Chapter 234: The Great Era of Expansion, Incorporating Numerous Planes into the Douluo God Realm's Faith System
Within the Douluo Plane, the Five Realms stood side-by-side, presenting a magnificent spectacle, a scene of vibrant vitality and orderly prosperity.
However, the World's gaze was never confined to a single corner.
After stabilizing the internal Foundation and establishing the complete system of the Five Realms—God, Human, Underworld, Demon, and Dragon—the burgeoning vitality and ambitious will of the newborn Douluo God Realm, like a fully drawn bowstring, naturally turned its attention beyond the plane, toward the vaster, boundless Universe dotted with stars.
In the center of the God Realm, within the most majestic and ancient 'Origin Hall,' which symbolized supreme authority, there was a perpetual tranquility, yet an intangible will permeated all directions, observing all the heavens.
Lei Chen, seated deep within the hall, as his eyes opened and closed, reflected not just the changes of the Douluo mountains and rivers, but also the faint yet steadfast'sparks' connected by threads of faith across the distant Void Realm.
Ever since he ascended to Dual God King and initiated the God Realm, he had established the strategy of 'cultivating both internally and externally, broadly gathering faith.'
Internally, the God Realm governed, harmonized all Laws, and nourished the planes; externally, he encouraged, and even guided, the Deities under his command to spread their divine names and the radiance of their Laws to other suitable planes, establishing faith anchors and weaving a network of faith.
This policy was not a whim. Lei Chen's own Thunder God Position breaking through the shackles to advance to the God King level, aside from his own deep reserves and accumulation from refining the Heavenly Tribulation, was critically aided and sublimated by the massive and diverse Power Of Faith from different planes and civilizations.
This living precedent, laid out before them, held an irresistible attraction for any Divinity aspiring to a higher path in the divine Way.
When the divine decree was issued, respondents gathered in droves.
The ones who acted first and achieved the most remarkable results were naturally those First-Rank Deities holding core Laws and wielding great authority.
The God of Angels, Ye Guyi, whose faith contained the concepts of 'Light,' 'Justice,' and 'Judgment,' easily resonated in planes where darkness encroached, order collapsed, or the populace suffered greatly.
She would either dispel evil spirits and purify filth, or guide the local'saints' to establish churches and propagate doctrine.
In just a few short years, three planes plagued by the scourge of the undead, the ravages of demons, or oppression by tyranny saw their main races establish magnificent Angelic Sanctuaries. Pure Power Of Faith, like a golden stream, crossed the Void, merged into the God Realm, and flowed into the six radiant wings behind Ye Guyi, causing the sacred flames upon them to burn even fiercer and brighter. Her God Position's Foundation became even more stable, subtly probing towards a higher level.
The Sea God, the Sea Princess, sowed the seeds of faith toward planes possessing vast oceans or those deeply reliant on the Law of 'Water.'
She did not descend in an imposing manner, but rather won the awe and worship of coastal races through gentle means like guiding ocean currents and calming storms.
In two 'Water Worlds' almost entirely covered by oceans, the Sea Princess was even revered as a supreme existence akin to a Mother Goddess of Creation. Her faith was pure and intense. The vast azure Power Of Faith not only strengthened her divine force but also allowed her understanding of the 'Ocean' authority to slightly transcend the limitations of her native plane, achieving subtle insight, making her control over the Law increasingly precise and profound.
The methods of the God of Love, Zhang Lexuan, were the most unique and the most subtle. She rarely displayed Divine Might, focusing instead on spreading the notions of 'understanding,' 'tolerance,' 'creation,' and 'life' in planes rife with frequent wars, deep-seated hatred, or emotional apathy.
She would guide an accidental encounter to resolve old feuds, or cause a flower of hope to bloom in desperation... Little by little, subtly, though the gathering of Power Of Faith was not surging, the 'quality' of her faith was extremely high, containing intense emotion and Power Of Will. Thread by thread, tenacious and enduring, it continuously nurtured her Love God Divinity, making the divine radiance emanating from her warmer and more full of vitality.
The First-Rank Deities each had their battlefields and reaped abundant harvests. As for the Second-Rank Deities, Third-Rank Deities, and even those high-ranking officials who yearned to obtain formal God Positions or enhance their current status, how could they be willing to lag behind?
With Lei Chen's tacit approval and even a degree of informational support, a trend of 'going out to preach and establish merits' quickly arose within the God Realm.
The Deities, based on the characteristics of their divine seats, either alone or in small groups of two or three, spread their influence into neighboring planes with relatively lower energy levels.
The Forest God Bi Ji's teachings on life were highly welcomed in a plane rich in vegetation but stagnant in the cycle of life energy. She guided the energy of life to clear the earth's veins and heal chronic ailments, earning reverence as the Mother of Nature.
More Third-Rank Deities and high-ranking officials, perhaps unable to influence the mainstream faith of an entire plane as easily as the First-Rank Deities, still managed to accumulate small gains to build large achievements. They established stable faith strongholds in regional areas across many planes, continuously drawing in the Power Of Faith.
Fervent, dedicated, each displaying their Divine Abilities.
All Divine Rank existences in the entire Douluo God Realm threw themselves into this grand 'Faith Expedition' in various forms. For them, spreading faith was not only fulfilling their divine duties and expanding the God Realm's influence, but it was also a fundamental matter concerning their own path of the Dao—every additional piece of faith meant more nourishment for the God Position, and an increased chance of ascending to a higher status!
Under such full participation and wholehearted pioneering, the results were astonishing.
Time flowed on. Several years passed after the Dragon Realm was integrated and the structure of the God Realm completely stabilized. During these years, the Douluo God Realm's network of faith spread and took root in the Void at an astonishing speed.
As of now, over fifteen planes, varying in energy levels and civilizational forms, had been successfully incorporated into the Douluo God Realm's faith system!
Some of these planes were as vast as the Douluo Continent, possessing diverse races and civilizations; others were relatively smaller, perhaps just a floating continent or a peculiar planet; some were still in the age of savage tribes, while others had already developed unique magic or technological civilizations... But without exception, they now shone with the divine names of the Deities of the Douluo God Realm, flowing with Power Of Faith directed toward the Douluo God Realm.
Every day, every moment, massive, diverse, and pure Power Of Faith, like countless invisible rivers of stars, rose from different corners of these fifteen planes, crossing the vast distances of the Void, penetrating the barriers of the plane walls, and finally converging into the Douluo God Realm, flowing into the colorful light of the Laws enveloping heaven and earth, then being distributed according to their source of faith to the respective temples and divinities of each Deity.
Benefiting from this external expansion, which could be called a 'Great Harvest of Faith,' the progress of the cultivation of the Deities within the God Realm universally accelerated.
The auras of the few First-Rank Deities grew deeper, and their exploration of their own authority entered a new phase.
Among the Second-Rank and Third-Rank Deities, many successfully stabilized their current Realm through the rich feedback from faith, and even touched the threshold of the next level of status.
Even those high-ranking officials who did not yet possess formal God Positions and remained at the Divine Rank purely through their own cultivation, after being bathed in such a rich atmosphere of cross-plane faith and handling related affairs for a long time, several experienced sudden enlightenment. Their comprehension of their own path advanced by leaps and bounds, their cultivation greatly improved, reaching the standard for Lei Chen to observe and soon be granted formal Third-Rank God Positions.
And the greatest beneficiaries were undoubtedly the Douluo God Realm itself, and its supreme Dominator—Lei Chen.
The continuous infusion of massive external faith was like injecting inexhaustible, high-quality fuel into the precise 'World Engine' that was the newborn God Realm.
The spatial boundaries of the God Realm expanded slightly under the scouring and nourishment of the Power Of Faith. Although the degree of expansion was small, it symbolized a tangible increase in volume and Foundation. The mountains and earth veins within the Realm became more spiritual, the lakes of divine force grew deeper, and the entire God Realm's'sense of presence' and'stability' continuously increased as the network of faith expanded and solidified.
As the 'Plane Master' most deeply connected to the Douluo Plane system, Lei Chen naturally shared the richest portion of the 'dividend' from this overall growth.
Whenever the torrent of faith crossing the Void merged into the God Realm and then flowed into the plane's Law network, a faint, almost imperceptible halo of satisfaction would ripple across the Chaos Emblem between Lei Chen's brows, which represented the God King authority of the 'Plane Master.'
He could clearly perceive that the 'volume' of the World he controlled was swelling under the irrigation of the Power Of Faith, like a giant undergoing a second growth spurt. Its flesh became richer, its bones tougher, and the ocean of the plane's Origin thus became 'broader' and 'deeper,' causing the upper limit of power he could mobilize and bear to rise accordingly.
This enhancement fed directly back into his 'Plane Master' status. Although it did not bring about an immediate qualitative change like a Realm Breakthrough, it was a solid, all-around 'consolidation of Foundation' and 'expansion of potential.'
This was the continuous benefit brought by following the path of 'broadly gathering the faith of the heavens to feed back into the Origin World' after completing internal integration and opening up the God Realm. It did not conflict with internal development but instead formed a virtuous cycle where internal and external elements promoted each other.
Lei Chen sat quietly in the Origin Hall, his Divine Thought wandering through the vast sea of faith and the thriving Origin of the plane. Deep within his eyes, beneath the calm, lay profound contemplation of the future.
Fifteen planes were just the beginning. This great Universe was boundless; there were countless planes suitable for spreading faith and capable of being incorporated into the system. Now, the Douluo God Realm was surging, and the Deities were enthusiastic. This path of expansion would continue, and it would proceed faster and further.
And as the network of faith continuously expanded, the power gathered became more immense. Perhaps in the near future, not only would the status of the Deities have hope of being elevated, but the entire Douluo Plane, along with its God Realm, might also... reach even greater heights.