God's Gift

"My lord, have you found the deity?"

Inside the Lu family castle, the black hole of the time-space passage appeared and disappeared. Lu Keming, who was sitting on the ground in a daze, was brought back to his senses by a child's innocent voice.

Lu Keming looked up and saw a boy of about ten years old standing in front of him. He was wearing silver armor, dragging a long sword in his hand, and staring intently at Lu Keming.

Lu Keming's eyes finally moved, his gaze slowly focusing on the ill-fitting armor on the boy's body, and he sighed:

"Ye Yucheng, didn't I tell you not to touch anything in the armory?"

The boy, named Ye Yucheng, twisted the helmet that kept slipping down his head, opened his mouth to reveal a few missing teeth, and said righteously:

“My Lord, you said you wouldn’t come back before you left, and I am the sole heir to your estate, so the armory now belongs to me, and I have the right to touch it.”

Lu Keming looked at Ye Yucheng's gap-toothed smile and gave a sinister laugh: "But I'm back now."

"Give it back to me." Lu Keming snatched the sword from Ye Yucheng's hand, took off his helmet, and gave him a cold glare: "Give it all back to me."

Ye Yucheng watched as Lu Keming took away her helmet and sword, but she didn't cry or make a fuss. Instead, she followed closely behind him.

"My lord, have you found the deity?"

Seeing that Lu Keming did not answer, he continued, "People outside say you have divine power, but you are not some divine messenger, you are a god... So why do you still want to find a god?"

Lu Keming kept walking, "I am not a god."

"I'm just holding onto the divine power for the goddess. I'll return it to her when she comes back."

"But everyone outside says you've lived for tens of thousands of years, so why hasn't the god returned after tens of thousands of years..." Ye Yucheng kept talking:

Will the gods really return?

"He'll come back." Lu Keming stopped and looked down at the child, who barely reached his thigh. His expression was more serious than ever before.

"She will come back."

Startled by Lu Keming's expression, Ye Yucheng paused in her tracks and timidly took a step back.

Lu Keming watched him retreat, realizing his tone had been too serious. He frowned, turned, and continued walking forward, his voice reaching Ye Yucheng's ears:

"She said she would come back."

Ye Yucheng remained silent for a long time. When Lu Keming noticed his unusual quietness, he finally spoke:

"My Lord, Divine Envoy..."

"what is that?"

"What?" Lu Keming stopped and asked instinctively, but the next second, his gaze froze as he looked at the colorful fluorescent light emanating from his body.

The divine breath is leaving his body.

As Lu Keming watched the divine energy continuously draining from his body, the serious expression on his face crumbled, and a hint of panic appeared in his eyes.

He reached out to grasp the departing divine essence: "No...you cannot leave..."

If the divine energy dissipates, how will Youyou return?

However, those divine energies were completely beyond Lu Keming's control, flowing away from his body like quicksand.

Lu Keming stared at the vanished divine energy, then collapsed to his knees, his head bowed, his face pale, staring blankly at the cold marble floor.

In the silence, Ye Yucheng spoke again: "Divine Envoy, are there... more than one deity?"

“What…” Lu Keming stared blankly at Ye Yucheng, but the moment he looked up, his pupils suddenly dilated.

A fawn stood in front of Lu Keming.

“Fu…” Lu Keming opened his mouth, speechless as he stared at the deer radiating a green glow before him. His Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty, and he finally finished speaking:

"Forrest".

“It’s me.” Forrest gently touched Lu Keming’s forehead, then looked at the little bird beside it: “And Skye, Klein…”

Lu Keming's gaze shifted to the little bird and the lake monster beside him, as well as the other resurrected gods, and he spoke blankly:

"Weren't you... all already perished?"

“Yes.” Fores nodded, looking at Lu Keming’s body, “but you absorbed the power of the Dark Star and transformed it into your own divine power.”

"And these divine powers have given us a second birth over tens of thousands of years."

Lu Keming's long-dormant heart began to beat again, the pounding in his chest growing louder and louder, almost deafening. After a long while, he finally found his own voice:

"What about Youyou?"

“It might take her a while to get here.” Forrest turned to look at the east of the castle, then at Lu Keming, whose expression was blank, and smiled gently:

"The ocean is quite a distance from here, isn't it?"

“Youyou…” Lu Keming’s face regained its color. He looked in the direction of the ocean, suddenly stood up from the ground, threw down his helmet and sword, and ran outside without a care.

"Uh..." Ye Yucheng glanced at the vanished Lu Keming, then looked at the gods in front of her, and turned her head away awkwardly:

Are you really gods?

-

Autumn had fallen in the fields outside the Lu family castle; the reeds had long since turned yellow, and their fluffy fluff drifted slowly in the wind.

Lu Keming ran through the reeds, parting the reed flowers that obscured his view. His breathing quickened as he ran, and the hot breath he exhaled landed on the reed fluff, quickly condensing into frost.

The forest frogs that hadn't yet hibernated in the wetland opened their eyes and looked at the man who was crossing over the depression.

His robe swept across the only remaining water plantain in the autumn wetland, and white petals were brushed off by the hem of his robe, drifting gracefully into the pond and creating tiny ripples.

The morning mist permeated the wetlands, and the mist entered the airways with each breath, carrying a slightly cold, knife-like pain.

Lu Keming couldn't see the road ahead, but he had walked this road to the ocean a million times and knew it by heart. Even though it was shrouded in morning mist, he could still find his way accurately.

His heart was adrift, throbbing painfully, and refusing to settle.

A strong wind blew by, and golden ginkgo leaves fluttered in the air. The fog in the air dissipated considerably. Lu Keming stopped and stared motionlessly at the end of the road.

A figure appeared and disappeared in the morning mist, slowly walking towards him amidst the falling golden apricot leaves.

Lu Keming blinked repeatedly, his nails digging tightly into his palms, his heart pounding deafeningly. Only when the pain shot through his hands did he finally realize that the figure was not a hallucination.

"Lu Keming!"

The man at the end of the road stopped and called out Lu Keming's name loudly.

A tear fell without warning, landing in the puddle at his feet. The crisp sound of the teardrop brought Lu Keming back to his senses.

He suddenly lifted his foot and ran quickly toward the figure.

Yu Youyou watched Lu Keming get closer and closer, exhaled a breath of cold air, and gasped:

"Phew... I never realized this road was so long before."

The next moment, her body, still damp with cold mist, was pulled into a warm embrace. They fell backward due to inertia, landing among the soft ginkgo leaves on the ground.

Before landing, Lu Keming quickly turned around, cushioned his fall, and hugged Yu Youyou tightly.

Scalding tears slid down Yu Youyou's cold fingers, making her shiver.

After a long while, Lu Keming's voice, trembling with sobs, reached Youyou's ears:

"You're back."

Yu Youyou's gaze softened, and she reached out to hug Lu Keming back:

"Well, I'm back."