Lying Low

Once he had sorted out his thoughts, there was nothing left to be anxious about.

He instructed Quintessa to keep watch over Cangmang Star at all times, automatically analyze the situation, and notify him whenever he needed to manifest his divinity.

Then he had her activate detection mode and constantly monitor the dangers around him.

Having gone without rest for some time and mentally exhausted after withdrawing from his semi-omnipotent state, Tang Chuan slept soundly.

In his dream.

He returned to Azure Star, reunited with family and friends, saw familiar faces, and leisurely enjoyed that tranquil comfort.

His best friend threw an arm around his shoulders, firing off witty three-character curses as they chatted merrily and kept erasing each other's household registration records.

His father stroked the white hair at his temples and earnestly introduced him to blind date prospects.

His grandmother, who had waited at the village entrance, had finally seen her grandson again. She slaughtered chickens and ducks, and the rich chicken soup practically melted Tang Chuan's stomach.

His mother drove over and picked him up. His grandmother waved kindly from the village entrance, telling him to remember to visit often.

His mother, in the driver's seat, seemed to want to say something but held back. A faint sorrow appeared to linger between her slightly furrowed brows.

Tang Chuan turned his head and met her sidelong gaze. "What is it?"

His mother forced a smile and shook her head. "Nothing. I just feel inexplicably sad. Chuan'er, has something happened recently?"

Tang Chuan was confused. "No. Why would you think that?"

His mother stared absently at the road ahead, gently shaking her head. "It's nothing. Mom just feels that there's suddenly a distance between us. I don't know where it came from, but I can't shake it. You're like... like you aren't in this world, yet you're standing right before me. I want to see the real you. Where exactly did you go? Ever since that day, you've changed.

"When I look at you, Mom can't help feeling heartbroken, just like when you left home to attend university in another city.

"Are you okay, Chuan'er..."

His mother lifted her head and glanced at the blue sky and white clouds, as though her feelings had crossed the endless cosmos and reached the real Tang Chuan.

"Are you okay, Chuan'er..."

"Are you okay, Chuan'er..."

Tang Chuan's thoughts were tangled around those whispered words, and he could not stop the aching anxiety in his heart.

Then he suddenly came back to himself.

Tang Chuan realized that he had actually been watching everything happening to the Tang Chuan in the passenger seat from a third-person perspective all along.

He "woke up" in the dream. He wanted to reach out and smooth the messy hair at his mother's temples, only to find that he had no hands. He existed only as something intangible.

He wanted to shout, but in the end, amid a sensation of the world spinning, he gradually drifted away from that world.

"Chuan'er, I can feel you getting farther and farther away."

His mother's words tore at Tang Chuan's heart, yet there was nothing he could do. His shouts could not become sound.

Huff!

Tang Chuan on Heka Star suddenly sat upright, cold sweat soaking his clothes.

The heart-wrenching emotions from the dream still lingered. Tang Chuan touched the corner of his eye and murmured, "Was it real or fake... Normally, with the Divine Core suppressing the Sea of Consciousness, I shouldn't dream for no reason anymore."

Gods usually did not dream, because their thoughts were powerful enough that they would not easily slip into an unconscious state.

Dreams scattered their mental energy. Even unconscious fluctuations were enough to affect an entire starry sky.

Even a lower god's dream possessed the power to create a real world out of thin air.

And because Tang Chuan could not bear to let his parents and family suffer the pain of separation, he had dreamed of Azure Star, creating a "Clone Tang Chuan" to replace him and fulfill his filial duties...

It was real to an outrageous degree...

Only his closest mother had sensed through intuition that he was not the real him...

Tang Chuan muttered to himself, "A dream enhanced by the Divine Core... Could what I saw have been a real corner of Azure Star?"

Quintessa's projection appeared beside the bed.

She asked in surprise, "Master, did you have a nightmare? You were sleeping deeply, so I didn't dare wake you rashly."

Tang Chuan shook his head, gradually easing the sorrow clenched in his chest. "It's nothing. I just had a very real dream. It wasn't exactly a nightmare, I suppose, if Mom hadn't noticed...

"Ah, forget it. Quintessa, let me see what's happening in the Cosmic Sandbox. I can feel countless tiny wisps of Power of Faith continuously flowing toward my Divine Core."

Quintessa nodded. "All right. You only need to activate the Divine Transformation Device yourself."

Tang Chuan nodded, and his divine consciousness sank into the Cosmic Sandbox once more.

Cangmang Star.

Canghuang Continent.

Under a thousandfold Time Flow Rate, Tang Chuan had only slept once, yet this world had already undergone earth-shaking changes.

A day on Cangmang Star lasted roughly twenty-seven hours. One orbit around its star took approximately two hundred and eighty-six days, which was one year on Cangmang Star.

At this moment, more than a year had passed since Tang Chuan's last manifestation of divinity.

His great deeds had spread far and wide across Canghuang Continent through Hu'erlun and Loserius, the two Divine Apostles.

And the Divine Gifts they had received from the gods were the best proof.

Other than through divine intervention, mortals could never obtain power stronger than Ancient Fierce Beasts.

That was where Tang Chuan's Power of Faith came from.

Throughout the territories of Hu'erlun and Loserius, divine totems and statues of gods sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, creating countless believers.

As for that fellow Kubana...

After Tang Chuan looked into his situation, he was left somewhat speechless.

But on second thought, he felt that a wise man truly was a wise man.

The course of events had gone roughly like this.

After Hu'erlun had been granted extraordinary strength and defense by the god, he spent some time adapting to his divine power. During that period, he had even killed with his bare hands a massive fierce beast that had once threatened the Eagle Tribe.

This made Hu'erlun deeply realize what his power truly meant in this world.

That very day, while some of the Barbaric Tribe's warriors had gone out hunting, Hu'erlun charged directly into the heart of his enemy's territory!

He tore down cities and uprooted strongholds!

It was a one-sided slaughter. Strength and defense beyond those of fierce beasts, combined with human intelligence and agility, allowed him to crush the Barbaric Tribe through sheer physical force.

When the elite warriors who had gone hunting returned, all they saw was a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

Their totem had withered.

The bodies of their tribesmen lay strewn everywhere.

And what awaited them was a humanoid fierce beast whose hatred could not be erased.

In the end.

Hu'erlun, panting and covered in blood, sat outside the Barbaric Tribe and watched the raging flames carry his hatred into the distance.

Drinking the blood of his enemies and eating the flesh of his foes, he slept only once before the wounds on his body had almost fully healed, and his depleted strength had filled his body once more.

Hu'erlun spread his arms, looked up at the heavens, and roared wildly, "My tribesmen, these ruins shall honor your heroic spirits! My Lord Pantheon, this continent shall be my gift to you!"

In merely a few months.

Relying on his powerful body and the legitimate title of "Chosen One," Hu'erlun subdued dozens of tribes, large and small, in the surrounding region.

He did not slaughter wantonly. Even when facing resistance, he only killed their leaders.

After witnessing the miracles and power displayed by Hu'erlun, everyone else submitted to him.

But one day, when Hu'erlun led a group of Eagle Alliance warriors to conquer the Blazing Flame Tribe in the east, the seemingly invincible Hu'erlun suffered his first setback since receiving divine favor.

The Blazing Flame Tribe seemed to have known long ago that a Chosen One had appeared in the west, sweeping through the western lands with unstoppable force and becoming the uncrowned king of that region.

When Hu'erlun and his elite subordinates arrived at the Blazing Flame Tribe, before he could even declare that he had come on behalf of the gods to conquer the world—

The Blazing Flame Tribe flung open its gates. Amid the bewildered gazes of the Eagle Alliance, more than a dozen colossal ancient beasts, each larger than a house, charged out from within. They were legendary wild beasts acknowledged across Canghuang Continent as impossible for humans to defeat, creatures that lurked in deep mountains and vast marshes.

Most importantly, these ancient beasts could coordinate in simple ways and possessed intelligence comparable to that of humans.

With the Blazing Flame Tribe supporting them with arrows, they routed Hu'erlun's warriors in an instant.

The casualties were devastating.

Anyone struck by those fierce beasts suffered broken muscles and shattered bones, dying or being severely injured.

And even with spears in hand, the mortals could not penetrate the fierce beasts' scales or harm their internal organs.

Hu'erlun could not hold the line alone.

Though his strength surpassed that of any single ancient beast, he was still only one man.

After brutally injuring several ancient beasts, Hu'erlun himself was badly wounded as well.

He returned in defeat!

Thanks to his powerful self-healing ability, Hu'erlun returned to peak condition in just a few days.

Yet the terrifying sight of the fierce beasts charging through the ranks still filled him with fear.

Moreover, during those days, the Blazing Flame Tribe, relying on their Great Shaman's ability to control ancient beasts, had imitated Hu'erlun and formed the "Blazing Flame Alliance" across the eastern lands in a very short time!

This left Hu'erlun somewhat frustrated. He knew his power was insufficient to confront the Blazing Flame Tribe head-on.

Thus, under these circumstances, Hu'erlun summoned his strategist, a renowned pioneer within a thousand miles, the one who had discovered fire and spread knowledge of plants.

Kubana!

Yes, Kubana had kept completely quiet. He showed none of the arrogance one might expect from a Chosen One, and he had not even revealed to the outside world that he had also met a god!

When Hu'erlun led his army to subdue Kubana's tribe, the fellow immediately surrendered.

Without a word of objection, he directly led his tribesmen into Hu'erlun's Eagle Alliance!

Hu'erlun himself had grown up under the protection of fire, learning knowledge of wild plants from the plant classification templates.

He also held great respect for the wise man Kubana!

From the beginning, he had never truly intended to use force against him. Yet he had not expected Kubana to be so tactful and choose to join him directly.

Hu'erlun was extremely pleased and immediately promoted the wise man to shaman of the Eagle Alliance, assisting him in spreading the glory of God of War, Pantheon.

Tang Chuan had been wrong back then. How could Hu'erlun count as a traitor?

Kubana was the real traitor!

This traitor never mentioned that he was an apostle of the God of Truth. Every day, dressed in the robes of the Eagle Alliance's Great Shaman, he kept phrases like "Praise Pantheon," "Pantheon endures forever," and "Might and Defense Supreme" constantly on his lips!

As for the God of Truth Aitejuli, the embodiment of wisdom and order—what was that?

Never heard of it!

I'm the Great Shaman of the Eagle Alliance under Chief Hu'erlun, apostle chosen by the God of War, and I'm absolutely loyal to the God of War!

In one word: lying low.