Deities: Rulers of Nature

Above the Divine Realm of Mountains and Seas, the rising sun pierced through the clouds and morning mist, bringing light to the entire realm.

Ji Xuan initially intended to complete the absorption of the divine realm's origin smoothly, but to his surprise, one small surprise after another appeared along the way, making this absorption of the origin even more spectacular than the last one.

The expansion of the central continent and the rise of the mountain ranges are obvious and need no further explanation; anyone with eyes can see them.

But for the snake spirits living in Golden Village, the most direct changes they experienced came from the farmland and orchards near the village.

These crops ripened in the blink of an eye. The golden wheat swayed in the wind, creating wave after wave of golden waves, like a golden ocean.

The vegetables looked like they'd been injected with growth hormones, growing many times larger than before.

Aoki took a closer look and discovered that the tallest group was even taller than the adult snake people.

In the orchard not far away, every fruit tree was laden with plump fruit. Taking a deep breath, one could almost smell a faint fruity fragrance, and some greedy little snake spirits were already secretly swallowing their saliva.

Led by the Serpent Spirit Bishop and Village Chief Aoki, thousands of Serpent Spirits gathered before the farmland, each placing their right fist in front of their chest in devout prayer:

"Praise be to you, great God of Nature!"

"Thank you for bestowing upon us fertile farmland and abundant food."

"Your grace shines like the sun, illuminating our path forward; your kindness sustains us like the earth."

"..."

"Praise be to nature!"

"Praise be to my Lord!"

For the snake spirits living in Wanghai Village near the estuary, the most noticeable change comes from the long river.

In the vast river, schools of fish swam by one after another, their silver scales gleaming in the sunlight. With a single cast of the net, plump fish were hauled onto the boat amidst splashing water.

The snake spirits turned to look at the cabin, their mouths twitching into grins. This harvest was equivalent to a whole morning's worth in the past.

Another group of snake spirits, led by Jin Yan, entered the South China Sea. As soon as they entered the sea, they noticed something different. The shallow sea, which was originally somewhat barren, was now covered with all kinds of seaweed and coral, and all kinds of sea fish swam around here.

At the boundary between the shallow and deep sea, Jin Yan sensed several bronze-level figures swimming by in the distance. In the past, bronze-level sea beasts could only be seen in the deep ocean.

After Jin Yan and his group returned with the spoils of their journey, they prayed to Ji Xuan together with the Serpent Spirit Bishop:

"Praise be to you, great God of Nature!"

"Thank you for bestowing upon us abundant catches and endless bounties from the sea."

"Your grace flows like a long river... Your kindness is as vast as the ocean..."

"..."

"Praise be to nature!"

"Praise be to my Lord!"

In Qingling Village in the Qingling Mountains, in the underground cave tribe, in the cherry blossom forest... they all discovered new changes and prayed devoutly to Ji Xuan.

From Ji Xuan's perspective, strands of pure faith power rose up and eventually converged into His body along the thread of faith.

In truth, the fusion of the divine realm's origins this time did not bring about significant changes to the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm as a whole.

The most direct manifestation of this was the size of his territory, but after expanding to nearly 10,000 square kilometers, Ji Xuan took the initiative to stop the expansion.

It's not that the divine realm's origin is insufficient, but rather that its expansion is approaching the limits of demigods.

For newly born demigods like Ji Xuan, a territory of 10,000 square kilometers is the limit that they can perfectly control. If they expand further, the size of the divine realm will exceed the carrying capacity of these demigods.

At that time, the divine realm will no longer be the one to assist the gods in their growth; on the contrary, these demigods will have to contribute their divine power to maintain the operation of the divine realm.

Even a fool knows that this is a losing proposition.

Besides the expansion of territory, there have been quite a few changes in spiritual resources, but compared to that large mass of divine origin, it is far from enough. Not to mention, no new spiritual plants were born this time.

The reason for this is actually quite simple.

Under Ji Xuan's control, the origin of the divine realm split into streams, much of which was used to enhance Ji Xuan's strength.

Activating his all-seeing eye, a series of messages appeared before Ji Xuan's eyes:

Name: Ji Xuan

[God's Name: God of Nature]

[Rank: Demigod]

[Cleric: Plant]

[Field: Plants, Soil]

[Divinity Value: 9/10]

Divinity: 10/10

[Sect: Deism]

[Family: Four-Armed Serpent Spirit Clan, Cherry Blossom Spirit Clan, Snowflake Spider Clan]

[Divine Power: 78/90]

[Faith Points: 17989457]

[Divine Talent: Omniscient Eye (Unique)]

[Divine Spells: Level 1 General Divine Spells, Levels 1-3 Plant Divine Spells, Level 1 Soil Divine Spells]

[Divine Realm: Mountain and Sea Divine Realm]

Needless to say, the increase in divine power and faith value was significant, so Ji Xuan looked directly at his divine nature and divinity.

Divine office, divine status, and divinity are the three cornerstones that a demigod needs to break through to become a formal god.

Now, Ji Xuan has mastered the divine office of plants, and his divinity has reached the maximum value of a demigod. He is only a little short of the divine value.

9/10

It really is just one step away from victory.

From a rational perspective, Ji Xuan's divine value was not high before, so it is already quite remarkable that it has risen to 9 points this time.

From an emotional perspective, Ji Xuan was in a very uncomfortable state. To put it bluntly, even if his divine value was 8 points, he wouldn't be in this much pain.

A sense of irritation rose in Ji Xuan's heart and instantly dominated his emotions. Ji Xuan quickly realized that something was wrong; this should not be his emotion.

"Is it your resentment, Zhang Jiang?"

Ji Xuan activated his all-seeing eye, began to examine himself, and finally found and erased that deeply hidden lingering resentment.

Reason returned, and Ji Xuan's expression became calm.

For Ji Xuan, who has mastered the divine power of plants, it is not difficult to condense a little bit of divine power.

As long as there are still plants covering the Mountain and Sea Divine Realm, every sprouting, growth, and withering, every cycle of flourishing and decay, can provide energy for Ji Xuan. If He is willing to expend divine power, then this energy can be converted into divine value.

In fact, this is the normal growth path for deities.

Legendary-level superhumans have mastered at least one domain. When they gain a bit of divinity, they step into the realm of gods and transform into divine beings.

To ascend from a divine being to a demigod, one must possess at least one point of divine value.

Those who are lucky receive a divine title directly from the Void Realm, which is called a divinely bestowed godhood. Others wander around the Void Realm, encounter a broken godhood, and absorb it.

Those who have powerful backers can also receive divine favor points if they perform well or have great potential.

Those who lack either of the above two qualities can only cultivate themselves diligently. They need to cultivate their own domain deeply, accumulate energy for themselves by constantly practicing the rules of their domain, and accumulate that little bit of divine value through painstaking effort.

Having acquired divinity and divine nature, and becoming a demigod, one only needs to develop step by step, elevating the domain to a true divine authority. At that time, practicing the rules represented by the divine authority will continuously generate divine nature and divine nature, achieving a closed loop of growth.

For gods with infinite lifespans, they have plenty of time to slowly endure.