Meanwhile, Xi Wei watched over his believers from within his Divine Kingdom.
Using his own believers as a base station for the Divine Eye, he naturally saw the anomaly in the volcanic zone.
Still, as a god, Xi Wei could see the real situation more clearly than mortals like Edward and the others.
First of all, the Bizarre Rotting Maggots were definitely the Salamander worshippers of the God of Fire. However, the essence of the mutation was not the fall of the God of Fire, but the body of the Salamander being invaded by a certain being through the passage of faith, ultimately turning them into such monsters.
Since the passage of faith was used, there was an eighty percent chance that it had something to do with the divine body that Ignizdorag left behind after his death. As for the specifics, since Ignizdorag's divine body wasn't with Xi Wei and he didn't have any channels to investigate, he wasn't sure.
"Troubled times …" He sighed. The entire ball seemed to have deflated a little. Then, he looked at the side of one of his tentacles.
There was a stuffed lion doll that looked like a cartoon lion.
It was part of Aslan's divinity and authority. When Aslan himself was killed, the doll would take over the authority of the God of Justice and become a semi-finished divinity, preventing the authority of Justice from falling into the hands of other gods.
Since the doll was not reacting, it seemed that the Great Lion was still safe.
Xi Wei scratched what was probably his face with his tentacles, troubled if he should assign a new mission to Edward and the others. "Should I interfere or not …"
Although he had always been bold and liked to cause trouble, that was only when it was beneficial to him or when he did not want to go against his own conscience.
Now that Ignizdorag's death was pushed to the heart of the divine realm, an intermediate god like him would definitely draw the attention and enmity of the other gods if he interfered.
Considering that the greatest suspect for Ignizdorag's murder was Flintman the Thief of Fire who was on the same side as Ignizdorag, it was not impossible for him to become an accomplice and public enemy of the gods.
That was why he was really a little scared this time.
"Hmm?"
Just as Xi Wei was about to act as if he did not see what Edward and the others were doing, he suddenly sensed a god appearing outside his Divine Kingdom.
The presence was familiar — it wasn't an unfamiliar god.
Hence, he opened the barrier of his Divine Kingdom and allowed it to enter.
"Why are you here?"
The new deity was Stoff, the God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine. Both he and Xi Wei were deities of the Invisible Pantheon and had a certain degree of cooperation. At present, most of the workers in the Player towns and blacksmiths were believers of the dwarven deity.
"Aslan came to me and told me that you're the next Ruler of the Invisible Pantheon." Stoff said slowly, glancing at Xi Wei. "I have to admit that you're a very talented fellow. You're the only one in my divine life who could rise from Demi-God to intermediate in such a short time."
"You flatter me."
Xi Wei replied, at the same time making a proud 'as expected of me' gesture.
Stoff paid no heed to Xi Wei's actions. He knew very well that a being who could ascend as an Intermediate God in such a short time would never be a fool, and that Stoff was most likely using this method to disguise himself.
Stoff continued, "While I have no objections to Aslan's decision, the other gods of the Invisible Pantheon might not support his decision."
"So?"
Xi Wei asked disapprovingly.
Right now, aside from Flintman whose whereabouts were unknown, the other members of the Invisible Pantheon were at most equal to him in terms of rank, and he didn't fear them at all.
Moreover, if it wasn't for Aslan's request, Xi Wei himself wouldn't be interested in taking over the Invisible Pantheon.
After all, a faction that the gods used to group together was meaningless to Xi Wei who had always fought alone.
Moreover, the underlying meaning of his words naturally included the question 'What are you here for?'
"I'll tell you some information about the other gods in the Invisible Pantheon. What you do after that is up to you. Besides, I've experienced two Divine Wars, and I'm a veteran god of the same generation as Aslan. You can ask me directly if you have anything you want to know."
Stoff replied.
Even though he spoke like an old man, as if he had a lot of experience, Xi Wei immediately understood what he was trying to convey. 'Good lord, isn't he here to pledge his loyalty?'
At first, Xi Wei had wanted to directly ask about Wendy, the Old Wind God, but felt that Stoff might not know much about it. After all, Sotor, the one who was involved back then, had become one of the Seven Divine Fathers, while Stoff was just an Intermediate God …
Hence, he changed to a question he had been curious about for a long time.
"Why are all of you so sure that the Fourth Divine War will happen?"
Xi Wei had actually thought about that question for a long time himself.
At first, he thought that it was because he didn't understand the situation in the divine realm, and that there might be many gods who appeared to be friendly but could not wait for the other to die on the spot?
Still, after understanding a little, he realized that while such situations did exist, there weren't many of them.
What was even more difficult to explain was the existence of the Seven Divine Fathers.
Xi Wei himself had met Sotor and the Earthweaver among them, and it was clear that they were gods who leaned towards the side of Order.
On the other hand, the Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory worshiped Lyant, the God of Light and Kratos, the God of War, were not exactly deities of Chaos. It was precisely because of their existence that peace had been maintained for so long.
But now, these two gods had not fallen, nor did they show any signs of weakness. With the top combat power maintaining a stable state, why did all the gods think that the Fourth Divine War was about to begin?
"Because it's time to shuffle the cards." Stoff was rather surprised, but he explained honestly. "Like you said, the world … or the Prime Material Plane's share of faith has basically stabilized. Even if there were some who would change their faith due to natural or man-made calamities, there aren't many overall."
"But if that's the case, here's the problem — at a time when the market of faith has basically been completely divided, even if it continues to develop, it will only lead to a situation where the strong become stronger and the weak become weaker. In fact, if many divine systems do not fight to the death, they might naturally perish in another thousand years without the need for other gods to do anything." Stoff sighed. "After all, most of the gods now are deities of faith, and not native gods."
I see. So they're seizing the chance for one last fight.
In the Third Divine War, there were certainly many gods who regained new life by plundering the divinity of other defeated gods — even Stoff, who stood before him, had stolen the authority of the God of Fine Wine in that war.
It seems that the Divine War was an irreversible trend, and the deities who intended to fight to the death had been waiting for an opportunity. After all, initiating a divine war would only result in becoming a target at the very first moment and being destroyed. That was why it was important to have a justifiable excuse to start a war.
And the fall of Ignitz's Dorag was precisely the best excuse to do so!
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