Chapter 848: Past or Future? [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
For some reason, Yun Ce's expression was not very good.
But he didn't avoid Shen Tang's probing and questioning gaze. Instead, he suddenly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it down, turning around: "In Ce's sect, all new disciples have the same mark tattooed on their bodies as an identifier, but I have never seen these people before..."
Most of his clothes were piled up around his waist like clouds.
As Yun Ce turned around, Shen Tang saw that besides the scars on his muscular back, there was also a tattoo the size of a finger joint. This tattoo was exactly the same as the one on the corpse, and also the same as the pattern on the cloth in her hand.
She was taken aback: "So Zigu also has it?"
Yun Ce nodded: "Mm."
Being straightforward by nature, he was afraid that Shen Tang wouldn't believe him, so he explained again: "Ce and Zigu are from the same school, but the school is small, and most of the members are orphans that our teacher picked up while traveling. We have never seen these people on earth. I was thinking of writing a letter to our teacher to ask if there were any enemies impersonating him and ruining his reputation, but the strategist said that this is the Gods' Association."
Specifically, it is the emblem of the Pantheon.
Yun Ce could only temporarily abandon his plan to write a letter to inquire.
He wanted to find out the truth and clear his teacher's name.
Shen Tang raised an eyebrow: "Which strategist?"
Yun Ce's gaze swept over everyone present.
Shen Tang: "..."
She didn't know much about the Pantheon, only about the previous great battle, when the sixteenth-rank Grand Master let slip that Huang Xiguang was suspected of having ties to the Pantheon, and Zhang Yongqing also had unclear connections with this force. She had thought it was some kind of mysterious organization, but judging from the reactions of her subordinates, it seemed that she was the only one who didn't know? Shen Tang cleared her thoughts and gestured for everyone to explain slowly.
"My first question is, what is the Council of Gods?"
Chu Yao replied, "It's an alliance composed of people with both literary talent and martial prowess. Its members are either renowned talents from all over the continent or powerful regional overlords who have established themselves. If nothing unexpected happens, my lord may also receive an invitation to join."
Shen Tang rolled her eyes inwardly.
She was not optimistic about this alliance.
Huang Xiguang and Zhang Yongqing have both been contacted, so why not her? Does the Gods Society look down on Shen Youli? Thumbs down!
"My second question is, aren't you all members?"
Sincerity is the ultimate weapon!
Having worked with these subordinates for so many years, they understood each other's character, so there was no need for them to beat around the bush and test each other. Faced with a mysterious force that was not friendly to her side, Shen Tang didn't like to fight unprepared battles, but she also didn't want internal strife.
Chu Yao and the others all shook their heads.
It's true that they had contact with the Gods Society, and some even joined briefly, but ultimately left due to ideological differences.
Gu Chi hesitated, then glanced at Shen Tang.
In the end, they didn't reveal Qi Shan's affair.
If he didn't say anything, it would be even more inconvenient for Ning Yan to overstep her bounds.
Qi Shan's position on the Lord's side is too special, so even if we were to discuss Qi Shan's situation in the Council of Gods, we would have to talk about it in private.
"The third question: How much do the gods know?"
Chu Yao took out a scroll from his sleeve and presented it to Shen Tang with both hands. They had discussed their arrival, exchanged information, and compiled a booklet containing all the information about the Gods' Guild.
Shen Tang opened it with a solemn expression.
She didn't skim through it; instead, she read it word by word, afraid of missing any important information. As she approached the end, Shen Tang's brows furrowed and relaxed at times. After a long while, she carefully closed the book.
Shen Tang is now fairly certain that the Pantheon is the mysterious organization that Evil Thoughts mentioned, or at least that the two are intricately connected. This is also a future enemy!
"Judging from this, many members of the Pantheon are mentally ill, their arrogance overflowing. They treat power as pawns, manipulating them to prove their own abilities or uphold so-called morality, using people as guinea pigs? On a macro level, they are indeed secretly influencing the world's格局 (geju, a term referring to the overall situation or power dynamics) and stirring up trouble... Bah! Are pyramid schemes really this sophisticated?"
She really wanted to complain about the last sentence.
What's the fundamental difference between this "Gods' Society's" recruitment method and pyramid schemes' method of developing downlines? If we're really talking about the difference, pyramid schemes are at least punished by the forces of righteousness, while this "Gods' Society," by developing leaders as members, is essentially creating a protective talisman...
Shen Tang looked at Chu Yao and the others and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
"This pantheon is an enemy, not a friend."
Yun Ce still had his sect on his mind.
His eyes held a hint of pleading: "My lord—"
His sect has absolutely no connection with the Pantheon!
The pattern might just be a coincidence?
Or perhaps, the teacher had joined the Gods' Guild back then, but left, and then thought the design was nice, so he used it? Yun Ce simply couldn't accept that his kind and gentle teacher wouldn't value human life! Not to mention secretly instigating conflict between various factions.
Shen Tang reassured him, "Yuanmou, don't worry, I will investigate this matter thoroughly. However—this Pantheon of Gods has a very serious problem. It seems to be just an ordinary elite organization, but judging from its composition and the way its members act, they must be extremely averse to unification. It's understandable; before a unifying force emerges, they can freely exploit loopholes, even hiding in the shadows, manipulating the world as pawns. But once a unifying force is born—"
The information provided by the malicious intent matched the letter perfectly.
Shen Tang paused here, then chuckled.
"A leader capable of unifying the world must be a powerful ruler. How could he allow a force with such a superior position to lord it over him? The contradiction between the two is obvious. The Pantheon probably understands this as well. Among the hundreds of nations in the world, mutual infighting is what is most advantageous for them. Pantheon, find a way to obtain more intelligence. Being prepared is the best policy, and you will be invincible in every battle."
At present, Shen Tang is not even worthy of the attention of the Gods' Council.
But that's not important.
The enemy can be defended as long as they are not in the shadows.
However, the thought that before the Evil Thought Star descended upon the world, there was a force similar to the "Literary Heart and Martial Courage" that had banded together... gave Shen Tang a headache. She wasn't afraid of how powerful this force was, but rather that its foundation was too deep.
The most troublesome are those whose strength is unknown!
According to the information provided by Benevolent Thoughts, before the descent of the Thief Star, a violent and evil force existed in the world, a force that caused plants and animals to degenerate and mutate. Could this force be the same as the force possessed by the founder of the mysterious organization?
A jumble of thoughts swirled in Shen Tang's mind.
Finally, the image focuses on Zhang Yongqing's cloth.
She picked up the cloth and examined it carefully. No one dared to make a sound and disturb her thoughts until Shen Tang asked, "Besides this pattern, does the Pantheon have any other symbols?"
This sign made her uncomfortable.
As I said before—
What kind-hearted person would use a nuclear radiation symbol as their company emblem?
She murmured, "Is this pattern a coincidence? Wu Hui, do you know what the meaning of this pattern from the Gods' Assembly is?"
Chu Yao and the others shook their heads.
The origin of this pattern is unknown.
However, Shen Tang was able to answer the first question.
The makeshift tent didn't even have paper or pen, so Gu Chi had to use his sword scabbard as a pen to draw the ranks of the Gods' Guild members on the ground. Shen Tang curiously leaned closer, craning her neck to watch him scribble. Gu Chi drew a "big": "This is the symbol for the lowest rank of member in the Gods' Guild, this is rank 2..."
She froze when she saw two large hands clasped together. Then, when she saw three large hands clasped in a circle, she went completely numb.
Gu Chi has already drawn the highest level of markings.
He said, "My lord, is this how it is, my lord?"
Before he could finish asking, he heard a high-pitched, ghost-like scream from beside him, which shocked Gu Chi so much that he covered his ears with both hands.
[Oops, oops, oops, oops—]
Everyone present was shrewd; even without observing Gu Chi's reaction, they knew their lord was in trouble. Shen Tang wasn't one to hide his emotions, and at this moment, his expression flashed between shock, astonishment, fright, blankness, numbness... a complex mix of feelings that they couldn't discern the specific components of.
The moment of calm didn't last long. Shen Tang suppressed her inner thoughts and looked at Gu Chi with a hint of guilt. Gu Chi patted his ear and said with a wry smile, "Has my lord discovered anything else?"
She hadn't felt this out of control in a long time.
Shen Tang covered her head: "I don't know how to say it either—Wang Chao, can you recognize this? Have you ever seen this before?"
She picked up Gu Chi's sword sheath, clinging to a sliver of hope.
With a few quick strokes, three black ping-pong paddle-like patterns were drawn on the ground, handles facing inwards. Each paddle was connected by a black arc, and a solid black circle was drawn in the center. A narrow black circle surrounded the center...
Gu Chi examined it carefully for a long time, and nodded under Shen Tang's complicated gaze: "I've seen this pattern at the Council of Gods."
Having received an answer, Shen Tang's shoulders suddenly slumped.
My inner monologue is a recurring, endless cycle: 【Holy shit—】
Despite already having a bold guess in her mind, Shen Tang still wanted to know what the Gods' Council considered her drawings to be. Gu Chi said, "It seems to be an internal council. Judging from your words, my lord, you seem to know the meaning of these drawings?"
Shen Tang chuckled and pointed to the patterns on the cloth and the corpse, saying, "This is a nuclear radiation warning sign, the one you drew should be a biochemical symbol, and the one I drew is a chemical weapon symbol... In short, these three symbols shouldn't be here... at least not in this era... Something's wrong, everything's wrong, where exactly did things go wrong!"
After explaining the meaning of the pattern, Shen Tang's thoughts became chaotic, repeatedly repeating the words "something's not right, it shouldn't be like this," and even Gu Chi couldn't glean anything useful from them. Gu Chi and the others exchanged glances, their eyes filled with worry as they looked at Shen Tang.
After a long time—
Shen Tang rubbed her throbbing temples and exhaled a breath of stale air. She lowered her head and said, "You've been honest with me, so I shouldn't hide anything from you. But I haven't sorted things out myself, and I'm worried that saying it rashly might affect your mindset. Wu Hui, give me some time to think it over. We'll arrange the matter of the Gods' Guild later and try to plant a spy in there."
She has a candidate among the renowned young geniuses.
Whether it's Yu Zi, whose literary talent is exceptionally high, or Lin Feng, a second-rank scholar with outstanding literary talent, both meet the criteria for recruitment by the Gods' Guild in terms of age and reputation. It's just a matter of whether they will extend an olive branch; some planning is needed.
Seeing that their lord's condition was visibly poor, the group dared not linger. Their purpose in coming here today was to reveal the existence of the Gods' Guild, and it was good that their lord was on guard. They bowed and prepared to leave when Shen Tang suddenly spoke up: "Wang Chao, stay."
Gu Chi hadn't intended to move anyway: "Yes."
Shen Tang then said, "Send someone to fetch Gong Xi Chou."
Before long, only she and Gu Chi remained in the tent.
Gu Chi listened quietly, waiting for Shen Tang to finish her prepared speech: "Wang Chao, I have no secrets from you, and there are some things I can only discuss with you. As you know, this body is not mine. My earliest memory of this world is from when I was twelve years old, when I opened my eyes to find myself on the road to exile. I know nothing about who this body is, what its name is, or its past. Not only do I not know about this body, but I don't even remember what I originally looked like or what I experienced; I only have vague memories."
Gu Chi said softly, "Yes, my lord once said that his painting skills are superb. He used to be a painter and made a living by painting."
Of course, he didn't believe this explanation.
If any artist had this level of skill, they'd go hungry for three days straight.
Even a respectable artist wouldn't be so quick to kill or fight.
Shen Tang said, embarrassed and annoyed, "I really am a painter! It's just that you don't know how to appreciate my work. If I don't show you my skills later, you'll really think I'm fooling you! That's not the point. The point is that these patterns shouldn't exist in this era, do you understand?"
Gu Chi looked bewildered: "What do you mean?"
Shen Tang transformed into a restless wild beast, pacing back and forth with a limp, leaning on her sickle. Gu Chi felt exhausted just watching her.
My lord, if this doesn't work, let's sit down and talk it over!
"It means—either someone from that world that I know traveled to this world hundreds or even thousands of years ago, and these patterns were brought by him/her, or the Gods' Guild might be a scheme orchestrated by them! Using these patterns as symbols might just be their twisted sense of humor." Shen Tang still had to explain the meaning of the word "time travel" to him, "Oh, time travel is when a person's soul goes from one world to another!"
Gu Chi nodded.
He had been tormented by Shen Tang's inner voice for many years.
He knows a lot about time travel. He even plans to write time travel novels when he has some free time in the future. If he is lucky enough to be passed down to future generations, he will surely be the founder of this genre.
"Does my lord mean there are other possibilities?"
Gu Chi reacted quickly and noticed the key point.
Shen Tang, abandoning his previous anxiety, uttered a terrifying and absurd conjecture: "There's another possibility: hundreds or thousands of years ago, the social structure of this world was the same as the world I know. No one traveled to the past; this is the future!"
Even if Gu Chi is very smart, he still has some mental blocks.
He murmured, "Is this the future?"
“Yes, this is the future!” Shen Tang gave him an example. “It’s like how we have ‘literary heart and martial courage’ now. Hundreds or thousands of years later, as the written records are lost, and as descendants pass down their bloodlines, generation after generation, they gradually lose the aptitude for cultivation. They accidentally discover records related to ‘literary heart and martial courage,’ just like these things…”
Shen Tang pointed to the pattern on the ground.
Gu Chi raised his hand.
Shen Tang said, "Ask away!"
"Why is my lord so certain that this is the future?"
Just because of these patterns?
Why can't it be a coincidence?
"It's simple to verify both guesses. If it's the second one, then there are definitely still remnants of 'modern civilization' in this world. If there are no remnants, then it's most likely the first one." Although she said this, Shen Tang already had the answer in her heart.
Gu Chi asked her, "How does the lord intend to verify this?"
Searching for so-called "ruins"?
and--
Gu Chi is not interested in whether the present is the "past" or the "future": "No matter what, people should live in the present."
What's the point of figuring this out?
Shen Tang said, "Do you know about nuclear weapons? That thing, bang—two of them were dropped on a place where life was pretty good. The temperature was 6,000 degrees Celsius. One of them could instantly kill 80,000 or 90,000 people. Even the King of Hell wouldn't be able to handle it! Boiling water only reaches 100 degrees Celsius. If the Pantheon had that thing, what would we even do? What would we even do!"
Gu Chi: "..."
Shen Tang thought Gu Chi was frightened and kept muttering to herself.
"Of course, that's unlikely! But knowing yourself and your enemy is the key to victory! We need to figure out the secrets of the Gods' Guild. I don't want to be at the last step of unifying the world when a bullet suddenly drops down—completely lacking in martial ethics! I hope that won't happen, but I have so many brilliant and capable subordinates. With all the bad luck debuffs stacked up, even the King of Hell would be afraid! Speaking of which, if it really is the second possibility, what exactly happened before?"
Gu Chi raised his sleeve and yawned.
Shen Tang was so engrossed in her own world that she didn't notice.
After a while, Gong Xichou arrived.
They started shouting loudly before the person even arrived.
"Mama, you were looking for me?"
|ω`)
This chapter is a little longer.
P.S.: I hope this won't be censored.
(End of this chapter)
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