On another planet.
A young man with the strength of an ordinary high-level god is facing an attack by more than a dozen strange beasts, and is in grave danger.
"Damn it! How can these guys self-destruct?!"
The boy dodged desperately, feeling extremely frustrated.
He was skilled in assassination, planning to kill his opponent with a sneak attack and then immediately escape.
Unexpectedly, the opponent self-destructed after being killed, breaking his stealth ability and attracting many powerful monsters.
"Damn it, is this the end? I carry the hopes of the entire plane, and I can't even pass the first round of selection. How can I face going back! Die!"
The boy let out a low growl and thrust forward with all his might, wielding a short sword.
Bang!
The sword light, enveloped in divine power, severed the foreleg of one of the strange beasts, but it was also pierced through the body by the claws of another strange beast. Then, in the ensuing struggle, its flesh was torn into dozens of pieces by the surrounding strange beasts and swallowed whole.
Am I dead?
A slightly ethereal soul floated out from the spot, watching this scene with a heart full of resentment.
He only killed fewer than 30 monsters, so he was destined to be eliminated.
At that moment, a strange fluctuation occurred.
"Brave young man, your courage has won the favor of the will of the underworld. Would you be willing to load the Promising Future System and gain another chance?"
"Who are you? Why did you choose me? This is a trial set up by the Holy Light and the Necromancer pantheon. Can you really let me do it again?"
The boy did not refuse immediately, but asked.
"I am the will of this world. By order of the great God Jiang Yan, I am selecting promising talents from the trials for training. Your courage is admirable, so I have decided to give you another chance."
He patiently explained the fluctuation.
"Okay, loading confirmed!"
The boy hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said.
"Congratulations, you made the right choice." The fluctuating voice became more uplifting.
"System is loading, please wait... Loading complete!"
Suddenly, a virtual panel filled with various modules appeared before my eyes.
The boy looked around curiously and found that only three modules were lit up: Tasks, Contribution Exchange, and Listening to Baptism.
Among the contribution points available for exchange is the "Resurrect on the spot" option, which costs 2000 contribution points per use, with a 0.01 discount for the first use, meaning it only costs 2 points.
What should I do?
"You are currently in a soul state and cannot accept quests. Therefore, you can choose to listen to the baptism to earn contribution points. Each time you listen, you will receive 0.1 contribution points. You only need to listen 20 times to exchange for resurrection."
"That's simple? Got it."
The boy nodded and selected the "Listen to Baptism" function.
In an instant, he felt his consciousness gradually rise, and a six-winged angel with a gentle temperament appeared before him, dressed in a white dress.
She held a sacred text and read it slowly, conveying a sense of intimacy that drew people in.
Especially those eyes, which seemed to hold encouragement, recognition, trust... and all the best wishes.
The boy felt a moment of disorientation, and he couldn't help but murmur:
"system."
"Um?"
"I want to believe in the Holy Light."
......
Meanwhile, in the Holy City, within the Kingdom of God.
Above, a nebula composed of "mechanical overlords" is spinning rapidly, monitoring the trials of the entire underworld.
Occasionally, footage of promising candidates will be extracted and broadcast live.
"It seems that the examinees can be roughly divided into four types."
Jiang Yan observed quietly for a long time, and then he understood.
The first category consists of powerful, long-lived high-ranking gods. They act cautiously, refuse to be loaded into the "god-making sequence," and the strange beasts in the trials pose no threat to them.
He also set up corresponding measures for these people in the second and third rounds. Unless they could resist the temptation of divine positions, they would surely become believers in the Holy Light before the final round.
The second category consists of young, high-ranking gods who are of average strength but have merits and good potential. Most of them are unwilling to accept defeat and, tempted by things like "watching ads to revive," have been loaded into the "god-making sequence."
Now, thanks to the expansion of the faith, Aetherias's "Heavenly Succubus" effect can have a slight impact on high-level gods.
As long as they listen to baptism repeatedly, they will be subtly influenced by the holy light in their faith.
The third category consists of trial participants from Holy City itself, including some of the four-winged angels from Heaven, powerful undead bone dragon knights, and powerful lords or professionals like Du Changkong who have climbed to the upper levels of the Holy Light Undead God Tower.
After all, since the "Battle of the Gods" was an event initiated by Holy Spirit City, Jiang Yan naturally wouldn't restrict his own people from participating.
If, in the end, the supreme gods of all realms are not as powerful as ordinary angels and the dead, then it would be better to give the divine position to a more trustworthy subordinate.
As for the fourth category, these are ordinary high-ranking gods with average strength and no potential or special qualities.
After they are eliminated, there will be two options.
Firstly, load the "God-Making Sequence" to serve the Holy Spirit City.
Secondly, one can become a spirit of the dead, allowing one's body to serve the Holy City.
In other words, the entire "Investiture of the Gods" was actually Jiang Yan's open conspiracy to wipe out all the powerful beings in the myriad realms.
When they step into the "Holy Realm" and the "Underworld," there are only two possible outcomes.
He had no choice but to do it.
The third emperor left a reminder in the laboratory:
"Faith and death are the only possible salvation."
"Bearing the inheritance of holy light and the dead, you must defeat all the misguided pantheons in the future war of the gods in order to realize this only hope."
The third emperor, as the creator of the "Three Lives" divine technique, could see certain aspects of the true future.
This means that to defeat the abyss, one must defeat the gods and unify the faith of all the heavens and worlds.
He had a premonition that once this century was over, the Abyss might no longer be engaging in minor skirmishes as before, but rather a true decisive battle. After all, in the last Trial of the Realms, even the "Abyss Demon Emperor" had sent a projection to personally intervene.
There is no longer time to use gentle methods to slowly win over the faith.
"I doubt even the gods could have imagined that I would actually take action against all the participants during the very event I was hosting."
Jiang Yan shook his head inwardly.
After all, once the issue of "forced faith" is exposed, the credibility of the entire pantheon will plummet, and it may even become an enemy of all the heavens and the myriad worlds.
Of course, the rewards are also substantial.
Once this "Investiture of the Gods" is over, he will be able to control countless high-ranking gods and sweep everything away.
Then they gathered all their strength to prepare for the final battle against the abyss.
His methods may not have been honorable, but he had a clear conscience.
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