Chapter 569: Those Who Never Ascended the Divine Thrones...

Foolish Game of the Gods

"Nothing much to say. Just the old tale of victors and vanquished.

You've experienced the era I lived in. You should know something about the heretical god cults that once flourished in Dolgod."

Aph Ros's opening line dragged Cheng Shi's thoughts back to that utterly chaotic Life epoch.

Indeed — Cheng Shi was familiar with heretical gods. He'd even impersonated one of their devotees alongside Zhang Jizu.

"The Land of Hope was never the gods' birthplace. Every single one of Them came from the distant stars.

When enough people on this continent believed in Them, They would turn Their gaze upon it. And when that faith crossed a threshold They found interesting, a god would descend.

That is the reason for Their arrival."

Aph Ros seemed to sink into the complex emotions of reminiscence. He stared vacantly at the center of the long table, eyes unfocused, slowly narrating.

Cheng Shi and Hong Lin both unconsciously tensed. Their hearts were caught between giddy excitement and nervous trepidation as they listened intently, afraid to miss a single word.

"So at first, there was no fixed number of divine thrones. However many descended, that's how many thrones there were.

But not all of Them truly bestowed gifts or offered visible protection to Their followers. Only those whose faith was most concentrated — whose believers were most numerous — would genuinely bless the mortals below. So in pursuit of divine glory, the so-called tides of faith arose.

I've always believed that faith doesn't begin with piety. Rather, the flow of desire is what gives faith its piety.

Precisely because I grasped this truth, I became His follower in the second era."

Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow. 'That does align with what's known about epoch development and era succession. Mortals pursuing divine glory was natural — especially in ages of ignorance, where serving at a god's side was probably the lifelong aspiration of every mortal.'

"These gods with massive followings were previously called orthodox gods or true gods.

Those with scarce, unevenly devout believers — who granted almost nothing, or whose divine gifts were practically curses — remained shrouded in mystery and unknown. The fear this generated couldn't sustain missionary work, and They never took the stage of world faith. Such beings were called heretical gods or wild gods by mortals.

But regardless of orthodox or heretical, true or wild — They were all gods. All of Them, exalted beings above.

Except... not all of Them received... *His validation."

"???"

Cheng Shi's gaze sharpened. 'The Origin again?'

'Right — *He created everything, so naturally He's connected to all of Them. But what does "validation" mean, exactly?'

He didn't dare ask, fearing he'd break Aph Ros's train of thought. He chose to keep listening in silence.

"In the earliest first era, both true and wild gods coexisted in harmony.

But when the era ended — aside from Life — every other god... vanished.

Fortunately, in the second era, They returned. Only this time, They could no longer wrestle authority from Life.

Yet authority didn't belong solely to Life. Several more of Them reached the pinnacle of faith in the second era. And when that era ended, They... formed Descent."

"!!!"

'What does he mean, "formed" Descent?'

'The three gods of the Descent path were assembled?'

'Aren't They supposed to be the natural product of era evolution? Could there be other combinations for the Descent path beyond natural evolution?'

'Who assembled Them?'

'The Origin!'

'It was the Origin!'

The question had barely surfaced in his mind before Cheng Shi found the answer himself. Everything about Them traced back to Him pulling strings from "behind the scenes." But "assembling" — that didn't sound like behind-the-scenes influence. It sounded like He stepped directly onto the stage!

Linking this to Aph Ros's earlier claim that the Origin appeared at the end of every era...

'*He appears at the conclusion of each era... and validates the gods that emerged during it?'

'The Fun God's words about "bestowing divine names and delivering all authority" — that's what He meant!'

'What?!'

'So the truth behind the universe's gods is that a bunch of gods are all waiting for their era to end, hoping to compete for a handful of spots from the Origin's hand?'

'What kind of plot development is this — competitive job placement?!'

'So the current sixteen true gods are basically the winners of a divine hiring process, and the Origin is the HR department issuing "permanent positions?"'

'Holy crap — where even am I?'

'The world's ending, players are worshipping gods, and now you're telling me the gods are basically taking civil service exams?!'

'But the Void era hasn't ended yet. How did Deceit and Fate get their positions so early?'

Cheng Shi was stupefied. He blinked in utter bewilderment, brain reduced to mush. He glanced at Hong Lin with a conflicted expression, only to find Big Cat equally shell-shocked. Their eyes met — both registering the same shock and suspicion — before they each tucked away their thoughts, masked their expressions, and said nothing.

"But things changed in the third era.

Order descended. Before His followers had even triggered a tide of faith, He arrived bearing supreme authority.

He decreed oracles, watched over civilization's development, slaughtered countless heretical gods who disrupted order, and... granted the obedient wild gods a 'position' — a position subordinate to Order.

Your Thundering was one of them.

Though I should clarify: the 'slaughter' here doesn't refer to god wars. The heretical gods simply bowed their necks to the blade out of fear.

After that — whether Thundering, or the Blazing Sun, or any of the others — under Order's witness, They became pieces of the cosmic puzzle guarding Order.

Yet even with Order's recognition, They couldn't survive the era's end.

So when Chaos began, Order sought Them out once more. Only by then, some gods no longer trusted Order.

Take the Blazing Sun. He insisted that Order had never fulfilled His promise. So He abandoned His own oath and plunged into Chaos's embrace, becoming His Herald... the Wrath of Abomination.

Then came the era when Existence descended. They arrived bearing authority, just as Order had. By this point, rifts had already formed among the gods. But under the mediating hand of the era's rulers, everyone managed a fragile peace.

Until... until you, my brother, told me that in the current era, a god war broke out!

So — why did They start the god war? And what was its outcome?"

Aph Ros's eyes burned like torches, fixed unblinkingly on Cheng Shi, demanding an answer.

Cheng Shi smiled bitterly:

"If I had already recovered my memories by now, you'd absolutely know the answer today — it's not even a secret.

But as things stand, all I can say is: I don't remember why They started the god war. I only know that after it ended, the Convention protected sixteen divine thrones. As for the other Them...

They're probably waiting for the next era's revenge.

If there is one."

...