The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

After leaving Lina’s office, Han Wu exited the college and found a nearby hotel. He checked in and stayed there for the time being. Since the college had not yet officially admitted him as a student, he could not stay in the dorm. He accepted this, knowing the college had its rules. If he wanted them to bend them, he would have to prove his potential and strength. He refused to believe the college would deny him admission if he proved powerful enough.

Once in his room, he quickly entered his divine realm and started refining Hu Hai’s corpse using the scroll Lina had given him. The method was complex and demanding, requiring many precious resources. To fund the process, Han Wu sold the special Rank 5 Divine Aspects and received 130 Divine Essence in return. With that, he refined the corpse tirelessly.

Time passed quickly. After half a realm year, his progress became evident. He succeeded after spending 113 Divine Essence. The clone’s data appeared, granting him control over it. Since Hu Hai was now his clone, Han Wu decided to rename it Han Wen. To become a fine soldier and scholar was an honorable goal[1].

Han Wu then checked the data interface for Han Wen.

[Name: Han Wen]

[Rank: God]

[Divine Talent: Furinkazan (Doubles stats after each ascension)]

[Divine Powers: Wind Walk (Increases speed), Forest Fend (Summons a wood armor), Fire Fling (Fire-based attack), Earth Explosion (Obtained the strength to shatter mountains)]

[Divine Essence: 42]

[Divine Aspects: 5]

[Rank 5 Divine Aspect: Martial Path; Divine Skills: Overlord Body, Flash Strike, Might, Strong Kick, Iron Fist]

[Rank 4 Divine Aspect: Summon; Divine Skills: Summon Wind Giant, Summon Fire Giant, Summon Wood Giant, Summon Earth Giant]

[Rank 4 Divine Aspect: Tigerman; Divine Skills: Tiger Roar, Tiger Strike, Tiger Pounce, Tiger Hunt]

[Rank 3 Divine Aspect: Brawler; Divine Skills: Fist, Kick, Body]

[Rank 5 Divine Aspect: True Martial Arts; Divine Skill: True Martial Heart]

[Skills: Flash Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Tiger Punch, Mountain Smasher, ... (187 more skills)]

[Divine Authority: 40% (Max 100%)]

...

Han Wu felt a twinge of envy as he studied the clone’s data. A God had 42 Divine Essence! It was an overwhelming difference compared to his own 12 Divine Essence as a Demigod. What caught his attention next was Han Wen’s True Martial Arts Aspect, which contained only a single Divine Skill called True Martial Heart.

I thought Rank 5 Divine Aspects had five Divine Skills, Han Wu mused.

Curious, he ordered Han Wen to use it. When Han Wen used it on Han Wu, a peace unlike anything he had known washed over him. His eyes drifted to a nearby blade of grass. It trembled violently in the wind, yet the gusts never tore it from the earth. That simple image struck Han Wu with a sudden revelation. In that moment, he instinctively learned a Rank 1 skill called Duragrass Body, which also appeared in Han Wu’s data.

He gasped as the effects of True Martial Heart became clear. It was a Divine Skill that enhanced his comprehension of martial arts. While it offered no direct combat utility, it gave him the ability to continuously develop new martial arts and grow stronger.

Perhaps True Martial Aspect was no weaker than others like the Death or Destruction Aspects, but it still felt useless to him. Without learning an extremely powerful Skill, it provided no advantage against formidable foes.

Han Wu noticed Han Wen possessed hundreds of Skills, so he decided to simplify them. Using Merge, he combined the skills until only two powerful Rank 6 Skills remained.

The first, Martial God Kick, could destroy everything with a single strike. The second, Martial God Flash, relied on unstoppable speed to defeat enemies. Though simple in name, these Skills held immense potential and strength.

After merging the Skills, Han Wu focused on the five Divine Aspects. The sheer number of Divine Skills confused him.

Since I can merge Skills, I could technically merge Divine Skills as well, he thought.

To test the idea, he summoned his clone again and decided to merge the Divine Skills. He started with the four Divine Skills under the Summon Aspect, each linked to summoning a Giant of Wind, Wood, Fire, and Earth.

First, he merged Summon Wind Giant and Summon Wood Giant to create a new Divine Skill called Summon Fell Leaf Envoy. Next, he fused Summon Fire Giant with Summon Earth Giant. The process completed with all four Divine Skills merging into a single, powerful skill named Summon Chaos Saint.

1. Wu (武) is the word for martial art while Wen (文) means culture, etiquette, art etc. The raw uses 文武双全, meaning to be a fine scholar and soldier. ☜