Chapter 1651: Promotion to Quasi-Supreme Will!

Chapter 1651: Ascending to the Rank of Near-Infinitesimal Will!

After all, the Supreme Deity was, by nature, the apex of the divine hierarchy—of the very fabric of law itself.

They felt no laws, no trace of their own divine power.

In this moment, they were as if stripped of everything they had ever relied upon, plunged back into the infancy of weakness. A single minor calamity, a flicker of human folly, could now end them utterly.

A suffocating sense of peril surged around them, like a shadow that never left—so pervasive, so absolute, that they feared even a single misstep would be enough to send them crashing to their doom.

Terrifying.

Helpless.

They were like meat upon a chopping block, trembling in terror, waiting for the butcher—Zhou Zhou—to raise his blade at any moment.

They longed to cry out for help.

Yet, they found themselves without the courage to open their mouths.

When a man is in the grip of extreme fear, he becomes still, motionless.

So too does the divine.

At this moment, as if being judged by the heavens themselves,

Zhou Zhou spoke.

"You fools, you useless things."

He said it calmly. "I have made it clear to you all: you came here to be trained by me, to break through the bottleneck of the Supreme Will."

"Not to come here and act as the grandmaster you imagined."

"If you refuse, I will shatter half of your divine essence, and then send you back."

"Otherwise, you will obey me fully—do whatever I command, as I see fit."

"Otherwise, even if you have powerful allies behind you, I will still kill you—without hesitation."

"Do you believe that even if you all die here today, my Emperor still has the means to make your backing forces utterly satisfied with me?"

He spoke with the most unremarkable calm, yet it was precisely this utter stillness that sent the highest deities plunging into the abyss.

Though they could not speak or make any great movements, driven by desperate survival instincts, they frantically blinked at Zhou Zhou, conveying their submission.

"Seems you're ready to accept my arrangements."

Zhou Zhou suddenly smiled.

And with that single smile, everything dissolved like ice melting in the sun.

The terrifying pressure, the gaze that even the highest deities feared, the hallucinatory dread that had seeped into their minds—all vanished instantly.

Before them, Zhou Zhou appeared as a gentle lord, radiating warmth and kindness.

Now, with a thousand and two of the highest deities trembling in confusion, they suddenly remembered.

This Celestial Emperor Sovereign was never one to be easily placated.

He rose from weakness to power, step by step, relying solely on himself and the forces he forged—no outside aid, no mercy.

His strength, his status, his influence—all carved from the bones of countless fallen foes!

Even the most transcendent beings of the Supreme Will Realm have perished in his hands, countless times over.

Did you dare, mere moments ago, to mock him, relying on your backdoor alliances?

Were you mad?

Their minds still reeled with lingering dread and profound regret.

Zhou Zhou saw their expression and couldn't help but roll his eyes.

A bunch of lowly gods.

Only when their faces were truly threatened did they finally realize their mistake.

Yet He had no intention of continuing to oppress them.

After all, behind each of them stood friends or elders whom He himself did not wish to offend.

Not out of fear.

With His current power, few beings across the entire Supreme Cosmic Realm could truly instill fear in Him.

He simply disliked unnecessary complications.

Moreover, these were all future enforcers for the coming days—there was no need to crush them too severely.

"Let's go."

"Don't waste time here."

Zhou Zhou spoke softly.

The moment his words fell,

These remaining, utterly humbled supreme gods fled as if for their lives, vanishing one after another into the teleportation portal.

Once the last of them had crossed the threshold, Zhou Zhou stepped through as well and disappeared, leaving the great gateway to dissolve into nothingness behind him.

...

High above the Divine Capital of the Blazing Sun.

The newly arrived supreme gods gazed down upon the sprawling metropolis below, a profound awe dawning in the eyes of many.

Though most of them hailed from top-tier lord factions like the Solar Divine Court and the Lunar Divine Court, and were no strangers to the grand capitals of the world.

Yet a place like this—a capital where every citizen carried the majestic aura of a soaring dragon—was an exceedingly rare sight.

Then, an even more staggering realization struck them.

"The strength of these citizens... even the newborn infants possess power at the lower legendary rank?!"

One Supreme Deity swallowed hard, unable to believe, murmuring in disbelief.

"What?!"

The others instantly froze, then turned to look—sure enough, they saw this terrifying phenomenon.

Across the entire Sun Sovereign Realm, within the very scope of what they could see, every citizen of the Sun Sovereign Realm, from newborn infants to the aged and frail, possessed the weakest strength—no higher than legendary junior.

Deities were everywhere, indistinguishable from ordinary beings.

"So many legendary junior beings... and deities too?!"

"Why are there so many deities?!"

"The number of deities is terrifying—yet they are all common citizens, not warriors. That street vendor selling toys—how could he be a deity?"

"Their deity states seem to have been attained merely through casual cultivation."

"Am I not inside a hallucination?"

"The potential of these common folk seems extraordinarily high, which is why their baseline strength is so great, and why deities are so widespread."

...

All the deities were utterly stunned, speechless before this sight.

At that moment,

Zhou Zhou appeared directly above them.

After hearing their words, He spoke calmly, "The divine armies of the Sun Sovereign Nation that you are accustomed to—these are merely the deities among my army's ranks."

"In my Sun Sovereign Nation, there are actually many more deity-level commoners."

"But they do not possess the qualification to join my military formations."

Once a commoner joins the ranks of the Sun Sovereign Nation's army, they gain access to countless top-tier resources. Even transcendental will resources can be acquired through contribution points within the army's merit system.

Such a military formation, naturally, is not something any ordinary commoner can simply enter.

Soon enough,

a supreme deity inquisitively asked, why could these deities not join the army of the Yangjiu Divine Realm.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Zhou did not conceal his thoughts. He first outlined the criteria for joining the Yangjiu Divine Realm's military forces, then casually added, "Allowing common folk to join the army certainly would greatly increase the number of lower-ranking soldiers in the Yangjiu Divine Realm."

"But that holds little significance."

"What we truly need are supreme deities and masters of the Supreme Will—true apex warriors."

"Only such beings are what we truly require."

"Moreover, a nation where every citizen is a soldier is not a healthy state for a divine realm. It would distort the entire organizational structure of the realm."

"The Yangjiu Divine Realm has no need for such a system."

"If every single being becomes a soldier or a general, then who do our soldiers protect? The unoccupied, barren lands where no mortal dwells?"

"Is that not absurd?"

At the mere mention of it, the Highest Gods felt a moment of disorientation.

It seemed, on the surface, perfectly reasonable.

Yet... why did they always sense something was terribly off?

First of all—does your Sunlit Divine Realm require such impossibly high thresholds for soldiers? Can ordinary soldiers be appointed without even a god being eligible?

That sounds absurd!

Secondly, what does "universal military service" mean? That's not a healthy state for a divine realm at all.

After all, these are gods! They possess real, tangible power!

If they already possess such strength, why would they care about the state of their realm? Strength alone is what matters, isn't it?

Lastly—

Who exactly are the soldiers protecting? The unoccupied, uninhabited lands where no mortal people dwell?

This statement plunged them into deep contemplation.

They had not heard such words for a very long time.

Lords and their respective domains—this had always been the primary mission of the Lords, a mere means to vie for supremacy across the vast cosmos and amass power.

The notion of protecting the common people and their lands might have existed, but it was never the dominant creed of any divine realm.

Yet, observing the demeanor of this Earth Sovereign, it was clear that he placed the well-being of the common folk either first or second.

At this moment, they suddenly recalled that the very title of Earth Sovereign was bestowed upon him—not by Zhou Zhou himself, but by the supreme will of the cosmos, after it had discerned the true nature of his heart.

Thus,

the Earth Sovereign's core intention was to place the common people first, or at least the people within his own domain first.

With this realization, they finally began to grasp the true nature of this Earth Sovereign.

Consequently, many of the Supreme Deities who had previously held a slight contempt for the Emperor of the People now gazed at Zhou Zhou with a warmth and friendliness that had been absent before.

Gazing at the shift in their eyes, Zhou Zhou felt a subtle confusion, yet he did not dwell on it. Instead, he spoke:

"Has your leader already informed you?"

"To accept my cultivation, you must first change your nationality and join the nationality of my Sun God Dominion. Then, you must join my Living Legion to fight under my banner."

"Only in this way will your chances of surpassing the Supreme Will Realm be significantly increased."

"I ask you once more—do you wish to proceed?"

"If not, you may withdraw now. I will not impose any hardship upon you."

Having finished speaking, Zhou Zhou turned his gaze downward to the Supreme Deities.

This time,

the Supreme Deities remained silent, all expressing their agreement. Not a single Supreme Deity hesitated to undertake what Zhou Zhou had proposed.

"Since everyone has agreed, now, declare your allegiance to the Sunbeam Divine Realm."

Zhou Zhou spoke.

The Supreme Deities present, upon hearing this, showed no hesitation—they immediately proclaimed their joining of the Sunbeam Divine Realm.

After each Supreme Deity had declared their allegiance once, Zhou Zhou mentally verified the count and silently accepted their entry into the Sunbeam Divine Realm.

At the same time, he took certain measures.

Specifically, he ensured that the loyalty effect of the Peaceful Sovereign would not excessively influence these newly joined Supreme Deities.

As the Peaceful Sovereign, a Supreme-tier exclusive dominion ability, was fully capable of affecting these foreign Supreme Deities, if left unchecked, this dominion ability would soon turn these outsiders into Zhou Zhou’s most devoted subordinates—even his followers.

It sounded ideal.

Yet Zhou Zhou did not wish for that to happen.

All of these are "exchange students," and Zhou Zhou has no intention of siphoning them away.

Added to that, his current relationship with the Heavenly Punishment God and the others is quite solid—should he truly succumb to greed and steal from them, he would have no face to show them in the future.

Zhou Zhou considers himself no good person.

Yet he believes himself to be honest and open-hearted.

Therefore, he refuses to engage in such dishonest acts.

What's the difference, after all? Just a thousand and two Supreme Gods?

He firmly believes that, given his own potential, he would soon have just as many, if not more, Supreme Gods under his command!

To steal these Supreme Gods and thereby lose his integrity—such a thing, even if he possessed the power to do it, Zhou Zhou would consider beneath him.

As for controlling the Master of Peace's innate talent, which influences these Supreme Gods, Zhou Zhou naturally has the capability to do so.

As the possessor of the Supreme Holy Body, making such adjustments to the master's innate abilities and targeting specific groups—was as simple as drinking water or eating.

Soon enough.

He had completed the adjustment.

Most of his master's innate powers remained effective against these foreign Supreme Gods, but the effect concerning loyalty enhancement within the Peaceful Sovereign was strictly limited.

Under the influence of the Peaceful Sovereign—an ultra-rare, singular master's innate ability—the external Supreme Gods could be affected at most by an increase in loyalty up to 85 points.

Beyond that, it was unnecessary.

Below that, it would be insufficient.

Zhou Zhou did not want the Supreme Gods he nurtured to one day become rogue wolves, turning against him even.

He did not need them to remain loyal to him, nor to offer their faith in service.

But at the very least, they should not betray him.

After fine-tuning the effects of the Lord's innate talent, these Supreme Gods had not yet realized what had transpired.

Zhou Zhou naturally wouldn't explain it to them. With a simple wave of his hand, he sent a general from the Yangyang Legion to escort them into the Yangyang Legion and other main combat forces, preparing to begin fighting the next day.

And himself, after having arranged all this, immediately returned to the Palace of Cyclic Rebirth to continue his cultivation.

...

The next day.

Within the Palace of Cyclic Rebirth.

Zhou Zhou slowly opened his eyes.

BOOM!

A staggering aura erupted from his body, causing tremors across the heavens and realms, even stirring up vast temporal storms that swept through the entire Crimson Great Universe.

This unprecedented spectacle instantly drew the attention of countless powerful beings.

"What has happened?"

"Is some rare treasure appearing?"

"Rare treasure? No, you don't sense that aura, do you? It's the scent of our Supreme Lord's Third Reserve—The Sovereign of All Life! He's achieved another breakthrough!"

"Wow, didn't the Sovereign of All Life just ascend to Fourth Rank Supreme God yesterday? And now he's making another leap? Is it truly that simple for him—like drinking water or eating food—to transcend?"

"Otherwise, how could he be the personally recognized reserve of the Supreme Lord, rather than you?"

"That does make sense."

"If the normal progression were followed, the Sovereign of All Life should now have ascended to the Realm of Near Supreme Will. Yet… is such a phenomenon even possible in that realm?"

"Yes, exactly. This aura feels far more immense than any other being who has risen from the Realm of Near Supreme Will to the Supreme Will. Truly strange."

"The Sovereign of All Life is a reserve of the Supreme Lord. Such a phenomenon isn't entirely unexpected, is it?"

"I never knew geniuses could receive such treatment. Now I've truly learned something."

...

The assembly of the powerful murmured one after another in heated discussion.