The Heavenly Sword Sect welcomed a new life through the arrival of death.
Simultaneously, villages across the Northern Region began to radiate with newfound vitality.
Using the Myriad Herbs Life-Death Realm as a medium and her own life force as a catalyst, Su Xue spread the miracle of reversing life and death throughout the Northern Region.
Under the shroud of emerald light, the death qi within all the living dead of the Northern Region was slowly extracted, and their long-stagnant blood began to flow once more.
Life was reviving, bit by bit.
This was a true miracle.
And behind this miracle, the influence of a certain gold-medal salesman was naturally indispensable.
The old monk Ku Chan, draped in a golden-thread cassock and holding a blood-vein wood wooden fish, stood atop a large rock at the entrance of Jiuquan Village. Saliva flew as he spoke with animated gestures and a face full of excitement.
"Benefactors, you simply didn't see it!"
"The heavens were collapsing at that moment! That old... ahem, that Great Monk Ksitigarbha of Great Vows intended to destroy the world!"
"At that critical juncture, our Harvest Goddess stepped upon seven-colored auspicious clouds and held the divine light of salvation, propping up a world of orchids for us all..."
The villagers, who had just regained their vitality, listened with rapt attention, their eyes gleaming with fanatical fervor.
"Master, what does the Goddess actually look like?" someone couldn't help but ask.
Master Ku Chan gave a profound, mysterious smile. "The Goddess has a thousand faces. Haven't you all seen her with your own eyes?"
However, this single sentence caused the debate below to erupt completely.
The people of Jiuquan Village spoke with absolute certainty: "I saw it with my own eyes. The Goddess has long ears and a gentle, kind appearance."
"Our entire village was saved by the Goddess."
Villagers from a neighboring village who had fled there for refuge weren't having it.
"Nonsense! It was clearly a cold and elegant Goddess with heterochromatic eyes."
"I caught a glimpse while I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Those eyes—one gold and one black—made me shiver just looking at them."
"With a single breath, the Goddess dispersed the wind and snow that had plagued our village for centuries. That was the real Goddess—lofty, cold, and domineering!"
The villager stiffened his neck, spraying saliva all over the person opposite him.
"Bullshit! You were probably hallucinating from the poison!"
The people of Jiuquan Village were incensed. Having the Goddess they believed in belittled was a matter of principle.
"The gentle, long-eared Goddess is the orthodox one! Our entire village saw her with our own eyes!"
Just as the two groups were arguing uncontrollably, several men wrapped in thick fur coats—recently rescued from the depths of the ice plains—couldn't help but interject.
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. You're both wrong."
A large, bearded man spoke with absolute conviction.
"We were personally rescued from a wolf's den by the Goddess. I saw exactly what the Goddess looks like."
Everyone turned to look at him in unison. "What does she look like?"
The man cleared his throat, his eyes reflecting a trace of complex gratitude.
"The Goddess... looks quite unique."
"Though she has a pair of giant wings, her skin is bumpy and rough with fuzz, and her head is bald. When she smiles, it looks like she’s about to eat someone."
"She might be a bit ugly, but she has a kind heart! In my mind, that is the most beautiful Goddess!"
A deathly silence fell over the scene as everyone stared with strange expressions.
After a long while, someone asked weakly, "Big brother, are you sure that was a Goddess and not a demon?"
"It was the Goddess!" the man barked, growing anxious.
"She was shouting 'I am an Auspicious One' while killing the wolves."
"What kind of demon calls themselves an Auspicious One?"
"Besides, she saved our entire village. If she's not the Goddess, then what is she?"
"Absolute hogwash!"
At this moment, an old man stood up from the crowd, leaning on a cane. Though he was trembling, his voice was full of vigor.
"You commoners are blinded by your mortal bodies!"
"This old man saw it with his own eyes. The Goddess of Salvation was clearly an old gentleman dressed in black, wearing a mask, with blood-red eyes!"
"An old gentleman?" The crowd exploded. "How can an old gentleman be a Goddess? The genders don't even match!"
"Why can't he be?" The old man thumped his cane loudly.
"Master Ku Chan said it himself: the Goddess has a thousand faces!"
"Who ruled that a Goddess must be a woman?"
"Back then, I was nearly frozen to death, unsure if I’d ever live again. It was that black-clad gentleman who, with a casual wave of his hand, made the heavens and earth shatter. He was so handsome..."
"Though he has the body of a man, that heart dedicated to saving those in suffering is the heart of a Goddess!"
The scene spiraled into complete chaos.
"Long-eared Goddess!"
"Heterochromatic Goddess!"
"Bald bird-man Goddess!"
"Black-clad gentleman Goddess!"
The representatives of each village argued their points until their faces were flushed and their necks were strained.
Just then, a child holding a broken bowl in the corner timidly raised a hand. His voice was small, yet it struck everyone’s heads like a bolt of lightning.
"Um... I was rescued too."
"The Goddess who saved us... was a dog."
The noisy crowd fell silent again. Countless eyes stared straight at the child.
The child shrank his neck but still plucked up the courage to speak.
"It’s true."
"It was a little black dog that could breathe fire."
"After it arrived, the heavy snow in our village melted, and everyone stopped being cold."
"It even spat out the meat from its own mouth to give to us to eat... Even though it’s a dog, it treated us better than it treated itself."
"It must be a Goddess too, right?"
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
If the bald bird-man and the black-clad gentleman could still be considered within the realm of humanoid forms, the Goddess suddenly crossing species to become a dog was truly pushing the limits of everyone’s cognition.
"This... a Dog Goddess?" Someone's lip twitched. "Why does that sound a bit like an insult..."
Ku Chan was also confused. They had clearly argued about this once before, and he had already managed to fool them then.
How were they starting the debate again, and why was it getting more and more ridiculous?
He struck the wooden fish in his hand, radiating his own Buddhist light to calm the volatile hearts of the people.
"Namo Amitābha."
Ku Chan pressed his palms together, his appearance solemn and dignified as he exuded the aura of a high monk who pities the world.
"Benefactors, why be attached to forms?"
Ku Chan’s gaze swept across the crowd as he spoke slowly and rhythmically. "You argue over the appearance of the Goddess, yet you have forgotten the intent of the Goddess."
"Why does the Goddess have a thousand faces?"
"Because sentient beings have a thousand sufferings."
"When you were shivering in the cold night, longing for warmth, the Goddess transformed into a fire-breathing divine beast to drive away the bitter chill for you."
"When you were bullied in a desperate situation, longing for power, the Goddess transformed into the thunder of a wrathful Vajra to slay demons and monsters for you."
"When you were afflicted with a vile disease, longing for vitality, the Goddess transformed into a gentle, long-eared medical immortal to soothe your pain."
Ku Chan’s voice grew increasingly passionate and inflammatory.
"The Goddess herself has no fixed form; it is because she loves all sentient beings that she becomes whatever the hearts of sentient beings hope for her to be."
"She is the long-eared maiden, she is the bald Auspicious One, she is the black-clad venerable, and she can even be that fire-breathing little dog!"
"As long as she saves those in suffering, what does it matter if she is human or beast, man or woman?!"
"The Goddess's aspect is the Aspect of All Beings!"
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