The Qiang Tribe emerged victorious in this battle.
Frost’s exploit of wiping out the Cloud Tribe with three strikes of the Blood Drum spread far and wide throughout the Barbarian wasteland. The Qiang Tribe’s weapon of war had returned.
The Qiang Tribe won victory after victory.
A fierce civil war spread throughout the region, engulfing the Barbarians.
The Qiang Tribe had gathered a few tribes under their wing, and their strength was dramatically increasing with each new victory. At the same time, the other large tribes had gathered together in an alliance to deal with the Qiang Tribe, unwilling to relinquish their control.
A massive conflict was brewing in the wastelands. This conflict, which ultimately ended in total victory for the Qiang Tribe, exploded at the Battle of Cloud-Piercing Mountain.
The Battle of Cloud-Piercing Mountain was the decisive battle that solidified the Qiang Tribe’s rise to the top. Not long afterwards, the Twelve-Tribe Alliance was dissolved, and each of the great tribes surrendered to the Qiang Tribe.
After that, the Barbarians were once again unified under the rule of the Qiang Tribe.
All of this took place in less than one year.
Because of the intense civil war, the Barbarian population was at an all-time low. The faith that they could provide was limited as a result, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the gods.
Unfortunately for them, there was nothing that they could do about it.
The gods had very little actual control over the realm that their creations inhabited.
This was partly due to the Eternal Treaty, as well as the fact that each descent to this realm cost divine power.
Not only did the Eternal Treaty prevent the gods from fighting amongst each other, but it also limited their ability to influence the realm of the commoners. The gods believed that their creations should be left to their own devices without too much interference from them. If they meddled too much, it would affect the development of religious societies, which might not necessarily be good for their religions. Furthermore, they were afraid that some god might induce their descendents to attack another god’s descendents, indirectly disturbing the balance of the Eternal Treaty.
As such, the gods rarely interfered with mortal matters. Unless there were already signs that a deity was interfering, or unless their descendents were in danger of being exterminated, the gods rarely appeared in the mortal realm.
Within the Temple of the Gods.
This vast, majestic temple floated in the sky. Its intricate architecture gave off an ancient air, both profound and mysterious.
Today, however, some parts of the temple appeared to be in a dilapidated state.
The Temple of the Gods contained hundreds of thrones, but most of them were empty now. Only twenty or so of them or so had an owner now.
These gods, of course, were the ones who had managed to survive the Twilight of the Gods.
Their statuses were determined by the amount of divine power that they had. The further towards the entrance they were, the weaker they were.
One of the gods sitting in the middle of the hall was fitted from head to toe in golden armor. He gave off the image of a respected war veteran, and he spoke in a deep voice. “I can sense that the Barrier of the Gods has been reinforced once more. It’s the leaf of the World Tree this time.”
His name was Beacom, and he was the guardian of the Temple of the Gods. As such, he was extremely sensitive to any changes that took place in Kun’s territory.
The gods began to murmur amongst themselves when they heard Beacom’s announcement.
“That is bad news. The Barrier’s destruction has been delayed once again,” one of the gods said with a sigh.
“These petty struggles are nothing more than death throes. There is no need to worry. We have already seen tens of thousands of years pass. Can we not wait for three or four more?” To these ancient gods, time had little to no value. Three years passed for them in the blink of an eye. For this reason, the gods did not particularly care about the humans’ delay of the Barrier’s destruction.
From their point of view, these humans were nothing more than annoying mosquitos buzzing around their heads.
Of course, there were always a few gods who were able to clearly understand what was at stake.
A disdainful voice harrumphed. “A bunch of brainless idiots.”
The one who had spoken this time was the Moon Goddess.
She sat at the very back of the hall, representative of her status as a high-tier god. Only two other gods were qualified to sit next to her.
One seemed to be nothing more than a faint, amorphous source of light. It was nigh impossible to discern the true shape of the light.
The other had a humanoid figure with feathered wings sprouting from their back. This god’s appearance was extremely attractive, but it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female from first glance.
They were, respectively, the Lord of the Dreamrealm and the Mother Goddess.
The other gods were not pleased with the Moon Goddess’ scornful comment. “Leila, you should not disparage me, Longue the Barbarian God, like this — even if you are one of the three leaders.”
The Moon Goddess shot him a disdainful glance. “Even though we have known each other for tens of thousands of years, I still cannot get used to your idiocy. The reinforcement of the Barrier of the Gods is something that we must pay more attention to. This is not a mere coincidence, but is rather proof that someone is actively working behind the scenes to stir up trouble. I imagine that someone from the Origin Realm has already infiltrated this realm.”
The gods leaned in closely when they heard this.
One of them asked, “Great Lord of the Dreamrealm, is this true?”
The Lord of the Dreamrealm was the most well-informed god present. It was always a wise decision to consult him regarding any intelligence-related questions.
The formless light, however, sighed helplessly. “The Dreamrealm has been destroyed, and no one is allowed to enter my realm anymore. My understanding of what is going on over there has become extremely limited. But based on my understanding of Su Chen, I believe that this possibility is extremely likely. Furthermore...... this was my inference as well.”
“But even gods cannot cross the Barrier......” Some of the gods were still skeptical of this theory.
The Mother Goddess said, “Just because we gods cannot pass through does not mean that the humans cannot as well. Our strength has won us the position that we currently hold, but that strength is also what keeps us from passing through to the other side. The Barrier’s decay could conceivably make it easier for weaker and smaller creatures to sneak their way through. And if that bastard is meddling......”
She fell silent, but all of the other gods knew who she was referring to.
The Human Ancestor.
Even now, this troublesome individual was still giving them a massive headache.
“While we’re on the topic, what’s going on your end, Danba?” the Moon Goddess asked.
The Lord of Storms was seated not far from her location.
“My projection was easily killed by Su Chen, so I wasn’t able to get much information from it. All I know is that Su Chen expended very little effort to kill it,” Akru’Danba dully replied.
“Just tell me the important details,” the Moon Goddess said unhappily.
“We weren’t able to find him. All the information that we received was already known. We will not be able to activate the Scepter of Time just based on that,” Akru’Danba replied. “That person is slippery and hides himself well. He never tells anyone what he’s doing, and it is hard to catch wind of any more information than what we have already gathered.”
Unlike the Origin Bone Scepter, the Scepter of Time’s predictive abilities relied on faith to work properly.
They simply had too little information about the Human Ancestor’s movements, however, which made it impossible for them to precisely calculate his fate.
This could only mean one thing: the humans knew exactly how the Scepter of Time worked, and they were taking measures to counteract its activation.
The gods were not surprised by this development at all. They were quite used to failures like this.
Eventually, the Moon Goddess spoke up once again. “The other world has been extremely turbulent as of late. The pestilence is spreading, and war is breaking out everywhere. I think that this chaos is due to those meddling humans. If the situation continues like this, the Barrier’s destruction might be delayed even further. I think that we should send a god to the world below to handle this mess.”
Upon hearing this, the gods broke out into frenzied discussion once again.
One of them said, “Great Moon Goddess, I respect your wisdom and decisiveness. But breaking the Treaty and sending a god to the world below will be extremely costly. Are you sure that this is worth it? Also, losing a god up here will interfere with our efforts to dismantle the Barrier as well. Don’t forget that it is still challenging for us to wear it down. Losing a single god will reduce our efficiency by almost half. No matter how much the leaf of the World Tree delays us, it cannot be as damaging as sending a god away.”
The Moon Goddess let out a deep sigh.
The god who had spoken was correct.
The sturdiness of the Barrier was virtually inconceivable.
At the very beginning, the gods hadn’t been able to do a single thing to it.
As the Barrier had decayed over time, however, they had eventually learned how to accelerate its destruction.
Strictly speaking, the gods were not actively destroying the Barrier. They were only speeding up the natural process.
Before the Barrier’s decline reached that point, however, all they could do was sit around and wait. Over the course of the past millennia, they had tried countless possibilities to no avail.
Under these circumstances, sending a god to the world below also seemed to be a seemingly foolish decision.
The Moon Goddess was not foolish, but perhaps she might have been a little too hasty and heavy handed with how she wanted to deal with that mischievous monkey wreaking havoc in the world down below.
She had the premonition that this monkey could potentially be very similar to Su Chen. Perhaps it also possessed that same power...... the power that terrified her in ways that words could not describe.
This was part of the reason why she was so agitated, and why she was even willing to delay the Barrier’s destruction; it was all to quell this fear of hers.
However, she could not voice her fear.
That would only stir up even more chaos among the gods.
In the end, it was still the Lord of the Dreamrealm who spoke up. “The first thing that we need to do is find this rat and confirm that it exists. Yormak, you will be responsible for sending a projection below to search for him.”
Yormak was the God of Assassination who had tried to kill Su Chen once before in the past.
The God of Perception had fallen a long time ago. The only remaining god whose domain was suited to search for a specific target was the God of Assassination.
“Three,” the Moon Goddess interjected.
Yormake frowned. “Three projections? Is that really necessary? That will burn through a lot of my divine power.”
The Moon Goddess simply replied, “One might not be his opponent.”
Yormak was extremely miffed when he heard her reply.
However, since the Moon Goddess’s status was higher than his, he could only obediently accept her order.
The Mother Goddess went on to say, “Three is good. If we are able to defeat our opponent without losing a single one, then the situation below can hopefully be quickly resolved.”
The God of Assassination huffed, “Then not only will I suffer a loss of divine power, but I will also receive the backlash of violating the Eternal Treaty.”
“We will repay you in kind,” the Lord of the Dreamrealm replied calmly.
Of course, this “we” was referring to all of the gods. Even though the three leaders were the strongest, such a price was not one that they could afford to pay on their own.
A day later.
Frost stood before the Stargazing Altar.
The Qiang Tribe’s chief high priest’s eyelid suddenly jumped. “Three projections...... How extravagant.”
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