Chapter 197: A Powerful Deity Can Be Granted a Divine Seat

What is Transcendent? It refers to someone who has surpassed ordinary humans and possesses extraordinary power.

In other words, the name "Transcendent" is merely a title for those who have surpassed ordinary humans.

And how does one become a Transcendent?

Cultivate a method of transcendence, reach the first of the Nine Tiers of Living Beings, and you are a Transcendent!

Taking humans as an example, stepping into Transcendent is the First Tier of Living Beings. To grow stronger, one must cultivate to the Second Tier, the Third Tier, and even the Ninth Tier of Living Beings.

And to become an existence as powerful as a deity, one must keep cultivating, all the way to the Ninth Tier of Living Beings, and then step into the "Nine Steps of Deityhood."

When you take the first of the "Nine Steps of Deityhood," you are an existence that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods—you are… a deity!!

And so it is.

The Ninth Tier of Living Beings is called a Demigod.

The Nine Steps of Deityhood, as the name suggests, means taking steps on the path of deityhood. The more steps one takes, the further one has walked the divine path, and the greater one's power will be.

Let me give a simple, concrete example of power.

The titans of the Void Demon Realm are beings who have taken the First Step of Deityhood, while the Sacrificial Lord is one who has taken the Second Step.

The six-eyed monsters Xiangka and Likuei belong to the Eighth Tier of Living Beings.

If we view the Nine Steps of Deityhood through the lens of the gods, dividing them into three groups—early, middle, and late—the first three steps are ordinary deities. The armies of the Asura God Race and the Egyptian gods all fall into this tier, most having taken only the First Step.

Additionally, most of Japan's Eight Million Gods also fall within the first three steps, and some have not even entered the Nine Steps of Deityhood, remaining at the Ninth Tier of Living Beings as Demigods.

As for why some of the Eight Million Gods are merely Demigods, the reason lies in faith.

Japan's belief that all things possess a spirit spreads the power of faith too thin, so the innate gods born from it are only Demigods.

Otherwise, generally speaking, an innate god should be born already having taken the First Step of Deityhood.

The first three steps: the beginning of deityhood.

The middle three steps are the outstanding among deities, the strong among deities, capable of being granted a divine seat.

In other words, without exception, every deity granted a divine seat is at the weakest a deity who has stepped into the middle three steps.

Because only by taking the Fourth Step does one qualify to be granted a divine seat.

What is a divine seat? Inari, the Wind God, the God of Death, Lei Shen—these are divine seats.

Those who reach the last three steps are ancient deities, each one of immense importance. Even other mythological gods must hold them in awe; they are the supreme existences standing at the very pinnacle of the Jin Zita of deityhood.

In the eyes of Director Takahashi and the others, the departed Wang was suspected to be a deity who had taken at least the Seventh Step.

Otherwise, how could he have filmed the gods, how could he have safely filmed the great battle between Quetzalcoatl and God?

"Nine Steps of Deityhood… sigh, I don't ask for anything else—if only I could take the First Step before I die, I'd do anything." Director Takahashi's eyes turned red with envy.

Professor Beishan spat out a mouthful of coffee with a puff, caught between tears and laughter:

"First Step of Deityhood? I don't have ambitions that grand. I just hope to reach the First Tier of Living Beings—I could die content then."

His dim, aging eyes betrayed an undisguised longing for light.

No one laughed at Professor Beishan; on the contrary, they all nodded in unison, agreeing with his view.

Who cares whether it's the First Tier or the Ninth Tier of Living Beings—either is a symbol of power. Becoming a Transcendent would already be good enough; what more could one ask for?

"Director Takahashi, daydreaming is daydreaming, but we should keep it realistic. You jumping straight to the First Step of Deityhood—aren't you just aiming for the sky? That's hardly realistic," a senior executive quipped.

Then Director Saito and the others present nodded repeatedly.

Director Takahashi's face flushed red, and he scratched his head awkwardly.

It did seem true—his ambitions were a bit excessive.

"Ahem."

Hurriedly, Director Takahashi cleared his throat lightly to change the subject.

"Right, speaking of which, among the currently known Transcendents, Kamikawa Mitsu's power still hasn't been clearly defined, has it? What do you all think Kamikawa Mitsu's level is?"

Through Tian Wu's investigation of Kamikawa Mitsu, the Transcendent Response Department has already listed Kamikawa Mitsu on the Transcendent roster. His identity is a descendant of Ashiya Doman, and his possession of transcendent power has been confirmed, based on the saving of Flight nh137.

With Director Takahashi's mention, everyone grew interested.

"Kamikawa Mitsu is too young; he can't possibly be at an overly powerful level."

"Exactly. Those powerful Transcendents—like Master Konghai, Abe no Yasuyoshi—didn't any of them cultivate for over a hundred years to reach that level? I'd estimate Kamikawa Mitsu is around the Third to Fifth Tier of Living Beings."

"I agree with Director Saito's point. Kamikawa Mitsu is an outstanding descendant of the Ashiya family, but no matter how outstanding, he's only seventeen or eighteen years old. It's unlikely his power could be that strong."

At this moment.

Professor Zhongtian raised his hand to signal everyone and said:

"You all seem to be overlooking one point—Kamikawa Mitsu is very likely the most outstanding prodigy of the Ashiya family. Otherwise, why would he have been sent to this world? If he's an exceptional genius, his power might be at the Fourth or Fifth Tier, and I think his talent might be even more monstrous than a genius. So I'll boldly guess he should be at the Sixth Tier of Living Beings."

"A monster among geniuses? Indeed, Professor Zhongtian makes a valid point. Geniuses can't be measured by ordinary standards. For instance, those eight-year-old prodigies, twelve-year-olds admitted to key universities—they are geniuses. Who the hell would have thought an eight-year-old could do advanced math, or a twelve-year-old could get into a key university?"

Some agreed with Professor Zhongtian's view. Geniuses are already hard to imagine—an eight-year-old prodigy can match a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old. As a monster among geniuses, Kamikawa Mitsu is probably even more terrifying.

"Makes sense. We only see that Kamikawa Mitsu is seventeen, thinking seventeen years of cultivation at most puts him at the Fourth or Fifth Tier. But for a genius, seventeen years of cultivation can equal over thirty years for others. And a monster among geniuses is probably even more terrifying—equal to forty or fifty years for others, maybe even sixty years."

"Sixty years of cultivation? Holy crap, wouldn't that put him at the Sixth or Seventh Tier of Living Beings? Roughly…"

……

Tokyo, Japan, Arakawa Ward, an apartment.

Ding! Video uploaded, popularity assessment, score 98.

Ding! Script complete, score 98; video popularity, score 98; comprehensive rating A. Host gains 600,000 script points.

The cold system notification echoed in Kamikawa Mitsu's mind.

"Six hundred thousand?"

Kamikawa Mitsu was stunned. Even though he had mentally estimated that this script would earn a large amount of script points, he hadn't expected this many.

"Sure enough, spending 100,000 script points in one go brings a considerable return."

Having obtained 600,000 script points, Kamikawa Mitsu quickly accepted it.

This script was grand in scale, no longer confined to Japan, spreading across the entire world, affecting people worldwide, with a vast number of people involved — it would be strange not to earn six hundred thousand script points; thinking it over carefully, he even felt it was too few.

He had used one hundred thousand script points to obtain six hundred thousand script points; after deducting fees, he actually gained five hundred thousand script points.

Last time redeeming the Festival Lord, Kamikawa Mitsu had been left with one hundred thousand script points; in order to obtain more script points as quickly as possible, he decided to gamble big, spending all one hundred thousand script points in one go, creating such a grand spectacle.

……