Chapter 108
The teenager prayed before the statue for a few hours, and the God of Light gazed at him in the water mirror for a few hours. He shook the glass in his hand, a golden wine slightly spun, emitting a rich and sweet smell. Usually, this smell would attract the God of Light to slowly sip and savor it, but he had no interest in it today.
The loving words flowing from the boy’s pink lips were more delicious than any wine. He rested his cheek on his other hand, his eyelids half closed, revealing an unconsciously intoxicated expression.
The boy finally ended his day of prayer. He opened his blue eyes, slowly walked to the statue and slightly frowned, then he lightly kissed the Father’s feet. He leaned there for a long time, reluctant to get up, his tear stained eyelashes collected more tears, and he gently trembled, looking pitiful and lovely.
The Light God put down his glass, his pupils deep and focused. He stretched out his fingertips and gently pointed to the spot between the boy’s eyebrows, and a pure, solid and shining golden light poured through the glowing mirror and into the boy’s body.
Zhou Yun Sheng kissed the Father’s feet and was preparing to get up and leave, when he felt a surge of power pouring into his forehead and spreading throughout his limbs, warm and comfortable, almost making him groan.
Is this a gift from the Father? He was very excited. He forgot his intention to leave and continued to kneel, clinging to the Father’s ankle, rubbing his white cheek onto the statue, his wet eyes finally letting out two drops of crystal clear tears. They traveled down his cheeks and hung on his chin, he looked so pitiful.
“Father God, have you heard my prayer? Father, do you know how much I love you? Father God, my Father, my life and my soul are all yours, please take them.” How could he bare to leave the Father for even a minute?
At this moment, the maid who was guarding the door whispered, “Your eminence, the Elder Bishop asks you to go to the Chamber to discuss the Second Prince’s baptism.”
Zhou Yun Sheng turned a deaf ear and continued holding the Father’s ankle, like a lost little lamb finally returned to its parents’ arms, he didn’t want to move even a half-step away.
The Light God uncrossed his legs and sat up, his slightly narrowed eyes hid a gentle smile. He tried to endure, but he finally couldn’t resist the commotion in his heart and he once again pointed between the boy’s eyebrows.
A more pure and vigorous power than before poured in, like a tidal wave, and the boy’s soul flew high and gently stopped, then suddenly shook left to right, causing him to be stunned in confusion, unable to control his limbs. He was intoxicated by the Father’s benevolent gift. His small mouth twitched, moaning, and his pale face slowly reddened, his languid and extravagant seductive appearance could make even the gods go crazy.
The Light God’s fingertip placed on the water mirror suddenly froze, and after a long time, he slowly drew it back. He unconsciously twitched his finger, feeling a lingering burning sensation that was very slowly fading away.
The Light God raised his finger and stared dumbly at it. His light golden eyes slowly turned dark gold as a pure black quietly suppressed the light.
The maid reminded the boy several times with no response, so she finally had to return to the Chamber to report. Afterwards, the Bishop sent the Deputy Bishop to retrieve him, and that was the only reason the teenager was willing to move.
So, when the God of Light finally got rid of the weird tingling in his finger, he looked back, but the hall was missing a slim and lovely figure. The touch of joy in his heart dissipated like a passing wind, and his unusually relaxed eyebrows wrinkled as usual, harshening his facial features.
“Father, a Servant of God has fled the temple, please instruct me.” A god wearing a white gown knelt, his face twisted in deep fear.
It’s unknown when it started, but the merciful Father had vanished, and he’d turned into an unfathomable deity with unpredictable moods. All the creatures on the continent thought that the gods had abandoned them, but they didn’t know that the gods hadn’t left at all, they had all fallen under the hands of the God of Light, who used to represent beauty and peace.
He seemed to want to destroy the continent under Ninth Heaven, but at the critical moment, he changed his mind. That careless attitude was as if he’d grown tired of a toy, he would fiddle with it whenever he was bored, but most of the time, he ignored it. Even more bizarrely, although he never tainted himself with otherworldly desires, he began collecting beautiful boys, and he was only interested in white-haired, blue-eyed, or black-haired, dark-eyed teenagers.
However, whenever he gathered them, he just glanced at them then threw them aside, and remained unmoved even while they all vied for his attention. He looked at them with cold and ruthless eyes, like watching an exquisite mobile ornament.
If he didn’t still have his godhood, in fact, it had grown more powerful, the god would’ve suspected that the true Light God had been spirited away by an evil spirit.
The God of Light was not interested in the loss of a decoration. He spoke indifferently, “Let it leave.”
With an ‘it’ and not ‘he’, showing that the Father didn’t place the slightest value on the once quite favored boy. The god lowered his head lower and reminded, “It stole one of your rings.”
The God of Light hummed, uninterested. How can an object that could easily be touched by a mere mortal be worthy of a god’s personal recovery? That’s ridiculous.
The god realized that he was making a fuss, paled, and hurriedly retreated.
A servant fled for the first time after thousands of years, and suddenly, a boy’s prayer actually made him lose his sense of balance.
It could be said that the boy had frightened the ruthless god, making him finally notice the mortals’ suffering.
——————–
Zhou Yun Sheng came back from the Chamber and poured the drugs the Second Prince had handed to Joshua down the drain. As the God of Light’s crazy fanboy, he couldn’t do such things like inventing an oracle. His heart still felt guilty for his past love, he couldn’t even eat his rice, he just recline by the window and looked despondently at the sunset in the horizon.
He sat still for an hour or two, then his tragic eyes suddenly became clear and translucent. He ran into the bathroom and jumped into the hot springs without even taking off his robe. He buried his face in the water and made a distorted expression.
I cried to a statue! I spent a day sweet talking a statue! I couldn’t bear to leave and clung to a statue’s ankle, crying like a sucker! Nauseating! I have layers of goose bumps!
He gritted his teeth, rebuking his foolish acts.
I was so stupid!
When he thought back to his actions he wanted to stab his own eyes out.
After grimacing and spitting out a lot of bubbles, he came out from the water, his expression instantly becoming gentle and serene. Whatever, he’d gotten two large shares of light power because of today, so even if he wanted to vomit at the thought of it, he had to keep going.
Thinking of this, he finally calmed down, and after a good bath, he directly climbed into bed without drying his hair.
———————
Two weeks later, the Second Prince Alger’s 18th birthday arrived. After receiving his baptism, he would travel, and for two years he couldn’t return to the Imperial Capital, and he had to complete several tasks. This continent was not peaceful, even a noble needed to accumulate enough strength, or else, they could be killed off at any time.
Although light attribute mages were few, mages with other attributes and warriors were plentiful, and among them were many powerful people. But this was a double edged sword. When battling the demons, any person could be infected with their evil seed and lose reason, then begin slaughtering their own compatriots.
The more powerful the person, the easier it was to attract parasitic demons. Demons were very smart, and in order to find the most powerful host, they would transfer to several people and rely on these people to slowly get closer to their true target, waiting for an opportunity.
So, during the traveling period, each team must be equipped with a light priest. When everyone was fighting, the light priest would travel around the battlefield and cast light circles to prevent the demons’ escape, and also prevent their teammates from being planted with a demon seed. If their strength was strong enough, they could also use light spells to force out the parasitic demon from the host and kill it.
The Sagya Kingdom had only three light priests, one was the Bishop, one was the Deputy Bishop, and the last was Joshua. The Bishop was old, and Joshua was not yet an adult, so only the Deputy Bishop could accompany the Second Prince in his travels.
The Bishop baptized and blessed the Second Prince, but he immediately left after the ceremony, he didn’t even talk to the King.
The Second Prince, who had been full of confidence, was stunned, he made his servant bring Joshua to a secluded corner to talk to him.
“Joshua, have you forgotten what you promised me? If I can’t be Sagya Kingdom’s ruler, my brother will deport me to the frontier to fight against the demons. Maybe we’ll never meet again.”
Although Zhou Yun Sheng’s brain was short-circuited because of his self-hypnosis, he wouldn’t forget how the Second Prince had used Joshua.
He would like to see just how the Second Prince would board Sagya Kingdom’s throne without Joshua’s help.
But he wouldn’t stupidly insult the Second Prince’s decorum. The Second Prince’s future mistress’ background was very tough, on his left was the God of Light, on his right was the Dark God, then he had the Beast King, the Pope and the Elf King, he was one step away from dominating the world. This strong group was hard to openly attack, so he could only outsmart them.
His eyes filled with crystal tears and he covered his heart, his tone tragic, “Alger, how can you bear to make me betray my most beloved Father. Fabricate an oracle, impersonate God, such a sin is enough to have me burnt to ashes in the fires of hell! No, even worse, what if I lost my Father’s blessing and became a shameful blasphemer. I would live forever under everyone’s contempt and abuse, maybe even stoned to death by the outraged citizens. Is that the future you want for me? Are you eager to push me into that hopeless abyss? Alger, I’m beginning to doubt if you really love me.”
The Second Prince was speechless. He didn’t understand how in only a few days, Joshua’s senses had sobered up. Yes, if he’d really done as he’d suggested, he would’ve very likely faced those consequences.
The Deputy Bishop had an illegitimate child, his reputation was damaged and he’d lost the possibility of succession. Joshua becoming the next Bishop was set in stone, and the Bishop’s right was comparable to the King’s. It was too late for the Second Prince to coax him, and he couldn’t insult his dignity, so he immediately swore that he would never do such injustice to him, saying that he’d forgotten his senses because of his desire to be with him, and asked him to forgive his faults.
Zhou Yun Sheng silently nodded, looked deeply into the Second Prince’s eyes, then walked away. The look was missing the passion from the past, making the Second Prince feel very anxious. He lingered for a while, reluctant to leave.
In the Ninth Heaven above, the Light God had a panoramic view of this scene. As usual, he was reclining on his ornate chaise, surrounded by many beautiful teenagers. Someone poured wine for him, someone sang for him, and some quietly snuggled at his feet with tranquil smiles. They looked at their God with admiring eyes, but they didn’t know that while their God seemed to be savoring his wine, his eyes were actually gazing attentively at another person.
Only the god, who stood at the distance, could notice the Father’s emotional change. His pale golden eyes had turned a dark golden color, dotted with black spots. If his eyes turned completely black and he lost control, the temple would be destroyed by his huge divine power. This has happened more than once.
The god began to sweat nervously, endlessly cursing the culprit who had angered the Father. His predecessor had died during the Father’s last wrathful outburst, and, let alone remains, even that god’s soul fragments had vanished.
Zhou Yun Sheng walked into the hall and prostrated at the Light God’s feet.
His eyes could only see the Father, his heart could only feel for the Father, his soul was filled with the Father, even though his memories with the Second Prince didn’t belong to him, they still made him very uncomfortable. He felt that he had betrayed his Father, and that was simply an unforgivable sin. Big drops of tears immediately fell, like a broken string of pearls, which landed on the Father’s instep, making crisp sounds.
His eyes were closed, his cheeks were wet, and his white teeth were biting his lips into a crimson color, they looked as if they would bleed in the next second. But he didn’t feel the slightest pain, he just gripped the Father’s ankle and cried uncontrollably, sobbing in repentance:
“My Father,
How can I bare to tell you
That I fell for a thief’s lies, and almost forgot my love for you.
My Father,
I have lost my most precious possession,
That is, the piety that rightfully belonged to you,
So I’m willing to endure the hell fire
In order to make up for it.
My Father,
I confess my sins to you,
I beg you to forgive your poor child,
His inner guilt and remorse is about to kill him!
My Father,
Please lash me,
Please scold me,
Please burn me,
Then please continue to love me!
Please continue to love me …”
He pressed his face tightly onto the cold statue, crying like a lost child. His face was very pale, and his eyes and nose were flushed, he looked very poor, but very lovely.
The black light in the Light God’s eyes gradually disappeared, he sighed and stroked the tears hanging on the boy’s chin through his mirror. He was only a 16-year-old child, 16 years old, such an immature age, how could he see through the deceptions hidden in people’s hearts? He was deceived and exploited by an evil trickster, it wasn’t his fault.
His rising anger slowly dissipated. The God of Light wished he could pull the hunched over boy through the water mirror and place him on his knee to gently sooth him, wiping clean his crystal tears.
This was his little believer, his child, no one was qualified to make him feel so depressed. Although he’d almost gotten lost on his journey, his love and devotion to his God only deepened with the setback.
He could perceive the remorse and respect from the depths of his soul, so he stretched out his fingertips and poured warm and bright golden light into the boy’s body to stop him from grieving.
The crying mess of a boy was suddenly stunned. He touched his forehead disbelievingly, then revealed an eye-catchingly bright smile.
“Did you forgive me Father? I knew that the merciful Father would forgive my faults. From now on, your servant Joshua will never look at anyone else but his Father. You know, you are my everything. No treasures in the world can compare to you. I will forget Alger and only live for my Father.” He gently rubbed the statue with his white face, his eyes were still filled with tears, but he had a sweet smile.
The Light God squinted his dark golden eyes and focused on the boy’s every move. The Little Believer is called Joshua, what a really lovely name. He wants to live only for his Father? Even his vows are adorable.
The Light God smiled, then he lowered his head and stared thoughtfully at his feet. If the boy was prostrating by his side, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him like he did the statue, what would it feel like?
He was ensnared by a wonderful fantasy.
The god could only see the light issued by the water mirror, he couldn’t see the contents of the water mirror unless the Father allowed it. But in any case, he now felt like worshipping the water mirror. The furious Monarch was quelled of his anger in such a short time, in his hundreds of millions of years of existence, he’d never seen this done.
What could grab the Monarch’s interests so much? Is someone in the temples attracting him?
His speculations turned around a thousand times, but the god didn’t dare ask his ideas, he waved, telling the group of outwardly obedient, but inwardly fearful servant boys to retire.
Zhou Yun Sheng spent the day in repentance and declaration, then finally returned to his bedroom at sunset.
He rushed into the bathroom and jumped in, beating the water with his fists, violently splashing the water, and shouting in his heart: Fucking shit, I actually cried like a little bitch! Motherfucker, I almost knocked my head against a column to commit suicide from the shame! What a brainless spirit! No wonder cult members are willing to self-immolate themselves for their gods, now I can finally understand them!
The fanboy disappeared and Rational Zhou Yun Sheng came back, he was caught in a tangle of emotions, squatting in the pool, grimacing one moment, kicking up a fuss the next, it looked very funny.
After he found his lovely Little Believer, the God of Light would only call out the water mirror to watch him during his prayers, so he could see him as he listened to his sweet and affectionate words. But as time went on, he became fonder of his Little Believer, and the time spent peeping on him grew longer.
He learned that he would get up every day to profess his love to the mirror, his cute but serious look always made the Light God chuckle. As the only god in the mainland, he was used to being respected by others, but no one could really move him. Even the ‘most powerful’ Pope was just a toy he played with at his leisure.
He admired the Pope’s ambition. He was a light priest, but the darkness lurking in his heart was more corrosive than the demons. It made the Light God feel a sense of camaraderie, so he didn’t mind holding on to him. He wanted to see what he could bring to the continent, whether it would be destroyed or rebirthed.
All this playing around was because he honestly didn’t know what to do with the continent. He found it uninteresting, and he sometimes wanted to destroy it, but he always restrained himself at the most critical time. He had a faint feeling that the world was hiding a priceless treasure.
He had to get that treasure, so the living creatures on the continent needed to exist.
After hundreds of millions of years, he only saw the fickle and selfish human nature, even the so-called gods had ulterior motives and fought with each other. A truly pure human, a pure white soul, how could such a person exist?
But look at what he found, his Little Believer’s soul was pure white, and also mixed with a golden shimmer that only the truly dedicated to the Light God could possess. So beautiful, so dazzling, so lovely.
He was never tired of watching him.
When the Little Believer prayed, he felt that he was purely pious, but when he returns to his bedroom, he becomes different. He couldn’t read his true thoughts, but it didn’t prevent him from appreciating the other expressions his Little Believer showed, they were quite different from his usual gentleness and quietness.
He would bare his teeth, he would glare, he would angrily beat the water, like a lively and lovely child throwing a tantrum. No, he was still a child, he really should be so lively. He’d forgotten, 16 years old was really too small, if he was a god, he would still be in infant clothes.
The teachings of the Light God were very heavy, it’s natural to feel a little trapped.
He loved kneading the boy’s lips through the water mirror.
The Light God smiled and continued to appreciate the beautiful boy coming out of the bath, and he watched him go to sleep with wet hair.
As usual, he used his power to dry the Little Believer’s hair.
The Light God didn’t release the water mirror, he just sipped his crystal cup and watched the Little Believer sleep. The nectar flowing into his mouth seemed sweeter than ever.
Zhou Yun Sheng woke up at his usual time, seriously hypnotized himself, then walked into the temple filled with crazy love for the Light God.
A maid was cleaning up the offering altar. Although there were wine, pastries, flowers, vegetables, fruits and other things that could be stored for several years without decay, it was blasphemy to be stingy with God, so the Church oversaw the provisions. Whenever an offering was present for more than two weeks it must be replaced.
A few hundred years ago, these jobs would have been handled by the light priests, but as the Church’s might increased, the priests grew more aristocratic, and no one wanted do such a tedious and humble job anymore.
In the past, Joshua wouldn’t have noticed these little details, but now he was fanboy Zhou Yun Sheng, of course he would think of it. He immediately stopped the maid and kneeled at the feet of the Father to plead his guilt.
“How could I neglect my Father so much? All offerings to the Father should be handled by my own hands, and I should take the initiative to put my body and soul on the altar and let the father enjoy it. You all leave, leave these jobs to me in the future, you need not be responsible.” He waved off the two maids and gathered the offerings on the altar into the basket.
Because 007 had to use up his physical points in favor of his light attribute, his strength was not big, so when he reached the threshold and moved the heavy basket to one arm, he lost his balance and toppled to the side.
His forehead landed on a hard post, but he was not hurt.
The Light God had woken up because of the boy’s ‘I should take the initiative to put my body and soul on the altar and let the father enjoy it’ phrase, and caught this dangerous scene when he summoned the mirror. His eye color slightly darkened and he immediately let out his golden light to wrap around the delicate boy’s smooth forehead.
A loud bang frightened the maids at the door, they looked up and stared blankly at the dust sprinkling down from the door frame, then hurriedly rushed to see the priest’s situation. Judging by the sound, the priest must be very hurt.
Zhou Yun Sheng staggered and stood up, his expression was very strange. His forehead was not pained at all, on the contrary, there was a warm and soft feeling, as if someone had covered it with their palm, so he avoided injury.
Once again, he sent back the maid who intended to help him carry the offerings, touched the post and confirmed that it was as hard as ever, then left in thoughtfulness.
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T/N:
Fucking shit –臥槽 – wo cao, Most of the curses in this story use these characters. They mean nothing when translated literally but they’re internet slang for FML or WTF. I usually get creative with the curses when I see it.