Chapter 64: The Goddess Descends Bearing the Holy Fire

He suddenly shoved the Heavenly Maiden down hard, and she was thrown to the ground. She said furiously, "Ying, you dare disrespect me? The Heavenly God will not let you go, will not let your Tribe go."

"Shut up, old woman."

Nan Qinghuan couldn't listen anymore. She quickly stepped forward and glared at the woman. "What bullshit Heavenly Maiden? You think you can bully the people of every Tribe just by sticking a gemstone on your head and carrying a fake Scepter? Today I'm going to destroy you, you fraud."

In an instant, she picked up the Heavenly Maiden's Scepter and slammed it hard against her knee. Seeing that she was about to destroy the Scepter, the Heavenly Maiden shrieked, "No!"

With a snap, the Scepter that represented divine authority was broken in two by Nan Qinghuan. She tossed it in front of the woman. "It's nothing but an ordinary dragon immortal tree branch. You really thought it had the power to commune with the gods? Let me tell you — next time you come out pretending to be a god and playing tricks, I'll hit you every time I see you. Hear me?"

That Heavenly Maiden silently chanted an incantation, wanting the triceratops to come eat her. But unexpectedly, Ying quickly stepped forward and scooped up Nan Qinghuan. "Huaner, get back."

The triceratops, unable to catch them, grew extremely agitated. Xiao Guai saw his master being bullied — even though he was just an elephant, he had to stand up for her. He spread his thick legs and charged at the triceratops. One dragon and one elephant fought fiercely, inseparable.

"So she's a fake! We'll never give you food again. You're a fraud!"

"Holy Fire Sister, thank you for exposing this fraud. She's been freeloading food and drink across several Tribes. We've had enough of her all these years. She doesn't do any work, claiming to be the Heavenly Maiden and the child of the gods. Our own people don't even have enough to eat, yet we still had to make offerings to her. She's made us suffer terribly."

"I'll beat you to death, beat you to death, you fraud!"

Those angry, deceived tribespeople — however much respect they once had for this Heavenly Maiden, they now hated her just as much. They all rushed forward to beat her. Seeing she was about to be beaten, the Heavenly Maiden scrambled to her feet and glared viciously at Nan Qinghuan. "You dare destroy the Scepter? You will suffer the gods' revenge! Your hands will fester, your face will..."

"Fester my ass. Are you saying there's poison on the Scepter?"

The moment those words came out, the Heavenly Maiden's face went pale with terror. "What are you talking about?"

"Huaner, how is your hand?"

Ying heard her words and was very worried. He hurried forward to examine her small hand. Seeing that her hand was fine, he finally let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness she was unharmed.

Nan Qinghuan knew this man was protective of her — she couldn't suffer the slightest harm, or his heart would ache to death.

"I'm fine. I knew this Scepter was problematic all along. There's a mechanism on it — I know you don't understand what that means, but this fraud knows what a mechanism is. You smeared poison on it. Nobody but you dared to touch this Scepter. Whenever someone dared to resist you, you'd have them hold the Scepter. You poisoned people. That way, everyone saw that only you remained unaffected, and they all believed you were Heaven's Daughter. Hmph. Such a simple trick, yet you managed to freeload food and drink here for so long. You've really got nerve. Everyone, listen up — from now on, don't believe any talk of Heavenly Maidens. In this world, only by relying on yourself can you eat your fill, dress warmly, and live well. Don't believe in the Heavenly God. There is no such thing in this world..."

"Huaner, enough."

Ying suddenly stopped her from continuing. He could tolerate everything about her, but he could not tolerate her scorning the Heavenly God. He feared the Heavenly God would bring retribution and take away his Huaner.

Nan Qinghuan saw Ying stop her. She bit her lip and didn't say more. Right — she had been getting carried away. Telling ancients that there were no gods in this world — they wouldn't believe it anyway. Besides, in this place, religious faith was still necessary. How hard would life be without faith? "Xiao Guai, let's go."

It had to be said — Xiao Guai was truly impressive. An elephant had beaten a dinosaur black and blue. The defeated triceratops ran to the Heavenly Maiden's side, whimpering. The Heavenly Maiden, also beaten black and blue and in a wretched state, finally managed to climb onto the triceratops's back. "You just wait! Nan Qinghuan, I'll remember you!"

"Little fraud, remembering me won't do you any good. I'll be waiting for you at the Ying Tribe to come find me."

"Don't run! Fraud, don't run!"

The tribespeople wanted to chase the Heavenly Maiden, but she rode the triceratops and fled incredibly fast. After she had gone, a respectful voice suddenly came from behind.

"Greetings to the Goddess."

At those words, Nan Qinghuan was stunned. She saw a shirtless youth beside her, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a head full of silver hair, a high-bridged nose, and a pair of deep blue eyes. His whole presence felt otherworldly — far better-looking than those tribespeople.

"Get up quickly. There is no Goddess here."

But the youth did not rise. He lifted his head and looked at her with utmost reverence. "The Youchao Tribe has awaited the Goddess in the Otherworld for many years. I never expected the Goddess would descend bearing the Holy Fire."

The youth's eyes were filled with joyful surprise. Ying, seeing the youth kneel before Nan Qinghuan, was very puzzled. "Xuan, how can you kneel before Huaner? She is my female."

"Ying, I truly never imagined that the Goddess I've been waiting for would be your female?"

"Hey, what are you two talking about?"

Nan Qinghuan didn't quite understand. Why did this silver-haired youth say he'd been waiting for her? Waiting for her to do what? The youth rose, brimming with joyful surprise. "Goddess, the Youchao Tribe has an ancestral decree: at the heavenly altar of the far reaches, the Goddess shall descend to unite the distant lands. You are the Goddess I have been waiting for."

Hearing this, Nan Qinghuan had originally wanted to ignore it, but upon hearing "Youchao Tribe," she suddenly recalled something. "The houses here were built by your ancestors, right?"

The youth quickly nodded. "The Goddess has a keen eye. That's right — the houses here were all built by my ancestors. They have stood for a thousand years without collapsing. The purpose of this Otherworld's existence is to await the Goddess's descent. My ancestors said that when the Goddess sees these houses, she would let me follow you."

"What? You want to follow Huaner? No."

Ying refused immediately. No one was getting near his Huaner.

Seeing Ying so resistant, Youchao Xuan hurriedly said, "I must follow the Goddess. Only she can unite the distant lands and let our people live well."

"Shut up. Huaner, let's go."

With that, Ying wanted to take Nan Qinghuan away, but Nan Qinghuan wasn't willing to leave. "Wait, Ying, don't be jealous. Bring him along. He's of great use to us. Do you know what his ancestors did?"

"I don't care what he did. No one gets near Huaner, not one step."

It had to be said — Ying's possessiveness toward her was simply overwhelming. He couldn't tolerate any man appearing beside him. But this youth could help them change the Tribe's current situation and realize the dream of building houses.

"Ying, listen to me. This youth is useful to us. He can build houses. Did you see? The houses in this Otherworld were all built by his ancestors. Have you forgotten the plan I told you about? I want to live in a house, and our people should live in houses too — spacious and bright, with flowers and trees at every home. Only he can help us realize this wish. Ying, take him with us, okay?"