Chapter 661

Meng Ying thought.

She had no idea yet just how terrifying the range of Lin Yan's divine light was.

Hmm, she had no idea at all about the conditions in the Abyss.

If she knew that in the Abyss, the Flame Lord ruled a demon dynasty far larger than the Flame Empire, even one whose area dwarfed the Eternal Night Empire, Meng Ying's mouth would probably open into a cute "O."

The area of the Mabis Abyss is not small at all.

It is vastly larger than the area of the Eternal Night Empire.

Remember, when Yvette was Eighth Rank, she flew for a whole day from the center of the Bat Demon Dynasty before reaching the edge of that battlefield.

Yvette's flight speed was not slow—she was even slightly faster than a flying ship.

Yet the distance from the center of the Bat Demon Dynasty to the edge of that battlefield was less than one-tenth of the Mabis Abyss's side length.

After all, this was a Whole Layer of the Abyss!

And a named Abyss at that!

Now, Succubus Natasha is continuously expanding the war, aiming to conquer nearby Abysses.

Conquering nearby Abysses is merely warm-up for Succubus Natasha's official competition!

The range of Lin Yan's divine light is unimaginably vast.

Hmm, other gods' divine light, in Lin Yan's case, is actually the Civilization Light granted by the Civilization Flame title.

This thing… fundamentally has no concept of range.

If one must define a range, then only two words can describe it.

Those words are:

Infinity!

"Princess, what observations did you make at today's banquet?"

After returning to her room, Meng Ying cast a barrier and began discussing with the Princess.

Today's banquet, Empress Tina's attitude took Meng Ying by surprise.

She was extremely warm and friendly toward Meng Ying and the Princess.

But Meng Ying was no child.

Being treated kindly by others wouldn't make her lose her head.

She needed to consider the reasons behind it, and the origin of Empress Tina's attitude.

This was what a Queen should contemplate.

After all, Meng Ying now represented the Flame Empire—her very person carried the entire empire's interests.

Most importantly, she represented the Flame Lord, so she had to consider every matter in terms of its benefit or harm to the Flame Lord's realm!

The Princess thought for a moment and said: "Your Majesty, do you remember the question I asked? About the tier of the Eternal Night Empire's deity?"

Meng Ying nodded.

The Princess said: "What tier do you think the Eternal Night Empire's deity is?"

Meng Ying thought for a moment and said: "Since the Eternal Night Empire is among the top ten great empires of the Continent of Gods, its deity should be a Fourth Tier god!"

The Princess nodded and said: "Yes, that's what I thought too—but after I casually asked that question, didn't you find Empress Tina's reaction strange?"

Meng Ying recalled and said: "It was indeed strange. She was originally very talkative, but after you asked that question, she abruptly ended the topic."

Here, Meng Ying shifted: "But if the Eternal Night Empire's deity were a Third Tier god, that wouldn't make sense."

It really wouldn't make sense.

Previously, the Princess had always believed the Eternal Night Empire's deity was an extremely profound Third Tier god.

But after speaking with Empress Tina today, the Princess learned more about the Heavenly Realm.

If the Eternal Night Empire's deity were merely a Third Tier god, how could it possibly hold onto a great empire ranked among the top ten on the Continent of Gods?

This matter, no matter how you look at it, is unreasonable!

Unless Empress Tina lied from the start!

That is, the information she gave about the Heavenly Realm was false.

But neither Meng Ying nor the Princess were gullible.

One was a Saint Realm, the other a Legend—they could discern many truths with just a glance.

Meng Ying had already tested it just now: she could indeed extract some information from the starlight emanating from the heavens.

What Empress Tina said about the Heavenly Realm was almost certainly true!

After speaking, Meng Ying thought of something else and said: "If that's the case, then the Eternal Night Empire's deity must have its own divine system."

The Princess nodded: "According to Empress Tina's words, a peak Third Tier deity begins establishing their divine system—so a Fourth Tier deity must have a complete divine system, like that of the Goddess."

In the Heavenly Realm, a deity's divine light coverage correlates with their strength.

Only within the range of their divine light can a deity collect faith.

This prevents any deity from expanding their realm without limit.

This also explains why the Eternal Night Empire leaves surrounding kingdoms untouched and tolerates their worship of different gods.

Otherwise, given the Eternal Night Empire's strength, why not simply annex these kingdoms—even swallowing the Purple Gold Empire would be effortless!

But the Eternal Night Empire did not!

Thus, when reaching a certain bottleneck, these deities all begin establishing their divine systems to gain benefits from them.

Establishing a divine system is also the key to a Third Tier peak deity breaking through to the Fourth Tier.

So the critical question immediately arises:

Meng Ying pointed it out: "Then, where is the Eternal Night Empire's deity's divine system?"

Meng Ying and the Princess exchanged a glance.

This question is indeed crucial!

Meng Ying said: "If we understand it conventionally, the gods worshipped by the dozen or so kingdoms surrounding the Eternal Night Empire should surely belong to the divine system established by the Eternal Night Empire's gods, right?"

The Princess-Night nodded: "By common logic, that's true—how could the gods of the Eternal Night Empire allow gods outside their divine system to dominate the faith of these kingdoms? After all, these kingdoms were all founded by the dukes of the Eternal Night Empire."

Meng Ying added: "But here's the problem: can gods within the same divine system erupt into large-scale divine wars? Wars of mutual annihilation?"

She was referring to the gods of the Hiling Kingdom and the Horden Kingdom.

The Princess-Night shook her head: "I'm not entirely sure."

Meng Ying clarified the key point again: "I am certain my god is not part of the Eternal Night Empire's divine system. So here's the question again: under my god's revelations, we have seized several divine realms. If these gods all belong to the Eternal Night Empire's divine system, how could the gods of the Eternal Night Empire tolerate us?"

"Given the strength of the Eternal Night Empire, Empress Dina has no need to feign goodwill—she could have launched a full-scale invasion of the Flame Empire months ago, because gods within the same divine system would surely seek aid from the Eternal Night Empire's gods! But this never happened!"

This long chain of questions plunged the Princess-Night into deep thought.

A gleam appeared in Meng Ying's eyes: "So, I boldly speculate that the god of the Eternal Night Empire is likely not at the fourth tier, nor has it established its own divine system."

She turned her gaze to the Princess-Night: "Why did Empress Dina specifically mention the divine system? I suspect the god of the Eternal Night Empire is on the verge of breakthrough, preparing to establish its own divine system—and the gods of the surrounding human kingdoms are its first targets for recruitment. After all, unless they join this god's divine system, the Eternal Night Empire could conquer these kingdoms with ease!"

"But!"

Meng Ying's tone shifted: "This speculation has one unsolvable problem:"

"That is, if the god of the Eternal Night Empire is truly only at the third tier, how could a third-tier god establish a top-ten empire? Without reaching the fourth tier, it could never hold onto such a vast empire! Though the Heavenly Realm is relatively peaceful, wars between gods are still extremely frequent!"

"Therefore, there must be a crucial point here—and that point may lie with Empress Dina herself!"

Meng Ying delivered her final conclusion!

Empress Dina probably has no idea that, within just a single dinner, a few hours' time, Meng Ying had deduced so much.

Under Lin Yan's revelations and meticulous teachings, Meng Ying's wisdom has become truly terrifying.

She is Lin Yan's Holy Maiden.

She is also equivalent to Lin Yan's student.

She could also be considered Lin Yan's woman.

The night's splendor flowed like water.

The vast palace stood completely empty.

Not a single guard remained nearby.

Not a single light glowed within the palace.

Yet the starlight poured down through the courtyard, striking the ground and casting faint illumination across the empty hall.

Within the palace, Empress Dina, clad in her long imperial robe, walked slowly toward its depths.

The palace now held only her!

In fact, the entire inner palace of the imperial compound now held only her.

As a Saint Realm being, those female guards were merely ceremonial, for show alone.