AZI Volume 7 Chapter 3

Deciding to have Tian Cheng and Yao Ying set up their tents ahead of time, Long Hua takes a walk through the village.

Currently, most of the foreign weapon spirits are all gathered at the 15-meter statue, and upon approaching the site—

"This statue…?"

"Looks like an Immortal?"

"And this is what they worship?"

With the way the inner domain's hierarchy is structured, Shao Tianming and the others are much more accepting of these villagers' religious beliefs, but most of the weapon spirits—who originate from the outer domain, they can't help but be put off by it.

The practice of worshipping a god is basically nonexistent in the outer domain—for it is commonly believed that such an entity does not exist.

"…"

Finding Ye Chen and Li Xue among the crowd, Long Hua approaches them, and asks—

"So? What did the village chief say?"

"Ai…"

Heaving a sigh, Li Xue replies—

"He basically coerced everyone to help the village deal with the Immortals."

Adding to this, Ye Chen says—

"And rewards aren't promised."

"Oh? How tyrannical."

In response to Long Hua's reaction, both Ye Chen and Li Xue heaves a sigh at the same time. As usually, this person isn't taking the situation very seriously.

"Hmm."

Contemplating for a bit, Long Hua leaves the two to their own devices, and walks over to one of the nearby villagers to ask—

"Excuse me, but does your village have a library? Just some place that I can read about its history?"

"…"

Examining Long Hua from feet to head, seemingly sizing the former up, the villager replies—

"We do."

Turning around, the villager points towards a direction, and adds—

"See that building with the blue tiles, that's the one you're looking for."

"Thanks. Also, what this Lord Tian She Zi a deity of?"

"At times they are a deity of life, and at times they can also be a deity of destruction. All those statues you see of them in the forest are modeled after those that have held this title."

"Hmm, sounds like a complicated deity."

Bidding the villager farewell, Long Hua heads in the direction of the building with blue roof tiles.

...…

"…"

Entering the village library, which is a single-floored building, Long Hua sees a total of four shelves inside a rectangular room.

Instead of using paper, the books here are all made up of wooden slips that have been bound together with threads.

"Hm?"

Other than Long Hua there is another person present.

(I think she was the Moon Guard who was praying to that statue back in the cave?)

With subtle footsteps, Long Hua walks over to a distant shelf, and picks up a book at random.

"…"

Looking through the book, Long Hua thought—

(The written language is the same as the one on the outside. Surnamed Gui said that they've changed their tongue more than 20 times already, so I guess they've got old copies of these books' contents in older tongues as well?)

The contents of this book are focused on the village's beginning, along with the wipe-out phenomenon that is used to reset the entirety of this world.

"…"

Due to the existence of a special magic array, which surrounds the entirety of this ruin, the village has been shielded from the wipe-out phenomenon up until now.

And according to the records contained in this book, this magic array was built through the sacrifice of a Lord Tian She Zi from eons ago.

(Nothing manmade can hope to last for an eternity. This same magic array was also what prevented the outside world from discovering this ruin in the first place. However, now that it's discoverable, it means that the array is at its limits. If the contents of this book are to be taken seriously—by the weapon spirits here, and the news of this matter was to be spread to the outside world… Heh, it will be quite an amusing sight to behold.)

Rolling the book up, and placing it back, Long Hua moves over to a different shelf.

(…Tch. The hell is all this?)

Picking up another book, and skimming through the details, Long Hua moves onto another quickly.

(I…- This is a deity? This is what a god is supposed to be?)

As time passes, Long Hua gets to the fourth shelf, where the Moon Guard is, and picking up the first book there, the latter asks—

"Do you have interest in their deity as well?"

"…"

Batting an eye at the Moon Guard, Long Hua answers—

"…Hard to say. One of the villagers said—that they're a deity of life, but can also be a deity of destruction as well."

"The one who I talked to said that they're a deity of fortune, but can also be a deity of misfortune as well."

"A deity with many faces depending on the individual who assumes the name."

Thinking back to the words of the villager, who he had talked to—regarding how all the statues in the forest are modeled after a different Lord Tian She Zi, Long Hua also thought back to Hai Zang.

(Hai Zang can probably fall under destruction and misfortune… Sha Chen, since it's able to control so many sand puppets, destruction and life? Ai, not like it matters much.)

Skimming through the details within the book, and finding nothing of interest, Long Hua sighs, and places it back onto the shelf.

(Honestly, if I wanted to know more about this deity, I could probably just ask the source, but the damn source is an unpleasant bastard...…)

Shaking his head, Long Hua disregards the notion completely.

And just as he is about to leave, the Moon Guard asks—

"In the eyes of an Immortal, just what sort of existence is a deity?"