Ascending from mortal to god was sothing extraordinarily "difficult to accept" — especially so when you inherited authority directly, bypassing the gradual developnt of an Envoy.
Big Cat had once said, when she received partial [Prosperity] proxy rights, that the perspective of scoring trials had already exceeded what a mortal's understanding could encompass — as if a dinsion-transcending force had entered her.
For Zhen Xin, who had gone from zero to the top without any scaffolding in between, this was equally true — and even more so. After all, what she had inherited was [Chaos]'s everything. And [Chaos] ant absolute disorder. Truthfully, the fact that Zhen Xin had been able to return here from before the assembled gods with her composure fully intact already filled Cheng Shi with admiration.
He couldn't help asking:
"What is [Chaos] at its most fundantal level? Why don't you seem as chaotic as I'd expect?"
Zhen Xin imdiately read Cheng Shi's puzzlent. To explain more clearly, she extended both hands and — in the manner of a true Magician — materialized two clusters of chaos-fog, one in each palm. In one hand, yellow fog churned in wild, disordered patterns. In the other, the fog was also in constant reconstruction — but its forms were recognizable, real-world shapes Cheng Shi could identify.
Zhen Xin held both up and asked with a smile:
"Which of these two do you think is [Chaos]?"
"?"
When the answer seems obvious, framing it as a question is clearly ant to lead you toward choosing the wrong option. But given a Magician's [Deceit] nature, the average person would genuinely hesitate for a mont.
But Cheng Shi was Cheng Shi. He was sharp enough that in an instant, he recalled every intuition he'd ever had about [Chaos], and said in a deliberate tone:
"Both."
Zhen Xin nodded, pleasantly unsurprised.
"At this mont, I finally have a small sense of why the gods would turn their gaze to you. Yes — they both are.
What the world calls 'chaos' is simply whatever lies beyond their understanding. But for the world itself, any evolution that departs from its essential nature is chaos. And since that essential nature can never be pinned down or established as a fixed standard — you could say chaos is everything, and everything is chaos.
[Chaos]'s authority encompasses a great many things. But because of faith...
Honestly — this is the first ti I've genuinely felt faith as sothing real. Not so vague and airy concept, not an empty summary of words — but a feeling that exists in the will as concretely as a bloodline connection.
I can feel my followers' awe and devotion toward this throne. I can feel their fanaticism and hunger for the authority it holds. They believe [Chaos] can bring them everything they desire — and that faith-force, transmitted up to the throne, becos the 'weapon' in my hands.
I can even sense a certain person's 'lack of devotion' toward .
So the gods are not fools. So people speak devotion with their mouths while endlessly asking for things and having every request granted — that's probably not because the words work. It's because the gods believe granting it also furthers their own will."
"..."
Cheng Shi blinked rapidly, entirely "unable to comprehend" what Zhen Xin was saying.
Zhen Xin gave him a sidelong glance and shook her head with a laugh.
"Faith is mysterious — and also terrifying. Though [Chaos] encompasses everything — the strongest of its authorities is still the portion of chaos the world understands.
Your answer wasn't wrong, Fate Weaver — both forms in my hands really are chaos. But..."
She raised the hand with the disordered yellow fog. "This is [Chaos]'s greatest strength. It is the anchor of faith, and the resonance of will."
Cheng Shi nodded as if sothing had clicked, gaining a little more understanding of faith.
He watched the yellow fog in the Magician's palm and continued to take in the feel of "chaos" — unaware that the Magician's eyes had dropped slightly and a brief, unusual flash crossed them.
Zhen Xin had lied.
Her sharing of faith and authority had been entirely sincere — but she had deliberately glossed over why she had been able to adapt to [Chaos]'s authority so quickly.
The real reason was simple enough. Having coexisted with her little sister for so long, [Chaos]'s first impression on Zhen Xin wasn't one of extre disorder — it was a subtle resonance. As if all the chaos had always been destined, and it had simply begun the mont Zhen Yi was born.
And in fact, in the mont when she was deciding whether to accept the [Chaos] throne — she had consulted Zhen Yi. No matter how much of a curse others saw her as, Zhen Yi was still her little sister.
But at that mont, Zhen Yi had not answered Zhen Xin's question. She only laughed — kept laughing — laughed until Zhen Xin could no longer find a way to step back, no longer able to refuse the authority's embrace.
The two of them fell into a silence, each with their own thoughts, until Cheng Shi pulled himself free from his musings on faith and looked up at Kataro with a grave expression.
"Where did it go?"
Kataro's heart clenched. If even Lord Cheng Shi didn't know, what exactly was his patron planning?
He shook his head vigorously, then said with a trace of apprehension: "My lord, the patron — it..."
Cheng Shi was not surprised by Kataro's ignorance. If the Fun God was hiding from everyone, it obviously wouldn't rely on Kataro to pass ssages. But Cheng Shi had a persistent sense that if the Fun God had dared to use the [Chaos] throne and authority to cooperate with his plan, there had to be deeper aning in that choice.
Was that deeper aning tied to Zhen Xin — or to this temple?
Cheng Shi looked around, then asked Kataro again.
"When did it last co here?"
Kataro's expression beca serious. He recalled imdiately. "My lord — it was when you left the universe to visit the Real Universe."
Just as he'd suspected.
Everything traced back to the mont he had left this starry sky.
Cheng Shi's brow furrowed. "What did it say when it ca? Did it leave any guidance or make any arrangents?"
Kataro shook his head again.
"The patron left no arrangents and didn't call for
to attend. It stayed alone in the hall for a long ti, then departed. After it left, I entered the hall and found the chaos-fog had gathered in midair, not yet dispersed — as though it had taken on the form of sothing like a sand map.
I didn't dare look directly at what the patron was thinking. I could only begin to disperse it..."
"?"
Begin to disperse it?
Ha. You think I believe that?
Cheng Shi knew these [Void] servants far too well. Never mind the influence of being at the Fun God's side for so long — just the fact that Kataro had impersonated him for so long made it impossible to believe the man had walked in and kept his eyes obediently closed.
So Cheng Shi let out a short, knowing laugh, gave Kataro's shoulder a pat, and said with that half-smiling expression:
"It's not even here. Stop pretending to be pious. Tell
what you actually saw."
"..."
No one knew Kataro like Cheng Shi. And the reverse was equally true.
It was accurate to say Kataro hadn't dared look the remnant-thoughts of [Deceit] directly in the eye. But — sharp Kataro had considered: if Lord Cheng Shi asked about the patron again and he had nothing useful to offer, wouldn't that cost him standing in Lord Cheng Shi's eyes?
So he had averted his direct gaze — but let his peripheral vision take a small, brief peek at the shape of the chaos-fog.
That way, even if the patron caught him at it, he could explain it as an effort to bring Lord Cheng Shi closer to the patron. Could he be heavily punished for such a generous-sounding excuse?
Between his secrets and Lord Cheng Shi — Kataro had a pretty clear sense of which his patron valued more.
"My lord — Kataro only caught a glimpse...
I'm not certain which era or epoch it represented. But I'm sure it was the Land of Hope.
The chaos-fog had materialized into the complete terrain of the Land of Hope. The reason I'm so certain is that I saw the Abyssal Volcano connecting the surface to the Underground on the sand map.
The patron quite likely spent so ti in the hall ditating on that sand map. What it was contemplating, this lowly Kataro cannot know. But taking what I saw today alongside everything else — I believe this is probably the 'guidance' the patron left for you.
Otherwise, it would not have needed
to see any of this."
With that, Kataro lowered his head and stood in utterly convincing reverence.
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted. He sank into thought.
The Land of Hope?
What was it doing ditating on the Land of Hope?
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