# 1409
Chapter 1410 "「Empty Gate」"
Great Xia border.
Gray mist churned violently outside the Divine Miracle Wall. Atop the snow-capped mountain peaks, a steel-silver city stood imposingly.
This was one of several crucial A-level war fortresses on the southwestern side of Great Xia, and also the highest altitude war pass in the entire nation—
——【Chennan Pass】!
The howling cold wind swept across Chennan Pass's towering outer walls, emitting low, mournful wails. This silver city standing among the mountains had been solitary guardian of Great Xia's southwest for years. From high above, countless figures could be seen bustling through its streets.
BUZZ——!!
A piercing alarm shattered the silence between the mountains, startling everyone inside the pass. They all scrambled urgently toward their stations!
"Beep——Highest-level alert? Which watchtower sent it?"
"The enemy? In which direction?"
"It wasn't sent by any watchtower—it's directly from Chennan Pass Command!"
"Command? What on earth happened?"
"This is Night Watch Second Reserve Squad, we don't see any enemy presence, please respond!"
"This is Night Watch First Reserve Squad, we don't see anything either..."
Heavy voices came through the walkie-talkies one after another. Within half a minute, all personnel at Chennan Pass had reached emergency positions, yet no one had spotted any enemy attack.
After a moment, the voice of Pass Commander Guan Zai came through the intercom:
"This highest-level alert was issued directly by Night Watch Headquarters and Great Xia Heavenly Court. Everyone remain vigilant."
An alert issued directly by Night Watch Headquarters and Heavenly Court?!
Hearing this, everyone's hearts sank at Chennan Pass.
Previously, even when the war passes were under attack, the watchtowers that detected the enemy would be the first to notice, then assess the threat level and determine the alert tier... But this time, the highest-level alert was issued directly by Headquarters and Heavenly Court?
This meant there was a major catastrophe that the personnel at Chennan Pass hadn't yet noticed, but that Great Xia's high command was already aware of—about to descend upon them.
In the howling cold wind, over a thousand defenders stood at their posts throughout Chennan Pass, hearts in their throats, countless eyes fixed on the churning mist in the distance.
CRACK——!!
A bolt of lightning suddenly burst from the clouds inside the Divine Miracle Wall, the thunderous roar like that of heaven collapsing, shaking the mountains below violently!
Following this, streams of dark-gold light seeped from the void, interweaving in the clouds, and among them, countless intricate and mysterious runes could be vaguely seen surging forth!
"What's that?!"
"Such terrifying pressure... Which divine kingdom's reserves is this?"
"Look, doesn't the shape formed by those beams of light look like a...?"
"Door! It's a door!"
"..."
Under the watchful eyes of countless defenders at Chennan Pass, atop the clouds among the mountains, a massive gate was gradually taking shape.
The gate stood above the clouds, its size impossible to measure with the naked eye, but one thing was certain—if this gate were to topple forward, it could cover this entire towering mountain range!
Gray mist swirled behind the portal, and within that mist's depths, an ancient and mysterious temple floated quietly in the air.
"Divine Temple."
At Chennan Pass Command, Yang Jian in silver armor stared at the vaguely visible temple shadow beyond the gate, speaking word by word.
"That's the Indian Divine Kingdom, the Divine Temple?" Pass Commander Guan Zai beside him furrowed his brows tightly. "The Indian gods actually moved their entire home base into Great Xia?"
"No. Apart from Great Xia Heavenly Court, no other divine kingdom has the ability to shift through space." Yang Jian shook his head, pointing at the dark-gold gate standing in the clouds. "They're using the 'Empty Gate' to open a direct spatial connection between the area in front of the Divine Temple and Great Xia's territory, forming a one-way channel.
Beings on the other side of the 'Empty Gate' can move directly to this side, but those on this side cannot reach the other side of the 'Empty Gate'... In a sense, they've directly connected the Divine Temple to Great Xia."
"The 'Empty Gate'... is a Supreme God artifact from Indian mythology?"
"That's right."
"Using a Supreme God artifact right off the bat, moving the entire Divine Temple to Great Xia... Are these guys serious?" Guan Zai's expression turned extremely grim.
What the Divine Temple was doing now was identical to what the Great Xia gods did when they moved Heavenly Court directly above Egyptian Heliopolis—that act of relocating an entire divine kingdom into another's territory was the ultimate provocation. It also meant... they were fully prepared to initiate an all-out, fight-to-the-death war!
Yang Jian's brow remained tightly knit, confusion evident in his expression:
"This doesn't make sense... Those Divine Temple fellows are all ascetic gods, not the ambitious, aggressive types like Asgard or Olympus. When Taishang Tianzun was hunting down Odin, they even contributed forces. Why would they suddenly turn their weapons around, abandoning their typically reclusive, cautious nature to launch a direct war against Great Xia?"
"... It's too late to be seeking such deep reasons now."
Guan Zai looked up at the sky. Beyond the gate in the clouds, the Divine Temple's gates slowly opened, and figures streaked through the mist, hurtling rapidly toward this side of the gate!
His expression was ashen:
"They've moved their entire divine kingdom to Chennan Pass, but all of Great Xia's combat forces are scattered among the twelve war fortresses along the border... If they're determined to break through here, we won't be able to hold."
Among the many divine kingdoms in the world, only six were the most powerful: Great Xia Heavenly Court, Egyptian Heliopolis, Indian Divine Temple, Nordic Asgard, Greek Olympus, and Japanese Takamagahara. Even among these six, there were subtle differences in power.
If one were to rank the six major divine kingdoms purely by military strength, Egyptian Heliopolis and Japanese Takamagahara would fall into the third tier. The former because the entire kingdom had only one "Supreme God"—the sun god "Ra"—and the latter, though possessing two Supreme Gods, "Amaterasu" and "Tsukuyomi," had too few "Chief God"-level combatants.
Nordic Asgard and Greek Olympus belonged to the second tier. The former, though having only one "Supreme God," had Odin at his peak who could be called the strongest god on earth. Even Great Xia's Taishang Tianzun and India's Vishnu combined couldn't kill him—so his strength was evident.
As for the latter, from both the number of "Supreme Gods" and "Chief Gods," Olympus should be in the first tier. Unfortunately, Olympus had long been plagued by internal strife. Zeus, Nyx, and the currently Moon-based Chronos all opposed each other, causing the entire kingdom's power to drop to the second tier.
As for the first tier, there were only two: the otherworldly Great Xia Heavenly Court, and the ancient, mysterious Indian Divine Temple.