Shen Qi, while casually selecting food for Lu Zhi, glanced at the dark, unblinking eyes of the statue and said, "Since ancient times, statues have served as bridges for communication between gods and mortals."
Lu Zhi's ears twitched, his eyes sparkling.
When there were incidents.
Shen Qi, ignoring the statue's man-devouring glare, spoke calmly, "When mortals face danger, they pray to the gods of the four directions for salvation, then offer tributes to repay the gods' assistance."
Lu Zhi listened intently. As Shen Qi brought a chicken leg to his mouth, he instinctively took a bite, mumbling, "This sounds like a mutually beneficial relationship?"
Shen Qi replied, "Mm. Gods help mortals and harvest the power of faith from believers, thereby gaining greater strength."
Lu Zhi mused, "Isn't that good? Gods need to gain faith from humans to strengthen themselves, and mortals can receive divine help to overcome crises. It's a mutually beneficial relationship, so it should maintain balance well."
"Unfortunately, balance is meant to be broken," Shen Qi's gaze grew increasingly cold. "The development of human society and the advancement of technology have led people to no longer need divine intervention. They have overcome countless existential threats on their own, ultimately becoming a people who no longer need gods, who have forgotten gods."
Lu Zhi asked, "What happens to forgotten gods?"
Shen Qi's silver-gray eyes met Lu Zhi's dark ones directly. "To be forgotten is to be no longer needed. If not needed, then there is no purpose for existence."
Lu Zhi fell silent.
Although he had guessed it, hearing it from Shen Qi's calm tone brought an inexplicable sense of desolate self-mockery.
Shen Qi scoffed, "Humans are selfish, but gods are equally hypocritical. They disdain humans, who are as fragile as ants, yet they need to draw power from them. When humans need divine help, they can commit all manner of heinous crimes, and after obtaining what they need, they will then obliterate the gods."
"Heinous crimes..." Lu Zhi murmured, "Humans, obliterating gods?"
"Aren't you very curious about how gods are born?" Shen Qi sent the scarlet spider lilies from his palm flying towards the kneeling villagers, circling them once before slowly stopping above the red cloth on the statue's head. "It is humans."
Lu Zhi frowned deeply. "So, was I also born this way in the past?"
Lu Zhi was referring to his own forgotten divine identity.
Shen Qi, however, let out a light laugh and reached out to gently cover Lu Zhi's mouth, a pure and clean smile blooming on his exquisite face. "Hush... how could you have such a sordid birth?"
Shen Qi's silver-gray eyes shone with a clear brilliance as he murmured, "You are the only, the purest god in this world."
Lu Zhi was speechless.
Shen Qi chuckled, appearing no older than a child, yet his silver-gray eyes held a frenzied fervor at this moment. "In this world, only you deserve the title of god. The rest are merely filth."
This Shen Qi made Lu Zhi feel like he was seeing a stranger, yet also glimpsing another kind of madness beneath Shen Qi's mask.
Lu Zhi had always known Shen Qi was a dangerous presence.
He called himself a god, yet he exuded an aversion to deities.
Only towards Lu Zhi did he possess an obsessive fervor, a possessiveness as deep as an abyss.
He was a rational and powerful mad god.
In front of Lu Zhi, he always disguised himself as a normal person.
But never forget.
Shen Qi was a god.
His compassion, kindness, and harmlessness were shown only to Lu Zhi.
Without Lu Zhi's presence and restraint, Shen Qi could destroy human civilization with a single thought.
"I am clean," Lu Zhi took Shen Qi's hand, his dark eyes fixed on him. "And you?"
What kind of existence were you born from?