The Servant and the Primordial God

"The God of Light is the servant of the sun? Which sun...?" Hearing this piece of information, Zhang Yuanqing felt a jolt of shock. Given the Goddess of Beauty's divine status and standing, the "sun" she spoke of was, quite possibly, probably, maybe the Lord of the Sun! And factoring in that the contemporary Succubus had demanded the Lord of the Sun marry her as a return on her investment, the words "quite possibly, probably, maybe" in the previous line could be struck out entirely. The God of Light was the servant of the Lord of the Sun... Believers of the God of Light could wield the divine power of the sun... The Compass of Light was an important medium for communicating with the sun, and the compass fragments could even unlock the Sun dungeon... The God of Light belonged to the Third District, yet had been active in the First District during ancient times... The Compass of Light was the only high-status item from the Third District in the modern world; aside from it, no other high-status items or classes from that district had ever been found... At this moment, numerous fragmented pieces of information and clues surfaced automatically in his mind, piecing themselves together into a coherent picture. A spark of inspiration flashed through his thoughts, bringing the sudden enlightenment of *so that's how it is*. While his thoughts churned, Zhang Yuanqing "heard" Cupid asking the Goddess of Beauty: "A servant of the sun? Mother, you don't mean the sun hanging in the sky, do you?" Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty, remained silent and did not answer him. Cupid spoke again. "Don't worry, Mother. I can use the golden arrow to make the God of Light fall in love with you." Aphrodite sighed and smiled. "The God of Light can ignore even my charms, let alone your little arrows. However, just because the Arrow of Desire is useless doesn't mean the Arrow of Rejection cannot be used." This memory fragment ended there. Another valuable fragment showed: in an ancient castle late at night, Cupid, the little God of Love, hid outside a window, drew his small bow, and loosed a lead-gray arrow at a beautiful woman inside the room. Zhang Yuanqing opened his eyes, fished the Yata no Kagami from his robes, and dispelled his avatar. He sighed. Now the feud between the Goddess of Beauty and the God of Light was entirely clear. No wonder the God of Light hated her to the bone; Cupid's actions had been incited and hinted at by her. The Goddess of Beauty's death was well-deserved. Zhang Yuanqing turned his gaze back to the murals, examining them closely. This time, he came away with a different realization. The giant golden-shelled clam had to be a demigod-grade item of the Desire class, one of the administrator authorities. If the Goddess of Beauty wished to step into a higher realm and become an eleventh-level or even twelfth-level demigod, she needed to accommodate the Primordial God and become the Mother Goddess. The words "Mother Goddess" already indicated the authority represented by the golden clam—gestation! In the second half of the murals, the scenes depicting countless living beings copulating around the giant golden-shelled clam were likely not metaphors used by the Goddess of Beauty, but something that had truly happened. Countless eons ago, countless beings had truly engaged in frenzied mating and procreation around the Primordial God. At this thought, Zhang Yuanqing could not help but recall the messy, chaotic ethics in Greek mythology. Greek mythology, like the myths of the Second District, was an alternate history within the Spirit Realm. Many stories and figures might have been fictional, but the social customs, mores, and order of that era were very likely real. In Greek mythology, the moral relations among the gods were extraordinarily chaotic. The King of the Gods was a stallion surpassing even the Demon Lord—sleeping with goddesses, mortal women, and not even sparing animals. Meanwhile, over a third of the Goddess of Beauty's murals depicted copulation between men and women. The two corresponded cleanly; it was most likely the prevailing societal climate of that era. Influenced by the golden clam—the Primordial God—a civilization-wide norm had formed: procreation (promiscuity). Analyzing further along this line of thought, the standing of the golden clam (the Primordial God) was worth pondering. It could influence all the gods, including the King of the Gods, and shape the cultural fabric of an entire mythological civilization. It could not be a mere demigod item. Zhang Yuanqing looked back at the first mural, which depicted the giant golden clam spitting out the gods. If what the golden clam had spat out were not gods or living beings, but the administrator authorities of each class, then the entire logical loop closed perfectly. Precisely because they were born from the golden clam, their nature was influenced by the "God of Gestation," leaving the deities constantly flooded with the instinct to procreate. *What a massive amount of information...* Zhang Yuanqing marveled inwardly. He felt relieved and satisfied, for he had solved the real reason behind Succubus's investment in him. Although Aunt Diana had mentioned this matter, Props Heavenly Venerable's suspicious nature rivaled that of Cao Cao. Only information he verified himself truly put his mind at ease. Furthermore, the relationship between the God of Light and the Lord of the Sun also cleared up his prior doubts regarding the Compass of Light. Taking a deep breath to settle the newfound intelligence in the depths of his mind, Zhang Yuanqing finally spoke. "Without further ado, let's sacrifice Cupid." Eriga snorted coldly. "We should have done this long ago. Wasting time will only bring ruin. If the High Priest attacks right now, how do you plan to handle it?!" Zhang Yuanqing smiled. "What's the rush? Since he didn't come in the afternoon, he won't come at night. As expected, we won't see that High Priest until the sun rises tomorrow. "Believers of the God of Light naturally fight at their strongest when bathed in sunlight." Fighting in the dark would very likely weaken him; otherwise, a night raid would have been the safest move, giving Paphos Island no chance to conduct the sacrifice. Of course, it could also be a plot mechanic. The dungeon might not permit the High Priest to attack at night. After all, in a 7S-rank dungeon, if a peak Dominator were also allowed to fight dirty without any rules, Spirit Realm walkers wouldn't stand a chance. As they spoke, Saiketia took Cupid's corpse. With a fingernail, she pricked her fair, slender finger, squeezed out a droplet of scarlet blood, and smeared it across the golden clam shell. The blood was absorbed instantly. Immediately afterward, the shell parted slowly, revealing an unfathomable chaos within, impenetrable to the naked eye. In an instant, the damp, dim basement was infused with vibrant vitality. Zhang Yuanqing felt like a mortal who had been injected with adrenaline or inhaled several lungfuls of pure oxygen: his cells buzzed with vigor, his blood surged, and his state was unimaginably robust. At the same time, hormones flooded his system, stoking an uncontrollable urge to mate with the opposite sex and reproduce. The others experienced similar sensations. The three goddesses looked at Amini with gazes growing ever more ravenous and impatient. "After offering a sacrifice to the Primordial God, one must pray sincerely, and it will nurture a powerful warrior," Saiketia explained. Forcing down her lust, she cast Cupid into the abyssal chaos. His tiny body sank into it instantly and vanished. The golden shell slowly closed shut. With her bloodstained finger, Saiketia drew profound, bizarre runes across the shell, then pressed her palm against it and chanted an incantation. As the cryptic syllables sounded, a faint golden light radiated from the shell, where immense vitality and power began brewing inside. Saiketia let out a breath of relief and looked back. "The Primordial God is very pleased with Cupid's bloodline and has granted my request." *It feels like an incubator for super soldiers. In the game of the Spirit Realm, which authority does it correspond to? Creating life is the domain of the Musician class, so it shouldn't belong to the Primordial God...* *From the looks of it, a Dominator can only birth a Dominator-level warrior. If the Goddess of Beauty wanted to deal with the God of Light, she'd probably have had to sacrifice herself.* Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the clam shell slowly gestating life. "Roughly how long will it take?" Saiketia pondered a moment. "At the earliest, tomorrow morning. At the latest, when the sun is overhead at noon." Zhang Yuanqing thought, *Are you kidding me? If this super soldier isn't bred by tomorrow morning, I'll have to lead everyone on Paphos Island to drop to their knees and surrender. Resisting for even one more minute would be disrespectful to a peak Dominator.* He sighed. "There's nothing else for it, then! Primordial God bless us, let a new life be hatched before dawn." The group exited the basement. In secret, Zhang Yuanqing left the Southern Sect's Ninth Elder to stand guard, preventing anyone from entering the subterranean level and disrupting the incubation of the super soldier. After returning aboveground, he awakened the unconscious "demigods" and treated the wounds on their souls along the way. The "demigods" woke one by one, terror and unease still lingering in their eyes. The scene prior to losing consciousness remained etched in their minds. Cupid was dead. Dead at Amini's hands. Menia stepped before them and said in a commanding tone, "The collapse in the basement has been repaired. Your labor is no longer required. Return and rest." The demigods exchanged glances, unable to believe that the four Spawns of the God were so calm and had not turned against Amini. This only heightened their dread, sparking suspicions that the divine scions had conspired to murder Cupid. However, as low-status bastards without any say, they dared not question or accuse the legitimate sons and daughters. Trembling with apprehension, they dispersed. Flapping his wings, Eriga took flight toward the towering bell tower, perching atop its roof like a statue to survey the surroundings. A ripple of moisture surfaced in Saiketia's eyes. Lightly biting her red lips, she purred coquettishly: "Oh, dearest Amini, the night is long, and my chamber is so empty and cold. I need your broad chest and warm embrace." Cynthia snapped angrily, "He is my lover! He should come to my room." Menia said nothing, instead asserting herself by taking Amini firmly by the hand. Seeing the three sisters at each other's throats as tensions mounted, Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "Oh, my dears, you know nothing of my capabilities. Tonight, you are keeping me company—not the other way around." The lustful effect of the golden arrow combined with the Primordial God's lingering influence had thoroughly ignited his desire. Entwined together, the four of them entered Saiketia's spire tower. Minutes later, dim yellow candlelight flickered through the small square window. In the glow of the candle, three rounded, peach-shaped bottoms were raised, lined up neatly before Zhang Yuanqing. ... The following day, dawn broke. Zhang Yuanqing awoke entangled amid fair, jade-like legs and lotus-root arms. Walking to the window to gaze out, he saw the pale glow of twilight appearing in the east; the sun was about to rise. The sky was a dark azure, and the sea breeze was crisp. Atop the distant, towering bell tower, Eriga stood motionless like a statue. The castle was quiet, the slaves not yet awake. Zhang Yuanqing took several deep breaths of the fresh air. Perhaps having expended too much of his vital essence the previous night, he was still in sage mode. His mind was exceptionally clear, unaffected by beauty or lust. Glancing back at the three goddesses sprawled in nude disarray, Zhang Yuanqing wore a calm expression. Having traversed multiple Desire-class dungeons, he had long evolved into a seasoned veteran. He had witnessed countless grand spectacles and even participated in practical drills himself. Minor skirmishes like this were routine and commonplace. *I don't seem to fancy them as much anymore... Well, emotionally I still love them deeply, but reason can now override lust. Unlike last night, when my mind held nothing but tumbling in the sheets, plunging in and out, and driving in deep.* *This shows that the effect of Cupid's Arrow of Desire isn't permanent. As time passes, or as the bouts of pleasure accumulate, it gradually fades... There is no romance in this world that stays forever fresh. That's so damn reasonable.* Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief. He drew a clear line between dungeons and reality. This development spared him a great deal of trouble. Just then, Eriga atop the bell tower suddenly let out a piercing screech. On the bed, Menia, Saiketia, and Cynthia snapped their eyes open simultaneously. At the same time, Zhang Yuanqing sensed a formidable, irresistible aura rapidly approaching. The High Priest was here!