Chapter 883: Divine Statues

While the Shenjie was being turned upside down, the Shendian in the Waijie remained calm and undisturbed.

The sacrificial ceremony proceeded according to the established procedure, with the Songtian High Priest leading everyone in prayer with piety. He looked fanatical, his movements exaggerated and his expression devout, yet beneath this fanaticism lay a trace of deep anxiety. When he looked at the crowd, he appeared full of confidence with a resonant voice, but when he lowered his head, a look of unease would unconsciously appear in his eyes.

However, apart from him, none of the people of the Lingjie showed any abnormality, especially the believers of the Holy God; they were all jubilant, waiting for the moment the Holy God would descend. Even Qian Jian and his companions, who were there to watch the spectacle, did not know what kind of spectacle they were waiting for.

At a certain point in the ceremony, some believers came up and placed many divine statues.

These divine statues were not various images of the Holy God, but rather the statues of the various gods, brought by the believers of the gods who were observing the ceremony. Because they were orthodox divine statues, each one was naturally solemn and lifelike, and could be taken out for high-level believers to use for prayer when traveling. However, the only problem was that they were all too small; these statues were at most three feet tall, yet at the very top, there was a green statue of the Holy God that stood several zhang high.

The believers of the Holy God placed those small divine statues under the statue of the Holy God, surrounding them in a circle, so that those statues were all at the feet of the Holy God, as if the subordinate gods under the God King were kneeling before the Holy God; the implication was self-evident. Those believers of the various gods were all shocked, angry, and humiliated. Although they had been mentally prepared that this time they were here to submit, being stepped on so directly was still extremely stifling.

But what could they do? When a person is under a low roof, they have to bow their head. Although low "harrumphs" were heard in the hall, no one dared to stand up and say anything.

At this moment, Songtian had just finished a section of the prayer and heard these dissatisfied sounds. He said, "You need not be unconvinced; this is to welcome the various gods. You must know that without divine statues, gods cannot easily descend. We are displaying the divine statues now because we are waiting for the moment after the Ten Thousand Gods Assembly ends, when the gods descend, to worship the various gods together. Today, you are fortunate enough to see your own gods with your own eyes; this is still the grace of our Holy God."

What he said was not entirely wrong. The simplest way for the gods to descend into the Waijie is through the projection of divine statues. Of course, there are other ways—avatars, or even the true body descending—but that is too strenuous and mostly requires consuming sacrifices, which is rarely seen. Displaying so many divine statues certainly meant to welcome the gods, but it was more of a show of force. Even the statues of the Upper Left God and Upper Right God were less than four feet tall, not even one-tenth the size of the Holy God, which shows that the various gods were not even fit to be compared with the Holy God.

"The time has arrived..." Songtian announced loudly. Because his voice was very loud, it sounded as if the tail end of his words were trembling, which made some sensitive people like Zhen Jian slightly surprised, though most were completely indifferent. "Please, gods, descend!"

"Crack—"

A soft sound.

"Hmm?" Zhen Jian was not familiar with these divine and ghostly rituals and felt strange in his heart: Is this the sound of a god descending?

Immediately after, he saw a divine statue in the corner crack.

"My God?! What is going on?" A Heavenly Demon exclaimed, and then let out a wail.

Then some Heavenly Demons were heard discussing below: "It is the Flowing Gold God!"

"To think it chose the Flowing Gold God..."

Zhen Jian's heart stirred, and he secretly thought: Judging by this movement, if the divine statue is gone, does it portend that the god is dead? To think believers can peer into the life and death of a god; this god is quite easygoing.

Just as he thought, when the believers saw the divine statue shatter, they knew that a god had fallen in the Shenjie. While the priest of the Flowing Gold God cried out in pain, several priests with good relationships nearby comforted him, while also feeling fortunate: I knew that the Holy God wanted to establish its might and might kill some god; since it chose the Flowing Gold God, then it shouldn't choose my god, right?

However...

"Crack," "Crack," "Crack"...

In almost a very short time, a series of shattering sounds rang out on the platform. It was as if a giant bear were trampling through an autumn forest of fallen leaves, crushing the leaves into powder.

With every extremely light sound, a divine statue cracked, just like cracking walnuts. In the blink of an eye, more than half of the divine statues on the platform were shattered.

The believers of the various gods were dumbfounded, and even some of the Holy God's believers who were not yet that fanatical were stunned, secretly feeling that something was wrong.

However, this series of disasters had not yet ended. Watching the surviving divine statues in the back continuing to crack one by one, in the silence of the hall, the vast majority of the divine statues had become scrap, and one would need to carefully search through a pile of fragments to barely find some complete survivors.

In the hall, even the wailing had stopped; the believers of the various gods were in dead silence. Even human envoys like Qian Jian and Zhen Jian, who were completely uninvolved, felt a bit numb, thinking only: What on earth happened in the Shenjie?

Although they did not know what happened, there was one point: the Holy God was still fine, and that green divine statue, which was hard to say had a clear outline, was full of green vitality. And many fanatical believers of the Holy God, seeing such a scene, were not terrified but instead exceptionally excited, cheering, "My God is mighty!"

At this time, Haotian stood up tall and said, "My God, is my God still alright?"

The god he referred to was the Upper Left God. Songtian was also a bit timid at this moment, because for some unspeakable reason of his own, he was far less excited than the other apostles of the Holy God. He said, "Hmm, His Majesty the Upper Left God is still fine, and Their Majesties the Upper Left and Upper Right Gods are both fine..."

Haotian was furious and shouted, "The Upper Right God didn't even come, so naturally he is fine, but His Majesty the Upper Left God is inside! Besides, are you even worthy of mentioning the Upper Right God? What is the meaning of the Holy God acting like this? Does it really want to annihilate the various gods and be the only True God?"

The "not worthy" he spoke of referred to the fact that Songtian, as the high priest of the Upper Right God, had easily betrayed his god to convert to the Holy God, and had easily attained a high position. This matter was usually a taboo that no one dared to mention, but at this moment, Haotian was truly enraged and said it in public; this was exposing a sore spot. Songtian's face turned blue and then red, and he shouted angrily:

"You don't know a damn thing, you... Hahaha, even if the Holy God wants to unify the Shenjie and annihilate all gods, what will you do? Are you going to rebel? The Holy God is inherently the God of all gods, the only True God. The fall of the various gods is a matter of time; it will not stop happening just because you are unhappy. It is not too late for you to convert now, you all—"

He pointed at all the believers and shouted almost frantically:

"The era of the various gods has ended, foolish creatures, return to the embrace of the Holy God, the Holy God is supreme!"

Following his encouragement, all the believers of the Holy God in the Shendian stood up with a roar and shouted loudly, "The Holy God is supreme!"

The believers of the other gods were all bewildered and momentarily at a loss. They were the closest priests to the various gods, so they would not be scared into converting on the spot, but under this momentum, coupled with the fact that their gods had clearly fallen, their hearts could not help but waver. Some Heavenly Demons peeked at Haotian.

Haotian, a High Priest who had governed the Lingjie for decades, was not a believer of the Holy God, and he still served as a weather vane. If he yielded first, then the other priests would probably not resist.

However, Haotian's expression hardened, and he said, "I do not know if the Holy God is supreme; fine, let's say he is supreme. Even if he is the most powerful existence in the world, I am only a believer of my God—the Upper Left God. What does the supreme and strongest in the world have to do with me? I can swear that if the Upper Left God retreats unscathed today, and he is willing to step back and honor the Holy God, I will naturally follow my God in retreating and honoring the Holy God. And if my God refuses to retreat, then I will surely follow him and fight to the end. If my God meets with misfortune today—I, High Priest Aputai, swear here—"

"I will spend the rest of my life avenging my God! I may be insignificant and unable to hurt the Holy God, but I will do my best to damage his wings..." His gaze shifted, sweeping over the wings of the Holy God, including High Priest Songtian, "And then choose the way that can hurt him the most to die. This is my oath. May the gods above witness for me; I will absolutely do what I say!"

His words were resonant and powerful. The believers were momentarily deprived of their momentum and could not speak. Even Songtian looked slightly dejected, seemingly thinking about something, and did not open his mouth to retort.

However, things would not change just because he was impassioned. Not a moment after he finished speaking, a crack was heard—

The divine statue of the Upper Left God cracked.

The Upper Left God had fallen!

Haotian's face turned deathly pale, his body swayed slightly, and he stared at Songtian, saying, "I... do what I say!"

Songtian suddenly looked ferocious, not like he was excited or angry, but rather hysterical, shouting, "The wailing of a defeated dog is not worth mentioning! Do you want to make a move? Come now, we believers are all here; try touching me!"

Haotian kept a dark face, his momentum gathering, and it was as if wind and thunder had descended upon the hall!

Songtian laughed loudly, "Nothing more than this. We are all Martial Artists, relying on Divine Power; without a god, you are just a wild dog on the side of the road, your strength ridiculously low. What Chief High Priest, not worth mentioning!"

Over there, Zhen Jian exchanged a look with Qian Jian, signaling: Should we help out? Qian Jian nodded slightly.

However, at this moment—Crack!

Two more sounds, two divine statues cracked simultaneously; one was the Upper Right God, and the other was—the Holy God!

The world became completely quiet. The believers of the Holy God were full of disbelief.

Zhen Jian saw from a distance that those two divine statues had only cracked a gap and had not split to the end. He did not know what the situation was and said, "This half-cracked state, is it severely injured but not dead?"

Qian Jian nodded and said, "To think it is simultaneous... looking at the situation, it is likely that the two of them are in a life-and-death battle, and now both are severely injured; whoever loses will die."

Because all the Heavenly Demons were quiet, his voice was particularly prominent, and to the ears of the believers who had lost their heads, it naturally carried some authority.

A believer screamed, "How could the Upper Right God be a match for my God? My God will surely win!"

For a time, the believers shouted one after another, "Sure win!" Some even crossed their fingers and prayed in a murmur.

Amidst the eager anticipation of the believers, only a "crack" was heard, and the divine statue of the Upper Right God completely split open.

The Upper Right God had fallen!

In this battle, the Holy God had won!

A deafening cheer erupted in the Shendian, the sound of "Long live" like a mountain-shaking tsunami!

On that side, the Songtian High Priest's expression was twisted; he seemed to be happy, yet it also contained some strange emotion. Suddenly sensing something, he cried out, "Worship quickly! The Holy Spirit has descended!"