All the forces of light in the world seemed to pour into his body at this moment. For Franklin, who possessed the Body of Light, the sensation was exquisitely wonderful.
He could feel every cell in his body leaping for joy, cheering for this endless, inexhaustible power of light.
After withstanding the impact of that mighty Heavenly Might, Franklin even had the feeling that he had transcended the limits of the human realm, reaching the legendary Divine Path realm. His spirit diffused infinitely at this moment, bringing everything under his surveillance.
Harnessing the power of light accumulated over ten thousand years within the city, his spiritual will expanded without restriction. The area spanning hundreds of miles seemed to have become his domain, with everything within his mental command rendered visible down to the finest detail.
The followers of the Temple had suffered devastating casualties; the Temple, which had not known the scourge of war for ten thousand years, was reduced to ruins. Yet, at the very heart of the city, the great Temple stood tall and proud, and the cracked earth stopped its advance just before reaching its foundations.
Even the legendary Divine Path power proved incapable of affecting this immense, seemingly boundless force of light.
The accumulation of ten millennia of power had reached a terrifying magnitude, and the one now controlling this force was he—His Holiness, the Grand Pontiff Franklin of the Holy Temple...
He lifted his head, chest puffed out, savoring the strange transformation happening within his body.
His spirit ascended continuously, all the light energy suffusing every corner of his being. He felt as though he was the light, and the light was him; the two had merged completely.
Vaguely, he perceived it.
The Divine Path—this was the true Divine Path realm.
Within this infinite luminescence, he could command everything. He was the God of Light, and so long as the power of light did not wane, he was an invincible deity.
His confidence swelled as never before. In his heart, the deaths of his devout followers, no matter how numerous, could no longer affect him in this state.
For he was a god, and all beneath a god were but ants.
As long as this lofty deity stood, countless ants would worship him, pray for him. As long as he remained rooted in the Divine Path, everyone in the Western World would become his devout follower.
The position of the God of Light was soon to be his.
However, just as Franklin descended into a state of extreme frenzy, a figure caught his eye.
This person floated up slowly from the ground, arriving at a point level with him, gazing upon him with eyes curved in a mocking smile.
A powerful sense of utter humiliation washed over Franklin.
Though the newcomer said nothing, his expression was perfectly composed, utterly devoid of submission or panic. It seemed as though they stood side-by-side not as a deity and an ant, but as two beings of equal standing... or gods!
Franklin’s heart filled with a furious rage. He refused to believe that anyone else in this world could possess status equal to his.
Having donned the Crown of Light and unleashed the sealed power of illumination through the devotion of the entire city’s faithful, he had become the one and only deity on this earth.
Until this ocean of light was exhausted, he was the supreme God of Light, and no other could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
He extended the Staff of Light casually, the gem atop it blazing brilliantly.
"Blasphemer, your insolence toward a deity shall be punished with your very soul and life."
A resonant voice instantly boomed across the heavens and earth, imbued with an undeniable authority.
A massive beam of light instantly sliced through space, hurtling toward He Yiming. This force was the power of light, capable of contending with the Heavenly Might wielded by those who had fused with the Divine Path.
Without commensurate power, everything would be purged by this force.
Franklin’s gaze was impassive, neither joyous nor sorrowful; he observed the provocative insect about to be reduced to ashes in the blaze of light, like a true, supreme deity.
Yet, facing this assault, He Yiming made no move to evade; he simply extended one hand.
In his hand, there was no Staff of Light, only that long, powerful palm.
He stretched his hand out, and to the astonishment of all watching, he tightly grasped the writhed, clawing torrent of light flying toward him.
Then, he opened his mouth and took a long, slow breath of the patch of light he had casually seized.
The light that had illuminated the entire landscape immediately vanished into his body, causing him no harm whatsoever.
Franklin’s expression finally shifted. A tremendous shock struck him; his overflowing confidence began to waver.
In this world of light, he was the sole deity, yet what unfolded before him was unbelievable.
The power of light could not harm this man in the slightest. Could it be that he, too, was a god within the light?
He Yiming patted his stomach, looking thoroughly satisfied, yet his eyes were cold.
"Franklin, are you surprised?" he asked with a slight smile.
Franklin, whose self-assurance had inflated to its zenith within that light, transforming him into a god, remained silent for a long moment before finally speaking, his voice like a clap of thunder that made the remaining citizens in the city immediately prostrate themselves once more, their scattered willpower seemingly attempting to reform as they gazed upon their Pontiff shrouded in immense radiance.
"How did you do that?"
He Yiming smiled faintly. He paid no mind to the thoughts or actions of these people, for he knew that within this city, the great source of light, this power could not harm him either.
"Franklin, you are wielding the power of light. But regrettably, this power is not yours." He spoke coldly, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.
"Impossible! This is my power..." Franklin's voice crackled with fury. His hair and beard flared, and his robes billowed without wind. This intense emotional shift provoked an even fiercer surge of light power.
He Yiming’s sentence had struck a nerve, stirring a strange fluctuation in the icy heart that had begun to view all things as ants, like a divine being.
After grasping this immensely vast power of light, Franklin had indeed begun to see himself as a true master of the Divine Path, yet deep down, a sliver of reason knew he had not truly broken through to the Divine Path.
He had suppressed this thought without hesitation, like a deeply buried secret, convinced it could never resurface while the power of light remained undiminished.
But He Yiming’s words forced him to face reality, and at this moment, intense mortification and rage consumed Franklin.
Having suddenly gained overwhelmingly potent strength, the old man, known his entire life for his composure, began to descend into madness.
With a somewhat shrill cry, a massive sphere of light, resembling a miniature sun, coalesced on the Staff of Light. The sheer force contained within this orb was in no way inferior to the Heavenly Might from moments before.
The Staff of Light tapped forward once in the air, and the ball of light shot forward like lightning, tearing through space.
Below, Bao Zhu and White Horse showed signs of apprehension. Though their own might was formidable, when pitted against this power of light that clearly surpassed the human realm, it was clearly insufficient.
Only the ten-thousand-year-old tree from the Myriad Tree Valley and the Divine Artifact Nine Dragon Furnace could possibly contend head-on with such power. Even the Thunder God’s Whip, which exceeded half a set of Divine Artifacts, was slightly inferior; otherwise, the Heavenly Might it generated would not have been dispelled so swiftly by the unsealed light power.
However, facing the formidable light energy, He Yiming neither dodged nor retreated. He even took steps in mid-air, as if a broad, shining heavenly road lay before him, and walked straight ahead.
The colossal orb of light reached He Yiming and instantly enveloped him.
The power of light was one of the mightiest forces in the world; within the light, no other force could be tolerated.
This was undoubtedly the most unique aspect of the power of light. Against any other attribute, the power of light could only manage rejection and purification.
When dealing with other energies, it was either kill or be killed; there was no third option, because the power of light was an uncompromising force, the purest energy of all.
Franklin’s eyes widened, glinting with fierce malice.
He intended to watch this promising young man be utterly purified under the world’s most exquisite power of light.
Although this young man possessed the rare Body of Light and Shadow, the Divine Power he chose upon ascending to the Ninth Heaven Peak of the Human Path was not the power of light, but the Earthly Divine Power from the East. Under the crushing weight of the strong light energy, it surely would detect the anomaly within him and completely cleanse it.
Even though He Yiming's Body of Light allowed him to absorb a small amount of light energy without harm, once this power surpassed the Earthly Divine Power he carried, the light energy would spontaneously begin to scour the foreign power from He Yiming’s body.
At that point, not even a true God of Light descending could save his life.
Franklin held absolute certainty: the moment the power of light exploded in full force would be the moment of He Yiming's death.
But the Pontiff’s eyes grew wider and wider, his mouth gaping in utter disbelief...
Ps: I recommend a book, The Dragon King’s Son-in-Law, a feel-good urban novel, quite good ^_^. The way the Dragon Elixir is obtained is also quite enviable, hehe... Five chapters today, but tomorrow will be four because I have a parent-teacher conference tomorrow evening—my child’s first one in elementary school. He’s actually in elementary school already... Bai He is getting old, sigh! Five chapters today, asking for votes, thank you!