The Dream Heavenly King and the others had their rhythm disrupted by Lin Bai. The War God and the others, who had just joined forces, were flabbergasted when they heard the news.

"He left?" the God of Holy Light asked in surprise. "What is Lin Bai up to?"

"Did we scare him off?" the Goddess of the Moon said, frowning.

"He set up the Magpie Bridge, used himself as bait, and led the Heavenly Kings into our world. From beginning to end, his goal was to instigate a war between our two worlds," the Earth Goddess said. "The fall of the God of Darkness was his doing."

"Discussing Lin Bai is meaningless. What we should do now is find those Heavenly Kings and eliminate them," the War God said impatiently. "Those Heavenly Kings are Players who are now aware of our world. Regardless of whether Lin Bai is here or not, they would invade us one day. While we're all gathered here, let's find them and eliminate them to disabuse them of any such notions."

"War God, by doing so, you are playing right into Lin Bai's trap," the Forest Goddess said. "I think we should find them and join forces against Lin Bai..."

"You're the one who doesn't understand. Lin Bai is just a scheming, deceitful little figure. We can deal with him anytime he appears. The Heavenly Kings are our main enemy," the War God retorted sharply. "Players have analyzed them. They are the strongest in the Fairy World. To them, our world is a new Map. They will definitely explore this new Map. It's in the nature of a Player."

"The Players told you that?" the Forest Goddess asked. "Rhodes, do you know how many of Lin Bai's men are among the Players? How many ulterior motives are in their conversations with you?"

"Daisy, I can judge for myself. I may be large, but I'm not stupid. The Players brought me games from their world; most game settings involve various methods to keep Players engaged. They have mature strategies," the War God said condescendingly. "Relying purely on your own speculation to deduce the course of events is simplistic and childish. Do you know what solo is? Do you know what buff is? Do you know what BUG is?"

"..." the gods.

"You know nothing," a snide smile crossed the War God's face. "You only react passively when something happens. You don't even want to take the time to understand your enemy…"

"Rhodes, what do you think we should do?" the Earth Goddess interrupted the War God, who was loquaciously ridiculing the others.

"It's simple: find them, defeat them, and then drive them out of our world," War God Rhodes said, raising his fists. "If possible, we should counterattack their world. We'll kill them until they reach Level Zero and make them lose all interest in the game. They play games for enjoyment; no one likes being tormented by NPCs in a game. In comparison, I'd rather cooperate with Lin Bai. Firstly, he's not a Player, and his actions have consistently aimed at reining in Player behavior. Secondly, he controls the Magpie Bridge…"

All the gods looked at the War God.

The War God looked around and said, "I can't deny Lin Bai is ambitious, but he lacks sufficient strength. He's impatient for results and not steady, always aiming for a meteoric rise, which leaves his foundation unstable. But doesn't that make him easier to control? Once we've used his Magpie Bridge to quell the Player uprising, if we decide to keep him, we'll give him some small benefit. If not, we can conveniently dispose of him…"

"Well said," the God of Holy Light nodded. "Compared to the Heavenly Kings, Lin Bai is indeed weak. He even tried to cover up his weakness by concocting a 'Post-Gods Era.' It's laughable."

"The question is, who will liaise with Lin Bai?" The Earth Goddess, also approving of the War God's plan, asked, "He has already left this world."

"Players and their media," the War God said. "As long as we express enough goodwill to Lin Bai through the Players, he'll understand. Of course, the prerequisite is that we must drive out the Heavenly Kings first."

The Earth Goddess looked at the War God and said, "Rhodes, we will do as you suggested. We will immediately mobilize our followers to find any trace of those Heavenly Kings."

「...」

Lin Bai and the God of Darkness arrived at Ghost City via the Magpie Bridge.

Overhead Ghost City, dark clouds gathered densely.

Beneath the clouds were teeming masses of Skeleton Soldiers. There were Death Knights clad head to toe in armor, the sockets of their eyes burning with soulfire, and Bone Dragons wheeling through the sky. Behind the Skeleton Legion stood a group of Undead Mages cloaked in black, alongside Liches exuding an aura of profound evil.

"Alliance Hierarch, ahead lies the Undead Army of the Lich King," the God of Darkness stated. "Thirteen hundred years ago, the Lich King attempted to conquer the world. Taking advantage of the Earth Goddess's deep slumber, he led his Undead Army to conquer half of the Continent. The Forest Goddess and the God of Holy Light retreated repeatedly. It was only when the War God and his legion joined the fray, combining the power of three gods, that they managed to push his Undead Army back to Ghost City. That conflict became known as the Undead Scourge."

"The Lich King rose to prominence by single-handedly suppressing two major gods; his Divine Power was nearly comparable to that of the Abyss Lord. Even after retreating to Ghost City, his power hardly diminished. I believe he's likely uninterested in your conflict with the Heavenly Kings. He's probably amassing his forces to reconquer the world while you and the Earth Goddess are clashing. He has always harbored immense ambition…"

"Which one is the Lich King?" Lin Bai asked.

"His weapon is a scythe. He should be recuperating within Ghost City at this moment," the God of Darkness said.

"What's his name?" Lin Bai asked, looking towards Ghost City.

"Pluto," the God of Darkness replied.

Before he could finish speaking, the thick, dark clouds enveloping Ghost City suddenly began to churn, and a colossal eyeball appeared within them.

Then, a deathly gray light shot out from the eyeball, streaking towards Lin Bai and the God of Darkness.

Lin Bai felt the terrifying power contained within the beam.

In a flash of thought, the Dark Space shared from the God of Darkness unfurled, enveloping Lin Bai and also shrouding the dense Skeleton Army outside Ghost City.

The Dark Space was a miraculous ability. Within its confines, he had complete awareness of every creature, could see outside of it, and it offered considerable defensive capabilities.

The deathly gray ray slammed into the Dark Space, gradually weakening before vanishing completely.

"Skyle, you're still alive?" a surprised voice called from the sky. Then, from beneath the black clouds, a towering figure in a black cloak, wielding a scythe, emerged.

"Yes, King Pluto, I am still alive," the God of Darkness said, his form materializing outside the Dark Space, gazing up at the Lich King in the sky.

"Why do rumors claim you are dead?" the Lich King asked. "Moreover, I have verified that the few Dark Divine Seals that appeared all carry your aura. I have already dispatched men to seize them."

Lin Bai, disguised as the Thunder Heavenly King, stood atop the Dark Space. His body, wreathed in lightning, crackled as he employed Sophistry. "King Pluto, he is indeed not dead; he has merely been made into my Puppet. The Dark Divine Seals were just bait I laid to deceive you foolish gods. But you lot were too slow, forcing me to intervene personally and declare war. We will turn you gods into Puppets, one by one, and bring about a twilight of the gods on the Continent of Gods and Demons!"

"The news about those Divine Seals was clearly spread by Lin Bai," the Lich King said, not falling for the deception.

"'Do you truly believe Lin Bai can control everything? All he did was play into our hands,'" Lin Bai sneered. He raised the Thunder Hammer high, and in an instant, countless bolts of lightning filled the Dark Space. A hundredfold critical hit, combined with lightning's doubled damage against Undead creatures, silently obliterated hundreds of thousands of Skeleton Soldiers. "'Pluto, consider this a welcoming gift. I still have declarations of war to deliver to the other gods. My companions and I will await you in the Misty Forest. It will be your burial ground...'"

After speaking, and before the Lich King could respond, Lin Bai used Shadow Following and vanished from Ghost City in an instant, leaving behind a field of shattered skeletal remains.

The Lich King stared at the scattered bones, the soulfire in his eye sockets flaring with rage. "Arrogant."

Immediately afterward, his figure disappeared from the sky.

However, he did not go to the Misty Forest but instead delved into the Abyss.

「...」

"What's going on?" In Ghost City, a Player named [Fallen Holy Knight] widened his eyes. "The God of Darkness has become a Puppet of the Thunder Heavenly King! The Thunder Heavenly King brought him here to deliver a declaration of war! The final battle is set for the Misty Forest!"

"I have a feeling things are getting weirder and weirder," said a Player named [Black Jack] beside him. "Who's actually telling the truth?"

"Of course, it's the Thunder Heavenly King!" [Fallen Holy Knight] declared. "He and the God of Darkness appeared together, while Lin Bai just used an article to deceive everyone. The Xianxia Continent has the Valley of Thousand Souls, and they also possess mystical necromantic Spells. Imitating the God of Darkness would be incredibly easy."

"A war among gods! This is huge news!" [Black Jack] exclaimed. "I'm going to publicize this. That battlefield is bound to be interesting! When these BOSSes clash, maybe we can scavenge some loot."

"Do you think you can scavenge more than Lin Bai?" questioned a Player named [Fallen Angel].

"Don't worry. He's scared off and wouldn't dare show his face in the Misty Forest," [Black Jack] laughed. "We can also use this chance to expose Lin Bai's hypocrisy and wake up those idiots who are obsessed with him."

"Sounds like a good idea," [Fallen Angel] said, their eyes lighting up.

「...」

The two Players acted quickly. Half an hour later, a video of the Thunder Heavenly King, with the God of Darkness as his Puppet, declaring war on the Lich King had spread throughout the entire game forum.

「...」

"The God of Darkness isn't dead? So the God of Darkness in the real world was a fake? Lin Bai deceived us!"

"This is unbelievable! To think I actually believed that by following him, we could counterattack the game world."

"It seems Lin Bai has lost this round in the gods' game. He's not even qualified to participate in a war between top-tier BOSSes. All he can do is resort to petty tricks against us."

"But I still feel something isn't quite right. It's been several days since the battle between the Thunder Heavenly King and the God of Darkness. What have they been doing all this time? Why hasn't there been any news about them at all?"

"It's simple: they were laying a trap. Poor Lin Bai, he was even outwitted by them."

"But I don't think this is a good thing. The nine Heavenly Kings are all Players. If they defeat the gods of the Continent of Gods and Demons, how are we supposed to fight them? Are we going to be enslaved by them, like the Celestials?"

"If the gods are defeated by them, then our only hope lies with Lin Bai and his laws."

"If I had to choose between the Heavenly Kings and Lin Bai as the ruler of all realms, I'd lean more towards Lin Bai. After all, he's not a Player, which means there's a chance we could eventually overthrow him."

"Lin Bai is holding a press conference in the real world. I want to go interview him myself and ask why he fabricated those fake Dark Divine Seals. Clearly, he's messed things up badly..."

「...」

「League of Gods.」

The gods, who were in the midst of discussing how to win Lin Bai's trust, were once again shocked by the sudden news.

The Goddess of the Moon turned pale, stammering, "They... they actually turned the God of Darkness into a Puppet?"

The War God replied, "Yes, that's a Player tactic. In many games, they have mechanics for capturing beasts as pets to fight alongside them, and they can also hire NPCs."

The Forest Goddess looked grim. "Damn game mechanics," she said through gritted teeth.

The God of Holy Light said, "I'm starting to detest those Players more and more."

Cupid asked, "Will they come to issue a challenge to us too?"

The God of Holy Light responded, "They aren't stupid. They won't provoke gods from both sides simultaneously; they'll aim to defeat us one by one."

The War God said, "Perhaps they've set up some kind of advantageous formation in the Misty Forest…"

The Goddess of the Moon asked, "Are we going to the Misty Forest?"

"Of course, we must go," the Earth Goddess stated. "We have to stop them from turning gods into Puppets—even if the one being turned is an Evil God. Otherwise, their power will only continue to grow stronger."

The War God added, "Byleth is right. At this critical juncture, we shouldn't differentiate between good and evil. Turning gods into Puppets is an affront to us all. If we cannot defeat them, and our believers lose faith, our Divine Power will wane, making us even less of a match for them."

"Do we still need to contact Lin Bai?" the Forest Goddess asked.

"At a time like this, we should be extending even more goodwill towards Lin Bai," the War God said, glancing at the Forest Goddess. "Players are immortal. We need his Magpie Bridge to launch a counterattack on the Fairy World."

「...」

The Dream Heavenly King and his companions weren't adept at disguise. Their physical stature and demeanor were strikingly different from the inhabitants of the Continent of Gods and Demons. Using the Magpie Bridge would reveal their location, so they resorted to the most primitive methods of travel, all the while keeping a close watch on the gods' movements.

After learning of Lin Bai's cunning maneuver, the Fire Heavenly King looked at the Thunder Heavenly King with a smile. "Beigui, so you turned the God of Darkness into a Puppet and declared war on the Lich King?"

The Thunder Heavenly King flushed with anger and embarrassment. "I knew it! Lin Bai is never one to stay quiet; he's full of devious schemes! If we go to the Misty Forest again, we'll fall right into his trap. He's doing everything he can to provoke conflict between us and the NPCs."

The Dream Heavenly King stated, "There's no need for provocation. We and the NPCs have always been enemies."

The Water Heavenly King asked, "Boss Dream, Lin Bai has drawn the enemy to us. Are we still going to the Misty Forest?"

The Dream Heavenly King sighed. "Since Lin Bai is there, why wouldn't we go? He's demonstrated his skill in disguise. If we miss this chance, where else will we find him? This isn't a covert plot; it's an overt one. He's banking on the fact that even if we see through his scheme, we'll have no choice but to follow his script."