The snake-person beast god Ming Guang was a relatively powerful upper-tier deity among the gods of faith, and quite renowned in their circles. He wasn't like the wolf god Baher, merely an ordinary lower-tier deity with little standing among the beast gods. Thus, Baher's demise garnered little attention beyond a few deities of the beast races.
However, the fall of Ming Guang, the snake-person beast god, prompted all major powers on the Primordial Continent to re-evaluate the strength of the Immortal Demon Kingdom. Xiao Mo, however, had no intention of dwelling on these matters. He was currently enveloped in a dazzling golden light descending from the heavens, evidently preparing to ascend and advance. As the king of the Immortal Demon Kingdom, Ming Guang's death had also awarded him a massive amount of experience.
After an unknown period, the golden light surrounding Xiao Mo finally dissipated. Simultaneously, the divine might emanating from him surged tens of thousands of times, reaching an entirely new level. Xiao Mo's cultivation had now reached the late stage of the upper-tier deity realm, just a step away from the peak of the upper-tier deity realm.
It had to be said that the spiritual energy from an upper-tier deity of the peak stage was truly terrifying. It had directly propelled his strength by a significant margin. The feeling of such a rapid increase in power was exhilarating.
Xiao Mo's smile was brilliant as he proceeded to check his own status.
Lord: Xiao Mo
Strength Level: Upper-tier Deity Late Stage (Transcendent)
Divine Power Intensity: One thousand drops of divine power
Owned Divine Power: One thousand one hundred and thirty drops
City Level: High-level Main City
Mastered Rules: Annihilation, Space
City Troops: Immortal Demon (Unique Troop Type)
City Buildings: ...
Equipment: ...
Immortal Demon Stone: ...
Soul Crystal: ...
Condensed Divine Power...
After reviewing this information, Xiao Mo's smile grew even wider. With his current divine power intensity, coupled with the dual rules of Annihilation and Space, destroying a small planet would be as easy as flicking his fingers. With such immense power, he would fear no deity, even when facing them directly.
In a world with billions of lords, how many could achieve his current status? As of now, the vast majority of these lords were still at the Monarch stage, with only a select few reaching the Saint stage. As for the Deity stage, apart from Xiao Mo, there wasn't a single one.
Even Jin Xuan, a top-tier lord, had been diligently clearing out the Dark Forest region with the Immortal Demon army. Yet, she had only just entered the peak Saint stage. This was despite having participated in at least hundreds of battles, both large and small. Therefore, if even Jin Xuan hadn't reached the Deity stage after so many major conflicts, it was impossible for other top-tier lords to have done so.
Let alone reaching the late stage of the upper-tier Deity realm, as Xiao Mo had, and mastering the rare rule divine powers of Annihilation and Space. If this news were to spread, it would undoubtedly cause another massive earthquake throughout the lord territories. Countless lords and lone cultivators would lament the ever-widening gap between Lord Qian Mo and themselves, realizing that catching up to him in this lifetime was almost impossible. Even those top-tier lords who considered themselves exceptional could only look up to him.
Xiao Mo was extremely satisfied with his current strength. The late stage of the upper-tier Deity realm was already a formidable power within the circles of deities. Furthermore, he commanded the allegiance of Xian Er, an upper-tier Divine King, and Mo Youyou, a peak mid-tier Divine King. And then there were the numerous other Deity stage Immortal Demons whose strength was rapidly improving...
Only now could Xiao Mo truly establish a foothold on the Primordial Continent. No power in this world would dare to disregard the Immortal Demon Kingdom any longer!
However, Xiao Mo's current weakness lay in the fact that the Immortal Demon Kingdom's population was still too small. Native empires often boasted populations and armies numbering in the hundreds of millions. Deploying an army of a billion for a single war was commonplace for the native empires in the central regions. In contrast, the Immortal Demon Kingdom struggled to field even a hundred million troops, let alone a billion.
As of now, the total population of the Immortal Demon Kingdom did not exceed thirty million, and its army numbered less than four million. Therefore, in certain aspects, the Immortal Demon Kingdom was still no match for the native empires of the central regions. While the Immortal Demon Kingdom was no longer afraid of high-level combatants, wars were not won solely by powerful individuals. If a conflict were to erupt with the native empires, the Immortal Demon Kingdom would undoubtedly be at a disadvantage.
Moreover, each native empire surely possessed numerous Primordial Gods. Even if Xian Er could defeat these Primordial Gods, Xiao Mo would still lose in terms of sheer numbers of troops. Thus, the next crucial step was to rapidly develop the overall strength of the Immortal Demon Kingdom. When the Immortal Demon Kingdom could muster an army in the tens of millions, then it would be time to contend with the native empires.
Following this, Xiao Mo mentally drafted a plan for future development. Or rather, he had already conceived of his next strategic objective: Skywind City of the Holy Empire!
Skywind City was the Holy Empire's sole port city, located in the center of the Illusory Spirit Sea. It was an independent landmass surrounded by the sea, yet it belonged to the Holy Empire. It was also only a little over two hundred thousand kilometers away from the current Immortal Demon Kingdom. Most importantly, from Skywind City, there was a relatively safe sea route connecting to regions such as the Endless Abyss, the Dark Forest, and the Far North Ice Plains, as well as the Holy Empire's mainland.
In other words, by capturing Skywind City, the Immortal Demon Kingdom would gain the ability to advance and retreat at will. Once Skywind City was taken and garrisoned, they could slowly begin shifting the theater of war from the surrounding regions into the Holy Empire's territory. After all, the nearby regions would likely be conquered in due course. At that point, the focus of the war would naturally turn towards the native empires in the central region. In summary, capturing Skywind City would be unequivocally beneficial.
However, if this thorn in their side, Skywind City, was not removed, the Holy Empire could dispatch troops from it at any time to attack the lord territories in the surrounding areas. At that point, the initiative would rest with the Holy Empire, which would be extremely unfavorable for the Immortal Demon Kingdom. Therefore, before engaging in war with the central region, Skywind City must be the first base to be captured!
Of course, this was a matter for the future, and merely a preliminary plan in Xiao Mo's mind. He had no intention of going to war with the Holy Empire at the moment. After all, the surrounding regions had yet to be fully secured, and they were not yet qualified to engage the Holy Empire in battle. Seizing every opportunity for development and building their strength was the paramount strategy!
In reality, the primary goal for the other billions of lords was the same: to rapidly develop their strength. Who knew when a divine war might erupt? However, Xiao Mo, along with many other lords and lone cultivators, harbored a premonition that the outbreak of a divine war might coincide with the territories launching their offensive against the central native empires. Because, by then, even the authorities would be unable to prevent the deities of the Primordial God faction from acting. Once the Primordial Gods made their move, the deities of the territories would naturally resist, and the gods of faith would likely be drawn in. This would escalate into a chaotic brawl among the three factions of deities, marking the beginning of the divine war.