Chapter Fifty-Six

“Mr. Huang, it’s not that we’re not taking this seriously; in fact, we anticipated this situation long ago.” Ding Xuewen sighed and said, “Freya is the most widely worshipped native deity in our country. Conservatively speaking, she has at least thirty million followers at present.”

“Thirty million… That many?” The black dragon was taken aback, his draconic eyes wide. “Haven’t you always been cracking down on deity worship? How could her faith have spread so unchecked?”

“Mr. Huang… there’s really nothing we can do about it.” Ding Xuewen’s face was helpless. “Freya is a benevolent goddess. Her doctrine and teachings resonate with people’s spiritual needs, and our country has always respected religious freedom… so it’s difficult to strictly contain her worship.”

“These thirty million believers—even if most are only shallow adherents—still combine to form a massive force of faith. And because it comes from our own citizens, it does allow her to exercise a measure of divine power.”

“So, her recent little maneuvers don’t surprise us. In fact, we’ve also considered worse scenarios—for instance, if one day the barrier separating us from the outside world disappears, what should we do then?”

“…That would be a catastrophe,” the black dragon said gravely after a brief pause.

Not to mention that domestic residents are naturally allergic to magical elements, nor the deities and demons watching from beyond or beneath the world—just the extraordinary creatures circling Xia’s borders would be enough to spell disaster.

The black dragon had read the reports: in the regions surrounding Xia, there were at least a thousand level six or seven entities. If the barrier vanishes, and the worlds merge, they will surely swarm in, eager to seize this rich land.

“Yes, it would be a terrible calamity.” Ding Xuewen’s expression was equally grave. “But since our country has arrived in this world, integration is inevitable sooner or later.”

“Many of us have a strong premonition that the barrier will disappear eventually, and that day may not be far off.”

“So we must always prepare for the worst, and ensure we are ready for any contingency as quickly as possible.”

“…Indeed,” the black dragon nodded in agreement. After a moment’s thought, he suddenly asked, “Is faith really so important to deities?”

“Yes—not just important, but absolutely vital!” Ding Xuewen nodded. “Faith isn’t just their favorite nourishment; it’s also the foundation of their divinity and the source of their power!”

“In that case…” The black dragon’s eyes shone with inspiration. “Couldn’t we create our own god?”

“Think about it—Xia has a population of over a billion. If we could unify our beliefs and worship a single deity, wouldn’t we be able to create an unimaginably powerful god?”

“No, we don’t even need to create one. We could just believe in the great gods from our own mythology and make them manifest. Yuanshi Tianzun, the Supreme Lord Laozi, Gonggong and Zhurong… Even Sun Wukong or Nezha could thrash those native deities!”

“…”

Ding Xuewen was momentarily stunned by this. He exchanged glances with the other academicians beside him and then replied with a wry smile, “Mr. Huang… Your idea is good, but unfortunately, it won’t work.”

“In this world, gods existed before intelligent beings like humans. It’s extremely difficult to conjure a deity out of nothing through faith alone.”

“I see… what a pity!” The black dragon was visibly disappointed, then reconsidered. If the gods from Eastern legends really did become real, it might not be good news for him.

After all, many immortals liked to use dragons as their mounts, and some—less refined—were fond of eating dragon liver…

He was, after all, a Western fantasy dragon. His lineage was rather paltry, and even if he had a passionate heart, his fate might not be enviable.

“It’s true… We have actually tried to artificially create a god,” Ding Xuewen remarked with some emotion. “People often say that our nation lacks faith, but in the age of information and viral trends, it’s actually quite easy to ‘make’ a god.”

“We once tried to establish a divine persona for Sun Wukong. After all, the Great Sage is a household name, and with hundreds of millions united in belief and worship, perhaps we could have brought him to life…”

“But in reality, it failed. Our national god-making campaign lasted more than a month, and not only did we not see a shadow of Sun Wukong, we didn’t even dream of the Monkey King.”

“Still, the project wasn’t without merit. It helped us significantly curb the spread of native deity worship.”

“After all, compared to these native gods, our people much prefer the deities from our own mythology. If those can’t be made manifest, then foreign deities must be false too!”

“I see…” The black dragon mused. He had never imagined that the nation had truly attempted a mass god-creation project, though it was a shame it hadn’t succeeded—otherwise, things would have been far more interesting.

A war between Eastern deities and native gods—just the thought was exhilarating!

But thinking it through, failure seemed inevitable. If gods could be conjured so easily, then when Xia first arrived in this world, a host of gods would have appeared instantly.

Mazu, Buddha, Guanyin, the God of Wealth… These deities have never lacked worshippers within the country.

…

“So, with Freya targeting us, is there really no way we can counter her?” the black dragon asked curiously. “Does our country have any means of dealing with deities?”

“…We do, but the results are far from ideal.” Ding Xuewen hesitated before answering. “Currently, our main method for combating deities is through laser weaponry.”

“A deity’s true form usually resides in the heavens—like shooting at satellites, we can use laser weapons to threaten their true bodies.”

“As long as we have the right materials and enough energy, laser intensity is theoretically limitless. The ‘Beautiful Country’ once produced a five-hundred-trillion-watt laser in the lab; their military-grade ones reach ten trillion watts.”

“Our technology isn’t quite that advanced, but we’ve managed to develop lasers in the tens or hundreds of billions of watts, and we’re still ramping up our investment.”

“Not long ago, we used several eighty-billion-watt lasers to deal with an evil god—one that had deliberately spread corruption among our citizens. We lured it in and struck it with a pulse laser, severely wounding it.”

“…That’s one reason the native deities of this world are wary of us,” Ding Xuewen added with another sigh. “Unfortunately, this method is highly energy-inefficient, and the accuracy is abysmal. It’s not easy to actually hit a deity in the heavens.”