Godslayer: Starting with a sword god, the Night Watchers can't hold on any longer.

Chapter 451 Ancestral Temple

"The opportunity to become a god?"

You know what, hearing this, Ji Nian was indeed a little tempted.

The stronger she is, the greater her chances of returning to her original world.

but........

Ji Nian carefully examined the turbid liquid inside the test tube, which was shimmering with seven-colored light, and after a moment, handed it back to Zuo Qing.

"Since this is something Li Jie gave you, then keep it to yourself and don't give it away easily."

"But......."

"No buts, my situation is a little different from yours. I don't know if this so-called opportunity to become a god will be useful to me."

"So, to avoid waste, you should keep it for yourself."

Zuo Qing opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but when he saw Ji Nian's determined eyes, he nodded and put away the test tube that Ji Nian handed him.

"If you need it, come and ask me anytime."

"Okay, okay, this is such a hassle."

Upon hearing this, Ji Nian waved his hand impatiently, then called the waiter to add some more dishes for everyone.

While waiting, she and Zuo Qing finalized the construction details of the underground shelter.

"The workload is indeed quite large. I simply cannot build so many underground shelters that can withstand attacks from ordinary gods in a short period of time on my own."

"What do you suggest?"

"Find more earth-elemental forbidden ruin owners to help me open up underground spaces, preferably all of them at the 'Klein' realm or above."

"No problem, I'll arrange for Secretary Min to screen the samples according to the requirements once I get back."

"Also, you need to give me some time."

"Sure, is half a month enough?"

"Half......."

Upon hearing this, Ji Nian's smile suddenly froze. She subtly leaned back, looking as if she was about to get up and run away at the slightest provocation.

"Um, I suddenly remembered, the door to Utopia doesn't seem to be locked... I need to go back and check..."

"President, you forgot? Before you left, you specifically told everyone to lock their doors and windows to prevent the theft of anything valuable. I even checked before I left to make sure there were no problems!"

Upon hearing his subordinate's report, Ji Nian paused, staring at his serious expression with a fierce glint in his eyes and raising an eyebrow.

"You? Are you sure?!"

"Are you sure...?"

Seeing this, Zuo Qing suppressed a laugh, stood up, and grabbed Ji Nian's arm.

"Alright, who are you putting on this for? A month, a month should be fine, right? I'll give you a few more people, plus the calculations in Guan, that's not a short time."

"Who acted? What did they act? What did you just say? A month, right? Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you. I guarantee I'll finish the task ten minutes ahead of schedule."

Zuo Qing had already given himself a way out, so Ji Nian naturally sat down as well. While eating, he didn't forget to glance at the subordinate who had just spoken up to stop him from leaving, thinking to himself.

Why are all my subordinates such idiots...? With such limited intelligence, they'd easily be tricked into revealing their very secrets by those unscrupulous Night Watchmen...

Never mind... we're all family, we're all family.

Don't be angry... Don't be angry...

.........

Within the desolate walls of time and space.

An ancient landscape painting is floating quietly in the boundless mist.

The [Map of Mountains and Rivers] is a self-contained world, and the flow of time there is no different from that of the outside world. Therefore, Lin Qiye could clearly sense that they had been trapped in this space-time ruin for more than a month.

During this period, the injuries suffered by the gods of the Great Xia Dynasty on the lunar battlefield have been almost completely healed. Many of the gods who can sense the spacetime gaps have also tried to make a move to see if they can leave a mark on the boundless spacetime wall.

Unfortunately, apart from Yang Jin, all the other deities ended in failure.

"This is really difficult..."

"Brother, do you think anything will happen over in Great Xia...?"

"Who knows? But judging from the current situation, the Kree Gods shouldn't have invaded Great Xia yet."

"Why?" Yang Jin, sitting cross-legged beside the ink-wash river, asked with a curious expression.

"The reason is quite simple." Upon hearing this, Lin Qiye smiled slightly, pointed to the gods sitting cross-legged beside him, and began to explain.

"The Great Xia God can still draw power from the Heavenly Court's origin, so for now, the Heavenly Court itself should be safe."

"If you were a god of the Kelvin lineage, and you wanted to attack Great Xia at this time, what would be the most important issue to consider?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Jin looked thoughtful.

If I were a god of the Kelvin lineage, I would do everything in my power to clear away all obstacles in my path.

What is that unknown variable that could prevent them from completely conquering the territory of Great Xia?

The answer is already coming.

"Brother, are you saying that if the God of the Khrushchev wants to attack the Great Xia, the first thing they need to do is to block the Heavenly Court's main body sealed by the Khrushchev?"

“As long as the Heavenly Court’s origin is destroyed, the gods of the Great Xia will lose their source of replenishment of divine power. In addition, except for Lingbao Tianzun, all the gods of the Great Xia have been exiled to this godforsaken place. If this drags on long enough, the Great Xia pantheon will gradually perish.”

“That’s right.” After Yang Jin’s voice fell, Yuanshi Tianzun, who was sitting cross-legged to the side, also nodded calmly.

"This is called subduing the enemy without fighting."

"What a brilliant plan..."

"So, since the Great Xia God's divine power has not yet fluctuated, then that means..."

"The Great Xia and the Heavenly Court are safe for the time being, but of course, this is just speculation."

"That being said, the current situation is still not very optimistic..."

"........."

Just as Yuanshi Tianzun was about to have an in-depth analysis of the current situation on Blue Star with Lin Qiye and the others, the world in the painting also began to tremble strangely.

"Please wait here for a moment, I will be right back."

After saying this, Yuanshi Tianzun lightly touched the ground with his toes and soared upwards, heading straight for the entrance of the [Map of Mountains and Rivers].

When He peered out, He discovered that the "Map of Mountains and Rivers" had somehow ended up inside a massive and magnificent stone structure.

"Where...is this place?"

Yuanshi Tianzun glanced around at the surroundings and gasped as if suddenly enlightened.

"Is it... the Ancestral God Temple?"

"But why are you here?"

"........."

After a moment's thought, Yuanshi Tianzun reached out and released everyone from the [Map of Mountains and Rivers].

Just as Lin Qiye and the others landed firmly on the giant stone formation, the Celestial Venerable of Morality couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Ancestor... Ancestor Temple?"

What is the Ancestral Temple?

Lin Qiye wasn't the only one with this question; apart from the two Heavenly Venerables, Dao De and Yuan Shi, all the other Great Xia deities who were released were somewhat bewildered.

"I'll explain later. Let's move forward and see what happens."

Upon hearing this, Yuanshi Tianzun smiled slightly and took the lead in walking forward.

Seeing this, Lin Qiye and the gods of the Great Xia Dynasty dared not delay and followed the departing figure of the Heavenly Venerable, step by step, into the gray mist.

As he walked, Lin Qiye carefully observed his surroundings. Judging from the marks left on the stones around him, they must be at least tens of thousands of years old.

They walked up the slope made of stones that were more than a hundred meters long, and finally, after more than ten minutes, they arrived at the center of the huge stone formation.

The foundation here has been artificially raised, and giant stone steps, each about half a meter high, appear before your eyes. The steps extend continuously upwards, like a giant pyramid with its top removed, reflecting its majestic form in the gray mist.

After Lin Qiye and the gods of the Great Xia Dynasty walked up the stone steps to the top, a series of magnificent stone statues were quietly displayed around the platform.

Each of those stone statues was several tens of meters tall, and one could vaguely make out their human-like shape.

But as time passed, their appearances became less clear, though one could still sense the subtle divine charm flowing above the stone statues.

"These are the so-called ancestral gods?"

Lin Qiye looked around at the stone statues and asked in confusion.

"Yes, and no..."

The Primordial Celestial Venerable arrived at the foot of the nearest stone statue, put his hands behind his back, and spoke in a calm voice.

"These stone statues are indeed ancestral gods, but they are not the ancestral gods themselves. This place is just an altar used to worship them."

"What about their original forms?" Upon hearing this, Yang Jin walked to the side of the Celestial Venerable, rubbing the tall, weathered stone statue, and murmured a question.

"do not know."

"Excuse me, but what is the Ancestral God?"

Just then, Lin Qiye hesitated for a moment before raising his hand and asking softly.

"Actually, it's quite easy to understand." Upon hearing this, Yuanshi Tianzun smiled and explained.

"Ancestral God, Ancestral God, simply put, is the ancestor of all gods."

"They are the earliest pantheon to appear on Earth, possessing the purest power of faith from human ancestors."

Does that include Great Xia and Cthulhu as well?

Upon hearing Lin Qiye's question, Yuanshi Tianzun pondered for a moment and then gave a rather reasonable answer.

"The Ancestral God and the Great Xia pantheon have some entanglement, but Cthulhu... they don't belong to this world, so they have no affiliation."

"Most of the primordial laws possessed by the Ancestral God overlapped with those of the Great Xia pantheon, but I can also tell you with certainty that the Ancestral God and the Great Xia pantheon were born around the same time."

"So, does that mean the Ancestral God's combat power is about the same as the Great Xia God's?"

"That's not entirely true," the Celestial Venerable of Morality scratched his head, smiled wryly, and replied to Lin Qiye.

"The reason why gods can exist is because of faith, you should know that, right?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiye nodded slightly.

"The power of faith possessed by the ancestral gods is fundamentally different from that of other pantheons; they are more inclined toward nature worship."

"Nature belief?"

“That’s right,” Yuanshi Tianzun continued, picking up where he left off.

"The faith of pantheons such as Daxia, Olympus, and Asgard is basically derived from the most basic emotional expectations of mankind, while the faith power of the ancestral gods comes from all things in the world, such as flowers, grass, trees, and all kinds of strange birds and beasts. Their emotional expectations are also the source of the power of the ancestral gods."

"And the reason they're here... I think it's related to the world-ending mist emanating from the [Key to the Gate]..."

Upon hearing this, Lin Qiye nodded as if he had suddenly realized something.

The Mist descended upon the world, forcing the major pantheons to remain confined to their corners, directly resulting in most of the uninhabited areas on Earth being covered by the life-destroying gray mist.

As a result, the ancestral gods lost most of their source of faith power, and thus, over the long years, the ancestral gods who could not draw upon faith power became increasingly weak...

and many more……

Could their presence here also be related to Cthulhu?

Upon realizing this, Lin Qiye felt a chill run down his spine.

Cthulhu...did he even foresee the ancestral gods?

"Alright, let's continue forward. I have a feeling that the atmosphere here is a bit off..."

After saying this, Yuanshi Tianzun continued walking towards the center of the stone platform.

……

Summer.

Three kilometers outside Huaihai City.

Wearing a white hard hat, Zuo Qing entered an abandoned air-raid shelter surrounded by a group of night watchmen disguised as construction workers.

This is the 342nd underground shelter built in commemoration, and it is also the largest and most extensive.

There are a total of seven first-level cities connected to Huaihai City, plus Huaihai City itself.

The combined population of these eight cities has reached a staggering 234.82 million.

The construction of this shelter involved three consecutive days of non-stop work, which nearly drained the mental energy of the seven Klein Realm Earth-type Forbidden Ruins owners, and Jinian himself was not in much better condition.

After passing through the long passage and descending to the rock layer 300 meters below the surface, Zuo Qing and the others' vision gradually became clear.

Here you'll find pixelated blue skies, white clouds, towering buildings, and...

A thin, sallow-faced, silver-haired girl...

"President Ji...you're...completely drained?"

Looking at the half-dead girl in front of him, Secretary Min added insult to injury at just the right moment.

"Hey you, hurry up and go to the pharmacy, buy some goji berries for Chairman Ji, the biggest and best kind..."

In remembrance: Thank you so much...!!!

"No need for goji berries, let's get the inspection done as soon as possible..."

"After I finish here, I need to rest a bit... I'm so sleepy..."

"You've worked hard..." Hearing Ji Nian's slightly complaining words, Zuo Qing also squatted down on the ground and gently patted Ji Nian's shoulder.

"On behalf of the 234.82 million lives, I thank you for your sacrifice."

"Stop being so mushy..." Upon hearing this, Ji Nian sat up, scratched her arm hurriedly, and then handed a thick stack of A4 papers to Zuo Qing.

……