Gods of the Nation: You worship the God of Longevity, I worship the King of Hell!

Chapter 173 Another Unexpected Change! They can actually do this?!
Upon hearing this, the local earth god turned pale with fright and hurriedly reminded him, "Your Majesty, be careful with your words! Your Majesty, be careful with your words!"

Lu Chen realized he had said something inappropriate and nodded without saying anything more.

The Earth God steadied himself and said, "Your Majesty, what I said just now was merely my own speculation, offered only for Your Majesty's consideration. I dare not draw any conclusions based on it. The situation is still unclear, and neither of us knows what is happening inside."

"Alright, I understand. Is there anything else, Earth God?"

"No, no, I have told the Lord everything I know, think, and guess, without hiding anything!" The Earth God said solemnly and with certainty.

Lu Chen stood up, cupped his hands in a fist and palm salute: "Very well, thank you for your guidance, Earth God. Rest assured, if this matter succeeds, I will keep my promise to you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Farewell."

"This humble god will escort you out immediately."

Having said that, the Earth God gently tapped his cane.

Lu Chen's consciousness returned to its place, and he was standing on the small hill again.

The Earth God also appeared and stood to one side.

"Land God, until we meet again!"

"Respectfully seeing off Your Majesty!"

Lu Chen had only taken a few steps when he suddenly seemed to remember something and stopped in his tracks: "Oh right, the Earth God..."

"Does Your Majesty have any further instructions?"

"Before me, has any spirit sought you out to ask about this matter?"

"Well... yes, there are. But I didn't reveal a single detail. Those scions of powerful mortal families, though wealthy and noble, are not worthy of my attention. How can they compare to someone like you, Lord, who at such a young age holds both the Heavenly Court and the Underworld! It's unheard of and unseen before. Your future prospects are absolutely immeasurable!"

The local earth god smiled obsequiously, his tone full of flattery.

Lu Chen smiled and pointed at the Earth God a few times: "Alright, goodbye!"

The figure then disappeared over the hillside.

On the way back, Lu Chen carefully reviewed all the information he had at the moment.

First of all, while it cannot be definitively concluded that this secret realm is related to the Four Heavenly Kings, there is at least a 60-70% chance that it is.

As for what exactly the treasures hidden in the secret realm are... to be honest, Lu Chen is also very curious at this moment.

What could be so important that these four guardian kings who guard the gates of the Heavenly Court valued it so much that they were willing to personally descend to the mortal realm to compete for it?
Speaking of these four, one cannot help but mention the complex system of the Heavenly Court.

Besides the Eight Divisions, there are several other forces with deep roots, each forming its own independent territory.

For example: 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals;
—The Three Mountains and Five Sacred Peaks, and the deities of all directions;
—And various groups of wandering immortals and hidden gods, such as the famous Eight Immortals, etc.

These 100,000 heavenly soldiers and generals can also be referred to as the "Ministry of War".

The commander-in-chief was Li Jing, the Grand Marshal of the Heavenly Army.

The most well-known of his subordinates is Nezha, the Great God of the Three Altars and Seas, also known as the Giant Spirit God.

After that, the Four Heavenly Kings were appointed to guard the four directions, each leading heavenly troops to protect the Heavenly Court.

In terms of individual combat strength, the Four Heavenly Kings are by no means top-tier; they are roughly estimated to be only slightly stronger than the Five Plague Messengers.

But its advantage lies in having a large number of troops and generals at its disposal.

The combined strength of all eight classes of gods is probably less than a fraction of what they command.

Although heavenly soldiers and generals are often perceived as "cannon fodder".

Even a common celestial soldier descending to earth is enough to run rampant in the lower realm.

Just like that heavenly general from the Plague Department before, who secretly ran the Rakshasa Cult in the human world, proclaimed himself the Ancestor of Xuan Gu, and wreaked havoc on the human world for a hundred years!

Therefore, while these four Heavenly Kings are not insurmountable tough nuts to crack, they are certainly not pushovers either.

Especially in this realm, they are highly revered and enjoy great popularity, making them undoubtedly popular deities.

Their strength and status will inevitably rise to a higher level.

Thinking about it, Lu Chen couldn't think of anyone to ask for help right away.

Is this the God of Wealth?
That's not necessarily a bad thing.

After all, he held the power of finance in Heaven and controlled the money bags of all the gods.

Just like a company's CFO, you may dislike or even hate them, but you can't offend them to their face.

Having already troubled his sworn brother so many times, Lu Chen really couldn't bring himself to ask again this time.

"I think we should ask the Star Lord to intervene this time. After all, the Star Lord is on the same level as the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King, and his combat power is definitely much stronger than the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King's. He also has more influence. If He intervenes, I'm sure the Four Heavenly Kings won't refuse to give him face."

Moreover, Xingjun himself said so.

Don't bother him with mortal disputes, but if it's a problem with a deity, he will step in!

Isn't this perfect?!

I made up my mind.

Next, we should make an image to communicate with the gods.

"I'm going to suffer again." With a thought, Lu Chen took out the "Thousand Demon Visualization" from his storage ring.

“That guy Ling Shui could communicate with the evil god without needing a statue, just by using this item. He just couldn’t receive the blessing, which is why he had to ask Chen Tiansheng for the ‘Mysterious Divine Manual’ and the Qilin Blade. Once I decipher this item, communicating with the gods will be much easier.”

However, for now, the suffering that must be endured cannot be avoided.

"Let's go back to the hotel first and consult with the Star Lord before making any further plans."

Lu Chen drove straight to Caomiao Village, called Sun Yourong and Xinyao, and drove back.

During the journey, Xinyao couldn't help but ask curiously, "Lu Chen, where did you go just now? Did you find anything?"

"There's no progress yet, let's go back and talk about it later," Lu Chen replied calmly.

He naturally wouldn't easily reveal the matter of the Four Heavenly Kings.

The more people who know about this, the heavier the karmic consequences, and the easier it is for complications to arise.

We returned to the hotel in silence.

Lu Chen immediately booked a double room, locked himself in, and became like a god.

Since his strength increased to the peak of the third rank.

The pain of the image-making process has also been greatly reduced compared to before, which has led to a rapid improvement in Lu Chen's image-making time.

It originally took three hours.

This time, the time was shortened to just two hours.

"It's done!"

Looking at the simple statue of the Plague Emperor in front of him, Lu Chen picked up a towel and wiped the sweat from his head.

He then activated the [Huaihe River Dragon King] - Huailan Tuning Divine Power.

After my body has recovered somewhat.

Lu Chen then took out a stick of incense and lit it.

"...Respectfully inviting the Plague Emperor Haotian!"

call--

Inside the quiet room, miasma suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

A faint light emanated from the simple statue, from which came the cold voice of the Plague Emperor: "What brings you to this court?"

"Star Lord!" Lu Chen bowed deeply and cut to the chase: "This disciple has encountered a difficult problem and earnestly requests your assistance!"

"If it's just mundane matters, handle it yourself. I've told you that before."

"If it were a matter of the mortal realm, this disciple would never dare to disturb the Star Lord. But this time is different; it concerns the deities of the Heavenly Court!" Lu Chen said firmly.

"Oh? Tell me about it." The Plague Emperor seemed to have his interest piqued.

Lu Chen then recounted the events of Caomiao Village, along with the conclusions he reached from his conversation with the local earth god, in detail.

"Star Lord, that's roughly how things are. It's not that I'm showing weakness, but as a mere third-rank disciple, I truly cannot kill a sixth-rank Ghost King."

They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and Lu Chen looked so earnest that he was practically bursting into tears.

"Hmph, you brat, you've already rashly accused the Four Heavenly Kings before the matter has been investigated. Isn't that arbitrary?" However, the Plague Emperor scoffed coldly, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head.

"This... Star Lord's magical power is profound. With a sweep of his divine sense, wouldn't everything be clear?"

"Boy, don't think things are so simple. Regardless of whether it was really the Four Heavenly Kings who did it, even if it were true, you won't get anything done by acting so rashly. Because you don't understand the relationships within the Heavenly Court's army at all."

"Don't think that just because the previous method of asking the God of Wealth to step in and use the power of the Water Deity Star Lord to subdue the Four Sea Dragon Kings was effective, you can try to use the same method on the Four Heavenly Kings."

I can tell you definitively, this method will absolutely not work with the Ministry of War!

Lu Chen paused for a moment: "Does the Star Lord mean... that the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King is extremely protective of his own and doesn't restrain his subordinates?"

But what this disciple seeks is not rare treasures, but only to open the secret realm and complete the mission.

The disciple promised to offer the treasure with both hands, even if the rare and precious materials in this secret realm were divided 30/70.

"I'll take three! The Star Lord can keep another thirty percent, and the rest can go to the Four Heavenly Kings."

Lu Chen took the initiative to offer a discount, and even Xingjun's share was taken into consideration.

As long as the mission is accomplished, you can get 30% of the spiritual materials for free, so why not?
Unexpectedly, the Plague Emperor chuckled upon hearing this: "Boy, if things were all as simple as you think, it would save you a lot of trouble. Not to mention that I don't have a deep relationship with the Ministry of War, it's still uncertain whether King Li would give me that face."
Even if He were willing, if the Four Heavenly Kings insisted on taking it, Li Tianwang might not necessarily stop him by force.

Lu Chen was stunned: "No way, the superiors give orders and the subordinates don't obey? These Four Heavenly Kings have that much power? That's impossible, right? Besides, this is clearly... a violation of the Heavenly Rules, otherwise they wouldn't have concealed the secrets of Heaven to avoid being discovered by the Heavenly Court."

Upon hearing this, the Plague Emperor laughed even louder: "Boy, just as you say, this matter does indeed violate the rules of Heaven. But do you dare to make a bet with me—even if this matter is brought before the Great Heavenly Venerable, the Great Heavenly Venerable will not punish the Four Heavenly Kings, but may even support them."

"Huh? What... what kind of logic is this? I don't understand it at all."

The more Lu Chen listened, the more he felt something was amiss. He sensed that the power of these Four Heavenly Kings seemed to be several levels higher than he had imagined.

Even if it violates the heavenly rules, would the Jade Emperor support it?
Could there be some kind of leverage that the Four Heavenly Kings have over it?
"It has nothing to do with the Four Heavenly Kings; it is the Heavenly Court's Ministry of War itself, and it is very different from the other eight ministries in one aspect."

The Plague Emperor spoke in a slightly deep voice, explaining:

"He has the authority to raise military supplies on his own, so it's not uncommon for him to descend to the mortal realm to seize treasures. Now you understand, right?"

(End of this chapter)