Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1403: Dark Moon War and Legends (Part 2)

Chapter 1403: Chapter 1403: Dark Moon War and Legends (Part 2)

(Almost forgot, today is still the time to ask for a moon ticket! Those who have moon tickets, please support us!)

To be honest, we didn’t come here to understand how the local natives use the productivity of a feudal society to fight an interstellar war, nor are we interested in the few interstellar wars they’ve fought. Our mission is to search this world right under the Fallen Apostle’s nose and find the Divine Artifact the Star Domain Divine Race left behind, or any clues about the artifact left by that fallen Star Domain Scout. But soon, I was drawn to the history Ron was telling, because I’m someone who enjoys listening to stories. The Dark Moon War sounds way more interesting than those god-and-demon battles fought on a planet: they hadn’t even summoned the Immortals before they were already throwing Lightning Arrows on foreign planets...

Now Ron is just talking about the times before the earliest Dark Moon War, when Earth and Moon weren’t yet opposed. The two planets were connected by a legendary Long Bridge, and Dark Moon wasn’t called Dark Moon, but a seemingly normal habitable planet with decent conditions—unlike what we see now, a dark, dirty snowball hanging in the sky, looking heavily polluted. Like every not-so-beautiful mythological story, this pastoral era of peace must come to an end one day: two usually antagonistic races broke out in war. The Surface People’s version is that the Original Sinners started the war and slapped Humans first, but given that history may not be fair, as an outsider I don’t care who fired the first shot. Anyway, the Mountain Barbarians known as Original Sinners seem to be a ruthless bunch. Facing the Alliance Army of all races in the world, they mercilessly staged a play with secret partners, taking out all the leaders of the Alliance Army...

Subsequently, the Alliance Army advanced instead of retreating, launching a mad counterattack. Those major tribes around the world that were originally neutral also declared participation in the war, and coincidentally chose to join the Original Sinners, namely the Mountain Barbarians, turning a conflict between two countries into a world war.

As the war continued, the Human Alliance—Humans were just one part of the Alliance Army, but since they were the first to be hit, I call this Alliance the Human Alliance—discovered an incredible truth: the Mountain Barbarians’ leader might have grown up eating Gold Kela...

"Undead Body? What do you mean?" I subconsciously asked, then noticed Ron’s slightly surprised expression, quickly compensating, "Oh, I know this saying, but I don’t know the details. Want to ask if the Holy Scripture mentions what this Undead Body situation is."

"Lost ages ago," Ron waved his hand, patting his knee where a barbecue-flavored Bible rested, "This only has those four words. I guess the Mountain Barbarians’ leader obtained some forbidden power through Black Witchcraft, turning himself into a Monster. This period of history has many missing parts, and even more disputed areas, but no matter which version, one thing is confirmed: the Mountain Barbarian leader alone could confront the entire army, strong beyond human understanding, so one speculation is that that guy stole some of the Goddess’s power, but the Church doesn’t admit this: the Goddess’s power doesn’t belong to Mortals, let alone stealing it; direct contact even for the Dragon Clan would be thoroughly deadly. In short, the war got harder and harder, the soldiers of the Original Sinners grew absurdly strong, seeming to receive some ’guidance’ from the Barbarian King, becoming increasingly twisted, some races even physically transformed into Monsters. The war got completely out of control in the later stages, as recorded in the Divine Canon. Even the Dragon Clan, originally of Absolute Neutrality in the world, had to step in, they joined the side of justice, those mighty Ancient Creatures did indeed ease the war situation slightly, suppressing the Original Sinners back. But this didn’t last long, as the Mountain Barbarians finally abandoned their last bit of bottom line in Black Witchcraft, starting to corrupt the Elf Clan and Humans. Some Elves were twisted by Black Witchcraft into Night Demon Elves, some Humans began bloodthirsty attacks, turning into Vampires. Nobody knows exactly what this Black Witchcraft was like anymore, the Holy Scripture only mentions that it could spread like a plague and was incurable. This was practically fatal, as Elves and Humans were respectively the backbone races of Mages and warriors in the Alliance, and with these two strongest races weakened, the war was just about completely unwinnable..."

A normal Missionary would never use "completely unwinnable" to describe a mythological story, so I quite like Ron’s narrative style; it sounds very relatable.

I gestured for Ron to continue, but saw this black giant press his hand on the Bible and muttered something, then continued: "When the war was about to fail, a turning point appeared. The Original Sinners’ Black Witchcraft and various evil Magics exceeded the Goddess’s toleration limit, she finally decided to personally punish her wayward children, this is the most famous ’First Divine Descent’—the Goddess personally descended to the Mortal World, wielding the Holy Light Giant Sword to repel the Original Sinners’ total attack at once. Although I also sneaked naps during my Divine Academy days, as long as teaching reached Chapters about the Goddess, I was especially spirited, she’s incredible!"

By now, I no longer care about his past student exploits; this story circled for so long and finally reached the first key point, and it was unexpected: the Goddess personally descended!

We always believed the world’s religion had developed under the influence of that Star Domain Artifact, its released power and its original owner’s Information Disturbance Power fostering the Goddess sect, sketching out an abstract image of the Goddess in the minds of the locals, this being the source of all their mythological stories. We were quite confident in this assumption, and thus placed the bet on the artifact’s whereabouts on this sect, but as Ron spoke, how did they truly have a Goddess descent?

"Wait a minute," Bingdisi directly interrupted Ron’s narration, "Is the part about the Goddess’s descent accurately recorded?"

"Of course it is," Ron nodded as if it was obvious, his expression suggesting he thought we were talking nonsense, "Every time the Dark Moon War ends with the Goddess personally arriving on the battlefield and resealing the Dark Moon People on the moon, everyone knows this—oh, you scholars always raise some strange questions, which is quite normal, but I think you’d better not question the part about the Goddess’s descent. Without the Goddess, who could send the Dark Moon Lord back?"

Bingdisi and I exchanged a glance, knowing it was not suitable to pursue this topic further now, so we nodded to Ron, "Alright, then continue, with the Goddess personally intervening, the war isn’t much of a suspense. I know this part of history (though I actually felt guilty saying this), tell us how the Goddess dealt with those Original Sinners."

"Well, this is the most important section of the doctrine, even if you’ve heard it countless times, I’ll definitely tell it again," Ron laughed, "Led by the Goddess personally, the Alliance Army first identified the Vampires and Night Elves infected with Black Witchcraft and expelled them all, thus blocking the spread of Black Witchcraft, then the Alliance began to counterattack the Original Sinners. The Goddess and the Divine Soldiers she summoned were invincible, quickly driving the Original Sinners back to their respective strongholds. That’s when the mountainous barbarian king, who had turned into a monster, finally appeared; he had become a twisted Great Demon. The following events are repeatedly mentioned in all the stories: he announced he would challenge the Goddess one-on-one."

...I believe the original text of the Bible definitely isn’t just these two words; Ron’s way of describing things is truly down-to-earth.

"This is how the Divine Canon describes it:" shaking his head, Ron recited with an exaggerated manner, the Black Giant recited the Bible with a face full of societal resentment, making it particularly amusing, "The Demon of Original Sin challenges the Goddess, with the sins of arrogance and violence burning as fierce flames on his armor, this Demon charged toward the Goddess, darkening the sky as he went, yet the Goddess wielded a longsword, slashing down the Demon’s head with one stroke."

"Instantly?" I thought this section would be thrilling, yet it only took a sentence.

"Yes, instantly," Ron shrugged, "You know the events that followed: the Goddess had mercy in her heart after all; she did not wish to utterly destroy her creations, even if they had strayed, she wanted to give them a chance for redemption. So the Goddess drove all the Original Sinners to the moon that had been completely ruined by Black Witchcraft, allowing them to reflect on their actions in the adverse environment they created. Afterwards, the Goddess destroyed the Long Bridge between earth and moon with one stroke, preventing any easy passage between them ever again. This is what’s known as the First Dark Moon War."

I casually continued, "Later, the Original Sinners became known as Dark Moon People."

Ron nodded in agreement: "Yes, because both Black Witchcraft and the corrupt thoughts of the Original Sinners were driven and concentrated on the moon, these negative things polluted the originally bright lunar surface, staining its seas black and corrupting its land, turning the moon into that dark appearance. From that day on, it became known as Dark Moon, and those imprisoned on that polluted land became known as Dark Moon People, including the corrupted Night Elves and Vampires. The people remaining on earth subsequently called themselves Surface People."

"After the First Dark Moon War, there was a long period of peace on earth," Ron smacked his lips, seemingly reflective, "Since so many people died in the war, those who survived naturally knew the value of peace, they rebuilt the Goddess Temple destroyed by the war, all races jointly rebuilt the earth, this period is called the Second Heavenly Era. There’s not much to say afterwards, regardless of being Human, Elf, or Dwarf, eventually, the pain fades, and over time, things got chaotic again on earth—by then, the Goddess had returned to the Divine Realm for a long while, some even forgot the Goddess’s teachings, and several countries started to squabble again. However, they ultimately learned from the First Dark Moon War, the Surface People would not allow the chaos to escalate into a world war. But even such disorder gave enemies an opportunity: the Dark Moon People returned. Not only did the Dark Moon People return, but even the terrifying Demon who had once made the world tremble was resurrected, the former king of the Mountain Barbarian Tribe; he was resurrected a few hundred years after the Goddess killed him, even stronger than before. He knew the Surface People had renamed the moon as Dark Moon and called the Original Sinners Dark Moon People, so he simply accepted these titles, even calling himself the Dark Moon Lord. Thus, the Second Dark Moon War broke out suddenly."

"Resurrection?" Bingdisi and I spoke in unison, then engaged in a brief exchange via Spiritual Connection, simultaneously reaching a conclusion: let’s put the details aside; the Goddess worshipped by the locals is absolutely not the genuine Star Domain God.

A Star Domain God, even someone like Dingdang, wouldn’t be unable to completely kill even a mortal. The Dark Moon Lord, at the peak of his life, was still within the "mortal" realm, unable to even leave this constant star system, let alone escape the annihilating power of a Star Domain God?

Actually, even without this point, I don’t quite believe the "Goddess" that locals worship is the fallen Star Domain Scout from back then. Someone certified as dead by the entire Divine Realm cannot possibly reappear.

"Oh, so he resurrected," Ron nodded, "It was then that the surface people realized the Barbarian King, now the Dark Moon Lord, had obtained such a formidable undead body, that even the Goddess could only prevent him from resurrecting for a few hundred years. The second Dark Moon War was nearly more brutal than the first, because the surface people had been peaceful for too long, while the Dark Moon people had spent centuries preparing on the moon, and the Dark Moon Lord almost swept through all the kingdoms of that time."

I knew this war surely ended with the defeat of the Dark Moon people, so I couldn’t help but ask, "How did they counterattack later?"

"When the races finally discovered during their resistance against the Dark Moon Army that the Dark Moon Lord didn’t seem to be attacking to kill or occupy territory; he was always attacking Goddess Temples and the Church Country, and every time a Goddess Temple was destroyed, the Dark Moon Lord’s army would suddenly increase by tens of thousands - it was then the surface people realized that the sealing power of the Goddess on the Dark Moon people was still there; the demon was continuously weakening this seal to release his former army. The various races finally recalled the lessons from the first Dark Moon War, knowing that only the power of the Goddess could destroy the enemy, so they gathered their strongest, most devout believers and formed the Temple Knights, and began praying with renewed devoutness. As I mentioned earlier, after hundreds of years of peace, many people had nearly forgotten the teachings of the Goddess, but now they were finally enlightened."

"So the Goddess appeared again, right?" Bingdisi suddenly interrupted.

"Exactly, when people’s faith was once again firm, the power of the Goddess naturally returned to the land. The Goddess descended once more, driving the Dark Moon Army back to the moon, and before the Long Bridge, killed the Dark Moon Lord once again. That was the second war."

"Those who remember to eat but not to be beaten," Bingdisi sighed, "If I guessed correctly, it was followed by the Third Heavenly Kingdom Era, the third Dark Moon War, the Fourth Heavenly Kingdom Era, the fourth Dark Moon War, and so on - you’ve already fought five Dark Moon Wars, how come you haven’t learned?"

Ron’s expression turned a bit strange, because Bingdisi’s tone clearly separated herself and the surface people into two groups: she used the word "you." The female hooligan was nonchalant as she usually didn’t care about word precision, but fortunately, Ron didn’t seem that attentive either, taking it as a slight slip of the tongue from Bingdisi, then shook his head: "The Dark Moon Wars were indeed named so one after another, but no one mentions the Heavenly Kingdom Era again. Although me saying this is not very appropriate, calling a time of forgetfulness a Heavenly Kingdom Era is rather shameful, isn’t it?"

By this point, we’ve pretty much clarified the matters surrounding the Dark Moon Wars, the surface people, the Goddess, the Dark Moon Lord, and so on, but Bingdisi and I became more uncertain about whether divine artifacts are connected to these mythological stories: once a genuine Goddess descends within the Goddess Sect, the situation becomes exceedingly complex, because we all know that the true Goddess might have died elsewhere before this universe was born, and the divine artifacts she left behind might have drifted to this world only a few thousand years ago, so what is the origin of the Goddess Ron spoke of who descended herself?

Bingdisi rarely looked so serious, and I discussed in the spiritual connection with her, while the female hooligan proposed two hypotheses: "Either the divine artifact retains the will of that senior from back then, and she appears as a phantom from time to time, which the locals interpreted as the descent of the Goddess; or, someone else is harnessing the power of the divine artifact, and the so-called ’Goddess’ indeed exists, but is simply an outsider capable of using Star Domain powers - which is not impossible with the aid of a divine artifact."

"You still think that the world’s religion was indeed inspired by that divine artifact?" I gave Bingdisi a glance.

Bingdisi slightly gestured with her chin towards the Goddess statue pendant on Ron’s neck: "Though faint, when this big black guy prayed, I sensed the pendant was activated; it was indeed the power of the Star Domain. But this amount of power is merely residual radiation and doesn’t indicate the location of the divine artifact."

I was momentarily stunned, finally feeling settled - at least the first half of this situation is nailed down, and as for what this Goddess is all about, we can take time to deliberate slowly. If it turns out to be a remaining soul, it would certainly be a cause for joy, but if someone has claimed the divine artifact’s power...

Thinking of this, I stole a glance at Bingdisi: "What if it’s an outsider who’s claimed the divine artifact?"

Bingdisi, rolling her eyes, recalled: "Well, it depends on what kind of divine artifact it is, and what the person who obtained it is doing. If the person doesn’t pose a threat to world balance, then naturally it involves recovering the artifact, recording the event, and giving the person a warning and education to let it go, and if the person has done all the good deeds and amassed virtue and goodwill, even wishing to plug up a hole in the sky if one appeared, there’s even a reward after assessment. But if bad deeds were done, it’s hard to say, and the Pantheon would judge the punishment ranging from a one to five-thunder bombardment, with severe crimes judged otherwise."

I was puzzled: "What’s the difference between a one-thunder bombardment and a five-thunder bombardment?"

"No difference, really, divine thunders will certainly kill," Bingdisi shrugged, "It’s mainly that the deterrence is more visible when making an example."

Me: "... Then, do you think the Goddess worshiped by the locals is doing good or bad? I figured she seems like someone who’s saved the world..."

Bingdisi grinned: "Just because imprisoning the Dark Moon people on the moon is considered doing good and amassing virtue? I don’t see it that way, and the Dark Moon War was fought five whole times, once or twice can be explained as reluctance to finish them off, but driving the Dark Moon people back over and over again does not count as virtuous in my eyes... There are just too many doubts in this Dark Moon War."

I was startled, thinking indeed, every Dark Moon War ended with significant casualties, and those Dark Moon people seemed thoroughly corrupted by black witchcraft beyond redemption, so why did "Goddess" always spare them? Explaining it with insufficient power certainly doesn’t make sense: before the Goddess, even the Dark Moon Lord couldn’t last for two seconds when launched with full power...

"So, uh," Ron finally couldn’t help but speak up after watching Bingdisi and me in silence for a long time, "Do you have anything else to hear? We agreed to chat, how did it end up with just me giving a lecture? The nasty habits I learned at Divine Academy are just hard to change!"

I felt a wave of embarrassment: I had been discussing questions with Bingdisi in the spiritual connection just now and forgot there was a person sitting nearby. From a third-party perspective, I was probably "exchanging glances" with this female hooligan for quite a while! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for it on qidian.com with your recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)