Chapter 21: The Evil God

“Factions? You mean…”

“Just take a look at this, and you’ll understand.”

The Goddess casually waved her hand, and a scroll that had been neatly stored on the wooden table flew into the air, unfolding itself before the two girls.

It was a precise and detailed map of the civilized territories of the Primal Land.

The scope of civilization in this world usually spans from the Beast Kingdom’s wilderness in the west, to the edge of the ten thousand floating islands of the Feather Kingdom in the south, the icy plains outside the Snow Country in the north, and the vast area of biological exploration in the Endless Sea to the east, which is the expansive waters before the Thunderstorm Sea.

Naturally, for ordinary people in this world, where there are no convenient means of electronic communication, it’s quite difficult to understand their world in such detail. Most commoners can’t even grasp the size of their own country, let alone the whole world.

Due to the relatively underdeveloped transport and communication methods in this world, obtaining a detailed map depicting the vast territories of the Primal Land is very challenging. Even if one exists, such maps usually exclude sparsely populated areas, like the vast snowfields occupying most of the Snow Country, the western desert of the Beast Kingdom, many scattered floating islands at the edge of the Feather Kingdom, and the distant waters of the East Sea.

But this map was different; its coverage extended to the true edges of world civilization, and it even detailed the Great Whirlpool, which is at least ten thousand kilometers from the East Coast, and the Emerald Sea Region. Notably, it distinguished over seventy percent of the conventional civilization zones with two clearly different colors.

The Human United Kingdom, the Holy Empire, and the Feather Kingdom, which are three of the five great powers of this world, along with some peripheral forces like the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, were depicted in blue. In contrast, the western Beast Kingdom, most nations in the extreme southern Wasteland, the area surrounding the Ost Empire, and the northern Snow Country were filled in red.

These two color-represented regions were almost equal in area, but their hues were as contrasting as water and fire. This was especially evident in the vast region of small countries that separates the Holy Empire and the Ost Empire, where each nation displayed varying shades of red and blue, making it clear how intense the conflicts would be.

Clearly, this illustrated the two great alliances the Life Goddess mentioned.

But even disregarding the faction divisions, this was the first time the Priestess had seen such a meticulous and comprehensive conceptual map of the Primal Land.

She carefully examined the extremely detailed world map, which even outlined the contours of the Ghost Sea, her curiosity evident.

“Wow… this is a genuine treasure that’s hard to come by. Xi Fu Lin, where did you get it?”

The blue-haired girl couldn’t help but smile.

“What do you mean, where did I get it? I’m quite literally a deity of this kingdom; commissioning something like this isn’t difficult!”

“You were always complaining that those old world maps were outdated and far off from reality, causing you to misunderstand things. So, I thought I’d get you a new one, and fortunately, the Winged People can fly, being some of the most agile among the world’s races, plus with my assistance, it was finally completed recently.”

“Just in time, too. With the current shifts in the Primal Land situation, I made some annotations on the territory boundaries of the great alliances to help you understand better. When you leave later, take it with you; it should be useful.”

“What’s with that look? The inspection is over.”

The goddess, who always provides help in such a manner, raised her hand, retracting the life force flowing within Vilyric without paying attention to the latter’s complex gaze. She simply smiled and continued.

“I did find traces of two divine sparks in your body; it’s quite interesting. Normally, especially between vastly different divine concepts, coexisting is absolutely impossible. A single deity can carry at most one divine power; at best, similar concepts can assimilate through absorption to form a larger whole…”

“Even the divine spark of Life and Decay, which are naturally unified, encountered problems due to mutual repulsion. How on earth do these two entirely different concepts manage to coexist in the same body?”

“How would I know? Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come to ask for your help…”

“True.”

After pondering for a moment, the goddess reassured her.

“But don’t worry too much; existence itself is reason. At least for now, I haven’t found any signs of conflict between these two divine sparks; they seem to coexist quite harmoniously. I’m sure there are still some influencing factors that we haven’t noticed.”

“Let’s do this: you come to me every six months… no, every three months for a checkup to confirm the status of both divine sparks. This way, even if any issue arises, we’ll be able to notice and respond in time. What do you think?”

The Priestess nodded silently, then couldn’t help but laugh.

“Xi Fu Lin is really reliable; it feels like she can manage all troublesome matters in an organized manner, never getting angry or capricious, so smart and knowledgeable…”

“What to say, it’s like… um, like a little wife fully supporting her husband’s career development from the back? Being with you gives me a strong sense of security; I might end up becoming a useless person ~”

“Is that what it’s like after three lines?”

Although it was obvious Vilyric was intentionally teasing to lighten the mood, if it had been some other girl with ulterior motives, she probably would have turned beet red. But for the goddess, with her thousands of years of experience and stable temperament, such tricks were ineffective.

With a light smack on the black-haired girl’s head that caused a “Ouch!” to escape, Xi Fu Lin once again turned serious.

“Jokes aside, what I just said you should take to heart. You should clearly understand the importance of divine sparks to beings like us; it’s absolutely critical. Otherwise, you might end up with a tragic fate like Xi Fu before, so don’t forget to come for regular checkups, okay?”

“Got it, got it, Dr. Xi Fu Lin! I’ll definitely follow your medical advice ~”

“Mm…”

Seeing that this topic had come to an end, the Goddess left it behind and waved her hand again. The enormous map, which was several meters long and wide, folded back and returned to the girl’s grasp, which she handed over to the Priestess.

“I’ve marked the location of your little dragon on the map, but the specifics may change, so you’ll need to search for it yourself. The conflicts on the continent haven’t escalated to a critical level yet, so you don’t need to rush back immediately. Is there anything else you need help with?”

Understanding the Goddess’s kindness, Vilyric politely accepted the precious map into her bag and nodded slightly.

“Actually, there is one more thing, Xi Fu Lin. Do you know anything about the Great Whirlpool, the Ghost Sea, and the Ghost Ship of the East Disaster on the Endless Sea?”

“Mm… also, are there any means in this world to teleport living beings over long distances without using spatial magic?”

“That sounds intriguing… Let’s analyze them one by one.”

The Goddess flicked her flowing blue hair and suddenly mentioned a name that had already been heard by the former.

“I’ve heard that nowadays, there are rumors of the Sea Goddess Vail on the ocean. What does Vilyric know about her?”

“Uh… not much?”

She only knew a little bit from recent hearsay.

There was no way around it; while Ming Xi had traveled many worlds in her early years, she hadn’t really visited the legendary origins of the Primal Land.

Or rather, the Spiritual Fox Priestess would never actively go to those clearly defined worlds ruled by deities, as it could easily lead to unnecessary conflicts and troubles. The relationships between gods from different worlds are never so friendly.

Thus, apart from those who had previously visited the Ancient Spirit Realm, she hardly had any other knowledge about the gods.

Of course, this did not include the Sea Goddess Vail, and one could even say Miss Xi had never heard names or titles like that before.

Realizing this, the Priestess was suddenly taken aback.

“Could it be that she’s another false god?”

But Xi Fu Lin just shook her head meaningfully.

“If it’s the one I’m thinking of, she should be considered… an Evil God.”

   

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