Chapter 373: Body of a God
Just as the Captain had said, this ‘assessment of the heart’ was essentially just a swearing-in ceremony. When the divine likeness of the Grand Emperor asked a question, and the answer given, it was a method to confirm that the candidate was human, and also assess their temperament. It wasn’t very important in the sense that, even if one completely failed, they would still become a swordsage.
It was important in the sense that the results could affect future promotions and assignments. Generally speaking, when matters relating to humankind itself were involved, the light emitted during the Grand Emperor’s assessment would be a very important factor. Though cheating was possible, the only way to succeed at that would be to have the power to swindle the divine likeness.
Though the statue was not actually the fallen remains of the Grand Emperor, it was connected to the statue in the imperial capital, by means of a fragment of the Grand Emperor’s soul. And because all of the various statues had been worshiped by humans for many years, they had developed shocking abilities. That was why the statues were the epitome of holiness among humans, and now watched over the swordsages.
As Xu Qing and the others approached, the pressure of the statue weighed down on them, and the heart assessment began.
The first to be questioned wasn’t Xu Qing, it was Qing Qiu. A seven-colored glow emerged from the statue’s forehead, which shone down on her. Everyone down below watched solemnly, and the swordsages above bore witness with their gazes.
Qing Qiu shivered, and her evil ghost scythe trembled and closed its eyes, not daring to even move. The scythe could sense the divine will sweeping over it and then converging on Qing Qiu. None of the observers could sense that divine will and how majestic it was, but the scythe could.
What Qing Qiu saw was a vast starry sky stretching out in front of her. Up above her was a dazzling sea of light. It was so eye-catching to her that she didn’t even bother looking down. Within that majestic light, she could just barely make out a holy figure. Compared to that figure, she felt miniscule. Confusion flickered in her eyes, but then a staunch faith replaced it.
A voice spoke to her, soft and languid. “Don’t be nervous, little girl. Let’s talk about the broken face of the god. Tell me. What is that god?” [1]
Qing Qiu was visibly surprised at the kindness she heard in the voice. That wasn’t what she had been expecting. Given how grand and magnificent the Grand Emperor’s divine likeness was, she had assumed the voice would boom with godly might. Instead, it sounded intimate.
She hesitated for a moment. Then her mind cleared, and she saw an image. Looking at that image caused her eyes to glaze a bit. But then, the answer to the question appeared, and she felt compelled to speak it out. There was nothing that could stop it. The kind voice which had spoken to her made her realize that there was no reason for her not to answer.
“I don’t know what that god is,” she said softly. “And it doesn’t matter. If I have the chance, I’ll end things in mutual destruction with it!”
The response to her words was a benevolent chuckle. “You deserve praise for your courage.”
As the chuckle echoed in her ears, the starry sky faded away, and she found herself back in reality. As she stood in front of the divine likeness of the Grand Emperor, the statue suddenly erupted with bright light.
In the shortest of moments, it climbed to 1,500 meters. Then it reached 3,000 meters. Finally, it stopped at 3,300 meters.
A 3,300-meter pillar of light illuminated the dome of heaven, plain for everyone to see.
The swordsages above all exchanged glances. As for the middle-aged man who was officiating, his eyes glittered with praise. The nine elders were all looking closely at Qing Qiu. She was the first to be assessed, and her light rose past 3,000 meters. That was not a record in Emperor-Receiving Prefecture, but it was also not commonly seen. It showed that she had answered the question correctly!
“The lass is incredible!”
“She obviously has lots of potential. We shouldn’t hold back Emperor-Receiving Prefecture’s resources to help her grow. Given how high that light is, she has a high likelihood of standing out in the county above us.”
Xu Qing also took note of Qing Qiu.
Next to him, the Captain seemed shaken. But then he thought about the answers he had memorized, and he forced himself to calm down.
Next, the second assessment began. The seven-colored light coming from the statue’s forehead shifted, moving away from Qing Qiu and landed on Ning Yan. Apparently, the order of assessments was random.
The same starry sky appeared to Ning Yan. Though he was nervous, he was also excited as he looked up into the bright light.
“Okay, kiddo,” the gentle voice said. “Let’s talk about the broken face of the god. How would you describe that god?”
Unlike Qing Qiu who had murmured her answer, Ning Yan didn’t hesitate at all. Eyes burning with passion, he opened his mouth and loudly said, “That god is the greatest enemy of humankind, and is reviled by all species. That god is the source of all misery, suffering, and hatred.”
His succinct answer reflected what he had been taught growing up. Though there was nothing wrong about it, it also couldn’t be considered amazing. What was more, they weren’t really original thoughts.
As he returned to reality, the divine likeness shone with light that rose to 180 meters. He didn’t even come close to comparing to Qing Qiu.
Ning Yan was stunned, and had no idea what was wrong with his answer. He was sure that he had answered properly and yet the light obviously didn’t go very high. He couldn’t help but look over at Qing Qiu and wonder how she had answered her question.
Up above, the swordsages didn’t look very surprised. Truth be told, 180 meters was average, and was considered a passing score.
In contrast to the swordsages, the Captain was chuckling sarcastically in his heart. 180 meters? I’m definitely going to get at least a few thousand meters.
With that he looked up at the statue with keen anticipation.
Next, the light landed on the Captain. He shivered, and his eyes glittered with excitement. The process didn’t last very long. After only two breaths of time passed, the seven-colored light faded away. There he stood in front of the statue, unmoving. No light emerged from the divine likeness.
The Captain was visibly stunned.
Xu Qing blinked a few times and looked over in surprise at the Captain. Qing Qiu glanced at him suspiciously, and Ning Yan seemed taken aback. It wasn’t just them. The swordsages above were all stunned. And as for the nine elders, their expressions suddenly turned aggressive.
“No light?” said the grand elder, looking down. “That means he’s not human!”
Suddenly, massive killing intent erupted everywhere, and yet, none of the swordsages took action. That was because, in the past, there had been situations in which somehow a nonhuman managed to reach this point without being detected. However, in all previous instances when no light appeared, the divine likeness would immediately wipe that person out of existence.
And yet, Chen Erniu stood there just as before. “No way! I’m human! I gave a really good answer! The Grand Emperor liked me and even called me a little rascal!” The Captain was clearly very nervous as he looked up at the divine likeness.
Xu Qing was also starting to feel nervous.
But then, as the tension mounted, a bit of light appeared from the statue. It went up a single meter.
One meter....
The Captain stared blankly.
Xu Qing almost couldn’t believe it. It was as if the statue wasn’t pleased at all with the Captain’s answer, but reluctantly emitted some light just to confirm that he was human.
The killing intent faded away, and all the swordsages looked down with odd expressions on their faces. It was the same with the nine elders. None of them had ever seen a mere one-meter-high pillar of light.
“Just what did the little punk say in response to the question?”
“If word of this spreads, it’s going to be completely humiliating. I can’t believe that we Emperor-Receiving Prefecture swordsages have someone who only got one meter of light.”
“Can we come up with a reason to strip him of his qualifications...?”
The Captain wasn’t sure how to react. Looking at that one-meter light, he felt very embarrassed, but at the same time, extremely relieved. The killing intent which had appeared moments before had convinced him he was about to die. As more time passed, though, he started to feel that it was all very unfair. It was even worse when the seven-colored light reached Zhang Siyun, who took several dozen breaths of time to give his answer. Afterwards, the statue emitted a 1,500-meter pillar of light.
That was impressive, though not as impressive as Qing Qiu.
Unnoticed by anyone present was the fact that, when Zhang Siyun was being questioned, the grand elder was touched by divine will from the statue. When it happened, his eyes narrowed, and then glowed with cold light. After closely examining Zhang Siyun briefly, his expression returned to normal, and the coldness faded.
Zhang Siyun stood there, also unaware of what had just happened. He was simply glaring at Xu Qing.
Of the group of five, Xu Qing was now the only one who hadn’t been questioned.
Xu Qing took a deep breath and calmly looked away from the Captain. He faced the statue as the seven-colored light enveloped him.
A starry sky appeared in front of him. As he hovered there, he noticed the brilliant sea of light overhead, and yet instead of looking up, he looked down. That was his habit, as he liked to be aware of his surroundings. When he did that, his pupils constricted. What he saw was a huge continent. It was a gigantic land mass that seemed about half as large as the starry sky itself. Above that land mass, he saw the broken face of the god.
The god’s hair flowed free, drooping down, hanging over half of the continent. Behind the broken face, there was a golden spine. It was very long, stretching past the borders of the continent, almost wrapping around it. At the same time, it seemed to be shrinking.... It had no arms and no body. No legs. Just that spine made of seemingly innumerable vertebrae. Every bone seemed incredibly majestic, and radiated with boundless godliness. And half of the head formed the broken face of the god, which existed on the most paramount of life levels.
Just looking at it, Xu Qing felt like he might collapse. His mind trembled violently. However, he could also sense that he was in a state of protection. What was more, this was illusory. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to endure, and would be destroyed in body and soul.
Then a gentle voice spoke to him.
“All the others looked at me. None of the others looked down like you. I feel like you wanted to see the world below, so I let you. None of the others saw that. And now, I’d like to ask you a question. How would you describe that god?”
1. The original Chinese does not actually mention the ‘broken face’. However, the broader context makes it clear that the conversation is specifically about the ‘broken face of the god in the sky,’ so I’m adding a bit of English to clarify and make it more understandable. ☜