture the scene of that era.

The starry sky above the Continent of Gods back then was no smaller than the universe Lin Yan had known before his transmigration, and the number of stars likely numbered in the hundreds of billions of billions.

The Goddess of Life did not dwell on the memory; she said, "Before the Ancient Deities, this world had another set of masters. Later, the Ancient Deities defeated them and took control of the entire world, turning it into the domain of the Ancient Deities. But the Ancient Deities ultimately failed to control their own reproduction, causing the starry sky to be destroyed because of them."

Before the Ancient Deities?

That must have been an infinitely ancient era.

Probably hundreds of millions of years ago.

Hearing this, Lin Yan suddenly understood the Goddess of Life's meaning.

The Goddess of Life likely meant that even though the current Heavenly Realm is at its peak, it is not truly eternal!

The Supreme Deities are not truly eternal either!

Probably, before the Ancient Deities, there was yet another set of masters.

Then, those people were overthrown by the group before the Ancient Deities.

Then, that group before the Ancient Deities was replaced by the Ancient Deities themselves.

Now, this world has entered the age of the Heavenly Realm.

The question is: will the Heavenly Realm be replaced in the future?

For the transmigrator Lin Yan, whose imagination was vast and who had read countless novels before his transmigration, piecing together this information took almost no time.

At this moment, Lin Yan recalled the words of the Five-Star Ancient Deity, Supreme Dragon.

The Heavenly Realm's Supreme Deities will not tolerate any foreign deity becoming a Supreme Deity-level being.

They probably fear that if a foreign deity becomes a Supreme Deity-level being, it will disrupt the Heavenly Realm's prosperity and cause its decline and the collapse of the divine system!

When one force rises, another must decline!

Then, could the rift among the Supreme Deities have arisen over the concept of "eternity"?

The current Heavenly Realm is brimming with vitality, like a young man in his twenties.

It will take a long time before it begins to decline.

Yet the Supreme Deities have lived for countless eons; to them, time has lost all meaning—they likely only wish to achieve true eternity.

In a short while, Lin Yan had thought of much.

The Goddess of Life seemed to read some of Lin Yan's thoughts from his gaze.

She said, "You should understand now: for Supreme Deities, if there is no true eternity, living one day is no different from living one hundred million years."

Living one day is no different from living one hundred million years!

Only Supreme Deities could say such a thing.

Because only Supreme Deities truly understand its meaning—if an ordinary deity said it, they'd be laughed out of existence!

Lin Yan finally spoke: "Your nine Supreme Deities' rift, is it also born from the concept of 'eternity'?"

The Goddess of Life gave a slight nod. "Yes."

She poured Lin Yan a little more water, then said:

"On the Continent of Gods, there is a saying: 'When something reaches its peak, it begins to decline.' After extreme prosperity, great decay often follows. In the infinitely ancient past, the Ancient Deities were exactly like this—their numbers became too great, their prosperity too extreme, so their decline was largely self-inflicted."

Lin Yan picked up her thread: "So the Light Supreme Deity and others fear the Heavenly Realm becoming too prosperous—even the Abyssal Supreme Deity likely shares this view. That's why there's only one war between the Heavenly Realm and the Abyss every ten thousand years—to weaken both sides!"

Here, Lin Yan paused, then added, "That's why they don't want any new Supreme Deity to arise and push the entire Heavenly Realm toward its peak."

As he said this, Lin Yan realized his current understanding had shifted somewhat from his view before becoming a Supreme Deity.

The Heavenly Realm's Supreme Deities actually fear the Heavenly Realm becoming too prosperous!

And the fear wasn't just that, after the cake grew larger, he wouldn't get the biggest piece.

The chief gods of the Heavenly Realm still feared that, when the Heavenly Realm became too prosperous, it would decline.

Excess leads to decline—this is indeed a certain law governing the development of all things.

But if you prevent the Heavenly Realm from becoming too prosperous, can you truly achieve eternity?

If you want eternity, then keep growing stronger forever!

Power is the true guarantee of eternity.

As long as your power is strong enough, no matter how the world changes, you will forever stand atop the peak.

The world changes, but I am eternal!

The Goddess of Life heard Lin Yan's words, and her eyes showed approval.

She hadn't expected that, though she had revealed little, Lin Yan had guessed the meaning she intended to convey.

The Goddess of Life said: "Yes, roughly as you guessed—when the Heavenly Realm defeated the Ancient Gods, it had the power to eradicate the Abyss entirely. But the first-born chief gods ultimately spared the Abyss. The reason was a lesson learned from the Ancient Gods: in their view, maintaining balance enables sustainable development."

Lin Yan looked at the Goddess of Life: "Then what do you and the Goddess of the Ocean think?"

At that moment, the Goddess of Life seemed to hear something, and stood up.

"She's here!"

Saying this, she tore open a passage.

Then they saw the Goddess of the Ocean enter, clad in dark attire.