There was no God in the world originally, but as more people believed in Him, God came into being.

In ancient times, gods were synonymous with natural phenomena. In feudal times, gods were tools for legitimizing power and pretexts for mysterious phenomena. In modern times, gods primarily serve as a projection of human emotions.

Xia Chuhe is an atheist. She believes that the gods in a land governed by rules are something that the rules have endowed with "divine power."

If she can find the weakness in the rules, she can defeat the gods of the Land of Rules.

But before that, she'd better create a god to oppose the original god.

Gods become gods because humanity constructs deities and believes in them. Gods that do not receive faith will eventually disappear in the torrent of time.

To maintain the mystery of the god, Xia Chuhe did not reveal the prop identity of the little Taotie. He only emphasized to everyone that its name was Taotie, and its original form was a divine beast from ancient times that could protect the peace of the home and ensure that the granaries were full.

Xia Chuhe hopes that the little Taotie can gain human faith in the land of rules, and as long as it has faith, it will be a true god.

The blacksmith was skeptical: "Can something this small really work?"

Xia Chuhe shook the tattered statue: "You still took such a broken thing home? Wooden carvings are just vessels for gods. As long as you are sincere in your heart, gods are everywhere."

Xia Chuhe spoke with a strong and resounding voice, and the blacksmith was filled with awe. Having been beaten by the evil beast for several days, he immediately declared, "I believe in the Taotie God, and I am willing to become a loyal believer of the Taotie God."

His statement brought about no change.

Everyone in the room, except for Dong Huimiao, swore an oath with the blacksmith to become loyal believers of Taotie City.

However, their statements did not bring about the slightest change.

Xia Chuhe was unsure whether simple words could convey his faith in the gods.

"Is it not devout enough? We should abandon our distracting thoughts and focus on calling the name of the Taotie God." Xia Chuhe comforted everyone, and also comforted himself.

"I believe in the Taotie God, and I am willing to become a loyal follower of the Taotie God."

The four people in the room kept repeating this sentence to themselves.

Even a lie, if repeated enough times, can lead to human belief.

At a certain moment, a golden light flashed from the little Taotie.

The blacksmith's wife was overjoyed: "I felt it! The Gluttonous God responded to me!"

"By the way, after knowing each other for so many days, I still haven't asked you your name." To his shame, after spending so much time together, Xia Chuhe hadn't even asked her name.

“My name is Levin,” Levin said with a smile. “I just vaguely saw the golden light of a four-legged beast, which gave me a very strong sense of security.”

The blacksmith said dejectedly, "How come I didn't feel anything?"

Xia Chuhe looked at the maid, who shook her head, unaware of what was happening.

Xia Chuhe had never held any hope for her and her maid's faith. When she sacrificed her niece to the god of diligence and gained a strong physique, Xia Chuhe realized that her maid and niece were not real "people," but rather "strong physiques" that the Land of Rules had extracted from her and Dong Huimiao. That was why she and Dong Huimiao treated these two differently.

As for Xia Chuhe himself, how could someone who knows the truth about the gods possibly believe in them again?

Therefore, from the very beginning, Xia Chuhe placed his faith in the blacksmith and Levin, and thankfully Levin lived up to expectations.

After a whole day of hard work, Little Taotie had only received faith from Levin, and the slow progress severely dampened everyone's enthusiasm.

After being tied up for a day, Dong Huimiao's mood had slowly shifted from "Wouldn't Lord Xia really find an important clue?" to "I'm going to see what tricks you're up to."

That night, the evil beast descended once more, but the gods, as always, protected the house.

Xia Chuhe gazed at the stars outside the window and whispered, "I've figured out the reason."

Xia Chuhe: "Faith is unique. I have worshipped other gods, so Taotie God does not accept me as His believer."

The blacksmith was bewildered: "But I've never believed in any other gods..."

"No, your faith has been taken away by the evil beast." Xia Chuhe picked up the scroll of gods from the ground and threw it into the furnace. "It's a good thing you didn't believe in the gods, or you would be finished."

The blacksmith was completely confused by Xia Chuhe's words.

Xia Chuhe said, “The evil beasts have been attacking for seven days, and there are seven deities. I believe that each deity that is sacrificed can only protect the house for one day. If you choose to sacrifice to a deity today, what do you have left to offer? You have no land, no food, no livestock, and you don’t even have the strength to survive. The only deity you can offer is the Goddess of Chastity…”

"I would never hand my wife over to God!" the blacksmith interrupted Xia Chuhe.

“I know, I’m just speculating on what might happen. You will ultimately be unable to offer sacrifices to the gods, so when the evil beasts come at night, you will lose your life. Suppose there is someone in the same situation as you who chooses to worship the god of chastity, then the next day, he will be unable to offer sacrifices to the gods again and will still die.”

No matter which option you choose, it's a dead end.

The blacksmith pondered Xia Chuhe's words carefully and found them to be quite reasonable. He broke out in a cold sweat and subconsciously gripped Levin's hand tightly.

Levin gently rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb as a gesture of comfort.

Xia Chuhe said, "Don't worry, now that we've figured out the reason, we have a way to deal with it."

Xia Chuhe sneered: "It's all thanks to the village gods' prejudice against women and children."

This can be seen in the sacrifices to the gods of chastity and diligence—the gods used women and children as sacrificial offerings.

In other words, when the gods acquire faith and deprive people of their wealth, such as food, land, livestock, and children, they do so by depriving the head of the household, the men. Therefore, the men in the village have already surrendered their faith, to varying degrees, to the gods.

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