A door opened in the sea of clouds, appearing as just a thin ring of light with mist before and after.
A figure fell from the light door, gliding down towards the sea of clouds below.
“Ah!”
It wasn’t a scream, but a cheer of joy while flying.
Spirit Simila descended into the mortal world, marveling at the landscape below as she passed through the sea of clouds.
Compared to the fairytale-like Spirit Country and the dreamy divine realm, everything here seed to beco more real and clear.
Her golden robe fluttered as she landed in a field of scattered rocks.
Spirit Simila looked left and right, finally walking out of this rocky area.
“It’s so big!”
“But why is there nothing here?”
When looking down from above, it seed like a huge playground where one could fly freely.
But after landing on the ground, walking in this vast and boundless wilderness.
She felt this world was too big, overwhelmingly so.
Its vastness instilled a sense of fear and insecurity, and a profound loneliness.
This place wasn’t like the Spirit Country, full of colorful hues and childlike wonder, nor like the God-Given Land with its warm and brilliant Sun Cup Flower Sea. She finally understood that she had entered an unknown realm for herself.
She looked into the distance, where a faint city appeared on the horizon.
“Let’s go where there are more people!”
“There should be many fun places in the city, and more children too.”
“There, I can find the purest wish dreams and condense the best Light of Wishes.”
Stone Forest City.
This was once an important border town of the Star Luo Kingdom, with traces of past wars still seemingly visible on the city walls.
But with the end of the Star Luo Kingdom and the Xilong family’s era of royal bloodline, this place was no longer a border town or an important stronghold, gradually becoming an ordinary inland city.
Its fa was no longer as resounding or attention-grabbing as before.
Spirit Simila sneaked around, peeking here and there.
One mont she appeared on a wall, the next she hid behind a pillar.
Like a cautious cat, observing the outside world.
“Wow!”
“It’s really lively.”
Although there were many shops on the comrcial street with various types, the spirit felt it wasn’t much.
Because the Spirit Country had everything, lacking nothing. Whatever the mortal world had, spirits could create.
But the liveliness here was sothing the Spirit Country didn’t have.
Suddenly, she saw a group of children running towards a place in a flurry. She imdiately followed quietly, as if she had found companions and a group to join.
The children were noisy and boisterous, not tall but running incredibly fast.
“It’s about to start!” The children’s shouts had a vigor and power that adults lacked.
“Co on! Hurry!” Seeing other children running so fast, the rest chased after them like mad.
“They say a three-ter-tall giant is here today.” The child running in front turned back, running backward while making faces and gesturing a big circle with his hands, as if describing how big a three-ter giant really was.
“Ah! Are there really people that tall?” The children beca even more excited.
So of these children ca on their own, while others were led by their parents.
So seed to have just erged from infancy, their bone armor still soft and pliable, not yet fully developed.
This was a venue set up with two dium-sized trailer compartnts placed together, with a few fras supporting a canopy.
Clay stools were placed on the ground, and there was a sign at the entrance.
It read: “Giant Performance Troupe.”
After years of improvent, the trailers had evolved from the initial mode where one had to bend down and hold onto the seat plank, to a model with handrails and steering.
There were single-person riding trailers as well as dium-sized ones that could accommodate three people, which the performance troupe used.
There were ritual workshops producing trailers in various places, and the originally high prices had gradually decreased, allowing even small vendors to afford them.
As for those large cargo trailers that required monsters to pull, generally only priest temples and so large rchant groups could own them.
“Performance troupe?”
Spirit Simila had heard that there was sothing called a performance troupe in the mortal world, which had only recently erged.
However, how recent “recent” was for a spirit might be hard for ordinary people to imagine.
She only knew that performance troupes were filled with people who had extraordinary skills or specially gifted individuals.
Having just arrived in the mortal world and seeing sothing so exciting made Spirit Simila’s eyebrows rise high with excitent.
She blended into the crowd, sitting in the front row with a group of children.
Her tall figure stood out among the children, drawing disapproving looks from so adults behind her who wondered why a grown-up would compete with children for seats.
But Spirit Simila didn’t feel there was anything wrong with it at all.
Watching a performance, of course, one should sit in the front row to see most clearly.
A tall, thin man wearing a faded long robe stood on the stage, sowhat awkwardly imitating the speech and etiquette of nobles, shouting with an exaggerated emphasis.
“First to appear is our little clever one.”
“He possesses a flexible body that ordinary people can’t have, and extraordinary skills and abilities.”
“He can enter narrow spaces that ordinary people can’t, and even transfer his body.”
The first to co out was a nimble little figure who squeezed himself into a pitifully small closed box, his limbs compressed and curled up in a way that made one’s scalp tingle.
“Oh!”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“He seems to have no bones.”
But when the box was closed, the little figure imdiately erged from another box nearby.
This startled everyone, and applause broke out.
Not only were the children shouting wildly, but even adults were discussing in amazent.
“How did he do that?”
“How did he co out of another box?”
“What about the original box?”
The tall, thin man said mysteriously: “Is everyone curious about what’s in the original box?”
“Did we hide two people?”
At this mont, the tall, thin man who was responsible for guiding the atmosphere imdiately opened the box at the right ti.
The box was completely empty.
This imdiately triggered a second round of applause.
The tall, thin man imdiately shouted: “There’s nothing because there was only one person from beginning to end.”
“Because our little clever one has the ability to transfer his body.”
“This is the magic of the performance.”
The little clever one stepped out to thank the audience.
“The second to appear is the soul dancer.”
“He possesses dance moves that can shock people’s souls, making countless people shout and scream.”
“Yes, that’s .”
The second was the tall, thin man himself, who first perford a dance segnt, then leaped onto a steel wire, dancing gracefully on it.
This was also very spectacular, making the spirit below shout and scream, even more excited than the group of children.
Finally, the mont everyone had been waiting for arrived: the appearance of the “giant.”
After all, those ordinary performances could only be called interesting, able to make people feel it was worth sitting through the entire show.
But the performance troupe couldn’t rely on just this. To attract people to co and watch, there must be sothing sufficiently unique and capable of arousing everyone’s curiosity.
The giant served as their star attraction, the main draw to bring people in.
The existence of a giant was undoubtedly their unique selling point, likely the reason behind their na: the Giant Performance Troupe!
After finishing his performance, the tall, thin man, panting heavily, began to shout in a loud voice.
“Next!”
“Please welco our giant!”
“He cos from a realm outside of Yinsai, a dominant force wandering in the wilderness.”
“He possesses the bloodline of monsters, a descendant of Trilobite n and monsters.”
At this mont, suddenly there ca the sound of heavy footsteps from behind, even the ground seed to tremble slightly.
“Thud!”
“Thud!”
“Thud!”
Before the “giant” appeared, the intense pressure had already made many people in the audience hold their breath.
A huge figure squeezed out from the curtain between the two compartnts, the shadow cast by the tall figure covered half of the viewing area.
“Wow!”
“It really is a giant.”
“He’s so tall!”
Everyone felt the trip was worth it. Just seeing the appearance of the giant, without him speaking or performing anything.
They felt it was worth the ticket price.
At least, they could brag about it to others for a long ti after returning ho.
Have you seen a giant?
I have.
That’s a descendant of Trilobite n and monsters, an incredibly powerful hybrid.
That strong body, those powerful shoulders, that soul-stirring presence, that…
Just as everyone was imrsed in the giant’s aura, the giant suddenly tripped and fell heavily.
Under the tattered cloak that covered him, his true nature was revealed.
It turned out that the so-called three-ter giant was just a tall Trilobite Man wearing high shoes pretending to be one.
While naturally tall, he was only slightly taller than an average Trilobite Man, far from the towering height they had claid.
At this revelation, the audience erupted in a chorus of boos.
“He’s just pretending!”
“Fake, it’s a fake giant!”
“Refund!”
“Give us our money back!”
“Frauds!”
No matter how impressive the previous performances had been, the fact that the Giant Performance Troupe’s giant was fake made everyone feel as if they had wasted their ti.
All felt deceived, angrily berating the perforrs on stage.
The tall, muscular man playing the “giant” seed to be very timid. Seeing this reaction, he imdiately ran behind the curtain, not daring to show his face again.
Under the audience’s onslaught, the thin man could only sheepishly issue refunds one after another, apologizing profusely on the spot.
As the crowd dispersed, the venue was left completely empty.
Backstage, the entire performance troupe gathered together. The tall, muscular man was called Giant.
A small man was nicknad Little Clever.
The thin man, skilled in singing and dancing, was known as Skinny Tall Guy.
The entire performance troupe consisted of just these three individuals.
Backstage, Little Clever berated Giant: “What’s wrong with you? How could you trip like that? You’ve ruined the whole performance.”
Skinny Tall Guy sighed: “We worked all afternoon and didn’t earn a thing.”
Little Clever: “It’s not just an afternoon, it took us over ten days to get to Stone Forest City!”
“Now that our reputation is ruined, even getting our next al will be a problem.”
Giant hung his head low and mumbled in a muffled voice: “The ground was uneven, and these props are hard to control. It’s easy to fall when walking quickly.”
Little Clever: “Then you should have walked slower!”
Skinny Tall Guy stopped the argunt: “Enough, there’s no use discussing this now.”
The three fell silent, looking dejected.
After a while, they began to discuss their next move. Giant, rubbing his hungry stomach, asked: “We’re out of money. What should we do now?”
Skinny Tall Guy thought for a mont before sharing his idea: “It seems we can’t stay in Stone Forest City. Let’s find a small town nearby to earn so money first!”
Little Clever tilted his head: “But we’re the Giant Performance Troupe, a big city performance group. How can we perform in small towns? That would make us no different from those third-rate circus frauds.”
Skinny Tall Guy retorted: “Well, do you want to eat or not?”
Little Clever stubbornly replied: “We still shouldn’t perform in the countryside.”
At this mont, the spirit suddenly popped her head out from behind them.
“Why don’t you let
join your group?”
The three jumped in surprise: “Who are you?”
The spirit wore a mask and a golden robe, with a hood, gloves, and shoes covering her completely.
In any other place, she would have looked strange, but in this performance troupe, she seed to fit right in.
Spirit Simila announced cheerfully: “I want to join your team!”
Skinny Tall Guy was the first to speak: “What can you do?”
Spirit Simila thought for a mont: “I can control string puppet shows, manipulating various dolls to act out plays. I’m really good at it.”
This was a ga she often played with her companions in the Spirit Country, controlling yarn dolls to move and perform various stories and myths.
“I can also dress up as a spirit, give candies and gifts to children. I guarantee they’ll love .”
Spirit Simila tugged at the mask on her face, probably unaware that no one would guess there was an identical face beneath it.
“See?” She gestured to herself. “I have a spirit mask and a golden robe.”
Skinny Tall Guy sighed: “But we’re out of money. We need to figure out how to make a living in the nearby towns. We can’t afford to recruit new mbers.”
Upon hearing this, Spirit Simila thought, what kind of problem is that?
“But I have money!”
The spirit shook her pocket, and coins started falling out: “Clink clink clink!”
When leaving God’s realm, she had brought quite a few things, all gifts from her spirit friends.
Her friend, the Iron Spirit, had given her a pile of coins, saying they would certainly be useful in the mortal world.
“Money is everything.”
“Money is almighty.”
That’s what her friend had shouted at the ti.
Seeing the three n’s dumbfounded expressions, the spirit realized for the first ti: is having money really that powerful?
And the looks that Skinny Tall Guy, Little Clever, and Giant gave Spirit Simila could be sumd up in six words:
Foolish, wealthy, join us right away.
If you have money, you should have said so earlier. Who cares about talent? With money, you’re the boss.
But soone with so much money must be a young lady from so big family. Why would she co to their performance troupe?
But who cares?
Skinny Tall Guy hurriedly clung to this opportunity: “Boss, from now on, we’ll follow you.”
Little Clever, seeing so much money for the first ti: “With this much money, our performance troupe will surely grow big and strong.”
Giant wiped his tears and began to wail: “Waaah, we’ll never go hungry again.”
The spirit looked puzzled: “Aren’t we a high-class performance troupe?”
And so, the spirit joined this performance troupe.
As the owner.
No, wait.
She should be called the Troupe Leader.
Skinny Tall Guy quickly asked: “Troupe Leader, what should we do next?”
Spirit Simila’s robe bulged at an odd angle, but feeling it wasn’t quite right, she adjusted it.
Tendrils intertwined to support the decorative gloves.
She raised her arm and shouted: “Where we fell, that’s where we’ll rise again.”
“We’ll perform here once more, and this ti we must make our na known.”
“We need to attract all the children in the city to watch our performance, and we should change our na too.”
“From now on, we’ll be called the Spirit Performance Troupe.”
Little Clever looked troubled: “But we just got exposed, and our reputation is ruined. Probably no one will co to watch us now.”
Spirit Simila was unfazed: “For our first performance, we won’t charge. We’ll perform for free.”
Little Clever: “For free? Won’t we lose terribly?”
Skinny Tall Guy imdiately said: “What do you know? This is called ‘to take, one must first give.'”
“Troupe Leader’s thod is full of wisdom.”
“We won’t charge at first to build our reputation, and then we’ll be able to earn even more money later.”
“Troupe Leader, your strategy is brilliant.”
Little Clever and Giant imdiately looked at their rich and wise Troupe Leader with admiration, thinking that following such a figure would surely lead them to great success!
The spirit held her head high, wearing an expression full of wisdom.
“That’s right.”
“That’s exactly what I had in mind.”
The next day, after reorganizing, the performance troupe with its new sign began performing again.
Early that morning, Skinny Tall Guy and Little Clever hit the streets, holding signs and shouting enthusiastically.
“Spirit Performance Troupe, Spirit Performance Troupe.”
“See the most spectacular performance without paying a penny.”
Little Clever: “Want to know what spirits look like? Want to see the most amazing puppet show?”
“This afternoon, we’ll be performing the love story of the Star Queen and the divine ssenger Polo. If you want to see it, co quickly!”
“It’s free!”
“Watch for free.”
So passersby recognized them and pointed at the two, whispering:
“Aren’t these the frauds from yesterday?”
“Yesterday they tried to trick us with so ‘giant.’ We’re not going back again.”
“But they say it’s free this ti?”
“Free?”
“Well, in that case, we might as well go take a look.”
That afternoon, more people ca than the day before. A sea of people, many bringing their children.
The audience flooded in, filling all the seats. The entrance curtain was pulled back, and many people squeezed outside the large tent to watch.
The Spirit Performance Troupe’s free strategy had succeeded.
With the mindset of “might as well watch a free performance,” they indeed attracted enough custors.
But if the following performance wasn’t captivating and sensational enough, it would all be for naught.
Spirit Simila walked out from backstage, feeling a bit nervous herself.
Although she wore a mask, her magnificent robe and figure attracted enough attention to draw everyone’s focus to her.
The noisy crowd fell silent, leaving only whispers.
“There’s a new character, one we didn’t see yesterday,” a child squeezed in the front row said, staring at the spirit in amazent.
“A spirit, it’s a spirit,” other children exclaid excitedly.
“It’s fake!” soone scoffed, but couldn’t take their eyes off her.
“But it looks so real!”
Spirit Simila opened a large box filled with various scene props, looking like the interior of a magnificent palace.
Inside were several exquisite dolls wearing well-made little clothes.
“Wow! How beautiful.”
“Is this what they call a puppet show?”
“What’s so interesting about just looking at dolls?”
“But they’re made so beautifully!”
Spirit Simila moved her finger, and the dolls imdiately ca to life, their every gesture lifelike.
On the surface, it looked as if strings were moving the dolls, but in reality, the spirit could easily control them even without strings.
“They’re moving, they’re moving!”
“They really are moving!”
Suddenly, voices erged from backstage.
Skinny Tall Guy and Little Clever were providing the voiceovers.
Skinny Tall Guy: “I am God’s ssenger.”
“I co from the God-Given Land, carrying the mission bestowed upon
by God.”
“Star!”
“If you’ve made your decision, co find
and be my partner!”
“Just call my na, and I will co to you.”
“Let’s do sothing together, sothing incomparably great.”
Little Clever’s voice was thinner, sounding almost like a girl’s.
When the Polo doll on stage disappeared, the doll playing the Star Queen knelt before the divine statue.
“Oh God!”
“Have you been watching over us all this ti?”
The audience finally grasped that puppet shows were dramas perford through dolls. This form of performance wasn’t entirely new, but it was usually only seen in royal courts.
These ordinary people had never even heard of it, let alone seen such a spectacular performance.
The audience grew quieter as the performance reached its most exciting monts.
Only during the kingdom scenes could so faint whispers be heard.
“Her Majesty, the Queen of the Star Luo Kingdom.”
“Polo, as God’s ssenger, seems quite childlike at tis.”
“That’s because he’s a spirit!”
As the story ended, Spirit Simila manipulated the dolls in the box to thank everyone.
Then the box slowly closed, signaling the end of the performance.
The audience was left wanting more, feeling the performance had ended too soon.
Not just the children, but even the adults felt this way.
The legendary yet real story, those distant figures and legends from long ago vividly presented before their eyes, gave people an indescribable impact.
“Ah! Is it over already?”
“Can we co back to watch tomorrow? I want to see it again.”
“I never knew the story of the Star Queen and the divine ssenger Polo was like this.”
At this point, there was one final segnt.
Spirit Simila looked at the buzzing crowd and walked to the center.
“Children.”
“I am the great divine ssenger, guardian of God’s realm, and dream master who grants wishes, Lady Hila.”
“I’ve co to the mortal world today to give out gifts.”
“I will choose the luckiest child and grant one wish, giving them the gift they desire most.”
Spirit Simila was now playing the role of the divine ssenger Hila.
The children in the audience suddenly beca excited, all pushing towards the front.
“Choose !”
“Pick …”
Spirit Simila threw a ball of yarn, which finally landed on a child’s head.
“It’s !”
“I got it!”
“I got it!”
The child, under the envious gaze of many companions, climbed onto the stage.
Spirit Simila took out a box: “Now, you can make a wish.”
Gathering courage, he said to Spirit Simila: “I want a doll that looks just like .”
Spirit Simila had anticipated his wish and had deliberately chosen him. He was the child with the purest and kindest heart in the crowd.
“Ta-da!”
The box opened, revealing a small doll that looked very similar to the child.
Before the rewarded child could even shout, the other children in the audience all cried out together.
“Wow!”
“That’s amazing.”
“I wish I could go up there too! Why wasn’t I chosen?”
The spirit’s popularity with the children took her by surprise, though given her identity, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
On a level invisible to people, a pure dream floated up from within the child.
The dream circled the venue once, then floated into Spirit Simila’s body.
The spirit had collected another pure wish dream.
The spirit turned back, looking at the three figures watching her from backstage.
“See?”
“Aren’t I amazing?”
The three heads peeking out from behind the backstage curtain gave Spirit Simila a thumbs up.
The Spirit Performance Troupe’s first performance was a huge success.
The Spirit Performance Troupe perford again and again in various parts of the east and west of the city, each ti to a full house, thoroughly establishing their reputation.
Then, they left Stone Forest City with their newfound fa.
They began the Spirit Performance Troupe’s touring performances.
They traveled through city after city, occasionally performing in small towns. Although so team mbers would complain, who could argue when the spirit was their financial backer?
Over several years.
They traveled through various cities in the west and north.
The Spirit Performance Troupe’s fa grew larger and larger, with more and more cities inviting them to perform.
Moreover, every year during the Wish Festival.
The spirit would enter a big city and put on a grand Wish Festival performance.
Through these performances, Spirit Simila not only gathered one pure wish dream after another, but also spread the stories of the Wish Festival, spirits, and the divine ssenger throughout Yinsai. More and more people began to know about the Wish Festival, and more and more cities began to celebrate this holiday—
God-Descended City, the capital.
“Boom!”
“Pitter-patter~”
Thunder and lightning raged above the palace as the king, lying on his sickbed, feebly stretched out his hand.
“Please summon the Sage of Truth…”
The third-generation king of the Henir Dynasty was gradually aging, and as he lay on his deathbed, he sent a ssenger to the Temple of Truth.
However, just as the ssenger left God-Descended City, the king passed away.
A few days later, Lan, the Sage of Truth, received two letters in succession.
One was from the king inviting him to God-Descended City, and the other was also from the king inviting him to God-Descended City.
However, the forr was from the old king, while the latter was from the new king who had not yet been crowned.
Lan looked at the two scrolls, with the sa seal but different nas.
He sighed.
“It’s for the best.”
“Perhaps an immortal king is not a good thing.”
A student nearby, watching the back of Lan, the Sage of Truth, took these words to heart.
Presumably, it wouldn’t be long before these words spread throughout Yinsai, known to all.
It was under the power of the Temple of Truth that the Henir Dynasty had continued, and now the words of the Sage of Truth, in a sense, carried more weight than the king’s decree.
This single sentence of his might even set the precedent that future kings of the Henir Dynasty must give up immortality.
Either pursue power and beco a priest, or give up power and choose authority.
No one could choose to have it all.
Moreover, whether it was the Temple of Truth, the nobles of the capital, or the various ritual temples and priest families.
None of them wanted an immortal king to appear.
The bloody price paid by the last king who pursued immortality still shocked everyone to this day.
An immortal king wielding both supre authority and power would transcend the role of a Trilobite Man ruler.
In this era where God had completely let go, he would be the god of the Trilobite n.
Aside from the Creator Yinsai, no one wanted another god above them—
Sun City.
This was once the easternmost city of the Star Luo Kingdom, the place where one could first see the sun rise.
Therefore, it was nad Sun City by the Xilong family.
The Spirit Performance Troupe’s carts stopped outside the city. The Wish Festival was about to begin, and they had chosen to perform a grand show in Sun City.
In the front compartnt, the Troupe Leader lazily lay on a human-sized giant doll, humming a tune as she wove yarn in the carriage.
She was just two wish dreams away from transforming all her power into the Light of Wishes.
When that ti ca, she would complete her mission and return to God’s realm.
She would then beco the second fourth-level spirit after the divine ssenger Hila.
The spirit sang, a smile on her face.
At this mont, shouts ca from below.
“Troupe Leader!”
“Troupe Leader!”
It was Skinny Tall Guy’s voice. The spirit opened the small window of the carriage and looked down.
“What is it?”
Skinny Tall Guy, panting, carefully said: “His Majesty the King has passed away.”
After saying this, he repeated: “The old king has died.”
The spirit was confused: “Ah!”
“The old king died?”
“Isn’t it the new king?”
Skinny Tall Guy: “He’s been king for decades, how can he still be the new king? The new king hasn’t been crowned yet!”
The spirit had a very thin concept of ti, feeling that not much ti had passed: “Wait, the king died again?”
In the spirit’s mind, how could the mortal king die so quickly?
The spirit asked again in confusion: “What does the king’s death have to do with us?”
“Why are you so happy?”
Skinny Tall Guy’s face was clearly brimming with joy, but hearing the Troupe Leader’s words, he imdiately waved his hands.
“What happiness?”
“I’m not happy at all.”
“I am deeply saddened by His Majesty the King’s passing.”
Despite his words, he imdiately excitedly produced a scroll signed by the royal chamberlain: “The royal court has invited us to perform in God-Descended City, after the coronation ceremony of the new king.”
“Troupe Leader, that’s God-Descended City.”
“Moreover, we’ll be performing in front of the noblest figures in Yinsai!”
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