After hearing Du Ze's question, Soth was slightly dazed. The true essence of the world?
Soth immediately thought of the elements – the foundation of the world. But this answer is too simple since it only speaks of the composition of the world, not its essential nature.
Essence means the origin of a thing and its inherent nature.
This man was able to ask the question, which means that "the rules" recognizes his knowledge of the answer. Looking at the impassive face of Du Ze opposite him, the human god's heart beat irregularly; from that man's question, he knows the true essence of this world that Soth knows nothing about?
The Temple of Knowledge was strangely silent. Du Ze didn't look behind him but he could feel everyone's eyes boring into his back. He stared at the god who was deep in thought, but he wasn't worried at all since he is cheating – only he knows that this world is a novel called "Mixed Blood." Most importantly, even if Soth knows the answer, he will be stopped from speaking it out loud. Therefore, there is no way that Soth can answer the question.
One cannot know; one cannot say. This is the truth hidden outside of this world.
As Du Ze waited, Lord Soth finally sighed.
"I can only think of 'elements' as the answer but I know it is not accurate."
The god had just finished speaking when the crystal ball at the top of his wooden staff suddenly exploded. A white light descended to the floor and became a white pillar that rose to the sky – it's the exit portal.
"It really was wrong ..." He congratulated Du Ze and others: "Congratulations on passing the test of the Temple of Knowledge."
They were able to pass customs through the shameless and despicable actions of the silly, cute reader. Enoch pumped his fist in a silent "yes!" gesture. Violet pulled Alice into a hug and jumped up and down with her. Ariel signed "very awesome!" to Du Ze.
Then Xiu came to Du Ze's side and held his hand tightly. Du Ze saw that although Xiu smiled at him very gently, Xiu was actually not very happy.
Why are you unhappy? He was finally able to help a little.
Before Du Ze could open his mouth, Xiu closed his eyes and fell into a coma, perhaps because they had already passed the trial and he had relaxed. The moment the crystal ball exploded, the darkness came rushing in from all directions and started swallowing up this reading room that was floating in a void. The Tower of God was once again forcing them to rush forward. Muir carried Xiu and when Du Ze was about to leave the Temple of Knowledge through the white light, Soth suddenly spoke.
"If you can, could you tell me the answer to that question?"
Du Ze was silent, not because he didn't want to speak, but because he couldn't speak at all. Soth thought it was because there was no benefit in speaking and Du Ze would not make an effort without a reward so he continued: "I can speak freely now. If you wish to, we can exchange information."
Du Ze was immediately excited. There is something that he wants to ask about – the God of Creation. The people who were living in the world today can only know the legends about the creation of the various races, but the gods who have lived for thousands of year are likely to know more than ordinary folk.
What is more, the god in front of him is the owner of the Temple of Wisdom. For the Moe Lord's future, even if he knows that he won't be able to answer, Du Ze still doesn't want to give up this opportunity.
"Have you ever seen the Creator God? I want to know more about him."
The god was surprised when he heard this but he replied seriously: "No. When I became a god, there were only legends about the God who created the world."
Before Du Ze could be disappointed, Soth went on: "But I was interested in this topic, so I found some information. Before the first era, the world was created by the God and all living things lived together in harmony. However, after some time the Creator disappeared – legend says that he fell asleep but I think the phrase 'went missing' is more appropriate."
In the original plot of the "Mixed-Blood" novel, Yi Ye Zhi Qiu first wrote about the Creator God when he made the "trade" with the eight races. Du Ze had thought that the god was part of a fable meant to illustrate the pros and cons of each race but now he has a conjecture – perhaps this was something that really happened?
"Not long after the Creator God disappeared, the war between the angels and demons broke out during the beginning of the first era. This was a time when there was no god and the creatures who had been alive during the creation of the world had all died off. Only the gods of the first era could have seen the God of Creation." A complex expression flashed through Soth's eyes: "For example, the god of light, or ... the demon god Bael."
The god of light and Bael?! Du Ze almost coughed up blood. One is an irreconcilable enemy; how can they possibly have a friendly conversation with him?! The other one was already overthrown; how can they find the truth?!
"That's the only information I can offer." Soth stared at Du Ze: "Your answer?'
He got so much information that some silly, cute person was too embarrassed to run away without paying. Even though he knew that he would be censored (harmonized), he tried to say: "–" The world is a novel.
... Lord Mosaic is always on the job.
Although Du Ze did not hear any sound, the god seemed surprised.
"It seems the answer is not something I can know."
Huh?
Du Ze wanted to ask Soth what happened, but right after the god finished speaking he opened his book and started reading. Du Ze had no choice but to join the others in the pillar of white light.
The darkness engulfed the human god and the white light sent Du Ze and the others back to the hall. Enoch, dazed at first, began to cheer: "The clever thief is back!"
With one glance, Du Ze verified that there was now a statue of a man at the stone platform. Muir put Xiu down. Antonio drank some wine and came over. First he gazed at the comatose Xiu then said to Du Ze drunkenly: "Thank you for bringing this old man along with you. I and these little bastards will now say good-bye."
Antonio's farewell was too abrupt, not only was Du Ze surprised, the gold mercenary team was also startled. Honey shouted disbelievingly: "Grandpa?"
"Honey, this is not a fun place. Your grandpa is an old bag of bones that can't afford to be rattled about like this." Antonio stroked Honey's head and sighed: "If it wasn't for me trying to find you little bastards, this old man would not have come to this place."
Enoch kept on scratching his head while Honey wanted to protest but Antonio looked away and said, perhaps to Du Ze, perhaps to the gold mercenary team: "We are not joining your team."
Du Ze understands the subtext that Antonio is not saying. The first Mage God doesn't believe in Xiu. Xiu does not believe in him either. They cooperated because of their common interests, but that was only a short-term thing and they will eventually have to part ways.
Antonio pulled the somewhat unwilling Honey away with him and they left the tower. Naturally, Bart followed them. But Enoch did not leave. This rash fellow didn't care about Xiu's identity, so just like that he casually decided to stay.
"I will definitely help," said the thief.
Xiu was in a coma for a day. When he woke up he didn't seem surprised by Antonio's departure and he also agreed to let Enoch join them. They were immediately ready to challenge the next level of the Tower of God due to the surprisingly easy human race trial.
********
Translator's notes:
I was going to explain the "Lord Mosaic" joke above but when a joke is explained it becomes less funny. I hope everyone understood that bit. Du Ze called the invisible force that won't let him speak spoilers "Lord Mosaic" since pixelization/mosaic is often used to blur censored images.
lord mosaic
This is Lord Mosaic, he censors whatever needs to be censored.
Previously, the god said that only questions with an answer can be used during the trial. Hence, a nonsense question like "which came first the chicken or the egg?" is not allowed. If that's true then Du Ze's question should have been disqualified. However, it is a question that is not only "answerable," it is also something that is "widely known" – just not in that world. The readers in Du Ze's world know perfectly well that the world is a novel.
By the way, Soth's name is actually "Suosi" but I prefer a more Westernized translation since everyone else has Western-sounding names.
Du Ze thought that the human trial is easy but I think it's actually super hard! Even Antonio couldn't pass it.
I was rather surprised that the Tower of God had such a difficult trial. Now we will never know how Xiu would have gotten through that test. Do you have an idea of what Xiu would have asked? Do you think the test was easier than the other races' trials (so far)?
The door of light teleported them to a new place. When Du Ze opened his eyes he was forced to close them again because he was almost blinded by the light coming from the pile of gold and silver in front of him. Although he only got a glimpse of it, that huge pile of gold was like the treasure trove in the black dragon's cave back in Dragon Island.
Enoch whistled excitedly and began to circle around the heap of gold coins. Sunlight poured down from a hole on the top of the cave, shining down on the heap of treasures. Its reflection was so dazzlingly bright that people can't look at the pile of gold and silver directly. The Tower of God would not have placed a pile of treasure here for no reason, but they had no clue what its use was for.
[This is your lair.]
Du Ze clutched his temples. "The rules" had imprinted those words directly into his brain. It was only that short sentence; there was no explanation given. Suddenly, a rustling sound came from above their heads. The sunlight from the hole was obscured by a troglodyte who was peering down at them. The creature with lizard-like yellow-green skin jumped down and landed on the pile of treasure. It did not attack Du Ze and others. Instead, it simply grabbed some coins and jewels and put it in a sack that hung on its waist.
The group had not yet registered what happened when Muir, seemingly irritated, swiftly changed shape and struck the troglodyte with his hard, barbed tail. The lizard creature was swept onto the stone wall and instantly died. Its body fell to the ground and soon turned into a wisp of smoke that dissipated into the air.
A few more troglodytes were at the hole above them. The black dragon raised his head and used his flame to turn them into smoke. Du Ze looked at the black dragon protecting the treasure and profoundly understood the Tower of God's intentions.
— Welcome to the dragon race trial. This is your den; please guard your treasure.
Muir completely eliminated the lizard people and flew out of the cave while the rest followed. Outside the cave Du Ze saw a strange yet familiar canyon whose appearance made his hypothesis seem more and more plausible. Troglodytes were continuously gathering. Right now there were just a few of them, but based on the previous Tower of God trials, the difficulty will grow exponentially. Du Ze could see the lizard folk gathering; this was clearly similar to a tower defense type game.
"It's like a dragon's den." Muir said: "The dragon race used to live in a place like this before moving to the Dragon Island under the sea."
"The dragon race ..." said Xiu thoughtfully. He turned to Muir and said: "It seems that we will finally meet the ruler of the dragon gods. Do you know him?"
"The ruler of the dragon gods is Io. He is called the nine-colored dragon god and can appear as any type of dragon."
That is to say, he can change into every type of chromatic, metal, or crystal dragon? That's cheating! Some silly, cute person conveniently forgot the fact that the person beside him was the one who had the strongest cheat, an expert with a 30-year history of using the protagonist's halo.1
Xiu meditated for a moment. He glanced at the surrounding area before dividing the team into two groups: a group that will defend the lair and another group that will scout the area for more information. As of now they are not under great pressure; they should take this opportunity to gather intelligence.
Du Ze was partnered with Xiu and the black dragon. They parted ways with the others and the black dragon flew Xiu and Du Ze over the canyon walls. The Fire Phoenix followed beside them, its long tail feathers trailing gorgeously behind its body. Du Ze looked down and saw that below them was a curving river.
"I heard from Rachel. Are you looking for the God of Creation?"
Xiu's warm breath was in his ear. Du Ze felt it tickling him so he wanted to escape, but Xiu hugged him tighter.
"It's not just because of curiosity, huh?"
Du Ze knew that Xiu was waiting for his explanation, but since he could not tell the truth, he would rather stay silent than lie to him.
The sound of the wind in his ear was like a person's sigh. Du Ze felt Xiu lean lightly on his shoulder and a bit of gold flashed in the corner of Du Ze's eye.
"If you want to find him then I'll help you find him," said Xiu. He did not ask anything; he chose to believe in Du Ze.
"... I'd tell you everything if I could."
This is the only promise that Du Ze can make.
"Good."
When he heard Xiu's words, Du Ze's throat tightened. Every time, no matter how unreasonable his demands are, the person behind him always acquiesce and say "good."
This man was always showering him with tenderness.
The black dragon flew out of the canyon and the scenery opened up around them. The river came to an end at a deep-blue coloured lake like a flawless piece of jade. The lake was surrounded by lush woods.Xiu suddenly pressed on the black dragon's neck. Muir landed on a cliff and Xiu's eyes were focused on a point. Du Ze asked him curiously: "What is it?"
"I see an enemy." Xiu was looking at something in the distance and said: "Wait for me, I'll get rid of him."
Du Ze did not have time to reply before Xiu jumped down from the cliff and used wind magic to descend into the woods. He disappeared into the thick foliage. Though Du Ze searched the area, his eyesight was not good enough to spot Xiu or the enemy. He had no choice but to stand there, staring with the Fire Phoenix.
Xiu passed through the woods and arrived at a lake, in the place that he saw before. He brushed aside the branches and saw a girl standing on the shore of the lake.
The breeze lifted the girl's wavy blonde hair and made her white gauze skirt flutter. She sensed the arrival of Xiu and turned to reveal a delicate, beautiful face.
It's the Holy Saint Vivian.
******
******
This is ...?
Xiu was attracted by the pure light elements and walked to the lake. He brushed away the branches and noticed the slender figure at the lake shore. It was a maiden, stooping to look for something in the water. The strong light element clung to the maiden, outlining her in light – even though he could only see her back, her perfection makes a person afraid of profaning something holy.
She seemed to hear Xiu's footsteps. The maiden straightened up and she turned to look at him, one hand restraining her hair that was flying in the breeze.
At that moment, Xiu thought he had met a fairy from the lake.
— excerpt from "Mixed Blood"