Chapter 236: Great Luo Heavenly Court Banquet Invitation
Wang Moning had originally planned to buy a dozen or so axes at once as spares.
But after thinking it over, she realized that the supposed location of the Thirty-Third Heaven hadn’t actually been fully decided yet.
Blue Sea had simply instructed the chosen people to keep heading east because the Yun Kingdom was located in the western part of Fallen Heaven Star. By traveling east, the “Axe Bearer” would be able to pass through the greatest number of countries.
Thinking about it that way, there was no need to buy so many axes. One would be enough, just to fulfill the requirement.
Wang Moning had originally intended to head to the blacksmith’s shop. However, as she flew down along the way, she happened to spot an old man holding a battered axe and vigorously chopping away at the bushes and tree roots on a patch of wasteland. It looked as though he intended to clear the land for farming.
The axe was covered in mottled rust, and its handle had been polished smooth and glossy from years of use. There were no decorative carvings on it, nor was its appearance particularly attractive. Instead, it had a distinctly rugged look, and even the blade was covered in uneven marks from the forging process.
Yet Wang Moning was instantly captivated by it.
What an axe steeped in history! You could tell someone it had been in the Thirty-Third Heaven for over a hundred thousand years, and it wouldn’t seem out of place at all.
Looking at its appearance, you could probably even claim that an ancient god had wielded it in the great war between gods and demons ten thousand years ago, charging through the battlefield seven times in succession, and people would believe you.
Especially by Blue Sea standards. Given the aesthetic preferences of Blue Sea’s residents, this incredibly rugged, battle-scarred appearance was absolutely worthy of being collected and hung on a wall at home as a decorative piece.
Clearly, Blue Sea had thoroughly warped Wang Moning’s sense of aesthetics.
She swooped down, reined in the divine golden radiance emanating from her body, straightened her robes, and emerged from the other side of the dense bushes.
Then she weighed the small piece of silver in her hand, confirmed that she had everything she needed, and walked forward with a smile.
“Old sir, would you be willing to sell that axe?”
…
Cheng Qisheng couldn’t care less where her followers managed to get their hands on an “Heaven-Opening Divine Axe.” They would find a way to get it done, one way or another.
Right now, all she wanted was to get her hands on the illusory-yet-real divine kingdom that had appeared after the Emperor of the Yun Kingdom made his promise.
Not merging it into the Heavenly Court, but directly sending it out of Fallen Heaven Star and merging it into Blue Sea Safe City.
However, this brought up a problem.
The Emperor of the Yun Kingdom had promised that every citizen of the Yun Kingdom would worship the gods of the Heavenly Court from then on, and no longer worship any other gods.
The decree had not yet been announced outside the capital, but it would be soon.
For Yun Ying, the Emperor of the Yun Kingdom, this was a decision made to preserve as many of his people as possible.
Just look at the situation in the Yun Kingdom over the past few days. The many gods worshipped by its people were clearly incapable of controlling the situation or stopping the spread of the demons. So, in order to survive, the Yun Kingdom had chosen to turn to another, more powerful divine pantheon.
But for the local gods, this was quite a blow.
Imagine sitting peacefully at home when, all of a sudden, a mortal dynasty issues an order declaring that its people will worship only the gods of a pantheon it recognizes.
One moment, you are a legitimate deity with an established place in the divine order. The next, you have become an unaffiliated wild god.
Old Eighth declared, “Don’t worry. I’ve got a solution!”
It wasn’t convenient to discuss this in front of everyone during the day, so they deliberately waited until nightfall. Following the usual procedures of the Yin Deities, they arranged to deliver a dream to Yun Ying.
Since the people of the Yun Kingdom would now worship only the gods of the Heavenly Court, the various gods, great and small, residing within the Yun Kingdom were innocent victims of the situation.
Therefore, the Blue Sea Great Luo Heavenly Court had decided that these gods could keep their original divine titles. All they needed was to add the prefix identifying them as gods of the Heavenly Court.
Of course, if any of these gods were unwilling to join the Heavenly Court, there was no need to force them.
After Yun Ying, who had been dozing for a little while, slowly woke up, he really did immediately summon someone and issue the decree.
Nearby, the Blue Sea residents, who had concealed their appearances, watched with great satisfaction.
The land? Blue Sea wanted it.
The local gods? Blue Sea wanted them too.
This was what you called taking everything you could get—and then offering the whole lot to our God!
For the City Gods, changing their titles was a very simple matter.
After all, they had originally been appointed by imperial decree. Many county City Gods already bore titles such as “County City God of XX County, Illustrious Lord of Divine Protection.”
Now that the imperial edict had been issued, the various City Gods began receiving new titles. The quick ones had their names changed within a single day, while the slower ones took anywhere from a week to several months.
Their new titles became:
“Great Luo Heavenly Court, Inspectorate of the People, Illustrious Lord of Divine Protection, City God of XX County.”
Changing the titles of the other naturally nurtured gods turned out to be nowhere near as difficult as Yun Ying had imagined.
After all, once the imperial court issued its order that people could worship only the gods of the Heavenly Court, those gods who had little renown and few worshippers could generally go unnoticed, provided their followers didn’t mention them. Most people wouldn’t even know they existed.
As for the gods recognized by the common people and regarded as particularly efficacious, they all had temples of their own. These were easy to identify at a glance. Consequently, in order to pass the imperial court’s inspections, a wave of activity swept through the cities and villages. From the prefectural capitals down to the smallest settlements, people began hiring carpenters and stone carvers to alter the divine titles inscribed on ancestral tablets and stone steles.
For a time, carpenters and stone carvers made a fortune.
As for the local gods who had inexplicably found a new prefix attached to their titles, the whole affair left them utterly speechless.
This was especially true of the naturally nurtured gods. Compared with the gods appointed by imperial decree, who were already fairly accustomed to the “administrative system,” these naturally nurtured gods had been used to living freely and independently ever since their birth.
They thought having an imperial court in the mortal world was a good thing. After all, it was basically just mortals banding together, wasn’t it?
But who had ever heard of gods banding together?
And now, for no apparent reason, they had become gods under the Great Luo Heavenly Court’s jurisdiction…
They didn’t even know what the Great Luo Heavenly Court was!
Take, for example, a prefectural city relatively close to the capital, where the imperial decree had consequently arrived quite early. The local people there had worshipped a deity known as the ‘Well Palace Lady of Spring Source and Bountiful Blessings’ for generations.
The name alone made it clear that this prefectural city was famous for its sweet drinking water. This goddess had come into being through the people’s longing for and admiration of the sweet water from their wells.
The Well Palace Lady had always diligently fulfilled her duties, using her divine power to replenish the city’s wells. During years of severe drought, she ensured that the water supply remained steady and protected the water from contamination.
Sometimes, when someone tried to murder another person by pushing them into a well, if the victim happened to encounter a water soldier on patrol, the soldier would temporarily lower the water level, allowing the victim to be rescued.
The Well Palace Lady had already existed in this place long before the Yun Kingdom was founded.
The Well Palace Lady had lived for an exceedingly long time. Even she could no longer remember exactly how many years had passed.
Because well water was so important, and many of the livelihoods in the prefectural city depended on its sweet-tasting water, the Well Palace Lady had never lacked incense offerings. Among the naturally nurtured gods, she could be considered one of the more comfortably situated deities, with an abundant supply of divine power.
Naturally, she was quite displeased about having a Heavenly Court prefix inexplicably added to her title.
“What is the Emperor of the Yun Kingdom thinking? We’re not like those City Gods appointed by imperial decree. Does he intend to interfere even with naturally nurtured gods like us?”
A water soldier standing nearby said, “My Lady, I’ve heard that this Heavenly Court is extremely powerful. They even have something called the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, which can split open the heavens and create the world.”
The Well Palace Lady let out a cold laugh.
After living for so long, she had naturally seen all sorts of things. It wasn’t as though she had never encountered fraudsters pretending to be gods in the mortal world to swindle people out of their money.
“If you ask me, this so-called Great Luo Heavenly Court is nothing more than a mortal emperor who has been deceived. If the imperial city really was infiltrated by so many demons, there must be some powerful demon backing them. How could they possibly have been dealt with so easily?”
Since the source of the Well Palace Lady’s divine power was well water, she placed great importance on cleanliness.
To her, being inexplicably associated with another divine pantheon whose legitimacy was still uncertain was like having mud splattered all over her body. All she wanted was to wash it off as quickly as possible.
Initially, she had thought that since her title had already been changed, she could simply refuse to acknowledge the new one.
But after putting up with it for over a month, she could no longer bear it.
“Tonight, I’ll use the well water to write a message to the officials. I’ll make sure they understand that I want my original title restored!”
After saying this, the Well Palace Lady began considering which official would be the best person to approach.
When night fell, she was just about to set out with her water soldiers when a streak of golden light descended from above, landing precisely in her hands.
As soon as the golden light reached her, it transformed into an invitation.
Written on it was an announcement that the Great Luo Heavenly Court was holding a banquet and inviting all Heavenly Court divine officials to attend.
