Mythical Scroll Artist: Starting with the God of Wealth, Zhao Gongming

Chapter 522 The True God's Proclamation, the Rat Creates the Heavens

“Or you can take a look at this scroll first.” Wu Xian released the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone. “This scroll is the Queen of the Underworld, while that little brother’s natal scroll is the prototype of the King of the Underworld.”

"The King and Queen of the Underworld?" The Abyss Demon Lord's expression was strange.

Just as the Azure Tree King was unaware of the nascent form of its own World Tree power, the Abyss Demon Lord was equally unclear about the source and background of its own power.

However, as a true god-level powerhouse, the Abyss Demon Lord could naturally sense the aura of kinship and origin emanating from the Queen of the Underworld.

"Very good, very good," the Abyss Demon Lord exclaimed repeatedly. "But from what you've said, it seems that your true god's will has some understanding of the development path of my laws?"

"I suppose so," Wu Xian explained. "The divine realm you correspond to is a neighbor of mine, so we have some understanding of each other."

"I see."

The Abyss Demon Lord was filled with excitement and pressed for information about the nascent form of his own power.

And on the other side at this time.

After escaping the Gates of Hell, Monkey King was startled by the hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers guarding the gates.

He initially thought they were there to intercept him, but upon closer inspection, he realized that the one leading the troops was Xue Lingling.

"Is Sister trying to stop me, Old Sun?" Monkey King asked in confusion.

"The underworld is not to be allowed to allow you, you impudent monkey, to run rampant!" Xue Lingling declared righteously. "All troops, attack! Don't let this impudent monkey escape!"

With Xue Lingling's command, hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers, led by the Ghost King and Ghost Emperor, marched in a mighty force to surround Monkey King.

Monkey King was initially a little confused, but after seeing Xue Lingling's suggestive look, he immediately understood.

It's just a formality, I, Old Sun, know what I'm doing!

So, Monkey King swung his golden cudgel, controlling the force of his attack, and swept away hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers and demons before fleeing for his life.

After watching Monkey King walk away, Xue Lingling was both amused and exasperated. "What a mess this is!"

Originally, she only needed to observe from the shadows and remain inactive; she had no part in this grand drama.

But the sudden attack by the Abyss Demon Lord really startled her, and she immediately summoned the forces of the Underworld to prepare to rush over and provide support.

However, no sooner had they gathered hundreds of thousands of ghost soldiers than things quieted down on the other side.

Then, they happened to run into the fleeing Monkey King.

So he went along with it and put on a show.

There was no way around it; as the second largest shareholder of the Underworld Outpost and a representative of the military, she could also sense the series of changes in order at the Underworld Outpost.

If I hadn't run into the Monkey King, that would have been fine, but since I have, I'll definitely have to put on an act.

Otherwise, the backlash from various laws of heaven and earth would affect the underworld outposts.

After making a show of it, Monkey King took on all the backlash from the laws of heaven and earth.

"Is this really okay?" Xue Lingling couldn't help but worry about Monkey.

Little did they know, Monkey King was incredibly resilient and had an incredibly powerful background, so this little bit of blame was nothing to him.

"Such blatant nonsense," Xue Lingling said with a strange expression, "Why does it feel like this underworld is just a complete shoddy operation?"

In her eyes, the underworld had always been a majestic and sacred place.

But today's farce has left her with deep self-doubt.

In fact, the underworld is indeed majestic and sacred, and in principle, it cannot be violated.

But that depends on who it is.

……

In the Underworld, Wu Xian briefly introduced some background stories from Greek mythology to the Abyss Demon Lord, opening the door to a new world for him.

"Tartarus, a synonym for hell and the abyss, the final resting place of the dead," the Abyss Lord became more and more excited as he listened. "Isn't that me? Haha, Tartarus, is that good? I'll take it."

Wu Xian nodded and smiled, offering no objection.

Since the Abyss Lord was originally the prototype of Tartarus, it doesn't matter if he's called that.

Moreover, the four true gods have always only had titles, without any actual names.

"Not bad, not bad. Tell me more stories about the Greek mythology world in the future, I love to hear them," the Abyss Demon Lord said enthusiastically. "I'm thinking, why don't we just rename the Ghost Realm to the Underworld? What do you think?"

“If you want to change, no one can stop you.” Wu Xian shrugged and smiled.

In fact, none of the various alternate dimensions have a clear official name.

Humans call this place the Abyss of the Strange, while the creatures of the Abyss call it the Realm of the Strange.

As the true god of the bizarre realm, it is reasonable for the Abyss Demon Lord to take the lead in officially establishing the name of the bizarre abyss.

"Okay, then it's settled!"

The Abyss Demon Lord chuckled, and then the voice of the Abyss Demon Lord, the true god, echoed throughout every corner of the scroll world, causing a slight shift in the power of heaven and earth in the entire Ghost Realm.

In an instant, the Abyss Lord's decision and changes were heard throughout the world and across various dimensions.

"I, Tartarus, the Lord of the Abyss, hereby officially name this Realm of Ghosts the Underworld, and hereby proclaim this to all living beings..."

The sudden announcement of the true God left all living beings in the world both surprised and doubtful.

Especially in the human world, many people are paying attention to the live broadcast from the underworld.

The Abyss Demon Lord's sudden announcement to the world has inevitably caused surprise and uncertainty among all parties.

"What's going on? What did Wu Xian say to the Abyss Demon Lord? How did he suddenly give the official name to the Mysterious Abyss?"

"It's not just that the Ghost Realm has been officially named; His Highness the Abyss Demon Lord has also announced his new title."

"Tartarus? What a weird name, how strange."

"It's quite strange. It doesn't sound like the names of people from our human world. It sounds more like the names of some remote human groups."

"The underworld? That sounds pretty appealing, and it's easy to pronounce."

On the other hand, the people at the Demon God Dojo all had strange expressions and looked at each other with surprise and doubt.

After all, not long ago, their Queen of the Underworld was named Persephone.

Although the meaning of this strange name is unclear, Her Majesty the Queen of the Underworld has already approved of it.

Now that they have learned of the new title of the Abyss Demon Lord, everyone at the Demon God Dojo has unanimously thought of the title of the Queen of the Underworld.

These two names clearly share the same style and approach.

"Could it be that His Highness the Abyss Demon Lord has some connection with the lineage of our Demon God Dojo?" The elders of the Demon God Dojo were excited.

“Very likely,” the Zhang family patriarch said, inexplicably excited. “That kid Wu Xian even summoned Her Majesty the Underworld Queen so that the Abyss Demon Lord could take a look at her.”

“If that’s really the case, then wouldn’t we be able to…” The elders around them had their eyes shining.

Being able to connect with the Abyss Demon Lord is naturally a great thing for the Demon God Dojo.

The problem is that they themselves are unaware of this origin, and even the Abyss Demon Lord himself may not be aware of it.

On the contrary, Wu Xian, this "outsider," knew more about it than either of them. "It seems necessary to have a good talk with this elder who is in charge of the external compilation." The Zhang family patriarch narrowed his eyes in deep thought.

Meanwhile, the other parties were still in shock at the Abyss Lord's sudden announcement.

The content of the announcement is not the point; the point is that this announcement seems to be directly related to Wu Xian.

Judging from the projected image, it was clear that Wu Xian had said something to the Abyss Demon Lord, which led the Abyss Demon Lord to make such an important decision.

"Damn it, is this kid really that close to the Abyss Demon Lord?" Zhao Qinghe and the rest of the Zhao family looked grim.

Previously, all parties believed that Wu Xian had only had some interactions with the four True Gods, and that they were just casual acquaintances.

After all, what are the identities of the Four True Gods? What is Wu Xian's identity?
Whether in terms of seniority or status, the difference is not small.

But what happened today made them realize that Wu Xian's relationship with the four True Gods was probably not so simple.

Inside the underworld outpost.

After confirming that Monkey King had safely evacuated, Wu Xian finally felt relieved.

Seeing Wu Xian chatting so well with the Abyss Demon Lord, the Fang of the Vast Ocean and the Emperor of the Void couldn't help but become interested. "Father-in-law, do Brother Long and I have any similar mythological connections?"

"I haven't really figured out anything from what you two have said yet," Wu Xian pondered. "Perhaps it's not from the source of power on the side of my family's true god's will."

Upon hearing this, Canghai Zhiya and Kong Zhidi Ling secretly regretted it.

On the other hand, Wu Xian had seen the true form of the Fang of the Azure Sea before. It clearly had some characteristics of a true dragon, but because some of its powers and features were not yet obvious, he could not figure it out for the time being.

As for the Sky Emperor Spirit, Wu Xian had never actually seen his true form.

"Perhaps... Senior Sky Emperor Spirit, could you let me see your true form?" Wu Xian pondered.

“Oh right,” the Sky Emperor Spirit suddenly realized, “I don’t think I have ever revealed my true form to my father-in-law.”

As he spoke, a powerful divine aura surged from his body, causing the surrounding space to ripple like water.

Immediately afterwards, a small, exquisite, gray-black mouse appeared before everyone's eyes.

At first glance, it looked like an ordinary mouse, but that's precisely why Wu Xian was surprised.

After all, in his mind, the Sky Emperor was a true god in the Elf Realm, and should logically have some anime/cartoon elements and style.

But at this moment, it looks exactly like a very ordinary house mouse.

Her appearance was absolutely perfect and exemplary.

There's nothing wrong with a normal mouse looking like this, but it's a bit intriguing and thought-provoking that the Sky Emperor Spirit, as a true god and a great demon in the spirit world, looks like this.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the will of the God of Wealth was clearly aware of this, and it took the initiative to transform into a scroll depicting his natal God of Wealth, observing it closely.

"Are you the true divine will of my father-in-law?" The Void Emperor Spirit spoke in human language, "My apologies~ My apologies~!"

The God of Wealth clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, his gaze fixed intently on the true form of the Void Emperor Spirit, as if trying to discern something.

Seeing this, the Abyss Demon Lord smugly teased, "Alright, you dead rat, what kind of great background could you possibly have? Only beings like myself and Brother Tianqing could be worthy of such a wild and cool origin and background."

"Look at your smug attitude," the Sky Emperor said irritably, "What kind of incarnation of the abyss and hell are you? You think you're worthy?"

The two were old acquaintances, and they bickered and teased each other.

Wu Xian and the God of Wealth observed the true form of the Void Emperor Spirit with serious expressions, as well as the aura of law power emanating from its body.

"So, God of Wealth, do you have any leads?" Wu Xian asked.

"Hmm... I can vaguely sense the aura of the Rat, but it doesn't quite seem like it..." said the God of Wealth.

"So it's the Rat from the Twelve Earthly Branches?" Wu Xian's eyes flickered slightly. "After all, it's just a prototype, so it's normal that it doesn't look quite right."

"No, no, no, what I mean by 'not like' is not the kind of 'not like' you understand," the God of Wealth analyzed solemnly. "The power foundation of this True God is probably not that of the Rat we know."

Wu Xian was completely confused. "Isn't this the familiar Rat's power meridian?"

"It seems to be older and deeper."

"More ancient? And the power of the laws is also deeper?" Wu Xian pondered, and then, thinking of the power of the Void Emperor Spirit at the level of spatial laws, he suddenly realized something, "Senior Emperor Spirit, besides the power of spatial laws, do you have some other levels of power?"

Upon hearing this, the Sky Emperor Spirit replied without hesitation, "Of course, it involves some laws related to space, but currently it only holds the power over the laws of space."

"Laws like time, void, and chaos?" Wu Xian pressed.

The Void Emperor Spirit nodded and said, "Time and chaos are too profound, and we are still in the exploratory stage. However, there are indeed related laws and patterns. In terms of the laws of the void, we are quite good at them."

After all, the power of spatial laws alone cannot cut off the food supply of the upper world.

"I see." Wu Xian took a deep breath, vaguely understanding something.

In short, the power of the Sky Emperor Spirit is somewhat complex. Although its future direction is still uncertain, it is already showing a trend toward an ancient power.

"What, has your father-in-law found a clue?" The Sky Emperor Spirit asked with great interest.

Wu Xian shook his head and said, "I have a vague impression, but I can't remember it right now."

"It's alright, I'll think about it later."

The Sky Emperor sighed softly, seemingly unconcerned about the matter.

Shortly after, they left the underworld outpost and returned to the club.

There's still some story progression in the Huaguo Mountain instance.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the four true gods, they led the club members back to the sixth-tier Flower Fruit Mountain instance.

On the way to meet Monkey King, the God of Wealth in his mind's eye couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Have you guessed the method of the Void Emperor Spirit?"

“I do have some ideas,” Wu Xian pondered. “I wonder if the God of Wealth has ever heard of the saying that the Year of the Rat opens the heavens?”

"Huh?!" The God of Wealth exclaimed in surprise, "There's such a saying?"

“There is such a creation myth as a rat biting open the sky,” Wu Xian said.

However, this myth and legend, which is based on the twelve zodiac animals, clearly does not belong to the "orthodox" concept in the general understanding of later generations.

However, Chinese mythology is a confusing mess, and there is no orthodox version of it.

Whichever myth you consider orthodox is the orthodox one.

Currently, it seems that the Sky Emperor Spirit is developing in the direction of "the Rat opens the heavens".

Moreover, the rank attained by the Void Emperor Spirit is "True Spirit," rather than a clearly defined divine position, which further confirms Wu Xian's deduction.

To put it bluntly, the Sky Emperor Spirit follows the "Holy Spirit" path, similar to the Four Heavenly Spirits.

I used to think that the Sky Emperor Spirit was not good enough for our Void Sun Rat Star Lord, but now it seems that our Void Sun Star Lord is the one who is above his station.

However, to be fair, his current system of the Twenty-Eight Constellations also follows the "Holy Spirit" route.

If we consider the Void Sun Rat as part of the [Black Tortoise Holy Spirit], then the two are a good match.

From this perspective, it seems that the Sky Emperor Spirit and the Void Sun Rat are indeed a match made in heaven.

(End of this chapter)