Chapter 659 Darkness

"How did it become so chaotic? Are the governments of Iberia, Francia, and the Teutonic Republic still choosing to stand by and do nothing? Their borders are unstable now, aren't they?"

Li Mochen felt it was very strange: "Hasn't the Church of Radiance been putting further pressure on them?"

"The pressure from the Church of Radiance on these governments is constant, but after all, this is a conflict among gods. How would they dare to get involved lightly? Any slightly wise political figure would know that this brings them no benefit, but instead would exact a heavy and painful price, and they themselves might even be ground to dust in this strife."

The God of Strategy, Garcia Ferrer, shook his head: "This also goes against public opinion. Currently, in these old continental powers, neither the upper nobility nor the common people below are willing to be drawn into this vortex. After all, it is no longer the time when the Church launched a crusade. The people's faith in the Lord of Radiance is not enough to support their countries joining this war. Some even more radical ones believe it is necessary for the entire populace to convert to you, Your Majesty, and the gods under your command, which could allow their nations to avoid disaster. They have grown weary of the Church of Radiance's recent frequent turmoil and wars."

This was precisely the reason for the rapid expansion of the Fate Pantheon's faith in the Old Continent. The Lord of Fate, who always sheltered his believers, made many in the Old Continent feel safe.

In fact, the Old Church of Light and the Protestant Church had always been doing such things to protect believers.

However, the greatest difference between Li Mochen and the Lord of Radiance was that the 'Sunrise-Light Demon Alliance' he had established possessed immense financial power, technology, and military strength in the mortal world, and the composition of his pantheon could also unite most of the supreme families of the mortal world.

This ensured the Fate Pantheon's strong influence over various governments and provided sufficient military force for divine wars, rather than relying solely on church armies.

But the current situation was also awkward. Apart from the Teutonic Republic, the majority of believers who had converted to the Fate Pantheon in the Old Continent were scattered across the region, unorganized and not forming a scale.

Neither the Fate Pantheon nor the Sunrise-Light Demon Alliance could actively involve themselves in war for these people, wasting precious human and material resources on them.

"I'm just surprised that the Church of Radiance's control over the Old Continent countries is so weak."

Li Mochen, of course, knew the overall situation in the Old Continent. Heydrich and Clark Banfield, who had recently been promoted to 'God of Military Observation and Information', submitted the intelligence they gathered to Li Mochen's avatar almost daily.

"It can't be called weakness; it's just that when it comes to life and death, people's willingness to sacrifice for their faith is limited. Even in America and Australia, if Your Majesty intended to push them into a war that would cause massive civilian deaths and hold no meaning for them, it would likely be very difficult, wouldn't it? After all, times have changed."

Li Mochen nodded slightly, thinking that Bismarck's words hit the nail on the head.

Even in the two great wars with the Aesir, if the Australian government and the American Federation had not felt a direct threat in the South Pacific and South America, believing that the invasion of the Beast Empire affected their interests and security, then no matter how many believers Li Mochen had in those two countries, or how powerful the Wiltonshtan family and the Sunrise-Light Demon Alliance were in the mortal world, it would have been impossible to push those two nations into war.

"Another reason is that the corrupt clergy and families mixed within the Church of Radiance have stolen the glory and authority that rightfully belong to the Lord of Radiance. This is something we must take as a warning and nip in the bud from the start."

Bismarck said this, deliberately casting a cautionary glance at Li Mochen.

His monarch was actually in a much better position than the Lord of Radiance in this regard. First, he had learned from the Lord of Radiance's mistakes, narrowing the distance between gods and believers in the formulation of the canon. He had established clear doctrines and adhered to the principle that the church serves the faithful, rather than being an offering to the deity.

In this new era of information explosion, maintaining a sense of mystery about the gods was useless and futile. People had countless ways to obtain information about the gods.

Second, their monarch was not like those gods of light who refused to let anyone share their radiance. Although the Lord of Fate dominated the Fate Pantheon, the other gods could still find their own space within the pantheon.

Finally, transparency of information within the church and modern management systems could prevent corruption to the greatest extent.

The problems of the Church of Radiance mostly stemmed from remnants of the Middle Ages and modern times. By the time the Lord of Radiance returned to this world, the issues had become too deep-seated to reverse.

However, in Bismarck's view, the Church of Fate still had many hidden dangers, the biggest being the Wiltonshtan family.

Those kin of the Lord of Fate filled the middle and upper levels of the church, holding too much power. Although they currently shared the same interests as the Lord of Fate, and many were even fanatical believers, time and interests would gradually change this, until one day the Wiltonshtan family would become the root of corruption in the Church of Fate.

Li Mochen nodded in deep agreement: "Running water does not stagnate, and a door hinge does not get worm-eaten. Indeed, we must ensure from the source that similar problems do not arise."

Running water does not stagnate, and a door hinge does not get worm-eaten—this saying means that flowing water does not become foul, and a frequently turned door hinge is not infested by insects. Eastern civilizations had long mastered good methods to prevent corruption. But good methods are one thing; whether they can be implemented is another.

"Off topic!"

Prometheus brought the conversation back on track: "I believe the chaos in the Old Continent won't last long. The Lord of Radiance's reserves are being unleashed in an orderly manner. According to Heydrich's intelligence, three days ago, they had already formed the twenty-third angelic legion and promoted the fifteenth Angel King. Not only have they fully withstood the joint attacks of the major pantheons on the outer realms and divine planes, but they even have surplus strength to invest in the material plane. Their church armies are also growing. Currently, the troops they directly control amount to 252 divisions, and the number is still increasing. If we include those they can indirectly influence, it can reach twice that number. Ladies and gentlemen, this is terrifying, very terrifying. It reminds me of America during World War II—time is on the Lord of Radiance's side."

"The war potential of that mother and son is indeed unquestionable!"

Bismarck first acknowledged Prometheus's point, then shifted his tone: "But the more they display their power now, the more dangerous their situation becomes. None of their opponents will allow them to solve their problems at leisure. The situation in the Source Core proves this."

Li Mochen thought that was indeed the case. Now Odin, Zeus, and Ahura were jointly eroding the Lord of Radiance's share.

After a year, the Lord of Radiance's authority in the Source Core had dropped to only 21%, almost equal to Gaia's.

But the situation was even worse for the Goddess of Discord, Eris. Although she had absorbed immeasurable divine power from the worldwide strife, causing her power to grow boundlessly, the 7% authority in the Source Core she had obtained from Gaia had dwindled to less than half.

Of course, Li Mochen had a hand in that too.

About seven months ago, he had reached an understanding with the Night Goddess Nyx and began to jointly squeeze Eris.

Among the many competitors, only Gaia remained silent, taking no action throughout the year.

"I suspect the chaos in Apennine is not the decision of the Mother Goddess Isis. That is certainly not the best time to purge internal elements."

Bismarck smiled with a hint of sarcasm: "So, I believe there is no need to change our established strategy. As long as the 'Umbrella Plan' is completed smoothly, we will be in an invincible position in the war on the material plane."

"That's true, but—?"

Li Mochen fell into thought: "But I still think it's too slow. Can we accelerate the pace of our Umbrella Plan?"

The so-called 'Umbrella Plan' was a war preparation scheme formulated by Li Mochen and his many generals.

It included further military expansion of the Church of Fate, the Sunrise-Light Demon Alliance, and its member families; improvement and reinforcement of the magic tower arrays in key cities; expansion of faith in northern America and Canada; and control and infiltration of various governments and armies.

The minimum goal was to make the Fate Pantheon the mainstream faith of all America, and to directly control ten 'Skywing Knight Orders' and at least 1,200 full-strength divisions organized according to the 'America 4002 Organization'—a new system promoted by the American Federal General Staff, requiring all members to have at least level 5 magical energy cultivation and widespread deployment of bio-augments and magical armor down to the squad level.

Incidentally, the American government currently had 720 full-strength divisions under the '4002 Organization', with more than half deployed to South America to fight the Beast Empire.

According to a plan passed by the American Congress last year, they were to form within three years forty grand fleets including five battleships and five aircraft carriers each, and 2,200 '4002 Organization' divisions, plus additional 'Balance Units' similar to the 'Skywing Knight Orders', organized as twenty brigades equivalent to sub-regiments of the Skywing Knight Order.

Unfortunately, the chaos in North America had severely impacted the federal government's finances, hindering the expansion plan jointly formulated by the Department of Defense and numerous arms dealers.

Due to the struggle for faith, the major pantheons frequently performed divine descents in northern America over the past year, fighting recklessly on that land. Some, extremely vicious, even opened hell gates, leading demons and devils from hell and the abyss to the surface.

The collapse of the overall supernatural management system in the north led to rampant creatures from the dark world ravaging the northern territories of the American Federation. This not only plunged the northern citizens of the Federation into a state of precariousness but also paralyzed the economy of the entire society for a time.

Fortunately, in the southern states and the Great Lakes region, social order was maintained under the leadership of the Church of Fate.

The American government was able to preserve its strength and recently gradually muster forces to clean up the northern chaos.

However, their planned expansion could not be fully implemented. The original 2,200 full-strength divisions were cut to only 1,400, the grand fleet plan was reduced to fewer than thirty, and the planned twenty brigades of 'Balance Units' ended up as only five. The military simply could not allocate more funds to hire high-level magical professionals.

On the contrary, the various member states of the Federation, needing to maintain strong military forces to deal with frequent supernatural incidents, had established large armies of magical professionals equipped with bio-augments and magical armor.

The modification of the magic tower arrays went relatively smoothly. With strong support from local forces, large cities like Manhattan, Los Angeles, Houston, and Atlanta had almost completed the reconstruction of their magic towers.

Li Mochen's requirement was that they could withstand attacks at the main god level for at least half an hour. This had to be credited to the Goddess of Magic; without the magic net, the target set by Li Mochen would have been nearly impossible to achieve.

In summary, the purpose of the entire 'Umbrella Plan' was to first turn themselves into a turtle or hedgehog that no one could bite, and then try to solve problems at higher power levels.

"But this speed is already very fast, Your Majesty!"

Garcia Ferrer frowned: "In such a short time, we have a total of seven 'Skywing Knight Orders' and 670 full-strength divisions. If we go faster, it might affect the quality of the troops. The key is that our factories cannot keep up with production."

"General Garcia is right. I also think maintaining this expansion rate is sufficient."

Bismarck looked at Li Mochen: "Please trust the abilities of me and Heydrich, Your Majesty. I personally guarantee that in the next three years, your pantheon will never fall into a situation of being besieged by the gods."

He knew Li Mochen's anxiety. At this time, the Fate Pantheon was also competing with the Lord of Radiance with all its might.

As the two pantheons with the most widespread faith in the material plane, they were both constantly strengthening themselves and trying to push the other into the abyss.

Both sides were doing their utmost to show their strength and muscles to the Aesir and Olympian gods lurking nearby, saying, 'Look, the guy over there is weaker and tastier.'

Li Mochen had indeed repelled the Aesir and Olympian gods, but only at the divine level.

On the material plane, both pantheons had plenty of ways to compete for faith, even create chaos within each other's spheres of influence, causing panic among the believers of the Fate Pantheon.

The Lord of Radiance's strength could indeed make Zeus and Odin feel threatened, but if the Fate Pantheon was a tastier piece of meat, they would not mind dealing with it first before the main course.

Their monarch, after all, was a being who had grasped 'pseudo-truth'-level fate in just thirty years since birth. To Zeus and Odin, he might be even more dangerous than the Lord of Radiance, who was closer to being a God Above Gods.

"Of course I trust the abilities of you two, but if there is any possibility to speed up progress, it's better to make slight adjustments."

Li Mochen looked steadily at Bismarck: "My Prime Minister, the recent situation makes me uneasy. The situation is too calm, so calm that I suspect something dangerous is happening beneath the surface. I also have some bad premonitions."

This was precisely the reason he had ended his seclusion early. Originally, Li Mochen was only one step away from divine rank 19. He had taken a bit longer than expected, but within two or three months at most, he could make his 'Fate' and 'Time Sequence' reach true pseudo-truth.

At this moment, Bismarck exchanged a startled glance with Prometheus.

The current situation in the world of light could hardly be called 'calm,' but both knew that Li Mochen was referring to the overall trend being uneventful, with no changes beyond their expectations in the entire year.

This was indeed strange, but combined with Li Mochen's intuition as the Lord of Fate, the situation became even more significant.

※※※※

After concluding the meeting with his staff, Li Mochen's main body immediately set off for the Dark World.

He had an appointment there, originally scheduled for three months later, but Li Mochen had moved it up to today.

When Li Mochen broke through space and arrived at the agreed location, two figures soon shuttled in. They were the Night Goddess Nyx and the Lord of Hell, Lucifer, who held the Morning Star.

"Great Lord of Fate, I have come at your invitation."

Upon arrival, Nyx looked at Li Mochen with a half-smile: "To be honest, I'm really curious about the purpose of your invitation. Why is that? Our relationship isn't exactly good."

Despite their perfect tacit understanding regarding Eris.

The Lord of Hell, Lucifer, also cast a puzzled look at Li Mochen: "I thought you had invited only me."

"Apologies. I just want to know why the Dark World and the World of Light cannot truly merge? Why are there fatal flaws in the laws? And what is the true situation of the World Core here? Why, after your return, Great Night Goddess, have you shown no interest in this place?"

Li Mochen asked with a smile: "I think no one knows these questions better than the two of you?"

Nyx went without saying; Lucifer, as the 'Morning Star' symbolizing both light and darkness, could not possibly be uninterested in the situation here.

"Indeed!"

Nyx sighed: "Though I had guessed it long ago, I am still disappointed. I personally would have been much happier with a trade concerning the Source Essence."

Li Mochen had obtained a great deal of the dark source essence from Typhon—so much that it could elevate the mythical armament in her hands to near, or even to, the 'Truth' level.

"It must wait until ten years later. I myself am also looking forward to it."

Li Mochen gave a bitter smile, yet there was a strange look in his eyes as he gazed at Nyx: "But I would rather trade for your share of the Source Nucleus, Your Highness Nyx. Have you not given up yet? As I promised you before, if you are willing to step aside and help me, then in the future I will also go all out to assist you."

He hoped to acquire Nyx's share of the Source Nucleus and turn the Night Goddess into an ally.

Li Mochen saw the struggle for the God Above Gods as akin to a battle for corporate control—how to reduce one's enemies, control more shares, and win over more 'shareholders' was the key to winning this contest.

And Nyx, in Li Mochen's view, was the easiest to win over.

By now, the Night Goddess's chances of victory were nearly nonexistent; she persisted only because the massive investments she had made earlier could not be recouped.

Lucifer, standing not far away, was slightly startled. He had not expected that Li Mochen and Nyx had already formed such a secret alliance.

"But why not have the Lord of Fate help me instead?"

Nyx looked at Li Mochen with a half-smile: "I would offer you even better terms—far better than Gaia or Isis. I lack their arrogance; that is an advantage they cannot match. Andrei, if we join forces, our chances of success are great."

"But Your Highness's credibility leaves me truly uneasy."

Li Mochen sighed and voluntarily ended the topic. He knew it would be impossible to persuade the goddess to step aside in a short time, unless she suffered an even heavier blow.

"Let's talk about this Dark World instead. Is it because the accumulation of karmic filth here is more than twelve thousand times that of the Light World?"

When Li Mochen opened his spiritual vision and gazed into the depths of the Dark World, he could see an ocean of evil karma far vaster and denser than that of the Abyss's bottom layer. Compared to the latter's vast sea, the Light World was merely a small pond.

Li Mochen judged the difference to be more than twelve thousand times—not an exaggeration, but rather a very conservative estimate.

"Isn't that enough?"

Nyx gave a sneer: "I don't even dare to absorb the dark source power here. I imagine it's the same for you, Your Highness Lucifer?"

The Dark World had formed before she left this world. If there had been hope for her to advance further here, why would she have taken the initiative to leave this world and seek opportunities in the outer domains?

"It's not just the evil karma."

Lucifer said coldly: "There are also massive deficiencies in the laws. I once tried to evolve Hell and the Abyss here, but after investing a great deal of resources, I failed. I also know that several Death Gods attempted to build the Underworld here thousands of years ago, but they all failed as well, including Satan. As everyone knows, the souls of all beings here are incomplete, including those of intelligent life. They cannot provide faith power to the gods, and all native races can only reach the level of Greater Gods at most—that is their limit."

Li Mochen knew the actual situation was even more severe than what Lucifer had described.

Not only could the native races of the Dark World not break through to Powerful Gods, but even mythical creatures that had drifted into the Dark World and lived here for over a thousand years faced similar problems. It was extremely difficult for them to advance further beyond Greater God.

In fact, Lucifer and the Death Gods were not the only ones who had suffered setbacks here. The Lord of Light had also invested heavily in the Dark World, attempting to purify its darkness, but in the end, He too had withdrawn in defeat, unable to shine His light upon this world.

"Not entirely. Regarding souls, my subordinate gods and followers—the mage Paracelsus, titled 'First Source Essence'; Temur Hegel, titled 'Supreme Shadow'; 'Mind Master' Eddie Adams; and 'Soul Guide' Croda Klautmann—have all conducted in-depth research. They believe that part of the souls of all beings here was forcibly extracted by some power, rather than being a mere deficiency in the laws. They think the problem lies deep within the Sea of Karma here."

Li Mochen narrowed his eyes and gazed into the depths of this world: "I wonder if the two of you have ever probed the cause?"

'Supreme Shadow' Temur Hegel was originally a national mage of the Teutonic Republic. As a large number of Teutonic deities joined Li Mochen's pantheon, he had no qualms about drawing a double salary from Li Mochen.

'Mind Master' Eddie Adams was a lich whom Li Mochen had forced to surrender more than a decade ago, while 'Soul Guide' Croda Klautmann was another lich mage who had joined Li Mochen's ranks over three years ago.

These four held unquestionable authority in matters of the soul.

"I have entered it, but I didn't find the cause. The Sea of Karma here is extremely dense; I dared not go too deep, as my power is greatly suppressed here. Gaia might know the reason—her descendant Athena was active in the Dark World for a long time, but she has always kept the situation here secret."

Lucifer turned to look at Nyx: "Aside from her, I think the Night Goddess has more say in this matter."

"My situation is no better than yours. The darkness here is impure; it lacks light. So in this Dark World, I cannot fully wield the power of darkness either. But Fate and Time—"

She looked at Li Mochen: "—are relatively much better."

Thus, Li Mochen was far less restricted here than they were. The source power of Fate and Time was also rarely affected by evil karma.

Moreover, in the Light World, he had an unending stream of faith power supporting him.

"So I want to go and see the cause."

A strange light flickered in Li Mochen's eyes: "If we can resolve the law deficiencies here and truly merge the two worlds, Your Highnesses, this might be the opportunity you have dreamed of. While the others are still occupied—"

The Dark World was extremely vast, almost equivalent to the legendary Primordial World of the East. If its defects could be remedied, it would be a feat comparable to the creation of heaven and earth. Given its vastness, it could accommodate not just a God Above Gods, but even an 'Original God' with a divine rank of twenty-three.

Li Mochen had originally planned to explore the depths of the Dark World three months later, when his divine rank reached nineteen, together with the two before him. But the restlessness in his heart recently had made him change his plan. He feared that if he waited three months, he might never have the chance to come here again.

Nyx's expression shifted, and then she nodded frankly: "I am indeed very interested, but I have never found reliable partners or the right timing."

Lucifer hesitated briefly: "I can help, but I don't trust Nyx. So it's best to sign a contract to ensure everyone's safety."

The Night Goddess had crossed paths with Him in the Babylonian era, and their impressions of each other were extremely poor.

※※※※

Li Mochen was naturally prepared; he had specially prepared a soul contract.

When the contract was signed, the three would each place a portion of their soul into the contract scroll. If anyone violated the agreement, that portion of the soul would self-destruct immediately—a form of contract that had great binding power even at the level of God Kings.

After only half a day of preparation, the three joined forces and entered the vast Sea of Karma of the Dark World.

"Andrei, you underestimate the karmic filth of this world. In the depths of this Sea of Karma, the concentration is ten times that of the surface. So it's not just twelve thousand times the total of the Light World; I think it's more than a hundred thousand times."

At this moment, Lucifer's demonic body was pressed tightly against Li Mochen. They had no choice; to resist the contamination of the karmic filth, their divine power was being consumed at a tremendous rate every moment. And for every additional area that needed to be defended, the loss of divine power increased geometrically.

However, working together was still better than going alone. Li Mochen's 'Thebes Sacred Shield', Lucifer's 'Shield of the Morning Star of Victory', and Nyx's mythical armament 'Night Realm' could minimize the infiltration of karmic filth.

If there had been a Lord of Light or a Sun God accompanying them, it would have been even safer, but none of the three wanted that, and the situation on the other side did not allow it.

Nyx corrected lightly: "At least two hundred thousand times. To be honest, I have never been able to imagine where the karmic filth of this world comes from. As everyone knows, evil karma originates from living beings. Given the situation of the Dark World, even tens of billions of years could not accumulate such a vast Sea of Karma."

She had entered the deeper layers of the Dark World's Sea of Karma, so she had more authority to speak.

"Two hundred thousand times?"

Li Mochen's mind trembled: "That is indeed strange. But do you have any clues at all?"

Evil karma originates from living beings and can only act upon living beings.

Thus, the Druids believed that this karmic filth was nature's punishment of intelligent beings.

But the Dark World had very few intelligent beings; most were beasts acting on instinct. Under such circumstances, the evil karma they produced should have been negligible.

"I once guessed it was a remnant of the ancient times of this world."

Lucifer spoke while carefully crushing and expelling the strands of karmic filth that seeped in.

As a fallen Angel King and an ancient god with a divine rank of nineteen, he had higher resistance to karmic filth and could even utilize it to some extent. But that didn't mean this high-purity evil karma caused him no harm.

"There might have been a massive battlefield here, where countless ancient gods fell. This karmic filth could be the remnants they left behind, but there has never been evidence to confirm it."

Nyx's eyes flickered: "My thoughts are similar to yours, but I go a step further. I believe this Dark World itself is the result of the aggregation of the corpses of those ancient gods, similar to ancient star beasts, but possibly on an extremely exaggerated scale. I have discovered 127 unnatural seams in this world, confirming that this Dark World is the result of the fusion of numerous fragment worlds and demiplanes. The reason our Light World has not been absorbed is that it has a decent size of its own and a complete system of roots and a network of laws."

Li Mochen knew that when ancient star beasts died, their corpses would naturally attract surrounding astral matter to evolve into worlds, or even directly devour and absorb nearby small worlds and minor planes.

And the gravity of the Dark World was immense.

"—The situation in the outer domains also confirms my guess. You may know that almost all worlds around us are slowly moving closer to this place, like a magnet."

"That's a fitting analogy."

Lucifer nodded in agreement: "I have a general understanding of the outer domains as well. A friend of mine once concluded that in the next few hundred thousand years, hundreds of worlds will continue to merge in, until the Dark World's gravity is exhausted. Small, incomplete worlds will be absorbed by the Dark World. Relatively complete ones, like the Beast World and the Antolia World, will merge with the Light World. So—"

He glanced sideways at Nyx: "Their struggle for the roots is not just for the chance to become a God Above Gods, but also for the possibility of becoming an 'Original God' in the future."

Li Mochen was also aware of this situation. As a mage whose power in his mortal days was based on astral forces, how could he not understand the outer stars?

As for the so-called 'Original God', also known as the 'Truth God' or 'Transcendent One', it was a great existence truly beyond this world and capable of creating all things.

However, no clear legends or records of the Original God existed in any civilization's origins. This concept existed mostly in theories proposed by mages, who calculated that if a world was vast enough and its core power strong enough, a great existence beyond divine rank 22 would eventually arise.

And the future Light World had such an opportunity.

Thus, the gods' coveting of the God Above Gods was also to seize the initiative in the future, where the winner would take all—

"Original God?"

Nyx gave a scoff: "As far as I know, among the God Kings currently vying for the God Above Gods, some indeed have such thoughts, but that certainly does not include me. Just like you, Lucifer—the reason you never intended to participate from the start is not a lack of interest or ambition, but simply because you cannot achieve it."

Lucifer fell silent. Indeed, he could not achieve it. With 'Venus' as his main divine office, he was powerful, but he truly had no hope of advancing beyond God King.

The power of 'Venus' was a concept bestowed upon it by intelligent beings like humans, but it could not allow him to truly delve into the roots. Unless one day he could replace his main divine office.

Lucifer had once had such an opportunity, but he failed, and that led to his defeat by Ahura and the loss of his Babylonian God King authority.

"The same goes for Eris."

A barely perceptible shadow of malice flickered in Nyx's eyes, but on the surface, she only smiled self-deprecatingly: "I once explained this to her, but she seemed unwilling to accept it, or simply didn't believe me. I have to say, as a mother, I am truly a failure."

Lucifer was too lazy to respond; he scoffed at Nyx's words.

Although the world of gods had no maternal bonds, whether from a mortal or a divine perspective, Nyx was unqualified as a wife and mother—and indeed, malicious.

She had sent several of her own offspring to their doom, and after her husband Chronos was defeated, she struck him viciously, devouring nearly half of his divine body.

Thus, even setting aside the Eris's own vicious and ruthless nature, her betrayal of Nyx last time was entirely understandable.

The time that followed was spent in casual conversation among the three.

Mainly between Li Mochen and Nyx. After the possibility of easing their conflict and contradiction, Nyx was quite friendly toward Li Mochen. She answered many of his questions, especially about the secrets of the ancient gods, speaking without reservation.

However, Li Mochen found that their progress in the Sea of Karma was far slower than he had imagined.

It was not until two full days and nights later that Nyx pointed around: "I have only ever reached this point before. By then, my divine power was already consumed to nearly forty-five percent."

Lucifer's eyes narrowed, and he glanced at the Night Goddess again. The deepest point he had ever reached in the Sea of Karma was a whole level shallower than Nyx's, which meant there was actually a huge power gap between them.

But that was in the past. Recently, the 'Dark Seal' he had obtained from Li Mochen, along with those source essences, had given his strength a leap forward.

The surging divine power within him at this moment proved it. Even in this place, at this time, Lucifer still retained more than ninety percent of his divine power.

Lucifer knew that in the past, he could never have managed that.

The three continued deeper, but at this level, almost every kilometer forward consumed a massive amount of their divine power reserves.

Li Mochen had begun to take the lead. Although his divine rank was only eighteen, his endurance was actually the strongest among the three.

But at this moment, the most troublesome thing was the depletion of energy. The surrounding baleful forces began to seep into every crevice, infiltrating relentlessly, and transforming into countless threads that slithered around their bodies with uncanny agility, like elusive serpents.

They had to muster all their concentration to shatter, refine, and expel them. Otherwise, a moment of carelessness could leave them contaminated by the baleful force.

Li Mochen remained somewhat wary of Nyx. If she were to ease up slightly on the infiltrating baleful forces and subtly guide them, she could greatly increase the pressure on him and Lucifer.

However, the Night Goddess remained fairly obedient, cautious and diligent. When half a day had passed, Li Mochen's attention was drawn to the changes occurring around them.