Chapter 694 - 693: Judgment Fire, Expedition to the Celestial Divine Domain

The forbidden god book given by Athena was quite substantial.

As she described, the Taboo Divine Temple recorded many methods of showcasing miracles through divine power.

These miracles

aren’t simple tricks used to deceive believers.

In essence, they utilize divine power to cause a type of phenomenon beyond the norm, capable of killing enemies, winning battles, or even destroying the heavens and the earth.

In general terms,

A miracle is a higher level than a faith system’s forbidden curse.

The lowest level miracles, require at least an entry into the Thirteen Realms.

Prior to this,

One must have a god’s position to perform miracles.

After meeting these two strict standards,

The execution of a miracle is as straightforward and brutal as it gets.

As long as you know the method, you can easily perform miracles.

Proficiency?

Nonexistent.

How powerful a miracle is depends solely on the extent of power within the caster’s body.

If forced to say,

The Western system of magic, starting from the basics, is better than the Eastern system.

However, their ceiling is lower, unlike the Eastern system, which incrementally enhances power, cuts down spell construction time, and leaps quantitatively after reaching the level of Great Perfection.

For people like Li Jing who have an advantage,

The Western magic system, where the upper limit depends only on individual strength, feels a bit pointless.

At the same level of magic

And the same realm,

The more proficient Eastern system of magic utterly outperforms the Western system in every aspect...

Indeed,

The Eastern system of magic needs to be improved through constant use, it’s time-consuming and labor-intensive, and requires perseverance.

Individual energy is relatively limited, it’s impossible to be proficient in everything.

Unfortunately,

As super-caster, Li Jing can max out Eastern magic skills through spending skill points, no need to upgrade by using it.

However, this does not mean that miracles have no merits for him.

The upper limit for miracles is relatively low,

But in his hands, they also have the advantage of not needing skill points.

In the end,

His skill points are limited too.

Facing Eastern magic, he has to carefully select what he needs.

When dealing with Western magic, there’s no need to pick and choose; he just needs to remember the application methods for all miracles.

Holding the forbidden god book of the God Clan in his hand, Li Jing did just that.

With his superior memory, it only took him less than an hour to imprint the entire thick forbidden god book into his mind.

Closing the book in his hand, Li Jing twisted his fingertips.

A sneaky, unbearably hot, dark red flame formed.

Judgment Fire.

Also known as Hell Fire.

One of the top miracles mastered by the God Clan.

Despite its small size,

This thing has the feature of never extinguishing.

If touched, there is no way to get rid of it.

Even if the target is burned to ashes, the Judgment Fire will exist eternally.

In the meantime,

All things fortunate enough to come into contact with Judgment Fire will be burned to nothing.

What’s worth mentioning is,

Elements that are not the target will not fuel the Judgement Fire or make it spread.

Judgement Fire will only appear where the caster wants it to appear.

Apart from this,

Judgment Fire has a rather special mechanism.

If the target bears more sins, the power of Judgment Fire will increase accordingly.

For major sinners, the power is particularly great; otherwise, it’s slightly weaker.

How sins are judged is quite mysterious.

It seems to measure everything the target has done in their life.

Worldly evils are not necessarily judged as evil, and worldly goodness is not necessarily judged as good. The determination is made from various angles such as intentions and purposes.

Even if you’ve killed countless people, if your intentions were good, you’re likely not judged as evil.

Judgment Fire seems to have its own mind, its own set of standards.

This characteristic made the Judgment Fire often demonstrate power far beyond other miracles.

There is no absolute good in the world, nor there is absolute evil.

Good and evil often coexist.

Li Jing stared at the Judgment Fire, then cannot help but contemplate.

His whole life, was that considered a life filled with sins?

He asked himself.

Li Jing did not think he was a good person, nor did he think he was a bad person, he considered himself rather average.

He blinked twice and reached out a finger to touch the flame.

With a "whoosh".

The Judgment Fire gave him an answer.

Just for a moment.

The Judgment Fire instantly set his whole body aflame...

The flames burnt so vigorously!

Its intensity even made him, who had tasted the Immortal Medicine, whose body turned saintly, and who had reached the Seventeenth Realm cultivation, feel a burning sensation on his skin.

Li Jing was taken aback.

Observing the fire.

It seems his sins were not just deep, but incredibly deep!

What’s crucial was.

He had only casually gathered a small cluster of Judgment Fire, without putting much effort.

The Judgment Fire was burning so vigorously, entirely because it judged him guilty...

While wondering where exactly he had sinned, Athena’s incarnation walked in.

At first glance at Li Jing sitting on her throne, surrounded by the Judgment Fire that almost twisted the surrounding space, she quietly paused and then asked, "Boss, what are you playing at?"

"Just...trying to see how deep my sins might be..."

Li Jing laughed and casually extinguished the increasingly vigorous Judgment Fire, then he stood up.

"Have the forces of the XiX God Clan fully assembled?"

"My personally summoned main forces are assembled."

Athena’s incarnation spoke softly, saying.

"The forces under the command of the other main gods and some ancestor gods who are willing to participate in the war will arrive after the war begins, depending on the situation."

?

Li Jing frowned.

Arrive depending on the situation?

Did that mean...?

Reinforcements will arrive when the situation is grim, or they will come to share the spoils only when there is a huge advantage?

It’s probably the latter, isn’t it?

After a brief silence, Li Jing said weirdly.

"It seems you still have a long way to go to fully control the entire XiX Divine Domain."

"Everything needs to be done step by step, we can’t rush."

Athena’s incarnation laughed lightly, saying.

"This expedition involves the other Eight Divine Domains beside XiX Divine Domain, I don’t really want them to participate. The allies of the Supreme God Clan are very strong, and it’s enough for the god clans who support me to follow along and benefit, I won’t miss out on any good opportunities."

Li Jing smirked at this.

Athena was still Athena.

She used to face off with Abigail.

Now she’s planning to let the Supreme God Clan take the brunt, while she follows behind and profits.

About this.

Li Jing chose not to comment.

Firstly.

The Supreme God Clan absolutely would not mind carrying the brunt, pay a greater price to get more benefits.

Secondly.

Asking Athena to lead at this moment, she couldn’t do that.

The XiX God Clan only lost Zeus, but that didn’t mean they were defeated, at most they were just temporarily submissive.

Moreover, he killed Zeus, not Athena.

There wouldn’t be many who would be serving the latter.

And the most crucial point.

Due to the urgency of time.

Athena hadn’t yet prepared to challenge for the vacant god position after Zeus’s death and get the approval from the god position.

Given all of this.

If it were Li Jing who took control, things wouldn’t change much.

The most would be if he was ruthless, there would be more people surrendering and following his orders, but essentially they are doing this to survive, not out of true submission.

Shaking his head, Li Jing walked toward the outside of the temple.

...

Outside of Athena’s temple.

Countless warriors of the Xi God Clan had already gathered by this time.

They covered the full extent of the mountains and fields, they were everywhere.

At first glance.

There were at least tens of millions of them...

In terms of numbers, even the subsequent elite forces descended from the Supreme God Clan might find it hard to match this part of the army gathered by Athena.

But in terms of quality, it was significantly inferior.

The vanguard of the Supreme God Clan was predominantly Twelfth Realm beings at the least.

Meanwhile, the majority of the Xi God Clan was comprised of Tenth Realm beings, with very few Twelfth Realm beings.

Those of Thirteenth Realm.

Simply a few Main Gods that were mixed in as leaders of the group.

Upon seeing this situation, Li Jing couldn’t help but frown.

Athena wouldn’t be that foolish.

She wouldn’t employ a strategy of keeping cards close to her chest right before a war.

That said.

It appears that these are already at her current mobilization limit.

This...

To be honest, it’s slightly pitiful.

But it’s also understandable.

Initially, she had asked him to avoid harming the Xi God Clan as much as possible.

If it wasn’t for the fact that only Zeus died, the situation could have been significantly better.

Ultimately...

The nature of the God Clan, including the human casts into the intelligent species, isn’t too different, they’re just shrewd.

While feeling sentimental.

Athena herself, along with Abigail, greeted him from both sides.

"King."

"Clan Leader."

Both of them addressed him and then kneeled down on one knee.

Seeing this, Li Jing waved his hand and released a strand of Chaos Qi for them to rise up, saying indifferently.

"With the war approaching, we don’t need to concern ourselves with such formalities."

As he said this, he scanned the God Clan warriors well-prepared and arrayed everywhere from hill to valley, a smile appearing on his lips.

"It seems they are all ready. There’s no need for a pre-war speech or anything, right?"

Athena and Abigail shared a glance upon hearing this, then the latter spoke.

"Praise to the greatest, your Majesty, if you could speak a few words to the soldiers, perhaps..."

Before she could finish, Li Jing cut her off.

"Too troublesome, I can’t be bothered with speaking."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and lightly waved.

With a "whoosh" sound, the sky of the Xi God Domain collapsed, revealing a large spatial rift.

Without a moment’s delay, Li Jing moved and rose up into the sky through the Sky Control technique and rushed into the spatial rift.

Athena and Abigail were stunned at this scene.

The former was the first to react. She stepped forward with her body covered in heavy armor and with a "clang", drew her God Sword, pointing it upward.

"Target, heaven X God Domain! Kill!"

With Athena’s words, the God Power of war was activated.

Instantaneously—

All soldiers present at the scene, including the ones of the Supreme God Clan, were covered in a red light, collectively receiving a BUFF.

With the BUFF boosting them, all the soldiers on the ground entered a frenzy, taking out their Divine Weapons and roaring as they rushed towards the rift passage above them.

Upon seeing this, Abigail’s brow furrowed.

She hadn’t even given the command yet.

Her troops were just charging into the passage under Athena’s influence.

Wasn’t this making her lose face?

Yet, she couldn’t blame Athena.

On one hand, Athena reacted first.

On the other hand, Athena had used the power of war to indiscriminately apply a BUFF to the Supreme God Clan’s warriors, which included rage and various other positive boosts.

With this BUFF in place, the combat effectiveness of the Supreme God Clan’s warriors would increase by at least 30%.

In contrast, she—

As the Ancestor God of Death, simply didn’t have this ability.

While pondering on this...

Athena turned to look at her and asked curiously.

"Is he... always like this?"

Facing this question, Abigail pursed her lips and said,

"Perhaps you think he isn’t suited to be a leader, but in reality, he disdains to lead our two God Clans. Otherwise, why would he need us two around?"

In response to these words, Athena fell silent.

For Li Jing.

Apart from being powerful, her understanding was extremely limited.

Even though she had divine wisdom on her side.

She didn’t understand many things as clearly as Abigail did.

Nodding, Athena’s figure transformed into a golden light that shot into the sky.

Abigail also turned into a mass of black fog, soaring straight upward and disappearing into a spatial rift.

...

The scene flashes back a moment earlier.

The Divine Domain of Heaven.

A place of tranquillity.

This divine domain was indeed the final resting place for the redeemed followers of Heaven, a paradise.

All was idyllic and serene.

The divine domain was bathed in a gentle and pure radiance.

The redeemed inhabitants were living in the cities or in the forests, faces filled with beaming smiles.

Near the peoples’ dwellings.

Sweet little angels could be seen frolicking and chasing each other everywhere.

In the wild forests, one could find various rare and sacred beasts, symbols of purity.

Suddenly, amidst this tranquillity.

The sky.

It collapsed.

A pitch-black spatial passage suddenly appeared in the air, tearing the entire sky apart.

"Ding ding ding ding!"

The Combat Angels tasked with guarding Heaven, instantly noticed this anomaly and began ringing bells in warning.

One after another, the angels, armed to the teeth, took wing and rushed into the sky.

Further away, more and more angels began to gather.

The people on the ground were dumbfounded.

They didn’t understand.

What exactly had happened?

Meanwhile.

Li Jing, who’d departed first, arrived after crossing through space.

As soon as he arrived, he was met with a vast array of Combat Angels ranging from the Eleventh to Thirteen Realms, too many to count at a single glance.

Upon witnessing this spectacle, Li Jing raised an eyebrow.

Obviously.

Heaven’s Divine Domain was well prepared for an intrusion.

From his estimation, news about the Divine Domain of Hope didn’t only reached them, but they were also collaborating with someone else.

If the Divine Domain of Heaven is like this.

What about the other divine domains?

As these thoughts flashed through his mind, the vanguards of the Supreme God Clan and the warriors of the Hope God Clan, who were first to transit, arrived. The spacious spatial passage allowed nearly a million of them to cross at once.

Confronted by the vast number of Combat Angels, neither the warriors of the Supreme God Clan nor those of the Hope God Clan showed any sign of intimidation.

"Kill!"

With a battle cry, both sides clashed in mid-air.

In an instant, countless angels fell from the sky.

The combat ability of the vanguards of the Supreme God Clan was too strong.

The warriors from the Hope God Clan, empowered by Athena’s buff, were no less impressive in the ensuing chaos.

Especially those warriors shouting "Sparta" while donning golden armor and bare chest, all of them ferocious fighters.

The situation is utterly one-sided.

But this.

Was just the beginning.

The forces in front of them were obviously not Heaven’s Divine Domain’s main battalion.

It was simple logic.

While they had time to prepare, they were unaware of where Li Jing’s spatial passage would open and were unable to form an effective defensive line.

Undoubtedly, their main force was positioned at critical areas within the Divine Domain of Heaven.

But they wouldn’t rush into action prematurely.

The vast number of Combat Angels present simply indicated that the Angel Clan of Heaven’s Divine Domain had numerous angels to spare for war, which could both withstand consumption and still manage to form a comprehensive defense.

From the collision of both sides, it was also clear that.

The countless Combat Angels present were merely "expendable", their purpose being to slow down the Supreme God Clan and the God Clan of Hope and exhaust their energy.

Even if the Combat Angels were armed to the teeth and seemingly had absolute numerical superiority.

Their combat abilities were visibly weaker.

The most apparent problem was the discrepancy in their realm strength.

A Combat Angel of the Thirteen Realms couldn’t even defeat a Twelve Realms angel.

Even with Athena’s buff, this discrepancy should not have been so stark under normal circumstances.