Chapter 828: Chapter 828 – Faith and Civilization

A powerful aura began to rise. On the tall platform, Chris’ aura shot into the sky.

That aura was so powerful that nobody and no instruments in the world could completely suppress it even if all were used together.

Bang!

As if a glass had shattered, the surrounding void was swept up in all directions. The aura belonging to Chris was rising. In the beginning, it swept in all directions, but in the end, it had already spread rapidly and occupied the entire city.

There were tens of millions of people gathered in this city. At this moment, under the guidance of Chris’ aura, they had all changed their course of action. Their strengths and aura were directly guided and gathered towards Chris’ body.

The strength and aura of a single person were nothing. However, when the strength and aura of tens of millions of people were gathered together on a single person’s body, that aura becomes terrifying.

At this moment, a terrifying aura rushed towards the horizon, suppressing all directions.

In the distance, Jameson and the others’ expressions did not change. They only stared quietly and let out their exclamations. “What a spectacular scene…”

“Yeah…”

Someone else echoed from the side.

To them, the scene before them was terrifying, but they could still accept it. They were all pioneers and the closest beings to that level in the world besides Chris. Therefore, they had long made assumptions about what kind of power should be nurtured at this level.

And Chris’ performance at this moment only confirmed their guesses, allowing them to understand that this power was real.

“This is the power that only Ancient Kings can possess…”

Jameson looked at Chris’ figure in the distance, and his eyes were slightly complicated. The Ninth Rank was the level that only Ancient Kings could reach in the past within this world.

Only those Ancient Kings who were the closest descendants of the primogenitors could have such power.

In the past, Jameson could not imagine this. But now, someone was using his own power and efforts to break the laws of the past, trying to ascend to that level.

This was nothing for people from other worlds, such as Charlie and the others. It was just the most serious thing. But for the bloodline noble of this world, the occurrence of this kind of thing was no different from a myth.

Fortunately, Jameson had witnessed similar myths many times. From the past Fourth Rank, Fifth Rank, to the present Ninth Rank, Jameson had witnessed breakthroughs time and time again.

Sometimes he thought that perhaps everything in the past era was wrong. Otherwise, how could this new era have achieved so much when it had just begun?

After the passing of the past years, this era had only been established for a few thousand years, but it was already beyond recognition and had achieved so much.

The world was so wonderful and prosperous that extraordinary beings and mortals could have a colorful life. Those who were willing to advance had their own path to take. Those who were not willing to work hard could live in peace, unlike in the past.

In comparison, the past era seemed wonderful, but it was like a prison that trapped everyone inside, making it impossible for them to break free.

In comparison, the present era is much better. Even Jameson, who was once an absolute beneficiary, a complete royal family, had such thoughts, let alone others.

Perhaps to some extent, for ordinary people in this world, the current era was like heaven, the world they dreamed of. Of course, nothing in this world was perfect.

Even now, this era, in Jameson’s view, is extremely beautiful. Many people are still dissatisfied with it and even want to subvert it. But this does not change the fact that this era is better than the past and the truth.

All kinds of thoughts passed through his mind. Jameson looked up and forward.

At this moment, Chris’s promotion has been completed nearly half. In other words, he had already crossed most of the threshold, leaving only the last bit of obstruction.

But this was only a matter of time for Chris. In Jameson’s heart, it was impossible for Chris not to pass this promotion. It was acceptable for his own failure, but Chris would never fail. This was Jameson’s confidence in Chris as an opponent.

To a certain extent, this confidence was accumulated over a long period of time. In the past, no matter what he did, Chris would never let anyone down. He was always ahead of everyone. It was this past glory that gave everyone confidence that Chris would succeed.

But if this continued, how far would Chris go?

Jameson could not help but think, “After the Ninth Rank, it seems to be…”

The name that had almost become an obsession flashed through his mind. The Saint Child.

Above the Ninth Rank was the Demigod, also known as the Saint Child in this world. It meant the holy son.

In this world, the Demigods were the descendants of the primogenitors, the holy sons they had nurtured through various means. Mortals couldn’t peek into that domain. Even now, it was impossible.

But if not now, what about the future?

Jameson could not help but think of this idea. His body could not help but start to throb. There were countless times he wanted to see a Saint Child that he had personally nurtured.

But now, it seemed that he could reach this step. As a mortal, he had previously reached the level of a Saint Child.

At the thought of this, his face could not help but become calm, and the emotions in his heart became firmer and firmer as if he had already established a certain belief.

Jameson and the others did not know that while they were watching this promotion ceremony, there were also people watching this place in no man’s land. Moreover, these people were not ordinary people but three divine existences.

Chen Heng stood quietly in the void, looking at the scene on the ground below. In that scene, a tall tower with Chris’ figure was on it. He was extremely focused there and roared at the entire world.

Looking at his appearance, Chen Heng could not help but smile. “It looks like the first divine existence in this world will be born soon…

“What do you think?”

He looked at the God of Shadows and the God of Nature and asked with a smile. The God of Shadows and the God of Nature were silent in response to Chen Heng’s question.

At this moment, they looked at Chris under their feet and felt complicated. It had only been a few years, but this world had already given birth to existence with the potential to ascend to the divine level.

“Very impressive…”

The God of Nature spoke with a complicated tone. “It’s only been five or six thousand years, and he’s already reached this step. If he’s given another ten thousand years, there might be a possibility of ascending to the divine level…”

Chris undoubtedly had the possibility of ascending to the divine level. This was the conclusion the God of Shadows and the God of Nature had come to long ago.

In their eyes, this possibility was not very high in the past, but now it was another matter. With their foresight, they could already faintly sense a certain degree of Destiny’s trajectory.

Thus, when they felt that throb, they understood that a future divine level would be born very soon if nothing unexpected happened. This speed was really, very fast.

“How’s the situation on your side?”

After looking at Chris, Chen Heng shifted his gaze to the God of Shadows. The God of Shadows had been trying something for thousands of years. He had used the Cardo Empire as an experiment ground and attempted to find the balance between faith and development.

But in the end, he was met with complete failure. In the beginning, he tried to reduce the life span of the priests and weaken their power to reduce the obstruction of the secular world.

This attempt was undoubtedly a failure. The God of Shadows soon discovered that if the priests’ power were weakened too much, it would lead to resistance from the secular world. At that time, the church with the priests as its core would be attacked, and the faith would no longer be respected.

At that time, the situation would be even worse than before. This attempt had since been declared a failure.

Subsequently, the God of Shadows made various attempts. For example, while strengthening the power of the priests, it also focused on supporting some geniuses in the secular world, making them the Chosen Ones for some time. He hoped that the Chosen Ones would lead the Cardo Empire through one revolution after another.

This kind of operation was not rare. There was a similar situation in many worlds at a specific time. A fierce man appeared from the sky and smashed everything into pieces. Nothing could stop him, no matter what was in front of him.

Of course, in the Cardo Empire, where the priests were so powerful, it was very difficult for such a fierce man to succeed.

Under normal circumstances, no matter how strong one was, one would still have to submit obediently under the suppression of the powerful priests. There was simply no room for one to display your strength. It didn’t matter whether one was a dragon or a tiger.

However, this near-impossible change was successful under the strong support of the God of Shadows, who was the final boss.

Under the blessing of all sorts of luck comparable to winning the lottery, the reformers achieved the impossible repeatedly, completing the change repeatedly.

Then the God of Shadows fell silent again. Because after the changes, productivity increased greatly, but the situation did not develop as he had imagined.

The increase in productivity would lead to a population explosion, but it would also greatly develop the wisdom of the people. When education caught up, believers would no longer be as devout as before. Only those who were in despair were the most devout believers. Because a person in despair has nothing, he can only rely on his god.

But when the masses develop, people are shocked to find that they can rely on their work to get everything they want, adequate food, gorgeous clothes, and a better life.

In this case, faith will inevitably dissipate and retreat. Perhaps in the traditional atmosphere, many people would still be entering the church to worship and pray, praying to god for all kinds of wishes.

But this was no longer the so-called faith. This faith was no longer pure but just a transaction. True believers would not give up their faith and worship because god did not bestow gifts but would integrate the faith into their own lives.

If they only prayed to the god when they needed it and abandoned the god when they did not need it, would that still be faith?

Because of this, the God of Shadows was silent and did not know what to do. If they developed productivity, the wisdom of the people would inevitably open up, and at that time, the faith would fade.

However, if they forcefully cut off this, suppressing the wisdom of the people and making everything go back to the original, it would cause many people and believers to die.

This was also a serious waste. Compared to the two, neither seemed to be good. Then, was there a way to achieve the best of both worlds?

There seemed to be. As long as the believers were suppressed and provided with sufficient food to allow them to continue to reproduce, they would not have to worry about food and drink.

Then, they would naturally be able to reduce conflicts and prevent riots from happening again. They would also stop the priests from suppressing the believers who belonged to the God of Shadows.

Simply put, it was to obtain resources from the outside world to raise their believers. Just like how humans raised livestock, they raised their believers as livestock.

And the priests would become shepherds who guarded the livestock. This was the final method that the God of Shadows obtained.

After trying it, the effect was indeed good. With sufficient food, the people would no longer worry about their livelihood. Everyone could easily survive and no longer had to fight for limited living space.

At the same time, because of the existence of faith, the spiritual world in their hearts could be filled, and their endurance would be raised to the maximum. This could be maintained for a long time.

In theory, it was indeed perfect. But there were two huge flaws.

The first flaw was that they had to obtain a huge amount of food and other necessities from the outside world. Otherwise, as the population grew, conflicts would eventually erupt.

The second problem was that this system could only be used in a relatively closed system. This was because if the system was not closed enough and there were evenly matched or even more powerful enemies in the outside world, then this system would not be able to survive in the competition.

 Sooner or later, it would be affected by external forces or collapse. And in the Cardo Empire, this condition could be perfectly fulfilled.

“Unfortunately…”

The God of Shadows looked at the world under his feet and at the believers who lived in the Cardo Empire with fanatical expressions and did not have to worry about food and drink. His feelings could not help but become complicated.

The God of Shadows was not evil. On the contrary, he was a rather enlightened god. He had fought for his believers more than once in the past era.

Therefore, when he saw the changes in the Primogenitor World, he hoped that his believers could be like this and become better like the people in the outside world.

However, there seemed to be a natural impulse between civilization and faith. In other words, those people still had faith in their hearts, but what they believed was no longer imposed on them by others but something they believed in themselves.