A house isn’t necessarily more comfortable the bigger it is, just like soone once boasted that seeing the ceiling less than four ters above made them feel imprisoned - if you let them live in a courtyard, they’d surely be even less comfortable...
To , the Father God Temple is slightly oversized, with extra-large dining halls, corridors, great halls, and guest rooms. This morning, after waking up, I understood why Father God doesn’t want to live in such a big house and instead set up a twenty-square-ter bedroom next to the porch: I spent the whole night feeling like I was sleeping in an open-air square...
At the doorway, I felt a bit disoriented, taking a while to rember that I spent the night in the Father God Temple, and also recalled that I habitually slept hugging that little doll. I quickly went back to look for that doll girl, searching for a while before finding her under the pillow: You wonder, with the way we sleep, how on earth did she get in there, and why didn’t I notice all night?
I placed the still sowhat dazed little doll on my shoulder, watching her instinctively grab hold of my head to sit steadily, then briskly left the guest room that felt like an indoor sports stadium. I puzzled over the enthusiasm of those who built the Father God Temple for such a place while contemplating what I should do today: Either go check the Divine Race’s Deep Dive Test Port or find those thirty military experts to understand their progress. Of course, I hope everything runs smoothly so I won’t have to join the hustle, allowing to spend a few vacation days here...
After asking around so guards, I found Father God hanging out on the terrace. This chief of the Divine Realm was in the laziest state of the day, sitting in the center of the half-moon terrace in a loose white robe, with a small table in front of him holding sothing resembling a chess set. He was so focused on the chess ga that he didn’t notice soone approaching. One side of the semicircular terrace was open, and bright sunlight was now shining on Father God’s face, making him look more like a retired official sunbathing in pajamas.
I leaned over to take a look but, naturally, couldn’t understand the type of chess I had never seen before, just couldn’t help but murmur: "Does playing chess have a point?"
Father God smiled mysteriously: "Chess requires ambiance; the opponent isn’t important."
I casually picked up the cat opposite Father God: "But you at least should pick a primate, right? Even if you win..."
Before I finished speaking, I saw Father God’s other half face was covered with sticky notes, and he awkwardly smiled: "I’ve been losing all morning."
At that mont, the little black cat I was holding began to struggle violently, twisting its head at an amazing angle to bite , then nimbly jumped onto the ground and turned into a little girl, bowing and greeting crisply: "Hello, Uncle, I’m a primate!"
That’s when I realized the cat playing chess with Father God was actually Cynthia: One of the two little princesses in the Divine Realm, specifically endowed with the "naughty kid" talent. No matter when she shows up, is she always so surprising?
Father God peeled off the sticky notes from his face, laughing and pointing at Cynthia: "This kid is better at chess than . While playing chess today, she said she’d let use both hands, so I trusted her, not expecting what she ant was changing into a cat and using her paws to play chess with ."
I shrugged and awakened the little doll still rubbing her eyes in confusion: "Look at that young lady, she’s much smarter than you. You should learn a few tricks from her to avoid being tricked by Lilina all the ti."
The little doll blinked at Cynthia, the two princesses achieved a historic mutual gaze, then the one on my shoulder offered her verdict: "My sister said this model is called a ’naughty kid,’ and as clever as they are, they only outsmart their parents."
Father God and I were simultaneously stunned: "..."
The two dads who’d raised ’naughty kids’ shared a long, empathetic glance, because when it cos to ’naughty kids,’ talking too much just brings tears...
I took the little doll off my shoulder, letting her play with Cynthia. anwhile, Father God tidied up the chessboard while chatting with : "How’d you sleep last night?"
I contemplated the oversized room akin to an open-air square and answered rather tactfully: "It was alright, just a tad too spacious, takes half the day to reach the door from the bed - speaking of which, last ti I didn’t see this big room at your place?"
"That’s where I originally slept, just wanted you to experience life a bit," Father God’s smile was sowhat nuanced, "The kids are building bigger houses, lately Qian Yuhao plans to build a palace by Dragon Clan standards... I’m thinking in a few days I might as well not live at ho, just take the quilt to the large grassland in the east and sleep there instead, these ’naughty kids’..."
I originally thought my house had more ’naughty kids’ than Father God. After all, he only has two daughters, but now I realize that’s not really the case: With so many races in the Divine Realm essentially created or promoted by Father God, theoretically, they’re all Father God’s children. Given the Star Domain Divine Race’s usual unpredictable personality, they almost all fall under the ’naughty kid’ category. Thinking about it, Father God’s image instantly beca grander in my mind: At most, we raised half a dozen ’naughty kids,’ but the chief of the Divine Realm raises them by race! Listening to his seemingly significant sigh made my heart tremble...
"Have you decided when to send troops?" I sat across from Father God, "I communicated with Sandora last night, she’s already aware of the situation here and agrees with the joint troop dispatch plan; the Imperial Army can be mobilized at any ti."
"No hurry, no hurry," regarding the major issue of external war with the Divine Race, Father God himself was calm, even speaking leisurely, "Let’s wait a few days, until the vanguard sent out recently settles near the Abyss Zone."
I looked at him sowhat surprised: "How co you seem completely unhurried? Aren’t you angry?"
"They’re two separate matters," Father God smiled, "because of the anger, we must burn it at the most appropriate point. Now isn’t the optimal ti to start a war; after all, the Fallen Apostles aren’t foolish. They know troubling the Divine Race is inadvisable, so they must be on guard now; imdiate troop dispatch would only confront a tough opponent. Let’s wait; I’ll continue to feign preparation for the expedition, and in a few days, will systematically send out the next batch of expeditionary forces. Our opponents would think the Divine Race emphasizes the expedition and temporarily lacks interest in war, so we won’t act until then."
Realizing this rationale, I found Father God’s temperant indeed steadier than mine, but still felt slightly uneasy: "Do you think the Fallen Apostles would easily fall for this?"
"Not all will, but so will be deceived," Father God chuckled, "everyone knows the periodic expeditions are a priority for the Divine Race, but nobody understands to what extent they affect the Divine Race, so the Fallen Apostles can’t accurately gauge whether we’ll truly endure for this expedition. I act as if enduring, then what do they have to judge if the Divine Race is feigning? As long as so are fooled, waiting is worth it. Learn that too: Whatever the occasion, those who can wait laugh last."
I recognized this as the most valuable lesson an old hand living for countless years imparted to a young one about to live endlessly, imdiately agreeing sincerely: "Got it - but you’re sure this isn’t just because you have procrastination issues like I do?"
Father God: "...Cough, cough..."
The procrastination idea was a joke, but the patience and endurance of Void Creatures are certainly common talents. Seeing Father God’s leisurely expression, I knew I probably still had much to learn in many aspects.
"By the way, co with , I want to show you sothing today," Father God suddenly stood up, then motioned to the side, "Cynthia! Dad’s going out for a bit, play with your sister and don’t bully her."
Then I saw Cynthia in the form of a little black cat running around in circles not far away, with a 92.3 cm tall little doll riding on her back, strutting: "Giddy up! Giddy up!"
This ti, it was my turn to shout: "Little Light! Don’t bully Cynthia!"
The two little ones shouted together: "No, we’re just playing around!"
The daily life of these naughty kids is truly colorful.
I was really curious about what Father God wanted to show . Yet, after following him around the temple for a while and undergoing several teleportations, we ended up in a familiar place:
A lake serene as crystal, with endlessly stretching crystal forests along the shore. Everything around was shrouded in a faint mystical aura, and in the extre distance, there was only Chaos; no sky or other floating continents could be seen.
This was exactly the "Bottom Layer" of the Divine Realm, which I had visited before, the foundational space of the Star Domain.
I looked around at the crystal forest and the calm lake surface covered in faint light mist, feeling a bit curious: "What are we doing in this place?"
"You still rember there’s an Abyss Gate here, right?" Father God led toward the center of Crystal Lake, "Actually, I’ve been thinking about so things and studied this gate recently. I discovered sothing rather puzzling about it."
The very "bottom" layer of the Divine Realm houses an imnse and ancient Abyss Gate that even Father God couldn’t determine how long it had been around. It’s a startling fact to learn at first, but I had known about this for a long ti and had even seen it in person; it lies here, beneath the lake surface of this Crystal Lake, at the most foundational layer of the Divine Realm.
"Honestly, I’m still surprised today that you actually built your ho above the Abyss Gate back then, which ans the entire Divine Realm is built on top of it." I mumbled while following Father God towards the center of the lake. This lake has so magical qualities; although it appears to be a lake, when you step on its ’surface,’ you’ll find that not only do you not sink in, but even your shoes don’t get wet: what’s in this lake isn’t water, but so inexplicable material. When you step on it, ripples form around you, but if you bend down to try to scoop it up, you’ll find that it transforms from liquid to a luminous substance as it rises with your hand and ultimately turns into the ubiquitous light mist seen throughout the Crystal Forest, truly marvelous. It’s a dream-like beautiful place; I think if I brought Little Baobao here, she’d probably go crazy with joy on the spot...
"I was young and naive when I built the house," Father God shrugged, "Later on, living atop the Abyss Gate started to feel a bit unsettling, and I considered moving, but I procrastinated, and by the ti I finally made up my mind, the Four Major God Systems had already been conjured into existence... Moving then would have been too disruptive, so I continued to delay until today since this Abyss Gate posed no other threats."
I: "..."
Can anyone else cultivate their procrastination skill to this level! Father God has delayed through four entire evolutionary cycles!
We arrived at the Abyss Gate swiftly; the remarkable and peculiar gate rested just beneath the lake’s surface, only separated from the outside by a layer of "lake water." Standing on the lake, I even had the sensation of "what if I suddenly fall in," but such concern was actually unnecessary. Father God’s procrastination has proven that this door is countless tis safer than it appears, and the bizarre "lake water" would ensure that no reckless fool would genuinely fall into the gate.
"What’s peculiar about this thing?" I restrained the eerie feeling in my heart and looked down at this ancient Abyss Gate. Its faintly unpleasant aura made people slightly uncomfortable, but compared to other Abyss reactions, this thing seed much more "docile."
"According to your research findings, all Abyss Gates ’on the other side’ should lead to a common space, right?" Father God crouched down and gently touched the lake surface with his finger. Imdiately, rings of luminous ripples emanated from beside his finger, expanding rapidly in an abnormal speed, spreading in all directions, "But the situation behind this gate seems to be different."
I froze for a mont, then knelt down with Father God to poke the black "gate" appearing like an illusion in the lake: "Don’t scare . What do you an the situation behind this gate is different?"
"This gate has been lurking peacefully at the ’Base’ of the Divine Realm for many years. A long ti ago, I was curious about it, but after that, I almost forgot it existed, or deed its existence as a given," Father God didn’t rush to answer my question, speaking with a reminiscent expression on his face, "No matter how peculiar sothing is, if it stays in front of your eyes for a few trillion years, you beco accustod to it. This gate is like that. It wasn’t until recently, with your Deep Dive plan and the ’Discontinuous Belt’ thing, that my interest in this gate was rekindled. Since Deep Dive needed a stable trial port, what could be more suitable than this ’docile’ Abyss Gate?"
Wide-eyed, I looked around and only then noticed that amidst the surrounding crystal forest, there seed to be many constructions that hadn’t been there before, with mysterious structures resembling floating obelisks visible in the far distance. I always thought those were so new furniture Father God whimsically crafted, but I hadn’t expected this place to have already been designated as a Deep Dive trial port: "You conducted a Deep Dive trial here?!"
"Mm, super small scale," Father God nodded, "As you can see, there are so additional things around here. That Deep Dive trial was very small-scale, almost like practicing swimming in a bathtub at ho..."
Sweat dripped from my forehead: "At this mont, spare the taphors. So you found sothing under this gate during the Deep Dive?"
"Co on, let’s go down and take a look." Father God suggested, finally stopping his prodding that was about to map out the entire watercolor landscape on the lake surface. Then I saw the entire Crystal Lake starting to ripple with layers of silvery gleaming waves, while a vortex emitting a silvery glow began rapidly expanding a hundred ters ahead, "Just jump in from there; I’ll jump first, and you can decide at your pace..."
Staring agape at the head honcho of the Divine Realm beside , eager to try: "Every... are you kidding ? Are Void Beings of your Divine Race not using any equipnt during Deep Dives and just jump straight down like this?"
"In most cases, equipnt is of course necessary," Father God pulled forward, "But this gate is an exception. Besides giving off a sense of danger, it causes virtually no harm to the surrounding area. We’ve tested it with various things, and later sent people inside, confird that ordinary Divine Beings could function perfectly well on its surface, and beings like us, Void Creatures, aren’t affected at all; we can act freely even in the deep zone. On the contrary, the destructive talent of a Void Creature towards the Abyss is also hard to activate through this gate; as long as you don’t actively release your power, this gate won’t conflict with your power. You don’t have to worry about collapsing the foundation."
Following along, I was filled with curiosity and surprise: Father God hadn’t ntioned these details the last ti I visited, and I couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed all these traits of the Abyss Gate over the years. Thus, countless questions piled up in my mind, but before I could voice any, I realized in a flash: I was already inside the Abyss environnt.
This was my second entry into an Abyss Gate. The last ti I did sothing this brave was at the Empire’s Deep Dive trial port, jumping down to rescue a working ship in distress. The impression of that experience is still vivid in mory: that chaotic, unpleasant, disorder-imbued and absurd "space" made one’s head spin. I told myself back then I’d never dive into such a gate again — yet here I was, dragged down by Father God.
But upon recovering from the shock, I noticed this Abyss Gate’s surroundings were quite different from the last.
Not as intense a sense of chaos, no such contradictions or absurd perceptions born from departing the Order World. Although a sowhat unpleasant sensation lingered, it was rely unpleasant, not exhibiting disruptiveness or rejection towards my Order-embodying self, and the surroundings were dark... indeed, it was darkness, not sothing indescribable appearing as "darkness," but a genuinely solid—
Dark Space. (To be continued. If you enjoyed the work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian) to vote your recomndations and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read on m.qidian.)
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