Chapter 591: Creation Myth

Luo Qi barely had time to savor the news he had just heard; countless subtle gaps in his deductions were filled by the story from Shi Xiansheng. There were many versions of the creation myth, but none were as logical as the narrative provided by the former Goddess. Luo Qi had never before imagined that a distant, mythical tale would one day offer such significant guidance for his own reality. Wushan, half-secluded from the world and half-involved, truly preserved the secrets of time. Luo Qi recalled the strange behavior of Wusu; he was like a chronicler, as if Wushan were intentionally probing for the truth. There were other situations, like the one in the previous memory Luo Qi had read, where a foreign Mage had murdered a member of the Du Clan, a fragment inadvertently recorded by a Goddess attending the banquet. Whether intentional or not, Goddesses lived in the fault lines of the Mage world, and maintaining silence and absolute neutrality toward everything they witnessed was Wushan's highest reputation. Mages trusted the reputation Wushan had accumulated over ten thousand years, but within Wushan's own temple, secrets had piled up like mountains over those same ten thousand years.

Perhaps the secrets being narrated by the former Goddess did not violate Wushan's Contract; perhaps Wushan had its own Entanglement Contract that made it impossible for them to break the rules. Perhaps... Luo Qi pondered, perhaps the former Goddess had actually said nothing at all. From the beginning, she had only been telling the distant creation story; she must have known more secrets, secrets contained behind every point she wanted him to remember. The memories she gave him were also merely connecting nodes around major secrets, not the core. Perhaps most of what was piled up in the Wushan Shendian were such memory details; just as Shi Xiansheng himself said, they were like a net, and secrets flowed over the net, eventually precipitating the subtle truth.

If the secrets of this world would open their doors to the son of a Progenitor Mage, then there was no telling how many covetous Mages had plotted against them over the ten thousand years. They were indeed born powerful, but how could they possibly withstand the relentless, year-after-year battering of storms? Extinction was the only possible end for them sooner or later. Luo Qi felt a bit melancholy, but then he thought, Mages themselves would also naturally go extinct; in the face of time, who could escape it?

"Friend of Du Zhengyi, I believe my words must have made you think of many things, but I would like to wait a while before speaking of the Du Family story. Please let me continue in the order of my own story. We just spoke of two of the three Progenitor Mages, and one last Mage remains. This Mage actually has no story; he did not act rashly, nor did he have any romantic or sentimental leisure. He was the leader before the end of the Progenitors tens of thousands of years ago; let us call him the Head Venerable. The Head Venerable Mage never forgot his original intention; his will was firmer than anyone else's, and he longed more than anyone to achieve a supreme great cause, to return to the glory of the past, and to recreate the brilliance of the race from the end of the world. Most importantly, he was also a courageous strategist who was willing to lay out plans in units of ten thousand years and was willing to cultivate deeply over ten thousand years. Among these three Progenitors, the female Progenitor—let us call her the Third Progenitor—was skilled at propagating life and was a goddess of fertility, yet she was a heartless person; she propagated angels and also propagated demons. And the romantic and sentimental Second Progenitor was, conversely, the God of War among the Progenitors. When the two Progenitors were at odds, the Head Venerable was always busy in his own high tower; his plan was based on a stable source of Magic Energy, so at the beginning, he put his energy into producing enough Magic Energy."

Luo Qi's heart stirred; the current decline of the Mage World lay in the constant decay of Magic Energy.

Shi Xiansheng continued, "The Third Progenitor led most of the Mages at the time and secretly carried out a rebellion; legend has it that she harvested humans like harvesting crops. Not long after, her actions were discovered by the Second Progenitor, who had been living among humans. He thought of his responsibilities, so he left Fengqiyuan to come forward and stop her from slaughtering humans. That was a great war between Progenitors that almost destroyed this world and also alarmed the Head Venerable, who came forward to stand on the side of the God of War. The great war between the two Progenitors ended with the victory of the God of War, but when he returned to Fengqiyuan, he discovered that the rebel Mages had killed his lover. This was truly a tragedy, yet the God of War could not face the casualties of war."

Luo Qi listened quietly, secretly thinking that Du Zhengyi was indeed a descendant of this Progenitor; it sounded inexplicably familiar. He remembered the portrait of the Progenitor hanging in Du Tingxiu's room; now that he thought about it, that must have been the Second Progenitor. That romantic and sentimental God of War even had his chest bared unrestrainedly in their family's ancestral portrait.

"After the war ended, although the Third Progenitor's existence was destroyed, she left a mess for the world. When she was creating demons, she consumed a large amount of the world's limited Magic Energy. The War of the Gods further accelerated the energy loss and made the energy become drastically unstable, and the Head Venerable's energy was soon occupied by the task of stabilizing energy. Unfortunately, things did not end there; that was not even the worst part of this story. The worst part was that although time flowed forward, the God of War in the tragedy could not walk out of the pain of his lover's passing. He could not help but use the forbidden Heaven-Defying Art, wanting his lover to return from the dead. If the world's Magic Energy had been stable, his wishful thinking might have been possible, but after the great war, this world was too fragile. His magic not only failed but also triggered the final exhaustion of the world's energy. Of course, exhaustion is described by the Progenitors' concept of time; for us Mages, we didn't feel anything at the time, as this exhaustion was calculated in units of a thousand years."

Luo Qi just wanted to sigh; their creation myth was indeed as messed up as human myths.

"The Head Venerable's work of maintaining Magic Energy could no longer continue. He did not want to punish the Second Progenitor; everything was already beyond repair. He hoped the Second Progenitor could continue to help him. But the God of War was disheartened; he told the Head Venerable that he was determined to let go of his obsession and exist in the form of a true god."

Luo Qi looked at Shi Xiansheng's shadow in confusion.

"Perhaps you are a bit puzzled, but that is how the story goes. Please also remember this point—the God of War still exists today, but he has already become a god. Gods will not pay attention to the prayers of mere mortals like you and me; we live and die, toil and labor, our lives like ants, and gods will not care. The Head Venerable could not stop the Second Progenitor's determination. Not long after, the God of War ascended, but he left behind two types of successors. One is the Du Clan descendants who inherited his physical bloodline; they exist in the world in a form that looks exactly like the God of War. The second are the other Progenitors and Mages who followed him and chose to become gods. Do not be surprised; I have already said before that the nine Progenitors are just an imaginary number. As for the Mages who could follow him, they were all special among Mages, and their greatest characteristic was Telepathy. The Second Progenitor taught them Collective Cultivation to break through their own thresholds, enter the hall, and ascend collectively. I think you have already understood that the successors of these people are today's Highland Mages."

(End of chapter)