Listening to Eirin's words, Miketsu's lips couldn't help but twitch as she spoke.
"So, you were willing to be used by them even though you knew it?"
"Of course. As an orthodox god, you should understand how much divine virtue can influence a deity. As the God of Wisdom, I naturally couldn't resist the urge to investigate something so novel," Eirin responded with a helpless shrug. Miketsu nodded understandingly and continued.
"Then... did you find what you were looking for in the Lunar Capital?"
"I discovered many wondrous things, of course. First and foremost... were the original inhabitants of the lunar surface, the moon rabbits..."
"moon rabbits..."
...
After Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto moved his people to the lunar surface on a massive scale, the immigrants from the earth began to build their new home upon the original Lunar Ruins. During the construction process, they encountered a strange race hidden beneath the ruins: the moon rabbits.
The Moon Rabbit Clan were the original inhabitants who lived beneath the Lunar Ruins. Their civilization was primitive compared to the immigrants and highly xenophobic. Since they were not usually active on the surface, the immigrants did not encounter them at first. However, as the immigrants explored deeper into the ruins, they eventually made contact.
The xenophobic moon rabbits issued warnings in their primitive way to the immigrants invading their land. However, the immigrants, unwilling to give up their new home, ignored them immediately. Consequently, war broke out on the lunar surface. Although the moon rabbits used primitive stone weapons, they possessed strange abilities far beyond those of mortals. Initially, the immigrants were no match for them. Just as the immigrants were suffering heavy casualties and were about to be driven out of the Lunar Secret Realm, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto intervened.
The moon rabbits could not withstand the power of a god. After paying a heavy price, they surrendered. Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto left the moon rabbits to be dealt with by his beloved subjects. The immigrants unceremoniously treated the moon rabbits as slaves. From then on, the Moon Rabbit Clan was enslaved by the immigrants, a state that continues to this day.
...
"So moon rabbits are the slaves of the lunarians? But those rabbits yesterday seemed to respect that woman named Watatsuki no Yorihime quite a bit," Miketsu said with some surprise. Eirin replied calmly.
"Yorihime is Yorihime... she is different from the other lunarians. That girl has loved moon rabbits since she was a child. Don't compare the situation of the small group of moon rabbits under her command to the rest of the Lunar Capital." Having said that, Eirin took a sip of tea and continued her story.
...
With the moon rabbits enslaved, the pace of the immigrants' home-building accelerated significantly. After Eirin, as Omoikane-no-Mikoto, achieved major results in her research on terraforming the lunar environment, the environment of the Lunar Secret Realm underwent a drastic change. It became like eternal spring, with abundant food and no threat of disease or natural disasters. The only concern, meteorite impacts, would be blocked by Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. With the moon rabbits doing the hard labor, the immigrants truly found the carefree paradise they had always desired. Little did they know that the wonders of the land beneath their feet were only just beginning.
Within the Lunar Ruins, there was an inexplicable, mysterious power. Under the influence of this power, the immigrants began to undergo strange changes. They gradually stopped getting sick, and their lifespans continued to extend. After a long period, the immigrants were astonished to find that they had escaped the limitations of mortality, becoming immortal just like the legendary sages! In this Lunar Secret Realm, they had truly escaped the cycle of suffering of birth, aging, sickness, and death.
The immigrants were overjoyed. Initially, they thought this was a gift from the gods, but Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto stated that this was not his power, but the influence of the Lunar Secret Realm itself. To explain their own anomalies, a theory began to emerge among the immigrants regarding the environment of the lunar surface.
The immigrants proposed two opposing concepts: impurity and purity. They believed that people on earth suffered because the world below was filled with impurity, which brought about the inescapable cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death. The world on the lunar surface, however, was devoid of impurity. Thus, they could escape these things and obtain eternal life like the gods.
Once the theory of impurity and purity emerged, the immigrants were immediately filled with an immense sense of superiority over their former kin on earth. They despised their brethren who suffered the trials of the mortal world. To clearly distinguish their noble selves from the filthy people of the earth, they began to call themselves "lunarians."
...
"impurity and purity? Does such a thing really exist?" Miketsu asked, her brow furrowing. Eirin answered bluntly.
"No. Birth, aging, sickness, and death are caused by the rules of this world, not some nebulous 'impurity.' This terminology was merely fabricated by the lunarians to show they were superior. Although it has no basis, they believe it universally. Of course, what caused their immortality was purely that strange power from beneath the Lunar Ruins. And the effect of this power... went far beyond simply granting those mortals eternal life." As she spoke, Eirin's expression turned solemn.
...
Just as the lunarians were celebrating their complete escape from impurity, the strange power from beneath the ruins was quietly taking its toll in places they didn't know.
Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, living in the Lunar Secret Realm with the lunarians, had sensed that power from underground very early on. Under its influence, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was shocked to find that his divine power was gradually fading. While the lunarians gained increasingly long lives, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto's power grew weaker year by year.
Sensing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto decided to personally investigate the mysteries in the depths of the ruins to see what the essence of this power truly was. However, that expedition led to a disastrous result.
No one knows what Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto experienced beneath the ruins. When he emerged, dragging his weakened body, none of the lunarians could believe their god could be in such a wretched state.
This exploration had caused immense damage to Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto. His godhead had been so eroded by the power beneath the ruins that it was nearly shattered. This caused his power to plummet to rock bottom. Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto became incredibly weak, but even in this state, he issued a warning to all the lunarians.
Leave the Moon! Return to the surface! This is not a place where we should stay! If we continue to remain in this Lunar Secret Realm, it will eventually bring about a catastrophic disaster! All lunarians will be doomed!
Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto's warning stunned the lunarians. They couldn't understand why their god would abandon the carefree paradise they had worked so hard to build, only to return to a filthy place like the earth to suffer. They wondered if Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto had gone mad and prayed for him to withdraw his divine decree. However, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto remained absolutely resolute, leaving the lunarians with no choice.
Finally, unwilling to abandon the paradise they already possessed, the lunarians betrayed the deity who had guided and protected them all along. Taking advantage of Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto's extreme weakness, the lunarians staged a rebellion. They seized a portion of his shattered godhead and directly exiled the weakened Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto to the earth.
From then on, Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto was no longer the god of the lunarians. To sever their connection with him, the lunarians renamed the Plain of Night to the Lunar Capital. Thus, the Lunar Capital was truly born into the world.
...
"What... Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, one of the Three Noble Children, was actually weakened to the point of being exiled by his own followers? That power beneath the Lunar Ruins... what exactly is it?" With a look of shock, Miketsu stared at Eirin. Eirin let out a heavy sigh and looked back at Miketsu with a serious expression.
"What that power truly is? Even now, I don't fully understand it. I can only piece things together through certain clues."
"Clues?"
"For instance... the moon rabbits conquered by the lunarians. When they first made contact, though they seemed primitive, they had their own religion and a deity worshiped by the entire race. Although this deity seemed non-existent—showing no reaction during the war and performing not a single miracle after the rabbits were enslaved—even so, none of the moon rabbits abandoned their faith in that deity. Even when forced by the violence of the lunarians, their faith never wavered."
At this point, Eirin glanced at the eyes fixed intently upon her. She took another breath and continued.
"In the language of the moon rabbits, this deity is called...
"Chang'e..."
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