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The bug race cannon fodder, unafraid of life and death, clashed with the golem legions that lacked self-awareness. The moment they engaged in battle, the conflict immediately escalated to an intense level.
Endless swarms of insect cannon fodder surged out from the expanded interdimensional portal, now a kilometer in diameter. The corpses quickly decomposed and merged into the earth, forming a thick, flesh-like fungal mat.
As the number of fallen bodies increased, the fungal mat grew thicker and deeper.
This substance not only had the ability to heal the injured insects but also possessed the capacity to nurture new members of the insect race.
Once the mat grew to a certain thickness, it would create giant flesh spores that absorbed a large amount of nutrients. These spores would swell and cultivate new insects, capable of reaching maturity and joining the battle in mere minutes.
Therefore, the fungal mat represented not only the conquest of that area by the insect race but was also a source of their military strength.
Who knows how much cannon fodder is contained within the insect race’s king’s divine realm. From the first day of the war, the stream of insects emerging from the massive portal never ceased, incessantly pouring out. Especially in the second month, the enemy expanded the portal yet again to a diameter of about five kilometers, which allowed an even greater tide of insects to flood through.
Besides the rapid bugs that were the size of small dogs, a significant variety of other insect species were mixed within.
Although he never calculated deliberately, Lin Xiao roughly estimated that the number of insects that had invaded the divine realm in the past two months was as high as twenty to thirty billion.
Fortunately, they had also amassed a large number of golems. Over a hundred million golems, far stronger on average than the insect cannon fodder, formed the first line of defense. Alongside them, a continuously growing number of Lesser Naga, Supreme Naga, and nearly a million Star Spirit Mages, successfully contained the several billion insects within this vast battlefield spanning thousands of kilometers in diameter.
Lin Xiao looked emotionlessly over the battlefield. The number of insects that had poured in over the past two months was indeed vast, but for their level, it was just an appetizer, not even the main force had entered the fray yet.
However, even though the enemy’s main force had not yet taken the field, Lin Xiao was not too worried.
The performance of the two main clans, the Titan Naga and the Star Spirits, had greatly satisfied him. Although they had participated in the construction of the defenses in the past two months, they had not been involved in the battle. Now it was only a matter of the Lesser Naga and a small number of Star Spirit Mages cooperating, with just under a thousand Titan Naga enlisted—mainly to observe their conduct on the battlefield.
And he was very pleased with the results.
Even in their normal state, Titan Naga were like little giants standing five meters tall, but once they transformed into the Titan Deity state, both their strength and size surged dramatically.
The thousand Titan Naga he had chosen included a range of ages, both newly matured young Titan Naga and the first batch of Supreme Naga that Lin Xiao had originally created. After transforming into the Titan Deity state, the younger Titan Naga would be around a hundred meters tall, while those who had aged would progressively increase in size, reaching up to two hundred meters.
The strongest were naturally the first batch of Supreme Naga Lin Xiao had originally created, whose size exceeded three hundred meters after transformation.
And this was just one phase for them. Because the strength of Titan Naga increased with age, just like the Dragon Clan. The longer they lived, the more powerful they became. As long as they kept living, they would grow stronger and eventually reach a level comparable to that of a True God.
What impact does a size of over a hundred meters have in an army of insects?
They don’t even need to do anything; a simple roll on the ground could crush a vast swath of them.
Outside the battlefield, General Lan Wanqing and other high-ranking generals had been intently watching the vortex between the insect army for over two months. With no clear victor between the combinations yet, they could not relax a bit.
Compared to the other players, what they were most anxious about was the battle between General Lin Xiao and the opposing insect king, the outcome of which was of great importance.
His identity was far too significant; he was not only a high-level military commander in the war zone, equivalent to their own rank but also the son-in-law of their supervisor and another powerful figure. To be honest, Lan Wanqing was already somewhat regretful for having agreed to it initially.
Regardless of the outcome, they will surely be reprimanded upon return.
If they win, it might still be alright, but if they lose...
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After thousands of years of promoting his powerful divine power, Luan Wanqing rarely felt regret and a hint of fear.
He subconsciously looked back, feeling somewhat guilty.
Unfortunately, they did not have the authority to check the battle results. Both sides were of the level of powerful divine power, and unless the great divine power or the dominator of their civilizations personally observed, they would have to wait until the battle’s outcome was decided....
"That personage must be watching!"
Luan Wanqing let out a light sigh, contacting Gaia’s will in his heart and requesting to observe the other contestants in battle.
With his authority, he could directly observe ordinary true gods, but he did not have the privilege to observe the elite children of the divine realm, which required an application, and the observation could proceed only if the other party permitted it.
After all, this observation involved one’s own privacy, and some elite children of the divine realm had secrets in their divine realms that were not convenient to expose. Once observed, everything would be revealed.
Only elites of the true god level were exempt. Those under the true god, unless they were candidates on the official list of the heavenly prodigies, could be directly observed.
Just like them, it was the same with the insect race. So, as time went by, more and more contestants had their outcomes decided, for better or worse, yet no one knew the situation between Lin Xiao and his opponent.
Except for the two dominators.
As the top existences of their own divine realm civilizations, naturally their authority was the highest. They could watch any battle below their rank without permission and even cast a projection into that divine realm.
Although Lin Xiao didn’t quite understand these things, he wasn’t too surprised when he suddenly saw his father-in-law appear in his divine realm, and even took the initiative to greet him.
Still wearing a vest and large shorts, his father-in-law with hands behind his back took a tour of his divine realm and nodded, saying,
"It seems my worries were unnecessary; you’ve got it under control."
Lin Xiao smiled slightly, his confidence visible to the discerning eye.
The father-in-law stretched out his hand in a summons, and a titan Naga appeared in front of them. He looked at this titan deity, the supreme Naga, with a somewhat surprised gaze and asked,
"If I’m not mistaken, this is a new race you’ve concocted yourself."
With another gesture, star spirits, the Red Furnace Clan, and lesser Naga, one of each, appeared before them. After observing for a while, he made them vanish with a wave of his hand and said in a rather formal tone,
"Your craft in creation is astonishing. Based solely on the performance of these races, you already qualify to promote to the position of great divine power with creation as your main godhood."
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao waved his hands repeatedly,
"Dad, you’re joking. Everyone knows that creation already has a master."
The father-in-law laughed heartily at that,
"That’s why it’s a pity. You were born at the wrong time unless you challenge Xiaowei and seize Their divinity; otherwise, you won’t be able to ascend using that law."
Lin Xiao replied with a smile,
"I have a main deity position, not related to creation."
"That’s good then."
```
The old father-in-law nodded and said,
"If that’s the case, you must declare your stance to His Excellency Xiaowei before reaching God Level 19, or else it will be assumed that you have the intention to challenge him. By then, according to the common rules of the Main World, he will be eligible to initiate a battle to seize your powers."
"Maybe out of consideration for me, you won’t die, but your Creation Law will be taken away, and you will never be able to obtain it again in the future."
Lin Xiao nodded,
"I will make time to visit His Majesty the Creator."
"The sooner, the better."
Lin Xiao had already been contemplating this idea, planning to make a visit when he had the time. Now that his father-in-law had brought it up, an early visit seemed apropos.
He currently held the divinity of Supreme, Truth, Creation, Life, Death, Balance, Magic, War, and Reincarnation; aside from Supreme and Magic, all other divinities were qualified for promoting to great divine power.
Among them, Supreme was not included. Creation and War already had Masters with corresponding great divine power, which he could not choose, and he would also need to visit the Masters of Creation and War Throne separately to swear before them that he would not choose these two laws as his Main Deity Position.
A mere verbal promise was useless; he must make an oath with the essence of the laws.
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Should he ever break the oath and attempt to ascend using these two divinities, the two Majesties could directly take away his laws, even his life, according to the oath.
For the divinities of Life and Death, there were no corresponding powers of great divine power in the Human Main World yet; however, many God Level 19 super beings with divine power were contesting for it. If he chose one of these divinities, he would inevitably be competing against them.
If he had no choice, then there was nothing he could do, but he currently had other options, so he decided to PASS.
That left him with Truth, Balance, and Reincarnation to choose from.
In fact, because of its unique nature of being inscrutable to others, Lin Xiao was not clear if any powerhouse secretly possessed the divinity of Truth. He speculated that such a powerful divinity might have owners, possibly more than one, so Truth could only be an alternate choice.
That left only Balance and Reincarnation.
Balance definitely had no competitors; it was an Ancient Deity, and there could only be one in the Main World, never two.
The conditions required for the birth of the Reincarnation divinity were too stringent; Lin Xiao felt that it was unlikely to exist in the Main World, though not as absolutely as Balance.
So, the safest choice for Lin Xiao was Balance, followed by Reincarnation. He could only rely on these two divinities to promote his great divine power.
Keep in mind that he was promoting to great divine power; this was not to say it was his only path.
If he did not want to take this path, he could also promote himself to a super chaotic life form, equivalent to great divine power, through the essence of black holes.
Or he could gather all the sources of time and become a Chaos Demon who mastered the Origin of Time.
Or, why not do everything at once—gather all sources of time, incarnate as a super chaotic life form, and at the same time promote to great divine power... It’s not impossible.
It’s like the legend of attaining enlightenment: combining the merit of performing good deeds with cutting off one’s three corpses and also using strength to prove one’s way, once enlightened, one would surely be stronger than ordinary enlighteneds.
Lin Xiao’s thoughts scattered, and he was no longer focusing on the war in front of him.
Despite the Insect King’s substantial accumulation and the number of insects in his domain far exceeding his own, with possibly two to three hundred billion cannon fodder, their quality was vastly inferior; even his weakest Lesser Naga amounted to over six billion.
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The Lesser Nagas mature much faster than the Titan Naga Star Spirits, with over six billion reaching adolescence.
Their growth rate is also far superior to that of the Insect Race, and although they only reach Level 4 upon maturation, the Lesser Nagas are Legendary Beings. After living a few more years, advancing to Rank 6 naturally follows, and with a bit more diligence and effort, reaching Rank 8 is not difficult.
The thirty billion Rank 6 Lesser Nagas can easily crush three hundred billion Insects that are merely at Level 1 or 2.
Frankly, although this Insect King’s accumulation of power is stronger than Lin Xiao’s, it is only to a limited extent. After all, his Divine Enthronement was within the last century, not the kind with over a thousand years of senior and Powerful Divine Power. Although the area of his Divine Realm is vast, it is still finite and cannot accommodate an endless swarm of Insect Race Cannon Fodder.
When the accumulation hasn’t reached a transformative level of strength, quality becomes key.
Lin Xiao has not counterattacked but merely defended passively – whatever number of the swarm comes, that many die.
Densely packed Mage Towers, casting spells in unison, unleash widespread and expansive spells from the sky, turning swathes of the Insect Race Cannon Fodder to ash.
With the support of the Divine Realm and Mage Towers, coupled with the innate talents of the Soul Race, there is basically no concern for mana depletion.
After an unknown number of the Insect Swarm died in battle, the strong Insect Champions lurking behind the portal finally couldn’t bear it, starting to dispatch the medium and high-level forces of the Insect Race.
Huge armored Insects emerged from the interdimensional channel, followed by various long-range bugs capable of spitting fire and lighting, along with giant centipede-like bugs that burrowed into the ground as soon as they emerged from the portal, disappearing from sight.
Flocks of Flying Dragons surged into the sky toward the floating Mage Towers in the distance, while humanoid high-ranking Insects took to the sky, their strong psychic energy merging into a vast ocean of psychic power.
Upon seeing this, Lin Xiao just smiled faintly and waved his hand. The majestic face of Slarda slowly materialized in the Vault of Heaven, and his terrifying power caused space itself to subtly sink and collapse.
As Lin Xiao’s strength grew and his foundation became more robust, Slarda, his only Saint, also became more powerful.
Despite Divinity Level being limited to Medium Divine Power due to the intact world laws, his True Body had already transcended this limit, possessing terror-inducing power comparable to great divine power.
It was a stroke of luck, as it were.
Over the years, as the number of his Kin grew and the vast base of Kin gave birth to numerous Saints, these Saints differed from the Saint Slarda.
At first unclear, but later, as his power and status rose, he gleaned some secrets and understood that not all Saints are the same.
The Saints born from believers are different from the believers that spawn from Kin.
The Kin he personally created are again different from regular Kin.
Moreover, among the Saints generated by Kin, the first one is different from the subsequently born Saints.
The first Saint that any Son of the Divine Realm engenders within their Kin in the Divine Realm is the most special. They not only possess the identity of Kin but also gather the fortune of the Divine Realm, inheriting a portion of the Divine Realm Master’s power. Coupled with their own strength and talents, the first Saint born among the Kin always boasts tremendous power, and for the exceptional ones to have strength comparable to that of the Divine Realm Master is not surprising.
Slarda, belonging to those Kin personally created by the Divine Realm Master, is even more formidable, inheriting more power from both the Divine Realm Master and Creator, making it quite common for Saints to surpass the Divine Realm Master in strength.
Not only is Slarda Lin Xiao’s first Saint, but he is also Kin personally created by him within the Divine Realm. Becoming a Saint rendered him extremely powerful, and at one point, he was even more formidable than Lin Xiao himself.
Even if he no longer surpasses Lin Xiao now, he still possesses a terrifying power far exceeding that of an average great divine power.
If Lin Xiao doesn’t use the Law of Time, he himself might not be able to subdue him.
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