Chapter Six: The Vision of an Iron Great Wall

"Something's not right."

Chen Yan, worthy of his title as Chief Scientist, quickly recovered from his shock and sensed that something was amiss. "If that skeleton exists, it means they arrived on Earth long ago, and..."

"Exactly," Lin Fan nodded. "They came to this world long before, but back then, we were under the protection of the Eastern Martial Gods."

"The owner of that skeleton was a god of the eighth tier of power."

"He was beaten to death by Kuafu the Great, his body tossed into the sea!"

Chen Yan's expression froze, and he whispered, "Kuafu... Are you saying those myths..."

"All those ancient deities truly existed. When those gods once invaded Blue Star, it was these Eastern Martial Gods who joined forces to drive them away." Lin Fan took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, after the battle, they perished. Even if some survived, they have long since fallen into slumber."

In his previous life, humanity had not endured long enough for all the Eastern Martial Gods to awaken. Even those who occasionally awoke were slain by the gods working together.

At that time, humanity was barely surviving and had no way to protect the newly awakened Eastern Martial Gods.

This was Lin Fan's deepest regret!

He still remembered the monkey wielding a staff, roaring at the heavens, only to be struck down by thunder.

Guan Yu stood firm with his blade, alone, facing a sky filled with gods.

Lü Bu stood atop a mountain, surrounded by ten thousand demons below.

This was humanity’s shame!

"They once protected us, and so fell into slumber."

"Now, it is our turn to prepare—to protect them, and to protect ourselves!"

"History must never be allowed to repeat itself!"

Chen Yan rubbed his face. "So, we can no longer count on help from beyond."

Yet, despite his words, there was a newfound steel in everyone’s eyes.

Gods were indeed powerful.

But the Great Xia too had its own silent protectors—its gods.

"In that case, we shall use our own strength to strike back at the gods!" Chen Yan suddenly laughed. "What an honor! Who would have thought this old man would one day become an enemy of the gods!"

"Wait," a member of the advisory council interjected, "are those gods truly hostile? We think of gods as..."

"That," Lin Fan replied calmly, "requires understanding the nature of gods. Simply put, they are different from us. Humans gain strength by tempering the body, becoming strong through effort."

Gods, however, are not so.

Those born in the Divine Realm are innately divine, with a god domain within them where they nurture their own races of believers, drawing power from their followers’ worship.

Some powerful gods can conquer other worlds, making those worlds their vassals and transforming their inhabitants into their own worshippers.

"Blue Star, with its six billion potential believers and vast domains, is enough to drive any god insane."

"The religious stories spread on Blue Star, apart from the legends of the Eastern Martial Gods who became divine through their own flesh, are mostly fabrications—tales spread by visiting gods through their followers."

"Gods are far from benevolent. No matter how they dress themselves up, these exalted beings are just as mortal as we are—flesh and blood, subject to death, and their so-called divinity is no less tainted by greed."

"The only difference is, their power far surpasses ours."

"And when an individual possesses unfettered power, you can imagine what happens."

With Lin Fan’s words, silence fell upon the room.

Human greed was already terrifying enough.

Power, wealth—greed had always fueled wars.

Yet, humans, constrained by their own limits, had to practice restraint.

But now, a host of beings unbound by such limits, and just as greedy, threatened to descend upon Blue Star...

"It would be a carnival of destruction," Lin Fan said gravely. "To them, Blue Star is a fat prize, a pen full of fattened sheep ripe for the taking!"

"Invasion, conquest!"

"Their aim is to make us all into believers, stripping away any personal will, leaving only worship and devotion to the gods. Our land would become their domain!"

Lin Fan looked to the national leader.

He was awaiting the old man’s decision.

Before him lay two roads:

He could follow Lin Fan’s advice and resist the gods—

Or, he could prepare to kneel before them.

The first path was fraught with hardship; the second, a safe submission.

Most crucially—kneeling didn’t seem so hard to do.

Either choice could be justified. Even kneeling could be seen as no shame—after all, it was to the gods.

What made humanity precious was the freedom of its will, but in the end, was free will more important, or was survival?

Was it better to become puppets of the gods, or corpses?

Was dignity, free will, and the land our ancestors left us more important, or was it better to live on one’s knees?

The old man smiled.

"In Great Xia, how could we betray our ancestors? The brilliant civilization our forebears left us, land stained with their blood—how could we give it up?"

"Sixteen hundred million souls—how could we kneel to survive?"

"If we have nothing else, we have the backbone our ancestors left us! Great Xia’s people are stubborn by nature; even in death, we die standing!"

From beginning to end, the leader’s words were few, his tone mild, but every word hit with the weight of a thousand pounds.

"Lin Fan," he said solemnly, "what happens next?"

Lin Fan bowed low to the national leader.

This elder was, as always, the very soul of Great Xia.

"Three months from now, two Sea Gods will descend," Lin Fan straightened, his tone grave. "One will land in the Free Nation, the other right here in Ludong, Great Xia!"

"On the day a god descends upon Great Xia, half of Ludong’s coastline—two thousand kilometers—will be battered by hundred-meter waves. All will be submerged, corpses floating in the sea."

"Within those waves, the Sea God’s monstrous followers will slaughter our people, dyeing the sea red with blood!"

"The battle will last for more than two months. In the end, Jin Minsheng, commander of the Luzhou military district, will die a hero, with over half the troops of Luzhou killed or wounded. Only after all civilians had evacuated inland did they finally use nuclear arms to drive the god back!"

"And this was but a third-tier, low-level deity."

"On the other side, the Free Nation’s leaders, terrified of divine power, will hesitate not at all; they won’t even attempt civilian evacuation, but will instantly unleash nuclear fire across their west coast, suffering losses even more severe than Great Xia’s!"

"From that moment on, humanity enters the countdown to extinction—fifteen years!"

All this was history Lin Fan had lived through.

With every sentence spoken, he saw those scenes anew—

The power of the ocean!

The power of gods!

The roaring tide, the monstrous beasts screaming!

Within the waves, the goddess smiling!

Though victory was finally won at a terrible price, it was the tolling of the first bell signaling humanity’s doom.

Those present wore grave expressions; Lin Fan’s few words had left their scalps tingling.

The apocalypse!

A true apocalypse!

"Hundred-meter waves, two thousand kilometers of coastline... Is that the power of gods?"

"How could we ever hope to withstand such strength..."

Elder Jin was silent. He suddenly understood why, in the future, he himself would propose the mad notion of a 'nuclear chain.'

Even now, he wished he could forge a chain of nuclear arms to protect Great Xia’s borders.

The nation’s leader looked grim, but his expression was resolute. "Lin Fan, faced with these gods, what do you propose?"

"My plan is to build an Iron Wall along the Ludong coastline," Lin Fan strode to the vast map, taking a red pen and carefully tracing a line along Ludong’s outer shore.

"This..." Chen Yan’s scalp tingled. "That’s two thousand kilometers!"

"Exactly!" Lin Fan replied in a low voice. "Two thousand kilometers, one hundred meters high!"

"And this is only the first step!"

"If we can survive this time, the Iron Wall must extend across all of Great Xia's coast—twenty thousand kilometers, and three hundred meters high!"

"Because after these two third-tier Sea Gods, there will be three more, including one sixth-tier, a middle-ranked deity!"

Lin Fan caressed the map of the vast rivers and mountains, saying solemnly, "Within half a year, I want all of Great Xia to be fearless before the sea!"

"Absurd!" a council member stood up, looking stern. "Do you know how much steel this will require..."

But—

The leader waved a hand, looking only at Lin Fan. "Is there no avoiding it?"

"There is not," Lin Fan shook his head. "If we prepare well, we might be able to kill the Sea God that descends on Great Xia. But as for the Free Nation... it will be hard to intervene. If even one escapes, our coordinates will be exposed."

"And even if we kill both Sea Gods, the Oceanic Pantheon will send more to find out why they died. In the end, we will still face war. This war is unavoidable."

"If I recall correctly, the third time, Poseidon himself will come! Then, it will be war against the entire ocean!"

The leader nodded.

"If it cannot be avoided—"

"Then we fight! We go to war with the gods!"

"Lin Fan," the leader slowly stood, radiating an aura as steady as Mount Tai. He looked to Lin Fan, "From this day forward, all of Great Xia will support you with the strength of the whole nation!"

"Whatever you need—just say so!"

Lin Fan replied without hesitation, "Expand the draft—we need fifty million soldiers! They will fight the gods’ faith-bound races, protect our people, and build our defenses! Only then can the Iron Wall be completed in time!"

"Fifty million?!"

"Do you realize what that means? Fifty million... the daily lives of our people..." the councilor was stunned.

"Do you not see what this is?" the leader looked at them all. "This is war! A war unlike any before—crueler, and against the gods themselves!"

"When the nation is broken and families destroyed, who can speak of peace or prosperity? Did the previous generation of Great Xia know peace?"

"The steel crisis, the expansion of the army—figure it out! If you can’t, we’ll find someone who can! From now on, Great Xia is at the highest state of military readiness!"

"Remember, time is not on our side!"

The soul of Great Xia—

Unmatched resolve!

With these words, the advisers fell silent; some clenched their fists, blood surging with renewed passion.

This was war against the gods!

The survival of Great Xia!

Who could speak of peace or prosperity now?

A slightly portly middle-aged man suddenly stood up. "I’ll handle the steel resources! I guarantee the mission will be accomplished!"

"Lin Fan, continue," the leader commanded, his voice brooking no refusal.

Lin Fan, eyes red, glanced at the elder who supported him unconditionally, and spoke slowly, "Finally, I wish to establish a new department, with agents solely under my command."

"You mean..." the leader seemed to understand.

"I want to form a special operations unit—codename: Godslayer Corps! Independent from all military districts!" Lin Fan took a deep breath. "It won’t be large; it will operate in small squads, targeting the powerful individuals among the faith-bound races, and—slaying gods!"

Godslaying!

This was the mission of the Godslayer Corps, a special force born for the purpose of killing gods!

At the mention of those words, everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

Slaying gods!

Could mortals truly hope to slay gods?

"Good!" The leader’s eyes flashed, making the decision then and there. "All military departments will cooperate with you unconditionally!"

"I want to see if you can lead Great Xia to slay the gods!"

With that, the leader turned to the others.

"Now—summon all national elders and regional commanders. In two hours, the Grand Hall will convene a Great Xia Council of Elders!"

"The agenda: Great Xia declares war on the gods!"