A God's Funeral (Part 2)

"Ring, ring, ring..." Morning sunlight poured through the basement skylight onto the nightstand, and the alarm clock, caressed by the light, immediately went off. Neo rolled over in bed and reached out to touch the clock. The old, rust-spotted alarm clock began to melt beneath his touch. Turning into liquid, it reshaped itself into the cute, chubby form of a calico cat. The jarring ring transformed into a crisp melody as the musical cat began pirouetting in circles. Neo opened his eyes and glanced at the miracle he had unintentionally wrought. Far from feeling any sense of achievement, he felt only a pang of irony. While Karen was busy on the front lines defending against the return of the gods, here he was, turning into an artisan craft enthusiast. The problem was that Neo didn't believe he had any such passion deep down. Well, even if he did, he would never admit it. Thus, he could only bluntly blame it on the "flaws of Light." Devout believers of Light always had a penchant for self-immolation. This really wasn't due to doctrinal indoctrination; perhaps the God of Light Himself possessed this tendency. A love for the world's beauty taken to such an excess that one wouldn't hesitate to dissolve into that beauty... Under the blessing of so much beauty, if one simply swapped in a colder background and shifted perspectives, it turned into a profound weariness of the world. "Sigh..." Neo got out of bed, opened his bedroom door, and turned into Mrs. Mary's adjacent workshop. He turned on the hose she used to wash corpses and finished washing up. The rhythmic tap of leather shoes approached from afar, and soon Mina appeared in the doorway. "Uncle Neo, breakfast is ready. Would you like me to bring it down for you?" "No need. I'll head up myself. By the way, the music box on my nightstand is your birthday present." "Really? Thank you, Uncle Neo!" Neo left the basement and walked up to the second floor. Breakfast was laid out on the table; the others had evidently already eaten. But just as Neo sat down, a book floated down from above and landed opposite him, followed by the manifestation of Hoffen's spectral figure. Hoffen picked up the cup of coffee originally placed before Neo, took an elegant sip, and commented, "Sigh, not as good as that cat's coffee." "Nonsense. What that cat drinks is specially supplied from the pocket realm." Neo knew Karen had never been particular about his own living standards, yet was always willing to give Purr the finest treatment the household could offer. "How have you been feeling lately?" Hoffen asked with concern. Neo opened his palm and laid it flat on the dining table. The next moment, tender sprouts began to push out of the wood, and translucent silhouettes resembling cherubs fluttered all around, creating a bright and idyllic woodland scene. Once the display was finished, Neo withdrew his hand, and the dining table returned to normal. Hoffen remarked, "Not bad. You could apply to be the star magician in a circus." Neo sighed. "I still can't touch the threshold of God's Shepherd." "Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Don't compare yourself to my wonderful grandson Karen." "You can shut up now." "Heh heh. Actually, you're progressing quite fast. To give you some comforting words: the inheritance of Light was merely abandoned, while the inheritance of Order was personally chosen and arranged by the God of Order. "My grandson received Order's hunger addiction, whereas you only got a finger. "So don't be so hard on yourself." "I don't care." "Yes, I know you take things in stride. Look, the one growing fruit and the one making coffins both have godhead fragments now." Hoffen was referring to Dalivenro and Saman. "That kind of thing is meaningless." "It may be meaningless, but in the past, they wouldn't have stood a chance, nor could they have stumbled upon such a fortune. It's only because the turning of the era is upon us and the deck is being reshuffled. "At a time like this, whether you're dealt good cards or bad cards, you need to grab a few in your hand first. Otherwise, you won't even have a seat at the table." "I was in a pretty good mood this morning. It's a pity I ran into you." Just then, Madame Molly's voice came from downstairs, speaking to Mina: "Happy birthday, Miss Mina. This is a gift young master Karen specially had sent over for you. I hope you like it." "Thank Brother for me, hehe!" Hoffen took another sip of coffee, a smile touching the corners of his lips. "My grandson always provides his family with enough warmth. He handles everything with such grace and thoughtfulness." Neo rolled his eyes at him in irritation. "Would you believe that Karen didn't remember this at all, and it was prepared by that radio beside him?" Hoffen shrugged and countered, "Why be so pedantic about a wonderful life? You see, this is precisely why you live neither happily nor joyfully." "Heh heh, ha ha ha ha..." Neo reached out to grab the notebook. The notebook instantly darted away, Hoffen crying out warily, "What are you doing!" Others could hardly threaten the notebook, but this man before him was an exception. God only knew what his 'Hand of Light' might do to it. "Just giving you a little indeterminate surprise." "Hey, I actually came up with a method recently that might help you break through." "Speak." "The method is simple. I know that the largest faction of Light remnants right now belongs to my grandson." "It's mine." Hoffen beamed. "Heh heh heh, that works too." Neo rubbed his hands together. "If you don't start talking, I'll flip through the pages myself." "It really is quite simple. In the past, it was unimaginable and impossible to accomplish, but now, many openings have emerged. In the current climate, it's completely viable. "If you pull it off, you can take advantage of the momentum to stand atop the highest legal authority of Light. Once the era changes, you will naturally receive more divine favor and residual legacy... "The God of Light may have fallen, but the branch gods of the Light pantheon are neither fewer nor inferior to those of Order." Understanding dawned on Neo, and he said, "You mean for me to..." "Rebuild the Church of Light." ... Karen pushed the wheelchair into the flowing-water teahouse inside the Office Divine Hall. The High Priest sat inside, watching an hourglass resting on the tea table. The golden sand in the hourglass was exceedingly fine, flowing like liquid gold as it trickled downward. This was sand the High Priest had personally scooped from the dried-up Black Sea in the Garden of Life, mixed with the final remnants of Augurev and numerous other deities. "High Priest, the wheelchair has arrived." Specially crafted in haste by the forging department according to requirements, the wheelchair was embedded with an exquisite array and made of the most elite, refined materials. It was practically a top-tier holy artifact. The High Priest nodded and pointed to the hourglass before him. "I think I must take back what I said to you that day. I shouldn't have said a funeral is meaningless. These past few days, I have begun to imagine what kind of spectacle our funeral will be once we have all fallen." Karen smiled faintly. "High Priest, when you merely showed signs of losing yourself, you already lost control of the situation below. Once you are gone, whether a funeral is held won't be up to you to decide either." The High Priest glanced at Karen. "I like the way you speak. You are prudent, yet never constrained. That is no easy feat." "You flatter me. This was honed through my time in the grassroots." "Others couldn't hone it even if they tried. Unlike you, they lack that reverence in their bones." "High Priest..." "Have those few arrived?" "In response to your query, the three church masters of the Storm Church, the Black Rock Church, and the Crystal Church have arrived. Accommodations are currently being arranged for them to rest. The closed-door meeting is scheduled for eight o'clock tonight." "Forget it. They probably won't be able to rest well anyway. I will go meet them now, and we might as well move up the meeting with Kred and the others too." "Understood." The High Priest stood up, walked over to the wheelchair, and sat down. Karen turned the wheelchair and pushed it out of the teahouse barrier. "Do you know why I am sitting in a wheelchair?" "You are worried that if you remain standing, Cardinal Kred won't dare to sit." "Heh heh heh..." The High Priest chuckled. "Comfortable." At present, the High Priest was in a peculiar state. Like Augurev before him, his true self had not officially returned, yet he could summon his true self's power within this world to assist his former companions in eliminating the primary target of the seal. In theory, the High Priest would only grow weaker until he was completely consumed. Yet no matter how weak he became, it was far from requiring a wheelchair. His doing so was entirely for the sake of the upcoming power transition. Karen felt that Kred, Foden, and the rest were truly pitiful. Serving under a leader like this was nothing short of a lifetime of torment. They were like lumps of dough, repeatedly kneaded into various shapes by the High Priest. And whenever the High Priest's hands grew tired, they had to proactively knead themselves to keep him pleased. Along the way, Karen asked, "High Priest, it is my dereliction of duty, but the source of the leak has not yet been found." The next three breaches were actually not far apart. Nominally three independent pioneering spaces, their coordinates were all located above a region known as the Panrol Ice Plain. Once the gods descended, the spatial barriers would most likely dissolve; thus, the three breaches were effectively in the same place. Moreover, because the Garden of Life had been triggered ahead of time, the second, third, and fourth breaches—which were originally supposed to appear sequentially—had also shifted chronologically. According to the latest reconnaissance report, these three breaches would not only share a location, but could also manifest within the same timeframe. The report had also noted the identities of three Order branch deities and three main gods. This should have been an absolute secret, yet the masters of the churches founded by those three main gods had traveled in person to the Order Holy See. At the same time, recent intelligence indicated that all three churches had already completed their wartime preparations. Evidently, they intended to welcome the return of their main gods in person. The High Priest countered, "Are you engaging in self-criticism, or are you probing me?" Karen stopped beating around the bush and asked, "Although every orthodox church possesses means to resonate with its own main god, and these channels have grown increasingly clear as the return of the gods draws near, I still believe a leak was involved this time. Otherwise, there is no explaining how they achieved such remarkable efficiency." "It concerns their own main gods, after all, so a bit of efficiency is only natural. In the past, we were constantly confronted by the stupidity, selfishness, and degradation of other churches, but there is no need to be astonished when they occasionally perform normally. "This is a situation we must face." When the main God of Life had returned, Order had dealt with the Church of Life beforehand, allowing them to confront the exposed breach with composure. This time, there would clearly be no such luxury. Still, Karen harbored doubts. "High Priest, have you concealed something again?" "Is this how a secretary speaks? Other people's secretaries try to guess their superior's intentions." "You know my habits. I don't like guessing, because I truly dislike creating artificial friction." "You care about the bigger picture even more than I, the High Priest, do. Heh." "High Priest, I need to draft a plan." The High Priest raised a hand, gesturing lightly. "Proceed as before." ... Inside the secret conference room, the three church masters were already seated. Karen pushed the High Priest inside, then turned and closed the conference room door. Present were Wind-Leader Lusade Siche of the Storm Church; Great Strength King Senluo Jessemi of the Black Rock Church; and Sculptor Fanselina Deer of the Crystal Church. The title of the Black Rock Church's leader, no matter which language it was translated through, carried that exact, blunt meaning. As for the representative from the Crystal Church, she indeed hailed from the Divine Deer Clan. Two tiny deer antlers could be faintly discerned amid her hair. Legend had it that the ancestor of her clan was a humanoid crystal deer personally sculpted by the Crystal God. All three backed orthodox churches, though by foundation and heritage, the Storm Church was distinctly a tier above the other two. Thus, when the High Priest entered, Wind-Leader Lusade was the first to stand. Senluo and Fanselina immediately stood up as well, positioning themselves behind Lusade. Although Order's High Priest was seated, his presence did not diminish in the slightest; on the contrary, it completely suppressed them. This stemmed not only from the confidence of the foremost church, but also from the palpable pressure brought about by the fact that the High Priest's secret identity had become an open secret. They were, after all, facing a deity. On the desert battlefield, the Church Alliance had once been formed to wrestle with the Church of Order. In truth, however, that alliance had lacked genuine coordination and unity. If directed against an ordinary orthodox church or used to devour and carve up medium and large churches, the alliance would have been invincible; but against an Order willing to flip the table, it was nothing more than a paper tiger. Karen knew full well that this was also inseparable from the divide-and-conquer strategy Order had always practiced: you unite as you please, and I'll strike as I please. "The Panrol Ice Plain is a traditional missionary domain of Order. Our three churches intend to lease it for one year. The rent is negotiable." Clearly, they had confirmed the location and approximate time, and the three churches intended to advance and retreat together. A mini-alliance of this sort would be tightly knit, for it involved their own main gods, giving them a visible, shared objective. If Order refused to yield, then they... would have no choice but to go to war, or at the very least fight for control over the Panrol Ice Plain. To threaten Order with the veiled implication of war required immense courage. In the past, it had always been Order using "war" to intimidate others. After the statement was made, the conference room fell utterly silent, leaving only the distinct woody scent of the chairs lingering in the air. Yet what happened next caused the three church masters' eyes to widen in disbelief. The High Priest spread his hands and nodded casually. "Deal." ... The meeting concluded, and Karen pushed the High Priest back toward the Office Divine Hall. The High Priest asked, "Why have you gone quiet again?" "I trust that you have made arrangements long ago." "Oh, really? I thought you were going to hold a blade to my neck again to interrogate me." "Last time, I trusted you as well." "Yes, I know." Entering the Office Divine Hall, Karen saw that the senior figures, led by Kred, had already gathered. There were thirty in total, every one of them the head of a major department. Eight were new faces—not unfamiliar, but individuals who had originally been second or third in command. In the past, at any rate, they would not have qualified to attend a small meeting of this level. The reason for their presence was that their eight original superiors had failed to actively respond to the coup orchestrated by Kred, Foden, and the others. Yes, they had been dismissed by the High Priest for being "too loyal to the High Priest." Consequently, every single person standing here now was a rebel. The senior figures parted to make a path, and Karen pushed the High Priest through. Those whose eyes betrayed suppressed excitement were the newly promoted newcomers. Regardless of which system they oversaw, they were rookies in terms of seniority; even Karen was considered an old hand compared to them. Those whose expressions appeared slightly uneasy and conflicted were the mid-level figures, bearing guilt, apprehension, and discomfort. Meanwhile, the three Cardinals, the Whip-Wielder, the containment space administrator, and other top leaders looked completely natural, even wearing smiles as if nothing had ever happened and everyone was on the same terms as before. They truly lived up to their stature as the grand figures standing in the front two rows. Once the High Priest was wheeled to the front, the crowd below bowed in unison: "Greetings, High Priest!" "Greetings, High Priest!" The High Priest glanced to the side. Karen understood, walked over, brought the office chair, and placed it below the High Priest's position. "Kred, sit." Everything had already been communicated in advance. Today was merely the formal confirmation here; in a few days at the Roundtable Conference, he would officially become the Acting High Priest. "Yes, High Priest." Kred did not decline, nor did he even express gratitude. Everyone present understood that as long as Norton had not dissipated, his position as Acting High Priest was merely that of a puppet. Kred sat down, then stood up and returned to his place. This high-level yet exceedingly perfunctory transition of power was thus concluded—much like a priest's prayer at a funeral, where no one knew if the deceased in the coffin could even hear. The High Priest spoke: "I won't waste words on nonsense. In short, remember one thing: I am the one who brought you to these positions, but not so you could enjoy yourselves here. I brought you here to die with me. "Heh. "Everyone, "I will die first. "After I die, I will be in the heavens, I will be in the murals, I will be in the repeated prayers of the faithful, watching you, urging you... to follow along quickly, one by one." Below, everyone turned solemn. The High Priest signaled for Karen to push the wheelchair. Karen took the handles and began wheeling him toward the teahouse. Seeing this, the others bowed in farewell, then turned to leave the hall. The High Priest raised a hand, and Karen stopped. Karen noticed the High Priest turning his head, his gaze fixed in contemplation. Following the High Priest's line of sight, Karen looked over and saw only the retreating backs of the esteemed figures. At that moment, the High Priest suddenly called out: "Hey." That single "hey" caused every retreating figure to freeze in their tracks. They turned in unison, once again facing the High Priest in respectful attention. The High Priest chuckled. "Heh, it's not just me. The great God of Order is watching you too."