THE GOD EATER

In response to Hammock’s uncertainty, Loki shook his head and said with certainty, “I think you have it all wrong. I think the expansion of the sects into large worlds is a more plausible reason for why worlds are invaded than the need to have a world all to themselves. I am sure of it.”

When Hammock heard this, he became thoughtful for a few second. Then he said, “It is true that large worlds are rarely hollowed out after they have been invaded. Sects usually establish more branches on those large worlds instead of breaking them apart and using them as resources, as they do with captured worlds.”

“So it would seem that expanding the territory of the sects is a greater priority than using the large world as a source of raw materials. But it still doesn’t explain the motivation behind why sects are established at all.”

But Loki insisted, saying, “We don’t need to know the motivation to prove it is there. We are mere divine beings, so it is normal that we don’t know how Dao Lords think.”

Then he chuckled and said, “We don’t know much about Dao Lords, so there is no problem about our lack of knowledge about their motives. In fact, it should be the case that we don’t know how they think or what they are thinking about.”

At this point, his tone became serious as he said, “The fact that sects were established in the first place proves that there is a benefit to be gained by establishing sects.”

“And the fact that large worlds are used to expand the territory of the sect instead of being hollowed out is proof that whatever benefits there are to be gained from expanding the territory of sects is greater than whatever benefits are to be gained from plundering the world for raw materials.”

Then he shook his head and said, “Besides, who is to say that sects can’t plunder worlds by establishing branches on them. Maybe they are plundering souls that way. Or they could be creating more divine beings to plunder lifespan from them through the life-leech.”

“My point is that the fact that we don’t know what the motivation is doesn’t mean that there is no motivation. So don’t be quick to say that sects aren’t plundering worlds by establishing branches on those worlds.”

Then he chuckled again as he said, “If you ask me, the first and second reasons are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I believe that they may be one and the same.”

When Hammock heard this, his eyes lit up, and he said, “Do you mean that sects don’t want to capture large worlds so that they can have those large worlds all to themselves and plunder them by establishing territories on them?”

Loki nodded in reply and said, “I think so.”

Hammock also nodded in agreement and said, “If you’re right, and I believe that you are, everything makes sense now. I don’t think we need a third reason to explain why large worlds are not captured.”

But Loki shook his head and said, “I still want to hear it. Who knows, it might contain another piece of the puzzle that will help us paint a bigger picture.”

Hammock immediately nodded in agreement before saying, “The third reason I could think of is that the golden array in the heavens can’t catch large worlds.”

After saying this, he shook his head and said, “If I am right, then this reason would explain everything. After all, if large worlds can’t be captured, then it doesn’t matter what the motivations of the sects are regarding invasion. But I honestly can’t phantom a world where a rank 9 array can’t capture a large world.”

Loki had seen the golden chains of the world capturing array up close. What he saw made him shake his head and say, “A large world is only the equivalent of a rank 8 divine being. I don’t see how a large world can resist the power of a rank 9 being.”

“Maybe I am being ignorant to make that claim. But it truly feels unbelievable to me.”

Hammock also didn’t believe that a large world could resist the world-capturing array, so he didn’t say anything to support this possible reason.

Instead, he said, “That is why I have no faith in it.”

Since they were done with this topic, Loki decided to ask about another thing that had been on his mind ever since he began looking through sect missions.

He said to Hammock, “I saw some sect missions, and when I looked through them, there was also the warning that the world we are invading isn’t always the only enemy, and that we should watch out for other sects.”

“I don’t understand how sects will attack each other in other worlds when they are mostly peaceful with each other in the Blessed Heaven World.”

“I mean, if they like to sabotage each other so much, the Blessed Heaven World should have been thrown into chaos, and fighting between sects shouldn’t be limited to just the Heavenly Battlefield and Earthly Battlefield.”

This time, Hammock shook his head and said, “I don’t know why sects don’t fight each other in their home world.”

In order not to disappoint Loki, he quickly said, “What I do know is that every sect can’t fight in the Blessed Heaven World because not every sect is in the Blessed Heaven World?”

In the first dimension, he frowned when he heard this. His avatar in the Cave Heaven couldn’t frown, but its voice sounded like someone who had been taken aback as it said, “What do you mean? There are other sects aside from the five?”

To which Hammock nodded and said, “There are eight sects in the Sea of Worlds. Five of them are on the Blessed Heaven World. The other three couldn’t establish any territory here for whatever reason. But all eight of them basically share the Sea of Worlds.”