Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After spending some more time together, Lin Sanjiu realized that Jujube, the brown lipped god, was having a bad life.
Unlike other gods, he had no territory and no duoluozhong to serve him. He did, however, have a pile of idols that he refused to tell Lin Sanjiu the location of, but Lin Sanjiu surmised that the amount must not be that great, given his size. Generally, eight out of the ten ambushes he attempted on other gods would fail miserably while the remaining two ambushes would enrage his targets and have him be hunted by them instead.
Just when Jujube felt that he should change his strategy and capture an “Inhuman” to carve him some idols, he realized with great jubilation that this particular Inhuman he’d captured showed to have an incredible ability. With that, Jujube was even more eager to have Lin Sanjiu work under his wings.
“It is so unfair,” Jujube said, his countenance grim. “A powerful god can become stronger without much difficulty. For the rest of us who don’t possess any strong powers, the process is tough and stressful.”
‘So Salvation of God is affected by the Matthew effect too,’ Lin Sanjiu thought inwardly.
“Don’t you have the sacred word, the ability to bend a person’s will to your own?” she asked, sitting on Jujube’s shoulder. “Not every god may know about this ability of yours. Can’t you find a god who doesn’t know about this and strike him with your sacred word?”
“I would have long become the only True God in this world if it were only that simple. My sacred word is a broken ability. I can only use it on gods whose Divine Power is nine levels lower than my own and other lowlifes such as yourself.” Jujube had already lowered his voice, but it was still loud enough to hurt Lin Sanjiu’s ears.
“What is your current level?”
Jujube did not want to answer the question. He moved to another topic and continued by saying, “Remember the three gods I fought earlier? A group of weaklings; their Divine Power is merely level ten or so. If you want to level up, you have to keep trying, but there is no guarantee as to which method will work… So, I’m counting on you for whether or not we can take down our next target.”
Swallowing hard, Lin Sanjiu said, “Can… Can you tell me about our target again?”
Jujube huffed a puff of air through his nose, as he harrumphed. “I will say this one last time, so ingrain it deeply into your mind. That false god is a god with the look of a geezer and a long nose. His name is Gizo, and his Divine Power is around Level 20. He’d collected three to four abilities, that lucky bastard. Overall, he is stronger than me, but his territory is not as big, and he has very little duoluozhong … roughly 100, like that.”
‘So, in other words, Jujube’s Divine Power must be lower than level 30…’ Lin Sanjiu sighed inwardly. She had no idea how she was going to deal with a god that had Divine Power higher than level 20.
She had even mentioned to Jujube that her friend was quick-witted. With him on their side, he could devise a plan for them and the chance of success in overcoming other false gods would increase significantly. However, Jujube was no pushover. He refused her suggestion instantly. “Who knows how long it will take for us to find him? I don’t have the time to go around all of Salvation of God to look for a mere human like a headless fly. I can help you find him, but at the same time, I won’t stop attacking other false gods.”
What made the bargain harder was that Jujube did honor a part of his promise.
Along the way, they had come across many “territory of gods,” but Jujube did not take any action; he just continued to move towards the nearest desert. At the same time, the vastness of the landscape in Salvation of God greatly exceeded Lin Sanjiu’s imagination. Even with the size and speed of a god, it took them nearly two weeks to finally see the blurry sight of yellow sand and dust in the distance.
After such a long time, Lin Sanjiu was confident that Ji Shanqing must have already moved to another area. Be that as it may, Lin Sanjiu was not willing to give up.
As the desert grew larger and clearer in her vision, Lin Sanjiu could not help but feel a deep sense of disappointment. This desert wasn’t the one where she lost her grand prize.
Although they were both deserts, this desert was full of sand dunes of different sizes. All the sand dunes were gathered around to form circles of sand rings that varied in depth; in the middle of the rings, thorns, shrubs, and cactuses flourished. Even though all she saw was a large stretch of land in yellow and deep green, the desert here was far busier and livelier than the other one.
Though there was no trace of her grand prize, a promise was a promise. Jujube was extremely persistent in laying siege to this place and making this desert his territory.
“My Divine Power will become stronger once we’ve defeated and claimed all the idols of the false god here. Then, we will be able to move to the next desert a lot faster.” Aside from his broken sacred sound, Jujube seemed to have an ability that allowed him to blend in with his surroundings. Once again, he squatted down like a frog, staring straight at the desert.
They waited for the entire afternoon, but nothing came out of the sand dunes. Apart from the wind that blew across the desert and a few ball-shaped plants that rolled along the sand, they could not see anybody.
They continued to wait. Then, night came.
The temperature took a nosedive as the sky darkened. Shivering, Lin Sanjiu sneezed.
“Don’t make any sound!” Jujube hissed urgently in a low voice. The fishy breath that followed after he opened his mouth beat a shrub around, releasing a rustle into the air.
Lin Sanjiu stole a glance at the shrub, and it was at this moment that she realized something was wrong. Her eyes widened as she jerked up from Jujube’s shoulder.
“Hey, big guy. Look down there,” Lin Sanjiu motioned her head toward the root of the shrub as she called out to Jujube in a low voice. The ring formation in the desert suddenly moved in a spiral motion. It got faster and faster, as if it were about to engulf anyone who dared to stand on it. Looking ahead, every sand dune was rotating, looking like gyros made of sand.
Stunned, Jujube realized his feet had sunk into the sand. Just when he was about to get up, several quicksands nearby suddenly caved in, and a hole—a deep black void that held nothing but darkness—appeared in the center.
Jujube and Lin Sanjiu moved a few steps back. Then, the quicksand slowed down.
“What—what the hell are those?” Lin Sanjiu asked, stunned by what she was seeing.
Jujube replied coldly, “It’s one of that false god’s abilities.” Then, he vanished again.
Slowly, one after another, figures came popping out of the holes. Glancing around like mischievous mice, they clumsily crawled out of the pit, bathing their dry, bloodless skin and weary faces under the white moonlight.
‘They are Inhuman!’
As the thought surfaced unbridled in Lin Sanjiu’s mind, she saw Jujube huffing as a puff of hot air wafted across her face; his eyes lit up. He seemed to be extremely excited as he stuck his tongue out. It flailed madly in the air, but he did not take any action.
Unlike the Inhuman of Deva, this group of Inhuman had an unhealthy arctic-white complexion, resulting from being sheltered away from the sunlight for so long. Their bodies were bent, and they were skeletal. They had very few hairs, with only a few strands left dangling atop their white scalps. Although they did not wear any clothes, Lin Sanjiu could hardly tell their sexes.
“Gizo hides his territory underneath the desert?” Lin Sanjiu whispered her concern into Jujube’s ear. “But why does nobody mind these Inhuman? Where are the duoluozhong ?”
Then, her question was answered. Right after all the Inhuman came out, several strange-looking heads could be seen popping out of the hole. They looked scared. They were duoluozhong .
It occurred to Lin Sanjiu that they sent the Inhuman out to serve as their vanguard and scouts. They would only show themselves once they were confident that they were clear of danger. Like a swarm of locusts, lots of duoluozhong crawled out of the hole, sending goosebumps all over Lin Sanjiu’s skin.
Just as Lin Sanjiu averted her eyes and turned her head—she found the scene to be too disturbing—she met gaze with two large, dull eyes.
“What are you doing?” Accompanied by Jujube’s loud voice was his smelly breath. “Go and scout the area. I want to know what is going on there.”
It appeared to Lin Sanjiu that Jujube feared that this was a trap set by Gizo.
After all, in Salvation of God, Inhuman and duoluozhong were both invaluable assets to gods. The Inhuman were the only source of idols a god could get, and the duoluozhong were an indispensable force to preserve their territory. The duoluozhong could be sent to collect materials essential for carving idols, guard the land, hunt posthumans, and even turn the posthumans into more of their own kind. It was indeed too unusual for a god to allow his precious assets to roam around freely.
However, when Lin Sanjiu landed on the desert ground and tiptoed towards the hole, an elongated snout similar to that of an anteater appeared from within the sand dune in front of her. Then the head split apart as the duoluozhong yelled, “The majestic one and only True God! I can sense your presence. I know you’re there! Please, listen to us!”
Stunned, Lin Sanjiu looked over her shoulder. Jujube had not revealed himself yet. His ability was akin to the camouflage of a chameleon. Under the night, there was nothing there, only a piece of sandy land and shrubs. Nobody would know that there was a god there if Jujube refused to show himself.
“The false god we once served has been slain by another false god. The false god that did such an atrocity did not stay. He left us here… It’s our honor to have finally met the one and only True God…”
As Lin Sanjiu slid down into the underground space, the sharp voice of that duoluozhong got further away, reverberating loudly throughout the night sky.
