Chapter 889 If a Name Is Absolutely Necessary (6000)

The youth sat in the void outside the world, gazing at the radiant river that snaked and spiraled between two worlds.

There, thousands of sails were raised, and tens of thousands of immigrants and pioneers followed the shipping lanes, navigating ships that could traverse the void, heading towards the boundless sea of stars beyond the Seven Seas, until they reached the other side of their dreams.

The white-haired, gray-eyed youth wore a golden crown atop his waist-length, snow-white hair, the slightly curled ends of which flowed with a glow of fire element visible to the naked eye. His black classical robe was tailored to fit, and a crimson belt wound around the gilded openwork buckle, with a badge symbolizing 'oath' hanging at the end.

Fire is the light that accompanies civilization. From the ancient primitive tribes lighting fires, and the chieftain presiding over the distribution of the day's spoils to all the tribesmen, fire has been inextricably linked to justice and law.

Above the flames, people sacrificed to the gods; in the flames, people judged the guilty; below the flames, people made promises to each other. Fire is the sprout of primitive civilization, and only when steel was forged in the flames did the era move to the next stage.

Has this stage arrived?

The youth did not know.

But in any case, he was indeed unemployed.

[Alas]

In the void, a hand supported his cheek, Elias sighed as he watched the mighty river of immigrants before him. His snow-white hair lay softly against his cheek, and the youth's bright eyes possessed a captivating divine charm, reflecting the brilliant golden-red flames deep within.

His tone was melancholy, but the corners of his mouth still turned up.

The youth smiled and sighed: [Everyone is working so hard, how come I'm the only god with nothing to do?]

Can gods be unemployed?

This question should be viewed dialectically... After all, no one can dismiss a god from their post.

So, if a god is truly unemployed, it can only mean that this world no longer needs Him to manage, adjust, or protect it.

Just like now.

For Elias, the future of the People of Fire no longer required his worry.

At this moment, in the center of the Fire and Wind Continent, in the middle of the Tumultuous Ocean, under the azure sky, the door to the other side of the void opened. A massive gate of space-time, large enough for hundreds of giant void ships to cross together, was fixed above the central vortex, secured by divine power and powered by world dust. This fixed void expressway allowed the People of Wind and Fire on the Wind and Fire Continent to reach the new world in the fastest and safest way.

This was, in a sense, a void highway. Apart from the Reincarnation World, a wealthy region surrounded by world dust, it would be impossible to build anywhere else—but if it weren't for such an environment, the dangerous and fragile world structure of the Reincarnation World could not have lasted so long, or even given birth to life and civilization.

The original Reincarnation World was originally born from the dust and ruins of many worlds, like an island located in an earthquake and volcano zone. Even if the geological conditions had been stabilized and high-intensity earthquakes would not easily erupt, the people living in this unstable world would want to leave.

In order to bring a stable and peaceful home to his people, the God of Wind sought new possibilities for the Reincarnation World, and the God of Fire maintained the stability of the old world. In this process, the God of Fire did make some mistakes, some dogmatism, some dilemmas that were difficult to reconcile, but in any case, with the assistance of the returning God of Judgment, everything was on the right track.

Streamlined precepts, more humanized supervision by the clergy, and a sentencing system supported by the gods, Elias did his best to ensure fairness within his capabilities.

Until he didn't need to take action himself, his clergy had already completed all the work.

In other words, the god was unemployed.

The awkwardness of the gods lies here—when a world truly gets on the right track, the god, as the host of the supreme court and legislative body, actually has no job opportunities.

After all, if everyone doesn't even break the law, what opportunity is there to judge people, and what opportunity is there to detect loopholes in the law?

The Holy Emperor rules by non-action, and the world is in harmony!

Elias even heard the prayers of his clergy—every one of them secretly vowed to never allow their god to work hard. Before, the god worked hard for them, but now they wanted to make the god glorious through them!

[But I can't just stand by and watch, can I?]

Because he did his job too well, to the point where there was no work to do, Elias tried his best to increase his job opportunities... of course, not by increasing the crime rate, nor by making the precepts thicker and thicker as before.

He mainly wanted to bring about new professions and new ways of thinking by opening up new worlds, just like on Earth, when the internet appeared, internet-related laws followed closely behind, enriching the diversity of precepts by adding new things.

The more people create, the more standards need to be regulated, and the more people explore and explore, the more new rules need to be determined.

At first, this move was effective, but how difficult is it to create new things and new concepts? After busying himself for a while, Elias, feeling that he had not wasted his divine life, found himself idle again.

He turned back into a god who could do almost nothing except be praised.

Of course, he could occasionally go on incognito private visits with his First Knight, Ishaar... but this did not solve the fundamental problem.

[How can this be!]

The god, who looked like a mere youth, once placed his hopes on those ubiquitous and very capricious pioneer space explorers.

As long as there was such a group of people, there was no need to worry about anyone not breaking the law... not breaking the law? What a joke! The visitors from the Pioneer Space may not be bad people, but they were definitely all experts at breaking the law, the kind who would buy a book of laws as soon as they arrived in a new world, and directly think about how to violate the punishments!

But here's the problem, Elias had no law enforcement power!

Explorers were indeed not good people, but even if they were caught, the God of Fire could not interfere with the Pioneer Space, which was the biggest problem.

[I am just, an ordinary elemental god, my power is not that great]

So, after much deliberation, Elias made up his mind that when Su Zhou preached for the first time, he would accept Zhuzhou's invitation and open a Zhuzhou Tian hotline directly to the Reincarnation World, and become a nominal Zhuzhou himself.

In this way, even if the criminal escaped to the Pioneer Space, he would have enough connections and power to bring those criminals to justice—Ant-Man Lich Ansett acted as a go-between in this process.

Zhuzhou Tian Multiverse Police Department... If he were to register there, he would never have to worry about not having a job in the future, right?

This was also why Elias directly chose to agree as soon as he heard Su Zhou's invitation.

With such a simple and unpretentious thought, not wanting to be raised by his believers into a vase god who only looked good and posed, Elias descended upon the Verse Cosmos.

And the result shocked the youth-like god.

[Why is this place so primitive?!]

What was primitive was not the technology, but the mentality.

In the Verse Cosmos of the Mingsound Epoch, poetry magic and miracles had matured and grown. In certain specific countries, there were even 'miracle repeaters' designed through rune facilities, which could record the songs of miracle holders and then replay them, triggering miracles again and again.

Through repeaters, tape recorders, and facilities similar to compact discs, humans could use miracles on a large scale to build huge spectacles and cities, and even a vast country... but all this technology, which should have created a prosperous world, had become a tool of war.

In the confrontation between the Goddesses of Light and Darkness, the whole world seemed to be divided into two camps... These two camps were not just 'two', but 'two' in which everyone was on the opposite side.

'My country on my side' and 'foreign countries not on my side'.

Light and darkness oppose each other, order and chaos oppose each other, and even within the single light camp, there are lawful evil and chaotic good. Chaotic good is further divided into chivalrous factions and gratitude/revenge factions, and the gratitude/revenge faction is further divided into grand revanchism and bottomless retaliation...

Monsters are divided into intelligent monsters and deformed monsters, and deformed monsters are divided into carnivores and non-carnivores. Among non-carnivores, horned ones look down on hornless ones, and among hornless monsters, they compete to see who has more legs...

Even vengeful spirits are divided into meme factions and spiritual substance factions. The spiritual substance faction is further divided into wandering spirits or earthbound spirits, and earthbound spirits are divided into human pillars and cursed grudges...

The whole world was at war, and there was not a single peaceful place. You kill me, I kill you. The light camp was in civil strife, and the dark camp could not gain the upper hand, because the dark camp was also fighting internally due to the opposition between the negative energy faction and the dark element faction.

It was difficult for a person with a normal mind to hold on in this kind of world.

[Su Zhou, are these gods' heads screwed on wrong?]

At that time, Elias was puzzled: [Even when our elemental gods in the Reincarnation World killed each other, at least it was for the right to racial survival. The religious wars in those spirit-scarce universes were also for the right to dominate thoughts, land, and interests.]

[This world's god war is not for profit, not for land, not for explaining scripture history, or the right to sway thoughts... Although it looks like they are fighting for survival, couldn't they have just not fought from the beginning?]

[Why did it become like this?]

"Because they are sick."

Su Zhou's words were simple and direct: "They just want to create a grand stage full of war, to pile up the desolation, despair, and heaviness of the background—the Twin God-Kings of Light and Darkness have no contradictions at all. The sisters are on very good terms. When they joined forces to beat me just now, they were a perfect example of 'sisters united, their strength can break gold.' The current battles are all fake."

Elias did not understand this, and he showed an extremely disgusted expression.

"In simple terms," Su Zhou explained, "they just think it's fun."

As he said this, the Primal Candle Dragon, transformed into a cosmic warship, was fighting the two goddesses. Because everything that was too complex and all attacks would contradict, conflict, differentiate, and self-destruct when faced with the combined Light and Dark God-Kings, Su Zhou was now attacking the opponent with the simplest, most direct, and most ordinary methods.

That was the light cannon.

Su Zhou condensed all his energy into pure energy shocks, using energy releases powerful enough to destroy a small world to bombard the enemy—no matter what space-time distortions, conceptual blockades, or even techniques that tried to deflect force with softness, were all meaningless.

Because the force of the energy shock used by Su Zhou was so great, almost infinite, even using one part of force to resist Su Zhou's thousand parts of force, an ordinary Dao Harmonization realm could not withstand it.

And in the gaps between spewing out light cannons and forcing the enemy to defend, Su Zhou explained the ridiculousness of this world to Elias.

The Verse Cosmos was a song, and the content of the song was the melody of fate. In order to change the melody, the gods forcibly changed the theme of the song. Clearly there was no need for desolation and tragedy, but they had to create such a background to create fate.

'Forcing a smile to hide the pain' could very clearly explain the action mode of the Verse Gods.

[As I thought, I really can't believe that there would be such foolish gods in this world...]

Because he did not understand this mode of action, Elias wanted to see with his own eyes.

After Yalan summoned him in the Mingsound Epoch, Elias did not show up immediately. On the contrary, after arriving on the continent of Ilotal through Su Zhou's power, he directly transformed into a spiritual form and traveled through most of the continent in one night.

He witnessed the ways of survival of almost all races in this world, and witnessed many reasons for battles and killings. He stopped massacres, coordinated disputes, curbed natural disasters, and even, in the name of God, adjudicated disputes and brought peace to two countries.

After investigation, one has the right to speak.

And Elias's answer... was that Su Zhou was right.

[These gods are really all sick!]

After coming to this conclusion, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The youth-like god smiled slightly: [In that case, there is room for me to work]

——Mingsound Epoch·Mount Auna——

A youth carrying a short knife and a few days' worth of dry food, braving great risks to cross the wasteland, and slaying ferocious beasts and monsters, arrived at the foot of this mountain.

It was currently daytime, a cloudless sky, and the scorching sun baked all things under the heavens.

However, in the youth's eyes, this seemingly ordinary mountain was the truly radiant place, far surpassing the scorching sun.

"This is..."

The youth's face was stunned. He raised his head and looked at the mountain before him. The peak of this usually unremarkable mountain, which could even be said to be bare, with not even a trace of vegetation, was surrounded by white flames born out of nothing, like a crown of thorns.

The raging fire was like clouds, and the blazing flames were like mist. This kind of anomaly made the youth, who was just thinking of 'trying his luck' because he had no other choice, could not help but have a glimmer of hope in his heart.

"Perhaps," Yalan thought, standing at the foot of the mountain, gazing at the sacred fire at the top of the mountain, "this is indeed a great god who can grant me enough power to rescue Eve and allow her to obtain the happiness she wants."

Thinking like this, he continued to move forward.

Then, he heard a voice.

[If you proceed further]

A gentle youth's voice sounded, but it carried a solemn sacredness: [You will need to make a covenant]

Yalan stopped. He swallowed and said cautiously, "What covenant?"

[You will abide by the precepts I set and fulfill my doctrines,] the youth said: [In return, I will also fulfill your wishes]

"Isn't this a transaction?!" Yalan was stunned. Of course he knew that offering sacrifices to the gods might grant power, but this possibility referred to when the god was in a good mood, or when the god thought you were beautiful, so he granted it... ordinary people, even if they offered sacrifices, would not necessarily succeed.

[This is a covenant]

And the youth's god responded: [The relationship between gods and humans is always a covenant]

The youth's voice said: [Belief without a covenant is a false belief that exists to be violated. There is no such thing as giving for no reason in this world, nor should there be such a thing as offering for no reason]

[The gods of this world are false gods. The believers are also false believers. There is no agreement between the two,]

"God whose name I do not know... what do you want me to do?"

The youth was not stupid. Yalan was always very smart. He naturally knew that what this god was saying was very good, but saying it well did not mean doing it well. Everything depended on the content of His covenant.

The god sitting on the top of the mountain smiled slightly.

Elias said softly: [You want to help that girl, you want to bring peace with your own hands, you want to protect the village from harm, and you obviously want to stop the strife in the world]

[You want people not to murder each other, not to deceive each other, not to plunder each other, and not to steal from each other. You don't like lies, and you don't like harsh words. You hope that everyone loves each other, just like loving their own relatives]

"You... why are you saying this?!"

Yalan was stunned at first, but soon, his face turned red, half because of the surprise and shock that his thoughts were known, and the other half was because of embarrassment, the natural reaction after his 'naive' thoughts were exposed.

And Elias shook his head: [What is there to be embarrassed about? The thoughts in your heart are the most precious wishes in this world. Keep them]

As he said this, He stood up. The god pondered for a while, and then responded with a smile: [Let's do it this way]

[Yalan, if you are willing to accept, this is the covenant between you and me]

[You shall not murder, not deceive, not rob, and not steal. You shall not maliciously treat others first, and you shall love those who love you]

The holy flames descended from the sky, and the light and fire, like rain, descended before Yalan, carrying a stone tablet without any words.

And Elias's words resounded throughout the heavens and earth: [You shall bring peace to this world, prevent the innocent from being harmed, and stop disputes before you]

[Not just you yourself, Yalan, you must bring what you do to the whole world, spread your thoughts, and let everyone... even this world]

[Become better]

The youth Yalan stared blankly at the wordless stone tablet before him, thinking about the words of the unknown god, his heart pounding.

If... it was such a covenant.

He felt that he wanted to abide by it.

The laws that one wants to abide by are the best laws.

Because they are afraid of being killed, everyone agrees not to kill... Because they don't want to be stolen from, they agree not to steal.

With the name of God as justice, everyone does not want to be deceived, so they also agree not to deceive.

If it were Yalan himself, even if he was kind in his heart, he might change if he encountered resistance... but if it was an agreement with others, something that was promised... then even if it was difficult and arduous at first, he would definitely abide by it in order to keep his promise and be a person he could look up to.

"I am willing." So he reached out and touched the stone tablet—immediately, knife-cut and axe-carved words appeared on the crystal rock tablet, recording one by one the things that Yalan promised.

After that, a gratified voice descended.

[In return, I will also grant you power]

[You, Yalan Tansfer, shall wield the Blade of Retribution, reaping all enemies, just as you reap wheat with a sickle]

[The unrighteous shall bow before you, and your wrath shall make all exploiters and evildoers tremble. They will be defeated by you and fall into the underworld, just like a stone falling into water]

[Child, you will be at odds with the world, but do not worry, for those who fight against righteousness, even if they possess the whole world, are no different from being alone]

On the back of the stone tablet, holy words spread along the golden-red veins. It was the promise made by God, the covenant made by God to man after man made a covenant to God.

The covenant was established.

Yalan stepped onto Mount Auna step by step.

Wherever the youth passed, primitive rocks and gravel formed, turning into roads, just like things that were agreed upon by custom, after a long time, they turned into the laws that measured standards, and the mountains carved the traces of these eternal laws with their own bodies.

Every time he stepped onto a peak, a sacred, fiery badge was branded on his body, bringing endless warmth and divine power... raging flames and thunder that never ceased.

Above the sky, thunder rumbled from nothing, and faintly, one could see the phantom of an extremely large warship, as if it could crush the entire world, looming above the epoch, and the fire of judgment shone on the void, fighting with the differentiated light and darkness.

And in the very end.

"My God."

On the top of the mountain, facing Elias, who was just an image of a flame, Yalan asked, "How should I call your honorable name?"

[In this world, I don't need a name]

And the youth, who had transformed into flames and did not appear in human form, answered with a smile: [I am the raging fire, judgment and thunder, I am the covenant, the law and the regulation]

[But, if you must call me, and absolutely need a name]

He said: [Zhuzhou]

[Now, I am also Zhuzhou]