There's no such thing as a free lunch. Old Jia had taught Cheng Shi that.
So when such a "magnificent offer" landed in his lap, Cheng Shi had already instinctively shifted into fraud-detection mode, analyzing what exactly the [Prosperity] before him was trying to con.
His tone wasn't disingenuous—one could even call it completely sincere. But Cheng Shi knew that the more sincere sothing sounded, the more likely it was a scam.
After all, the scene of Big Cat being talked into a coma by his own silver tongue was still fresh in his mory. He himself was the world's foremost expert at using sincerity to deceive!
So Cheng Shi began to deliberate. To dissect. Every impression of [Prosperity] he'd ever gathered surfaced in his mind as he connected the dots, trying to decipher His true aning.
And the first thing that ca to mind was Hong Lin's attitude toward [Prosperity].
She'd never truly believed in [Prosperity]—had even been quietly on guard against Him. Because she'd said so herself: everything she thought and did ran counter to [Prosperity]'s Will of universal flourishing. Her prosperity was selfish—plundered from others. [Prosperity]'s Will, by contrast, was selfless flourishing.
Yet despite this, [Prosperity] still awarded her points in every trial.
That was the strangest part to Cheng Shi. He had an inkling that when the Gods scored their followers in trials, it was never arbitrary. The points had to be an acknowledgnt that their followers were either spreading Their faith or enacting Their Will.
Well—for the sake of rigor, let's exclude [Chaos] from that claim.
But if Hong Lin so brazenly defied [Prosperity]'s Will yet still earned His favor, then sowhere, the logic had to break down.
[Prosperity] wasn't [Chaos]. He shouldn't be scoring randomly. So the problem couldn't lie with Him. That left only one possibility:
The players' logic was wrong.
But Cheng Shi also knew that plenty of players who perfectly enacted His Will were being rewarded too. So perhaps the players' interpretation of [Prosperity]'s Will wasn't wrong per se—but what if everyone had misunderstood it?
What if the universal flourishing He championed was only part of His Will? And the other part was... self-flourishing?
Or, phrased more terrifyingly: what if universal flourishing was rely the surface, and self-flourishing was His true Will!
After all, when He was sufficiently [Prosperous]—prosperous enough to absorb [Decay] and everything else, just as He had today—wouldn't His Will be perfectly realized?
'Universal flourishing!' When the entire universe was [Prosperity]—or when only [Prosperity] remained—everything in existence would be His Will, wouldn't it?
The mont this thought crystallized, cold sweat soaked through Cheng Shi's back in an instant.
'Oh no. This isn't an invitation to share Authority. He's treating
as fertilizer!'
'He wants to eat !'
'Mom, help!'
Cheng Shi had been silent too long. So long that the gentle breeze around him was beginning to die. Feeling the increasingly oppressive pressure, his heart was in full panic.
'No good—sitting here and waiting for death won't end well. The only thing I'll beco is a tasty fruit. I need to take action!'
'Cheng Shi, save yourself!'
His mind raced. He realized he probably couldn't deceive a Deity who could read shifts in Vitality. So he "pragmatically" gripped the die in his hand and decided to call for backup before refusing.
He hung his head as if flustered, and secretly mouthed the words:
"Lie Like Yesterday, mock today!
Help! Lord Benefactor, save !"
But what he could never have anticipated was that the instant his words fell, a pair of eyes—swirling with spirals and dotted with stars—snapped open in the sky above the Canopy Sea!
The colossal tree's branches shuddered violently. Countless portions of flesh receded and vanished, returning the colossus to pure wood. Then the tree itself began to fade. The overwhelming Vitality pervading the space erupted, transforming into cloud after cloud of erald fog that rose and coalesced into a pair of bright green eyes—and turned their gaze upon the cold, watching eyes in the sky above.
"[Fate]. Why have you co?"
'Huh?'
Cheng Shi went slack. He'd never imagined the one who'd co to his rescue would be his other Benefactor—[Fate]!
'Wait—didn't I chant "Lie Like Yesterday"? How—'
Cheng Shi froze, then looked at the die in his hand.
'The Die of Fate.'
He rembered now. His prayers were never received by [Deceit] first—they were always relayed through [Fate].
So when He heard the distress call, He'd co directly?
Even though Cheng Shi was currently a Clown—a Clown who hadn't even switched back to the [Fate] path—He'd still co?
'Huh?'
Recalling the "Lie Like Yesterday" he'd blurted out, Cheng Shi wanted to slap himself across the face.
'I take back every prejudice I ever had about Fate. I am such a goddamn fool!'
And it was at that mont that the eyes adorned with spirals and stars first glanced at the unhard Cheng Shi, then turned toward [Prosperity] with neither joy nor sorrow—and spoke in a tone of absolute coldness:
"[Prosperity]. You have not abandoned your delusion. Assimilating [Decay] through Faith Grafting violates the Convention and defies [Fate].
I have seen the destiny about to be rewritten. I have co to correct it."
"Oh? Is that so?" The erald fog of Vitality grew denser, nearly filling the entire space, wrapping [Fate] tightly within. "If every fluctuation in destiny bears the brand of 'rewriting,' then the Authority of [Change] you wield—does it not beco aningless?"
At these words, the spirals stopped spinning. The stars blazed wildly.
"You think I am jesting with you?"
"[Fate] has always been the one most fond of jesting. Is that not so?"
"Obsessed and unrepentant."
[Prosperity] laughed—elegant and exaggerated.
"Obsessed and unrepentant?
No, no, no. Obsessed We certainly are. But the unrepentant ones are all of you!
Your human follower spoke one line that was quite apt. Allow Us to adjust it and offer it back to you as counsel.
If all life in the universe blas its Misfortune on [Fate], then is [Fate] not also a form of Misfortune's [Prosperity]?
So, [Fate]... set aside your prejudice. Beco one with Us."
'Huh?'
BOOM—
Before the dumbstruck Cheng Shi could process what he'd just heard, an explosion ripped through the Void and sent him hurtling off the Canopy, consciousness extinguished.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself slumped against Hong Lin's leg. She was drenched in sweat, her back rigid with tension.
Seeing the combative Chosen One this wound up, his heart lurched—fearing sothing terrible had happened. But scanning his surroundings, he found nothing obviously amiss, so he tried to sit up.
The mont he raised his head, Hong Lin's hand pushed him back down. Then he watched her shake her head stiffly, a glance flicking toward the sky.
Cheng Shi followed Hong Lin's gaze upward in alarm—and saw pair after pair of the Eyes of the Gods opening across the infinite canopy above!
These eyes, each bearing a different Will and aura, swept the [Prosperity]-transford Sighing Forest with absolute, crushing authority, before lifting their collective gaze to peer above the canopy.
Seeing this, Cheng Shi felt thunder rip through his skull in an unending roar. His face drained of color. He went rigid on the spot.
They... seed to have descended. All of Them. Together.
"Shit..."
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