After noting the names of the students willing to join the Wisdom Faction and seeing them out, Han Wu informed Xu Hai about the Wealth God King Zhao Zihong's decision to invest. Xu Hai did not believe it until the calls came in and 200 million Divine Essence appeared in the account.

200 million Divine Essence. There was no way Han Wu had raised that on his own. It had to be from the Wealth God King.

Xu Hai gazed at Han Wu with an emotion that went far beyond gratitude. Accepting Han Wu as a student was truly the best decision of his life.

“Sir, running a faction requires your full attention on the management side,” Han Wu said. “The least I can do is bring in support.”

Xu Hai was too moved to speak. This went far beyond bringing in support. This was delivering the entire foundation. At least 99% of the Wisdom Faction's base had come from Han Wu, and even the remaining 1% had Han Wu's fingerprints on it.

Han Wu and Xu Hai went on to discuss day-to-day management, resource allocation, and the long-term strategies for the faction. Then, a call came in. It was Xia Tian.

After hearing that Xu Hai was looking for new members, Xia Tian had persuaded Xiang Meng, Ye Ling, several friends, and a few of their faculty advisors to stand with Xu Hai. These were all reliable members of the Imperial College.

Xu Hai was glad to have them. After confirming a time to sign the agreements, they ended the call.

Before Han Wu could take a breath, another call came in. It was Xu Mengmeng from the Demonic Imperial College. The last time they had met was in the Divine Weapon Civilization, when Han Wu had given her a spot on the team.

She had not let him down, having gained significantly from that operation and even grasping the initial form of a Divine Jurisdiction.

After returning to the Demonic Imperial College, she had ascended into a Major God. In many ways, she was the Demonic Imperial College’s equivalent of Han Wu.

This call was partly to thank him, and partly to ask about Xu Hai and the Butcher's challenge. Knowing that Xu Hai was Han Wu's teacher, she wanted to invite the man to give a public lecture at the Demonic Imperial College. She would handle the coordination on that end.

Han Wu immediately accepted. Xu Hai was even more excited than he was. Gaining traction at Imperial College was straightforward. After all, it was his home ground. Getting access to the Demonic Imperial College required far more effort. Fortunately, Xu Mengmeng had smoothed the way without being asked. Recruitment there would hopefully go smoothly as well.

The good news kept pouring in. The moment Han Wu ended that call, another came in.

Major God Jiang Ming had heard about the upcoming divine war between Xu Hai and the Butcher during his travels and business.

Aware that Han Wu, as Xu Hai's student, would naturally be involved, Jiang Ming had found suppliers for basic supplies and cannon fodder resources at 70% of the market rate. If Han Wu agreed, he would make the purchases and return to the Divine Civilization.

Han Wu told Jiang Ming to hold off for a moment, then had Xu Hai authorise a withdrawal of two million Divine Essence for Jiang Ming to purchase as much as he could manage.

Jiang Ming was thrilled. In all his years of trading, he had never handled that much Divine Essence at once. He promised Han Wu that the job would be done right.

More calls followed from various friends. Some contributed resources, some wanted to show their support, and some, with both resources and people, invested directly into the Wisdom Faction. Xu Hai received thousands of deals through Han Wu alone.

Xu Hai laughed quietly to himself. Virtually everything in the Wisdom Faction had come through Han Wu or was connected to him in some way. It would not take much for the Wisdom Faction to become Han Wu’s Faction in all but name. Still, Xu Hai didn’t mind one bit. If that day ever came, he would personally place the imperial robe on Han Wu's shoulders and set the crown on his head.

As the Wisdom Faction grew, Xu Hai made sure to put every member to work. He divided his territory within other civilizations into four tiers. Divine Beings could train in the tier one zones that were similar to Zombie Town; Demigods in the second tier, such as the Armor Civilization; Gods in tier three, which included the Middle Realm; and Major Gods in tier four, like the Demon Civilization.

Unfortunately, Xu Hai did not have the resources for God Kings yet and could only let them develop freely for the moment. However, he used his Mind Eye to analyse the future development path of each God King within the faction. This free consultation deeply ingratiated the God Kings with him.

Things went on quietly for a few days. The Wisdom Faction grew a little larger with each passing day.

One day, news of the Butcher’s successful ascension to a God King came in. He had obtained a powerful new Divine Jurisdiction called Slaughter.

The War Family had been waiting for this public announcement and flooded into the Slaughter Faction to stand behind the Butcher. The Butcher wasted no time, formally submitting his challenge to the Will of the Divine Civilization and declaring divine war against the Wisdom Faction.

The Wisdom Faction accepted. With the Will of the Divine Civilization as witness, the divine realms of the Slaughter Faction and the Wisdom Faction were combined into a single complete battlefield. This battlefield comprised a portion of each faction member's divine realm as well as the full divine realm of each faction leader. It was massive.

The victor of this divine war would claim the other side's combined divine realm and obtain the defeated leader’s Divine Jurisdictions. That was what it meant to engage in a divine war.

Historical records in the Divine Civilization noted that roughly half of all divine wars had ended in a draw. Wisdom God King Xu Hai made it clear that this divine war would not be settled by negotiation. It would be fought until one side surrendered or was wiped out.