Chapter 845: Exposing the Truth

"Hmm?" The Humans were all puzzled. It wasn't that they questioned him for turning right into wrong; after all, this was High Priest Hutian, sent by the other side to foster good relations, and this was a private occasion. If he were to openly lie through his teeth, they might as well just break off all contact. Thus, his words must have some other meaning.

"What is the Priest saying? We all saw it with our own eyes. That green monster... that behemoth, is it not a god?"

"Of course not," Hutian said sincerely. "That is not a god. Song is currently in the Divine Temple, and there is no god there. This is not Alie. He can use rhetoric to blur the focus and speak vaguely, but he would not openly lie. Firstly, it would be beneath his status, and secondly, it would be blasphemy; none of us would do such a thing. The existence you saw cannot be considered a god. Could you call it a 'God's Envoy'? But it is different from a typical God's Envoy. How to explain it... It is more like a divine statue. Although it is alive, it is ultimately only a small, very small part of a god. It is merely enshrined at the top of the tower in the name of the god, and it possesses no will of its own. The reason it is vivid and powerful is only because the god is so mighty that even a tiny bit of separated matter is full of vitality. However, that is not a god. You saw it when you fought it; its strength is far from enough to be called a god. Although it likely did not use its full strength this time, you have not seen true divine might. If you had, you would know that today's display was but a drop in the ocean. So, I say..." He pondered, "Actually, logically speaking, it should not have attacked on its own. What could have provoked it?"

His gaze inadvertently swept over Tang Zhao. At this moment, Tang Zhao was deep in thought, secretly saying: As expected, that thing is a limb separated from some giant monster; perhaps it is just a tiny part like a finger or even a hair. If it were the true giant monster, I likely would not be able to deal with it, and I might have to waste the Master Power here. It seems I cannot rush to move the main body. I must first study this thing thoroughly, then see if I can take the opportunity to sneak near it and plan carefully.

Just as he was thinking, he felt someone staring at him. He looked up and flashed a sunny, cheerful, and harmless smile at High Priest Hutian.

He did not intend to engage directly, and naturally, Zhen Sword blocked the way, frowning as he said, "Hutian, why are you looking at our people? We didn't know anything was waiting for us before we entered, and it was extremely perilous just now. Changle is only at the Sword Hero level; it was already a stroke of extreme luck that he escaped. It seems your Songtian used some method to provoke that divine statue and make it attack Changle. This is clearly borrowing a knife to kill, and borrowing the knife of a god at that. If this isn't blasphemy, what is? Can you tolerate this? If it were us, I couldn't tolerate it."

This was blatant provocation, and regardless of whether it was clumsy or not, it was certainly infuriating. Hutian was half-annoyed and half-helpless, saying, "I know, I know, Songtian definitely didn't do a good thing. We will certainly ask him when we return, and we will give an explanation tomorrow. It is just that I privately advise you all to prioritize the great mission and dealing with the Natural Disaster, and not to get too entangled with this god. This god is something even we internally dare not touch. Since you have made up your mind not to board the Airship, and Haotian is gradually leaning toward you, Songtian cannot recover for a while, and his faction is powerless to oppose you. You have nothing to do with it; just pretend you don't know."

The group looked at each other, and Qian Sword said slowly, "I will take this as golden advice from Hutian. Just as you said, as long as we withdraw safely, it has nothing to do with it. Therefore, what we want is a promise. In the future, when we do great things, scoundrels like Songtian must not maliciously obstruct us again. You must show your stance. If you support us, the success rate will naturally be higher; if you don't, it doesn't mean we won't succeed. It would just be too ugly if we tear our faces off and drag each other down later."

Hutian nodded and said, "I will naturally do my best to mediate."

At this moment, "Changle," which is to say Tang Zhao, said, "Emperor Hutian, forgive my bluntness, have you seen the main body of that god?"

Songtian frowned slightly. Do not look at how he spoke kindly to these Sword Saints; that was because they were fellow powerhouses, and although this youth had some ability, he was not yet qualified to ask him questions directly.

But at this moment, the Human powerhouses did not stop the youth's rudeness, so Songtian had to give him some face and said, "Hmm, I have only worshipped it from afar. It is not my main god; I only went to pay respects with several other High Priests when we went to discuss the Great Ship. For us, if it is not our main god, we should keep a respectful distance. Moreover, I am not the one in charge." He was unwilling to talk more and looked at Xun Jian, wanting to remind them again not to get entangled, when he heard Zhangle say, "Do you find it familiar?"

Hutian felt like laughing at this moment and said, "What exactly is this child trying to say? How can a god be described as familiar? You ask me this, could it be that you..." He suddenly stuttered, his voice dropping, "Could it be that you find it familiar?"

The other Human powerhouses were all bewildered, completely failing to understand what he had thought of, except for Xun Jian, who was slightly startled, but then felt something was wrong—if it referred to the things seen during that time, it should be Zhangle who found it familiar; what did it have to do with Tang Zhao?

But immediately after, Tang Zhao continued to state the answer he had thought of: "Don't you think it is very similar to the colorful monster in the Void?"

As if struck by electricity, the hairs on Hutian's body stood up. He blurted out, "What kind of joke is this? How could that be the same?"

Tang Zhao pressed, "You think it's different? It hasn't reached the point of being the same, is it similar? Or is it completely dissimilar?"

Hutian stammered, "I... I didn't see clearly, I only saw a patch of green..." He lowered his head, leaned close to him, and asked in a low voice, "Do you think it is similar?"

Tang Zhao said solemnly, "Similar in every aspect. Not just the color on the outside, but also the nature of absorbing power to strengthen itself, and even the structure of certain things manipulating it from within... I think it would not be reckless to judge that they originate from the same source."

Hutian froze in place. This was a much greater shock to him than it was to Tang Zhao. Hundreds of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, each one terrifying upon closer inspection.

Suddenly, he reached out to grab Tang Zhao, but Kun Jian immediately blocked him, causing him to grab empty air. Hutian asked urgently, "Are you sure? Can you confirm it? Do you have evidence?"

Zhen Jian did not wait for Tang Zhao to answer and immediately took over, saying, "Our child will not take this responsibility for you. He stated his own observations out of a desire for cooperation; he has already said extra words, and to say more would be unreasonable. Logically, if there is an imposter from the outside world on your side, and it even wants to manipulate that ship, it is an unthinkable matter for you, but it has nothing to do with us. We can stand by and watch your outcome. However, this child is young and kind-hearted, and he told you such important intelligence for free; it wasn't even a vague hint, so he has done his utmost. If you believe it, go investigate secretly; there will always be traces. You can't expect a child who just escaped the clutches of the devil to turn back and find evidence for you. If you don't believe it, just treat it as a child talking nonsense. As long as you don't spread it, I assume there will be no harm. Just turn a deaf ear to it and wait for the ship to set sail. I guarantee he won't tell a second Heavenly Demon!"

Hutian looked around to confirm there were no other Heavenly Demons nearby, and lowered his voice to Tang Zhao, "Young friend Zhangle, let us speak a step away."

Kun Jian said, "You might as well sit for a while at my humble abode."

The humble abode he spoke of was his Tianwaitian "Kun Yu," which was by no means humble. It was just still very far from here. Hutian hesitated, but Zhen Jian went up and pulled him, saying enthusiastically, "Why not? Seeing a guest to their home, is that not an ancient custom?"

Hutian was helpless and was half-pushed, half-coerced into being pulled to Kun Yu. Fortunately, he was sent to build rapport, so being warm was just doing his job well, and it wouldn't be too strange. In order not to be too conspicuous, several Sword Saints excused themselves and returned first.

Once they reached Kun Yu and there were finally no outsiders, Hutian hurriedly grabbed Tang Zhao and said, "What did you see? What did you discover? Tell me in detail."

Tang Zhao slightly adapted his experience. There was no need to detail how he entered the top floor; he only said he was attacked first, escaped a disaster by relying on the method of Disappearance, and by a stroke of luck, found the secret room where the monster was entrenched. However, he recounted his series of discoveries—observing, thinking, and even cutting open the green mud to see the pink tentacles—and analyzed its similarities to the Void monster in an orderly manner.

If it were someone familiar with Tang Zhao and Wei Zhangle, they would have already discovered something was wrong by now. Wei Zhangle could never cite sources, list data, and speak at such length, especially in front of a stranger. However, Hutian was not familiar with either of them, so he was just immersed in Tang Zhao's analysis, silent for a long time, unable to compose himself.

After a while, he murmured, "How could this be? Impossible, that god... has been a legend for hundreds of years; it is not a new god."

Zhen Jian, who had heard the gist of it from the side, said leisurely, "Hundreds of years, is that very long?"

Hutian shook his head and said, "For a conspiracy, it is too long and too weak. That god has not surpassed the gods of my Spirit Realm. If it weren't for this Airship, it would not have been tolerated by the gods. Even now, the gods are just turning a blind eye. If this is not a deliberate conspiracy, could it be an accident? It lay dormant for so many years, then suddenly found an opportunity to take advantage of the situation?"

Zhen Jian stopped talking. He actually wanted to give a long speech, but he was afraid that saying too much would make Hutian notice his full-hearted schadenfreude, which might have the opposite effect.

Thus, only Hutian thought for a long time, finally saying, "Although I know what Zhangle said is highly likely, at this time, it is really not appropriate to create extra complications. To move against this god... no, let's not talk about moving against it, even to investigate it in detail would take a lot of effort and consume a lot of resources. At this juncture, I certainly won't get support, so I cannot openly expose it; at most, I can only let some people be aware of it. Conversely, this is not the time to take risks; we must prepare for the worst. I don't need to investigate; I will believe Zhangle first and take this as the foundation."

He did not say anything specific, but said solemnly, "Let us just look at the present. The overall situation is paramount. Consider it me breaking a taboo, but I will speak plainly: tomorrow's conference will give you a relatively satisfactory result."