Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me-Chapter 1351 - 917 Divine Dao’s Requirements for Perfection

Across the Nine States Continent, millions of divine lights burst forth simultaneously. The splendid radiance of the Divine Dao soared up to the skies, intertwining in the air like a golden net, enveloping the entire Nine States Continent.

This was the Divine Dao’s net, an ultimate heavenly net forged from the rules of the Divine Dao. Any land covered by this net was the territory of the Divine Dao, where all living beings would receive the protection of a myriad of gods.

At this moment, looking towards the Nine States from beyond the heavens, one could see that each node of the Divine Dao’s net was luminous, with faint shadows emerging.

Each node corresponded to a god. The gods worked together, their powers connected, forming and maintaining the entire net.

Those faint shadows were the presence of the gods within the net, or rather, each point of light represented a divine position.

Upon closer inspection, many shadows appeared elusive, merely empty shells containing nothing but divine talismans. Only a few of the shadows had the images of gods appear within them.

Occupied shadows meant that the divine position already had an owner. Empty shadows indicated that the corresponding gods had not yet been born.

This net, transformed from the rules of the Divine Dao, only maintained its presence in the Nine States Heaven and Earth for a brief moment before it slowly dispersed. With the pantheon incomplete, how could the net endure forever?

The number of primordial oneness signifies completeness; hence there were one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred nodes in the net, exactly corresponding to the number of primordial oneness.

Each node signifies a divine position, with each able to enshrine a god. One hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred nodes represent one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred gods.

This means that for the Divine Dao to be complete, Jiang Chen needed to enshrine one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred gods.

And here, the reference to gods is not to petty deities like mountain or land gods, but those who wield the power of the Authority of Heaven and Earth, whose life span is as long as the heavens, immortal and ever-young. In terms of Immortal Dao’s cultivation levels, they would correspond to Golden Immortals.

Jiang Chen would need to enshrine one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred gods with strength comparable to Golden Immortals for the Divine Dao to be initially complete, or to say, to have a solid foundation.

For a Doctrine to thrive, it definitely requires Primordial Level supreme masters and many strong practitioners in its ranks. What could one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred Golden Immortals possibly do? Let alone one hundred and twenty-nine thousand—if Mystic Sect were willing, they could conjure up one billion and two hundred and ninety million Golden Immortals for you.

Above the one hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred Heavenly Gods, there are thirty-six thousand Dao Monarchs, with might comparable to Innate Dao Monarchs. Above the thirty-six thousand Dao Monarchs are three hundred and sixty-five Taoist Masters, with power comparable to Innate Dao Sovereigns.

Above this, there are twelve Main Gods, with strength either as Quasi-Saints or Great Divine Transcendents. Finally, there is the Ancestral God, with strength comparable to a Saint.

Of course, below the Heavenly Gods are the Earth Gods, which, as the name implies, do not have the qualifications to enter the Divine Realm and instead reside in the human world. Any gods with power lower than Golden Immortals are Earth Gods.

Like the Mountain Gods, Water Gods, Land Gods, and the majority of City Gods that Jiang Chen enshrined, whose strength is far from a Golden Immortal’s, therefore are considered Earth Gods.

It is precisely for this reason that their collective powers could only sustain the divine net for a moment before it gradually faded.

Earth Gods, Heavenly Gods, Dao Monarchs, Taoist Masters, Main Gods, and Ancestral Gods—these six ranks of deities together comprise the Divine Dao system.

Among them, only the Earth Gods are countless. The other ranks of deities all have fixed numbers; only when the required quantity is met does the Divine Dao become complete and spawn a complete Divine Dao’s net.

This so-called fixed number is not constant but the minimum requirement—that is to say, it can be exceeded, but it cannot be unsatisfied.

Only when the fixed number is met can the Divine Dao be considered complete. After that, the more gods there are, the more prosperous the Divine Dao becomes. However, there’s a saying: all that is at its height is in decline; having too many gods inevitably leads to the decline of the Divine Dao.

Frankly speaking, these gods are the officials between Heaven and Earth and require the sustenance provided by living beings. With too few officials, it becomes challenging to manage. However, too many officials are not a good situation either.

Hence, the master of the Divine Dao must always monitor the number of gods to avoid an excess leading to the decline of the Divine Dao’s fate.

...

"One hundred and twenty-nine thousand six hundred Heavenly Gods, thirty-six thousand Dao Monarchs, three hundred and sixty-five Taoist Masters, twelve Main Gods, and one Ancestral God."

"Tsk tsk, the Divine Dao is really testing me, isn’t it? Where on earth am I supposed to find twelve Main Gods with power comparable to Great Divine Transcendents?"

Upon learning the requirements for completeness in the Divine Dao, Jiang Chen’s face turned green. The first five ranks of gods were manageable; although the number was large, with some effort it wasn’t impossible. However, fulfilling the Main Gods category was problematic.

It could be said that since Pangu pioneered sky and earth, aside from the Mystic Sect, the Demon Sect, and the Witch Clan, no other force was known to possess more than ten Great Divine Transcendents.

Twelve Main Gods—that was an insurmountable task. Since the inception of his Divine Dao, which had been two to three hundred years, the potential candidates within his Divine Dao capable of becoming Main Gods, he counted, were only two.

Namely Cang and Amitabha Buddha.

Without question, both were gods created by Jiang Chen himself, chosen ones of heaven—one was the innate master of the Divine Dao, the other the innate master of the Buddhism Dao, both fully qualified to become Main Gods.

"There isn’t a lack of a third candidate either."

"To be precise, in total, the Divine Dao should have five candidates for Main Gods."

"Counting Cang and Amitabha Buddha, that’s two, and if Tang Valley is bestowed to Han Yuan, he could count as one. If the Eight Divisions Buddha is enlightened and merged with the Great Power King Buddha, he could also be counted as one."