Chapter 924: Deification!

At this point, the entire Canon of Gods finally drew to its conclusion.

Now when Daoist Hongjun arrived upon the scene, the gathered crowd realized that the leaders of the Three Sects had not previously addressed one another as senior and junior brothers out of polite reverence or any other casual whim, but that they were truly disciples of the selfsame master! Previously, some had been rather disbelieving, but now with the reality laid bare before their eyes, they could not but believe it!

To think that the rivalry between the two sects, this world-shaking, soul-stirring war of the investiture of gods, was actually a conflict between disciples of the same master!?

Just how unimaginably powerful was this ancestral sect of theirs?!

With Daoist Hongjun present, all was cast in stone; on one hand, Hongjun reproached the Grand Master Tongtian for failing to restrain his disciples, and as a creator of the Canon of Gods, for failing to properly deliver his immortal followers from their plight, knowing only unbridled slaughter; on the other hand, he commanded Yuanshi and Laozi to yield a step, to let this grievance pass, and to cease all hostilities, returning each to their mountain sanctuaries to cultivate their respective faiths henceforth.

Daji and the other three demons of the Xuanyuan Tomb were decapitated, King Zhou immolated himself at the Star-Plucking Pavilion, and thus the Shang dynasty fell while the Zhou arose.

At this very instant, the investiture of the gods finally commenced!

Upon the Terrace of Investiture, the myriad constellations lit up in succession, and the ranks of immortals took their places; Jiang Ziya held the jade talismans and golden scrolls, placing the decrees upon the altar table, holding the Apricot-Yellow Flag in his left hand and the God-Striking Whip in his right as he stood in the center, while Bai Jian, the God of Pure Felicity who guarded the Terrace of Investiture, awaited orders below the altar.

“Bai Jian, hang the Canon of Gods below the terrace. Let all deities advance in proper order, and let none commit transgressions to bring blame upon themselves.”

No sooner had the words been spoken than upon the Terrace of Investiture, the wind began to howl and shadows stirred, as though countless immortal souls were being summoned forth!

“This... isn't this exactly that scene from the preview?!” the crowd could not help but cry out in astonishment.

“The Canon of Gods is out!”

“So this is what the Canon of Gods truly is...!?”

Seeing this moment, everyone felt an excitement in their hearts that could no longer be surpassed, because what they were about to witness next was a monumental event unprecedented since the creation of heaven and earth—the investiture of the gods!

Almost everyone, entirely by reflex, began to tremble with sheer excitement.

The God of Pure Felicity, Bai Jian, who guarded the Terrace of Investiture, received the dharma decree and hung the Canon of Gods below the terrace; the deities all thronged forward, and looking at the very top of the scroll, the first name was Bai Jian himself.

“Who on earth is this Bai Jian, to actually claim the top spot on the scroll?!”

The crowd could not help but feel a wave of curiosity: “Exactly, hasn't he just been guarding the Terrace of Investiture all this time... we never even saw him during the war between Shang and Zhou...”

They heard Jiang Ziya speak: “You, Bai Jian, were once the grand marshal of Xuanyuan the Yellow Emperor, campaigning against Chiyou, and had achieved meritorious deeds by imperial decree. Unfortunately, you died a violent death in the North Sea, sacrificing your life for your country, a loyalty most commendable. You have long been sunk in the coastal crags, your grievances truly pitiable! Fortunately, you have met Jiang Shang's investiture of gods, and having succeeded in guarding the terrace, you are specially granted this reality to comfort your loyal soul. I hereby decree and invest you with the office of the Righteous God of Pure Felicity, leader of the three realms and the eight departments of three hundred and sixty-five seats, and may you receive this with reverence!”

“The Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan?!”

“Campaigning against Chiyou?!”

“Doesn't that mean we have reached the very origin of this 'Huaxia'?!”

They were clearly filled with intense curiosity toward this mysterious and distant land, and were likewise deeply interested in these legends; even though there were only a few brief words here, they listened with another surge of excitement.

“I decree and invest you, Huang Feihu, as the Head of the Five Mountains, the Great Emperor of the Eastern Mountain! To hold dominion over the eighteen layers of hell in the underworld; all matters of life and death, and the transformation of humans, gods, immortals, and ghosts, shall all be scrutinized by the Eastern Mountain!”

“Ah! General Huang Feihu has been invested as a god!”

“Great Emperor of the Eastern Mountain! That sounds incredibly powerful!”

Upon the Terrace of Investiture, divine light flared up, and the crowd could not help but burst into cheers and leaps of joy; having watched his journey all this way, from the loyal and courageous Prince Wucheng, to King Zhou of Shang harassing and driving his wife to her death, forcing him step by step to rebel and flee Zhaoge, and later dying on the battlefield, everyone could not help but feel a deep pity for such a fine general.

Who would have thought that after death, he would be invested as the Great Emperor of the Eastern Mountain?!

“Fantastic!” the crowd said with an irrepressible wave of happiness.

“Invest Wen Zhong with the office of the Heavenly Honored One of the Power of Universal Civilization and the Sound of Thunder of the Nine Heavens, still to lead the twenty-four members of the Thunder Department, urging clouds and aiding rain, as a Dharma-protecting Heavenly Lord!”

“Ah! Grand Preceptor Wen has one too!” The crowd could not help but cheer once more; this old minister who had assisted two reigns and exhausted his loyalty unto death, though he belonged to the Yin-Shang dynasty, was someone the crowd admired immensely.

Not to mention that the twenty-four members of the Thunder Department were precisely the Ten Heavenly Lords who had laid down the Ten Absolute Formations, along with Wen Zhong's former subordinates.

“Mo Liqing, Mo Lihai, Mo Lishou, Mo Lihong, the four generals of the Mo family, shall be the Four Heavenly Kings!”

The crowd could not help but exclaim in surprise: “So they are the Four Heavenly Kings?!”

Watching the various figures of the immortal realm receive their titles, the crowd could not help but let out wave after wave of marveling sighs; their astonishment, naturally, was not because they were frightened, but because of a nameless, profound moving of their spirits and a deep excitement.

“So the gods of this 'Huaxia'... actually came about in this way?!”

The Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits, the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, the Twenty-Eight Constellations, were actually all immortals of the Jiejiao Sect!

Li Jing's name was likewise upon the scroll: “So the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King came about in this way too!?”

From ordinary mortals, cultivators, and immortals in the mundane world, to... the three hundred and sixty-five Righteous Gods of Pure Felicity upon the Canon of Gods, it turned out...

“The gods we saw previously in the Journey to the West actually had such an origin?!” To think there was still such a magnificent, soul-stirring legend behind them?!

At this moment, within the hearts of all the viewers, countless emotions such as excitement, shock, and profound moving were completely intertwined; their excitement and emotion arose because they saw that in such a realm of heaven and earth, humans could actually cultivate such heaven-reaching Daoist arts, and humans, demon immortals, and the like could actually... be listed among the ranks of the gods!

The perspective from which they stood was different from that of the audience before Fang Qi's transmigration; as cultivators and warriors who were still struggling within the mortal realm, where the Great Dao was obscure and unclear, the path to immortality was gradually fading, and the heavenly Dao was severed, they were naturally excited, and even deeply shocked and heartened by it!

Look! Those were the deities of that land of Huaxia; most of them had once cultivated within the mundane mortal world, and when they were in the mortal realm, they had composed such magnificent and beautiful chapters of myth.

That was perhaps the harshest era amidst a great catastrophe, but... times create heroes, and that was also the most glorious era!

The four generals of the Mo family, the Ten Heavenly Lords, Grand Preceptor Wen, the Three Fairies of the Xiao lineage...

The Ten Absolute Formations, the Nine-Bend Yellow River, the Five-Colored Divine Light...

The Sea-Settling Pearls, the Immortal-Slaying Flying Dagger, the Heaven-Flipping Seal, the Primordial Golden Dipper...

Each name was intimately familiar, and the legend of the investiture of gods could be said to have been branded into the hearts of these cultivators and warriors.

And now, the images of each of the gods were also deeply engraved into their minds.

Moreover, their duties were not to rule over and oppress the mortals of the lower realms, but rather...

Like the Righteous Gods of the Thunder Department—spreading rain, raising clouds to aid peace, nurturing the myriad things and all living beings; from now on, the Ancestor of Thunder accepts the heavenly decree, eradicating evil, helping the good, and fulfilling the sacred wisdom.

Like the Righteous Gods of the Fire Department—patrolling the human world to inspect good and evil.

Like Zhao Gongming, the Perfected Sovereign of the Dark Altar of Dragons and Tigers, leading his four subordinate righteous gods to welcome auspiciousness and receive blessings...

They came from the human world to maintain the order of a region, and likewise to protect this mortal world.

At this time, let alone the viewers in the entire shop, even later during the large-screen live broadcast, when Valkyrie Isabella saw this scene, she could not help but feel a solemn respect rise within her.

“These gods...?!” To think that in another realm of heaven and earth, there were actually such gods...

Being a god herself, and now having such role models before her, she suddenly felt that her own responsibilities had become immensely heavy.

Then she thought about it again: “Ah!”

Her hands and feet simply refused to listen to her commands at all, and she remained slumped limply in the pool, harboring a heart full of grand ambitions as she continued to watch the show.

...

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