From the end of the world

Chapter 646 Bloodbath at the Shelter
Unlike some of the religious believers I encountered during my travels across the country a long time ago, Jiao Shu, a believer in deities, revealed a degree of objectivity based on knowledge when analyzing the relationship between deities and believers.

However, knowledge doesn't always temper fanaticism; there are cases where the more one knows, the more fear and worship arise. If Asaho's father had a greater understanding of the Witcher world, he probably wouldn't have dared to threaten me like that; and the believers of the gods in Rozan knew a great deal about the Great Impermanence, yet it didn't affect their worship of him in the slightest.

The gods do not actually need believers—this is Jiao Shu's claim, and it is also a fact I have encountered over time.

While a community of believers can serve as an anchor for the divine, preventing the loss of the Great Impermanence (a concept in Chinese mythology associated with death), and this was my initial motivation for allowing Mr. Zhu and his followers to develop my community, I later learned that the role of a community of believers as an anchor for the Great Impermanence is quite questionable. At best, it can only add icing on the cake; it cannot be relied upon for crucial support in times of need. Therefore, all Great Impermanence have anchoring mechanisms other than a community of believers, and I am no exception.

Throughout history, none of the great impermanent beings who have fallen into oblivion have done so due to the loss of their followers. On the other hand, there are the most extreme examples, such as the Wheel-Turning King—who not only failed to gain connections through his followers, but was even doubted by most people in Luoshan. The fact that this great impermanent being has not fallen into oblivion to this day demonstrates that the key to preventing oblivion lies not in the number of followers, but in possessing the power to anchor oneself to one's own connections.

Strictly speaking, believers are not entirely without value to the Great Impermanence, but that is not "value as believers" but "value as consumables"—isn't the current Peach Blossom Village Master Meng Zhang doing this precisely to collect thirty million human souls?
On one side are gods who don't need believers, and on the other side are believers who know they are not needed—why do believers continue to exist?

"Gods don't need our faith, but we need to have faith in gods," Jiao Shu said.

I pressed further: "Is it because faith can bring strength?"

"That's how it should seem to you people who don't have any faith in God."

Jiao Shu was oblivious to the implicit bias in my words and could only follow my lead in replying: "Faith isn't something everyone can understand, but self-interest can. As long as one sincerely believes in Xuanming, one can establish a connection with Xuanming's Sambhogakaya and receive blessings from the unseen realm—this is a reason we often used when persuading others to join Xuanming's faith, but..."

She also seemed unable to clearly describe her faith. It seems contradictory that a devout believer couldn't express her feelings clearly, but perhaps that's not surprising.

Analyzing and organizing emotions in one's heart, transforming them into spoken language and written words, especially into "words that even the indifferent can empathize with," is itself a deconstruction of one's own emotions. Rational deconstruction and fanatical religious belief are often at odds.

On the contrary, I, as an observer, can analyze her emotions relatively clearly by observing her soul.

Her reverence for the impermanent is very similar to the mortals' reverence for heaven and earth.

To explain the unpredictable power of nature, people in ancient times personified natural phenomena. Storms occurred because the wind and rain gods were unleashing their power, and earthquakes and droughts happened because corresponding deities were bringing disaster. Thus, people feared the gods of heaven and earth, and from this fear arose worship, trying every means to offer sacrifices and pray for peace between heaven and earth.

The demon hunters know the truth about the gods, that the Great Impermanence are essentially beings wielding immense power, and that any one of them possesses the power to destroy the world. They know that everything in their lives is built upon the whims of the Great Impermanence. Like mortals of ancient times, they are filled with immense fear of the Great Impermanence, and instinctively worship this colossal, all-encompassing power.

No matter how many sacrifices are made, droughts and floods will still come when they are meant to, and earthquakes will still occur when they are meant to. Countless people have died from these disasters throughout history, yet people still continue to worship and offer sacrifices to the gods of heaven and earth.

Even the most capricious and unrestrained fate has its worship and faith. Almost no one would say that the Great Impermanence (Da Wuchang) has done anything wrong, because the Great Impermanence is the benchmark of right and wrong, the center of morality. Even the Great Impermanence's unpredictable nature is itself part of its divine image, one of the fundamental reasons why believers hold it in such awe and reverence.

They consciously or unconsciously accepted this logic—that gods have the right to wield their power freely throughout the world. If they happen to be caught in the crossfire and die, it's their own fault. People hate others after being persecuted, but no one hates the storm after being caught in its crossfire. In their view, the Great Impermanence is not an existence in the same dimension as themselves, but rather the natural embodiment of the impermanence of all things.

Based on my occasional observations of the conversations and behaviors of some of the demon hunters from Luoshan, I even suspect that they believe the Great Impermanence is not essentially a physical being living in the real world, but rather a metaphysical concept and moral system. The Great Impermanence appearing in the real world would be seen as a manifestation of that abstract concept, the so-called incarnation. Perhaps some people might even see me that way.

If the Great Impermanence (Da Wuchang) could be so easily swayed, hesitating because of the lives that might be affected along its path, it would be like a natural storm changing its course because of pedestrians. Perhaps in some people's eyes, that would diminish the Great Impermanence's divinity. After resting, Jiao Shu continued leading me forward, and after a long while, we arrived at a subway station.

"We're here, this is it," Jiao Shu said.

The subway station was connected to a shopping mall, and she led me into the mall's basement level. There were many restaurants there, and one could imagine the bustling scene of countless pedestrians entering and leaving the subway station, lured in by the dazzling array of food. But right now, the place was deathly silent, creating a chilling contrast.

After passing through a series of passageways, we arrived at the subway station platform. Jiao Shu explained to me on the way that the Xuanming believers, who were lurking throughout the city, had restored some of the subway lines to operation. If this place were attacked by the Peach Blossom Spring monks, the survivors gathered here could be quickly evacuated via the subway trains. The extensive underground transportation network of the subway lines was also a key asset for the Xuanming believers' operations.

However, what Jiao Shu said was quite different from what I saw.

When we entered the place, we were met with an extremely chaotic and bloody scene.

The platform was riddled with craters left by intense fighting, and lay countless human remains. Many of these bodies were not intact, with severed limbs and mangled remains, pools of blood and entrails everywhere, and the air thick with the stench of blood, flesh, and half-digested excrement.

Based on a rough estimate of the "volume," there are approximately seventy human corpses here. Adding the number of survivors Jiao Shu mentioned on the road and the number of Xuanming believers together, the total is roughly the same. Besides the human dead, some monster corpses can also be seen mixed in. This platform has become a terrifying and nauseating mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

The corpses were incredibly fresh, even steaming with life. In the pools of blood and flesh scattered like piles of garbage, a dozen or so living monsters were feasting on the fresh flesh and entrails. As we abruptly entered this "restaurant," they all stopped tearing and chewing, staring at us with chilling, unanimous eyes.

"What...what's going on..." Jiao Shu muttered in disbelief.

At that moment, a surprised voice came from the depths of the mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, "...So there were still some who escaped the net."

Jiao Shu instinctively looked in that direction and saw a monster rise from the pile of flesh. Unlike the surrounding monsters, this one had a human-like shape, stood three meters tall, had crimson skin, and was covered in explosive muscles. Its head wasn't human, but a terrifying goat's head, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding monsters. I was all too familiar with this kind of monster—it was a freak.

His face was covered in blood, and bits of flesh clung to the corners of his mouth. It seemed he had been tearing apart and devouring the severed limbs and remains on the ground, just like those monsters.

“Cultivators from Peach Blossom Village!” Jiao Shu uttered a hostile voice.

Although this Peach Blossom Spring cultivator had the body of a monster, he wore a black robe. It was likely the result of a battle, as the robe was torn in many places, revealing the muscles beneath. After Jiao Shu shouted, he seemed to respond to the hostility by displaying fluctuations of his magical power. This was a monster of a certain caliber, his strength clearly surpassing any Peach Blossom Spring preacher I had encountered before, and possibly even the monster creators I remembered.

This level of skill would be among the best in the Cheng tier. Demon hunters of Jiao Shu's caliber would be no match for him; even ten Jiao Shus present wouldn't be able to defeat him alone. This entire refuge was likely wiped out single-handedly by this Peach Blossom Village cultivator.

The unfamiliar cultivator from Peach Blossom Village glanced at me first, then looked at Jiao Shu again, and said slowly, "I see... were you looking for a living sacrifice outside, and just happened to escape this calamity?"

(End of this chapter)