Chapter 44
I casually asked Mo Huaizhen about an old book that wasn't dusty but whose age was evident from its appearance.
"If I could, I would also like to say those things without being bewitched at the time," Mo Huaizhen said helplessly. "The influence of that kind of temperament is still too great. Even though I was prepared to resist from the first glance, I still said everything."
I gave him a light kick.
Over the past few days of online chatting, we've quickly become acquainted. Today is the day I've been invited to his family's home to read books.
The quaint old house doesn't look old or outdated at all, and it also has its own built-in overlay, gently hiding behind the surrounding scenery.
"Do you have many relatives?" I asked him, looking at the huge house in front of me. It was hard to imagine that eight generations of people wouldn't live in this place.
“Although more than ten generations have lived here, we don’t come here often,” Mo Huaizhen said. “This place can be seen as a library—and a place to retrieve props and materials that are hard to find outside now.”
Mo Huaizhen was indeed not one to boast; everything was realistic. I sighed inwardly, put the book back—the one whose table of contents clearly indicated it wouldn't contain anything I was looking for—and pulled out a book with a tree drawn on its spine.
Mo Huaizhen had just brought out the books he thought I might be interested in when he saw me still standing on the outside. He said to me, "You are a good match for me and the person who came here with me. Your access has been automatically activated. You can read any book here, as long as you don't steal, lend, or damage it."
I just felt there were too many books here; the ones on the outside alone were enough to make a mess. I shook the book in my hand: "This one will do." The top half, which wasn't clamped, loosened slightly, and half a piece of paper fell out.
The color of the paper was somewhat similar to the color of the book's paper. Mo Huaizhen and I stared at each other, wide-eyed.
It was a notebook. As I sat at my desk and pulled out the paper, I seemed to hear Mo Huaizhen sigh. Since things had come to this, I felt the consequences of damaging the book would probably be related to my life.
I placed my notebook and pen under it, treating it almost like a deity.
This piece of paper is more interesting to me than the book. It was probably just casually placed inside by someone, as there are traces of mathematical equations on it, indicating it was used as scratch paper. At the bottom, covered by the equations, the author drew a seed.
It's hard to imagine that it was a seed. It's similar in shape to a red bean, hidden within curves, the arc almost completely enveloped by numbers. I copied it exactly, creating a whole flowchart. The seed becomes a sprout, the sprout grows into grass, the grass transforms into a sapling, the sapling instantly becomes a towering tree, its shade vast and green. When the tree dies, it becomes a seed again, resembling a red bean.
I conjured up the seed that had lived inside me. Its interior was swollen and deformed, making it difficult to find its original, frail form. However, the color and characteristics matched, and I didn't know what to say.
The content of this book and its paper are not entirely related. It's another kind of "Bible" centered on mythology, and the tree shape is merely because the publisher used it as a trademark back then. Very cultured, but please don't be so cultured next time.
It supplemented what Mo Huaizhen hadn't told me: there were more compiled unofficial histories than the most widely circulated legends. After consulting with Mo Huaizhen, I removed most of the unofficial histories, retaining only some content that couldn't be completely disproven, summarizing it as follows: The descendants of the sorcerers offered their souls to the earth, forcing the earth to bear their responsibilities. At that time, the earth and the sky were still the closest sisters; then they had to separate because the earth was affected by a curse, while the sky was the temple of the gods.
There's a reason the earth was bound by them. While the creatures of the land were running and crying out, she hadn't prepared any emergency plans, and even when things happened, she was still in the world of the ocean.
The gods found her and asked why, as the "mother of mankind," she had made her work this way. The earth had been stripped of some of her divine power but retained her ability to save lives. She was now required to run the same race among humans, and she had a KPI—she had to ensure that all life on Earth retained at least three pairs of males and females. In contrast, the ocean, despite facing similar calamities, received a much lighter punishment because its aquatic flora and fauna could withstand the floods more smoothly.
When the divine authority over the earth was incomplete, the descendants of the sorcerers seized this opportunity, using the souls of their entire clan to bind the earth with chains that compelled it to help them. In response, the earth slept for countless years, unable to harm innocent people as the sorcerers had done.
Divine authority can be suppressed or temporarily stripped away, but it cannot be transferred or assigned before a god's fall; no god has such means. Each of the other gods imitated the earth's power in their own way, with the sorcerer, who bore the burden of the soul's sins, paying the highest price. He used half of his soul to create a puppet of the earth, making her character, will, and spirit completely identical to the earth. She temporarily blinded the eyes of cause and effect, walking among mortals in the earth's place.
The wizard was severely weakened and secluded himself deep in the forest, not venturing out for many years, but his divine authority continued to be exercised as usual.
After the earth fell into slumber, the Musician sent three messengers to take over the earth's underground work. The three messengers were to oversee the underworld, the underground river, and the fate of the dead, respectively.
They rose from the souls of humans; ambitious, agile, and never speaking of their past. They passed through layers of selection, but the musicians are gods, and do not remember human personalities.
The eldest sister searches for traces of souls in the underworld, the second sister cleanses impure souls forever in the river, and the youngest sister decides everyone's life.
Their purpose is to find those who trampled on their land, abused their families, and cruelly murdered them after insulting them before they became messengers of God. Memories of the past surge forth like waves; they have not forgotten the suffering of their past lives in every day before they sat before the musicians. Their obsession drives them to punish not only those already in the cycle of reincarnation but also those yet to enter the realm of the soul.
Therefore, when the remnants of souls from the wizard's descendants who did not willingly sacrifice themselves come before them, the three sisters stamp their seals, turning them into monsters, forever immortal and unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation. If they are killed, they will reappear in the next second. They will not forget the pain of death, nor will they remember the happiness of life.
“This is the monster we saw last time.” Mo Huaizhen poured me a cup of tea, gesturing for me to rest my eyes and listen to him. “Let’s call it the Calamity for now. Most of the monsters in the Calamity are souls without reincarnation. Because they have no reincarnation, their lives are endless and inexhaustible. The souls that can reincarnate all disappeared the moment the curse was cast.”
Mo Huaizhen's speech had become less archaic after this period of training. I took a sip of tea and asked him, "How are the three envoy sisters doing with this [illegible]?"
I thought they would be punished, or that they would stop there. I don't know the local mythology, and it seems there were no related descriptions in previous myths.
"This is also the beginning of the collapse of mythology," Mo Huaizhen said calmly. "Starting with the three sisters, the divine messengers who took over the power of the earth were more or less influenced by their own desires or external factors. Some gods only wanted to manage their own little plot of land, some gods were assassinated by their subordinates, some gods were assimilated, and one god sacrificed himself for purification."
I was speechless and put down my cup. This ending was somewhat disappointing, after all, even from just a few words, it was clear that the gods had a good relationship, each fulfilling their duties, and enjoying a rare period of harmony.
He lightly tapped the pages with his pen and said to me, "But the god who ultimately sacrificed herself did not achieve the desired effect. In fact, because she gave up voluntarily, there was no god to follow her."
"She elevated moral and ethical standards so high that no one can match her?"
“That’s one way to understand it,” Mo Huaizhen nodded. “Because her divine authority contained a sense of responsibility and a part of her hope, which couldn’t be dispelled, so the gods began to search. They eventually found a living being—a living being that couldn’t speak or move on its own. They found the World Tree.”
The World Tree has existed here since ancient times. It has witnessed the passing of divinity in heaven and earth, the changes in human morality and history, and the transformation of the world. It silently guards its small piece of land, sheltering it from the wind and rain. Back then, it wasn't called the World Tree.
"The gods named it 'Enemy,' taking the most unpleasant word in the world. They played the leading, supporting, and unknown roles in the events involving friends, mentors, lovers, and casual acquaintances. Ultimately, under this tree, they decided to return the fate of the world to the world, leaving only this tree to protect it. When it understands that its current vibrant heart contains kindness, self-reliance, mutual respect, and non-aggression, it protects the world's sunlight and water. When it understands that life is now shrouded in darkness, it too will gradually wither and die along with the world."
I pinched the bulging seed. Could this really be the World Tree? Is it about to sprout, or has its interior already turned into a soft, rotten mass of flesh and reeking of foul odor?
I have no idea.
Mo Huaizhen knew what I was thinking and comforted me: "Whether it is that seed or not, the world's responsibility should not fall on your shoulders alone."
His attitude was as sincere as ever, so sincere that it was hard to believe we had only met a few times, but I also couldn't bring myself to say that he was only attracted by that illusory aura.
"I will stand by your side. If I can, I will protect you."
I closed the book and smiled at him in the scorching sunlight streaming through the window: "Thank you."
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