Chapter 933: The Ancient Gods from Before Heaven and Earth Were Split

The mud-official senior brother of the Tianhou Palace, seeing Wu Wu Ponu's back vanish in haste, no longer lounged lazily.

He rose and hurried straight toward the main hall of the Qisheng Temple.

He wanted to see what kind of thing Ni Ren Zhang could mold!

Though Wu Wu Ponu had taken the pair of mud dolls, the divine presence still held by the Tianhou Tianhou Niangniang on the Niaoshan remained; even if there was only a mud imprint, he could discern something from it.

As he entered the main hall, the senior brother immediately saw the ancient, rough statue among the countless mud dolls on Niaoshan—a figure seemingly shaped from yellow earth and fired with straw by primordial folk.

Archaic and natural, bearing a wild, primordial divinity.

The senior brother froze.

With a thud, he knelt to the ground.

He suppressed all his emotions and prostrated himself reverently before the two statues, as if worshipping the origin, creation, and wisdom itself of humanity!

Ni Ren Zhang sat in stillness in his quiet chamber, recovering for a short while.

Then the senior brother pushed open the door, his expression grave: "Younger brother! Where did those two mud statues of our father and mother on Niaoshan come from?"

"What statues?"

Ni Ren Zhang was baffled: "Brother, I know the rules! The mud dolls of the Tianhou Palace do not mold gods or humans—only spirits destined to be born, to claim their qi beforehand and avoid attracting evil spirits and demons to that vacant slot!"

"Since I know the rules, how could I mold any gods or Buddhas to place on Niaoshan?"

The senior brother said gravely: "Those are two gods older than the Si Chen, the origin and transformation of all things, and the parents of Tianhou Tianhou Niangniang!"

"The parents of Tianhou Tianhou Niangniang?" Ni Ren Zhang opened his mouth slightly, speechless.

The senior brother sighed softly: "Do you remember the statue enshrined in the Qisheng Temple? In ancient times, Master Chen Jin Chuan left behind a written testament revealing the origin of that statue: the Three Sages of Creation forged sun, moon, and stars, then fashioned all life upon the moon. But before that, the Dingmu manifested as Tianhou, kneaded clay into a goddess's form, and bowed in worship and sacrifice!"

"That statue is the Tianhou Niangniang enshrined in the Qisheng Temple…"

"This is one of the most vital secrets of our Tianhou Palace!"

"Aside from Tianhou Tianhou Niangniang, we also enshrine this goddess older than the Three Sages of Creation. But today, I discovered two complete statues on Niaoshan—besides the goddess, there was also a primordial god with a human head and dragon body!"

"Those two mud statues had crude, rugged traces, yet contained within them all creation of the world."

"Younger brother, your mud-doll Dao before them is but a single mud mark, a fleeting trace."

Ni Ren Zhang heard this and bolted toward the main hall.

Arriving at the Qisheng Temple, he was about to push open the door when two red lanterns silently slid down from the eaves; before they touched the ground, two slender hands caught them.

Delicate as ghosts, thin as if their bodies could be seen through light.

The two maids blocked Ni Ren Zhang, whispering: "Red lanterns glow, white lotus arrives! The Holy Maiden journeys to the Tianhou Palace to pay homage to Tianhou Tianhou Niangniang—no outsiders shall disturb!"

Ni Ren Zhang widened his eyes, clenching his fists: "Bai Lian Holy Maiden? How bold! This is the Tianhou Palace, not your Bai Lian Sect's shrine to heretical gods and lewd rites!"

"How dare you!"

The maid on the right glared: "Tianhou Tianhou Niangniang and Wu Sheng Laomu are both among the three manifestations of Dingmu. In ancient times, Dingmu manifested in a single day as maiden, matron, and crone—Xiao Xie Xuan Nü, Tianhou, and Wu Sheng Laomu!"

"Among them, Wu Sheng Laomu is Dingmu's embodiment of wisdom, from whom our Bai Lian Sect descends, spreading Dingmu's path of creation!"

"The Holy Maiden, mindful of our shared lineage from Dingmu, has come to offer worship and sacrifice—how dare you block her? And how dare you slander Wu Sheng Laomu?"

Ni Ren Zhang stood grave-faced before the two maids; even though he had taken the Fifth Step, he still felt immense pressure.

The Bai Lian Sect, though not among orthodox worship, truly venerates the Dao of Dingmu, hence its reverence for women.

The Bai Lian Holy Maiden is the living embodiment of Wu Sheng Laomu.

Her status is even more exalted than the sect's leader!

The Bai Lian Sect is nearly the largest secret cult in the East; the Holy Maiden herself resides in the Crimson Infant Realm, yet with Wu Sheng Laomu's divine presence empowering her, she is equivalent to a half-transcendent.

Ni Ren Zhang, even as a patriarch who forged his own path, was but a minor figure before the Bai Lian Holy Maiden.

Standing before the main hall, the Bai Lian Sect's pressure from Dingmu's Dao crushed Ni Ren Zhang, drenching him in sweat.

He had already expended most of his spirit crafting the mud doll for Wu Wu Ponu; facing these two fourth-rank maids was already difficult, let alone a Bai Lian Holy Maiden whose depth was unfathomable?

Yet at this moment, the Bai Lian Holy Maiden—who had imposed endless pressure on Ni Ren Zhang—now knelt before the two mud statues, like a slaughtered piglet about to be offered as sacrifice.

Brother Qian Chen wrapped the two mud statues in a white cloth.

At this moment, the Bai Lian Holy Maiden exhaled, collapsing to the ground.

She lifted her head, her slender neck long as a swan's, a girl of about sixteen or seventeen, her eyes like stars, gazing at Brother Qian Chen, who stood quietly before the goddess statue.

"Who are you?"

The Bai Lian Holy Maiden's voice was clear and melodious, but Brother Qian Chen paid it no mind.

"The Red Pavilion Ghost Ship was a guide to lure the Yin Soldiers into this realm, wasn't it?"

Brother Qian Chen tucked away the two mud statues and spoke slowly: "As a disciple of Dingmu's Dao, you naturally know what lies beneath the San Cha River Crossing. Do you Bai Lian Sect also seek the Death Bone Chalice? The Bone Cup Dao is hardly your path!"

"Why abandon your own Xiao Xie Xuan Pin Dao and come here to meddle?"

The Bai Lian Holy Maiden frowned slightly and nodded: "You know our Bai Lian Sect well. But the Holy Mother's relics must not fall into outsider hands! Though the Bone Chalice is a great evil, our Bai Lian Sect upholds the Holy Mother's Dao and will eventually reunite all scattered branches to restore the Holy Mother's legacy!"

"This Bone Cup path bears traces of heretical cults and has scattered into left-hand Dao streams."

"Yet over these years, our Bai Lian Sect has pieced together the Bone Cup Dao from these left-hand paths—we have now continued this lineage. To reclaim the Bone Chalice is inevitable. Please do not stand in our way!"

"Hah!" Brother Qian Chen shook his head and smiled: "You can't even bear the weight of a mud doll I molded, yet you dare tell me not to stand in your way?"

"Those two mud statues came from your hands?" The Bai Lian Holy Maiden was stunned.

But Brother Qian Chen did not pursue the topic. This world was his creation; its great Dao and hidden truths were all passed down by him—why mention Fu Xi and Nü Wa, the Huang Emperor and Xi Emperor?

Such secrets could overturn an entire aeon across the myriad worlds.

The legacy left by Tai Shang's Yin-Yang division once fully shaped the demonic race, a convergence of all beings!

It also left the mystery of humanity's origin.

These secrets, preserved by Tai Shang in the form of ancient myths, were buried in Brother Qian Chen's memory, causing all the worlds he created to carry those ancient traces.

"I suspect you've already sensed the strangeness of this world—and perhaps even guessed, correct?"

Brother Qian Chen turned his head slightly, but his words sent a chill through the Bai Lian Holy Maiden; she watched him warily and asked: "What exactly do you know?"

"This world has been buried. You are all wandering ghosts."

"That's why you seek the Bone Chalice, pursue the Dao of Death, trying to find hope to escape all this."

"But why seek afar? Whether you seek the death of creation, explore the Dao of Death, and fade with this world—or reignite the fire, use the stars as pillars to prop up the crumbling remnants of this world, letting all be reborn from flame and recreate all things?"

Brother Qian Chen spread his hands and looked up to the heavens, as if touching the formless, intangible Dao.

But the Bai Lian Holy Maiden's eyes grew even more wary: "The All Xuanzhen Patriarch?"

"Aren't you the ones who pursue truth through destruction, worshiping the Lord of Truth and Destruction, Xiao Xie Xuan Jun? When did you develop delusions of salvation? Has the old Patriarch finally passed the throne to you, a Li, and driven the All Xuanzhen Sect utterly mad?"

"Your tone sounds like a foreigner," Brother Qian Chen tilted his head and looked at her.

The Bai Lian Holy Maiden first felt a flicker of guilt, slumping her shoulders, then remembered this man was even less like a traditional disciple than she was—she straightened her back.

"I studied in the West for years, even reached tenth rank in the Witch's Guild, honored as the Chrysanthemum Witch!"

Brother Qian Chen turned away. Secret histories are the destroyed past of reality, the buried ultimate secrets.

The fact that the tenth-ranked Chrysanthemum Witch was the Bai Lian Holy Maiden—if this leaked—would spawn at least several invisible arts tied to her.

Even the long-lost Chrysanthemum Witch's Elixir might be reborn.

But to Brother Qian Chen, such secrets meant nothing—he only calculated how the Bai Lian Sect's layout could serve as a pillar for him…

Suddenly, Brother Qian Chen pulled a porcelain bottle from his sleeve and tossed it to the Holy Maiden.

She caught it abruptly, opened it—and inside, floating in water, was a black, fleshy mass, wrapped in deep, viscous fluid, mysterious.

"This is the Black Tai Sui you crave!"

"Stop sending people to steal it!"

"The Black Tai Sui consumed by All Xuanzhen Sect members has already been refined by me—its original blood toxicity, which assimilates all flesh and returns to primordial essence, has been purged. But I believe your Bai Lian Sect needs the most primal Black Tai Sui! So, no need for your scheming—I, the Patriarch, shall bestow it upon you…"

"I will not stop you from unearthing the Bone Chalice."

"But when the true hope to save this world finally appears, I hope you will make the right choice—don't force me to compel you!"

Brother Qian Chen left these words behind.

He met the Bai Lian Holy Maiden's gaze, and an unspoken understanding passed between them.

Then he departed the Tianhou Palace, taking with him the two mud dolls he had molded from yellow earth the day before.

The fact that the mud dolls left in the Tianhou Palace had been burned already revealed the Dingmu's tacit approval. Of course, in Brother Qian Chen's view, Nü Wa was indeed the master of the Creation Cauldron—but also his own blood kin, his ancestor; why should he need the Dingmu's permission to offer sacrifice to Nü Wa?

Of course, in reality, he had returned to the Tianhou Palace and unearthed those two statues…