**Chapter 540: Chapter 526 - A Hundred Years**
Time flew by, but for Cultivators, time was a meaningless concept.
A hundred years passed, and the name Tang Song completely disappeared from the public eye. The Believers worshipped the Great Heavenly Venerable, the Heavenly Emperor, of the Heavenly Court.
Gods could not be directly gazed upon. Apart from the High-level Staff of the Heavenly Court, no one else knew Tang Song's True Name, his height, weight, build, or appearance.
The Great Heavenly Venerable of the Heavenly Court had now become the illusory God in the faith of the people's hearts.
Over the past hundred years, with the expansion of the Heavenly Court's Force/Faction, bolstered by the funds from the Universal Bank, the Heavenly Court's sphere of influence even surpassed that of the Kree Empire.
In some ordinary civilizations, the Heavenly Court implemented a carrot and stick policy.
Coupled with the benevolent missionaries who widely distributed egg and milk, Emperor Tang had now implicitly become the Unique God in this Universe.
This was especially true on some barren planets where some uncivilized intelligent creatures lived.
On these barren planets, which were almost blank slates in terms of technology and culture, the missionaries of the Heavenly Court developed quite well.
After all, for the uncivilized Native Creatures who relied on their body to resist various harsh environments and didn't even have the concept of medicine, the various supplies brought by the missionaries helped them cure various diseases. All they needed was pious prayer, which was much better than just curling up and waiting for death when they got sick.
The Believers developed here could be said to be Fanatics of Emperor Tang.
In addition to these Fanatics, the Tittytainment Plan approved by Lane also began to be implemented on various planets and in various Worlds.
Virtual pods and virtual helmets, combined with various virtual games jointly created by the Net-Red Empress, were quietly embedded with the Heavenly Court and Tang Song, the Great Heavenly Venerable, in these games. This silently changed the behavior and cognition of ordinary people, subtly deepening their goodwill towards the Heavenly Court and their faith in Tang Song, the Great Heavenly Venerable.
For example, in a gacha game, those who were obsessed with the game would find that the chance of getting rare pulls would greatly increase when they offered pious prayer to the Great Heavenly Venerable.
Taking Earth as an example, after decades, even a hundred years, and several generations on Earth, thanks to virtual games, the new generation now knew nothing of the Buddha or the Old Testament God.
Tang Song, the Great Heavenly Venerable, had become the Unique God of Earth.
The same was true for the Cycle Worlds. For instance, in the Pirate World, a hundred years ago, the rule of the Celestial Dragons was swept into the dustbin of history. Those fat and greedy Celestial Dragons and High-Level Government Officials of the World Government were all sent to the guillotine via live broadcast, just like Pirate Roger who had initiated the Great Pirate Era back then.
The old World Government was abolished, the Navy was incorporated, and a new World Government led by the Heavenly Court Church was announced.
After the new World Government took office, it abolished the Heavenly Tribute from various countries and instead established reasonable tax rates.
At the same time, the new World Government vigorously promoted the Sea Train Project, connecting scattered Islands together.
Compared to ships, Sea Trains were fast and safe. For a time, maritime transport's reliance on ships was greatly reduced.
The only drawback was that due to different Sea Areas, the Sea Train Project only connected Islands within a few major Sea Areas and did not form a continuous route connecting the New World to the Four Seas in the east, west, north, and south.
Even so, the prestige of the World Government led by the Heavenly Court Church in various island countries increased significantly, enjoying extremely high prestige among the populace.
Under these circumstances, the World Government built Temples in various island countries, requiring each country to worship the Heavenly Emperor. No country dared to refuse.
The hero who slays the dragon eventually becomes a dragon. Many people of insight worried that the new World Government would become like the old World Government, and the so-called Heavenly Emperor would just be a replica of the Celestial Dragons.
However, they later discovered that these Temples did not require money; they only required faith, and they were extremely effective. Believers from many countries spontaneously worshipped this Heavenly Emperor.
Ordinary People casually chanting the name of the Great Heavenly Venerable, even if it couldn't be considered shallow faith, couldn't be ignored due to the sheer number of times and people. Massive power of faith spread throughout the sky above Great Luo Heaven. This was the power of faith gathered from countless intelligent creatures. This power of faith was billions of times larger than it was a hundred years ago.
All the power of faith condensed into a huge vortex above a Palace deep within Great Luo Heaven. The golden vortex seemed to lead to an immeasurable Space.
Within a certain mysterious Space, a towering high mountain stood tall. On the steep Cliff, thousands of strange scaled pines, as thick as a calf, grew from top to bottom.
These ancient pines, transplanted from K'un-Lun, had been here for a hundred years without anyone noticing.
The bark on the trunks of these ancient pines was like fish scales. Countless mutated bell orchids were parasitic on the trunks. The bell-shaped flowers, the size of a fist, were fiery red. The languid orchid fragrance could be carried for miles by the breeze.
Mixed with the deep cold air of the mountain stream, it became a serene and tranquil cold fragrance that could awaken one's three souls and six spirits.
Between the mountain streams, the deep green water flowed. A thatched hut was hidden among the Bamboo Forest.
Inside the thatched hut, Tang Song, wearing a daoist robe, a crane cloak, an azure jade daoist crown on his head, and cloud boots on his feet, sat cross-legged.
The long hair behind his head moved without wind. Five extremely thin five-colored qi flows of red, white, green, black, and yellow shot up from his heavenly spirit, rising over ten feet high. The ends of the qi flow had already blended with the surrounding air, making them indistinct and blurry.
More than half of the soul origin in Tang Song's Sea of Consciousness had transformed into a five-colored radiance. His five organs in his abdomen were even more dazzling, faintly showing the lustrous color characteristic of crystal.
His heart beat slowly, his entire body's qi and blood were smooth and vibrant, and all eighty-four thousand pores were open, continuously absorbing external spiritual energy into his body. A wisp of divine sense faintly discernible hovered within a small area, occasionally wandering among the five qi above his head, carefully gaining insights from Dao Integration.
The semi-transparent illusory lotus seed floated quietly in front of Tang Song. Massive power of faith continuously poured into it.
Gradually, the lotus seed that had devoured enough power of faith became increasingly clear, truly possessing a taste of being eternal and indestructible.
As time passed, under the influence of this semi-transparent pale golden lotus seed, Tang Song's body was also faintly tinged with a layer of golden light.
After an unknown amount of time, as Tang Song, sitting cross-legged in the thatched hut, slowly performed a few hand seals, the pale golden lotus seed contracted back into golden light and flew back into his mouth.
Letting out a deep sigh, Tang Song suddenly opened his eyes, and two beams of spiritual light flashed abruptly.
Tang Song stood up and glanced at the dense Bamboo Forest outside the house. He calculated with his fingers, secretly nodding. This time cultivating in seclusion, two Jiazi had passed without him realizing it.
Two Jiazi, one hundred and twenty years, felt like just an instant, passing by in the time it took for a few deep breaths.
Tang Song took a step, directly stepping out of this Inner World, Small World, and appeared inside Great Luo Heaven.
At the Scenic Dragon Pool in Great Luo Heaven, although this Dragon Pool was not equipped with any spirit gathering formation, it was located in Great Luo Heaven after all.
The spiritual energy in the air was so dense it was visible to the naked eye. Beams of Spirit Spring gushed out from the pool water. The spiritual energy contained in the spring water was extremely thick, making the spring water heavy like mercury. The sprayed water droplets were like marbles cast from pure silver. The water droplets collided with each other, producing crisp "ding-dang" sounds.
Several Heavenly Maidens in white clothes were splashing water at each other and playing with a few elves by the pool water. Inside the Dragon Pool, thousands of koi swam freely in the pool water. Several huge seven-colored koi, with their mouths open, guarded the edge of the gushing Spirit Spring, gulping down the spirit water gushing from the Spirit Spring.
The Heavenly Maidens and elves playing by this pool only noticed Tang Song standing by the steps after a long time. Upon seeing Tang Song, these Heavenly Maidens and elves quickly stood up and bowed towards Tang Song, trembling with fear.
"Greetings, Great Heavenly Venerable, you have emerged from seclusion! I will go inform the Goddesses!"
Seeing her companions' heads shrunk like quails, the Weaver Girl leading them mustered courage and said to Tang Song.
"Hmm, you may go!"
Tang Song's gaze fell upon the Weaver Girl. The sorrow in her brows and eyes had disappeared. It was clear that she had been doing well in the Heavenly Court during this time.
Reaching into the void for a moment, Tang Song pulled out a yellow gourd and handed it to the Weaver Girl. It contained some spirit pills he had refined before.
Their effect was secondary, but the taste was superb.
The Weaver Girl received the yellow gourd Tang Song handed her, beaming with smiles. After bowing, she led the Heavenly Maidens and elves away from the edge of the pool water.
By the time Skye and the other women received the news and rushed over, Tang Song was smilingly standing on the Viewing Platform of Great Luo Heaven, quietly watching the several seven-colored koi playing and competing for food in the Dragon Pool.
Several koi excitedly chased and played on the wave crests. Occasionally, their eyelids opened and closed, and golden light shot out several feet from their pair of fish eyes.
"Tsk tsk, haven't seen you for a hundred years, you little fellows are also about to transform into dragons!"
Smilingly waving his hand at the several koi with dense demonic aura and even fleshy horns growing on their heads, Tang Song clenched his palm in the void. Instantly, a large handful of spirit pills the size of soybeans scattered down from the center of his fist.
Without using any heavenly materials and earthly treasures or refining with civil and martial fire, Tang Song directly gathered spiritual energy in his hand and forcibly squeezed out a handful of spirit pills.
Several koi shook their heads and wagged their tails, rushing over and excitedly competing for food, swallowing all the spirit pills clean.
After swallowing these spirit pills, the seven-colored radiance on their bodies greatly intensified. Their bodies, originally three feet long, seemed to have grown another circle, and the aura on their bodies became increasingly dense.
A gale whistled out from behind Tang Song. Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger. A striped-brow white-forehead tiger with a body size of two zhang, carrying a strong smell of alcohol all over its body, rushed out.
It affectionately circled Tang Song's body a few times, sniffing hard on his nose for a while, then tilted its head and fell to the ground, starting to snore.
"A perfectly good tiger, how did you turn it into a pig?"
Tang Song smiled and pinched the Big Cat's fat belly that almost dragged on the ground. Skye, wearing palace attire, walked in lightly and directly threw herself into Tang Song's embrace.
"Boss! Long time no see!"
Tang Song patted Skye's back, looked at Wanda, Gu Zi Yun, and the other women behind Skye, and laughed softly, "It hasn't been that long, only two Jiazi, one hundred and twenty years!"
Skye nodded and said softly, "Boss, during the time you were cultivating in seclusion, we also spent most of our time cultivating in seclusion. Our strength has greatly increased!"
Tang Song looked at his dao companions, one by one, entering the True Immortal realm. His finger ran through Skye's smooth short hair. Skye smiled sweetly and gently kissed Tang Song's lips.
One Shichen (Double Hour) later, Lane, Frank, Ivan Vanko, Lucien, Adam, Professor Connors, Wade Wilson, Johnny, Chi You, Bai Qi, and nearly a hundred High-level Staff of the Heavenly Court gathered at the High Heaven Treasure Palace.
Tang Song sat upon the throne in the Great Hall, looking at the crowd sitting on both sides below. Seeing their cultivation base had greatly increased, he smiled with immense satisfaction.
These people who could sit here were undoubtedly his most trusted core team! Of course, some people did not come to this Palace due to distance and time, such as the Allies of the Heavenly Court, the Queen Mother of the West from the Soul Ferryman World.
Heavenly Maiden Amber brought news that the Queen Mother of the West was still cultivating in seclusion, attempting to break through to the Golden Immortal realm!
Several great Kings/Queens from Marvel's Nine Realms were all inside the Palace now. As for the heads of state and Presidents of some second and third-rate civilizations who had pledged allegiance to the Heavenly Court, the news of Tang Song emerging from seclusion was not even told to them.
Tang Song's gaze swept across. "Hmm? Where is Kane? And Old Demon Dragon, where did these two guys go?"
Feeling Tang Song's gaze, Lane shook his head, "Boss, ten years ago, Kane led a Fleet to the StarCraft World!"
"Hmm, it seems Kane has fulfilled his dream of commanding a Fleet in battle. Then let's not worry about him for now! Lane, how has the situation of the Heavenly Court been during the time I was cultivating in seclusion?"
"The Heavenly Court is currently operating well. During the time you were cultivating in seclusion, the construction of the Thirty-Six Heavens has already completed one-third."
"Various departments of the Heavenly Court have recruited a total of 4.71 million soldiers, and 80,000 warships of various classes."
"Within the main world, eleven Level 4 civilizations, thirty-five Tier 3 civilizations, and three hundred and twenty-one Tier 2 civilizations have been controlled by us and have become vassals of the Heavenly Court."
"Over at the Samsara Palace, out of twenty-six worlds awaiting development, eleven have already pledged allegiance to the Heavenly Court."
Inside the High Heaven Treasure Palace, Tang Song quietly listened to the crowd reporting the changes in the Heavenly Court during the time he was cultivating in seclusion.
In the StarCraft World, Kane currently did not know the news of Tang Song emerging from seclusion. He was currently commanding a Fleet composed of three hundred warships, engaging in close-range shelling with the white warships on the opposite side.
Kane watched the Protoss Fleet charging forward recklessly, and his eyes couldn't help but narrow.
He understood that these Protoss Fleets were gambling, gambling that their energy shield was stronger than theirs.
The warships on both sides got closer and closer. Both sides almost simultaneously fired their cannons and raised their energy shields. The close-range shelling from both sides caused the energy shields on both sides to almost collapse on the spot.
In the end, the warships on both sides still managed to shakily endure the other side's attack.
Both fleets quickly moved away from each other at maximum speed, separating by thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye.
This was like two boxers who both thought the other's fist wasn't heavy. But when they actually took a punch, both sides simultaneously retreated away from the other.
The warships that had retreated far away almost simultaneously opened fire again. Thick beams of light shot from thousands of main cannons, covering an area of several hundred square kilometers of airspace.
(end of chapter)