"Sis, you're back!"
From among the kneeling congregation below, a little girl with her hair in a bun ran straight toward the altar.
Dongfang Huaizhu started slightly.
She hadn't expected her younger sister to be among the worshippers.
When people saw the Eastern goddess Huaizhu arrive, the tightness in their chests slowly eased. After all, she belonged to their own world.
Everyone thought it instinctively:
She is one of us.
Naturally, their nerves settled.
The two sisters took each other's hands and headed home together.
The Dongfang household, at this point, was no longer the home it had once been; it had become a branch of the temple.
Dongfang Huaizhu's brows drew together. To see the home in her memory turned into this left her a touch displeased.
"Sis, our nest is here—come on…"
Dongfang Qinlan took her sister's warm palm and led her left and right through the complex, until they reached a cavern protected by a ward.
An isolating barrier.
A formidable seal.
Without an immortal's strength, it could not be broken.
Only when they arrived here did Dongfang Huaizhu breathe easier. Everything she remembered could still be found.
Her own room,
the familiar surroundings,
all appeared before her eyes.
"How is Father?"
"Hmph. Him… He's gone and found himself another woman, and he's busy on the front lines every day. Who knows how pleased with himself he is."
At the mention of their father, a flicker of irritation—and a trace of helplessness—touched Qinlan's gaze. Their mother had passed very early. There was nothing inherently wrong with him seeking a stepmother for them. But the woman he chose was only three years older than her elder sister—plainly outrageous.
Dongfang Huaizhu smiled and didn't take it to heart.
The sisters sat and talked a long while at home. Only then did she fully grasp what had happened after she left.
Human dynasties had been wiped from history.
In their place, the Faith governed both humans and monsters.
So long as they accepted oversight,
monsters could live wherever they wished, just like people.
And with the majesty of the gods watching, no matter how fierce they might be, monsters didn't dare live by eating humans.
Their father had received guidance from Tushan's High Priest and become an administrator within the Dao League, now guarding a major city.
Loneliness, and perhaps a little wine,
and so—he and a maid had simply ended up together.
He was a responsible man; he married her outright.
They now lived in the capital, and when they could, they came back with Cloud-and-Mist to see Qinlan.
Though the girl resisted her stepmother, the latter treated her as her own child, bringing back many hand-knit things on every visit.
As for Qinlan, who had already accepted those gifts, she no longer knew how to face this stepmother.
"It's enough to know Father is well. As for the stepmother—if she treats you well, then show her some kindness in return. People… it isn't easy for anyone."
"I know, Sis. By the way—did you come back this time to go to Aolai Country?"
It was common knowledge around the world now:
the Faith was crossing hands with Aolai.
It was the last place still mired in filth, the last pocket of defiance.
To pacify it,
many powerful monsters and Daoists had volunteered to join the holy war.
Now that her sister was back, she must have come for this.
Dongfang Huaizhu rubbed the flute in her hand and said lightly, "I came to the lower realm to do two things. First, I've been worried about you and Father. Second, I want to see why those monsters refuse to obey God's discipline…"
Before, she would never have revealed killing intent so lightly.
But what she had heard and seen taught her how deeply God detested atheists.
Naturally, she meant to seize this chance to prove herself.
It would also repay the kindness shown by Tushan Yaya, that fox.
As Yaya had once said:
During her imprisonment, Huaizhu had indeed hated those monsters, wished she could flay them alive.
Now,
bathed in God's grace, she truly had to repay that early kindness.
"Should I go with you?"
"No. Once the proud monsters are subdued, that will be the end of it. Wait for me at home, little one."
Looking at the pouting girl, Dongfang Huaizhu pursed her lips.
Then fire blossomed beneath her feet as she lifted into the air.
A door in space blew open.
On the other side of that gate lay Tushan Yaya's base—established in the city facing Aolai Country.
In the city's upper pavilions, the three fox sisters opened their eyes at once.
A glad flush rose to Tu Shanhonghong's face.
"It seems a goddess has arrived! I know this aura well—it's the goddess Dongfang Huaizhu."
Yaya frowned. "I don't recall applying for a goddess to descend, nor did I receive an oracle. What's going on?"
"Let's go ask and see," said Tu Shan Rongrong.
The three left their room.
A woman was already there.
Her aqua-blue dress moved with the wind; her lustrous hair was tied back with a glazed headband.
Her eyes burned like flame.
Even Tu Shanhonghong was struck by the power she radiated.
The three knelt before Dongfang Huaizhu and respectfully saluted.
"Greetings, Lady Goddess."
"Rise."
Tu Shan Yaya stepped forward. "My Lady Goddess, why was there no oracle from the gods?"
She looked somewhat anxious, afraid her own negligence had angered the divine.
Huaizhu shook her head and smiled. "I've reached Eight Stars; naturally I can descend on my own. But I still had help from the gods. As for why the Eternal God didn't send an oracle—He's too busy. He only notified me…"
Naturally, she did not dare say she waited three days before descending. After a brief period of bliss, she had come to the lower realm; afterward, the god had entered recovery, His divine power continuously awakening.
Tu Shan Yaya nodded silently. She estimated that the gods' power had grown so strong that sacrifices were no longer necessary—so long as the strength was sufficient, a goddess could be brought to the lower realm.
That would make things simpler.
The four—Dongfang Huaizhu and the three fox sisters—came to the coast.
On their side, sunlight and clear skies.
Across the strait lay Aolai Country, shrouded by a tornado that blotted out the heavens. Thunderclouds massed upon it, and nothing could be spied within.
"What's happening? Why do I sense a powerful celestial force inside!"
This was absolutely abnormal.
If the mundane world truly possessed such power,
someone would have broken through to immortality long ago.
There would have been no waiting until today.
Tu Shanhonghong pointed skyward and sighed. "We always thought the immortals were asleep. In fact, they gathered ninety percent of the world's spiritual energy to themselves and have always stood apart from the mortal realm. Now that the world no longer worships them, and their roots here have been ripped out, they can't sit still!"
Precisely.
Near Aolai was a Sky Eye:
the only path to Heaven.
They hadn't known before—no immortal had ever descended in their sight.
Not until a few days ago,
when Aolai's purge revealed a flood of information.
Thanks, of course, to traitors within Aolai.
Otherwise, the sisters would only have guessed there were immortals helping them, and never known the tangle of secret dealings beneath.
Dongfang Huaizhu nodded, then a cold smile touched her lips. "To siphon off ninety percent of the world's spiritual energy—anyone with the least shame wouldn't do such a thing."
"Yes. The gods said as much: once a world's laws are tampered with, major problems follow. This is exactly what He meant."
Yaya's voice was tight with anger.
Yet she had to admit:
those people had a formidable background.
Being an immortal had its conveniences.
But even with the three of them combined, they couldn't guarantee the safety of other believers.
It meant they were pinned in place.
If they made a hard assault, they could breach the defenses—but corner a desperate foe, and he would leap the wall.
Many would die.
This was what weighed on Tu Shan Yaya. Fortunately, a goddess had come down; the next steps would be far simpler.
"Let me handle it. The Fire Law of the God Realm has awakened—allow me to show you the terror of fire's power."
Dongfang Huaizhu's eyes went cold.
Her dress began to sway.
She lifted a finger; a mute flame kindled at its tip.
"Nether Flame—Severing Slash."
A flick toward the sky.
The world went still.
The silence before a storm.
Then the world roared.
A shriek of explosive force ripped from the clouds; the flames burned away the thunderheads, and a vast hole tore open across the sky.
Beneath it,
a darkness gaped.
Look closely and you could see countless fragments raining from the air.
Within Aolai's royal precincts, the princes and envoys stood slack-jawed.
What had happened?
How could the immortal who had just been flaunting his might be burned to ash in the blink of an eye?
"Who dares kill my son!"
An enraged bellow burst from the clouds.
A golden-armored immortal thrust out his head.
Before he could even look around, a surge of fire rode a blade of sword-light, and in an instant his massive head flew from his body.
Another one, severed.
Only then did everyone see:
somehow, a woman now stood upon the sea.
Her face was calm; flames seemed to burn in her eyes. She slowly drew back her finger.
"To steal ninety percent of the world's spiritual energy, and to openly defy God's doctrine—such people should be killed."
Her tone was gentle.
Yet it sent a chill down spines, as if from nine heavens above.
And yet her blood ran hot.
The extremities of ice and fire had converged in a single person.
"It's her—Dongfang Huaizhu!"
"It really is her. I once saw the Eastern clan elders!"
"Wasn't the legend that she was sacrificed in blood? How can she be standing here?"
"The version I heard said she ascended to serve the gods—could it be true?"
…
In Aolai, among those who had been deceived,
murmurs spread.
Demons within the royal family gnashed their teeth at the talk.
Since she had left this world,
why had she come back?
Did she think them too bloated to fight?
Before they could speak, Tu Shanhonghong—eldest of the Tushan—called out, "Hear me, people of Aolai. Surrender now and you will have a chance at reincarnation. Persist in resistance, and do not blame our Faith for ruthlessness."
Reincarnation was an act of mercy.
Mad resistance by this horde of monsters—
that was a grave sin in the Faith of God.