It was hard to fathom. A year ago, sixteen deities had descended to bestow the Faith Ga upon this world. Now only two remained.
Corruption and Birth.
The Sea of Desire was rife with anomalies; whether Corruption was truly Corruption was still up for debate.
Only Birth — the deity who had never concerned Herself with the Universe and cared solely for Her children — still gave anyone a sense that a "living god" existed.
But today, even that last flicker of "living god" presence had gone out.
Hu Xuan found Cheng Shi wandering alone through the Void, and the mont she appeared, she delivered a piece of "bad" news that was entirely expected — or rather, "birth" news.
"She has fallen. She left the Divine Throne to .
I thought I'd feel so joy upon receiving it. But facing Her departure, I felt an unexpected pang of loss.
She was not a good mother. Her love for Her children was laced with devotion to Origin.
But at least She did love Her children. And She always protected them. I was that lucky child.
To express my gratitude and offer my devotion, I requested that She give
a child. She agreed. And so my mother and I gave birth to — .
The person standing before you is Hu Xuan, is the Life Sage, and is the child of the Eternal Sun and Birth.
Her departure was utterly silent. No Void collapsing, no Birth energy flooding outward. Only the life marker boards on the Divine Pillar detached one by one, presented themselves before my eyes, and then silently shattered.
She left no Final Oracle. But She said you would complete Her unfinished Final Oracle for Her..."
"..."
'Another one.'
It was as though they had all agreed to exit the stage collectively the mont he beca the Pact's Proxy.
It should have been a sowhat sorrowful affair — after all, Birth's fall ant the era of the old gods was all but over. But Hu Xuan's account left Cheng Shi speechless for a good long while.
'Birth truly was beyond asure. Even in falling... what a performance.'
Cheng Shi nodded. Without convening an Assembly of Gods Convention — without summoning a single deity — he casually waved his hand and bestowed everything Birth had left behind upon the Hu Xuan standing before him.
Over half a year ago, the Sage had beco Birth's offspring because of a single remark Cheng Shi made.
Now the Sage had beco the true Birth because of a single gesture.
Hu Xuan's journey from start to finish had been nothing short of legendary.
Yet there was little joy on her face. Or perhaps from the mont she and her Benefactor had given birth to herself, her desire for the Divine Throne had dimd. She was more interested in bearing another child. As for who the father would be...
Her gaze, from the very instant she appeared, had never once left Cheng Shi's face.
But Cheng Shi, deep in thought, hadn't noticed in the slightest. Or perhaps he had simply grown accustod to the Sage's covetous looks. His brows were furrowed tight, growing tighter by the second. And just as the Sage was about to speak — in the precise instant before her courage could take shape — he cut it off, pulling from his breast the Dyeing Container. His eyes traced the iridescent Deceit-hued shimr on its surface, then he looked up at the Sage:
"Sage — try dyeing it with your Birth power."
Hu Xuan blinked, puzzled, but her body was already moving before the question could form.
She channeled her vast Birth power and enveloped the container. Before long, the vessel — which had been dripping with the Divinity of laughter and flowing with grains of mask-sand — began to lose its color, fading to pure white. Then, gradually, it took on new hues, and from within, a crisp infant's wail was born!
It changed. It truly changed!
In that instant, the dazzling Deceit container had beco an uncanny Birth container. The two ends of the hourglass morphed into a pair of fetuses suspended in amniotic fluid, their connected umbilical cord forming the sole passage linking the hourglass halves.
Witnessing this marvel, Hu Xuan gasped: "But this is—"
"The Birth container you could never materialize on your own. An exact match, isn't it?"
"Yes — why? Is this an innate trait of Deceit containers?" Hu Xuan was fascinated. "Can a Deceit container mimic the faith of any container, just like Lie Like Yesterday?"
Cheng Shi shook his head. A sharp gleam flickered in his eyes:
"No. This isn't a Deceit container's trait. It's the trait of a Dyeing Container!
The 'Deceit container' you just saw was itself dyed.
Sage, your arrival was pivotal. It triggered a chain of thought about this Dyeing Container in my hands.
When I first obtained it on that stage in San Dales, I thought I was drawing ever closer to becoming the true Yu Xi... Don't look at
like that. I truly am Yu Xi. But it's complicated. Don't dwell on it — just listen.
"..."
"But later, Deceit told
it wasn't rely a Deceit container — it was a Dyeing Container capable of absorbing any faith. Right before my eyes, He dyed it into Chaos.
At the ti, I assud He was laying the groundwork for
to officially take on the Ultraman identity... that's not important either.
What matters is this: from the mont I learned the container could be dyed, I believed it was the key to seizing divine power. It wasn't until I truly understood what it ant to be Fixed Destiny that I realized — the container could be dyed, but Fixed Destiny could not.
So the question beca: if Fixed Destiny can't be dyed, can't inherit divine power, then what use was a Dyeing Container?
It could, perhaps, help my friends seize Authority. But the containers I'd given away were all independent entities. And eventually I no longer needed containers to push people onto Divine Thrones — I could anoint anyone at will using the Pact's voting rights. And finally I beca the Pact's Proxy itself...
At that point, the Dyeing Container was all but forgotten.
But your arrival reminded
of it. Deceit never made a useless move. If the container were useless, why would He have shown
its wonders?
Deceit, Chaos, Ti... Did those three dyed faiths hint at sothing, or did He embed a clue inside the container itself?"
Cheng Shi's brow was knotted tight as he scrutinized the container, seemingly on the verge of grasping sothing — yet the crucial thread kept slipping away.
Hu Xuan didn't dare disturb him. In a voice only she could hear, she murmured: "So He had already calculated this far, even back then?"
'Back then?'
'No — Deceit had likely calculated this far from the very dawn of the era!'
Cheng Shi, too, marveled at Deceit's machinations. Every single step seed designed to extend the road toward the world's future. He always unveiled the next act's truth at the perfect mont, guiding Cheng Shi down the path of Fixed Destiny.
'Wait!'
'The perfect mont?!'
'When exactly did I obtain this Dyeing Container?'
'The Silence Trial in San Dales?'
'If mory served, by that ti he had already t Birth — and had used the Ti Deduction technique on Her!'
'Which ant he'd obtained the Dyeing Container after Deceit had connected the Mockery and Jeering to the Real Universe?!'
'By that point — had He already visited the Corpse Field of Gods?'
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted sharply. He gripped the container as if his life depended on it.
"I understand. Perhaps this is the significance of the Dyeing Container.
Fusing all faiths together... Could it be linked to that Divine Throne?
Sage — I think it's ti to prepare for the era's curtain call.
Are you ready?"
...
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