Chapter 698: The Sensational Auction

The original Nozdormu, this semi-divine bronze dragon, was merely a semi-divine totem god. Semi-divine dragons did exist among the dragon race, but aside from the King of Good Dragons and the Lord of Evil Dragons, no one had ever surpassed this threshold to truly attain divine status.

Due to their inherent strength, dragons were already a rare race. Even among intelligent races like humans and elves, only dozens of deities had emerged, let alone dragons, whose total number was less than one ten-thousandth of humans. Here, we are referring to true gods with official divine positions, not semi-divine beings.

Everything in the world has its opposites—advantages come with disadvantages. The strength of innate races often implies unique forms of life, lower reproductive capabilities, and far greater difficulties in advancing further compared to other races.

Dragons seem to be inherently restricted in their understanding of the various laws of the universe. Few adult dragons can break through the golden barrier to become ancient dragons in the legendary realm, let alone those with semi-divine powers.

In history, the number of dragons that have truly ignited their divine flames is likely no more than a hundred. How scarce is that?

This is also a limitation imposed by the laws of the universe on such a powerful race as dragons. As a result, even powerful dragons nearing semi-divine levels may have the chance to ignite their divine flames, but once they do, the most accessible divine positions within their own race are already occupied by the two Dragon Gods. They cannot progress further to obtain divine positions in other realms, and forcing it often leads to disastrous outcomes.

Moreover, the gods of the Pantheon do not want another Dragon God to emerge from such a powerful race. They secretly work together to suppress them, so since the birth of the dragon race, the gods have not seen the emergence of a third Dragon God.

This situation was only broken today by Lord Nozdormu from the Nature Pantheon.

When the climax of the banquet ended and the next true god trade fair was about to begin, the second protagonist of the day, the Eternal King Nozdormu, came from the main world to receive the congratulations of the gods.

Although he still retained some of the power of a totem god, inspired by examples like Donald and Loki and guided by his master, Nozdormu acquired a status similar to that of a law god after consolidating his divine position, allowing him to leave his domain at will.

The mysteries of the Time priesthood far exceeded the Bronze Dragon King’s imagination. The more he mastered of the time domain, the more Nozdorm felt as though he had only just scratched the surface of the laws of time, with a long way to go before truly mastering its essence!
“My master, Nozdorm will not disappoint your hopes!”
Upon arriving in human form, the Bronze Dragon King first paid a respectful knightly salute to his master, Donald.
Seeing this newly ascended Dragon God swear allegiance, the other gods present were somewhat surprised.
The dragon race was proud; even if they were tamed by a true god and became mounts or servants, they still retained their pride as dragons. Once they became demigods, aside from the two Dragon Gods, they would not submit to any true god, and even higher gods could only earn the respect of demigod dragons—making it virtually impossible to force them to submit.
Donald nodded in satisfaction, saying nothing on the surface. But through telepathy, he said, “You’ve successfully mastered the Time priesthood! Excellent!”
He could see that Nozdorm, now in possession of the Time priesthood, was truly a King of Eternity. Even though he was still at the level of a newly ascended god, holding power over time meant he could achieve near-eternal existence like the higher gods.
For time and fate were the two most elusive laws, unmatched in difficulty. Even higher gods found it hard to alter time or fate.
While the Natural Gods prepared for the trade fair, Nozdorm secretly raised a question.
“Master, right after I grasped the priesthood, I immediately received the faith of all Bronze Dragons and some other dragons under our pantheon. I wonder if this might cause displeasure among those two Dragon Gods.”
In addition to the Time priesthood, Nozdorm also controlled the domain of the Bronze Dragons, making him a true Bronze Dragon King—a role that overlapped somewhat with that of Hamlet, the Platinum Dragon King of the Good Dragons. The dragons in both the main world and Azeroth’s Dragon Kingdoms were all created by Donald. They revered the two Dragon Gods of this world but did not have absolute faith in them. So, as soon as Nozdorm acquired the priesthood, they immediately began to revere him as their own Dragon God.
Donald wasn’t worried at all. Instead, he smiled and said, “You’ve only mastered a domain, not a priesthood. So I’m sure that kind and just ruler of all metal dragons, who remains neutral in many matters, will be generous enough not to object.”

Then, with a changed tone, he said, “As for that Evil Dragon God, he will surely be displeased. But if they try to cause trouble, our pantheon can simply ally with Hamlet to fight back against those evil dragons. By then, Tia will already be overwhelmed with her own problems, and even if she wants to trouble you, she won’t have the time!” Hearing the caring and protective tone in his master’s voice, Nozdorm felt moved once again. Since many guests were still waiting, Donald and his master didn’t have much time for private conversation. Soon, the trade fair was ready, and the first auction, hosted by the Pantheon of Nature, officially began. This auction was presided over by the God of Kingship, the most skilled diplomat among the Pantheon of Nature. Dressed in a tailored noble robe and holding an ornate cane, he waved it above the banquet hall. A divine glow flashed, and the hall, once filled with clinking glasses, instantly transformed into an auction venue resembling an opera stage. The gods’ seats were arranged in four rows, just like in the Pantheon—those at the top were for the higher gods and their followers, while the guests sat below according to their closeness to them. Of course, only a few noble higher gods attended this time, but that was enough for the Pantheon of Nature to make a significant presence in the Pantheon! No other mid-tier pantheon had celebrated the birth of a new god by having a higher god appear in person; usually, they would send subordinate gods or messengers to offer congratulations. The Pantheon was always home to some reclusive deities, but there were also many allied deities, along with those sitting in groups, making the entire auction hall appear very lively, just like audience members eagerly chatting before an opera performance. Over the past few years, the Kingdom of Azeroth had gained a reputation for cultivating rare, immortal plants, earning it recognition from the gods as the third-largest source of such plants in the multiverse, after the Golden Holy Land of the Elven Lord and the Fertile Land of the Goddess of Agriculture. Moreover, since many of the rare products produced in the Emerald Holy Land were seen by the gods for the first time, they all agreed that the Nature Guardian must have discovered a hidden sanctuary where he reaped great benefits. Donald neither admitted nor denied this, which only heightened the curiosity of many gods, who came specifically to buy the products from Azeroth, hoping to analyze their origins through their properties!

Later, some True Gods discovered that these divine artifacts from the natural pantheon resembled quite closely those materials they had acquired from the totem gods in the New World. Upon inquiry, they learned that those artifacts from the totem gods were obtained through adventures in the Ruins of Oblivion, a discovery that essentially confirmed the gods’ theories about the origin of the Emerald Holy Land.

However, once the auction began, it was noticed that Donald did not bring out many plant-related divine artifacts; instead, there were mostly materials of other kinds of immortals. A few rare materials of divine abominations caught the attention of several True Gods.

Unlike auctions held in the main world, the items up for bid at first were mainly secondary and elementary-level divine artifacts and immortals. Many lower gods, newly risen gods, and demigods managed to acquire the items they desired. But the mid-tier gods and the higher-ranking gods in the upper chambers hardly bid at all.

Soon, it came to the final few items up for auction. The first one among them immediately drew the attention of all the gods.

“A complete divine abomination body, one adult Yinfo, with strength comparable to that of a lower god. Starting bid: 30,000 divine crystals. Bids must be in kind!”

On display was a large humanoid divine abomination standing nearly fifty feet tall, resembling a mixture of an Abyssal Demon and a Balor Flame Demon. Its entire body burned with intense red-yellow flames, like a human-shaped bonfire.

This was one of the more powerful ancient divine abominations, named after creatures from the abyss. They were powerful beings created by combining the bloodlines of True Gods with abyssal demon bloodlines. Due to their chaotic and destructive nature, they often caused severe damage to their surroundings upon appearance, which led to most of them being sealed outside the cosmic void or deep within the most terrifying regions of the abyss.

Such powerful divine abominations were extremely rare research materials, especially for True Gods with a keen interest in the realm of creation, making them irresistibly attractive!

Thus, as soon as this item was put up for auction, it sparked fierce bidding among the gods. Even the mid-tier gods, who had not bid earlier, became interested, and even the higher-ranking gods showed some interest as well.

What’s more, this rare auction item is still alive—a situation that has rarely occurred in over a thousand years. You see, a divine abomination with the strength of a lower god can be defeated or even killed by many of the true gods present. But to capture alive, unharmed, a divine abomination with a twisted will, insane and devoid of reason, only beings at the level of higher gods can do so with complete certainty; even the mid-tier gods present are not sure of themselves. Thus, everyone gained a deeper understanding of the power of the Nature God clan. However, if they knew that this divine abomination was originally imprisoned and that Donald merely moved it from its original cage, they wouldn’t think so.