CH 63.2

August 23, 2023 by Wyrd

After the worship ceremony concluded, the final segment was a prayer session, and once the prayers were finished, everyone went their separate ways.

Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng looked at Ning Su, who was closing his eyes in prayer, their faces filled with astonishment.

“He’s been persistent for several days, hasn’t he? I’ve never seen him this serious before.”

“I know. He’s also been well-fed and well-housed in this instance. Why is he taking this worship thing so seriously?”

Since the first time the players who became flower attendants came together to participate in the worship ceremony, they had been consistent with it these past few days.

In this place of fanatical and sacred beliefs, with an eerie and terrifying statue, the more they attended and tried to worship the Flower God, the deeper their hearts were filled with fear.

The deep terror condensed into an abyss of horror, fermenting and deepening in their dreams every night. Gradually, they all felt that something had changed.

As soon as they arrived in front of the Flower God’s temple, they couldn’t help but kneel. When they looked up, there was fear in their hearts, a profound reverence.

It seemed that the formation of belief was slowly taking place.

This was the harvest they all persevered for, no matter how terrifying, and none of them were as dedicated as Ning Su.

He had never slept in, coming here every day at the earliest hours, kneeling in front of the Flower God’s temple, watching the first rays of the sun fall upon the statue.

So, devout belief looked like this, huh?

Zhu Shuangshuang: “I’m really curious about what he’s praying for.”

Just as Zhu Shuangshuang finished speaking, Ning Su opened his eyes.

Zhu Shuangshuang and Su Wangsheng, squatting in front of him, were both taken aback.

His eyes had become even clearer and more tranquil, filled with light, firm and serene.

At such close proximity, they could see it clearly.

They couldn’t quite explain this feeling, but it felt like a breakthrough in stagnation, making their hearts tremble at the sight.

Before they could fully savor this feeling, Yenan Wang walked over briskly, helping Ning Su up with his own hands. “You’ve worked hard.”

Ning Su blinked. “What about the reward?”

Without waiting for Yenan Wang to reply, Ning Su spoke for himself, “Roast chicken, fried fish, and a small leg of lamb.”

“......”

***

While Ning Su was nibbling on a lamb chop, Yenan Wang looked at him and Ning Changfeng, saying, “On this day, you may bring your Sacred Flower to worship the Flower God.”

The Sacred Flower he mentioned was the flower they brought from the Dark Swamp. The Dark Swamp was a sacred place in Furen County, and naturally, the flowers from there were considered Sacred Flowers.

“But can others see our Sacred Flower?” Ning Su asked.

Wasn’t it said that only the Holy Maiden and the Flower Attendants could enter the Dark Swamp? The Sacred Flower could only be carried by the Flower Attendants and nurtured by their side. Others couldn’t come into contact with it, right?

Yenan Wang clearly had ulterior motives. He said, “You can be discreet and let the Sacred Flower also feel the divine light.”

Ning Su nodded. He actually wanted to take his lily flower to the statue.

Yenan Wang said, “If you bring the Sacred Flower to worship the god, I will take you to the Flower God’s temple.”

Everyone looked up at him simultaneously.

Yenan Wang nodded. “The Flower God Festival is still twenty-five days away. It’s time to visit the Flower God’s temple.”

“Hope you gather some courage. You must meet the Flower God. Become a source of pride for the Shigen Kingdom, with your names forever inscribed in the Flower God’s temple.”

After Yenan Wang left, Ning Changfeng looked up and said, “Little brother, we’re finally going into the Flower God’s temple.”

Ning Su asked, “Brother, are you afraid?”

Ning Changfeng said meaningfully, “If we’re still tied together once we go to the Flower God’s temple, facing you, a devout believer, I’m actually a bit scared.”

“Oh, I see.” Ning Su propped his arms on the table, leaned closer to Ning Changfeng, gazing with his beautiful peach blossom eyes, and earnestly negotiated, “If you’re scared, I’ll step aside at the critical moment. After we leave this place, you let me take a swing at you, chop off one of your heads, and exchange it for a hundred million points from the Yinhua Guild. Deal?”

Ning Changfeng turned away with a resolute back.

Ning Su shouted after him, “Think it over carefully, Brother!”

The next day, Ning Su indeed brought his flower.

Yenan Wang had prepared something resembling a birdcage for it, covered with a layer of black gauze on the outside. The flower was placed inside, invisible to anyone.

Ning Su looked at the statue, then at the lily flower beside him, suddenly feeling exceptionally happy.

On the first day, indeed, no one saw anything. On the second day, as the people were kneeling in the Flower God’s temple, the Holy Maiden appeared. Just as she was about to kneel down, she swept her gaze backward and spotted the cage beside Ning Su and Ning Changfeng.

She walked over and used her staff to lift the corner of the cage where Ning Changfeng’s flower was, then lifted a corner of the black veil on Ning Su’s cage.

Twisting around, the dark wooden staff were vines of deep green, and as she lifted the veil, black vines were revealed.

The staff froze in place for a moment, and after a few seconds, it suddenly lifted the veil, revealing a four-petal blood flower.

The Holy Maiden’s eyes quivered, and she took a sharp breath before shouting sternly, “This is... a demon!”

The people kneeling around immediately panicked, shrieking as they got up and fled, “A demon has appeared!”

Yet there were still those who remained kneeling, repeatedly knocking their heads on the ground, their voices trembling, “Forgive us, Flower God! Forgive us, Flower God! Please forgive us!”

Ning Su stood up in a daze, seeing the angry and fearful gazes directed at him, at his flower.

He furrowed his brows and said, “It’s not a demon, it’s not!”

The Holy Maiden raised her staff and said firmly, “I swear by my faith in the Flower God that when the Flower God appears, it takes the form of deep green vines on the staff and a three-petal blood flower!”

The vines on the Holy Maiden’s staff were the symbol of the Flower God, a fact well-known throughout Furen County.

They revered it as a sacred object, unquestionable and uncorrupted.

The staff pointed once again at the flower in the cage. “What else could this deformity be if not a demon?”

She said indignantly, “And you dared to bring it to the Flower God’s temple! What were you thinking?”

“Could a demon contaminate it?”

“Bringing a demon to the temple—was this an attempt to control the most devout believers?”

“Get lost! Arrogant! Terrifying!”

Without warning, the Holy Maiden’s staff thrust toward the Blood Flower.

That staff had once effortlessly restrained a massive undead hand. So it rendered the iron cage before it like paper, unable to withstand its might.

The staff shattered the iron cage, aiming straight for that blood-red flower.

After carrying it for so long, the lily flower hadn’t grown at all. The vine was still only two cm long, the blood-red flower remained as small as a ghost’s palm, quiet and tiny.

A pale hand grasps the staff, black patterns raised on its back.

The staff was tightly held, unable to take another step forward, then pushed back with a reverse hand.

Ning Su, with a furrowed brow, retorts, “You’re talking nonsense!”

“Bang!“

Someone unknown kicked the iron cage down.

“He dares to defy the Holy Maiden! He’s a minion of the demons!”

“Crush this damned demon right away!”

“Drive them out! We can’t defile the eyes of the Flower God!”

Zhu Shuangshuang panicked and reached out to stop them. “Don’t kick! Please don’t kick!”

“Little Taoist Priest, quickly pick it up! What’s going on?”

Suddenly, things had escalated, catching them all off guard.

Each one was both panicked and inexplicably uncomfortable.

They were told to tend to these flowers, but in reality, they were just kept in the room, watered with a bit of holy water every day, not like cultivating a ghost companion.

However, they all remembered that evening in the Dark Swamp when Ning Su brought this flower, a radiance that couldn’t be hidden by the mud on his face.

They had never seen him so happy before.

He must have really liked this flower.

And now, this flower was being kicked around by countless people.

After days of worship, they understood well the fervent belief in the Flower God and the high status of the Holy Maiden. They knew the gravity of this matter.

True or not, they absolutely wouldn’t tolerate any disrespect or desecration towards the Flower God.

Without other players to help them, no one could stop the frenzy of the devotees.

The cage was kicked around, and nobody knew where it ended up.

Ning Su pushed the Holy Maiden aside, bustling to chase after his lily flower.

“You’re unworthy of venerating the Flower God!”

“You’re unworthy of worshiping the Flower God. Now get lost!”

“After letting you worship the Flower God for so many days, I even held your spot for you. Ah, please forgive me, Flower God!”

The cage was kicked to Ning Changfeng’s feet, and Ning Su looked up at him.

This person, who was one of the earliest to start worshiping the Flower God and had become a successful devotee, gazed at him with lowered lashes for a long time. “If what the Holy Maiden said is true, then you’re showing great disrespect to the Flower God.”

The iron cage was kicked a few meters away again.

Ning Su was stunned, looking at the cage covered in shoe marks, his eyes blank.

After a few seconds, a white silk flew towards the iron cage and tightly wrapped around it, simultaneously forming a circle around a few hundred people.

“Get lost!” A pale hue spread across Ning Su’s face, a layer of dark energy enveloping his peach blossom eyes.

He held the cage in one hand and raised the white silk with the other, whispering, “He is not a demon.”

The Holy Maiden raised her staff, about to give an order, when Yenan Wang arrived with his followers in a hurry. “Stop, stop!”

“It’s all a misunderstanding. This sacred flower was found in the Land of the Sleeping God. So many flower attendants were watching over it. How could it be a demon?”

The Holy Maiden said, “Do you think I harmed him? This is a corrupted demon, harming not only others, but also causing his death!”

Ning Su reiterated, “He is not!”

Yenan Wang said, “How about this? Let him choose another sacred flower, this...”

“I will nurture him.” Ning Su interrupted Yenan Wang, his pitch-black eyes fixed on the Holy Maiden. Once again, he said, “I will nurture him, and I will tend to no other flowers except for him.”

“Isn’t that what you said? Flower attendants could attend to the flowers they wanted. No one can refuse that.”

The scene was very quiet.

The Holy Maiden asked, “Even if it is a demon, you still want to nurture it?”

Ning Su replied firmly, “He’s not a demon. He’s the flower I brought out from the depths of the Dark Swamp. He’s the one I want to care for.”

Zhu Shuangshuang said, “They say the Dark Swamp is a sacred land. How could a flower that grows in a sacred land be a demon? When the Holy Maiden questions whether it’s a demon, isn’t she questioning the sanctity of the land?”

Su Wangsheng said, “To say that demons grow in the realm of the gods is to say that the boundary between gods and impurity is unclear. Who is disrespecting the Flower God exactly?”

“Sounds reasonable.”

“How could anything demonic grow in the realm of gods?”

“Didn’t they say that the Dark Swamp is full of the aura of the gods, and that’s why the sacred flowers grow there?”

“But what the Holy Maiden said makes sense.”

“Yes, the Holy Maiden is someone who has truly seen the god.”

“Alright.” The Holy Maiden put down her staff. “The Flower Attendant wants to care for the flower, and no one can stop that.”

She didn’t seem like an unreasonable person, “So, Flower Attendant, please go to the Flower God’s temple now and care for the flower. Let’s see whether it’s really a demon or not.”