Chapter 160: The Path to Godhood

"Hum!"

With the blooming of spatial essence, Gune felt himself being shifted in spatial position once again.

After the milky white light dissipated,

Gune appeared inside an ancient palace with somewhat dim colors.

The layout and decoration of the entire vast palace were filled with an exotic style, giving a sense of ancient solemnity and dignity.

After looking around for a while,

Gune sensed something and looked to the right.

There, about ten meters to the right, the dark elementalist, with a very weak aura and looking extremely weary, sat cross-legged on the ground, his body completely wrapped in a black robe.

After glancing at Gune, he drank another bottle of black potion and then fell back into a state of recuperation.

Clearly, the divine power eruption earlier had a tremendous impact on him.

Divine power is extremely harmful to transcendents—Gune was well aware of this.

If it weren't for the energy restriction confining him here, Gune would have killed him and taken the treasure on the spot.

Then Gune looked to the left.

Sure enough, he saw Senior Nigel.

At that moment, Nigel, seeing Gune's arrival, also showed a delighted expression.

Then his expression sobered, and he glanced at Gune while occasionally casting sidelong looks at the distant dark elementalist.

It was gratifying that they had obtained two crowns, but the other party had also gotten one—clearly not a good thing.

Withdrawing his gaze from Nigel, Gune pondered inwardly.

"Since Senior Nigel has already arrived here, it goes without saying that he indeed obtained a divine crown."

"Although it wasn't the best outcome of killing all enemies, getting two crowns, and the more valuable ones at that, is still a very good result for us."

Gune mused silently.

After the three waited for a while,

"Whoosh..."

A dense mist converged.

In midair, the enormous body of the Strange Sea Elder, a full ten meters in size, coalesced.

After a few breaths, the Strange Sea Elder's form finally solidified.

Then he looked down at Gune and the other two.

"Congratulations to the three of you for obtaining the divine crowns." The Strange Sea Elder's voice boomed like thunder.

"The divine realm is a very important stage in transcendental cultivation within the vast transcendental world."

"At the same time, the paths to godhood also differ."

The Strange Sea Elder began to explain slowly.

The three immediately composed themselves and listened attentively.

"The divine crowns in your hands belong to different paths to godhood."

"The divine crown in your hand is the path of faith-based godhood by gathering faith, corresponding to the divine emissary route." The Strange Sea Elder pointed at the dark elementalist.

"The divine crown in your hand is the path of self-cultivating ancestral spirit faith, the ancestral spirit godhood route." This time he pointed at Nigel.

"And the one in your hand is the saint-rank divine crown, following the saint-rank godhood route." Finally, he pointed at Gune naturally.

The dark elementalist frowned slightly.

"Are there differences among these divine crowns?"

He was also aware of certain distinctions between divine emissaries, ancestral spirits, and saint-rank.

But he hadn't expected that the three divine crowns this time would also differ.

He had always thought all three crowns were faith crowns; who would have guessed that only his crown was a faith crown.

"Though it's a weaker deity, it's still a deity. As long as I become a god, I can still become an eternal existence. Eternal life—that is my highest pursuit," the dark elementalist thought, clenching his fist.

"The faith-based path to godhood involves gathering faith and then condensing a divine crown. The continent of Oya has seen several faith-path deities in the past. In fact, these faith gods have repelled multiple invasions from the darkness."

The Strange Sea Elder continued.

"However, after achieving godhood through faith, one is limited by the power of faith."

"The stronger the faith power and the more intelligent beings that believe, the greater the deity's power."

"But once separated from faith, the deity rapidly weakens, becoming a very feeble god, to the point that even powerful demigods can kill such a faith-deprived deity."

"The ancestral spirit godhood route is different."

"Ancestral spirits involve opening one's own inner space, condensing ancestral spirits one by one, then using their faith to achieve godhood, and subsequently transforming the inner space into a divine kingdom."

"The divine kingdom can both provide power to the ancestral spirit deity and supply faith, and this faith is not subject to external interference."

"Thus, ancestral spirit deities continuously expand their inner divine kingdoms, growing stronger and stronger."

"Next is the saint-rank path to godhood."

"The saint-rank path uses natural essence to condense a powerful saint seat, then continuously strengthens it, eventually becoming a saint-rank demigod, and finally ascending to become a mighty saint-rank deity."

"In other words, the saint-rank path is the essence-based path to godhood."

"Many powerful large-scale transcendental worlds, even the supreme high-dimensional transcendental worlds, pursue saint-rank godhood."

"But condensing a saint seat through essence is extremely, extremely difficult."

"Just comprehending essence alone often takes decades or even centuries to make slight progress."

"Among humans, even top-tier transcendent masters have lifespans of only five to six hundred years. Unless they use vast amounts of life spring water, they can extend their lifespan to two or three thousand years."

"Even so, it's hard to accumulate enough essence to condense a saint seat."

"Therefore, the number of saint-rank powerhouses is still very small."

"Saint-rank powerhouses rely solely on essence condensation. Upon first becoming saint-rank, they cannot grasp divine power or communicate with it; they can only rely on their own transformed source power."

"As for the divine emissary and ancestral spirit routes, because of faith, upon reaching the divine emissary or ancestral spirit realm, they can already absorb and utilize divine power to a slight degree."

"You know well how powerful source power enhanced by divine power is, and divine emissaries and ancestral spirits can naturally unleash the might of divine power."

"Thus, newly ascended saint-rank powerhouses are far inferior in overall strength to those on the other two routes."

"But as the saint seat gradually improves, especially after becoming a demigod and mastering divine power,"

"at that point, saint-rank demigods possess divine power, and their own essence is already stronger than that of divine emissaries and ancestral spirits. Moreover, following the essence route allows them to unleash essence's power to a greater extent."

"Therefore, at the demigod level, saint-rank demigods are very powerful. Some powerful demigods can even rival ordinary faith deities."

Listening to the Strange Sea Elder's explanation,

the three quickly digested the information inwardly.

After all, such information was simply inaccessible outside.

After pondering for a moment, Gune gently asked,

"Senior Strange Sea, if a saint-rank uses divine power, can they match divine emissaries and ancestral spirits?"

"Using others' divine power is not impossible." The Strange Sea Elder said softly.

"But divine emissaries and ancestral spirits use divine power they themselves channel, allowing them to both perfectly utilize it and avoid harming themselves."

"A saint-rank, however, uses others' divine power. You must understand that a saint seat naturally repels others' divine power, and you also know how powerful divine power is—it will backlash against this repulsion."

"This results in a saint-rank suffering great harm from using another deity's divine power, while also struggling to unleash its original might."

"Therefore, saint-rank powerhouses generally do not casually use others' divine power, as it is simply not worth it."

"Most saint-rank practitioners focus on early cultivation to become demigods as soon as possible. Only upon becoming a demigod can a saint-rank's true strength be unleashed."

"I see." Gune nodded slightly.

"So, if a saint-rank's source power is strong enough and their essence comprehension deep enough, they can match divine emissaries and ancestral spirits of the same stage?"

"Of course." The Strange Sea Elder nodded.

"After all, strength is relative. As long as you continuously refine and enhance your source power, and your essence is ten or even a hundred times that of others,"

"then even if you are saint-rank and the other is a divine emissary, both at the first turn, you can still slay a divine emissary of the same realm."

As he spoke, the Strange Sea Elder looked at Gune and said softly,

"What, do you want to become such a monstrous saint-rank, rare even in high-dimensional worlds?"

"I was just asking." Gune replied.

The Strange Sea Elder smiled and said nothing.

Earlier, he had seen how formidable the profound world essence on Gune was—far thicker than that of ordinary divine emissaries and ancestral spirits.

For Gune, given enough time, becoming such a terrifying saint-rank was not impossible.