Chapter 589: Abomination

Chapter 589: Divine Blight

"That is a Divine Blight!"

Thus spoke the Sacred Dragon King.

Li Wei wore an expression of confusion and quickly asked, "What exactly is a Divine Blight?"

The Sacred Dragon King explained, "A Divine Blight is what remains after a god perishes. The precise cause is unknown, but whenever a Divine Blight appears, it brings about tremendous calamity—so much so that it can even destroy an entire world."

Li Wei was startled. "Is a Divine Blight really that powerful? It's merely something left behind by a dead god—how could it possibly surpass the power of a living deity?"

With a helpless sigh, the Sacred Dragon King replied, "In terms of raw strength alone, a Divine Blight is indeed inferior to a god. After all, it is merely a peculiar life form born from the residual fragments of a deceased deity."

"But the Divine Blight possesses one ability that is extremely effective against gods—it can devour divine power to grow stronger."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei immediately understood.

"Doesn't that mean gods are powerless against Divine Blights?"

The Sacred Dragon King nodded. "Essentially, yes. A Divine Blight is like the corrupted part of a god. Gods cannot reverse corruption; the only option is to abandon the infected portion."

"Therefore, worlds where Divine Blights are born are usually forsaken by their gods."

"However, before abandoning such a world, gods will make one final attempt—to slay the Divine Blight before it breaks through to the ninth tier."

"As long as the Divine Blight has not yet reached the ninth tier, there is still hope of destroying it. But once it transcends the ninth tier, it becomes impossible to kill."

The ninth tier marked the threshold of divinity.

If a Divine Blight broke through to the ninth tier, it would become a god itself.

And once divine, only another god could kill it.

For mortals, slaying a god was utterly inconceivable.

Yet, paradoxically, Divine Blights possessed the ability to absorb divine power and grow stronger.

This meant gods could not use their divine power to destroy them.

Once a being became a god, all its strength transformed into divine power.

Divine power was the sole force at a god’s disposal.

Depending on the laws they embodied, divine power could manifest in various forms—

But ultimately, it remained divine power.

Power that a Divine Blight could consume.

So long as the Divine Blight could not be killed, divine power would only serve as nourishment, making it ever more formidable.

Any failure to destroy a Divine Blight would only render it stronger.

No wonder the Sacred Dragon King had refrained from using his divine power when confronting the demigod-level giant octopus earlier.

He had relied entirely on his own prodigious physical might.

When the demigod-level octopus fought Li Wei, it had not been affected by the Divine Blight precisely because it did not yet possess divine power.

Li Wei said anxiously, "Then what are we waiting for? We must eliminate this Divine Blight now, or else, once it reaches the ninth tier, it’ll be too late."

The Sacred Dragon King shook his head helplessly. "The problem is... up until now, I haven’t been able to locate the true body of this Divine Blight."

"While in the Undersea Realm, I sensed the aura of the Divine Blight, which is why I ventured into the Abyssal Depths, hoping to find and destroy it before it grew strong enough to destroy this world."

"But it seems the Divine Blight anticipated my intentions and preemptively destroyed the spatial rift connecting the Undersea Realm to the Abyss."

"I barely managed to slip through the rift before it collapsed—I didn’t even have time to inform Anna."

Hearing this, Li Wei quickly asked, "What about Sheng Xi? Is she alright?"

The Sacred Dragon King replied, "Don’t worry. She’s safe."

"I’ve placed her within an isolated space where external influences cannot reach her."

"She’ll emerge on her own once she completes the inheritance of the Sacred Dragon legacy."

Li Wei let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

It seemed Sheng Xi wasn’t here after all.

The Sacred Dragon King had come to the Abyss alone, hoping to eliminate the Divine Blight ahead of time.

Unfortunately, he had failed to locate its true form.

A thought stirred in Li Wei’s mind, and he asked, "Why does a Divine Blight seek to destroy the world? Can’t it be reasoned with, convinced to change its mind?"

The Sacred Dragon King shook his head. "Its desire to destroy the world is instinctual."

"Gods, by nature, are immortal. Once they form a divine core and ascend to a divine position, they merge with the world itself. As long as the world exists, they remain eternal."

"Even so, many gods have fallen."

"When a god merges with the world and then perishes, the world falls ill. From that illness is born the Divine Blight—an entity originally intended to fill the void left by the fallen god."

"But the Divine Blight has become a disease—a malady of the world, incurable and terminal."

"This sickness destroys the world—not for any reason, simply because the world is diseased."

Li Wei finally understood.

The Divine Blight was the root of the world’s illness.

There was no room for compromise.

Its very existence was to rot the world from within and bring about its end.

Thinking of this, Li Wei recalled something from the moment he had first arrived via teleportation.

He asked, "Is it true that wherever a Divine Blight is present, all life dies?"

"More or less," the Sacred Dragon King replied. "It’s far worse than ordinary death."

"In normal death, souls journey to the realm of the dead and may be reborn. But where a Divine Blight passes, everything perishes utterly, without hope of return."

Li Wei said, "Then I think I know where the Divine Blight is."

The Sacred Dragon King looked surprised. "How do you know?"

Li Wei recounted what he had witnessed in the abandoned Sea God Temple.

"That area is devoid of any living beings, filled with silence and death… And while I was there, I felt my divine power constantly draining…"

After pondering for a moment, the Sacred Dragon King nodded. "It’s possible the Divine Blight is there."

"Let’s go take a look. If we can find its true body, we should eliminate it as soon as possible, to avoid future calamities."

Li Wei nodded. "Alright."

Then another thought occurred to him, and he asked, "Since a Divine Blight is the remnant of a dead god, could this particular one be connected to the Sea God?"

The Sacred Dragon King looked at him. "You mean the ancient Sea God?"

"Yes," Li Wei replied. "I heard from the mermaid princess that the Sea God vanished long ago. The merfolk never saw him again. That sounds similar to what happened to the gods of the elves and beastmen."

The Sacred Dragon King fell into deep thought, his expression grave. "If that’s truly the case, then the disappearance of the Sea God may be linked to the other gods."

Li Wei said, "Did the gods kill the Sea God?"

The Holy Dragon King shook his head and replied, "I don't know. It might not have been the current gods. From what I understand, the gods of the Celestial Vault world only arrived here more than ten thousand years ago. Before that, there seemed to be no trace of deities in this world."

"The era when the Sea God existed was hundreds of thousands, even millions of years ago—long before the gods ever came to the Celestial Vault..."

"There's another issue... Why would the gods want to kill other divine beings? What purpose could they possibly have?"

"Could it simply be to seize their divine essence and ascend in power?"

The Holy Dragon King sensed a profound hidden truth beneath it all.

Li Wei also wore a contemplative expression.

Having never encountered a true god himself, he couldn't fathom the intentions of these deities.

Yet something did seem off.

The falls of the Elf God, the Beast God, and the Dragon God were far too mysterious.

Under normal circumstances, wars between gods would escalate into conflicts between entire divine realms.

It was inconceivable for a deity to vanish without a trace.

And yet facts proved otherwise—even the Elves and the Beastkin knew little about the fall of the gods they worshipped above.

They merely noticed one day that prayers went unanswered.

Only then did they realize their gods had disappeared.

This should never have happened.

If a god truly faced mortal peril,

they would do everything within their power to survive.

No divine being would simply vanish into silence.

Li Wei looked toward the Holy Dragon King, pondering the relationships among the Elf God, the Beast God, and the Dragon God.

The Light God and others had only arrived in the Celestial Vault ten thousand years ago… Arrived?

Suddenly, Li Wei perceived something keenly.

He quickly asked, "Holy Dragon King, are the Elf God, the Beast God, and the Dragon God native deities of the Celestial Vault?"

Upon hearing this, the Holy Dragon King paused briefly before nodding slowly. "Most likely."

"Ever since I can remember, the Dragon God has always existed. I've never heard anything suggesting He came from elsewhere."

"The Elf God and the Beast God are most probably native as well—their ascension occurred long before the arrival of the current gods."

Li Wei lowered his gaze deep in thought, racking his brain until an idea surfaced.

"The gods are killing the native deities of the Celestial Vault."

"But why would they do such a thing?"

A sudden realization struck Li Wei like lightning.

"If the gods' goal is indeed to eliminate every last native deity of the Celestial Vault, then their next target must be the goddess of magic, Mystra."

Without hesitation, Li Wei voiced his suspicion aloud.

Hearing this, the Holy Dragon King grew grave. "According to your theory, if the gods are trying to purge all original divine beings from our world, then perhaps I know something relevant."

Li Wei turned to him eagerly. "What is it?"

The Holy Dragon King replied, "Long ago, I reached the pinnacle of demi-godhood—I was but a step away from forming my own divine core."

"But strangely, I felt inexplicable dread holding me back, afraid to take that final leap. As though the moment I became a full-fledged god, death would follow immediately after."

"If your guess holds true, then the gods may very well be preventing new deities from arising in the Celestial Vault."

"As far as I'm aware, aside from myself, the Demon Dragon King, the Elven Monarch, the Beast Lord, and even humanity’s Pope and Grand Sage—all have reached the peak of demi-divinity. Yet none have taken that final step into godhood, despite centuries passing."

"They, too, must feel that ultimate barrier just before ascending."

Li Wei showed surprise—he hadn’t reached that stage yet, so he hadn’t experienced the restraint described by the Holy Dragon King.

After thinking for a while, he said, "Then we absolutely cannot allow the goddess Mystra to be secretly harmed by the gods. She might now be the last remaining native deity of the Celestial Vault."

"When did you first sense this divine restriction?"

The Holy Dragon King answered, "About six hundred years ago."

Li Wei responded, "Six hundred years ago—that coincides with when the goddess Mystra achieved divinity. That means she, too, must have encountered that same barrier, yet somehow broke through it, overcoming the gods’ interference and becoming a true deity."

The Holy Dragon King added solemnly, "Even so, her situation is unlikely to be favorable."

"Haven't you noticed? Since achieving godhood, the goddess Mystra has rarely appeared before anyone."

The Holy Dragon King suddenly brought up a point.

Li Wei reflected on it for a moment—and realized it was exactly as stated.

All mages knew that Mystra had become a goddess.

Many benefited from the magical network she created, attaining the rank of Circle Mage.

Yet no one had actually seen the goddess since her ascension.

Li Wei’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Is the goddess Mystra imprisoned by the gods?"

The Holy Dragon King nodded slowly. "Possibly."

"That's terrible..."

Li Wei frowned deeply, lost in thought.

Though he didn’t understand the gods’ motives behind purging the native deities,

he was certain one thing—they must not succeed.

At least for now, the gods were enemies.

Which meant they had to find a way to rescue the goddess Mystra from whatever imprisonment held her.

Perhaps once freed, she could reveal the truth behind the gods’ actions.

But rescuing the goddess from the clutches of the gods was beyond imagination in difficulty.

Other top-tier powers of the Celestial Vault were mysteriously restrained, unable to break past the threshold into true divinity.

Without becoming gods themselves, how could they possibly stand against the gods?

Moreover, even if someone managed to transcend into godhood, they still might not match deities who had ruled for eons.

More likely, they’d end up like the goddess Mystra.

Before Li Wei’s mind lay what seemed an impossible deadlock:

Ascend to godhood—and die.

Remain mortal—and still face death at the hands of the gods.

The Holy Dragon King swept his gaze across the desolate wasteland around them. "We're here. Is this the place you spoke of?"

Li Wei snapped out of his thoughts and looked around.

His vision pierced through the drifting sand and soil overhead, revealing below an abandoned temple dedicated to the fallen Sea God.

He nodded and said, "It's right here."

"If that divine fiend has any connection to the Sea God, it should be within the Sea God Temple," Li Wei speculated.

The Sacred Dragon King nodded and said, "Step back a bit. When dealing with divine fiends, we cannot use divine power. Leave the battle to me."

Li Wei nodded and said, "Alright."

He retreated some distance, leaving the battlefield to the Sacred Dragon King.

Relying on his own formidable physique, the Sacred Dragon King possessed the ability to fight against deities.

This was the might of a sacred giant dragon at its peak.

The Sacred Dragon King spread his wings and shook loose all the silt and sand from the seabed.

The current swept away all the sediment.

Revealing the ruins of the Sea God Temple below.

The Sacred Dragon King lunged toward a pile of rubble. His massive dragon claws had not yet reached the ruined structure when the tremendous pressure formed by his force compressing the seawater struck the ruins first.

Boom!

In an instant, the ruins were flattened by the Sacred Dragon King's strike.

A black shadow shot out from beneath the crushed architectural debris.

It flew straight toward the distant Li Wei.

Li Wei focused his gaze and saw it was a shadowy figure whose features he could not make out clearly.

It emanated power fluctuations similar to divine force, yet distinctly different from divine force.

It was as if it were a corrupted form of divine power.

This was the divine fiend.

The moment Li Wei saw the black shadow, he realized its identity.

The divine fiend also sensed the thick divine power emanating from Li Wei and eagerly wanted to devour him to grow stronger.

The Sacred Dragon King arrived later but moved faster, catching up to the shadowy divine fiend.

His dragon claws condensed from sacred power seized the divine fiend and slammed it hard into the seabed.

Silt splashed everywhere, and the seawater became murky.

Li Wei's divine power eyes could penetrate all things, allowing him to see that after suffering the Sacred Dragon King's attack, the divine fiend had not died.

(End of Chapter)