Chapter 4: City of Gods

Su Xingyu stepped through the portal. His consciousness blurred for a brief moment before he found himself standing on a spacious street.

It was a colossal, ancient-style city. Su Xingyu could sense that this place was extremely close to the Void—perhaps the city was even built directly upon the Void itself. Here, the suppression from the Laws of the Plane was incredibly weak, almost nonexistent.

As the suppression lessened, his body restored itself to a towering height of thirty feet, making him akin to a small giant. Yet, even so, standing on the street, he felt unimaginably insignificant, like a mere ant in a vast forest.

High in the sky hung a scorching, bright Sun Wheel.

Beyond the firmament lay the Darkness of the endless starry cosmos. A transparent canopy separated the City of Gods from the starry expanse.

[System Prompt: You have entered the absolute safe zone, the "City of Gods." Fighting is prohibited here. Violating this rule will result in expulsion!]

The streets were bustling with pedestrians of all shapes and sizes. There were humanoids with dragon heads, ox heads, and fish heads, as well as crimson Lizardmen and green Goblins...

Like Su Xingyu, they were all Divine Spirits. However, due to their varying authorities, Divine Formats, and Clans, their manifested forms widely differed.

Of course, Su Xingyu had no right to laugh at them; his own appearance wasn't much better right now.

The crowd was startled by the pitch-black figure that suddenly materialized in the middle of the street. He towered over them, radiating a terrifying aura.

They thought, "What a powerful guy."

The City of Gods was located within the endless sea of stars. It lacked the perfected Laws of a Plane, and since most Divine Spirits were currently unable to freely control their Power, their bodies manifested various supernatural phenomena.

Currently, the most intuitive way to gauge a Divine Spirit's strength was by observing their physical size and comparing it to others of their kind.

For instance, if a Goblin Divine Spirit manifested a Divine Body reaching ten feet tall here, they would undoubtedly be a powerhouse far exceeding their peers. Su Xingyu, who was now standing before the crowd, was a prime example of this. For a human Divine Spirit to reach a height of thirty feet within the City of Gods was downright exaggerated.

Sensing the stares from his surroundings, Su Xingyu frowned slightly. The Night Tribe had been expanding rather quickly lately. The massive increase in Believers caused his Power to grow at such a rapid pace that he was struggling to keep it fully under control.

He reined in his aura slightly and shrunk his body down to ten feet. While he still looked formidable, it was nowhere near as exaggerated as before.

Blending into the crowd, Su Xingyu began to look around.

Street vendors lined both sides of the road. Their stalls were laden with all sorts of goods—Weapons, armor, ores, blueprints, and more...

"It seems that even after becoming a Divine Spirit, one can't escape the fate of setting up a street stall," Su Xingyu muttered, looking at the stalls that were no different from the ones in the main world.

After browsing for a while, he felt a bit disappointed. There were many things for sale here, but nothing met his requirements. The items were either of poor quality or lacked sufficient quantity.

Just as disappointment set in, a voice spoke up beside him. "Friend, is this your first time in the City of Gods?"

Su Xingyu instinctively turned his head. A slightly plump young man was looking at him with a beaming smile. Feeling a trace of doubt, Su Xingyu nodded. "That's right."

"Mind taking on a guide?" The plump young man smiled, then quickly added, "Free of charge."

Su Xingyu mulled it over. He didn't know what this plump guy was plotting, but he currently needed information. Moreover, since this was an absolute safe zone, he didn't refuse.

He nodded and said, "I'll trouble you, then."

"No trouble at all. We rely on family at home, and friends when we're out in the world. Helping each other is how we all progress..." The plump young man's face was piled with smiles, maintaining a humble attitude throughout. "It's not convenient to talk here. How about we go somewhere else?"

"Sure."

Led by the plump young man, the two chatted as they walked. They soon left the busy street and arrived at a courtyard sporting a medieval Western architectural style.

Su Xingyu was somewhat surprised. Although he didn't know the property prices in the City of Gods, judging by the fact that a single entry cost ten units of Divine Source, real estate couldn't possibly be cheap. Whether buying or renting, he figured it undoubtedly required a significant amount of Divine Source.

As they stepped into the courtyard, the plump guy spoke first. "We've been chatting all the way here, but I still don't know your name, friend. I'm Wang Dong, a Religious Stream Divine Spirit."

Instead of answering, Su Xingyu asked in confusion, "What is a Religious Stream Divine Spirit?"

"Uh." Wang Dong paused blankly. "Friend, haven't you read that article on the forum?"

The forum was located within the system's [Information] module. By spending a certain amount of Divine Source, anyone could freely publish articles there.

Su Xingyu shook his head. "I just completed a mission and haven't had the time to check it."

"Then let me give you a brief explanation," Wang Dong said thoughtfully. "In this world, everyone receives a Divine Format. Depending on the attributes and authorities of our Divine Formats, everyone's path of development is different.

"Some Divine Formats are suited for developing tribes. They expand their scale of Believers through the tribal format, winning through sheer numbers. For example, Divine Formats like War and Slaughter are inherently suited for developing a tribe and conquering all directions.

"However, some Divine Formats aren't suited for this tribal development route. Take my 'Merchant' Divine Format, for instance. I'd do fine running a trading market, but asking me to develop a tribe would be asking too much. Therefore, I can only establish a religion, attach myself to various tribes, and focus solely on developing my own authority.

"Divine Spirits who develop tribes are known as the Lord Stream. Those who develop a Divine Sect and attach themselves to tribes make up the Religious Stream. Comparatively speaking, the Lord Stream is far more powerful, but the difficulty of its development is also much higher..."

Su Xingyu thought, "That's quite interesting." Intrigued, he asked, "Are there any other streams besides these two?"

"Yeah," Wang Dong nodded in reply. "There's also the Independent Strong Stream, sometimes called the Individual Stream.

"Not everyone can complete the initial mission to enter the Elementary Realm. Some unlucky souls have their tribes of Believers wiped out early on... In the present stages, Believers are incredibly important to Divine Spirits—I'm sure you deeply understand this as well. Believers are like anchors; the more we have, the more stable our condition becomes. Conversely, a lack of them makes our state highly unstable.

"Even though those native Extraordinary individuals can't invade a Divine Realm to slay a Divine Spirit, a Divine Spirit without Believers is no different from water without a source. Even if they don't face immediate Death, they will eventually exhaust their Power of Faith and fall into an Eternal slumber.

"Falling into Eternal slumber is no different from Death. Some unlucky Divine Spirits refuse to resign themselves to such a fate, so they simply abandon their Divine Realm altogether. They completely fuse their Divine Format with their Essence, transforming into Divine Creatures... By doing this, even though their Path to Divinity becomes immensely more difficult, it's still far better than directly sleeping to death."

Su Xingyu nodded in silent agreement. He had a profound understanding of this. While developing the Night Tribe, he had encountered the crisis of tribal extermination more than once. If his strength hadn't been sufficient, he might have been forced into the Independent Strong Stream by now.

The advantages of the Independent Strong Stream were obvious—with no mouths to feed but their own, they were free of burdens. Furthermore, as Divine Creatures, they possessed vast lifespans and Talents that far exceeded ordinary beings. It wasn't hard for them to carve out a decent living.

However, if given a choice, ninety-nine percent of people would choose the Lord Stream.

Having to handle every little thing personally could never compare to commanding a horde of Believers to do the heavy lifting. One was an employee, and the other was a boss. If given a choice, most people would opt to be the boss.

A faint smile surfaced on Su Xingyu's face as he extended his hand. "Xingyu, Lord Stream Divine Spirit."

Wang Dong paused blankly for a second before grasping his hand, repeating himself with a grin. "Wang Dong, Religious Stream Divine Spirit."