A New Prosperity, an Absurd Faith

What a coincidence, it's the Tower of Reason again!

It seems that wherever there are deities, there will always be these Scholar.

Wait a minute!

The Puppeteer said that the Fungus-Footed People's tribe also Tower of Reason, could it be...?

Cheng Shi's heart skipped a beat. He held his breath and took small steps closer to the box. Only after confirming that the box was not a trap did he finally decide to open it and take a look.

He first glanced at the two giants still swinging at each other, then let out a heavy breath and carefully activated it.

There were no specimens in the box, only a thin, yellowed piece of paper.

Cheng Shi was taken aback. He picked up the paper and saw that it was covered with characters he didn't recognize. It didn't seem to be the script of the Grand Inquisition or the Tower of Reason, but rather a script he had never seen before.

Even though he didn't recognize the words, he guessed what the paper was: it was a contract!

Because at the very bottom of this paper, he saw the oath symbols and Divinity remnants used by the Isle of Hope for contracts.

However, within this remaining Divinity, one trace is [Decay], while the other is... [prosperity]!

Cheng Shi was astonished. On Eupusca's territory, he had actually found a covenant between "Decay" and "prosperity"!

What exactly is written in this?!

Cheng Shi was so curious that he almost forgot where he was. He looked the paper over from all angles, and while looking at it, he was mentally pleading with the great Lips of Foolish Play to help him.

Mouth Brother is kind-hearted after all, and it agreed.

So Cheng Shi began to recite earnestly:

"To the supreme and great [Desolate Walker], this covenant is offered as a testament to our most sincere devotion as the abandoned [Prosperity] Believer!"

If you keep your promise and shelter my poor people in this Decay forest, I will call upon all those who survive to worship you for generations to come, and offer up the flesh and blood of prosperity at all times!

Dedicated to the new... [prosperity] that has once again sheltered us, the Fungus-Footed People!

The signatory, helpless, humble, and devout, Abusfu.

After reading "The Lips of Foolish Play" only once, Cheng Shi's mind went blank.

What does "new prosperity" mean?

Could it be that what protects the Fungus-Footed People isn't prosperity, but this...?

Cheng Shi turned around in a daze and found that the "Prosperity" True God in the eyes of the Fungus-Footed People, Eupusca, was being brutally beaten by the Giant Bear that Hong Lin had transformed into!

Baldness is really something...

No, now is not the time for Cheng to boast!

How can Eupusca be considered "prosperous"?

Cheng Shi's mind was suddenly filled with absurdity. He wanted to know what had led to this ridiculous contract, but before he could sort out his thoughts, Amir woke up at his feet. When Amir saw the corpses of his people stuck in the ground all around him, this warrior who dared to dedicate everything to "prosperity" didn't seem so brave anymore.

He covered his eyes in extreme terror and screamed, startling Cheng Shi.

Cheng Shi quickly put away the contract, covered Amir's mouth, and shook his head at him with a serious expression.

"Bald-headed sir... this is..."

The warrior moved again the moment he saw the Divine Envoy. Although he did not know how he got here, it seemed that as long as the Divine Envoy was still there, it meant that His protection was still there, which also meant that his people were still being watched over by Him!

Looking at the devout light in Amir's eyes, Cheng Shi pursed his lips, unsure of what to say.

He turned Amir's head so he couldn't see the battle behind him, and only whispered a question:

"Was your tribe's first chieftain named... Abusfu?"

Amir paused for a moment, seemingly puzzled as to why the Divine Envoy would know the name of the first chieftain. But in an instant, he nodded frantically, because he suddenly realized that it would be strange if the Divine Envoy didn't know the name of the first chieftain!

After all, this bald man in front of him was sent by Him to deliver the divine oracle of forgiveness, and should know everything about the Fungus-Footed People!

After receiving Amir's affirmative response, Cheng Shi laughed, a laugh utterly sarcastic.

He knocked out the bewildered Amir again, and then unfolded the contract.

So, is this the Faith that the Fungus-Footed People have refused to abandon for generations?

To dedicate one's entire life, or even half a lifetime filled with trembling fear, to Faith Upsca, who betrayed Decay and embraced decay, only to be killed by Decay and reduced to a soulless Eupusca!

Is it absurd? Is it ridiculous? Is it laughable?

What a devoted Believer in prosperity, preaching and singing hymns deep within the Sighing Forest!

What a brilliant and cunning Fungus-Footed People, for the sake of his tribe's survival, didn't hesitate to tell blasphemous lies!

Perhaps the Fungus-Footed People will never have imagined that this patriarch, whom they have praised for hundreds of years, had already dragged all his people into the Abyss of blasphemy hundreds of years ago!

He used a method of Faith grafting that Mortals wouldn't even dare to imagine to find a new "prosperity" for all the Fungus-Footed People, a place that could shelter them in the Sighing Forest. And this so-called "prosperity" was none other Eupusca "Desolate Walker" who relentlessly slaughtered the Fungus-Footed People every day!

That's a brilliant tactic!

They stole the Faith of prosperity from the land protected by Decay!

Yes, I should have thought of that long ago. How could true prosperity possibly use the power of Decay to protect a group of exiled criminals?

Only Decay can give rise to Decay!

But this Trials is called "The Spark Will Die"? Is He really that forgiving? Even though these Fungus-Footed People have been exiled for hundreds of years and have been misled for hundreds of years, are they still His sparks?

No wonder Hong Lin said that the "prosperity" on the Fungus-Footed People was pitifully little. How could it not be pitiful? Because this was not a power bestowed by Him at all!

?

Wait a minute, if Faith has already been grafted, then where does the power of "prosperity" in the Fungus-Footed People come from?

It couldn't have been bestowed by Eupusca. It was Emissary Desolate Walker of Decay separated from its body, a wanderer of the land of Decay, its body reeking of Decay. How could it possibly still possess the power of prosperity from before?

Just as I was thinking this, the battle situation took another dramatic Change.

Unable to defeat the enemy, Hong Lin finally lost her temper. She took out a porcelain jar from her personal space and, before Eupusca could launch another attack, tilted her head back and poured the honey from the jar into her mouth.

Cheng Shi stared in disbelief at this scene, fearing that the Giant Bear might choke to death on the battlefield from the continuous flow of honey.

Wait, why are people eating dessert during a break in the fight?

Sis, are you serious?

Hong Lin really needs to start getting serious.

The Giant Bear, having quickly consumed the honey, began to glow with a green light in its eyes. This green was different from the cold, pale green in the eyes of the Great One on the Bone Throne; it was a vibrant emerald green full of Vitality. Its two crystalline, emerald-like eyes snapped open, and with a deafening roar, the Giant Bear charged at Eupusca once more.

The two enormous creatures collided with a deafening roar. Hong Lin raised his hand and slammed it into Eupusca's chest, knocking the withered tree spirit to the ground. Not only that, but the claws, surging with green light, finally pierced Eupusca's wrinkled skin for the first time, tearing blood from its chest.

But Hong Lin and Cheng Shi saw the splattered blood, the scene fell An Jing for a moment.

The Giant Bear stopped in its tracks, Clown fell silent.

Because what they saw was Eupusca's blood, which was sprayed everywhere, was clearly not red blood, but pools and streaks of blue fluorescent liquid.

Blue! Fluorescent! Liquid!

Cheng Shi chuckled and picked up the abandoned lamp in his hand.

The Everlasting Desolate Lamp... so that's how it's meant to never disappear.

No wonder it gets reset on the altar no matter where it's lost; it turns out someone is constantly creating it with their own blood...

That makes sense. Since Faith has been grafted onto something else, then the gifts from "gods" must naturally be counterfeit.

Heh, no wonder Eupusca can always find the Fungus-Footed People. It's not chasing "Decay" or hunting "prosperity." It just smells its own scent and then, according to the "contract," retrieves its own Sacrifice.

So, where does forgiveness come from, and where does hope come from?

He thought it was outrageous enough that he was impersonating Divine Envoy, but he never expected that the first chieftain of the Fungus-Footed People would find a monster to impersonate his people's god!

What a brilliant move!

Regardless of which deity was blasphemed, judging from the current state of the Fungus-Footed People, Abusfu has achieved his goal.

At least in this Sighing Forest, filled with Decay, the Fungus-Footed People survived.

Even though they didn't live freely, even though they lived in fear, as Believer in "prosperity," they did indeed endure a long enough period of time in this "Decay" woodland.

Moreover, he bore the brunt of this blasphemous crime almost entirely by himself. All the surviving Fungus-Footed People were completely unaware of this, and even believed that their Faith was in true "prosperity."

Perhaps this is what the saying "ignorance is no excuse" means?

The sin of ignorance of the Fungus-Footed People was ultimately forgiven by [Prosperity], as can be seen from the proposition of this Trials.

So, it seems He is quite forgiving.

After the First shock subsided, Cheng Shi and Hong Lin Giant Bear a glance, both seeing the sigh in each other's eyes.

The dying embers have finally been found, so what does it mean to "ignite a prairie fire"?

Surely we can't expect more lives to come to Faith in this... new "prosperity"?

However, Cheng Shi wanted to know something else more than that: what benefits did the contract that Eupusca had upheld for hundreds of years actually bring to this "Desolate Walker" himself?

Is it stealing the Divine Authority of prosperity?

It is in place of [Decay]...

Or is it for its own sake?