Cheng Shi didn't say more. He genuinely needed soone to help probe Fate's intentions. Even if Fate was inscrutable, he still had to gather perspectives from other faiths.
So he approved Da Yi's request and cautioned:
"Be careful with Fate."
"Fate is about Fixed Destiny, not Change."
"For Him to stir up this much Change now, He's probably about to go all-out for Fixed Destiny."
"You two just need to monitor the movents of Fate's followers. Don't get too close to Him, and absolutely don't try to provoke Him. Right now... He's very short-tempered."
"That's all for today. I have other matters to attend to. I hope you find what you need within Void. When the mission is complete, I'll petition our Benefactor to let you both walk the Chaos Steps again."
"Dismissed."
"!"
The words "walk the Chaos Steps again" sent a jolt of excitent through both Chaos followers, because that ant an audience with their god. No matter how many divine audiences one had elsewhere, nothing compared to the gaze of one's own Benefactor.
Watching Hu Wei bow with renewed vigor and stride away, Cheng Shi's expression was indescribably odd.
'The big dreams my good brother once fed
have finally been rebaked and stuffed right back into his mouth.'
So things were just that poetic—cyclical, as fate would have it.
After sending off Hu Wei and Da Yi, Kataro reappeared at Cheng Shi's side. He stood at respectful attention, silent, waiting for his lord's inquiry. Sure enough, it didn't take long:
"Has Dragon— has Li Jingming gotten out?"
"Did you see him?"
Kataro shook his head with a smile:
"My lord, I didn't et the mory follower. Our Benefactor didn't summon him, either. He awoke in the void on his own, still believing it was you who risked your life to rescue him."
"He waited in the void for quite so ti. When he couldn't find any trace of you in the mirror, he returned to reality."
'mory follower?'
Hearing that label, Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow. 'Kataro was rather "exclusive" with his categorization—he'd already bumped Dragon King out of the Deceit camp.'
Then again, fair enough. Though Dragon King was a follower of the Fun God, he didn't know that the Fun God was actually Chaos. And the mory scent on him was so strong that revealing these secrets would be unwise.
If mory learned about Chaos's identity through one of His followers, it could cause unpredictable damage to the Fun God's grand design.
Better to play it safe.
Cheng Shi nodded, then turned to Kataro again: "Did He leave any instructions?"
Kataro's expression imdiately turned peculiar. After deliberating for a mont, he relayed the words Deceit had left before departing.
But first, a disclair:
"My lord, every word I'm about to speak was bestowed by our Benefactor. I have not added or omitted a single thing, nor would I dare."
"He said:"
"The clown's performance isn't confined to the present. And the clown on stage may not truly be called 'clown.'"
"As for what he's called—that depends on what the audience thinks he's called..."
"?"
After hearing this, Cheng Shi's brow twisted into a knot.
The Fun God was clearly conveying sothing, but co on—He was Deceit! Why did He have to play the riddler like Fate?
Would it kill Him to just speak plainly?
Oh, right. Sorry. Forgot—He's not human.
Cheng Shi pursed his lips. Cursing was out of the question—at most he could grumble internally.
He felt certain these words were an extension of his conversation with the Fla of Hope, likely tied to Yu Xi's identity. But while he understood the "clown" part, the "audience"—who was that?
Seeing the lord's bafflent, Kataro hesitated, weighed his options for a while, then clenched his fist and whispered a cautious hint:
"My lord, forgive my presumption."
"In my humble opinion, having served our Benefactor for so long, the 'clown' He speaks of... is most likely you."
"..."
Cheng Shi shot Kataro an unamused look, his expression plainly saying:
'No kidding. You think I don't know the clown is ?'
'But if you don't make yourself clearer today, which one of us is the real clown here becos debatable.'
Sensing his lord's piercing gaze, Kataro hastily added:
"And the 'audience' in His words, I believe..."
"Those two Chaos followers would be the audience of Lord Ultraman."
"anwhile, that mory follower counts as roughly half an audience of Lord Yu Xi."
"?"
'Ultraman is , Yu Xi is also —how is what you said any differ—'
'Wait!'
'There actually is a difference!'
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted as understanding detonated in his mind. So the Fun God wasn't talking about a stage and an audience at all—He was talking about deception and faith!
Of course! Viewed from the broadest perspective of faith, Ultraman had long since been inscribed in history and possessed a far deeper foundation of faith than Yu Xi. The proof was that the Chaos container accumulated divinity far faster than the Deceit container.
But the truth was, Ultraman was Yu Xi. They were simply different roles perford by the sa person before different "audiences." So why would the sa person's faith diverge into different types?
Because under Origin's naming conventions, the world had faith categories for Chaos and Deceit—but there had never been a category called "Cheng Shi."
"Cheng Shi" would never beco a symbol of faith worshipped by mortal lives. But Yu Xi just might!
Not only might it be possible—Yu Xi could potentially devour Ultraman's faith entirely, grafting Chaos's faith onto the Envoy of Deceit!
As for how to blur and graft that faith...
The Fun God had already supplied the answer:
"As for what he's called—that depends on what the audience thinks he's called."
Was this sentence saying that when believers believed you were soone, their faith would flow to that soone?
Put simply: Chaos followers worshipped Ultraman, which was why the Chaos container's divinity accumulated faster. But if they ca to realize that the Chaos Envoy Ultraman was actually the Deceit Envoy Yu Xi...
Wouldn't the faith directed at Ultraman then redirect to Yu Xi?
It wasn't impossible!
After all, the Chaos Envoy's identity had been created by Deceit using Deceit's own thods to corrupt mory. It inherently carried Deceit's DNA.
Furthermore, the true Chaos had long since beco Order. Today's Chaos had been replaced by Deceit—which laid the very foundation for conflating the two faiths.
A performance of fooling history and deceiving the masses also aligned perfectly with the public's understanding of the Deceit path. So revealing this "truth" wouldn't strike anyone as jarring—it would feel surprisingly logical. After all, the na Ultraman was inherently playful. If a Servant God of Void who toyed with the mortal world had deliberately chosen that na to corrupt mory...
Let's just say it would be reasonable squared—reasonable to the nth degree.
And with that, the Fla of Hope's earlier words...
"So what you must do is spread your faith beyond those boundaries. Ideally, you'd recruit a new batch of believers through so grand feat visible to the entire world. Once achieved, your faith will be deeply rooted, and your divine status firmly established!"
...would be accomplished. And accomplished in the past!
Just as the Fun God had said: the clown's performance isn't confined to the present.
"!!!"
The realization made Cheng Shi's entire body tense, his scalp tingling.
Deceit had seen through everything long ago and had laid the groundwork for all of it.
Every move He made seed designed to elevate His own Envoy. He had played Chaos, scattering traces throughout history, all so that a Servant God of Void nad "Yu Xi" would have evidence to stand upon.
He had paved the road to godhood for His Envoy. And now, the man who had once declared "I don't want to beco a god" had beco the one reaping all the rewards.
'You saw this day coming all along, didn't You, my Lord?'
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