1550 The Prophet’s Tale
In the time before the Skywings made their way into the Great Chiliocosm, Prophet Snow was the spiritual leader of the Pocket Terrans. The creases on his face were as defined as the Loess Plateau. There were only a few gray hairs on his head, and his voice was raspy and hoa.r.s.e when he spoke.
Xia Geng had killed the Patriarch of the Rocket Terrans without any hesitation, but he was very respectful to Prophet Snow. He had him in the palm of his hand and brought him back to the hall. He allowed him to sit on the plush cus.h.i.+on of a sofa, then had the Skywing warriors surround them and quietly listen to what he had to say.
Practically everyone knew Snow’s tale. This frail and sickly leader of the Terran Humans was the son of a priest, and was in charge of looking after the famous Book of the Mechanical G.o.d in the Grand Temple of the Pocket Terrans.
Before obtaining the Book of the Mechanical G.o.d, the Pocket Terrans were one of the weakest races across the Great Chiliocosm. Being only palm-sized made it impossible for them to evade the stalking of wild cats, and there were plenty of people who died every year to mere rats. The homeworld of the Pocket Terrans would often be wracked by termites, and their lives were tragic and pitiful.
The Book of the Mechanical G.o.d that had fallen from the heavens brought knowledge and strength to the Pocket Terrans. Through it, they had learned about machinery and gained the ability to construct mechatronic suits. Though these suits were weak when compared to super experts from races like the Skywings, the biggest use of the suit was not about individual strength, but overall strength. Through their mechatronic suits, they were able to help every Pocket Terran become a decent warrior!
!!
Through the strength of those mechatronic suits, the Pocket Terrans were finally able to rise up. They had constructed a temple and altar to mechatronics knowledge, enshrining the book and its author, Misei Izumi, as the true G.o.d of the Pocket Terrans. It was Snow’s family who had inherited the important role of venerating their G.o.d.
One evening, as the setting sun basked the land in its golden glow, Snow had as normal gone through the wors.h.i.+p of their G.o.d as dusk fell, and was seated on the steps to the temple in a daze.
A gust of wind blew past, and the Book of the Mechanical G.o.d had swiftly floated up into the air. Snow had been stunned. He had used all his feeble strength to try and stop it, and after a brief fight, he discovered that he was having an encounter with one of the magical and sapient creatures in the universe: it was a Wind Elemental, a relative of the Water and Fire Elementals, a primal being of the Elements.
Snow had collapsed on the ground and pleaded to the Wind Elemental.”As long as you don’t take away the Book of the Mechanical G.o.d, I can teach you!”
The Wind Elemental had considered that even if she took away the book, she might not understand it. Thus, she agreed to the condition Snow had put forth, and from that day onward, Snow and the Wind Elemental had stayed in the temple. After three years of tireless study, the Wind Elemental finally understood its contents, and had fallen deeply in love with the weak and kind Snow.
Originally, the Wind Elemental only had her eye on the Book of the Mechanical G.o.d because her body was made of air and she had no corporeal body of her own. No one could see her, and she would usually be inadvertently ignored by others. She wanted to construct herself a mechatronics suit, and finally let people know she existed.
With Snow’s help, the Wind Elemental successfully built her suit. Snow had fallen head over heels for her as well, and followed the Wind Elemental together to leave his universe, arriving at the Great Chiliocosm. Here, the Wind Elemental found plenty of precious medicines and improved Snow’s health over time, extending his life.
Unfortunately, it was the Wind Elemental who gradually weakened as days went by.
After many years, Snow buried the Wind Elemental’s mechatronic suit, and returned to the Pocket Terran’s Universe, resuming his role as the prophet.
Before dying, the Wind Elemental had left her strongest power to Snow, allowing him to hear voices in the wind despite being tens of thousands kilometers away. Thus, the people of his race also called him the Windspeaker.
Based on his understanding of the Great Chiliocosm, Snow had learned that there was an even more exciting world beyond the known universes, and so he had brought his fellow Pocket Terrans to the Celestial Path, and slowly they became a force to be reckoned with.
Snow very respectfully apologized to the Skywings, “I am very sorry. It was I who told Chu Tianlong that the Skywings had departed the Great Chiliocosm, which was why they acted disrespectfully toward you all. I never would have imagined that Chu Tianlong would be so arrogant. Perhaps it is because we Pocket Terrans have been bullied far too much that we wished we could become strong and powerful.”
Xia Geng nodded, “I know you’re different from Chu Tianlong. The father and son have already paid the price for that. Let us just let bygones be bygones, so please tell us the truth.”
Snow shut his eyes and said in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “Three months ago, I heard some voices. Xia Fei seemed to have found the entrance to h.e.l.l, and then there was a bout of confusion and chaos, most likely from the entrance automatically opening up and sucking them in.”
“Dammit!” Xia Yu cursed. But the reason he cursed was not because of how terrifying h.e.l.l was, but that Xia Fan had gone there without bringing him along!. That was very unbrotherly of him!
Xia Geng was silent for a very long time. “Looks like we’ll have to return to the Desolate Valley Universe and kill some h.e.l.l Ghosts, so we can s.n.a.t.c.h one alive.”
Xia Fan was startled. He hurriedly asked, learning that Xia Geng and the others had first fought against the forces of Darkness and then the h.e.l.l Ghosts while there. They had defeated the former at first, but because there were too many of the latter, the fight had resulted in Xia Geng and his team retreating.
“We caught one.”
Xia Fan told everyone about what happened when he went to the Desolate Valley Universe, but because of the chaotic timeline effect of the Cosmic Gates, Xia Fan had only encountered two h.e.l.l Ghosts when he arrived. He had ended up killing one and capturing the other.
“You sure live up to your name as Xia Fei’s son!” Everyone was thrilled. All of them were very well acquainted with just how powerful the h.e.l.l Ghosts were, and it was very impressive that Xia Fan managed to kill one and capture the other.
——
Soon after, the h.e.l.l Ghost and the two Foxes were suffering. Screams could be heard in the room as the warriors pulled apart and reattached the h.e.l.l Ghost repeatedly, like he was a robot.
“Forget it. Those two Foxes should have already told us everything they know, so let’s just spare them.” Xia Fan spoke fair judgment and the two Foxes instantly teared up, praising Xia Fan for his benevolence. They had profoundly experienced what it meant to be saved from the brink of catastrophe!.
Dragging their beaten bodies, the Ice and Fire Foxes did everything they could to serve tea and drinks to the Skywings, treating the Skywing Wolfpack as their ancestors.
—
For many days, the Skywings sought out various experts to deal with the h.e.l.l Ghost, who refused to speak a word of truth. At the same time, the rumor that h.e.l.l existed spread like wildfire across the Great Chiliocosm, creating an uproar.
The experts living across the Great Chiliocosm began spreading rumors that the Darkness had spread from h.e.l.l to the Celestial Path, and that even many of the famous Skywings had fallen, having been sucked into an endless abyss, never to be reborn.
Xia Geng brought his men to properly take care of the people who spread such nonsense the moment he caught wind of it, but that did not stop the rumors from spreading. The beings that lived on the Celestial Path all felt fear, afraid that the power wielded by the Darkness would one day conquer all life across all worlds!
——
On the afternoon of the fifth day, the h.e.l.l Ghost finally could not take any more of the torture that the Skywing Wolfpack had put him through and died, not revealing the truth about h.e.l.l to the very moment he pa.s.sed. Like a wild beast who had been forced into a corner, staring deathly at those that were interrogating him with murderous eyes, remembering their faces and voices to the end.
“It’s an unusual being, alright. This is the first time I’ve met someone so tough,” Xia Yu remarked.
Thereafter, the prophet of the Pocket Terran Snow was invited out again, this time to join the Skywings so he could use his ability as the Windspeaker to provide Skywings with information. Snow agreed to their invitation after spending some time pondering it.
“Let’s set off!” Xia Geng shouted with a raise of his arm, “There must be someone across the Great Chiliocosm that knows the truth, so let’s head to those universes with the most powerful demonic forces!”