"Very difficult."
Although unwilling, the God of Destruction still spoke up.
"According to my conception, the mental power required to expand the God Realm is enough to consume eighty percent of what has been accumulated over millions of years. Four thousand days..." With bitterness in his heart, the God of Destruction shook his head.
"It won't be able to recover."
"Furthermore, once a spatial turbulence of that scale arrives, even without expanding the God Realm, the accumulated mental power would still suffer a loss of over fifty percent. Recovering it would also take no short amount of time."
With things having reached this point, everyone present understood the implied meaning behind the God of Destruction's words. Because of the spatial turbulence, expanding the God Realm was basically out of the question—they would have to wait at least another few hundred thousand years.
[This won't do.]
Upon reaching this conclusion, unlike the God of Destruction, who seemed to have suffered a heavy blow, the Goddess of Life, who was worried about the God of Destruction, and Kindness and Evil, who had never experienced spatial turbulence and were thus harboring worries, Chen Junting instead began to think of a solution.
A few hundred thousand years was simply too long. In that case, how could the God Realm still develop and grow? But letting the God Realm wander would be far too dangerous. Unless...
A flash of inspiration struck his heart, and a glint of light flashed in Chen Junting's eyes.
"Oh, right."
As soon as he opened his mouth, he attracted the gazes of the four God Kings.
"If we devour a pure energy plane, could it stabilize our God Realm's barrier after expansion and resist the spatial turbulence?"
"Of course," The God of Destruction immediately understood Chen Junting. "Among the various cosmic galaxies, there is no shortage of existences similar to the Demon Plane. Their planes have no physical planets and can only exist relying on energy. In essence, they are the same type as the God Realm."
"Back then..." Speaking of this, the God of Destruction paused slightly, and at the same time, his expression changed slightly, clearly recalling something. Seeing this, Chen Junting immediately understood. "You're talking about the era of the Dragon God, right?"
The God of Destruction nodded.
"That's right."
As God Kings of the God Realm Committee, every single one of them naturally knew the truth of the past, let alone the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction, who were personally there back then. One must know, when the Dragon God was alive, it was a period of supreme prosperity, and the God Realm even developed into a God Star. It was just a pity that, in the end, it all came to nothing. There were rumors that it was the influence of the great universe's will.
But then again, no matter how the Douluo God Realm expanded or devoured now, it would be very difficult to reach the step of a God Star. Just as Chen Junting, having tasted the sweetness of devouring the Demon Plane, proposed this point, and the God of Destruction reached a conceptual consensus with him, holding the idea of "devouring other energy planes to develop ourselves," a slightly angered voice suddenly interrupted them. "I don't think this is a good idea."
The enthusiastic momentum of their discussion came to an abrupt halt as if a bucket of cold water had been suddenly splashed on them. The gentleness on the Goddess of Life's face had vanished, and she was staring coldly at the two of them. As for Lie Yan and Ji Dong, they didn't even dare to breathe heavily, for fear that they would attract the Goddess of Life's attention and be implicated.
"Life..." The God of Destruction was just about to speak when the Goddess of Life interrupted him first.
"Destruction! You are a senior predecessor, a god who has been through it all. You should know that since the Dragon God, our Douluo God Realm has always upheld the concept of 'peaceful development' and has never actively invaded other planes. Furthermore, for our God Realm, wanting to safely and soundly survive the spatial turbulence while also wanting to rapidly expand the God Realm for development—an ordinary energy plane simply won't do. At the very least, it would have to be an energy plane that has given birth to a God King-level existence, or perhaps another God Realm. Otherwise, it will be very, very difficult."
"But once we do that, the Douluo God Realm's rampant devouring will definitely incite a joint attack from all sides. Even if our God Realm is strong, it won't be able to resist the siege of numerous energy planes and God Realms."
After scolding Destruction, the Goddess of Life looked at Chen Junting again. "Order, I hope you two will think twice before acting."
For a time, the entire main hall fell into silence. After a long while, Chen Junting looked at Ji Dong and Lie Yan. "You two, what do you think?"
[How did we get dragged into this?]
Although they knew that as God Kings, they couldn't avoid expressing their opinions in the end, they still couldn't help but cry out in secret.
Feeling his wife step on his foot under the table, Ji Dong had no choice but to speak on behalf of their couple. "Regarding the matter of whether to expand the God Realm, we won't express our opinion for now. Let me just talk about the matter of devouring other planes to replenish ourselves."
"To tell the truth, in fact, this kind of thing is not uncommon in the entire universe. Because in the end, it's just the law of the jungle. It's like how other planes and God Realms don't attack us, not because we love peace, but because our God Realm is strong enough. I believe no one here denies this point."
"The Dark Forest theory."
Suddenly, Chen Junting spoke up.
"What theory?" Even the compassionate Goddess of Life didn't deny Ji Dong's words. And the "Dark Forest theory" suddenly proposed by Chen Junting once again attracted the curiosity in everyone's hearts.
"This can be simply understood as once a cosmic civilization is discovered, it will inevitably suffer a devastating strike from other civilizations."
"Why?" Facing the contemplation of Ji Dong, Destruction, and Life, Lie Yan asked a question, and Chen Junting's eyes also suddenly focused at this moment.
"First, survival is the primary need of civilization; second, civilization must constantly grow and expand, but the total amount of matter in the universe remains constant. These two points are the most fundamental existences."
"That's what it means." Upon hearing this, Ji Dong immediately nodded.
"The peace in the galaxy we are in is precisely because we are a first-tier existence, and other planes and God Realms do not dare to offend us. But even so, aren't there still some who want to stroke the tiger's whiskers?"
"This kind of thing is not uncommon in other galaxies. Precisely because of this, they mostly think of us the same way in their hearts. We don't expand not because we love peace, but because the time isn't right."
"Of course, if we make a move, causing them to react defensively and then huddle together for warmth to deal with us together, that would also be normal."
After saying all of this in one breath, Ji Dong stopped expressing his views. Anyway, he had said everything he needed to say. And he only had one meaning: the ones outside were basically all bandits, this kind of development was very normal, there was no need to have psychological pressure, as long as they blocked the reactive responses and the huddling together of various forces.
It could only be said that this guy Ji Dong was still warlike at heart. What happened next would depend on the Goddess of Life's choice.
Noticing the gaze cast by the God of Destruction, the Goddess of Life's heart trembled. After sighing, she chose to compromise. "As long as you can guarantee that the God Realm won't be harmed, then I will no longer have any objections."
"There's no need to worry about that." Chen Junting and the God of Destruction looked at each other and smiled.
"I want to expand the God Realm first precisely out of consideration for this matter. As long as the God Realm is expanded, those gods who have been stuck at a bottleneck can all achieve breakthroughs, and fresh blood will be born. Perhaps, the number of God Kings in the God Realm can exceed the number of two hands."
Their Douluo God Realm was already very powerful to begin with, arguably first-tier in the universe, or even in a tier of its own. Once they achieved a breakthrough, fighting one against ten wouldn't even be a difficult task.
"In that case, good." The Goddess of Life smiled helplessly.
"Then let's begin expanding the God Realm next!" The God of Destruction stood up abruptly, high-spirited and energetic. "Time waits for no one."
"Good!" ×4
After the wills of the five God Kings completely reached a consensus, as soon as the God Realm Committee issued the order, all the gods knew that the God Realm was about to enter the era of expansion. The entire God Realm was like a giant machine, beginning to operate at top speed.
A few days later, one hundred and eight mental power pillars stood tall. And during this time, Chen Junting also completed the absorption of those rules, condensing his very own Seed of Order.
After this, under the leadership of a group of Lord Gods, all the gods who possessed god positions rushed to the borders of the God Realm to hold the fort, while the five God Kings came to the God Realm Committee to gather once again.
"Everyone, let's begin." Chen Junting waved his hand, and a light gate instantly rose.
Subsequently, led by Chen Junting, the five God Kings all stepped into the light gate, arriving at the platform located above the top floor of the God Realm Committee, a place only the five God Kings could reach. Looking out into the distance, there was nothing but a sea of clouds, vaguely giving off a feeling of overlooking everything.
Excitement flickered in the God of Destruction's eyes. "This will be the moment I have dreamed of!"
Chen Junting looked far into the distance. "It is also a moment that the God Realm will record in history."
"May the divine paths of all gods be forever prosperous!" — God of Evil
"May the God Realm develop and grow strong." — God of Kindness
"May all living beings be blessed." — Goddess of Life
Rumble!
The divine senses of the five God Kings erupted. At the moment of convergence, with their location as the center point, a five-colored beam of light—gold, black, white, green, and purple—soared into the sky. Instantly, the sky began to be dyed in five colors, expanding towards the distance at an astonishing speed, affecting the entire God Realm.
At this time, a golden light lit up on Chen Junting's chest. An octagonal star-shaped golden key suddenly appeared, emitting a soft and noble golden glow. The golden halo quietly spread, and even the divine senses of the five God Kings couldn't shake it in the slightest.
Circles of halos surfaced behind the heads of the five God Kings. Nine rings of halos overlapped together, transforming into the God King's halo. Chen Junting stood in the lead position, his eyes incomparably solemn at this moment.
"Order!"
Instantly, the air in front of him distorted slightly. Rays of golden light converged in front of him from all directions. These rays of light drew arcs, presenting a spectacular sight, and finally condensed into a small, hexagonal golden crystal. And this was exactly the Seed of Order!
At the same moment,
"Destruction!"
"Life!"
"Kindness!"
"Evil!"
Purple, green, white, and black—four rays of light converged, and four seeds also appeared one after another. Each God King pinched their respective seed and slowly pressed them into the octagonal star-shaped golden key together.
Instantly, the golden key turned into five colors. The five seeds seemed to fuse together incomparably harmoniously, transforming into a gemstone embedded at the core of the key-shaped God Realm's core. The moment the five colors rippled out, the entire God Realm seemed to tremble. A faint hum also appeared, and an even grander divine sense soared into the sky!
"God Realm's core, with our wills, open!" As the leader, Chen Junting gave a loud shout.
A layer of five-colored light instantly bloomed in front of him, expanding into a circular five-colored light screen. On the light screen, light spots of various colors flickered slightly. Seeing this, Chen Junting raised his right hand and began tapping on the circular five-colored light screen like lightning. In a short while, five-colored light spots appeared on the light screen one by one. And the five-colored beam of light rising from the God Realm Committee's side also rapidly separated into streaks of five-colored light beams, shooting towards the distance like lightning.
Accompanied by the separation of the five-colored beams of light, golden light spots also began to rapidly appear on the circular light screen. These golden light spots were the one hundred and eight set-up mental power pillars. Each mental power pillar could absorb the God Realm's mental power to a great extent, which was the power of faith.
This mental power coming from the mortal realm, after entering the God Realm, would gradually transform into immortal spirit energy to supply the God Realm's needs. But as time passed, the gods of the God Realm couldn't absorb that much immortal spirit energy, and the excess was stored by the God Realm. What Chen Junting and the others needed to do now was to mobilize the immortal spirit energy that the God Realm had accumulated over so many years, expanding the size of this space, making this space even more vast, capable of covering more planes, and able to absorb more mental power, thereby allowing the God Realm to carry more gods and become even stronger.
Now, as long as they triggered the mental power pillars, they could use them to absorb the God Realm's massive immortal spirit energy, and then mobilize it through the God Realm's core, thereby achieving the effect of expanding the God Realm.
At this moment, beams of golden light rose from the ground under the traction of the God Realm's core, injecting that strong golden light into the air. Within the entire God Realm, the dense immortal spirit energy began to fluctuate violently. Those originally ethereal, drifting clouds also began to converge towards those purple-gold pillars. Then, the entire God Realm also began to tremble slightly.
At this moment, the gods stationed at the borders of the God Realm clearly felt the changes in the God Realm's barrier. Under the mobilization of the mental power pillars, the immortal spirit energy began to crazily scour the God Realm's barrier, constantly pushing the space to expand outwards and opening up new areas!
At almost a speed visible to the naked eye, the edges of the God Realm were constantly moving outwards. Accompanying this was the originally seemingly indestructible God Realm barrier, which began to gradually thin out and become fragile.
And accompanying the God Realm's expansion, what was affected was not only the God Realm, but also the various planes under the God Realm's jurisdiction. Now, in the various subordinate planes, many experts whose cultivation had reached the pinnacle, reaching the apex of their own planes and wanting to seek a breakthrough once again, suddenly felt the "call" of the God Realm.
Or rather, after the God Realm was expanded, it had more room to accommodate more gods. Those lower-plane experts who originally had difficulty sensing the God Realm now also got the opportunity. Thus...
"Hahaha—there is still a path to walk in this world!"
"Become a god! Become a god!"
"..."
For a time, streaks of golden streaming light shot straight into the heavens!
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