Along the Mediterranean coast, a tall and mighty centaur snorted. Beneath its robust muscles were exposed organs.
Thick hooves stepped into the sea, kicking up sprays of pearl-white foam.
Beautiful women with human torsos and fish tails frolicked in the water. Accompanied by moving songs, a thin layer of mist drifted over the sea.
“Come, come, my hero, drink with Dionysus, the intoxicating sweetness of wine, the enchanting fruit of love, everything is here.”
On a modern fishing boat, the captain's eyes were vacant. A sweet smile played on his lips as he steered the vessel into the mist without a second thought.
“Come, come, come...”
With the sound of large birds flapping their wings, creatures with human bodies and avian wings landed on the boat.
These creatures all had blonde hair and blue eyes, their features so exquisite and pure that they looked like angels from a mural.
They sang without restraint, forcing these poor, lost lambs to willingly become food for the sirens.
...
In Brazil, in a corner of a bustling amusement park, stood a dilapidated Gypsy hut.
The interior was a dazzling array of curios: dried canary feathers shimmering on the walls, the scent of sage in the air, upside-down frogs with tongues lolling out, and dried rabbit feet tied in bunches.
A crystal ball covered with silk sat on the table, and a pristine white bowl was filled with various crystals.
A Gypsy woman with brown hair, dressed in bold and revealing clothes, grabbed a screaming mandrake and tossed it into a simmering cauldron.
Beside the cauldron, a tablet on a phone stand repeatedly played a video from distant Huaxia.
The brown-haired beauty stirred the cauldron and blew a bold, charming kiss toward the green-robed female cultivator in the video.
“My dear, you are so moving. What price must I pay to get a kiss from such a lovely lady?”
She happily picked up a bare skull and announced loudly:
“Mama, we're going to Great Xia!”
...
Outside the Cheong Wa Dae in South Korea, countless men and women dressed in black robes walked barefoot through the streets, holding candles as they petitioned for their “god.”
The flickering candlelights converged, slowly forming a stunning river of light.
“We must build monuments to the gods!”
“We demand the government’s resignation and the recognition of the legal status of the gods!”
“Great Xia has a god; it is the last Pure Land of the human world, the only Garden of Eden!”
...
In a residence in Thailand, a corner of a dark, windowless room was filled with jars and bottles.
These bone jars, decorated with human bones, skulls, and flowers, were covered in obscure incantations painted in blood.
Four men sat kneeling on the floor, hands pressed together, chanting piously. Before them sat a bowl filled with fresh crow blood.
A barefoot man sat before an altar, grabbing a handful of wriggling maggots and stuffing them into his mouth while muttering. After a moment, a straw doll hanging on the altar seemed to react—
The crow blood seemed to come alive, wriggling across the floor until it spelled out a message:
【Great Xia has no god. Go kill the evil blasphemer who insulted the god and bring her to me.】
The middle-aged man at the head of the group looked grave. After staring at the floor for a long time, he bared his yellow teeth and called for his disciple in broken Great Xia speech:
“Chai... the great and omnipotent Ba Yan God has sent an oracle. It wants its most loyal servant to kill that hateful blasphemer... use her blood and flesh as an offering for our god...”
The thin man nodded, took a long look at the screenshot of the green-robed woman in the video, and prostrated himself before the strange doll on the altar.
...
...
Within Great Xia, in the Guangdong-Guangxi region, a man in a white shirt and carrying a briefcase squeezed off the subway and followed the crowd toward a residential area.
Except for the small image of the Great Freedom Joy Auspicious Holy Mother hanging around his neck, he looked no different from an ordinary white-collar worker.
He had an ordinary face, wore glasses, and carried the characteristic half-dead exhaustion of a salaryman.
With heavy steps, the man exited the elevator and unlocked his front door. His aura suddenly shifted.
The room was decorated with extreme simplicity: a bed, a coffee table, and several human spinal columns hanging on the walls.
“I'm home.”
With a smile, he casually picked up a spine, skillfully broke it, and began to suck on it—
The moment the unknown substance entered his mouth, he seemed to grow decades younger. His muscles bulged, and veins popped out on his neck as if an inner fire were burning within him.
In the next second, through a crack in the half-drawn curtains, a red dot landed with pinpoint accuracy on the center of the man's forehead.
Before he could react, there was a soft thwip.
The sound was as faint as a water balloon bursting.
“Holy Mother above, the inner fire never dies!”
“This is the age of cultivation! This is our age!!”
The man's face twisted into a snarl. Despite the charred bullet hole in the center of his forehead, he lunged forward, attempting to leap out the door and escape.
“Puff.”
“Puff.”
“Puff, puff, puff.”
More red dots appeared, and the man was turned into a sieve by silenced shots. His brain was shattered, and a mixture of yellow and white fluids spilled across the floor.
The security door was kicked open, and Yu Lan, dressed in her black uniform, rushed in with her team. Taking in the scene, she grabbed the radio at her ear and replied in a low voice:
“Suspect neutralized. Confirmed, suspect neutralized.”
She looked down at the pile of mangled flesh on the floor and couldn't help but sneer.
“Heh, your age?”
...
...
At Baishan Temple on Mount Emei, Zhuang Sinan knelt before his master and several uncles, honestly recounting his experiences in the southwest region from months ago once again.
“Master, Uncles, is there something wrong with that Mountain Lord?”
Zhuang Sinan still kept his hair long. His face was clean and fair, and he wore a smile that easily made people feel a sense of closeness.
The masters of Baishan Temple looked at one another. After a long silence, one finally spoke.
“You've heard about the Demon Suppression Division and the change in the Yellow River's course, haven't you?”
“In Great Xia today, any cultivator with even a bit of standing knows about this. That green-robed female cultivator, who has the power to divert the Yellow River and bring spring back to its banks overnight, must be a true immortal.”
Zhuang Sinan's smile faded as he spoke slowly.
“The government has clearly dealt with her more than once. As for the Demon Suppression Division... I've never heard of it. Master, Uncles, do you think this news could be true?”
“Eighty percent likely to be true, twenty percent false. Truth and lies are intertwined; it is impossible to distinguish between them for now.”
Zhuang Sinan's master, Master Liao Jing of Baishan Temple, finally spoke.
“According to information from the government, our Great Xia cultivation world suffered a calamity in the past. The immortal realm shattered and scattered into secret realms across various locations. One of the entrances to these secret realms is at the bottom of the Yellow River.”
“As for that green-robed fellow cultivator, she is likely a cultivator of old who has awakened within one of those secret realms.”
“No wonder.”
A flash of surprise crossed Zhuang Sinan's eyes.
“I once heard Grandmaster say that in the past, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was exhausted, and practitioners could no longer continue their cultivation. This led to a break in the heritage. Even our Baishan Temple's Bodhi Purity Manual only has half of its contents passed down.”
“So, Foundation Establishment and ascending to immortality are actually real?”
“Amitabha. The world has its own destiny; everything follows the will of heaven.”
The masters all pressed their hands together and chanted the name of Buddha.
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