Chapter 404 – Advancing to Divine Sovereign! The Terrifying Dao of Faith!

In the Real World, Su Xing furrowed his brow at what he saw.

“The aliens have a full ten grand armies under their command!?”

Su Xing took a deep breath. Only now did he finally have a rough understanding of the aliens’ true strength.

As far as Su Xing knew, the Third Grand Army’s primary mission was the invasion of the Heavenly Secrets Domain.

The Fifth Grand Army, meanwhile, had invaded the Azure Origin Domain…

Furthermore, in a previous simulation, Su Xing had also learned that the Seventh Grand Army had completely annihilated the Southern Barbarian Domain.

But that was the extent of it — Su Xing had only known of seven alien armies.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the aliens possessed a full ten armies!

And the independent Seventh Grand Army alone could single-handedly destroy an entire major domain of the cultivation world!

One had to realize that among the ten armies, the Seventh Grand Army was only ranked seventh…

“A full ten armies… that means at least twenty or more chief gods!”

“And first-rank Divine Sovereigns — they must have hundreds!”

At this thought, Su Xing immediately felt a headache coming on.

The total number of Great Firmament Golden Immortals in the entire human race probably didn’t exceed the count of two hands.

And Supreme Unity Golden Immortals, the equivalent of first-rank Divine Sovereigns — humanity lagged even further behind…

Not to mention the mid-tier fighting forces and lower-level cultivators…

Just the endless swarms of lesser demons alone could bury the lower-level cultivators of the Three Thousand Worlds through sheer numbers.

“Sigh, completely repelling the aliens is truly a long and arduous road!”

“For now, I should just focus on improving my strength…”

Su Xing let out a sigh and turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【After learning of the aliens’ terrifying forces, you did not panic. Instead, you focused solely on cultivating lesser demons and gathering the power of faith.】

【In the blink of an eye, a hundred years passed…】

【During this century, the number of your lesser demon followers grew ever larger, finally breaking through the ten-billion threshold!】

【The power of faith accumulated over a hundred years allowed you to cultivate ten Saint-stage apostles — the maximum number of apostles you could currently sustain.】

【Your ten Saint-stage Lesser Demon Apostles regularly made sacrificial offerings to you, and vast quantities of the power of faith poured into the Faith Tree.】

【Your greatest daily pleasure was quietly watching the power of faith grow.】

【And so, another two hundred years passed…】

【In the 800th year, your lesser demon followers reached the hundred-billion level!】

【The vast majority were still the most basic casual believers, but the number of intermediate believers was steadily growing.】

【A hundred thousand fist-sized faith fruits hung from the Faith Tree.】

【However, over the past century, the growth rate of your power of faith had plateaued. The primary reason was that the number of apostles had reached a bottleneck.】

【Therefore, you decided to channel the power of faith into breaking through to the next realm!】

【You chose an auspicious day and consumed ninety percent of all the faith fruits on the Faith Tree.】

【The golden faith fruits dissolved into motes of light that surged into your divine body.】

【You could feel your divine power continuously growing, and your divine rank and divinity were also increasing rapidly.】

【Under the augmentation of this immense power of faith, your comprehension of the laws of space, causality, and speed all reached the fourth realm!】

【Your divine power continued to grow…】

【Your divine rank completed a sublimation.】

【Congratulations — you have successfully broken through to third-rank Divine Sovereign!】

In the Real World, Su Xing’s eyes widened at this.

“In just a few hundred years… I went from True God-level all the way to third-rank Divine Sovereign?!”

Su Xing could hardly believe it.

One had to know — third-rank Divine Sovereign corresponded to the Mystic Immortal level!

And Su Xing’s actual cultivation in reality was only at the Mystic Immortal level as well…

In just a few short simulations, the cultivation of Su Xing’s lesser demon disguise had nearly caught up to his main body!

“The power of faith… is this terrifying!”

Su Xing’s eyes were filled with shock. He was finally experiencing firsthand just how terrifying the power of faith truly was!

With tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even trillions of followers as a foundation, the vast power of faith could easily fuel rapid advancement through cultivation realms!

For those who walked the Dao of faith, their followers were the source of all their power!

Those who walked the Dao of faith didn’t even need cultivation resources.

Because the power of faith was the finest cultivation resource of all.

“But looking through all the records, whether it’s the aliens’ faith gods or the human race’s incense immortals, none of them seem to have achieved such terrifying advancement…”

Su Xing murmured to himself.

The human race’s incense immortals were typically limited to a single world.

Perhaps within one world, a large number of living beings might worship a certain immortal — tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of humans would already be considered impressive.

But even with a billion human worshippers, the power of faith might not be enough to produce a single Celestial Immortal.

In a Medium Chiliocosm or even a Greater World, ten billion humans’ incense might push someone to the Mystic Immortal level at best — and that would already be the limit.

But that would require tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years of sustained worship!

It was not something that could be accomplished overnight…

Moreover, the rise and fall of the worshipping humans and whether the incense remained prosperous — all of this directly affected an incense immortal’s strength.

And that still wasn’t the most important issue.

The greatest limitation of incense immortals was that their power and cultivation were confined to a single world.

Once they left the world where their followers resided… their strength would drop to barely a tenth of its peak!

And if they made enemies, and those enemies slaughtered their followers without regard for cost, an incense immortal’s power would also be severely diminished.

This was precisely why so few of the human race’s top powerhouses walked the path of incense.

The limitations were simply too great…

Ever since his lesser demon disguise had taken the path of faith, Su Xing had specifically researched the topic.

Long ago, a Greater World had produced a Supreme Unity Golden Immortal who walked the path of incense.

Achieving the Supreme Unity level through the path of incense was remarkably rare.

But later, this Supreme Unity Golden Immortal had been lured out of his own Greater World and brought to another world.

The result? He was successfully assassinated by a mere Peak Golden Immortal — a human traitor!

Once separated from the world where their followers were concentrated, a Supreme Unity Golden Immortal who walked the path of incense couldn’t even match some ordinary Golden Immortals!

The enormous disparity was staggering to contemplate!

“The alien faith system seems to be similar…”

“However, the Lesser Demon Tribe is simply too numerous and too widely spread… perhaps it would be different?”

Su Xing pondered for a moment. The path of the God of Lesser Demons was unprecedented.

How far it could go, even Su Xing didn’t know.

But based on the current trajectory, it was entirely possible that in the future, the lesser demon disguise’s strength might surpass his main body!

“Hmm, the Dao of faith, huh… I wonder if my main body could dual-cultivate this path?”

Su Xing felt his interest piqued.

The terrifying value that the power of faith brought was making Su Xing seriously consider it.

If Su Xing were to dual-cultivate the path of incense, it would be fundamentally different from ordinary incense immortals.

Because Su Xing’s main body possessed real strength of its own, and the power boost from an incense body would merely be supplementary.

“If the opportunity arises later, perhaps I’ll give it a try…”

“But for now, let me continue watching the progress of my lesser demon disguise’s strength…”

He turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【After breaking through to third-rank Divine Sovereign, the number of apostles you could cultivate doubled once again!】

【You now had a full ten new apostle slots…】

【However, your power of faith was nearly depleted, so you decided to wait for it to recover.】

【In the blink of an eye, another two hundred years passed.】

【In the 1000th year, you spent all the incense power you had previously accumulated to cultivate ten new Lesser Demon Apostles.】

【With this, the number of followers under your command multiplied several times over, and the speed at which you gathered the power of faith also saw enormous improvement!】

【From then on, you quietly waited for the power of faith to recover, preparing for your next advancement.】

【…】

【In the 1100th year, you had been part of the First Grand Legion for several hundred years.】

【Over those centuries, alien gods and Divine Sovereigns within the First Grand Legion continuously fell in battle…】

【These fallen deities all had a subtle connection to you.】

【Whether you personally accompanied the army on expeditions or arranged for your subordinates to march alongside them, without exception, all of it led to increased losses for the alien army’s invasions.】

【Yet even so, the First Grand Legion’s overall strength remained terrifying!】

【The Calamity Divine Physique was powerful, but it was not omnipotent… in the face of absolute power disparity, the First Grand Legion still won far more battles than it lost.】

【Until the 1100th year, when you received a request.】

【The commander-in-chief of the Seventh Grand Army, a chief god-level existence, personally invited you to travel to the Southern Barbarian Domain and temporarily assist in their full-scale invasion of the region!】

(Note: The “First Grand Legion” here refers to the First Grand Legion under the Third Grand Army, hereafter simply called the First Legion.)

In the Real World, Su Xing raised an eyebrow at this.

“In the previous simulation, the aliens completely conquered the Southern Barbarian Domain by the 1500th year… even the Great Firmament Golden Immortal Southern Barbarian Emperor perished…”

“I didn’t expect that in this simulation, the Seventh Grand Army would actually invite me to help invade the Southern Barbarian Domain…”

Su Xing could easily imagine what that chief god was thinking.

A Divine Sovereign-level God of Lesser Demons — without any exaggeration, his value on the battlefield surpassed even that of a Supreme Unity Golden Immortal!

Because as long as the God of Lesser Demons was present on the battlefield, lesser demons could be endlessly spawned.

An infinite army of lesser demons serving as cannon fodder — this had a critical impact on the outcome of any battle.

Moreover, as the God of Lesser Demons, Su Xing could single-handedly boost the overall strength of the lesser demon cannon fodder.

His role on the battlefield was naturally even more significant…

“So then, should I go to the Southern Barbarian Domain to see what’s happening…”

Su Xing considered the matter carefully.

In this simulation, the majority of his followers were distributed throughout the Heavenly Secrets Domain.

If he left for the Southern Barbarian Domain, he would inevitably need to cultivate a large number of new followers from scratch.

His development pace would slow down…

But traveling to the Southern Barbarian Domain would clearly give him a better understanding of the situation there.

He might even learn the detailed reasons behind the Southern Barbarian Domain’s complete destruction, which would be invaluable for Su Xing’s future assessment of the Three Thousand Worlds’ overall situation.

“Alright… I’ll make the trip to the Southern Barbarian Domain!”

Su Xing quickly made his decision. Followers lost could always be rebuilt in the next simulation.

But if he missed this intelligence, it would be truly troublesome.

With that thought, Su Xing turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【In the 1110th year, you accepted the Seventh Grand Army’s invitation and temporarily traveled to the Southern Barbarian Domain.】

【The commander-in-chief of the Seventh Grand Army was a terrifying six-winged demon — a Great Firmament Golden Immortal-level existence, and also the patriarch of the Six-Winged Demon Tribe, one of the ten Emperor Clans.】

【This chief god personally guaranteed your safety to the commander of the Third Grand Army, and declared that your existence was a treasure of the entire alien race.】

【You chuckled inwardly at hearing this — your safety was most certainly not something they could guarantee!】

【You had never intended to return alive from this trip to the Southern Barbarian Domain…】

【After ten years of void travel, you successfully arrived in the Southern Barbarian Domain.】

【The reason it took so long was that aside from traveling there yourself, you also brought ten million elite lesser demons and ten Saint-stage Lesser Demon Apostles!】

【Upon arriving in the Southern Barbarian Domain, you laid eyes on the six-winged demon chief god in person.】

【This six-winged demon’s true form resembled a human in appearance, with three pairs of black wings growing from his back — somewhat like a fallen angel from mythology.】

【The Six-Winged Chief God treated you with reasonable courtesy, as you were now the patriarch of the entire Lesser Demon Tribe.】

【Within the entire alien race, although the lesser demons were the weakest, they were without question the single most critical race among all the aliens — bar none.】

【Even if one of the ten Emperor Clans were to be completely wiped out, the aliens’ overall strength would only dip slightly.】

【But if the Lesser Demon Tribe were to be utterly exterminated, the aliens would likely never again have the power to invade the Three Thousand Worlds…】

In the Real World, Su Xing’s heart stirred at this.

“That’s right — without the Lesser Demon Tribe, the aliens would have no more cannon fodder, and the pressure on the battlefield would increase enormously!”

“It wouldn’t necessarily reverse the power balance between the aliens and the human race, but if the aliens wanted to invade the Three Thousand Worlds again, it certainly wouldn’t be so easy…”

The alien invasion of the Three Thousand Worlds relied on two main cannon fodder forces.

The lesser demons and the red-eyed aliens!

The red-eyed aliens were driven by the Red Eye Tribe and possessed undying, nearly inexhaustible numbers…

But the Red Eye Tribe was extremely few in number — only a handful of Crimson Pupil aliens could summon large quantities of red-eyed aliens.

In contrast, the countless lesser demons were the true main force on the battlefield.

“What if I used my lesser demon disguise to order all lesser demons to stop invading the Three Thousand Worlds… would that resolve the crisis?”

Su Xing only briefly entertained the thought before quickly dismissing it.

“No, that idea is too naive…”

“The lesser demon disguise may be the patriarch of the Lesser Demon Tribe, the God of Lesser Demons… but if I directly ordered the Lesser Demon Tribe to betray the alien race, my lesser demon disguise would probably be killed on the spot!”

“And besides, even as the God of Lesser Demons, there’s no way to command every single lesser demon…”

Su Xing shook his head slightly. From the current situation, this idea was still unfeasible.

But if the lesser demon disguise continued to grow in strength, that might change.

“This idea can be shelved for now. Let me first see what’s happening in the Southern Barbarian Domain…”

Su Xing turned his gaze to the simulation panel.

【Upon arriving in the Southern Barbarian Domain, the ten-million-strong lesser demon army you led quickly occupied several worlds that the aliens had already invaded.】

【The Seventh Grand Army itself also commanded tens of billions of lesser demon soldiers, even led by a lesser demon at the Weak Divine Power level.】

【But without question, a mere Weak Divine Power lesser demon regarded you as a true deity upon seeing you.】

【The Seventh Grand Army provided vast quantities of blood essence to ensure the rapid reproduction and growth of the lesser demons under your command…】

【And the first task assigned to you was to cultivate an army of ten billion combat-ready lesser demons within fifty years…】