Chapter 514: Gods and Buddhas Above the Wasteland

This convoy's conduct is as wild and brutal as its appearance, with no regard for reason whatsoever.

Tang Luo expressed appreciation for this.

A faint light curtain flashed by, slightly distorting the air ahead; the bullet aimed at Tang Luo's brow was blocked by the "Xuanjin Immortal" and fell to the ground.

It was a black bullet, already shattered into pieces.

After that shot, over twenty crude, primitive firearms extended from various parts of the vehicles, aiming at Tang Luo.

The rear truck door opened, and a tall, strong one-armed man stepped down, his face almost entirely concealed by thick hair and beard.

He looked like a giant ape.

He carried something similar to an RPG on his single arm and said, "Gods and Buddhas?" with a hint of wariness and a hint of teasing.

Tang Luo held the Heavenly Hound gently, stroking its head, appearing completely unbothered by the earlier shot, and smiled as he countered: "And you, demon?"

"..."

The tall man stared at Tang Luo in silence for a while before saying, "Put it down."

The gun muzzles immediately retracted into the vehicles.

This wild-style gang of outlaws unexpectedly managed to obey orders.

"Who are you? You don't look like a god or Buddha." The tall man lowered the cannon on his shoulder and asked, "Clean—this person is too clean."

To be wandering the wilderness yet so spotless—it can no longer be simply described as "extraordinary origin."

"And who are you?" Tang Luo still countered.

The man's connected brows twitched, likely frowning, as he pointed to the emblem on the vehicle and said: "Black Crow. We are the Black Crow."

Black Crow, an armed convoy traversing the wasteland wilderness.

Their goods include everything—from people to objects, buying and selling anything that can be bought or sold.

"Never heard of them." Tang Luo said with a smile.

The tall man was somewhat displeased; the Black Crow convoy is also quite famous in the wasteland.

"Forget it, that doesn't matter." Tang Luo shook his head. "I have a few things I want to ask you."

The man said: "You want to buy information?"

"Buy?" Tang Luo said, "What do you accept? Surely not money?"

"Bullets, weapons and gear, people—everything of value, we can both buy and sell." The man said.

In the wasteland, anything can serve as currency.

As long as it has value and use, while hard currency consists of bullets and people themselves.

"Hmm." Tang Luo said, "The things on me are too valuable—you can't afford them."

"No, give me this little thing, and you can ask whatever you want—I'll tell you everything." The man pointed at the Heavenly Hound and said.

The Heavenly Hound didn't even bother to glance at him.

Foolish humans.

"Hah." Tang Luo chuckled, one arm around the Heavenly Hound, left hand extended, palm up, slightly lifting upward: "Then wouldn't that mean we don't need to pay 'money'?"

"What?" The tall man blinked, then heard terrified screams from behind.

He spun around, looking behind—his mount, the "Black Crow King," a massive vehicle, was hovering in midair.

"What you said earlier was correct—I am a god and Buddha." Tang Luo said with a smile.

The black heavy truck, following Tang Luo's raised hand, continued upward, flying into midair, then came crashing down heavily.

Amid the desperate cries of the crowd, it hovered suspended above their vehicles and heads.

Ready to fall at any moment.

"After thinking, not paying isn't quite right either." Tang Luo said, "You just shot at me. So then, how much are your lives worth?"

The distance to death is barely half a meter away.

A few minutes later, the convoy resumed its journey.

In the Black Crow King's cab, the man named Zhou Heiya, for the first time, felt driving was a torment.

The reason was simply that he sat beside a "god and Buddha."

Black Crow had to drive while answering or proactively explaining the situation.

Heaven knows why this god and Buddha acts so ignorant—even less knowledgeable than the mules and horses on the wilderness.

Black Crow doesn't know, and dares not ask.

From Black Crow's mouth, Tang Luo learned the basic situation of this wasteland world.

Some powerful, noteworthy forces.

The Yellow Robe Society, the Great Sun Institute, the Heavenly Grace Bestowed, and other organizations have established gathering places on the wasteland—cities of steel.

Compared to these major powers and organizations, Black Crow's wandering armed convoy is merely a minor shrimp.

These organizations also divide wasteland people into two kinds: one is people—those settled in the Steel Cities, only they are truly called people—city dwellers.

The other is wilderness people; "wilderness people" is a relatively pleasant term, with another name: "beasts of burden."

However, these organizations are not the rulers of this world.

The true rulers of this world are the gods and Buddhas.

They have the same appearance as humans, possess supreme power, and now humanity's survival in the wasteland is solely due to the gods and Buddhas' grace and mercy.

Those major powers are all worshippers of gods and Buddhas; only by revering and worshipping gods and Buddhas can one establish power in the wasteland.

Or rather, it is precisely because of the gods and Buddhas' tacit approval that these powers exist.

"Gods and Buddhas..." Tang Luo said, "Do they truly exist?"

Black Crow still dared not ask, only able to nod: "Yes, they are the supreme, great existence."

"Not necessarily." Tang Luo smiled. "At least you'd dare point a cannon at a god."

Hei Ya forced a smile, the expression unbearably dry.

He dared to do so for two reasons: on one hand, he truly wasn't a believer of the gods; the "Black Crow Caravan's" only faith lay in the weapons in their hands.

On the other hand, how could he have known he seemed to have run into a legendary god?

Gods are real, but they are also supreme, distant at the edge of the heavens.

The distance between humans and gods is even more vast than the distance between humans and ants.

Even people from those major powers might not see a god once in their entire lives; what virtue or ability does he, Zhou Hei Ya, have to encounter one in the wilderness?

Hei Ya merely took Tang Luo for a "city person"; he never expected...

But honestly, even now, regarding Tang Luo's identity as a god, Hei Ya was still half-believing, half-doubting.

That supreme mighty power truly did not belong to humans.

But... it was too strange.

The other party was shrouded in mysteries, too strange.

"Continue telling me about those gods." Tang Luo said.

"Yes." Hei Ya lowered his brows and eyes, showing a docility completely at odds with his appearance.

Regarding gods, aside from useless adjectives like "supreme" and "great," there was some information worth noting.

"God" is a unified term, broadly divided into two camps: "Heavenly Gods" and "Holy Buddhas."

The several organizations mentioned above.

Among them, the Yellow Robe Society worships the Heavenly God camp's Yellow-Robed King, Haotian Yudi.

The Great Sun Hall enshrines the Holy Buddhas' Great Sun Radiant Buddha.

Heavenly God's Bestowal are arms dealers; from the name alone one can tell their weapons are the best in the entire wasteland, because they come from the Heavenly Gods' bestowal.

Additionally, various powers worship various gods.

But the three most famous on the wasteland, reputed to be the strongest, are these three.

They have established cities and gathering places large and small, scattered across the wasteland.

As for where the gods reside, that is a place mortals can hardly reach.

"Then, where can one find these gods?" Tang Luo asked.

"Hard to reach" implies there is a possibility.

"... Don't know." Hei Ya shook his head. The matter of "pilgrimage" was too far removed from someone like him. "Perhaps going to those organizations' headquarters might yield some clues."

"Good, then we'll go there." Tang Luo decided on the spot.

Decisive!

"... Too far." Hei Ya said in a low voice, feeling like a bullied little quail.

"No matter, I'm not in a hurry." Tang Luo said.

"We're in a hurry! We're not going there! We still have business to do!" Hei Ya suppressed his roar deep inside and explained patiently, "Headquarters aren't places just anyone can go; even our Black Crow Caravan can't. Moreover the journey is distant, supplies insufficient; we must first formulate a plan, confirm a route with cities, or at least gathering places."

"On the road we also have to do business well, complete some missions, obtain higher-level passes, before we can enter some cities."

The Black Crow Caravan holds passes from quite a few powers, including the Yellow Robe Society and Great Sun Hall, but wanting to enter their headquarters is not something their C-grade passes can accomplish.

"I said, I'm not in a hurry." Tang Luo said.

"Alright. That..."

"This poor monk is Xuan Zang." Tang Luo placed one palm at his chest; thinking carefully, it had been a while since he'd declared his monk identity.

Hei Ya's expression turned a bit strange. "Poor monk" — isn't that what a group of crazy bald heads call themselves?

These people are the Holy Buddhas' fanatical believers, known as Saints.

Even on the wasteland, they count as a group of dangerous figures hard to deal with.

Could this white-haired man be one of them?

No, no. Saints also don't possess the supreme mighty power he just displayed; that is power truly only gods can possess.

Next, Tang Luo asked a few more questions.

Already confirmed that there are no superpowers or the like in the wasteland; everyone is an ordinary person, firearms are truth.

As for gods, they are different; they do not belong to the ranks of "humanity."

Impossible to speculate what their situation actually is.

Oh, there are also a few people who, because of a god's bestowal, appear somewhat special, a bit stronger.

If we set aside those mysterious gods and speak only of combat power, this mission world's overall difficulty is not high.

You must know, a Third Order God-Demon Walker is equivalent to a human-shaped tank.

The firepower scale the Black Crow Caravan possesses is already a quite decent level on the wasteland.

Yet as long as a Third Order God-Demon Walker comes, they can wipe out the Black Crow Caravan.

Of course, the Black Crow Caravan can likewise wipe out a Third Order God-Demon Walker; after all, most God-Demon Walkers are "high offense, low defense."

However the wasteland's harsh survival environment is even more dangerous compared to some people on the wasteland.

This mission world, the difficulty of contending with people is lower than "contending with heaven."

And the mission objective is to find the method for humanity's rise; it can almost be confirmed to be "contending with heaven" — contending with the wasteland's harsh survival environment, and also contending with gods.