Chapter 209: Subspace Projection

The church is not large.

As a church serving the vast desert dwellers outside Nest City, its size could even be called small.

So daily preaching actually takes place not inside the church, but on the barren ground outside it.

Nevertheless, even so, everything that should be inside the church is still present.

Perhaps none of the Empire's saints over ten thousand years could all be placed in this tiny church, but at least the most central saints are arranged neatly along both sides of the Emperor Deity Statue.

Moreover, the closer one gets to the Emperor, the more meticulously the statues of these saints are crafted.

Thus, when Xisi's gaze reaches the front, he can already see his own vivid likeness, standing behind the Divine Emperor, bearing the title 'First Saint', compassionately gazing forward.

Mottled sunlight streams through the stained glass above, falling on Xisi's statue and reflecting specks of iron hue.

In the Nest City world, scrap iron is a more abundant material than stone; obtaining rock still requires arduous mining, whereas scrap iron can be found in virtually every junkyard.

Therefore Xisi's statue is also forged from melted scrap iron.

However, this statue, forged an unknown number of years ago, bears rust marks from the long passage of time.

Even though the priests painstakingly clean it repeatedly, looking at the cracked fissures on his statue's face, Xisi, in a blink spanning ten thousand years, lands on the statue; even steel cannot withstand the erosion of time.

And as Xisi stands face to face with his own statue.

That familiar yet strange divine power finally breaks through the gradually fading divine artifact's veil and transmits to his body.

He raises his hand, watching the pale golden light continuously rising from his right hand.

A nearby priest, staring at the gold light, freezes in place, his body kneeling upright, his gaze fixed on the divine light constantly rising around Xisi; in extreme shock his eyes seem to have lost their spirit, and his whole being becomes a soulless husk.

Only Xisi slightly tilts his right hand, his gaze silently fixed:

"This is..."

"My divine power?"

There is no obstruction or barrier at all; this does not come from the Blessing of the Seven Gods, nor is it power lent by the Emperor.

It is the exclusive divine power that Xisi, as the Empire's First Saint, has been worshipped into over ten thousand years.

It is also the method the Emperor prepared at 30K to strengthen Xisi's lingering presence.

It is to elevate Xisi to godhood!

This god is far from being on the level of the Divine Emperor, the Four Gods, or even top‑tier deities.

Nevertheless, even so, the divine power Xisi obtains, under the Hundredfold devotion of his followers, is of far higher quality than that of other saints.

For example, on Xisi's other side, the 'Tianshi Jiang' placed beside the Divine Emperor.

Also worshipped as a saint for ten thousand years, Tianshi Jiang now can only barely manifest occasionally, with hardly any divine power to wield.

And now, Xisi can directly summon his divine power in the real universe.

After feeling his divine power, Xisi suddenly thinks of something, clenches his fist to disperse the power, steps toward his mottled iron statue, reaches out, and touches it.

The world instantly becomes a void, not true emptiness, but Xisi's soul gazes into Subspace.

In his soul's sight, Subspace lacks those eerie lights, containing only boundless darkness and specks of converging light.

Those points of light are not stars but the souls of spirit‑energies scattered throughout the galaxy.

To Subspace, these spirit‑energies' souls are as obvious as lanterns, most easily seen by evil gods, who can use them to infiltrate the real universe.

And throughout these dense seas of spirit‑light, vast 'Suns' of varying sizes permeate.

These Suns differ in color, and their sizes vary greatly.

Some are only slightly larger than ordinary humans, while others resemble a brilliant sun, gathering countless points of light into a dedicated region.

The vast brightest sun within the darkness that Xisi now sees is those seven ancient artifacts!

Following the link from his statue, Xisi soon, under the Divine Emperor's proud sun, sees a sun clearly superior to other ordinary subordinate entities, his own 'Sun'.

And this is the first step for all beings to become gods.

Subspace Projection!

Subspace Projection is the concretization of Subspace's essence; as faith is continually gathered, these projections expand, and someday in the future will fully seize the essence and solidify a divine throne.

Some essences are powerful, others weak, such as Om Messiah's technological essence, far superior to Washituoer's malevolent creation essence.

Simply put, the stronger the projection, the more it can occupy its associated essence; when the essence is fully monopolized, the conditions for godhood are met, and thereafter it is merely a matter of accumulating faith.

However, Xisi's projection essence is extremely mixed, lacking any single clear essence.

"Is it because I have too many sources of Blessing?"

Glancing with slight confusion, Xisi withdraws his right hand from his iron statue.

After a moment of silent digestion, Xisi turns to look behind at the priest who is fully prostrated on the ground, offering infinite devotion to Xisi.

A sister who has never even mixed in the lower layers of Nest City all her life now looks at the most esteemed person she has ever seen; at this moment she bows and worships Xisi, trembling behind the priest, prostrating before Xisi.

"Give me all your historical records."

Xisi looks at a scripture placed on the church pulpit, picks it up to examine, and casually commands.

The priest's face shows great excitement at the words; even now he feels as if he's in a dream.

After all, who has such luck to not only see the First Saint's true visage but also receive the personal decree of the old man himself.

The priest hurriedly rises, his mouth still trembling:

"Alright... alright, I'll go right away."

As the priest turns to leave, Xisi, who had just opened the book, suddenly looks up, his gaze shifting to the sister still prostrated behind him.

Glancing briefly, Xisi returns to his work:

"Prepare some food for me, and you two sisters must be properly settled."

The priest immediately stops, showing no hesitation or questioning of Xisi's command, and resolutely carries it out without reservation:

"The detailed records are inside Nest City, and the food supplies are there as well; I'm heading back to Nest City now."

Speaking, the priest carefully steps back while pulling the sisters up:

"First Saint, rest assured, these two will receive the most generous protection."

The priest's words weren't flattery; at least within the National Church no one dared be even half‑hearted toward Xisi.

Xisi, upon hearing that, still buried his head, earnestly searching for information, but only let out a light "hm" in response.

Until the church doors closed again, the interior was left with only Xisi quietly leafing through books.

Then, second by second, the mottled daylight turned from orange‑yellow to night.

Priest, didn't return.

When Xisi finally withdrew his gaze from the book, he looked up toward the ceiling, and what returned were several assassins descending from the sky, their bodies twisting at abnormal angles!