“So that was your plan all along, huh?” Su Chen muttered to himself as he gazed up at the sky.
The world and the sky still seemed the same compared to moments ago.
The collapse of the Barrier had not resulted in any immediately obvious changes.
But as the Barrier fully collapsed, Su Chen could feel a certain sense of release take place in his heart.
The sensation that had disappeared was the rejection that he had felt from this world.
And now, with the collapse of the Barrier, that restriction had been lifted. Everything had changed.
They had stepped out of their cramped room and into a broad, vast area. Their hearts were finally free and unfettered.
“They,” of course, referred to the gods and not Su Chen.
Su Chen’s pride-driven mistake was understandable. After all, the Barrier of the Gods had stood the test of time for so many years without being destroyed. As such, he had instinctively assumed that the Barrier’s destruction could not be hastened by the gods.
Now, however, it appeared that he had been wrong. The gods actually did have a way to destroy the Barrier; the only caveat was that they had to sacrifice their own lives to fuel their desire.
During the Twilight of the Gods, the gods had discovered that they could accelerate the destruction of the Barrier by linking their vitality to it just before their death. However, the effect that this had on the Barrier was relatively minimal, and they also each viewed their own lives as being incredibly precious. Thus, none of them had ever dared to do so.
After the Origin Realm’s invasion of Kun’s territory, however, everything changed.
In order to deal with these invaders, the gods had actually been forced to use self-destructive methods instead.
The Barrier of the Gods was already very close to collapse. With a couple simple prods, everything had come tumbling down.
The Barrier’s destruction caused the remaining gods to be ecstatic with joy.
One powerful will after another soared into the sky.
“Finally, we are free!”
“From now on, no one will ever be able to restrict us again!”
“Su Chen, we will repay you with interest for everything you have done!”
“This world will belong to the gods!”
Their exuberant voices filled the skies.
Whoosh!
The Bloodbat flying in the sky landed on Su Chen’s shoulder, bringing the voice of the Blood Ancestor with it. “We let them get away, but unfortunately, we will not be able to accompany you into battle anymore.”
The Barrier had been destroyed, but the Origin Realm’s invisible restrictions were still present.
Additionally, Kun’s territory was the Origin Beasts’ original home. As long as they remained here, they would be able to continue surviving.
In other words, the moment the Barrier collapsed, it had been decided that the Origin Beasts would never return to the Origin Realm.
Not unless they wanted to kill themselves, that is.
This was undoubtedly bad news for Su Chen and the human race.
Without the support of the Origin Beasts, the human race would be left alone in their war against the gods.
The difficulty of such an undertaking was obviously excessive.
Even so, Su Chen’s voice didn’t waver in the slightest. “I understand. From this day onwards, Kun’s territory will be the territory of the Beasts. The Boundless Sect will not come here without a good reason. Additionally, the humans and the Beasts will live separately from each other.”
“Good,” the Blood Ancestor replied happily, “Even though we cannot pass through to the Origin Realm, I can still restrict the Demonic Beasts on that side and prevent them from attacking other humans. I can also try to have them assist you if you want.”
“That would be for the best.”
Su Chen then began to write down every item of the agreement that he and the Blood Ancestor had come to.
Dazzling letters filled the sky, eventually forming a complete agreement.
The Bloodbat let out a roar as a drop of fresh blood landed on the agreement. His body then turned to ash as it disappeared into the wind. Su Chen did the same, and the agreement let out a blinding light before gradually fading, disappearing into the ether.
The agreement between the Beasts and the humans had been established.
From that day onwards, Kun’s territory would belong to the Beasts, allowing them and the humans to live in harmony. If there was any need for them to support each other, they would do so and exchange resources as necessary.
After taking care of this matter, Su Chen stepped into the void. He reappeared within Sky City.
At this moment, Sky City was filled with a furious flurry of action.
Upon seeing Su Chen return, everyone walked towards him.
“The Barrier has collapsed, and the gods have been freed. Their strength is almost certainly going to increase rapidly.”
“We must slaughter them before they are able to fully recover.”
“Have we not been doing this from the very beginning?”
“Of course we have, but that just made us fall headfirst into their trap.”
“Who could have anticipated that the gods would have this kind of trick hidden up their sleeves?”
“It’s too late to say such things now. We need to focus on thinking of a way to kill them before they kill us — and quickly.”
“This is going to be too difficult. If they could utilize their worshippers as warriors even while the Barrier was in place, then the entire Origin Realm will be set ablaze now that they have been freed.”
“A fire will only persist if there is no one there to extinguish it,” Su Chen calmly spoke.
Everyone else fell silent.
Su Chen continued, saying, “The return of the gods is indeed very problematic. This problem, however, may not be as great as everyone believes it to be. In the past, the gods could openly absorb faith. They can still do so now. However, do you think that they have the confidence to do so?”
Everyone was taken aback before they carefully considered Su Chen’s words.
It was true that, now that the gods had returned to the Origin Realm and the restrictions on them had been lifted, they were free to do as they pleased. Their faith reservoirs, so to speak, had been greatly enlarged.
Even so, it would take them time to recover and accomplish their goals.
Li Wuyi hesitantly said, “Sect Master, do you mean……”
Su Chen then said, “We should continue to do what we were doing in the past. All Intelligent Race individuals, including the Harpies, Ravagers, and Oceanids, are forbidden from worshipping any god. Even if the Origin Realm is broad and vast, and even if there is a vast pool of potential worshippers, the gods need the people to be willing to believe in them first. As long as we maintain a strict control over the races there and forbid worship, the gods will find that what they had thought to be a rich resource has actually dried up.”
The most important reason why the gods desired to return to the Origin Realm was because it had a much larger capacity for life, allowing them to harvest more faith.
But if the Boundless Sect interfered and forbade anyone from worshipping them, then the gods’ return would be rendered completely pointless.
Without a stream of faith and worshippers, the gods were nothing.
As such, Su Chen’s solution was to nip the issue in the bud and not give the gods any ground to grow stronger.
Upon hearing this, Li Wuyi frowned. “The Ravagers and Oceanids are not under our rule. It will be hard to impose such restrictions on them.”
“Then we will kill them,” Su Chen growled uncompromisingly.
Jiang Jusheng felt his heart jolt violently. “Does that include the Oceanids?”
Su Chen fell silent for a moment before saying, “It would be for the best if they are willing to cooperate. But if not…… then yes, that includes the Oceanids!”
They had just fought side-by-side with the Oceanids not long ago, but Su Chen had no choice but to sever their relations in pursuit of an even greater goal.
This was reality.
Su Chen could not allow his emotions to ruin the future of the entire human race.
The Oceanids were no different from him.
Hadn’t they abandoned their human allies as soon as Eternal Night offered them a large enough bribe to stand down?
All personal relationships were moot in the face of the interests of one’s kingdom.
On that day, Su Chen personally went to pay the Oceanids a visit.
Thankfully, he was able to convince them to agree to his proposal and gained their support in the war against the gods.
Meanwhile, the brainless Ravagers unsurprisingly refused. Even though restricting themselves from worshipping the gods was a relatively small matter in and of itself, the implications were too great for them to accept. Doing so meant that humans would be allowed to travel unhindered through their territory, that they would have to comply with any investigations, and that they would have to give the humans special positions that had official capacities.
It would be no different than handing over part of their authority to another race.
The Oceanids had agreed because they recognized the gravity of the situation, but the Ravagers did not.
The Ravagers, whose brains were made of muscle, never used logic to evaluate issues. Even though they knew that the humans were right, that the return of the gods would result in their oppression, that the human race was extremely powerful, and that they would suffer thoroughly if they didn’t listen…… they still refused to listen.
There was nothing that Su Chen could possibly do to persuade such a group of barbaric, illogical individuals.
Three days after returning to the human kingdoms, Su Chen declared war on the Ravagers.
A war ensued following Su Chen’s proclamation, one that engulfed the entire Origin Realm.
Only after the war began did the Ravagers realize just what kind of enemy they were facing.
Did they know that they couldn’t defeat the humans?
Perhaps, but they definitely did not know just how large the gap between them had become.
The current human race was more than capable of easily steamrolling through the Ravagers. The only reason why the Ravagers had survived up till now was just because the humans had been too busy with other things. But when a fight against the Ravagers became necessary, they bore witness to just how terrifying the human race had become.
Within Flowing Gold Fort.
Hundreds of thousands of Ravagers were arrayed in a battle formation, roaring and howling fiercely at the sky.
On the other side of the battlefield, there were so many cultivators flying towards them that they nearly blotted out the sky.
Yes, they were all flying.
Instead of marching towards them in an orderly fashion on the ground, all of the cultivators were casually flying towards them through the air.
The five hundred thousand strong Ravager army was facing off against an army of five hundred thousand flying cultivators.
One common soldier versus one cultivator.
Truth be told, Su Chen’s method was quite simple and crude.
Send out five hundred thousand cultivators and crush them with brute power.
And this was just the human race’s low-tier cultivators.
By now, flight was no longer something that only a mid-tier cultivator could achieve. Rather, any Foundation Establishment cultivator was capable of doing so.
As such, flight was no longer a privilege that only belonged to the small group of cultivators who had ascended to or beyond the Light Shaking Realm. Any cultivator could fly as long as they had reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
Yes, Foundation Establishment.
The immortal system had become the human race’s new mainstream cultivation path. The old system of Origin Energy enhancement was only used for supplementary purposes now. It still existed, but it had been relegated to the side because of its lack of efficiency when compared to the new immortal pathway.
Terms like Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Pill, Nascent Soul, Deification, Aspects, and pills had all become part and parcel for human cultivators.
Additionally, it was more effective to redirect an attack than to block it.
Having people believe in something transcendent besides gods was not a bad idea either.
For instance, immortals.
It did not require faith to become an immortal, but in order to prevent the gods from receiving any faith, it made sense to make himself, Su Chen, into an object of worship. That way, the intelligent race’s faith would not be used in a perverted way.
The war against the gods raged on.
Restricting faith, executing non-compliers, and creating new targets to worship were all tactics that Su Chen had created to deprive the gods of their much-needed nourishment. With this, the gods would not be able to easily reestablish themselves in the Origin Realm even if they did return.
In essence, the entire Ravager race was fighting against five hundred thousand Light Shaking Realm cultivators.
In the past, the Ravagers wouldn’t have even dreamed of facing off against such a powerful army in the past.
Even if their “God of War,” Averigus, were resurrected, and Su Chen betrayed the human race, they would not be able to make up for this gap.
The Ravagers were utterly routed in every battle and confrontation between them and the human army.
When the Ravagers were thoroughly crushed, the Oceanids were still attempting to negotiate for favorable conditions with Su Chen.
But when they heard of how badly the Ravagers had been defeated, the Oceanids’ leader immediately agreed to all the terms that Su Chen had put forward, bringing their agreement into effect.
The human race’s armies then swept across the Origin Realm like water rushing out of a breaking dam. As their influence spread, they were able to successfully execute their will. This time, they were able to effectively suppress any religions worshipping the gods.
