Join my Patreon to stay 30 chapters ahead of the Webnovel releases:
https://patreon.com/ZeroMoney
You can also read on my website:
tlmasters.xyz
I'd really appreciate your support. Every membership helps keep me motivated to continue translating and releasing chapters consistently.
*****
"The real benefit, in fact, is right on the surface."
"I presume you both are already aware of Su Wen's 'Academic Realm'?"
The God of the Blazing Sun and the Goddess of the Waning Moon nodded. Just moments ago, using the divine power they had left within the Sun and Moon Cult and the anchor of their faith, they had scanned the general situation of the Douluo Plane. They knew the Academic Realm existed.
However, as Second-Class Gods observing from across the boundary of two worlds, their perception lacked detail. They lacked the ability to probe the specific internal workings of that realm.
"My friends, that Academic Realm is actually what will impact us the most," the Sea God continued. "Currently, the God of War and his peers have already established their Great Spirit Arenas within it. As the Spirit Master world develops, the atmosphere of combat has become even more intense. The harvest of faith power for those four has done more than just double—it has skyrocketed."
"Oh?" The Sun and Moon deities were visibly moved. This revelation clearly came as a shock.
"So, the Sea God's meaning is this: as long as we cooperate, regardless of whether Su Wen truly achieves godhood or helps us break our divine limits in the future, the Academic Realm itself will be advantageous for the propagation of our faith?"
The Sea God nodded.
The God of War and his trio had used Su Wen's realm to build virtual arenas and reaped a massive harvest. The Sea God himself had also benefited; although Su Wen's own reputation as a "Grandmaster" had taken a share of the faith within the oceans, it had also made the sea Spirit Masters more unified and organized. Their devotion to the Sea God had become more fervent as a result.
The Sea God had manifested his presence before, but such displays could only reap intense faith from the Sea Spirit Masters on specific small islands. Despite the many disasters across the vast oceans, the Guardian Douluos of Sea God Island couldn't be everywhere at once.
Consequently, while Spirit Masters on scattered islands knew of and believed in the Sea God, their faith lacked a certain "comprehensibility." It remained high only because survival at sea was treacherous, making him their sole hope.
In truth, that kind of faith lacked a sense of active connection.
The Sea God used to send Spirit Masters from his island to help small communities survive natural disasters, providing a spark of hope and proving his existence to improve the quality of their faith. Unfortunately, it was always a drop in the bucket.
But with the Academic Realm, everything changed. It was essentially a network. If a disaster struck a remote island and the Sea God Island's forces provided aid, every Sea Spirit Master in the world would know about it instantly.
In the past, over 80% of the faith the Sea God harvested came from Sea Spirit Beasts. Of the 20% contributed by humans, over three-quarters came solely from the inhabitants of Sea God Island.
Now, as the Academic Realm spread across the oceans, the Sea God estimated that the ratio of faith between humans and beasts was approaching 4:6. Once things stabilized, he predicted it would reach 6:4 in favor of humans!
Human Spirit Masters were, after all, humans. In terms of intelligence and spiritual resonance, they far surpassed soul beasts. Once the intensity of their faith rose, it provided the Sea God with a very substantial "income."
The God of the Blazing Sun and the Goddess of the Waning Moon were tempted. However, they were no fools and quickly identified a problem.
"The two of us... don't seem to have any specific way to provide unique assistance to Su Wen."
Sun and Moon—neither domain was something Su Wen lacked. Or rather, they weren't things he urgently required. Even though Su Wen possessed a "Blazing Heavenly Sun" domain, he had long since integrated it into his "World of Books" and had opened many other elemental domains of a similar nature within that space.
The two deities racked their brains, unable to see where they could invest in Su Wen.
Actually, that wasn't their true concern. If they really wanted to invest, two deities could certainly produce something to satisfy a mortal. What gave them a headache was that they had no logical excuse to "shear" faith power from Su Wen's Academic Realm.
The God of War had a virtual arena—a perfect fit. The Sea God used the network to solve his logistical problems. But the Sun and Moon deities were already the state-sponsored gods of the Sun and Moon Continent. They already enjoyed the faith of an entire landmass.
Even if their Cult cooperated with the Academic Realm, they couldn't force the Spirit Masters of the other continent to worship them. After all, the Douluo Continent was the designated faith territory of the Angel God.
"There is a way," the Sea God said, beaming. This was exactly why he had come to find them today.
The Sun and Moon deities looked at him with curiosity. They couldn't think of a way to utilize the realm themselves—could this Sea God really know them better than they knew themselves?
"You two, if I remember correctly, you were also Spirit Masters from the Douluo Continent who achieved godhood. And before your ascension, the path you walked was somewhat different from your current one, wasn't it?"
Hmm?
The two deities froze. Different? What did he mean by that?
"Since you inherited the Blazing Sun and Waning Moon positions, you have been aligning yourselves with the authorities of those specific seats to increase your power. For instance, the Sun God is currently pursuing the paths of Flame and Stars, while the Moon Goddess is chasing the path of Cold Ice."
The Sun God's deviation wasn't too large, but the Moon Goddess was leaning more and more toward the element of Ice, hoping to collect the authority of the fallen Ice God to promote her own divine rank.
The two deities frowned. Could there be something wrong with that? Every god in the Divine Realm did exactly the same thing. To upgrade a divine position, one first had to master the authorities controlled by that seat, then expand those authorities to increase their strength.
They were certain they hadn't walked the wrong path.
The Sea God shook his head. "I didn't say your direction for upgrading the divine position was wrong. I only said that your current direction has begun to deviate from your roots."
"Our roots?"
The Sea God nodded. "You both ascended earlier than I did. Therefore, during my years on the Douluo Planet, I heard many legends about you. Your Martial Souls, while named Sun and Moon, were never purely physical entities. They did not refer to specific celestial bodies in the universe. You should both be aware of this."
"Compared to a specific star or satellite, your Sun and Moon souls were more of a conceptual manifestation—the obsession of humanity toward the Heavens and Earth, two representative 'totems' split from the duality of Yin and Yang."
The Sea God referred to them as "totems" here. As a deity, he naturally knew the basic reality of the universe; he knew the sun and moon were just a star and a satellite outside the planet. The sun was one thing—its status as a star was inherently high—but the moon was just an ordinary satellite that reflected light.
In reality, however, their two Martial Souls were complementary. While being opposites like Yin and Yang, they possessed the characteristic of mutual fusion. Rather than saying these souls had specific physical references, it was more accurate to say they existed in a totemic form.
(End of Chapter)