Chapter 383: The Immortal Cultivation Goddess

A cave thousands of kilometers away was extremely dark; only a single beam of light shone through a narrow entrance, illuminating the silhouettes of several statues around it.

If a theology scholar were present, they could identify these statues as the God of Light, the God of Arbitration, the God of Scales, and the Goddess of Redemption.

Beyond these, there were no supreme gods, creator gods, or gods of light and darkness, shadow gods, or similar deities—because when the Church of Light was first born, its pantheon was not so complex.

As time passed, its scale expanded, its believers multiplied, and its beliefs grew intricate, giving rise to more deities and forming an immense divine system.

Sometimes, even theology scholars confused the identities of the gods—for instance, the God of Light and Darkness: who could have imagined it was a dual-faced, single entity?

One of them even had a separate divine seat—the God of Shadows—but this God of Shadows had no independent divine essence and depended entirely on the light aspect for existence.

During the peak of the Light Gods, the divine lineage was even more complex, as biological desires were too intricate.

Yet all this chaos ended abruptly on a single day over a thousand years ago; according to Gulianni, only the God of Arbitration survived among the Light Gods.

The current God of Light and Darkness and the Goddess of Redemption are both later rebirths—collective belief once again birthed identical divine essences, but their former memories and experiences were gone forever.

If one was lucky, like the Goddess of Redemption, inheriting the legacy, things were better; if unlucky, like the God of Light and Darkness, starting from nothing, one had to begin anew.

But to begin anew required devout believers—that was why Gulianni had come here in fury; another reason was that the God of Arbitration was wounded.

Unable to even maintain its form, the God of Arbitration shrank into a cluster of flame, slowly burning upon its own statue.

Gulianni stood on the ground and shouted at it: "Believers are our foundation—have you gone mad? You launched the Apocalypse Judgment! You starved all your believers to death—what use are you gods now?"

The God of Arbitration's angry voice rang out: "Insolent! Are you criticizing me?"

"I am merely stating a fact, Lord Arbitration. You have ruined the reputation of the gods and wounded the faithful hearts of believers—this damage is irreparable. The entire Church may collapse under your destruction; the seed of betrayal has been sown, and the harvest will be the fruit of loathing." Gulianni shouted fiercely.

"Stupid shepherd, you lack reverence for the divine." The Arbitration's voice regained its authority.

Gulianni frowned—something was off. The Arbitration's reaction exceeded his expectations. Was it because it had no humanity, allowing it to control its emotions so quickly? Why couldn't he provoke it?

But the Arbitration was right about one thing: Gulianni had no reverence for the divine.

What was there to revere? Since becoming the founder of the Fire Thieves, Gulianni had controlled too many divine flames' existence and extinction.

Over a thousand years ago, the Faith Storm destroyed the majority of deities, yet the Church of Light's foundation, organizational structure, and belief system remained intact. As long as these endured, new deities were merely a matter of time.

Even Negrilis had said: it was not the gods who created believers—it was believers who created gods.

Occasionally, faith flames rekindled; Gulianni's task was to control them, denying them any chance to reignite. A church without gods was far easier to manipulate than one with them.

Gulianni had even retreated behind the scenes, handing the secret organization of the Fire Thieves to others while he operated unseen.

For all these years, the divine system had never been rebuilt—thanks to Gulianni's fire-snuffing. He had extinguished countless faith flames; how could he possibly revere deities?

"I revere the Light that protects believers—not the demonic gods who destroy worlds. You, fallen, evil God of Arbitration, offer your divine essence as sacrifice to those disillusioned believers." Gulianni spoke with righteous indignation.

"By you?" The God of Arbitration's tone held a hint of curiosity: "You only dared come now that you saw me wounded. What do you rely on?"

"These!" Gulianni swept his sleeve, and one by one, crystal stelae flew out, embedding themselves in the ground in a full row—sixteen in total.

Inside each crystal stela was a hazy human figure, each bound tightly by thick chains.

"Divine Domination? This forbidden art still hasn't been purged? Where did you get it? Divine Domination, God-Slaying, and Radiance Arts are ancient forbidden arts—higher priority for eradication than heresy. Is this your trump card?" The God of Arbitration spoke an unusually long string of words.

When deities first emerged into the world, the ancient natural worship system collapsed naturally. For their own safety, the deities had strong motivation to eliminate all forces threatening them.

Divine Domination and God-Slaying, of course, were obvious threats; Radiance Arts taught how to ignite divine flames using faint faith.

All were forbidden arts—at least to the deities. So whether the Light Gods, the War God, the Thunder God, the Forge God, or other sect deities, all spared no effort to eradicate these "forbidden arts," including Radiance Arts.

Once aboard the ship, they didn't want others climbing on—how much faith could be distributed?

Gulianni raised his hand and clenched it tightly; the chains binding the figures within the crystal stelae snapped free, and the ethereal shadows drifted out one by one.

Gulianni smiled: "Ancient life invented the wheel; modern life can do the same—just reinvent the wheel once more."

"Heh, foolish human." The God of Arbitration's tone dripped with mockery: "Just as the storm approaches, you reinvent the wheel. Do you think I launched the Apocalypse Judgment for what reason? Did you see the red star in the sky?"

Gulianni's heart jolted, but his face remained expressionless: "I saw it. But the red star vanished. You mean the storm you spoke of is that?"

"I saw the red star too. The storm will descend after its disappearance. The only thing capable of resisting the storm is the Primordial Divine Essence. The Apocalypse Judgment was meant to crack open a fissure in the Primordial Divine Essence, allowing my consciousness to invade it and replace it—to become the Primordial God of Light."

Gulianni's mind reeled. This was something he had never imagined. Could the God of Arbitration's scheme be this vast? Even more chilling: why had the God of Arbitration revealed this plan to him? What did it mean?

Had the God of Arbitration already counted on him?

As if reading his thoughts, the God of Arbitration said: "I merely want you to understand how foolish your choice is. The Faith Storm affects only those possessing divine essence. I heard you recently ignited your divine flame—how fortunate. You'll be right in time for this storm."

What?! The Faith Storm only affects those with divine essence? Gulianni was stunned. He had long possessed the ability to become a god—but had never ignited his divine flame, because his position as Pope was far more useful than that of a newborn deity.

Only after the light aspect awakened and brought news of the storm did he quietly ignite his divine flame in a minor realm, to gain more self-preservation power when the storm came.

This… this… I was supposed to be safe—but now, by igniting the divine flame, I'm in danger? I…

He thought it was a storm of faith. He hadn't realized it was a storm of gods.

Gulianni steadied his composure and asked: "And you? Did you invade the Primordial Divine Essence?"

The God of Arbitration replied: "No. And you would never guess what happened inside the Primordial God's consciousness. Mortal, your perception of the world limits your choices. For centuries, you've drowned in power and status. Had you ignited your divine flame centuries ago, your fate might have been entirely different."

The God of Arbitration spoke with rare sentimentality, laced with mockery.

Gulianni felt a sting—angrily he retorted: "You can't seize the Primordial Divine Essence. When the storm comes, you'll die too."

"Heh, do you know how I survived back then? Invading the Primordial Divine Essence is merely the better option. If I can't manage it, I can settle for second best. Thank you for the gift—you sent me these incomplete divine souls. After the storm, they'll make the finest nourishment. Time's up…"

As the God of Arbitration spoke, the divine flame atop the statue erupted skyward, burning furiously, recklessly, without restraint.

Gulianni's heart pounded—was this a sacrifice? Sacrificing its own divine essence? Was the time up? Had it told him all this just to buy time?

Gulianni looked up at the sky—nothing visible, yet a terrifying sensation had already engulfed him.

BOOM! An invisible force slammed into him and the divine souls released from the crystal stelae; one by one, all of them burst into divine flame.

Gulianni, in horror, realized his body was rapidly turning to ash.

At that moment, every deity across all realms was struck by this invisible force—divine power spiraled out of control, burning their bodies to ash.

Hemeir in the Palace of Rest, Mathis, now a fat serpent deep in the sea, Lisa in Meishencheng, Silver Coin, the Goddess of Redemption beside Ang, Shamarah and Anthony…

But soon after the ashing began, the entire process halted. The Goddess of Redemption poked her ashen arm and pulled her sleeve to cover it.

The only one unaffected was Negrilis—the Faith Storm seemed powerless against the Brass Book, unable to reach it while sealed within.

Yet it had no leisure to care now—it stared, dumbfounded, at the most violently burning divine flame in the scene: Ang's divine flame. But this flame had too many flames at its head.

Ang, transformed into the Primordial Dragon God, emitted several ethereal shadows: a straw owl, a "Gael" with rolled-up pant legs, and a towering figure behind the Dragon God—Ang had manifested the image from the Primordial God's consciousness.

"P, Primordial Dragon God, Time Stagnation, Triune, Immortal Cultivation Goddess…" Negrilis murmured, dazed.