Chapter 450: The Old Gods Die, the New Gods Are Established

With that done, Su Mu frowned slightly. He looked at the Snakewood Cane in his hand and asked, "I've become a nightmare and inherited the Xuan Tian World, yet I can only leverage a single sliver of the Creator's Authority's power?"

Xiao Yuan nodded. "Of course. The Creator's Authority can only be completely integrated by an existence at the level of a God. If not for that single drop of Xuan Tian's divine blood, you wouldn't even be able to draw on this sliver of power."

"In other words, the Xuan Tian World still can't completely block the prying eyes of the Gods in Heaven."

"If it could be blocked, it would have been blocked long ago," Xiao Yuan said. "The Creator's Authority is powerful, but it depends on who wields it. Unless you advance into the new God of Nightmares and completely fuse with the authority, you won't be able to isolate this world completely.

"Of course, by that point, you wouldn't need to hide anymore. If you fused with the Creator's Authority using a divine body, you'd essentially be the new Creator.

"But the other Gods would never allow that. If that time really came, they would likely do everything in their power to stop you, just as they did with Xuan Tian back then."

"Then how can I advance into the new God of Nightmares?" Su Mu asked.

"Mortals can never ascend to become Gods. Gods are innate existences, born at the very beginning of creation. No matter how hard later lifeforms try, they cannot become Gods.

"There is only one way to become a God, and that is... the old gods die, the new gods are established."

"The old gods die, the new gods are established..." Su Mu murmured thoughtfully.

"Right. A latecomer inherits a God's power to become a new God. This is a rule that has existed since the dawn of the world. It's like the official titles in an ancient human dynasty. There are a fixed number of first-rank and second-rank positions. If a latecomer wants a first-rank position, they can only wait for someone at the top to step down.

"The only other way is for the emperor to create another first-rank position. Here, the emperor represents the Creator."

"Does that mean I can only become the true God of Nightmares by inheriting all of Xuan Tian's origin?"

Xiao Yuan nodded. "Yes. Currently, you've only inherited a portion of Xuan Tian's origin—namely, this Dream World. But that is far from enough. You need to gather all of Xuan Tian's origin."

"Wasn't the Dream World created by Xuan Tian's only surviving origin?" Su Mu asked. "Weren't the rest of His origins obliterated by the Gods?"

"They cannot be obliterated," Xiao Yuan said. "The power of a God is the cornerstone of this world, one of its fundamental components. Unless the world is destroyed, Gods are immortal."

Immortal? Su Mu frowned slightly.

Xiao Yuan saw through his thoughts and explained, "I've said it before: Xuan Tian isn't truly dead. He just dissipated and transformed into this Dream World. You can think of it as His consciousness dying. That is the nature of Gods. They are the avatars of Laws. A God's consciousness can dissipate, but the Laws will always remain.

"When the Creator forged the world, He established many Laws to maintain its operation. Initially, those Laws had no consciousness. But after the Creator's death, following a long period of evolution, the Laws gradually gained awareness. And so, Gods were born.

"To kill a God simply means erasing their consciousness. The Laws that make up that God still exist."

Su Mu understood. Xuan Tian had fought a divine war that shattered the Laws making up His body. A surviving fragment transformed into the current Dream World, while the rest was left scattered outside.

As for where it was left, Su Mu already knew the answer.

"Exactly, just as you thought," Xiao Yuan said. "In Heaven... meaning on the surface. After all, that was the battlefield of the divine war."

"Heaven..."

Su Mu's interest was piqued. As a dreamer—and one who lived underground at that—he was deeply curious about what the surface looked like.

After all, logically speaking, only the surface could be considered the true appearance of this world.

"If you are going to Heaven, you absolutely cannot take the Creator's Authority with you," Xiao Yuan warned. "The moment it leaves this Dream World, it will inevitably draw the attention of the Gods."

"What about me?" Su Mu asked. "As Xuan Tian's successor, wouldn't my going to Heaven attract their attention?"

"It won't. Even though you're Xuan Tian's successor, you're just too weak. You stepping onto the surface is like an extra ant appearing on the ground, and the Gods are like the humans ruling over that land. Do you think a human would notice an extra ant suddenly appearing on the ground?

"Furthermore, you also cultivate Law. That's equivalent to wearing a protective shell over your nightmare exterior, making you even harder to detect.

"Unless you eventually reach the Demigod Realm and step into the domain of the Gods, you won't risk being discovered."

Still too weak?

Ever since becoming a nightmare, Su Mu felt his strength had grown to the point of being invincible beneath the level of a God. Looking across the Xuan Tian World, and even the Nightmare World, it was hard to find a worthy opponent.

Of course, those of the Abyss Demigod Realm were an exception. Even though he had slain an incomplete form of the God of Pain, he didn't dare claim he could defeat someone truly in the Demigod Realm. Gods and mortals existed in two entirely different dimensions.

"What does Heaven look like?"

Xiao Yuan shook her head. "I don't know. I have been in the Land of Origin since the moment I was born. A lot of my knowledge comes from Xuan Tian's lingering memories, but those memories are severely fragmented. So, I know nothing about Heaven.

"And even if I did know, it would be useless. A divine war broke out in Heaven, so its current state is definitely vastly different from what it used to be."

Su Mu smiled faintly. "I like this kind of unknown surprise.

"However, how exactly do I go up to Heaven?"

"Currently, Hell is sealed by the Gods. In theory, no living creature can travel to Heaven. But... nightmares are the exception. As the only nightmare in the world, you can lower your own reality to zero, turning into a completely illusory dreamer. That way, as far as the world is concerned, you are equivalent to being 'non-existent'.

"When that happens, you'll be able to travel through any dream. As long as someone in Heaven is dreaming, you can emerge from their dream."

"I see." Su Mu had only just become a nightmare and was still unfamiliar with many of his abilities. He hadn't expected a nightmare could completely bypass any seal.

"When do you plan to leave?" Xiao Yuan asked.

"There's no rush," Su Mu said. "How much longer can the Seven Kings Barrier hold out after I reinforced it?"

"Ten years at most. Even though the Seven Kings Barrier has been repaired, the God of Pain's invasion has drastically increased the reality of the Dream World. The influence of the Gods will only grow stronger and more violent.

"In ten years, beings of the Abyss Demigod Realm will likely be able to descend without needing a vessel."

"Ten years?" Su Mu smiled faintly. "That's enough time. Since I've decided to go to Heaven to recover Xuan Tian's origin, I need to make some preparations. At the very least, I need to break through to the Saint Grade first."

The Saint Grade he referred to meant the Giant Demon path, not the Dream Law. The Dream Law wasn't actually a Law at all, but rather Xuan Tian's power.

For a Giant Demon to reach the Saint Grade, it not only required a Giant Demon bloodline, but also required the soul to become a Giant Demon, which would then connect to the Saint Law. But his soul had already become a nightmare. He had originally thought his Giant Demon Law would be forever stuck at the Gold King realm, but after becoming a nightmare, he realized that wasn't the case.

The abilities of a nightmare were incredibly unique. He could completely split off a portion of his soul, transform it into a Giant Demon, and then connect with the Saint Law to advance to the Saint Grade.