Chapter 451: This Is the Divine Realm

In a desolate small town, next to a uniquely shaped pool, two middle-aged men in white armor, clearly soldiers, walked back and forth. One was bald, the other had short hair; both stood with their backs straight. Their lips moved from time to time, though not much, but it was clear they were communicating with each other.

“Lao Zhang, when will our hard times finally end?” a very familiar voice came to the bald man’s ears.

“Hey, let’s complain less. We just need to welcome a total of a hundred ascendants, and then our mission will be complete. Once we’re promoted to squad leader rank, life will be much better,” the bald man reassured him, though his lips twitched involuntarily—a wry smile.

“If we have to blame anyone, it’s the fact that we ascended in the wrong place. If we’d ascended in a city belonging to the Ascendants’ Alliance, we’d be extremely happy now, and our cultivation level wouldn’t be as low as it is… Huh, there seems to be movement in the ascension pool…” The short-haired man suddenly stopped and stared at the surface of the pool.

“Gurgle…” A bubble slowly rose from the bottom and burst loudly at the surface.

Both men stopped and stood by the pool, their expressions eager, as if waiting for something.

However, the surface soon returned to calm.

“Lao Zhang, did I see that wrong?” The short-haired man turned to look at the bald man.

“Probably not. I saw it too…” The bald man shook his head slightly, seemingly unsure.

After a while, a large group of dark figures rose from the bottom of the pool, and a group of men and women stood steadily on the surface.

The two soldiers were clearly stunned. It was the first time they had seen such a group of people emerge. In the past few thousand years, hardly anyone had risen, yet nearly a dozen people appeared at once.

The young man at the forefront was very handsome. He glanced around, frowned slightly, and finally fixed his gaze on the two men before him. “Sirs, is this really the Divine Realm?”

“That’s right. This is the Divine Realm. Did you all ascend together?” The short-haired man handed over a form without expression. “Fill in your names, cultivation levels, and affiliated sect. If you don’t belong to any sect, you don’t have to write it.”

The young man looked at the form curiously but didn’t reach for it. “What’s this for?”

“Register as usual, then report to the city, join the city guard, and after that see where you’re assigned,” said the bald man, a hint of sympathy in his eyes.
“Why do we have to join the city guard?” the young man was even more puzzled.
The young man leading them was Ye Feng. After ascending with Long Tian and the others, their first sight was a dilapidated small town, roughly the same size as the human world, but utterly silent. He wanted to know what had happened here, and since there were two people in front of him he could ask, he was surprised by their reactions.
“Alright, let’s explain it to you,” the bald man cleared his throat and continued, “This town is called Qingfeng Town. It’s an ascension point in the Divine Realm, under the jurisdiction of Pompeii City. Pompeii City is the territory of the native inhabitants of the Divine Realm. Those who ascend here fall under Pompeii City’s control. To enter Pompeii City, one needs to pay a large amount of energy, such as divine crystals or magical beast cores that contain energy. Newcomers who have just ascended don’t have such resources, so they can only join the city guard as compensation.”
“What are the advantages and disadvantages of joining the city guard?” Ye Feng felt the Divine Realm seemed different from what he had imagined.
“By joining the city guard, you accept their protection, but you must obey their orders—they have the right to execute you. If you don’t join, they can’t force you to do anything. If you refuse to join the city guard, they’ll prevent you from entering the city, and at night, you’ll become food for magical beasts. They’ll be happy to watch.” The middle-aged man with short hair beside him seemed dismissive of explaining such things.
“Can magical beasts enter this town?” Pearl behind Ye Feng asked worriedly.
“This town was destroyed by a swarm of magical beasts millions of years ago,” the bald man sighed helplessly. “All that’s left now are these ruined buildings.”
“No wonder it’s so desolate,” Zhuge Ling’er interjected.
“Even though it’s close to Pompeii City, it’s still often visited by magical beasts. Every night, swarms of them come to hunt,” the man with short hair added. “Before ascending, we also imagined how wonderful the Divine Realm would be, but in reality, it’s just a wasteland overrun by monsters.”
“Lao Li, stop saying such things. You’ll be punished if heard,” the bald man warned again.
“So domineering?” Ye Feng frowned slightly. He hadn’t expected to encounter such things right after arriving in the Divine Realm.

“Shh, speak softly!” the bald man next to him immediately warned, “If such words are heard, you’ll be executed.”
Hearing this, Ye Feng’s frown deepened even more.
“That means there are magical beasts threatening our lives outside the city, and the native inhabitants oppress us inside. Life must be really tough!” Long Tian, standing beside Ye Feng, quickly understood the current situation in the entire Divine Realm.
“Why are those who have ascended oppressed by the natives?” Ye Feng frowned slightly. In his view, the number of ascended beings should be on the rise, while the natives, even if they could increase in number through reproduction, could never keep up with the ascended beings. The higher one’s cultivation level, the longer the gestation period. Even for ordinary residents of the Divine Realm, if they became pregnant, the child would need to develop in their womb for thousands of years before taking shape; for those with high cultivation levels, tens of thousands of years was normal.
“The natives generally have strong cultivation levels, and many gods at the level of Ancestral Gods support them. As for the ascended beings, although they are numerous, most of the resources are occupied by the natives, so their cultivation progress is slow. Moreover, the number of gods at the level of Ancestral Gods is less than half of that of the natives, so they can only endure humiliation.” The short-haired man also seemed unwilling to hold back his thoughts. “In fact, the ascended beings have also established their own cities, but their number is only one-third of that of the natives. Those who have ascended to those cities are much luckier than us.”
“Thank you for explaining. Please lead us into the city!” After roughly understanding the current situation in the Divine Realm, Ye Feng nodded friendly toward the two of them.
“Have you decided to join the city guard?” The two were slightly stunned and asked almost simultaneously.
“No, we’ll pay the Divine Crystals first!” Ye Feng smiled at them.
“But you can’t afford that cost. One lower-grade Divine Crystal is needed per person per day…” The bald man kindly reminded them, but still led the way.
“What’s the exchange rate for Magical Beast Cores to Divine Crystals?” Ye Feng asked.
“A Magical Beast Core at the level of a Heavenly God can be exchanged for anywhere from one to a hundred lower-grade Divine Crystals, never exceeding a hundred. The price varies depending on the grade and attributes of the core. A core at the level of a Primordial God can be exchanged for anywhere from a hundred to ten thousand lower-grade Divine Crystals, with a maximum of ten thousand. A core at the level of an Imperial God can be exchanged for ten thousand to ten million lower-grade Divine Crystals. Cores at the level of an Emperor God are worth hundreds of millions, with the highest reaching several billion.”

“Moreover, exchanging Magic Beast Crystals directly with the Guardians Alliance can earn merit points. Exchanging one lower-grade divine crystal earns one point of merit, and when the merit reaches 100 million, the Guardians Alliance will grant corresponding rewards. If the merit earned from a single exchange exceeds 1 billion, the individual will be invited to become a guest member, treated on par with those at the level of ancestral gods, and receive the highest rewards.”
Hearing this, Ye Feng secretly smiled to himself. The thresholds of 100 million and 1 billion were set quite clearly. Imperial-grade Magic Beast Crystals were worth hundreds of millions, meaning that if someone could kill an imperial god-level magic beast, the Guardians Alliance would reward them. Such a person would surely be at least at the imperial god level themselves. However, this threshold wasn’t too high, as killing enough minor monsters could also help accumulate merit, giving people hope. But 1 billion was a completely different matter, and it had to be achieved in a single exchange. Only those magic beasts at the peak of the imperial level could produce crystals worth over 1 billion, and only ancestral god-level warriors could defeat such beasts. So it was quite normal to be invited as a guest member. After all, in the divine realm, ancestral god-level warriors already stood at the top of the food chain.
“Is the Guardians Alliance an organization?” Ye Feng asked.
“That’s right. The Guardians Alliance is a coalition formed by the armies of all forces in the entire divine realm. It’s an alliance formed by various factions to resist the invasion of magic beasts, so each city has their own stronghold,” the bald man nodded.
“Are there many different factions in the divine realm?” Long Tian suddenly asked.
“Mainly two: the Native Alliance and the Ascended Ones Alliance. Of course, there are also some who don’t want to join either faction, so they form their own. In total, there are about a dozen, large and small. The largest one is called the Neutral Tribe, and most of the smaller factions follow the leadership of the Neutral Tribe.”
Long Tian glanced in Ye Feng’s direction and saw that Ye Feng was also looking at him. They exchanged a knowing smile, realizing that both of them had thought about forming their own factions.

In such a harsh environment, no individual, no matter how powerful, is insignificant. Even if one reaches the level of a god, they cannot alter the course of this war. It still cannot change the fact that the divine realm is occupied by most magical beasts. The only solution is to form a superpower that unites all other forces and calls on everyone to resist the magical beasts together. The current human situation appears united, but in reality, it is like a pile of loose sand. Interest conflicts among various factions have greatly reduced humanity’s overall combat strength. This is also the main reason why magical beasts have run rampant for millions of years.
“We’ve arrived. This is Pompeii…”