Among all the Aeons, the one universally acknowledged as the strongest is the Aeon of Nihility. Yet, even this Aeon of Nihility was only positioned in the middle section of the Pantheon. Other Aeons, like the Aeon of the Hunt, could only stand on the periphery.
And in the core area of the Pantheon stood phantoms of gods that no one present had ever heard of or seen before. There was a sixteen-foot golden Buddha, a Son of God judging all living beings, a primordial text with sides of good and evil, and a savior riding a white horse...
Some phantoms were incredibly solid, almost as if they were present in person. Some phantoms only emitted a faint glow, and some were not even lit up at all.
No one knew where these gods came from, nor what Paths they represented. But, feeling the aura of the convergence of multiverse-level authority and the overwhelmingly grand cosmology that these phantoms represented, there was one thing everyone present could be certain of.
The ranking in the Pantheon was definitely not random. The gods in the center were all beings who could surpass the Aeons!
After realizing this, everyone, including the Express Crew and the IPC, took a sharp breath, making the room temperature rise slightly. This was a multitude of beings who surpassed the Aeons!
This point alone was enough to subvert everyone's worldview, and even more so, their imagination of the structure of the universe.
At this moment, Topaz and Aventurine finally understood why Su Mo could take the lead in the Alliance of Aeons. At first, they had thought it was because Su Mo was the founder, or because of the influence of Ruan Mei, the Aeon of Life.
Now they realized it had nothing to do with anyone else; the most important factor was Su Mo himself.
Even without the so-called Alliance of Aeons, with the secrets and power hidden within Su Mo, he was enough to lead the Aeon they believed in.
Under the awe-filled gazes of the crowd, who dared not ask too many questions, the amber stone fell directly into the phantom of Qlipoth, the Aeon of Preservation.
The fragment, stripped from the core of the Amber Lord's body, contained a power of the Path that was even more concentrated than the arrow gifted by the Aeon of the Hunt last time, or the strands of Abundance's hair that the Aeon of the Hunt had cut off.
Thus, Qlipoth's phantom was instantly lit up. Although it was not as vivid and lively as Ruan Mei's whole-hearted entrustment, its brightness was no less than that of the Hunt and Abundance.
"Is this the complete power of the Path of Preservation?" Feeling the strengthened power of the Path within him, Su Mo reached out and drew the Topaz of Repayment, which Topaz had set aside, into his palm.
An idea came to him, and he asked Topaz with some interest, "Topaz, do you want to become an Emanator of Preservation?"
"Huh?"
At these words, not just Topaz, but everyone present was stunned. An Emanator of Preservation?
"Lord Su Mo, do you mean that you can now grant Miss Topaz authority equivalent to that of an Emanator of Preservation?" Although it felt extremely incredible, considering that the one sitting in front of her was Su Mo, Himeko boldly asked.
"Not equivalent to an Emanator of Preservation, but a genuine Emanator of Preservation," Su Mo corrected. Before lighting up the Aeon's phantom, he could only simulate the power of a strong Emanator.
But after receiving the Amber Lord's gift and lighting up the phantom, he could wield a power of the Path second only to the Aeon of Preservation THEMSELF.
Note, this was without Su Mo using his own vast spiritual power and other various authority bonuses.
In fact, with the double-digit spiritual power foundation that Su Mo now possessed, even if his mastery of the Path of Preservation was not as good as Qlipoth's, he could easily crush the Amber Lord, the master of this Path, with his single-universe-level massive output.
There was no helping it; brute force was king.
No matter how strong the Path of Preservation was, the energy it could call upon was only a corner of the total energy of the universe.
Compared to a being like Su Mo, who transcended the total energy of the universe, there was no comparison at the fundamental concept level.
Therefore, imitating Qlipoth's authority to bestow the title of Emanator was also extremely simple for the current Su Mo. He only needed to package the corresponding Path energy and insert it into Topaz's body.
"..." Hearing Su Mo's confirmation, everyone present fell silent.
Before this, the outside world's judgment of Su Mo was an honorary Aeon + top-tier genius + Emanator-level combat power. But now, all these judgments were proven wrong.
How could there be an Emanator who could casually bestow the title of Emanator? Even the Seven Arbiter-Generals of the Xianzhou Alliance relied on a procedural transfer of authority, not Marshal Hua casually appointing them. Su Mo's performance was completely at the level of an Aeon!
Topaz was even more dizzy.
She had been accepting missions assigned by "Diamond," the Emanator of Preservation, just a moment ago.
Could she really be on equal footing with her former boss so soon? If so, even Lady Jade's status would be below hers?
Seeing everyone speechless from the shock, Su Mo added, "In the already established Alliance of Aeons, Jingliu has joined my command as an Emanator of the Hunt, Herta is my friend as an Emanator of Erudition, and Ruan Mei doesn't need anyone to act on her behalf..."
"Since Qlipoth has also joined the Alliance of Aeons, shouldn't you Preservation folks also have an Emanator to maintain symmetry?"
Su Mo's idea was actually very simple.
It was three-on-one, and one more Emanator would be just right. And compared to other Emanators of Preservation he didn't know, Topaz, whom he had dealt with many times, was more convenient to communicate with.
"Maintain symmetry?" Hearing this, Aventurine was completely speechless. He had seen many willful people and heard many willful reasons, but he had never heard such a willful statement.
To bestow the title of Emanator, just for the sake of symmetry?
In the entire universe, Emanators could be said to be the first-tier existence below Aeons. And a being of this level could be created at will in Su Mo's eyes. In the eyes of an Aeon-level being, the so-called Emanators were probably just toys that could be created at will!
"If it is Lord Su Mo's will..." Topaz was initially shocked by this willful reason. However, Su Mo's words did hit the spot for her.
She couldn't accept a reward without merit. If Su Mo had simply wanted to grant her the authority of an Emanator as a gift, she wouldn't have had the nerve to accept it.
After all, although she had assisted Su Mo in many things before, she had done so under the missions of the IPC. She didn't feel that she deserved to be treated this way by Su Mo.
But when Su Mo said that her promotion to Emanator was to compete with the Emanators of other Aeons, she stopped thinking and immediately made a decision.
Since it had been confirmed that Su Mo was the core leader of the Alliance of Aeons, and their side had also confirmed joining the Alliance of Aeons, then maintaining a good relationship with Su Mo was the most important thing.
If she were to be pointlessly coy at this time, leading to a loss against the representatives of the Aeons of the Hunt and Erudition, the negative impact on the IPC would be too great.
Considering that "Diamond" had repeatedly instructed her to satisfy all of Su Mo's requests, whether reasonable or not, she naturally had nothing to hesitate about.
"Then I will shamelessly accept your gift! As long as it does not violate the Path of Preservation, I will do my best to meet all your expectations and never betray your trust!"
Topaz came before Su Mo and knelt on one knee, performing the ritual of swearing allegiance.
Although she couldn't directly become Su Mo's subordinate like Jingliu for the time being, with her understanding of the Amber Lord and the higher-ups of the IPC, it probably wouldn't be long after this news got back that she would be ordered by the Aeon to be packaged and sent to Su Mo, just like Jingliu.
The value of an Emanator of Preservation was naturally extremely high, but no matter what, it couldn't compare to the stability of the Alliance of Aeons.
In the face of an Aeon-level being, the power of an Emanator was insignificant.
Not to mention, long before Su Mo had created the Aeon of Life and was only considered a rare genius, the higher-ups of the IPC had already had the idea of sending Topaz to Su Mo to maintain their relationship.
Although Su Mo's status had changed now, the final outcome hadn't changed much. Having long accepted this arrangement, she naturally had no objection to changing her boss.
In her view, this was by no means a betrayal. After all, compared to the IPC, which the Amber Lord never paid attention to, Su Mo, who could bestow the title of Emanator, was actually more representative of the orthodoxy of the Path of Preservation.
"Then I'll leave my account and Belobog's economy to you," Hearing Topaz's serious oath, Su Mo conveniently threw these trivial matters to her.
"...Yes!" Topaz was slightly taken aback, then immediately nodded.
Although her main job was debt collection, she was also skilled in financial management. She had been deeply involved in Belobog's economic system, so this work was nothing to her.
However, hearing Su Mo's smooth command, Topaz couldn't help but wonder. Could it be that symmetry or maintaining contact were all excuses, and Su Mo's real intention was just to find an accounting maid?
Thinking of this, she immediately shook her head. No, no! How can I think of Lord Su Mo like that? He is the one who established the Alliance of Aeons and holds a dominant position in the War of the Gods. How could he bestow the title of Emanator for some trivial matters? Definitely not!
"Here!" At this moment, Su Mo returned her Topaz of Repayment. Topaz immediately received it with both hands respectfully.
The originally clear yellow jade now shone with an amber-like brilliance, constantly emitting the sacred aura of the Path of Preservation.
Although it couldn't compare to the Amber Lord's Divine Fragment from before, its aura was dozens of times stronger than her Topaz of Repayment.
The moment she held the amber-colored gem, Topaz felt the power of the Path of Preservation pouring into her body like a river. This scale of concept and power increased her strength by dozens of times.
Topaz could even clearly feel that her current power surpassed that of her former boss, "Diamond."
Her eyes widened in an instant. As fellow Emanators of Preservation, the gift bestowed by Su Mo was actually stronger than the one bestowed by Qlipoth?
Who is the real Aeon of Preservation?!
Besides physical obedience, should her faith also be changed to Lord Su Mo?
For a moment, Topaz was in a daze.