Chapter 262: The Snow Creek Tribe
Donald Gu was immediately informed by the God of Iron Clang about the arrival of a deity from the outside world. With Donald’s permission, the God of Iron Clang went outside to investigate who the visitor was.
After the God of Iron Clang invited the God of Golden Sand into the temple, Donald activated the divine power barrier and hid behind the temple, listening to their conversation.
Being in someone else’s temple, the God of Golden Sand naturally wouldn’t casually use his mind to probe around. He gave a brief glance before refraining from looking further to avoid suspicion. This made it even less likely for him to detect Donald hiding behind them—unless he were a half-divine powerhouse. Only then could the divine power barrier emitted by the Book of Truth possibly be detected from such close range.
After understanding the God of Golden Sand’s purpose, Donald analyzed the pros and cons before quickly giving instructions to the God of Iron Clang.
The God of Iron Clang looked somewhat puzzled but still followed his master’s orders and said to the God of Golden Sand, “Golden Sand, do you think my strength surpasses yours, which is why you see little chance in this matter related to the half-divine ruins?”
The God of Golden Sand was taken aback; he hadn’t expected the God of Iron Clang to express his thoughts so directly.
Then the God of Iron Clang added, “I have a plan that allows us to work together. You’ll surely benefit greatly from it!” “What plan?”
The God of Golden Sand felt pleased and put aside his doubts for the time being. “Naturally, it’s for you to form a contract!” “A subordinate deity? A contract…”
Upon hearing this proposal, the God of Golden Sand was first shocked, then inexplicably angered, before beginning to ponder inwardly.
On the Totem Continent, powerful deities usually had several subordinate deities—either loyal family members or subordinates who followed them from the start, or those who were subdued through strength later on. These subordinate deities could spread their faith in their master deity’s territory, obtaining additional sources of divine power. Of course, their territory also had to fall under the jurisdiction of the master deity’s tribe to spread its fame.
To be honest, this was more beneficial than harmful for subordinate deities. After all, compared to their own territories, the master deity’s territories were much larger in size and population, allowing them to gain more sources of power.
It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. The only downside was being restricted by others from then on. But the God of Golden Sand thought, “Even if I don’t become someone else’s subordinate deity, haven’t I always been oppressed by those powerful deities before? True freedom lies in one’s own strength. Without great strength, what’s the point of freedom?”
Now that he has become a subordinate god, he only needs to be responsible to God of Iron Clang, leaving everything else to God of Iron Cat, the supreme god. Perhaps life will even be easier and happier than before! As a result, God of Golden Sand’s resistance to this proposal diminished greatly, though he still needed to consider whether to agree. Then God of Iron Clang said, “The contract I’ve drafted is quite free and fair. Once signed, even the two most powerful lords cannot violate it. You can take a look!” With that, a text appeared out of thin air in front of God of Iron Clang, detailing the terms of the contract. God of Golden Sand carefully studied each word for a long time before finishing it, finding no errors. He was particularly impressed that the restrictions on him as a subordinate god were indeed as free and fair as God of Iron Clang had claimed. He had learned about the Green Tree Ruins in advance because of an ambiguous relationship with a female demi-god, who had no other close lower gods, so she naturally shared this information with him. But if he really participated in the struggle for the Green Tree Ruins, he would likely be no match for those legendary warriors and totem gods backed by demi-gods. Even though everyone’s strength would be suppressed to the Golden stage, many gods could still wield divine artifacts and other treasures, granting them extra power. Having struggled for decades yet remaining penniless, he didn’t have the face to ask that female demi-god for two divine artifacts. Divine artifacts were extremely rare; even powerful demi-gods usually only had one or two low-tier divine artifacts, while Golden totem gods were considered very wealthy if they had one mid-tier artifact. What God of Golden Sand didn’t know was that the situation here was far better than that of the gods in the main world, where even powerful supreme gods still used mid-tier artifacts as their main weapons! Compared to the main world, whose resources were nearly exhausted, the Totoem Continent had relatively abundant divine resources, with many gods providing god-tier materials. The number of divine artifacts here was three to five times greater than in the main world. Lower-level totem gods usually signed contracts with more powerful totem gods as witnesses. The high-tier contract presented by God of Iron Clang was something God of Golden Sand had never seen before, with unimaginably strong binding power. After all, even powerful gods could fall one day, and it was rare for a large realm to show signs of destruction. Such a contract couldn’t have been drafted by God of Iron Clang alone—it was chosen by Donald through the Book of Truth.
This time, Donald did not use the Supreme Contract but a lower-tier Planar Contract. After all, the Totem Gods could not leave the world where the Totem Continent was located unless they were willing to give up their divinity. Signing a Supreme Contract also required a significant amount of divine energy—something that powerful True Gods could ignore, but for Donald’s level, wasting hundreds of drops of divine energy without using it on himself was quite costly! The reason Donald got the God of Iron Clang to agree to this sudden operation was that whether it was for the treasures left by the demigods or the plan to hunt the Totem Gods, they all had to head north, and their goals didn’t conflict, so it wouldn’t disrupt their previous plans. Moreover, with the addition of another vassal god, the power of the God of Iron Clang had initially stabilized. The fact that the God of Golden Sand could obtain such an important position so early showed that he had extensive connections. Together, the two of them should be able to intimidate those Totem Gods who had their eyes on them. After the God of Golden Sand signed the contract and officially became the vassal god of the God of Iron Clang, returning to his territory to make preparations, Donald informed the others about these developments. “Donald, you’ve made up your mind. The chances of finding the demigod treasures are slim, and it’s not safe for us to reveal our identities. Our focus should still be on the lower-tier Totem Gods!” Since Donald had already set the plan, Vincent and the others didn’t object. Since arriving in the world of the Totem Continent, Donald had always maintained a bold yet cautious approach, and none of the actions he proposed had ever gone wrong. “Good. Let the God of Iron Clang handle things on his own. I’ll at most give him two secondary divine artifacts as assistance. Once we arrive, if nothing goes wrong, we’ll separate from him!” After hearing Vincent’s analysis, Donald agreed. A day later, the God of Golden Sand returned, with both sides of his territory ready. Now, all that was left was for the main god, the God of Iron Clang, to appear at the Golden Sand Tribe and deliver the oracle to the tribal leaders, officially merging the two territories. Of course, Donald and the others wouldn’t have to worry about these matters; the God of Iron Clang and the God of Golden Sand would handle them. They even didn’t reveal their full identities to the God of Golden Sand, only saying that they were human warriors brought by the God of Iron Clang as reinforcements. “I see!” The God of Golden Sand suddenly understood, realizing why the God of Iron Clang had been able to defeat the Uyu Giant Crabs and dominate the Three Islands of Iron Clang—thanks to these powerful helpers.
“Great! With the help of a few of you, our chances of success in this mission can increase significantly!” The God of Golden Sand could understand this approach—so long as it wasn’t a mortal warrior near demi-god level, it wouldn’t arouse the jealousy of other gods. Even those powerful gods had mortal warriors serving them in order to secure a better divine position.
Totem gods like them, who challenged gods to become divine, usually targeted the weak in remote areas. One could imagine how vastly inferior these challenged totem gods were in strength; even if they succeeded, they would have to build their own power base from scratch. If they could get the help of a powerful god, they might start with a relatively strong divine position, a favorable territory, and many followers—essentially saving decades or even centuries of struggle. How could that not be pleasing?
That’s why many human warriors, even if they were to become gods in the future, still chose to ally themselves with a powerful god.
Seeing the God of Golden Sand so happy, the God of Iron Bell poured cold water on his enthusiasm, saying, “Golden Sand, those few are going north for another purpose—they won’t be involved in the competition for the demi-god ruins!” The God of Golden Sand was somewhat disappointed but didn’t say much.
“They’re going to challenge gods, right? That’s understandable too.” As for their purpose, the God of Golden Sand naturally assumed they wanted to challenge other gods and gain territory in the north. After all, the greatest pursuit of mortals in this world was to become gods.
Donald naturally wouldn’t correct this misunderstanding; instead, he deliberately misled the God of Golden Sand. Seeing that the God of Golden Sand never realized anything was amiss, Donald and the other visitors from another world also relaxed.
“Since everyone is ready, let’s set off now. In the north, I have an ally, the God of Snowy Brook. We can settle in his territory and wait for an opportunity to enter the ruins!” The God of Golden Sand was already on their side, and his suggestions were all for everyone’s benefit. Having a well-connected local leader by their side certainly made things much easier.