When they killed them the land was affected by it, if i remember correctly they used the new religion to revitilise their power...
Plus, the world literaly pushes for a new "king of the gods" to be choosen and it did.
Finaly NO, the saintess has powers, which do come from faith... How the he** would you call beings whose power you can draw on, not gods and whose demise hurts the land?
@Nobody clearly you and I read different novels because everything I said IS from the novel.
Spoiler!
Like I said, the Dannans are made from concepts. The loss of concepts takes a heavy toll on the world, but its not as if the world ends without them. The lifespan of the world becomes greatly reduced and magic and sacred power vanishes eventually due to the lack of Dannans to maintain singularity in those concepts, but the world lives on, albeit in a decrepit state. The world pushes for a new Dannan pantheon because with Dannans existing, concepts can be consolidated and centalised around a Dannan born from that particular concept. Its not absolutely necessary, but it is much, much better if they do exist. If what you say is correct, then HwaRan should not have become a Dannan at the end, since her Jiangshi phisiology allows her to channel Demonic energy; but we all know how that goes.
Like I said, a Dannan is not necessary, but having one is a boon. They help the world function better and the world is worse off without them, but their existence is not necessary for the world to exist. If that was the case, the world should have ended when the Titans were slain, since unlike Dannans, the Titans were literal embodiments of the primodial essence of the world.
