Distrust Is the Greatest Trust

"Xiao Ming, aren't you surprised?" Chen Li asked incredulously, pressing his face close to Chen Ming's and carefully studying his expression, afraid he might miss something.

"Surprised? Of course I'm surprised. The truth differs so much from what the sect has always preached. How could I not be surprised?" Chen Ming pushed Chen Li's face away and replied as though it were only natural.

"But doesn't this all make sense?"

"The first Angel God lived far too long before our time. That Qian Renxue was closer to us, but even she was from Ten Thousand Years Ago."

"Shrek worships the Sea God because the Sea God truly founded Shrek back then, left Shrek an inheritance, and is still protecting Shrek in the God Realm. But hadn't the Angel God already fallen, becoming incapable of doing anything?"

"Even if our sect's ancestors were once part of Spirit Hall, throughout the ten thousand years of our sect's history, we never received any favor from either Spirit Hall or the Angel God. We even had to face the continent's greatest power head-on. Under such circumstances, maintaining a pure faith was already strange enough in itself."

"If that faith endured, there had to be a reason for it—either something unknown, or benefits at stake."

"Now that I've heard the real story, I only feel that while it's somewhat ironic, it makes perfect sense when you think about it."

"Then, Xiao Ming, have you never believed in the Angel God?" Chen Ping interjected.

"Uh, a little, I guess," Chen Ming answered awkwardly yet politely.

To put it this way, if he had never read the Douluo Continent series—or rather, the first installment of Douluo Continent—then perhaps, during his childhood in this life, he really would have been influenced by the Dragon Elephant Sect's environment into worshipping the Angel God, that "perfect" loser.

But unfortunately, he really had read the first Douluo Continent. He knew what kind of person Qian Renxue was, knew what had happened back then, knew how many times Qian Renxue had gone easy on Tang San, knew exactly how Spirit Hall had lost to Tang San, knew how Spirit Hall's excellent hand had been torn to pieces, and knew how the overall situation had been turned around.

Under such circumstances, the most Chen Ming could do was give Qian Renxue some face—call her the Angel God in public, pay respects during festivals, and claim to believe in the Angel God whenever someone asked.

As for making Chen Ming genuinely worship that divine being Qian Renxue...

Put it this way: if the Angel God Position were passed on to him, Spirit Hall's wealth were inherited by him, and Qian Renxue married him as well, then he could consider it.

Any other arrangement was out of the question.

Chen Ming felt that instead of believing Qian Renxue might perform a miracle, he might as well pray to the God of Destruction and see if the God of Destruction could offer him some help. If that failed, he could pray to Tang San instead... Chen Ming meant the Tang—Gu Yue Fangyuan—San from a higher dimension. Even believing in some ethereal force of higher-dimensional intervention was more reliable than believing in Qian Renxue, who was unquestionably a disaster.

In short, judging by the classifications of believers' faith found in Western fantasy novels, Chen Ming was not merely a shallow believer—he could barely even be considered a false believer. He was a Little Blackie of Qian Renxue; he had simply hidden it well enough that he had not let the cat out of the bag.

Hearing Chen Ming's words, Chen Ping and Chen Li found it hard to hold themselves together. The two looked at each other, not knowing what to say. In any case, their feelings were rather complicated.

Although their family's true nature had already been exposed and they knew their relatives did not believe merely for the sake of faith, after being steeped in that atmosphere for so many years, the two of them could at least be considered believers of the Angel God. During every festival, they had sincerely prayed before the Angel God's statue.

Faced with a junior who was either untainted by the mud or simply had an utterly bizarre way of thinking, neither of them could say they were happy, nor could they say they were angry. It was simply hard to process.

"Forget it... I never expected your mental resilience to be this strong, Xiao Ming. Since you already have your own thoughts, then we two old men won't say much more."

"We'll rest in the Star Dou Great Forest tonight and return to the Dragon Elephant Sect tomorrow."

Chen Ping stroked his beard and spoke weakly.

"Sect Master, according to the Dragon Elephant Sect's rules, shouldn't Xiao Ming be taking a master next? You said some time ago that you were considering it. How is that consideration going now? Tell Xiao Ming about it, and let me offer my advice as well."

"Taking a master?" Chen Ming turned to Chen Li, his eyes carrying both anticipation and confusion.

Within the Dragon Elephant Sect, one's lineage under a master was extremely important. The importance of a good master was even considered to surpass that of one's parents.

This tradition was closely tied to the Dragon Elephant Sect's history of becoming a sect. Even the Chen Surname borne by the Dragon Elephant Sect today was intimately connected to the words "master-disciple lineage."

After all, the Elephant Armored Sect bore the Huyan surname, while the Holy Dragon Sect bore the Tuoba surname. If it had not been for something of enormous significance, neither family would have agreed to change their surname to Chen.

Ten Thousand Years Ago, Spirit Hall was defeated, and the Soul Masters affiliated with Spirit Hall naturally suffered purges. Those Soul Masters who had charged into battle for Spirit Hall were especially targeted. The Dragon Elephant Legion, formed from the White Armored Earth Dragon and Diamond Mammoth families, had been overwhelmingly dominant against low-level Soul Masters and armies on the battlefield, so they naturally became a primary target.

The upper echelons of both the Holy Dragon Sect and the Elephant Armored Sect were wiped out in battle, while their middle ranks were nearly severed as well. Only a tiny number of clan members escaped the purge and hid away in remote corners of the Douluo Continent, barely clinging to life.

Since the two families were tied to the same fate and neither could betray the other, and since their attributes nearly overlapped, the surviving fugitives from both families naturally chose to band together for warmth under outside pressure, gathering together to survive.

As generation after generation passed, the Tuoba Family of the White Armored Earth Dragon and the Huyan Family of the Diamond Mammoth gradually merged, forming the earliest prototype of the Dragon Elephant Sect.

The first Vajra Dragon Elephant Martial Soul appeared three thousand years after the Heavenfall Era—the shattering of the Angel God Position, or in other words, the Battle of Jialing Pass. Rejected by the outside world, the Dragon Elephant Sect, still known as the Dragon Elephant Family at the time, simply lacked the resources to support its own cultivation. The combined population of the two families was fewer than a hundred, and their strongest member was merely a high-level Soul Sage.

Under such circumstances, a bearer of a mutated Martial Soul emerged within the family.

This mutated Martial Soul possessed the physical qualities of both the White Armored Earth Dragon and Diamond Mammoth, two powerful Martial Souls, along with the supreme talent of Innate Full Soul Power. In just over twenty years, he became a quasi-Soul Sage. However, while hunting for his Seventh Soul Ring, his origins were exposed, and he was attacked by Shrek and followers of the Sea God.

The first bearer of the Vajra Dragon Elephant Martial Soul was hunted across the entire continent. By a stroke of fate, he encountered a Super Douluo whose Martial Soul was likewise a top-tier elephant Martial Soul with dragon blood, won the other party's recognition, and was accepted as his disciple.