It took a great deal of effort for Yue Jinghua to finally understand the child-like speech of the snake-haired Little Gore.
This word was completely unfamiliar to both Yue Jinghua and Yue Xiaoqi.
In the 23rd century, humanity’s research on life science had reached an incredible level, whether it was the advent of extracorporeal reproduction or the secrets of distant stars and the existence of aliens, all of which greatly negated the existence of beliefs and gods.
It was an era known as the disillusionment of faith.
In contrast, on the Canglong Continent, it was quite the opposite—it was an era where beliefs were rampant.
It is said that there are only two beliefs, the Heaven and Earth Laws or the Creator God, but this duality is not exhaustive. The Dark Practitioners of the continent truly believe in only power, while ordinary people, depending on the region and local customs, have different beliefs.
For example, the fishermen living along the coast believe in the Sea God, the snowy children living in the distant Polar Continent believe in the Ice and Snow Goddess, and the farmers who live off planting believe in the God of Fertility.
Therefore, the seemingly sacred term ’faith’ on the Canglong Continent was like a piece of fragmented cake, already losing its original form.
So when Yue Jinghua first heard the term ’faith’ spouted by the snake-haired Little Gore, she thought she had heard it wrong.
The snake-haired Little Gore blinked, her vocabulary limited, which made it difficult to explain the use of the power of faith to Yue Jinghua.
She thought for a moment, wrapped her arms around Yue Jinghua’s wrist, signaling her to take her out of Star Sea.
Glancing at Little Qingpu absorbing the power of the Treasure Book within the Mo Xi Treasure Book, Yue Jinghua had no choice but to follow the snake-haired Little Gore out of the Star Sea.
As Yue Jinghua turned around, a blue light flashed over the body of Cannibal Small Qingpu, within which a blurred figure of Qingpu flashed by.
It was a quiet night in the village, with only the occasional chirping of small insects flying out of the grass towards the houses lit by Blue Snow Candles.
Snake-haired Little Gore led Yue Jinghua all the way to one of the darkened houses. As the spring weather warmed, most of the villagers had their windows open for sleep, allowing a clear view of the inside from a corner outside the window.
Inside, the sound of a child’s crying echoed, followed by the noise of a woman getting out of bed, and then the candle was lit.
The woman soothed the crying baby, playfully coaxing him, but seemingly spooked, the child refused to calm down.
"Don’t cry, my boy, don’t cry, may the Beast God Gore protect you, surely my child was just frightened," the woman said, reaching over to the bedside, groping for something, and pulling out a wooden carved statue.
"Is that?" Yue Jinghua, seeing the wooden carving in the woman’s hands, guessed from the crude work that it was a statue of the Snake Woman.
Combining that with the woman’s words, it was not hard to guess that it was a statue of Gore.
Perhaps tired of crying, or fascinated by the wooden Snake Woman Gorgon statue, the small child grabbed the statue with his chubby little hands and began to smile.
The woman, upon seeing this, repeatedly said: "The Beast God blesses us, truly it is the Beast God Ge’er who blesses us, protecting my son from disasters and granting him longevity and prosperity."
After listening, Yue Jinghua looked down at the Ge’er in her hand, only to see its golden eyes suddenly brighten, and the small snake scales below it seemed to be infused with something, shining even brighter.
"Could it be?" Yue Jinghua could not help but falter in her speech.
Snake Woman Little Gore pointed towards another house, and Yue Jinghua looked inside, only to see that in the spot usually reserved for ancestral tablets, besides those tablets, there was also a clay figurine of Snake Woman Ge’er being worshiped.
That night, Yue Jinghua visited several households in the village, and almost without exception, each household was worshiping a statue of Snake Woman Ge’er.
The wealthier households had clay statues, while the poorer ones, like the earlier woman, carved wooden figures.
Since when did this happen? Snake-haired Ge’er has become a deity worshiped by the people of Fengdan County.
Yue Jinghua recalled the phrases often mentioned by the villagers in the village; perhaps this was the power of faith.
Lost in thought, Yue Jinghua forgot she was still standing outside a villager’s house and accidentally stepped on a piece of clay in the corner of the wall.
The clay, which had been discarded outside for several days and was dry from being exposed to wind and sun, cracked loudly under her step.
This sound, especially loud at night, immediately disturbed the sleeping villagers inside.
Looking down at the ground, Yue Jinghua saw the clay which seemed to be another offering to the Beast God, but its form was not very clear.
She was puzzled when she heard a "creak" from inside the house, and a sleepy-eyed woman stepped out.
Seeing it was the Lord, the middle-aged woman in her forties sighed with relief, "Lord, it’s very late at night, why are you still wandering outside alone?"
Since Yue Jinghua arrived in Fengdan County, the villagers’ lives had been getting better day by day, especially after the manifestation of the Beast God. The villagers subconsciously began to regard Yue Jinghua as a semi-divine figure, treating her respectfully, and those with good food would even bring some to the Lord Mansion.
Recently, the village head mentioned that enthusiastic villagers even proposed to rebuild the Lord Mansion.
Yue Jinghua recognized this lady as Qin Sansa, a well-known enthusiastic woman in the village. From her, perhaps she could learn more: "Sansa, I see that your family altar has a Beast God statue. The altar looks old, but the clay statue is new—could it be that the village used to revere other gods?"
"Lord, you must be asking about the clay on the ground, that was the previous Beast God statue. Before you came, the villagers worshiped the Beast God of the mountains. Every festival, the village chief would offer live pigs and ducks to worship on the mountain, but over the last few years, the village has had poor harvests and could not gather offerings. After a long time, not only did the Beast God not protect the village, but years of snow disasters and beast tide also persisted. Frustrated, the villagers smashed the Beast God statue and abandoned the old faith. Everyone says, now that we have Lord Beast God Ge’er, we no longer need that heartless old Beast God," said Qin Sansa, bowing to the statue of Beast God Ge’er. It was too dark outside for her to see the pleased shaking of Snake-haired Little Ge’er’s head in Yue Jinghua’s hand.
After bowing to the new Beast God statue, she spit toward the corner of the wall and kicked away the original Beast God statue, showing utter disdain for the former deity.
Could it be that the offering to the Beast God or perhaps the devout faith of these villagers allowed Snake-haired Little Gore’s cultivation to greatly progress?
But what does this have to do with Little Qingpu’s recovery? Something clicked in Yue Jinghua’s mind, and after thanking Qin Sansa, she headed back.