Deities: Rulers of Nature

Ji Xuan's consciousness hovered atop the oak tree, overlooking the entire divine realm.

The mountain range in the center of the divine realm is named the Green Ridge Mountain Range, which stretches for more than 2,000 square kilometers.

The highest peak of the mountain range is Mount Shio, where natural oak trees take root, with an altitude of 1,400 meters. Above the halfway point, it is often shrouded in a light mist. Because of the presence of natural oak trees, the summit of Mount Shio is not covered with snow like the surrounding peaks.

Nestled on the gentle slope of the southern foot of Xishan Mountain is a crystal-clear lake, which Ji Xuan named Mirror Lake.

The water in Mirror Lake comes from the melting snow of the surrounding mountains and the clear springs flowing through the mountains; it is so pure that there is not a trace of impurity.

Sunlight spills across the lake, creating shimmering, fragmented waves that spread out like a perfectly polished bronze mirror, clearly reflecting the blue sky, white clouds, and the rolling green hills along the shore.

The lakeside was covered with lush reeds and cattails. When the wind blew, the slender leaves swayed gently, making a soft rustling sound.

Two black-tailed herons stood on the rocks in the shallows, their slender legs firmly planted in the water, their necks bent into an unusual arc, staring motionlessly at the water's surface, like two exquisite statues.

Suddenly, one of the black-tailed herons tucked its wings tightly and plunged into the water like a bolt of lightning.

Before the splashing white water had even settled, it had already taken flight again. In its long, sharp beak, it held a struggling, writhing blue-backed carp.

The scales of the blue-backed carp shimmered with a bluish luster in the sunlight, and its tail thrashed incessantly, yet it could not break free from the iron-like sharp beak.

The black-tailed heron flapped its enormous, six-meter-wide wings and flew to a flat rock on the shore, where it quickly swallowed the struggling blue-backed carp.

The other heron remained standing in the same spot, only glancing at it briefly before continuing to stare intently at the water.

【Green-backed carp】

Rank: Mortal

[Information: Oviparous fish, reproducing once a year, laying 3-5 eggs at a time. Adults can reach up to 1 meter in length. Widely distributed in all rivers of Jinghu Lake and Qingling Mountain Range, its flesh is delicious and it is a primary food source for many aquatic and terrestrial predators.]

Black-tailed Heron

[Rank: Iron]

[Information: Oviparous birds, breeding once a year, laying 2-3 eggs at a time. Adults are two meters long with a wingspan of up to six meters. They are mid-level predators in the Qingling Mountains, with a wide diet including fish, small mammals, and birds. They are fierce and highly territorial, but also extremely loyal. Once a pair of Black-tailed Herons mate, they will remain together for life; if one dies, the other will never seek a new mate.]

Ji Xuan watched all of this calmly.

As He had predicted, no intelligent races naturally emerged in the newly opened divine realm.

The beings in the divine realm can be roughly divided into two categories: one is intelligent races that have awakened their intelligence, can provide faith, and can become followers.

The other type are ordinary creatures that have not yet developed intelligence and can only survive by relying on instinct, thus maintaining the ecological balance of the entire divine realm.

Ordinary creatures naturally evolved with the opening of the divine realm, but the birth of intelligent races is extremely difficult, requiring either great luck or a long period of time.

"Fortunately, the God Game granted the newly born demigod the ability to create their first clan. Otherwise, without the faith provided by the clan, I'm afraid I would have quickly fallen back to being a divine being," Ji Xuan said with a sigh.

Ji Xuan did not know how the gods of the old era created their followers and spread their faith. But these demigods of the new era were all given a ray of wisdom by the game of the gods.

[The Light of Wisdom]

[Information: A miraculous light that can bring civilization and wisdom, awakening the intelligence of a race and guiding them to evolve into a truly intelligent species.]

A soft, colorful light appeared before Ji Xuan's eyes, like a dancing flame.

The importance of the initial family is self-evident.

As the first intelligent race born in the Divine Realm, they will be perfectly compatible with the Lord of the Divine Realm, most directly manifested in their faith-building speed, which far surpasses that of other races.

There are also distinctions of superiority and inferiority among races.

Those who do not reach the extraordinary are all ordinary.

The path to transcendence is divided into seven stages, from lowest to highest: Black Iron, Bronze, Fine Steel, Silver, Gold, Purple Gold, and finally, Legend.

Intelligent races also correspond to different potential levels.

The most elite are those extraordinary races, such as elves, angels, dragons, and demons in dreams. Although they are born as mortals, they possess a wisp of pure extraordinary power within them. Therefore, even without extraordinary cultivation, they will naturally condense an extraordinary seed as they grow older, reaching the highest level of purple-gold or even legendary. They are the kindred spirits that all gods dream of.

Below them are the higher races, such as dragonmen and treants. They are born at the mortal level, and even without the aid of extraordinary methods, they can easily sense and absorb extraordinary power. However, their potential ceiling is slightly lower than that of extraordinary races, and most individuals eventually reach the steel, silver, or even gold levels.

Below them are the intermediate races, including humans, dwarves, orcs, half-orcs, and flower spirits. They are born at the mortal level, but with the right extraordinary methods, they can clearly sense the existence of extraordinary power and most can advance to the Iron or Bronze level.

Although their potential is not high, their strong reproductive capacity and large numbers make them more than sufficient as the primary source of faith in the early stages. Moreover, when the gods become powerful enough in the future, they can guide the race to transform and increase their potential ceiling.

The lowest rank consists of low-level races, including goblins, ratmen, goblins, slimes, and cavemen. They are born at the mortal level, and although they have a stronger reproductive capacity and are more numerous, even with extraordinary methods, the vast majority will never experience extraordinary power in their entire lives. Only a very few individuals at the very top of their race have a slim chance of breaking through to the Iron rank.

So, other races are elves and angels, while yours are ratmen and goblins... What do you have to compete with? How can you fight?

However, Ji Xuan was not too worried.

After all, He inherited a trace of the original power of the natural ruler of the old era. Although He is only a weak demigod now, He doesn't dare to dream of becoming a superhuman race like elves or elf dragons, but He should be able to at least become a mid-level race.

Subsequently, Ji Xuan lifted all restrictions on the Light of Wisdom.

The colorful light trembled slightly, then transformed into a streak of light and flew off from the top of the oak tree.

The light of wisdom swept across the surface of Mirror Lake, flew over forests and caves, crossed rock walls, and traversed the ocean.

A school of blue-backed carp in Mirror Lake, Aomori wolves running through the forest, black-tailed herons circling in the sky, and scaly-bellied serpents winding through the leaf litter...

The light of wisdom swept over these creatures one by one, but did not linger at all.

Time seemed to stretch out.

Ji Xuan didn't know how much time had passed; it might have been just a moment, yet it felt like an entire century.

Finally, the light of wisdom stopped above a large area of ​​bushes and pebble beach between Xishan and Jinghu.

A large group of snakes dwelled there.

There are various types of snakes, including the green-scaled snake, the red-banded snake, and the golden-ringed snake. Some are venomous and some are not. They feed on small rodents and fish, and usually hide under bushes, in rock crevices, and in grass.

The light of wisdom circled three times in the air, then transformed into countless tiny specks of light, falling like spring rain and merging into the body of each snake.