Chapter 592: Genesis Myth (2)

Luo Qi's mind raced; he had many questions he wanted to ask, but unfortunately, the other party was merely a phantom, and this was a one-way communication process. Not being able to ask questions was truly stifling him, especially since he had a question he was extremely curious about right now.

However, Shi Xiansheng was a very good storyteller. She paused, "As the story reaches this point, you must feel there is a discordant part in it. Since Ascending to become a god is a choice, could there really be other common great undertakings in the world that surpass becoming a god?"

Luo Qi knew full well that the phantom could not see him, yet he still nodded quite willingly.

Shi Xiansheng smiled and said, "First of all, what exactly is a god? This is a question for which I do not know the answer. The god we understand is a concept that emerged from our culture and human culture. We assume that the existence of gods came first, and then the Second Ancestor obtained godhood. But the matter might be exactly the opposite; it was our ancestors and human ancestors who witnessed the process of the Second Ancestor and his followers Ascending, and then they called the state they became 'gods'."

Luo Qi thought rapidly, shifting Shi Xiansheng's logic. He quickly realized that, theoretically speaking, what the Second Ancestor became was not a god; it might have to be considered a false god.

He thought about what exactly a god was. Everyone knew what a god was, but in summary, a god should be the supreme entity of a supernatural state, without a physical body, having created the world and all things, unrestricted by natural laws, even capable of establishing natural laws, and able to dominate the world.

The Ancestors had originally created the Magic World and established the natural laws of the Magic World; their Magic Ability was so powerful that it was almost unrestricted by laws, naturally dominating the world. This was almost what a god was. According to the concept of a god, the Ancestors only had the additional existence of a physical body. The Second Ancestor went to the extreme and even abandoned his physical body; doing so allowed him to obtain a higher level of existence than the other Ancestors. This form of existence made him not care at all about the ants of the world, not care about supreme great undertakings; he might even have viewed the Head Venerable as an ant as well.

This feeling made Luo Qi uncomfortable. It was as if he, Luo Qi, suddenly stopped caring about this world one day; he wouldn't care if Du Zhengyi lived or died, he wouldn't care if his parents successfully escaped the sanctions of the Qionglin, he wouldn't want to know if his friends were doing well... This was indeed what the Highland Mages urged him to do. They urged him to join their community, become a part of them, and eventually achieve Ascension. But he did not want to make that choice. Becoming a god had the benefits of becoming a god, but exchange and trade-offs were inevitable. To him, not wanting to become a god did not mean self-sacrifice, but rather that he was truly satisfied with his current state of existence.

Shi Xiansheng continued, interrupting his deep thoughts, "Humans have their own way of explaining all of this. They observed the Mages' Ascension, and perhaps some Mages were happy to let them try, so they taught them some methods to prepare for Ascension. These left many shadows upon humans, such as Buddhist meditation or Taoist cultivation; humans imitated their behaviors, trying their best to let go of their attachments to the mundane world, reaching a certain realm, and hoping to become another form of existence."

Luo Qi's heart felt a bit more peaceful. He thought of the countless people who practiced, and also thought of the many more who sank into the red dust of the world. Inside and outside the gate, humans had also always been pondering trade-offs; there were always those who chose cultivation, and always those who chose the joys and sorrows of the secular world. Luo Qi could understand the Head Venerable, but he could also understand the Second Ancestor's choice. To him, perhaps all things were empty, and in the end, having realized the true meaning, one could become a god in a single thought. Becoming a god might have been the better choice at the time; Shi Xiansheng's story had also said that almost all the other Ancestor Mages had gone with him.

Then that meant, after that, only the Head Venerable was left alone persisting in his common great undertaking? Luo Qi suddenly thought of this, feeling a great deal of sorrow, and also a trace of fear.

But the very first sentence Shi Xiansheng said next dismantled Luo Qi's sympathy for the Founding Head Venerable.

"The Second Ancestor just left like that, and the punishment all fell upon his descendants, the Du Clan. As children of gods and men, they were born with divine power, and the Head Venerable used them with ease. From the very beginning, the Du Clan became the sharp blade in the Head Venerable's hand. They were bound by all kinds of tight or loose Entanglements, and they helped the Supreme Committee maintain the balance and order of the world. In the Golden Age, the Du Clan was the God of War clan; they were mostly brave and skilled in battle, with sharp minds. However, after passing through several more millennia, the decline of Magic began to become obvious. Under this general trend, the Du Clan's abilities were naturally also weakening, but compared to ordinary Mages, they had an even thornier problem. I think you have probably guessed it: generation after generation, one millennium after another, the Second Ancestor's bloodline was constantly being diluted. Every three to five generations, the Du Clan's Magic Ability would show a significant decline. If represented by a curve, the drop in their abilities was far greater than that of ordinary Mages. The God of War clan was gradually becoming ordinary, getting closer and closer to ordinary Mages, and only in very accidental circumstances would they give birth to a descendant similar to their ancestor. So, against this background, the second disaster for this family began."

Shi Xiansheng's voice lowered. Luo Qi saw the light in the forest dim, the angle of the sunlight slanting onto the ground covered in Pine Branch. The day was coming to an end; in this season, the daytime in Yinsong Senlin was becoming shorter and more precious.

"Possessing the bloodline of an Ancestor, yet having abilities approaching those of ordinary Mages, this made many Mages begin to have the courage to covet them. In the world of Mages, countless rumors had once circulated. Some said that by using the blood of the Du Clan to irrigate an ancient Magic Structure, one could open the ancient treasures of the Ancestor Mages. Indeed, some tried; more than one Du Clan member was killed for their blood, and the result proved that it was nothing but a rumor. Of course, for the Du Clan, this was a disaster and a tragedy. By the time the world finally believed that the foolish talk of taking blood was useless, many people had already died in vain. The Du Clan had no choice but to shrink back; this family had always had very close internal ties, and after their power weakened, they lived entirely as a gathered clan."

Luo Qi thought of the small town under the misty rain of Jiangnan; that was the old residence where the Du Clan had lived for the last few hundred years, and also the ancestral land that Du Tingxiu had finally summoned his clansmen to return to.

"What we know is that about a thousand years ago, someone did indeed use the Du Clan to open the gate, and the rebellion that resulted is something I think you understand. For this world, there is never a shortage of ambitious people, and even less of a shortage of madmen. With the Du Clan's power constantly weakening while they themselves might still be used as a key to open the door, the ending was perhaps already destined," Shi Xiansheng said, her voice trembling slightly, as if powerful emotions were about to erupt from beneath her calm and wise exterior.

A chill swept up from the base of Luo Qi's spine, and his scalp felt slightly numb.

Shi Xiansheng controlled her emotions, her tone still slightly strange, "Of course, directly executing all the weak Du Clan members was a once-and-for-all choice, just like dealing with harmful, expired assets."

(End of chapter)