Chapter 28: The Great Deceiver
After inspecting the area around the altar, Su Xiao found few clues. The altar was too badly damaged; even if someone had deliberately tried to repair it, many parts were severely missing. However, as an alchemist, he discovered some very interesting traces.
When Su Xiao had used the insect tower earlier, someone had deliberately interfered with its teleportation, sending him here. Su Xiao had already guessed who did this.
The problem wasn’t with the insect tower on Gem Street, but rather that the "Miya Canyon" he was supposed to reach had been tampered with.
There were five insect towers that could reach the Beast Tribe’s territory. Su Xiao deduced that no matter which tower he chose to arrive at, the result would be the same as now. In the Beast Tribe, few could accomplish this, and among those connected to Su Xiao, only one remained: the Great Sage.
It was the Great Sage who had secretly manipulated things, causing Su Xiao to arrive here. As for why the other party did this, it couldn’t be inferred at this stage.
"Traveler from afar, I have a story I’d like to tell you."
A black python crawled out from the bushes. Its scales were covered in patterns, and its snake eyes lacked the coldness typical of serpents, instead filled with a deep sense of weariness.
This black python was a supernatural creature, not belonging to the Beast Tribe, with intelligence not particularly high. The Great Sage had temporarily taken over its body.
"Don’t be surprised by my appearance. In this forest, I am everything."
The Great Sage manipulated the black python to coil up, its vertical pupils fixed on Su Xiao.
"Have you already decided to slay the gods? Before that, why not listen to our story. After hearing it, decide what to do next."
The aura and mental fluctuations emanating from the Great Sage showed no hostility, but it was cautious. Its true body hadn’t come. This old fellow had been lying low for centuries, and in this regard, he was undoubtedly the strongest in this world.
"Many years ago, this world had a supreme deity. She looked down upon all living beings, and they worshipped her. With just a trivial blessing, the creatures would rejoice. In return, they had to offer half of what they gained.
As years passed, that trivial blessing was bound to be seen through one day... until beings appeared among the mortals who could rival the gods—a king, a sage, a queen. The deity only gave small favors; why should they offer so much?"
When the Great Sage said this, its tone was very calm, as if it had nothing to do with it.
"The deity was angered and sent down divine punishment. But the mortals on the ground already had their king, sage, and queen to protect them. The punishment never fell. When the deity bled, no one feared her anymore. Yes, we succeeded. We ended the era ruled by the gods.
The former deity could only hide in the shadows. Of course, she wasn’t willing. If disaster struck, and the king, sage, and queen couldn’t protect their people, the mortals would have no choice but to kneel to the deity again. That disaster... was the Ancient God.
The deity succeeded. The king, sage, and queen gambled everything to seal the Ancient God. After the seal succeeded, under the deity’s instigation, the three of them fell into disagreement. Should they break the seal and fight, reseal it, or maintain the status quo and wait for an opportunity?
No one knew which decision was correct. But the deity misjudged one thing: the Ancient God she summoned was too powerful. Even sealed, it could still bring disaster. No one won this game. They were all losers, reaping what they sowed."
At this point, the Great Sage sighed.
"Traveler from afar, don’t be deceived by appearances, nor become a knife in someone else’s hand. Even if you emerge victorious in battle against the Ancient God, are you sure it was your victory? Perhaps that’s exactly what some entity wanted to see.
Don’t think the deity is selfless. We were deceived by lies and are reaping what we sowed. Isn’t the deity the same? She, too, is reaping what she sowed."
The Great Sage didn’t continue, letting Su Xiao decide for himself.
The Great Sage’s meaning was clear: the Ancient God was summoned by the Mother Goddess. She wanted to use the Ancient God to bring disaster, to bring down the three factions—the Light King, the Great Sage, and the Spider Queen—letting them and the Ancient God mutually destroy each other.
After they died, the Mother Goddess would take the opportunity to eliminate the Ancient God, re-enter the era of divine rule, be worshipped by all living beings again, and monopolize the power of faith.
According to the Great Sage, the three of them sealing the Ancient God was a deception. That’s why it chose to wait and see. It was the wise one who saw through everything.
"Traveler from afar, now, breaking the seal and facing the Ancient God is the only choice. But you can’t fight alone. Your strength, combined with my wisdom, makes eliminating the Ancient God not a fantasy..."
"Hold on."
Baha interrupted the Great Sage. The Great Sage wasn’t annoyed and turned its gaze to Baha.
"You mean you want to fight the Ancient God with us? If you don’t die, how will the seal be opened?"
Hearing Baha’s words, the Great Sage patiently explained:
"We wrapped the soul chains around the outside of the container. When the time is right, removing the soul chains can also open the seal. It’s not necessary for us to die to open it. That was the Mother Goddess’s lie. Even to this day, she still hates us and wants us dead."
The Great Sage seemed barely able to suppress the anger in its heart. It continued:
"Don’t feel guilty about killing the Spider Queen. You just fell into a trap. Our enemy isn’t just the Ancient God. The once-lofty Mother Goddess is also our enemy. The Light King and I are your allies."
"..."
Su Xiao glanced at the black python controlled by the Great Sage, then at the stone platform not far away, and asked, "Great Sage, was this altar set up by the Mother Goddess?"
"Yes. You should be able to sense it. This altar summoned the Ancient God. How many lives have been lost because of it? It’s the root of all evil. I restored it because I don’t want to see more strong people deceived by the Mother Goddess."
Having said this, the Great Sage fell silent again. Its attitude was that it only provided the truth; the choice was entirely up to Su Xiao.
"If that’s the case, let’s kill the Mother Goddess first."
Su Xiao placed his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, seemingly "agreeing" with the Great Sage’s words.
"Don’t be hasty. Your name is..."
"Bai Ye."
"Bai Ye, the Mother Goddess is hard to deal with. The reason I’ve been enduring is that I’m worried about one thing: if the Mother Goddess is pushed to the brink, she might summon other Ancient Gods. We need to bind her first, extract her divine source, and destroy it. Only then can we kill her completely."
"Good idea."
Su Xiao seemed to believe the Great Sage’s words again and "acknowledged" its wisdom. But in his mind, he thought that the Great Sage might not simply want the Mother Goddess dead. The key was her divine source. That might be what the Great Sage truly desired.
"The Light King is in a very bad state. How are you now?"
"Also very bad."
"Where is your true body? Even if we cooperate, I won’t work with an old fellow who hides his head and tail. At least prove you’re not scheming against me."
Hearing this, the Great Sage sighed. It was about to continue its persuasion.
Pfft!
A long blade slashed through, and a snake head flew up, landing with a thud on the withered grass. The headless snake body writhed, spraying a large amount of blood.
"You..."
The Great Sage was about to speak through the snake head, but Su Xiao had already stepped forward, stomping on the snake head, crushing it to pieces.
It must be said that sometimes a fierce-tempered guy is more trustworthy. Take the Spider Queen, for example. Her strength and beauty seemed to have been exchanged for intelligence. The most reckless queen in history, that was her.
The Spider Queen had a point: not a single word the Great Sage said should be believed.
The Great Sage’s earlier speech seemed logical, but it was actually complete nonsense. This altar wasn’t set up by the Mother Goddess. However, the Great Sage wasn’t lying about one thing: this altar had indeed summoned an Ancient God.
This altar was set up by the Kodo School, used to summon the Ancient God—specifically, the Shadow Ancient God.
As the saying goes, only magic can defeat magic. The Kodo School understood this well. Their initial plan was to use an Ancient God to fight another Ancient God, which was why they summoned the Shadow Ancient God.
Summon an Ancient God on their own turf? Of course not. The Insect Kingdom was also out of the question. The Spider Queen’s temper was notoriously bad. There was no choice left but to do it on the Beast Tribe’s territory, hence the altar here.
It could only be said that the Shadow Ancient God died unjustly. In the Dark Star World, it had just begun to suck the world’s energy to recover when it was killed. Later, its massive head was made into a specimen. It died even more unjustly than the Moon God.
The origin of the altar was a lie. Could the Great Sage’s subsequent words still be trusted?
Su Xiao had studied Ancient God energy for a long time. Through his observations, he concluded that this altar’s specifications couldn’t summon a particularly powerful Ancient God.
He was confident in this research because, for a time, he had been short on Divine Bones and planned to summon an Ancient God to kill. But soon after, he encountered the Blood God, so he didn’t go through with it. The process was too time-consuming and had a low success rate.
Aside from the altar’s origin, there was another suspicious point about the Great Sage: both the Light King and the Spider Queen were in a state worse than death, but the Great Sage alone continued to lie low with a strong will to survive.
It felt as if, as long as the Mother Goddess, the Light King, and the Ancient God all died, the Great Sage would become the ultimate winner.