Chapter 005: The Twelve Gods of the Heavens

“To be honest, in the divine realm, I’m just a chef for the Supreme God,” Qiao said after taking a sip of wine.
“The Supreme God? Is he that powerful?” Du Fan asked carefully. Since Qiao was someone from the divine realm, he must know many secrets about it. Du Fan asked cautiously, fearing that a wrong question might make Qiao refuse to answer.
“Haha, the Supreme God? How could he not be powerful? He’s one of the Twelve Gods of the Heavens, beneath the Supreme Being!” Hearing Du Fan’s question, Qiao burst into laughter, as if Du Fan had asked something extremely naive, unbecoming of his age.
“Someone like me, who became a god through self-training, will never be able to become the Supreme God,” Qiao continued, drinking more wine.
“Why is that?” Du Fan asked in confusion.
“Don’t you know that the Twelve Supreme Gods of the Heavens were all directly appointed by the Supreme Being?” Qiao turned to look at Du Fan strangely.
“Brother Qiao, look, I’m just a humble human. How could I possibly know so much?” Du Fan said with a troubled expression.
“Right, I forgot—you’re just a human. But I used to be a human too! Damn it! I lived a great life in the human world. Why did I have to go to the divine realm?” Qiao suddenly shouted in frustration.
“Do you know? Back in the human world, I, Lord Qiao, was also a dominant figure! With just one step, the ground would shake! I had countless wives and concubines; I had everything I wanted. Everyone bowed to me with utmost respect!” Qiao suddenly started cursing loudly. At that moment, an air of arrogance, as if he despised the whole world, emerged from him.
“Why did I have to go to the divine realm? Damn it! Back then, as a dominant figure, I was made a chef! Damn it! My great Lord Qiao became a chef!” Qiao said angrily, spitting out words.
“Is that true?” Hearing this, even Du Fan widened his eyes in disbelief. A god being assigned to be a chef—this showed how the divine realm managed its people.
“Is being a chef something honorable? Would Lord Qiao, who does such an shameful job, go around boasting about it?” Hearing Du Fan’s doubt, Qiao laughed triumphantly.
It must be said that even gods have their own temperaments.

Hearing this, Du Fan gained some understanding of this Qiao, namely the God of Food. This Lord Qiao was a deity who had fled from human society to the divine realm. After arriving there, he was disappointed to find that the divine realm was not as wonderful as he had imagined! Once in the divine realm, he realized he was just the lowest-ranking being there. If it weren’t for his decent cooking skills, Lord Qiao’s situation might have been even worse! Thus, a once powerful figure who could dominate human society ended up as a mere chef in the divine realm! Moreover, he even had a title—God of Food! From what this God of Food said, it seemed he was also highly dissatisfied with the divine realm. “So, Lord Qiao, how did you end up here, guarding this graveyard of gods?” Du Fan asked after taking a bite of the Thunder Beast meat. “That damned main god who loved to eat perished in the War of Gods! Haha, so I managed to get this position to guard the gods’ graves. Haha, I just want to get away from the divine realm! Ugh, that place is truly a source of my shame!” Qiao said. “That being said, I still need to fulfill my duties well in guarding these graves. Otherwise, if someone from above comes to inspect, I’ll be in trouble. Tell me, what’s your purpose for coming to this graveyard of gods?” Qiao said fiercely after gulping down another drink. “We came here mainly to see if there’s any chance of obtaining a divine essence,” Du Fan said with a smile. “I see. Little guy, are you also like those adventurers, here for the divine essences of those fallen gods?” Qiao asked, staring at Du Fan. “Exactly. Since this place is called the graveyard of gods, there must be many divine essences left behind. And I also want some of the divine artifacts or treasures left by those gods,” Du Fan said openly to Qiao. “Human, what’s your name?” Qiao asked. “My name is Du Fan,” Du Fan replied. “Du Fan, if you want a divine essence, I can give you one. Of course, this is the rule—anyone who can reach me is eligible to claim one,” Qiao said with a smile. It was that simple. Du Fan’s heart skipped a beat. “But there’s one additional condition if I give you a divine essence,” Qiao said. “Please go ahead, Lord Qiao.” Hearing that obtaining a divine essence was so easy, Du Fan was somewhat moved.

“That is, the one who obtains the divine essence will be the representative of our divine realm on this continent! Every move of theirs will be under the control of our divine realm,” Qiao said seriously.
“Of course, for the most part, you’ll still be free. But once any orders come from the divine realm, you—having accepted the divine essence and become a god—must carry out those orders 100%!” Qiao added.
“What if I refuse?” Du Fan asked.
“You’ll be pursued by the divine realm! They’ll hunt you everywhere until they kill you for refusing!” Qiao replied.
“Actually, merging with the divine essence isn’t a good method either. After merging, it will be extremely difficult to advance further in cultivation, after all, something external is never as good as what’s one’s own!” Qiao said, somewhat unusually.
Hearing this, Du Fan felt a strange sensation. Weren’t these exactly the words that Bashah’s father, the Dwarf King, had once told him?
Considering that the Dwarf King had also entered the Divine Ruins and only became a god after that, Du Fan even thought that this God-Eater, Mr. Qiao, might have said the same things to the Dwarf King as well.
“Sigh, human talent is still very limited. How many can truly become gods through their own strength? For the vast majority of experts, the divine essence still holds a deadly allure!” Qiao said slowly.
“Does anyone here want to obtain the divine essence?” Du Fan asked, inspired, turning to the others.
Sure enough, longing appeared on everyone’s face.
“There’s only one divine essence,” Qiao said with a smile, observing their expressions.
“Du Fan, you decide on this matter,” Moses and Bashah exchanged a glance. It seemed these two, having reaped benefits, were giving this opportunity to Du Fan.
“Elder Du Fan, we entered the Divine Ruins to repay your kindness in placing us by the Spring of Life. So, you needn’t be polite with me,” the five archers said. For them, being able to reach the Spring of Life was already considered great luck; the elves weren’t a greedy race.
“Lord Du Fan, according to the will of the Goddess of Nature, we follow Elder Naixiu in everything,” several magicians said, bowing slightly to Du Fan.
Naixiu simply nodded at Du Fan with a smile, saying nothing.
It seemed that deciding what to do with that divine essence now rested on Du Fan!

“Lord Qiao, look, there are so many of us. As for this divine essence, I still want it,” Du Fan said to Qiao with a smile.
“Very good, very good,” Qiao replied with a smile. With a twist of his wrist, a black hexagonal crystal appeared in his hand.
“This is a divine essence. Of course, what I want to tell you is that this is merely one like mine—a divine essence belonging to someone who has just entered the realm of gods,” Qiao said.
“Of course, you can keep moving forward! Ahead, you can gain even more benefits! But one condition is that you must defeat me first!” Qiao said.
With a shake of his wrist, the fork he was holding suddenly became as bright as snow! “Du Fan, do you want to try challenging me?” Standing in the valley, bathed in the sunlight, Qiao appeared extremely radiant.
“As you wish, Mr. Qiao! You should know that with twelve of us, your single divine essence is far from enough,” Du Fan said with a smile as well. With a twist of his wrist, Frostfall appeared in his hand.
“Great! Take this fork!” Seeing Du Fan draw his weapon, Qiao laughed loudly. He spun the long fork in his hand, pointed forward, and a powerful energy blast shot toward Du Fan!
One after another, cross-cutting attacks were launched at that energy blast!
For just one casual energy slash from Lord Qiao, Du Fan had to launch five cross-cutting attacks to counter it completely.
“Du Fan, you’re not bad! You managed to block my energy slash. Good! Take another one!” Qiao laughed loudly.
Leaping forward, Qiao this time used the fork to engage in close combat with Du Fan.
Seeing the fierce attack with the fork, Du Fan quickly raised his sword to block it. With a clang, he barely managed to parry the fork!
By absorbing the waters from the Spring of Light and continuously processing the waters from the Spring of Life within his body, Du Fan’s physique had now reached a level comparable to that of a god!
“Not bad at all. No wonder you’ve made it this far without dying outside. Good, Du Fan, with a body like yours, you can now compete with us gods!” Qiao laughed again.
Seeing that Qiao had no ill intentions and the others were just watching without intervening immediately,
“Du Fan, and you all,” Qiao said, pointing at those still watching. “As long as you can defeat me, you can enter the next valley. There, you’ll find far more rewards than here!” he said.

“If you don’t mind, all of you, come on! For tens of thousands of years, Lord Qiao hasn’t had a chance to stretch his limbs properly! It’s rare to have such skilled humans here today! Come on, everyone, come!” Qiao said excitedly.
“Lord Qiao, I’m willing to help you stretch your limbs, but you know—you’re a god! You’re a divine master who became a god tens of thousands of years ago. What if—” Du Fan stopped speaking here.
“Don’t worry, kid Du Fan. I definitely won’t kill you. Haha! After tens of thousands of years, I’ve finally met people like you. I’m truly happy. Come on, get ready!” Qiao shouted.
As he spoke, Qiao’s entire body suddenly swelled up! The hunting spear in his hand also began to make noises! It seemed this god was ready to go all out!