Chapter 810: Divine Art

With less than three months remaining, both the Tianmo Jie and the Human World are about to face an apocalyptic catastrophe. Nowadays, both worlds can be described as being filled with gloomy clouds and misery. Those who know of the disaster are filled with despair, suffering day and night, while those who do not know are also sensing something from various clues, feeling uneasy and trembling with fear. At this time, the Tianmo Jie—or more specifically, the Fire Spirit Tribe, one of the many minor, lower-tier tribes of the Lingjie—has unexpectedly welcomed a great joyous event.

The God has descended!

This news was not widely publicized by the Elders, but it spread from ten to a hundred, and within a day, it had spread throughout the Shenghuodi. Furthermore, there were visiting shrine officials from various Shenmiao in the Shenghuodi; once they return, it will only be a matter of time before it spreads throughout the entire Fire Spirit Tribe.

Although many tribesmen were skeptical at first because the news was too shocking, the news soon became confirmed, as some of the key young talents were quickly granted an audience to witness the God's majesty and receive the God's grace. If one person says it, it could be dismissed as empty talk, but when ten or a hundred people say it, one cannot help but believe.

"It is said that when the God descended, he was in human form, as perfect as the Tianmingxing in the sky—no, the Tianmingxing cannot compare to the God at all! It is a pity I could not behold the God's true and complete appearance; I only saw a ball of fire, a streak of light. Ah..."

"Speak properly, why are you closing your eyes? And groaning..."

"You don't understand, I am reminiscing, recalling the shock to my soul from back then. Only after seeing the shadow of the God did I know what is called sacred, what is called shocking. The divine fire is merely the flame of the deity, the ripples of the God's power. The true deity is so noble, so holy—how could those who haven't seen it ever imagine it?"

The harvest from this visit to the Fire Spirit Tribe was truly immense. Not to mention smoothly crossing that threshold to become a true Sword Immortal, he also found a very important Fragment—it actually possessed spirituality, carrying a "Prophet" with the same essence as the Fairy Sister. Although it was not the Fairy Sister, since it had returned, it was Tang Zhao's most secret and trusted companion.

The first point was the replacement of the divine statue.

The hundred tribes of the Lingjie do not believe in "not matching the master with an object"; every god has a divine statue. In fact, they each truly have their own image, and the statues are considered realistic. It is just that the previous statue of the Taixiong God was particularly blurry; the official standard image was a vague human figure within flames.

The impact of this assembly will certainly spread level by level, causing wave after wave of turbulent surges within the Fire Spirit Tribe, mobilizing this obscure tribe. But at least for now, it has not caused a single ripple among the various tribes of the Lingjie.

Only then could he more righteously say that the Glasses now belonged to him.

This crucial authority was not something he obtained naturally after leveling up, but rather something that was transferred to him.

Moreover, this Fragment made up for a major deficiency, which was making the other piece of the constantly fractured lens roughly complete. The current lens can be said to be no different from before the Fairy threw herself into the rift, and its abilities have even been enhanced—now Tang Zhao has finally touched upon the ability to upgrade items. It is not that another fairy returned to take the place of the previous Fairy Sister, but that Tang Zhao himself can use the power of the Glasses to actively upgrade—or rather, modify—external objects. He can even incorporate his own ideas into the modification and point out the direction, while the execution is left to the Glasses.

After all, there are too many tribes in the Lingjie; "hundred tribes" is just a vague term, and in reality, the number is far more than one hundred. The Fire Spirit Tribe is one of the most inconspicuous among them, with neither the people nor the god having any sense of presence. Nowadays, high-ranking deities and big shots are busy to death; let alone this unclear god, even if a god really descended to give their believers a boost, those high-and-mighty upper gods wouldn't even spare a glance.

"You might be right about that, I feel the same way. I have only served the deity at the main altar all these years; although my heart is sincere, I have not performed any meritorious deeds. That the God still bestowed grace upon me is already very generous. Therefore, I must respect the divine oracle and perform meritorious deeds to have a chance to get closer to the God."

"That might be because you are not pious enough."

Sure enough, one day later, the High Priest and the Child of Fire held an unprecedented grand sacrifice. Even the retired Supreme High Priest was present in the upper seats. Compared to the routine sacrifices of the past, this sacrifice involved many affairs, and all of them were explosive, major news.

In short, this was a united assembly, a victorious assembly, and an assembly with far-reaching influence.

That shadow that both confused and shocked him...

Which is to say, he now possesses a portion of the authority of the Glasses.

"Could it be that person?"

You must know that they are the Fire Spirit Tribe; their appearance is different not only from Humans but also from those Celestial God tribes and Upper God tribes. They are unique—shouldn't there be a more "native" image?

"What are you 'heh'-ing at? It doesn't matter if you are jealous of me in your heart, but don't blaspheme the deity. My God is truly too powerful. When I knelt before him, it seemed he glanced at me, and the seed of fire in my heart underwent a qualitative change, immediately rising by one grade. This is something I might not have achieved even after ten years of cultivation. Some people in my batch had even greater improvements than me; the grace I received can only be considered middle-to-low."

At least make the hair fire-red, don't have a head of black hair?

And what the crowd did not know was that the culprit behind their world-changing events, the skin-wearing deity, the fire-thief, the Fragment collector, the hope for salvation of two worlds—Tang Zhao—had already quietly left the Fire Spirit Tribe.

Now the situation is finally different; the God has issued a register of merits, so won't there be more and more opportunities in the future? Many young people are rubbing their hands, planning to do something big. At the very least, these few months are when they are most fired up and full of drive.

"As long as you trust the God, every believer has a chance. However, the divine oracle will only be issued to the High Priest and the Child of Fire, and then relayed by them. From now on, we are the envoys of our God walking in the Lingjie, wielding swords and raising fire, fighting for the God! Just wait, the grand sacrifice will be held tomorrow."

For so many years, although that image was extremely blurry, everyone actually felt it was a slender goddess statue.

But this question was soon answered semi-publicly. The High Priest explained a long string of things, the main meaning being: "You think we wanted to build it like this? The damn God just looks like this, what can we do? Get this straight, the God truly exists; it's not how you want him to look that he looks. Any objections? No objections is good; if you have objections, keep them to yourself. You dare to question the deity?"

"Divine oracle? The God issued a divine oracle? Do I have a chance?"

But this time, the divine statue was much clearer than before. Although still within the fire, one could vaguely make out the features: it was a male god, and it seemed to be a young boy god. Naturally, the Taixiong God's personality has always been interpreted as lively, enthusiastic, and friendly, which also fits a youthful image, but isn't this youthful image a bit too... human?

At the critical juncture of becoming a Sword Immortal, he saw that shadow.

"Heh."

This kind of grace has a sense of being clearly priced. Many old-school shrine officials and believers felt vaguely uncomfortable, but the young people were very excited. You must know that in the past, to receive divine grace, one basically had to be "favored," or be sufficiently pious, or follow seniority. The opportunity to be favored is not something an ordinary person can get, and piety is basically impossible to measure; in essence, it is also a form of "being favored," and its operability is limited. After all, the Fire Spirit Tribe is still quite simple and has not developed an interpretive mode like "piety shows." As for following seniority, that would take until the year of the monkey. Now that there is a clear KPI... no, a clear goal for effort, as long as everyone works for it, there is hope to receive the God's favor. What is wrong with that?

Along with the "Divine Merit Day," a long list of divine merits was released, which is the God's task list. Anything done on it is a meritorious deed for the God, including collecting materials, investigating information, participating in activities, etc. The number is large, and most of the tasks inside are relatively difficult; some materials have never even been heard of.

Many of the young, vigorous faction were quite disappointed when they got the divine merit list: among so many items, there were actually none related to conquest or battle; they could not receive divine favor by defeating an enemy. But then they thought: our God is the most noble; he loves peace, hates fighting, is enthusiastic, friendly, sincere, and kind. Isn't this much easier to serve than those "fierce gods" and "evil gods"?

Finally, the High Priest also announced that this divine merit list would be updated in real-time and sent to various Shenmiao every month to be issued to believers everywhere. As long as one is a believer, even if not a member of the Fire Spirit Tribe, one can perform meritorious deeds for the God.

Immediately following this, years of sacrificial habits and divine grace rituals were also adjusted. The date of yesterday was set as "Divine Birth Day," becoming the Fire Spirit Tribe's greatest celebration. The seventh day of every month was set as "Divine Merit Day," specifically to hold a sacrifice to serve the God with merit, similar to a "work report day." At this sacrifice, meritorious envoys, young talents, and senior believers can all receive the God's grace according to their merit, seniority, and potential. Of course, the most important thing is merit; if there is merit, other conditions can be completely relaxed.

It was not transferred to him by the Fairy, but by someone more qualified.

That was just a shadow, with almost no communication, yet it possessed such powerful strength that it shocked Tang Zhao. Therefore, he almost never felt proud for a moment that he might be the youngest Sword Immortal in history, but immediately felt the heavy burden on his shoulders and also raised a firm determination.

The Fire Spirit Tribe members who participated in the assembly were all very excited, having a feeling of "a great era is coming." You must know that because of the special situation of the Taixiong God, the Fire Spirit Tribe itself did not dare to expand, and did not even dare to participate in the conquest of the Human World, for fear that if they performed well, they would attract the attention of other gods, and if they performed poorly, they would incur the dissatisfaction of other tribes. These young people did not know about the nature of the God; they only felt stifled, being inferior in everything, as if they had no god to back them up.

The path of the Sword Guest is still very long, and the path of salvation has no end in sight; how could one feel proud for temporarily stepping up a small step?

The long road is winding, there is no time to delay, it is time to set off.