Village Head's Debauchery

That included knowledge about the Blessed Order of Divine Apostles and the current locations of several divine beings wandering the realm.

Not all the spirit beasts were independent. Many of them were in various organisations composed of other powerful spirit beasts.

He had also discovered several settlements belonging to different races from the Material Realm who had been living here for some time, further proving his theory that many had taken advantage of the Spiritual Link Points to escape the previous catastrophe brought on by the Vylkr vines.

Orion understood that they had shared all this information freely, of their own volition, in the hope of gaining favour during the upcoming meeting. But he didn't mind.

Orion looked out over the vast territory before him.

Despite everything that had transpired, there were still several spirit beasts who hadn't participated. These spirit beasts were Dukes and Royal Princes whose caution he had clearly underestimated.

Still, since they had failed to obey his commands, he had no other choice but to remove them from his territory.

"I will be back," Orion said to the numerous spirit beasts present.

He soared forward, with his wives following beside him.

The spirit beasts observed, wondering how Orion was going to forcefully remove those who had refused to comply. In doing so, they may become more aware of this mysterious group's strength.

They expected it to be a brutal battle.

Orion and the three women halted at a distance from the floating island.

"I CAN SENSE THAT THERE ARE SPIRIT BEASTS WITHIN THIS VICINITY WHO HAVE FAILED TO FULFILL THE CONDITIONS TO REMAIN IN THIS TERRITORY! I WILL GIVE YOU TWO MINUTES TO LEAVE! IF YOU FAIL TO COMPLY, I WILL HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO FORCEFULLY REMOVE YOU! AND IF YOU STILL RESIST, I WILL PERSONALLY TAKE ACTION!"

His voice thundered across every corner of the Floating Frost Valley and the territories under its jurisdiction.

The atmosphere went silent.

Throughout the vast land, only the echo of Orion's voice lingered.

Two minutes passed.

The spirit beasts still chose to remain hidden.

"SINCE YOU LOVE THIS PLACE SO MUCH, LET IT BE YOUR BURIAL GROUND!" Orion declared, his voice once again booming across the territories. Fiery bluish-white lightning and flame surged from his body, streaking outward in ferocious arcs.

CRACCKLEE!! CRACCKLLEE!!

BOOOMM!!

The intensity of the fiery lightning grew, expanding, lengthening, reaching both the skies above and the ground below.

Orion transformed into a burning torch, his radiance growing brighter by the second.

Despite the surge of power, neither his wives nor the surrounding environment was harmed.

Instead, the flames and lightning streaked around him like ferocious serpents hunting their prey. Then, as if they had found it, they struck.

CRACCKLEE!!! BOOOMM!!!

A deafening explosion reverberated in the distance.

A roar followed, echoing across the territory before fading into silence.

In the next moment, countless specks of light scattered from the direction where the fiery lightning had struck.

The lights merged with the environment, and some began converging, triggering the birth of new Spirit Wells.

The fiery lightning struck another hidden location.

Another explosion thundered across the valley, followed by another burst of light dispersing into the surroundings.

In an instant, another spirit beast was annihilated.

Suddenly, Orion sensed the spatial fabric around him distorting, rifts opening as several spirit beasts attempted to escape through it.

But before they could vanish, the fiery lightning surged toward the rifts, destabilising them and forcing the spirit beasts back out.

Others took to the skies, transforming into rays of light as they attempted to flee.

Before they could gain any significant distance, Orion unleashed the fiery lightning again, striking without mercy.

As countless flashes of fiery lightning streaked through the skies, terrifying auras that had suffocated the atmosphere hovered for a moment, only to be snuffed out one by one.

None of them lasted more than a single strike.

The fiery lightning bolts didn't need to be connected to Orion. They soared through the air, hunting the spirit beasts as though they were prey.

CRACCKLEE!!! BOOOMM!!!

The spirit beasts who had remained behind to observe what they expected to be a terrifying battle were frozen, stunned by the scene unfolding before them.

When the lightning had first emerged around Orion, growing in strength and momentum, they had assumed that the hidden spirit beasts, who were so confident in their strength, would at least be able to resist a few strikes.

Perhaps even push Orion and his group to reveal the full extent of their powers, showing them something they could later exploit.

They assumed that a few of them would still escape. They couldn't underestimate Orion, so this was clearly an overestimation of his power.

But what they were witnessing defied their expectations. Not only had none resisted even a single strike, but the three women beside him hadn't lifted a finger yet.

They were all shaken to their core.

Orion was handling everything alone, effortlessly, without even moving.

It struck them with a terrible realisation that if they had decided to disobey his orders and face him, the result would be the same.

Fortunately, they had made the right decision.

The ones who hadn't… were simply unlucky, and they were paying for it with their lives.

Meanwhile, Orion had assumed the Royal Princes among the hidden group might be able to resist for a while. But he realised now that he had overestimated them.

'Next time, I'll remove the white flame and see how they stand against my lightning alone,' he thought.

"Let's begin the plan," Orion said, turning to look at Greta.

These spirit beasts possessed strange abilities that might slip past his detection. Since he now intended to erase every last one of them, he wanted to ensure it was done perfectly.

Greta nodded in understanding. She stretched her hand forward. A bright light flashed from her body, and instantly, countless figures appeared across the skies, each one resembling her.

The clones were innumerable. Too many to count.

"Sweep across the territories and make sure husband hasn't missed any of these nuisances!" Greta's voice resonated across the clones.

Without hesitation, the clones descended into the ongoing slaughter.

…

Within Paradise

After three days, the White Flame Ascension finally reached its conclusion.

Shockingly, Brane, Zera, Seth, and Zogar had all ascended to true godhood. Among the 350 warriors, 10 had ascended to true godhood, while the remaining 340 had ascended to godhood.

From among the Prismerion race, the total number of those who had undergone the same process was 980,000. Of these, 390,000 had ascended to true godhood, 500,000 had reached godhood, and 90,000 had reached demigodhood.

As more participants joined, the number of those ascending to true godhood continued to increase, even those who had nearly failed had barely made it into demigodhood.

However, they were still far weaker than ordinary true gods who had ascended through the mastery of a Law and transformation.

From the nymphs, the number of true goddesses reached 510,000, 700,000 had reached goddesshood, and 200,000 had reached demigoddesshood.

For the Pixies, 20,000 had ascended to true godhood, 80,000 to godhood, and 10,000 to demigodhood.

From the four-eared elves, dragnims, succubi, incubi, and the other races across Paradise, the total number of those who had ascended to true godhood was 11,000,000. Those who had reached godhood numbered 20,000,000. And those who had attained demigodhood were 8,000,000.

Altogether, Paradise now had 11,920,004 true gods, 21,280,340 gods, and 8,300,000 demigods who had ascended through the White Flame Ascension.

Aerialia, Oberon, Reynold, Ilse, Avarielle, Margona, and Zera, who had seen numerous divine beings, were shaken by their numbers.

Even Orion himself, who had predicted this event, couldn't help but be overwhelmed.

Due to the astonishing numbers, Orion decided not to take another batch of personal servants as he had previously planned. Instead, he chose to allow his wives and others, including himself, to create Divine Apostles to maintain order among the newly ascended divine beings.

Over 600 women had been carefully selected and sent by Oberon and Reynold to be his partners. However, only ten of them had made it through the thorough vetting process led by his wives to be accepted as concubines.

Five were from the Pixie race, including members of the royal family. Two were from the Nymph race. One from the human race. Another from the Succubi race. And one from the Dragnim race.

Orion had learned that they used Evaline's Divine Mandate to extract information they might have otherwise missed. He had no objections, especially since they were taking the matter seriously, for the sake of the household's stability.

The rest were sent back, most notably the women from the human race. Though their women could become especially powerful upon ascension due to their gift, Orion knew that taking them in would only hinder the human race's future.

He didn't want to rob the growth of his race in numbers for the sake of quality. Even if his fertility could conceive a child in the womb of a true goddess, it still wasn't as powerful or versatile as his White Flame Ascension process.