Chapter 610 - 354: The Pope Appears

Su Ze understood the principle as soon as he heard it: the more people who believe in the light, the stronger the light becomes.

This gave the Pope an idea: he would replace the God of Evolution, accept this faith for himself, and strengthen his own Spiritual Power.

However, the image of the God of Evolution was already too deeply ingrained to be changed. Therefore, the Pope could only try to become more like the God of Evolution himself. He began to develop his body and soul in the deity’s image, hoping to hijack the faith meant for the God of Evolution.

Over the past three hundred years, the Pope had made rapid and effective progress. His Spiritual Power became immensely powerful, and it was said he had reached the god-level long ago.

But since his physical body had not achieved godhood, he remained a Legendary-grade powerhouse, merely possessing Spiritual Power that far surpassed others of his rank.

So, he started a new project: developing a path to "achieve godhood through faith."

In the beliefs of countless followers, the God of Evolution was already a true deity possessing god-level power.

The Pope believed that if he could completely merge with the God of Evolution, he could forge a completely new path to godhood—one that didn’t rely on divine resources or fusing with divine techniques.

That was his plan, and he put it into action.

However, after he began this process, his true self was never seen again. More than a decade has passed...

No one knows if he succeeded or failed.

All that is known is that he isn’t dead, because his various avatars remain active in different locations.

’This guy’s really something else.’ Su Ze had to admit the Pope was incredibly capable.

’I just don’t know where he is now, or if he’s actually become a god.’

’If the Pope has already achieved godhood, he’ll be a real problem for me.’

Su Ze recalled killing several powerhouses from the Evolution Divine Teachings. He had extracted a white, high-grade energy from their bodies—an energy that could directly strengthen his Spiritual Power.

’Could that white energy be the so-called power of faith?’

Su Ze thought it was highly likely. He had killed many Venerables, but only from the bodies of the Evolution Divine Teachings’ Venerable Powerhouses had he been able to extract that white energy.

’It seems that high-ranking powerhouses within the Evolution Divine Teachings also reaped the benefits of this power of faith.’

So far, Su Ze had discovered three types of high-grade energy on Blue Star: the golden energy from the Sands of Time, the Silver-gray Energy from the Mutated Fungus, and the white energy from the powerhouses of the Evolution Divine Teachings.

Of these, both the Silver-gray Energy and the white energy were connected to the Pope.

The Silver-gray Energy could strengthen one’s constitution and increase body size, and it seemed this energy was also something the Pope had specifically developed.

He knew this because he had later asked Liou Wenxin and had also searched for other Mutated Fungi himself, but he was never able to extract the Silver-gray Energy again.

Speaking of the Silver-gray Energy, Su Ze still had a large silver ingot on him, which was condensed from that very energy. It was what remained after he had absorbed his fill previously. Now that he had completed his sixth evolution, he could absorb more.

Next, Su Ze pressed them for more information, but he learned nothing new from Deng Sui and Zhan Meisen. It was all information he had already obtained from Mu Wang.

Therefore, Su Ze wasted no more time on them and concluded the interrogation.

While he was conducting the interrogation, Mr. Ya had used the Magic Cube to detect the locations of numerous Venerable Powerhouses.

Su Ze went after them one by one, capturing them all and verifying their identities individually.

Those on the suspect list were locked up, while those not on the list were placed under temporary house arrest.

Afterward, Su Ze consulted his list again and went to Flame Emperor Continent and Snowfield Continent to capture more people, working his way down the list.

This operation, however, quickly revealed a problem: many people on the suspect list had long since vanished and were nowhere to be found.

Su Ze captured everyone he could find, then he and Mr. Ya split up.

He would investigate the areas around the three Divine Dice. The remnants of the Nian Race were likely lurking nearby, intending to seize the Divine Dice and call their home world for aid.

Mr. Ya, meanwhile, would search the wilderness for any trace of the Evolution Divine Teachings.

When the Evolution Divine Teachings had withdrawn from Lin Hua Continent, a large number of its clergy had relocated to the wilderness. Finding them might lead to a clue about the Pope.

Su Ze split his focus, creating an avatar to pilot the ship while his main body took out a silver ingot and began to absorb it.

He had obtained it after taking out an Evolution Divine Teachings stronghold in the wilderness. The ingot was formed entirely from condensed, high-grade Silver-gray Energy. He had absorbed a great deal of it back when he was at the Venerable grade until he became saturated, but now, as a Legendary, he could absorb it once more.

Knowing that the Pope might have achieved godhood, Su Ze naturally had to increase his own power to prepare. It would be embarrassing to find the Pope only to be unable to defeat him.

As Su Ze absorbed massive amounts of the Silver-gray Energy from the ingot, his body grew larger and his constitution steadily improved.

Finally, once Su Ze had absorbed the entire silver ingot, he felt his body break through some kind of threshold. His power surged in an instant!

Beneath his skin, a faint purple light was now visible between his muscles.

’This is... Has my physical body reached the god-level?’

Su Ze was stunned, but on second thought, it seemed reasonable.

His constitution was already immensely powerful. Back when he was at the Venerable grade, his constitution had already reached the Legendary grade—and not a weak one, at that.

After he became a Legendary, his physical body had already reached the Legendary Peak!

Now, after absorbing a massive amount of high-grade Silver-gray Energy, he had finally broken through that barrier.

However, just because his physical body had reached the god-level didn’t mean Su Ze himself had become a god.

This was similar to the Pope’s situation. The Pope’s spirit had reached the god-level, but his physical body was still at the Legendary grade.

But as long as one hadn’t completed the seventh evolution, even if both spirit and body reached god-level, one was not a true god-level powerhouse!

Because the most crucial element—the genes—had not reached the god-level, one could not be considered a god-level life form.

Next, he took out the Sands of Time and absorbed a large amount of its golden energy, completely digesting the Divine Blood Crystal within his body.

Then, he prepared to absorb the god-level extract from the Beast King Sponge!

He hadn’t found a better substitute in the legacy knowledge he’d received, so he decided to stick to his original plan: absorb the seventh-rank Beast King Sponge extract and make his push for the god-level!

Originally, he hadn’t planned to rush. He could have taken his time during the interstellar journey to Zexing.

But now, he decided to do it all in one go and absorb the seventh-rank extract, just in case he ran into trouble with the Pope.

But before he could even take out the Beast King Sponge extract, a voice came over the Magic Cube’s communication channel.

He had given several communicators from the Magic Cube to the Lin Hua Continent powerhouses guarding the three Divine Dice. These devices were capable of global communication and were more reliable than the Spirit Communication Phones.

On the other end, Lin Tiannan’s urgent voice came through: "Su Ze, we’re under attack! The Pope is here!"