After hearing Dan’s explanation, Xiu gazed at the two overlapping moons then looked back at Dan and asked: “The Chaos Continent and the world of the gods will overlap … What’s going to happen?”
“The realm of the gods will be the same as the Chaos Continent and the Chaos Continent will be the same as the realm of the gods.” Dan said: “All of the low, mid, or high level gods will be able to appear in the Chaos Continent.”
Du Ze immediately thought of the final BOSS, the god of light. When he was in Sky City, he said he was a high level god – oh, shi*!
Now that the Moe Lord has awakened the bloodline of 6 races and is not yet level 80, the author suddenly expanded the plot to include level 100 content?! And he also changed the location of the final BOSS! F***!
For fear that the god of light will appear in front of them right away, Du Ze hurriedly asked: “When a god descends into the Chaos Continent, can he immediately find a person?”
“Gods can get information through other gods and believers, so the more idols and believers a god has, the more omniscient he is.” Dan glanced at his unfinished idol. “If there is no idol of the god or believers who are praying to the gods, it is difficult for the deity to determine a person’s position.”
Du Ze sighed in relief, fortunately, the author still has a lower limit, therefore the safety of the Moe Lord was temporarily guaranteed. Some silly, cute person saw Dan staring at him with interest. The green-clothed businessman smiled and said: “Looks like you offended a god? Let me guess – since you got so nervous about the merging of the two worlds, it must be a high level god…”
Dan put the book under his arm and touched his chin. When his line of sight fell on Xiu, the demon smiled maliciously: “Ah, it must be the god of light.”
Xiu was noncommittal. Dan smiled wider and remarked: “You are really a worthy descendant of Lord Bael. Ah, I believe it was during the middle of the first era? The god of light regarded Bael as his mortal enemy and was bullied by Lord Bael many times. He would run over to provoke Lord Bael and get beaten up again and again.”
Du Ze and his buddies were stunned to hear the story about the demon god Bael and the god of light. This tsundere, Moe person… it’s really hard to imagine!
“Demon Bael …” Xiu whispered: “Where is he?”
Dan stared at Xiu and shook his head: “I don’t know.”
The demon god who has lived for tens of thousands of years raised his book to his face and obscured his expression. “The demons and the angels fought for nearly two centuries. The demons were banished to the reverse side of the continent in the second century. Do you think that their defeat was as simple as the angels and elves forming an alliance? In the beginning of the second century, the god of light somehow acquired a scepter that could destroy gods. Many of the 72 demons gods fell at that time and the rest are in hiding. Lord Bael has not been heard of since.”
Du Ze was watching Xiu for his reaction. When Xiu learned that Bael lost, Xiu’s expression was completely free of disappointment, as if he had never had any hope in the first place.
“So, is there any problem?” Dan put down the book and looked at Du Ze. “Then it’s my turn to ask.”
Some silly, cute person didn’t know why he was nervous. The green-clothed businessman was very puzzled and asked: “How did you know my identity?”
– Because your note betrayed you.
“I read the name you wrote.”
Dan was very surprised: “You can read it? Impossible, that’s my own writing that I invented.”
This young man has his own translator and is proficient in all the languages of this world.
Seeing the disbelief on the scoundrel Dan’s face, some silly, cute person felt elated and said in a profound way: “Because -”
I am a reader.
He was too carried away and forgot about the mysterious force that stopped him from telling the truth to the people of this world. Some silly, cute person was still thinking about how to get around this restriction when he saw that Dan had retreated. He looked frightened and his face had changed color, as if he was looking at a bomb that was about to explode.
“You needn’t tell me.” From a distance, Dan said bitterly: “I do not want to know.”
Huh?
He did not wait for Du Ze to come over. The green-clothed businessman waved the book at his side and his body gradually disappeared into thin air.
“This transaction has come to a successful conclusion. I have to leave now. I look forward to our next trade ~”
Du Ze watched the scoundrel Dan, who was usually very calm, suddenly float away like a cloud. The silly, cute reader eagerly asked the Moe Lord who has a high IQ: “Why did Dan leave?”
Xiu shook his head to indicate that he didn’t know. He picked up some blankets from the ground then spread them out, and lay down with Du Ze in his embrace.
“It’s almost dawn, you should sleep for a while.”
Du Ze saw that the sky was almost white. Once he noticed the time, his exhaustion overcame him. He wanted to asked what Xiu thought about the gods, but he fell asleep before he could speak.
When the next day dawned, Du Ze struggled to get up from Xiu’s embrace. He saw Ariel and Nina’s cheerful, smiling faces and wondered if Dan had done anything to the girls since they slept very soundly last night and did not wake up when Dan arrived.
After a day of rest, a lot of Nina’s strength had recovered. She looked at the impassive Du Ze (actually, he was in a daze) whose hair was being combed by Xiu, and felt her heart was disturbed – even if those two are good companions, isn’t this move a little too intimate?
Seeing Xiu looking at her, Nina subconsciously tried to avoid his eyes, her fox ears drooped and her big, fiery red tail wagged restlessly.
Perhaps she was just being too suspicious. The girl comforted herself with this thought.
Since their party was rather large, Xiu summoned the unicorn and let Ariel and Nina ride it together. Xiu and Du Ze rode the black dragon and Old John was carried in the dragon’s paw. In this way, five people continued to travel westward. They finally arrived at Nina’s tribe at noon.
It was not a large tribe. Its appearance and defenses looked relatively simple. When he saw the black dragon descending, the poor beastkin on the lookout tower sounded the alarm bell. His hand on his bow shook. To all of the beastkin who poured out to defend the tribe, Nina shouted from the back of the unicorn: “Sal, it’s me!”
After seeing Nina, the beastkin man standing in front of the warriors was very surprised and said: “Priestess, you came back.”
Du Ze was surprised. The fox girl’s identity was not simple. In the beastkin tribes, the leader was the chief, the heart of the tribe was the prophet, and the priest or priestess was the prophet’s chosen successor.
“I’m back.” Nina’s look became sad: “But Greene… they’re …”
“They are real warriors, the pride of the Beastkin.” Led by Sal, the beastkin all placed a fist on the left side of their chests and roared: “Great beast god, please let them return to your arms. They are your most loyal warriors, both in life and in death!”
The wind whistled over the sorrowful and solemn scene. Sal put down his hand and looked at Du Ze and the others. In a somewhat guarded tone, he asked: “Priestess, who are these people?”
“They rescued me.” Nina glanced at Du Ze and ears twitched. “I would like to invite my benefactor to rest here.”
Sal’s eyes wandered towards Du Ze and the others.His gaze lingered on the black dragon. He looked back and forth at them several times before he eventually put down his weapon and welcomed Du Ze’s group: “Thank you for saving the priestess. Although humans are our mortal enemy, this doesn’t include good-hearted people.”
They dismounted, and Sal led everyone into the village. Du Ze saw many different beastkin in the tribe; most of them were foxes but there were also minks and dog people who were of the weaker branches of the beastkin family. The beastkin stopped their work and looked nervously or curiously at the group when they passed by. Du Ze saw many with colorful streamers in their hands that they were tying to the tops of their houses. The streamers seemed to represent something important.
Nina also noticed this and she asked Sal: “Prayer flags? Will there be a ritual tonight? What happened?”
Sal looked extremely excited when he heard Nina’s question. “Tomorrow the beastkin god will descend upon our tribe and sprinkle blessings. In order to meet the gods, we decided to hold a festival tonight.”
He looked apologetically at Nina: “The ceremony should be presided over by the prophet, but the prophet’s body might not be able to support the whole ritual. Priestess, you have not yet rested, but could you please take the place of the prophet and preside over the ceremony?”
Nina was pleasantly surprised when she learned that the beastkin god will be coming. “Of course, I’d love to.”
She turned to Du Ze and said hopefully: “Would you like to come and see the ritual sacrifice?”
Du Ze naturally looked at the beastkin homes and Xiu glanced at the streamers on the roofs as though they had given him a glimpse of a higher presence.
– To become a god, you must have a godhead.
Xiu smiled and said: “We would be honored.”
Nina left to prepare for the ritual. Du Ze and the others were invited to rest in a stone house. Du Ze bathed and slept on a bed. When he woke up, the light of the setting sun had turned the whole house orange. Du Ze examined his hearing aid. Unfortunately, the headphones had almost run out of charge so to him the evening ritual will be like watching a silent film.
It was very lively outside. Ariel, Old John, and Muir were not there. Xiu saw that Du Ze was awake and passed him some water. Du Ze was about to thank him when he heard someone knocking at the door.
“Come in.”
The door was pushed open. Du Ze saw Nina and felt like he was really seeing a fantasy fox girl. She wore a classic red and white robe. Now that her formerly dusty skin had been washed, her fair skin was a dazzling white in the sunset. Nina’s fox ears twitched when she saw Du Ze looking at her; she seemed a little shy. She glanced at Du Ze who was at Xiu’s side and summoned up the courage to ask him: “Du Ze, can I speak to you alone?”
Nina seemed to be very nervous. Even her fox ear seemed tense. Before Du Ze could open his mouth to reply, he heard Xiu saying softly: “What words can I not listen to?”
The blond youth’s expression showed confusion and worry at being excluded. Some silly, cute person then thought that there really wasn’t anything that he needed to conceal from the Moe Lord. He said to Nina: “Let’s talk right here.”
“No…that is …” When Xiu opened his mouth, Nina was frightened though she couldn’t figure out why. Her face turned red and she stammered. Du Ze words made the girl seem like a deflated ball; her ears and her tail drooped dejectedly.
“I just, just want to thank Du Ze.” Nina hung her head: “Thank you for saving me.”
She did not wait for Du Ze’s response. The fox girl immediately turned and ran away.
“She seems very shy.” Xiu smiled, his eyes bottomless blue pools.
Du Ze looked at Nina’s back as she ran away and couldn’t agree more. He nodded.
As night fell, the ceremony began. A huge bonfire was lighted; the fire rose up in the night sky like gold dust. All of the tribe’s people were in the central area of the village where there was a crude stone altar. Though the altar was undecorated except for red sand that had been strewn about in simple symbols, it had a certain wild beauty.
Du Ze and Xiu stood under the altar with a group of beastkin all crowded together. Everyone was looking at the altar where Nina stood barefoot and wearing bells on her arms and legs. Her eyes were closed. Her charming face revealed a kind of holiness that was difficult to look away from.
Beside the altar, some beastkin banged drums and blew long horns taken from some kind of monster. Du Ze couldn’t hear the music clearly but he thought that the sound must be very ancient, like a long-drawn-out sigh.
The moonlight shone down and illuminated the altar so brightly that even the fox girl’s eyelashes were visible. Nina raised her arms. The sleeves of her robes slid down, revealing her white hands. She made a pose as though offering sacrifices to the sky, her hands raised to their highest points, then the girl slowly opened her eyes, mesmerizing eyes that could grab onto a person’s soul.
Thump–
The drummers pounded the drum frenetically. The vibrations could be felt in one’s eardrums. Nina began to dance. Her graceful movements told a story of mortals and gods, mortals praying to god for salvation, and god’s faithful followers.
Du Ze’s ears could pick up the faint sound of a song. It seemed that the beastkin had begun to sing loudly. More and more beastkin joined the chorus until almost all the beastkin were singing. Even without his headphones, Du Ze could hear the melody of the song.
Xiu took a deep breath. The beastkin’s song was producing some sort of resonance with the blood in his body. It was a wild, reckless force that, under the song’s guidance, grew more and more intense as though it was ready to break through the last layer of shackles and show itself.
The two moons rose higher. When they had reached the zenith, Nina stopped dancing. Du Ze pressed on his headphones. He could only hear the last ringing of Nina’s bells as he watched her slowly kneeling on the ground, reverently prostrating her body.
Almighty beast god, your faithful people are here, please bless us –
The beastkin put their hands on the left side of their chests, where the heart is located. Without any prompting, they all paid their respects to their god. Du Ze felt Xiu holding his hand tightly. He turned to see that the blond youth’s face in the firelight was a little gloomy and mysterious.
“If you want to become a god, you have to have that kind of belief.” Xiu’s mouth was still smiling, but he seemed a little sad. “I can become a false god and I can even steal a god’s divinity, but faith …”
The blond youth was silent for a moment, then asked in a self-deprecating way: “Would anyone believe in me?”
Du Ze saw that Xiu’s smile was mocking both himself and the world. He wanted to grab Xiu by the collar and shake him, or growl at him. But even if he did that, Xiu’s shattered trust in himself and others wouldn’t be restored. Du Ze could only hold on to the blond youth who has no faith in himself or others and earnestly respond: “There are. Old John, Ariel, Muir… There are many people who believe in you.”
“Even if no else has faith in you, I will believe in you.” Du Ze finished speaking but wanted to lighten the atmosphere a little so he added: “Lord god, you have to treat your first believer well.”
In the firelight, Xiu’s blue eyes were full of a warm light.
In the next moment, Du Ze was kissed by Xiu. He bit Du Ze’s lips gently and held him in his arms.
“I will.” Xiu sighed: “If I have you, then it is enough.”
Xiu said that in Du Ze’s ear then raised his head to see Nina staring at them in disbelief. The girl was standing at the altar and saw everything that had happened. Her mind was in a muddle and she could only stare at the blond young man who was smiling at her.
That smile is so pure and brilliant yet deeper than the most intense darkness.
He is mine.
The man was showing off his power and proclaiming his ownership, warning off others who coveted what was his.
Nina found it difficult to breathe and she subconsciously took a step back. The beastkin roared with excitement as they looked above them. Nina looked up and the maiden’s eyes clearly reflected the beastkin god’s figure.
The beastkin god was coming.
******
******
I just want you to be a believer.
Truly.
You should believe in me alone.
– [black box]