The Dragon Clan's rebellion was quelled, and in the process, the relationship between soul beasts and humans in the Divine Realm was also eased.
At least on the surface, the upper echelons of the Divine Realm now seemed to be in a state of equilibrium among the three factions of humans, dragons, and spiders.
Both the Dragon Clan and the human faction were extremely satisfied with this outcome. And while there were some grumblings from the Spider Clan, everyone essentially understood that the real power was still in their hands, so no significant chaos ensued.
Several days later, the Divine Realm Council held its inauguration ceremony. The threshold for ascending from the lower planes to become a god was lowered, allowing many powerful individuals who were just a step away to finally achieve godhood.
Among them were Zhu Jing and Zhu Zhu.
A large number of newly ascended gods, before they even had a chance to properly see this new world, heard the news of the council's inauguration ceremony and followed the crowds surging towards the Divine Realm's central plaza.
The plaza had now been transformed into a grand hall capable of accommodating tens of thousands of gods. In the center of the hall was a wide, white stone table.
Around the white stone table, ten ostentatiously large stone chairs were arranged in a circle, each occupied by one person (or beast).
At the head of the table, naturally, sat Fang Chang. To his left were the other two representatives of the Spider Clan, Xiao Bai and Little Gold.
To his right were the representatives of the Dragon Clan: Di Tian and another dragon who had ascended from a lower plane and was already a first-tier god.
Opposite them sat four figures: the Dark-Devil God Tiger Er Hei, Tang Lin'er, Bibi Dong, and Qian Renxue.
The ten individuals around this stone table now represented the highest authority in the entire Divine Realm, and at the same time, could be considered its strongest combat forces.
"Big Sister, it's him!" Zhu Zhu, squeezed in the crowd, caught a glimpse of Fang Chang and was about to push her way towards him.
"Don't go," Zhu Jing quickly stopped her. "Look at the occasion. There's no rush to find him right this second."
Zhu Zhu pouted but nodded in understanding. "Alright, alright, I know."
Now that they were in the Divine Realm, why worry about not having a chance to find Fang Chang in the future? It was indeed not the right time.
More and more gods poured in from all directions. After the threshold for godhood was lowered, the number of gods in the Divine Realm probably exceeded one hundred thousand, far surpassing the population before they had taken over.
Among these hundred thousand gods, the Spider Clan—or to be more direct, Fang Chang's descendants—accounted for more than half.
The next most numerous were the humans. Although the original human gods from the old era had been almost completely wiped out by Fang Chang, a large number of new human gods had appeared since.
Fang Chang did not suppress them. On the contrary, with the establishment of the Divine Realm Council, he directly elevated their status to be equal to that of the two great clans, the Spiders and the Dragons.
This not only acknowledged the humans but also used them as a check to balance the Dragon Clan.
The number of dragons was slightly less than that of humans, but at this moment, they were more moved than anyone. In the past, only Gu Yue had any real say among the higher echelons of the Divine Realm.
And since she was also one of the matrons of the Spider Clan, it led to the Dragon Clan being the most powerless race in the Divine Realm, hardly different from any other soul beast.
As a race that had always held themselves in high esteem, they were naturally unwilling to accept such a result. But after this, at least on the surface, they had become one of the three major races of the Divine Realm and had regained their voice.
Seeing that the gods from all factions had more or less arrived, Fang Chang slowly rose from his divine seat. "Thank you, fellow gods, for attending the inauguration ceremony of the Divine Realm Council today. On behalf of myself, Fang Chang, I thank you all."
The moment his voice fell, a roar of cheers like a mountain torrent and a tsunami erupted from the hall. Life in the Divine Realm had always been dull and monotonous. A grand event like this was a rarity that might not happen even once in tens of thousands of years. The gods were naturally unwilling to miss it.
After the cheers had subsided slightly, Fang Chang continued, "The former Divine Realm was led by five great God-Kings, but it met its demise due to their selfishness."
"Not long ago, our Divine Realm also nearly fell into great chaos. Our brothers from the Dragon Clan rose in rebellion out of defiance towards me."
As he said this, the expressions of the various gods in the hall shifted.
The dragons were mostly filled with emotion and relief. They knew themselves that they were no match for the Spider Clan. To be able to secure their current status without paying too great a price was the best possible outcome.
Most of the Spider Clan still looked a little heated; clearly, some were still displeased with the dragons.
The most fascinating expressions belonged to those who had just become gods. They had missed such a momentous event by just a few days.
Fang Chang continued, "I do not blame our brothers from the Dragon Clan. On the contrary, I must thank them for waking me up, for making me understand that the Divine Realm does not belong to our clan alone."
"Thus, I have chosen to establish the Divine Realm Council, to have all clans govern the Divine Realm together."
"The Divine Realm Council will have ten seats. The Spider Clan, the Dragon Clan, and the Human Clan will each hold three seats, while other soul beasts will share one seat. Of course, this is primarily based on the current population of gods and is not immune to changes in the future."
Cheers erupted once more, but this time, the voices of the Dragon Clan were the loudest, while the other soul beast races besides the spiders and dragons looked noticeably more somber.
"The Divine Realm Council will convene on the last day of each month. Any god may propose their own ideas for the future development of the Divine Realm, and the ten representatives will make the final decision through a vote."
"If a five-to-five tie occurs, the side on which the 'Other Soul Beast' representative—that is, the God of Slaughter, Er Hei—votes will be victorious."
This time, the eyes of the other soul beasts lit up. This was a way of elevating their status in disguise. Under certain circumstances, it gave their faction the final say.
The other three factions looked at each other but didn't say much. After all, if the tie-breaking vote were given to any one of them, it would invite dissent.
Since the other soul beasts only had one seat, giving them this power could be considered compensation.
After explaining the rules of the council, Fang Chang announced another piece of news that electrified all the gods.
"I believe everyone has noticed that we have lowered the threshold for ascending from the lower planes."
"As long as one's strength in a lower plane is sufficient, and they pass an assessment by the Divine Realm Council to be deemed of worthy character to become a god, they may enter the Divine Realm without the restriction of needing a god-seat."
"Of course, gods who enter the Divine Realm through this method, because they have not obtained a god-seat, will be slightly weaker than gods who do. They will need to continue to gradually improve themselves in the future."
This was equivalent to giving many people a chance to enter the Divine Realm. After all, there were only so many god-seats, and creating one's own required condensing a massive amount of faith power, which was no easy task.
For the Divine Realm, this was also beneficial for increasing its overall strength while simultaneously limiting the emergence of too many threatening existences in the lower planes, ensuring the supreme status of the Divine Realm.
But at the same time, because of the limitation of god-seats, it ensured that gods who possessed one could still maintain a considerable status, so this group of gods wouldn't have too many complaints either.
And for gods like Zhu Jing and Zhu Zhu, who already possessed sufficient faith power but were just a little short in their own cultivation to condense a god-seat, they could create their own after cultivating in the Divine Realm without being too affected.
"Now, I declare that the Divine Realm Council is officially established today! The first session of the Divine Realm Council begins now. Any god who has any suggestions for the Divine Realm may boldly put them forward. We will consider them seriously."
"Finally, my thanks to you all!"
As Fang Chang finished his speech, thunderous applause filled the hall. Gods from all corners spontaneously presented their long-cherished treasures to the Divine Realm Council. In an instant, the hall was filled with rare and exotic treasures, a magnificent sight to behold.
And as the de facto controller of the Divine Realm, Fang Chang felt a great deal of emotion watching this scene.
To think that he had transmigrated from being an ordinary person in another world to this one, and had even become a spider, hunted and nearly killed. How tragic was that?
Back then, he never would have imagined that he would one day have such a day. But now, he had become the Spider of Spiders!
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The End~
Thank you to every reader who joined me on this adventure! Your support always kept me translate this story.
This story may be complete, but the world of fanfiction never truly ends. Until next time on another Soul Land fanfiction.