"Funny how things work out — I was actually in the middle of communicating with Her when you summoned Go Lis."
"..."
Cheng Shi's footsteps faltered. He cleared his throat and muttered under his breath, "If you don't mind
asking, is this the kind of 'communicating' I think it is?"
Hu Xuan smiled with easy candor.
"Yes. Devout and effective Birth communication.
I did indeed conceive a child with Go Lis, but the matter is not as simple as you imagine.
She's probably already told you — with Zhen Xin's help, I successfully retrieved Lu Xia for my Lord.
I don't know what Birth is scheming. All I can sense is that She loves Her children — especially the most outstanding ones. She has always wanted a reunion. A reunion that belongs to Birth.
So I recovered the Birth Holy Voice for Her, and as a reward, I received a trendous boon from my Benefactor."
"How trendous?" At the ntion of rewards, Cheng Shi perked right up.
Hu Xuan stopped walking, turned to face him, and spoke with visible gravity. "I was granted a Container."
"?"
A jolt ran through Cheng Shi at the word.
In any other context, "container" was perfectly mundane. But coming from the mouth of a Birth follower — especially one like Hu Xuan — it was downright terrifying.
'Sis, please tell
this Container isn't for holding... "babies."'
Cheng Shi didn't dare open his mouth, swallowing his curiosity. Hu Xuan smiled faintly, as though reading his thoughts, and shook her head gently.
"No, you're wrong. It's not a ga item. It's a 'Divinity Forge.'
This Container allows
to produce fragnts of divinity on my own. And when enough of the correct fragnts accumulate, I can find a way to assemble them and obtain the authority my Benefactor bestows.
In other words — She has fully recognized my standing.
Cheng Shi, have you considered that the Life Sage you once helped is about to beco the true Eternal Sun?"
"Holy..."
He'd anticipated it. This was the future Hu Xuan had always been headed toward. Yet hearing it spoken aloud in this mont still stunned him.
It wasn't that he'd never considered the possibility — after all, the Prosperity follower he'd helped was practically half a Prosperity deity by now. So if this were rely about becoming an Envoy, there'd be nothing to marvel at.
But a "Divinity Forge" — that was extraordinary. Possessing such a thing ant Hu Xuan had obtained directly from a deity the very experintal breakthrough the Tower of Logic had spent millennia trying to achieve!
Apparently, the recognition and gifts of the gods brought progress and elevation far more "easily" than self-exploration and research ever could.
Of course, the prerequisite was getting close to Them.
And for mortals, getting close to the divine was incomparably harder than any amount of exploration or research — a difficulty of an entirely different magnitude.
Still... could soone else use this thing?
Cheng Shi blinked rapidly, turning to Hu Xuan, about to ask — when she beat him to it, her eyes shining with anticipation.
"If you want — co." She extended her hand once more.
"..."
The silence arrived so abruptly that Cheng Shi nearly choked on his own saliva.
'Sis, can we please act normal for five minutes? Can we keep exclamations and verbs separate?'
'If not, I'll moonlight as a grammar teacher and give you a refresher.'
"The word here — this one — is an interjection. It expresses shock and astonishnt," Cheng Shi said, face rigid.
"I know. But I'd prefer it weren't an interjection."
"..." Cheng Shi fell silent for a mont, then let out an exasperated laugh. "You wouldn't happen to have a brother nad The Prisoner, would you?"
Hu Xuan clearly knew The Prisoner by reputation. She shook her head with a helpless chuckle.
"Fine, today's Birth solicitations are hereby concluded. Let's talk about sothing you're actually interested in.
The Container.
I'm sure you're dying to know what it is. Honestly, I'd love to share it with you, but I can't — it has no form, no shape.
I can feel it existing within my consciousness, but I cannot manifest it physically. That's hard to grasp, I know. I found it baffling myself when I received it. It's probably sothing that belongs to Their dinsion.
I'll try to explain it with my current understanding, but... don't take everything I say at face value."
Hu Xuan locked eyes with Cheng Shi, her expression earnest and sincere.
"Cheng Shi, I've never been a clever person. I just had a tiny bit of luck — and that luck was your gift to .
If you are Yu Xi, then consider this a new Envoy sharing her insights with a senior Envoy about what lies beyond that threshold. But if you are Cheng Shi...
Don't believe everything blindly, because I can't be sure my understanding is correct. The sensation is too profound, too elusive. As a Life Sage who hasn't yet fully beco one of Them — I'm sorry, but my ability to articulate it is extrely limited."
Her honesty moved Cheng Shi. He nodded, smiling warmly.
"Don't be nervous. You're the real Envoy here.
Speak. I'll listen. If I understand, it's fate. If I don't... then this road simply wasn't ant for ."
And silently, he appended: 'By "this road," I an the path of Birth — not the path of Deceit, or Fate, or Void.'
"The origin of divinity is completely different from what we imagined. It was never crafted by the gods according to so set of laws or rules. Rather... it is distilled from the chaotic amalgam of faith."
"Distilled?!"
"Yes. The Container can hold faith. Faith accumulates within it, gradually pooling together, and then crystallizes into droplets of divinity inside the Container."
Cheng Shi froze, brow furrowing.
"Wait — that doesn't add up. Faith can't exist without a carrier. How does it accumulate?"
"That's why I said it's an almost mystical sensation. For instance, if soone has faith in , their devotion trickles in like a tiny stream, slowly building up. When that devotion grows large enough, the trickle becos a creek of faith that flows into the Container.
The Container receives this faith, distills it into divinity, and lets it drip down.
Each droplet of divinity varies depending on the concentration and purity of the faith it ca from. Once I've gathered all the divinity fragnts required for one of Birth's specific authorities, I can have my Benefactor assemble them for , and then be granted the qualification to wield that authority on Her behalf.
That is what an Envoy is.
And this is also why Envoys have their own followers — because their divinity likewise requires vast quantities of faith as 'raw material.'
From this, we can see that the gods spread faith not rely to impose their will, but to collect divinity. This is precisely why they possess such enormous surpluses of it.
Over millions of years, the power of faith has been ceaselessly converging, crystallizing into countless fragnts of divinity, allowing Them to sit firmly upon those sixteen Divine Thrones.
And I believe that the 'containnt' we often speak of is most likely this very Container...
Perhaps only divinity you've personally distilled can truly be contained. thods like the Tower of Logic's approach to containnt... can only produce Pseudo Gods.
Of course, when you factor in that unspeakable existence, I suspect that all Containers may ultimately be manufactured by Him. The true gods simply share a portion of the Container they receive with their own Envoys — and thus the Servant Gods of each path are born."
...
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