Chapter 376 - 221: The Birth of the [Ancient Gods]

After hearing the conditions set by the Evil God Zorn,

Taixing Ancient and the other Divine Spirits quickly began to discuss among themselves.

"He talks a big game, but in a real fight, how can a shallowly-rooted, four-star Holy Star Upper Rank God like him compare to us Mid-High Tier Holy Star Upper Rank Gods?"

"That may be true, but don’t forget the power backing Zorn."

"The Calamity Court first conquered the Ancient God Divine Kingdom of the Jade Realm, and now it’s single-handedly suppressing two major Divine Kingdoms. They’re at the height of their power."

"If we have a real falling out, we’ll be the only ones to suffer."

"That’s true."

"That may be, but even if we win, we only get a hundred years. Isn’t that a bit too short?"

"A hundred years is short, but if we can defeat the Evil God Zorn and make him suffer a major loss in this war of Heroic Spirits, he won’t dare attack us so easily even a hundred years from now. After all, his greatest strength right now is his vast number of Heroic Spirits."

"In that case, let’s accept his terms and begin this war of Heroic Spirits with the Evil God Zorn."

One of the Divine Spirits proposed.

"I agree, the terms aren’t bad. Even if we lose, we only forfeit five territories from our Divine Kingdoms."

"Hmph... Your Star Realm territories are average at best; the Evil God Zorn probably wouldn’t even want them. You stand to lose nothing, win or lose."

"But our Divine Kingdom territories are staggering in scale, containing thousands of Material Planes. If the Evil God takes a fancy to our lands, won’t our losses be catastrophic?"

"That’s why we must strive to win. And even if we can’t, we must drain Zorn of his resources."

"Once his Heroic Spirits are depleted, would he really dare invade our Worlds with just his own power?"

These words were a wake-up call for the other Upper Rank Gods.

The faces of many Upper Rank Gods lit up with understanding.

Before long, the gods concluded their discussion.

Taixing Ancient, their leader, faced Zorn and announced loudly,

"Evil God Zorn, since you insist on not backing down, we will proceed with a divine war of Heroic Spirits according to the terms you’ve proposed."

"Don’t say I didn’t warn you. You’re the one who proposed these terms."

"Don’t worry,"

Zorn said coolly.

"Since I, Zorn, have said it, I will see it through."

"Everyone... let’s begin!"

With a single thought, Zorn began deploying his forces to the battlefield in batches, maintaining a one-to-five ratio of Upper to Middle Rank Heroic Spirits.

Meanwhile, the eighteen Divine Spirits also took their positions, seated upon their own Trees of the Magic Ring.

Vast and varied armies of Divine Kingdom Heroic Spirits surged across the Magic Ring Bridge and charged onto the battlefield.

Before long, the Divine Kingdom Heroic Spirits from both sides clashed in a massive, brutal melee.

At this point, Zorn only had a little over two hundred thousand troops.

His opponents, however, numbered a staggering twenty to thirty million.

Although the Levels of their Divine Kingdom Heroic Spirits weren’t high—the vast majority being below Level 20—

their numbers were still truly astonishing.

Clearly, these Upper Rank God rulers who had come to offer support weren’t about to casually deploy their own High Level Divine Kingdom Heroic Spirits.

While it seemed the eighteen Divine Spirits held the advantage, Zorn was able to hold his ground, relying on his defense line of High Level Heroic Spirits.

At the same time, a portion of the power of the Ancient God Artifact, Resurrection: Cosmic Death Ring, slowly began to seep into this World.

Within the Divine Kingdom Crystal Wall Furnace, which contained this portion of Resurrection Power, the Ritual Fire burned brightly.

The greatest advantage of a Heroic Spirit is *Resurrection*; they can be revived endlessly through the power of their Divine Kingdom.

And the most powerful aspect of the Ancient God Artifact, Resurrection: Cosmic Death Ring, is its ability to suppress resurrection.

As the war of Heroic Spirits dragged on, the Ancient God Artifact, Resurrection: Cosmic Death Ring, relentlessly pulled the resurrected Heroic Spirits into the Divine Kingdom Crystal Wall Furnace.

As more Heroic Spirits were drawn in, the Ritual Fire began to burn, growing fiercer and more violent with each new arrival.

Calamity Essence continuously flowed from the Heroic Spirits who repeatedly died and resurrected. Most of this essence was used to nourish the Divine Kingdom, while a small portion was used to strengthen and expand the Crystal Wall Furnace.

Sustaining the war with its own spoils—this was why Zorn dared to confront the eighteen Divine Spirits.

Naturally, the many Upper Rank God rulers discovered Zorn’s use of the Ancient God Artifact, Resurrection: Cosmic Death Ring.

"Taixing Ancient, it seems the Evil God Zorn is using some kind of ritual to consume and burn our Heroic Spirits," Froson, the Void Sequence Upper Rank God, said gravely.

"I feel it. Let him burn them."

"Let him burn them?"

"Yes. This Evil God Zorn is willing to take on the eighteen of us by himself. Shouldn’t we allow him at least some small advantage?"

"If we forbade him from using that Ancient God Artifact, do you think he’d still be willing to fight us this way?"

"That... is true. But if this continues, the power of our Divine Kingdoms will be weakened very quickly."

"Don’t worry. While the Ancient God Artifact, Resurrection: Cosmic Death Ring, suppresses resurrection, it also consumes Divine Power to operate."

"If you observe carefully, you’ll find that its power can only restrain Lower Rank Level Heroic Spirits below Level 20. The pull isn’t strong enough to hold Middle Rank Level Heroic Spirits; they can struggle free and escape back to us."

"We will certainly lose some Lower Rank Heroic Spirits, but that Evil God will also lose his own, on top of consuming Divine Power."

"We just need to keep wearing him down like this."

"Mm."

...

「Time flew by.」

The Divine Kingdom war of Heroic Spirits between Zorn and the eighteen Upper Rank Gods had, without anyone realizing, already been raging for half a month.

Committing only a small portion of their minds to maintaining the state of the divine war of Heroic Spirits.