Chapter 155: Quetzalcoatl

Not long after.

Assistant Achuan brought over mythological information from various countries.

"What's wrong?" Achuan noticed the assistant bringing over materials, looking hesitant, as if there was something to say: "If you have something to say, just say it. There are no outsiders here."

After a slight pause, Assistant Achuan organized his thoughts and spoke.

"These past few days I've been helping gather myths from various countries, getting to know the gods and monsters of each. I've come across Hua, Greek, Roman, Japanese, Indian, Egyptian, and so on — and I've found that the gods here are all extremely powerful, no less than the myths of the Lord."

At this point, his words paused, then continued:

"Should we consider switching faiths? There are too many Christians, spread across the world — the Lord can't look after them all, can he?"

His meaning was plain enough.

Too many people believe in Christianity, scattered across every country in the world. Once the gods begin their reckoning, the Lord can't possibly be running back and forth everywhere to protect them. Better to switch to a faith with fewer believers, but a very powerful deity.

Achuan's expression froze in astonishment.

Come to think of it, the assistant's reasoning made a great deal of sense.

At first he had only considered that the Lord was badass enough — after all, to have accumulated so many followers and become one of the world's most famous religions, he must be incredibly powerful. Plus, most Mi people already believed in Christianity, so promoting it would be easy, far quicker and more convenient than pushing a brand-new faith from scratch.

But he hadn't considered that the Lord's followers were spread far too widely.

Achuan: "……"

Just as Achuan was momentarily stunned by the assistant's words…

At this moment.

Mi Nation, Washington, the National Museum of the American Indian.

This museum is one of the world's largest collections of American Indian art and cultural objects, with many exhibits on display — jewelry, pottery, textiles, paintings, sculptures, and so on.

It is a museum steeped in Indian culture.

Last time during the saliva incident, Mi netizens had sparked a debate about retaliating against the Indian gods. Achuan suppressed the matter at the first opportunity, and the online debate was eased and quelled.

But just a few days after the online debate subsided, just as the discussion was about to die down and be forgotten, some Mi netizen reposted the matter circulating on Japanese nets — "The gods shall return, the reckoning is at hand."

The debate that should have died down flared up again, even growing more intense, fiercer, and more heated.

Many netizens were surprised — that earlier guess that the Indian gods simply hadn't been retaliating because they were busy turned out to be not groundless at all.

It was possible that the Indian gods had been on the original battlefield, and so hadn't noticed the slaughter of the Indian people or the seizure of their lands.

A single stone stirred up a thousand ripples.

Mi nets boiled over, fermenting rapidly, the discussion multiplying geometrically with time.

This is an age of diversified information. Once a public opinion truly ignites, even those at the top can't suppress it.

That was the case now. With public opinion erupting, even if Achuan wanted to suppress it, he could only do so for a moment — not forever. He couldn't control every Mi person's mouth.

Talk of the Indian gods retaliating and the gods returning to reckon soon spread across Mi Nation.

Many Mi netizens were looking up information on the Indian gods, searching for clues as to whether the Indian gods truly existed.

The National Museum of the American Indian — a museum rich in heavy Indian culture — naturally became an important place for Mi netizens seeking clues to whether the Indian gods truly existed.

In recent days, foot traffic at the Indian museum had surged enormously, multiplying more than tenfold.

In the past, daily visitors numbered around a hundred at most; recently, the count had been climbing by the thousand.

Not only the Indian museum — anything touching on Indian culture became the focus of Mi netizens' attention.

For example, the elective courses on Indian culture offered at various universities.

It had been a niche elective, but in recent days it had become a hot one, with the threshold worn down. Many Mi university students specifically signed up for the course, hoping to learn more about Indian culture and see if they could find clues to the real existence of the Indian gods within it.

Annas, a young female professor at Washington University and also a scholar who had thoroughly researched Indian culture, taught precisely this obscure elective on Indian culture.

Previously, when she taught, her students numbered no more than thirty.

But recently, more and more students had signed up for her course — for the first time ever, enrollment was completely full.

She herself loved Indian culture, so naturally she was delighted that student numbers had grown. However, with so many students, she could no longer use her old teaching methods. After all, in the past with few students, each could come ask her questions individually, and she could teach them attentively, making sure every person truly learned about Indian culture.

Now that there were so many, she could no longer do that.

She decided to bring her students to the National Museum of the American Indian today, using the physical exhibits to lecture and deepen the students' understanding of Indian culture.

She led the students into the museum.

After briefly introducing the museum's history, Annas knew perfectly well that her students had signed up for the elective because of the recent viral online talk about the Indian gods, so she brought the students before a giant stone pillar on display, preparing to begin her introduction from there.

The stone pillar was very large, standing five meters tall — a typical Indian pillar, with a pair of wing-like carvings extending from the very top.

But it differed somewhat from a typical Indian pillar: no human face was carved on it. Instead, a fierce, majestic monster was carved coiling around the pillar. The monster was like a snake, wrapped around the stone column, with its serpent head at the top; the wing-like carvings on either side of the summit were the monster's wings.

This was a stone pillar statue carved with a fierce, winged, giant snake-monster.

"I think every one of you students should be able to tell at a glance what this monster on the stone pillar is."

Annas posed the question to every student present.

The next second, the students spoke up in unison.

"Quetzalcoatl."

"That's Quetzalcoatl."

Annas smiled and nodded.

Yes — the monster carved on this stone pillar was precisely Quetzalcoatl, one of the most renowned, widely circulated, and widely known deities in Indian mythological culture.

Legends of it spread throughout the Americas. It was a god commonly worshipped in the civilizations of Mesoamerica, generally depicted as a feathered serpent.

Annas pointed at the Quetzalcoatl statue on the stone pillar and spoke at length with ease.

"Students, I think you all know that Quetzalcoatl is a deity of Indian mythology. But did you know that 'Indian mythology' doesn't actually refer to a single mythology — it's an umbrella term for three mythologies?"

At these words, the students were surprised.

Indian mythology was three mythologies?!

All along, they had assumed "Indian" referred to a single mythology — they hadn't expected it to be made up of three.

Just then.

Annas spoke up.

"Students, the reason Native American mythology is called Native American mythology is simply because it was passed down by the natives who lived in the Americas, and the natives of the Americas are, as is well known, the Indians.

The Americas are vast, with a large territory and sparse population. In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient, so good communication between one side of the Americas and the other could not be achieved, and thus each region formed its own culture, with cultural differences.

Moreover, with the changes of history, culture will also change accordingly, and mythology will change along with it.

Therefore, according to the collection and compilation by theologians, the Native American mythology of the Americas actually encompasses three mythological civilizations.

They are respectively, the Mayan mythology, the Inca Empire mythology, and the Aztec mythology.

The three mythological civilizations each have their own mythological system, and the deities they worship are also different."

The students suddenly understood, exclaiming in surprise one after another.

They had not expected that Native American mythology was actually like this, composed of three mythological system civilizations, and that the famous Mayan mythology was actually also Native American mythology!

"I thought Mayan mythology was Mayan mythology, and Native American mythology was Native American mythology. Who would have thought that Mayan mythology is one of the three great mythologies of Native American mythology — it's amazing." A student struck their palm with their fist, suddenly enlightened.

Of course, there were also students who, at this moment of sudden realization, were filled with strong curiosity.

"Then Professor Annas, the Feathered Serpent God is a deity of Native American mythology — specifically, which of the three mythologies does it belong to?"

In an instant.

All the students present turned to look at Annas in unison, their eyes filled with curiosity.

Hearing this, Annas gave a slight smile, tucked a strand of golden hair behind her ear, and said:

"This student, your thinking is wrong. The Feathered Serpent God is not a deity of just one of the three mythologies.

It appears in both the Mayan mythology and the Aztec mythology, and is a deity in both. Among the Aztecs, they call the Feathered Serpent God Quetzalcoatl, and among the Maya, they call the Feathered Serpent God Kukulkan.

Especially in the Mayan mythology, the Maya worshiped the Sun God. They believed Kukulkan, that is, the Feathered Serpent God, to be the incarnation of the Sun God.

In the hearts of the Maya, the Feathered Serpent God is the supreme deity — it is the Sun God!

And in the Aztec mythology, the Feathered Serpent God is also an extremely important deity. As for how important, simply put, the Aztec mythology mainly originates from the present-day Mexico region, and the Feathered Serpent God is the most respected symbol in present-day Mexico — there is no equal.

Therefore.

The name of the Feathered Serpent God runs through two of the Native American mythologies, and its status is extremely special, carrying extraordinary significance."

In her words, Annas, who knew well that most of the students present had enrolled in the Native American culture elective because of the recent online discussions about Native American deities seeking revenge, hoping to find clues to the real existence of Native American deities, could not help but laugh.

"In terms of status in Native American mythology, the Feathered Serpent God is absolutely and without question the most famous deity, and also the deity most valued and worshipped by the Native Americans.

Likewise, it is also the deity who cares most about the Native Americans.

If Native American deities truly exist, upon learning of the slaughter of the Native Americans, the first deity to become enraged would surely be the Feathered Serpent God."

……