Xyrin Empire-Chapter 1404: This World Is About to Change

Chapter 1404: Chapter 1404: This World Is About to Change

This civilization, located in the no man’s land, has an astonishing complexity—but remarking on it this way seems wrong, as the complexity of a civilization does not depend on whether it is located in a no man’s land. I just didn’t expect its history to be so chaotic.

Regarding the Dark Moon War, we first rule out the speculation about the Star Domain Artifact. From a local perspective, it really comes down to this: In the primitive era, the world was peaceful. Although the various races didn’t exactly live in harmony, they didn’t interfere with each other. However, peace is always meant to be broken. When the wheels of history reached a certain point, one race suddenly slapped another. It was a vicious slap that stirred up anger, causing the two races to immediately lock horns. As the fight escalated, the longstanding suppressed conflicts among all races erupted collectively and developed into a world war. The battle stretched from the ground to the moon and back, with increasingly extreme weapons, finally alarming the "Goddess." The Goddess took a look at the situation and found that one side was using weapons that were clearly illegal high-pollution tools (Black Witchcraft). So, with a responsibility for world peace, she knocked those people down. However, for unknown reasons (we assume it’s divine love for humanity), the "Goddess" didn’t completely exterminate those who had lost the ability to resist. Instead, she divided the world into two parts: the earth and the moon, and then banished the defeated to the perilous moon, severing the passage between the earth and the moon with one stroke.

Afterward, the Surface People could finally live in peace. They renamed the moon and its inhabitants as a lesson for future generations, marking all the enemy names in textbooks with black frames to signify integrity...

This incident is historically known as the First "Dark Moon War."

It’s a grand story, proving that this world has a very complex history due to its many races. But the most striking part of this history is another fact: this devastation, the "Dark Moon War," happened not once but five times! Each occurrence was exactly the same, and now it seems like the sixth is about to unfold...

Binidis and I looked at Ron, who was looking at us, creating a slightly awkward atmosphere. We had been busy chatting in the Spirit World, forgetting about the person beside us. Ron likely saw this as daydreaming during a lecture. Fortunately, this big black guy also spent most of his classes at the Divine Academy this way, seeming unconcerned, asking instead if there was anything unclear. I knew that the Dark Moon War must be common knowledge here, but we had too many questions, so worrying about appearing suspicious was out of the question. Binidis casually asked, "Every Dark Moon War ends with the Goddess saving the world, right?"

I had already decided that if Ron wondered why a supposedly knowledgeable Sorcerer didn’t know this, I’d explain that Binidis’s history was taught by a gym teacher who was formerly a carpenter...

"Of course it is the Goddess, she is the only one capable of slaying the Dark Moon Lord," said Ron, his face usually rebellious, now displaying a holy and solemn expression. Proudly pressing the Bible to his chest, he spoke in a ceremonious tone, "Whenever the Dark Moon War erupts, the Goddess Sect becomes the core of the Alliance Army. All believers bear great responsibility. We are both soldiers and mediums for summoning the Goddess to the present world. It is only with enough devoted prayers that the connection between the Divine Realm and the Human Realm can be strengthened, allowing the Goddess to know what is happening here and come to stop the Dark Moon People."

"Strengthen the connection between the Divine Realm and Human Realm?" Binidis suddenly frowned, "What does that mean?"

Ron glanced at Binidis, puzzled: "Aren’t you a Sorcerer? Even though you’re not a Priest, Sorcerers seem to like researching the Divine Realm Human Realm Bridge."

Binidis waved her hand: "Just think of me as an unconventional, self-taught Sorcerer from the outskirts. What is the Divine Realm Human Realm Bridge about? How does the connection work? Are you summoning the Goddess to this world or what?"

I chimed in from the side: "She became a Sorcerer as a self-taught prodigy, but recently she’s become interested in these professional subjects: see how she’s now interested in researching the Divine Realm Human Realm Bridge?"

"Oh," Ron shrugged, "It’s actually quite simple. The Goddess is in the Divine Realm, separated from the Human Realm by a Barrier. Because the Goddess’s power is immense, it disrupts the Human Realm’s operations, so she built this Barrier to protect the Human Realm. Due to her numerous affairs, she needs to oversee the world’s base, the ’Vanuri Rock Platform,’ from another perspective. Consequently, she can only observe the Human Realm once every century. When the Dark Moon People invade the earth, we believers need to use prayers and gather more Faith Power to alert the Divine Realm and enhance the connection between the two worlds to facilitate the Goddess’s travels. The Goddess’s power is so strong that her stay in the Human Realm is limited, and there’s no fixed schedule for the Dark Moon People’s invasion. So each Dark Moon War requires the Surface People to hold the line for a while before we gather strength to summon the Goddess. I’ve explained this entire process clearly; if you still don’t understand, I can’t help."

As soon as Ron finished speaking, Binidis muttered in my mind, "Every word sounds like a desperate excuse."

I had the same feeling, but it was obvious that this excuse wasn’t concocted by Ron himself. It was something from the Bible in his hand: it’s what the Church has always maintained. Even if this big black guy doesn’t look like a normal Clergy, his blind faith in the Goddess and Church is the same as most people in this world; he likely never questioned the education he received: the doctrine says the Goddess created the entire world, yet left without even installing a camera? Ron hasn’t doubted it at all. Of course, this is also because he doesn’t know what a camera is...

My gaze fell on Ron’s Bible, and a thought occurred to me: "Well, can we borrow this sa- uh, Holy Scripture to take a look?"

"Of course," Ron laughed, handing me the book, "you can have it, ’If believers yearn for the Gospel, they shall be generous.’ I heard this until my ears were sore back in the day."

I stroked the black-bound book that had absorbed a kitchen aroma from years of being handled by chefs, and couldn’t help but click my tongue: "If a believer asks, they just give it for free? What if someone deliberately causes trouble and asks the Church for a hundred or so copies? Can they afford it?"

Ron thought about it and looked at me, astonished: "Most people wouldn’t even think of such a mean idea, right?"

Me: "..." Is this a compliment or an insult?

At this moment, Ron looked up at the square, where the excitement was about to end. The villagers were starting to leave in threes and fours, and he excused himself to us: "Sorry, I have to get back to work. Let’s chat some other time."

With that, the black giant stood up and went to help wrap things up. His silhouette indeed resembled a lost uncle fresh out of reformation from prison: the Divine Academy’s recruitment standards must have been unique back then, or maybe the recruitment officer only let him join because he couldn’t beat him...

I looked down at the fragrant black-bound book in my hands. Its cover was remarkably simple, a hard black shell with only a pair of crossed wings — presumably the Goddess Sect’s emblem — and a line of text I didn’t recognize. Upon opening the book, I found more unfamiliar text on the title page, the table of contents, and the first Chapter, which read: "%%￥%#@*!"

Flipping a few pages, I finally saw something I recognized: a little turtle doodled in the blank spaces... This book most likely came from the big guy when he was in school!

"Looks like I’ll have to upload it to the Total Network for translation first," I remarked casually while closing the Bible. This situation was quite common. Due to Information Disturbance Power and Information Projections’ effects, adjacent worlds could coincidentally develop the same or similar scripts, but this no man’s land area was obviously far from the Imperial Inland, and the script here didn’t match any civilization within the Empire’s territory. However, every language and script has a pattern and self-decoding ability, so even though it’s our first encounter, translating it shouldn’t be a problem.

"Speaking of which, why do nearly all Star Domain-related Bibles have black covers? Does your Information Disturbance even have a say in this?" I suddenly thought of this question, but before Bendis could answer, I figured it out for myself, "Oh, I get it now. Black is solemn, and using a black cover to represent the seriousness and gravity of divine authority, right? Moreover, black is what all colors look like when mixed together, representing the divine’s inclusiveness of everything..."

Binidis looked at me blankly and interrupted: "Why are you overthinking? Black doesn’t show dirt. A Bible gets handled by so many people, who knows if they wash their hands. Printing the cover in black means you won’t worry about it getting dirty."

"..." I should have known, with things related to Star Domain Gods, it’s always best to think in the most unconventional ways!

But soon I thought of something: "Why are there several versions of Dingdang’s Bible with green covers? Is it because green must represent Life Power? Most of the world’s initial life is associated with green?"

"No, it’s because she likes green, and she’s a little scatterbrained."

I realized suddenly and clapped my hands: "...Oh, that’s right."

Dingdang poked her head out of my pocket, curiously looking around, her little head turning here and there. She heard someone calling her name, but luckily the Little Thing was still sleepy and didn’t catch what was said in the latter part. Is her jet lag still messed up?

At this point, the gathering was essentially coming to an end, and there wasn’t any wrap-up leadership speech. It was an event that came without notice and ended as so, with villagers leaving satisfied after eating and drinking, engaging enough in their casual chats. Occasionally, you could hear someone loudly calling out for those leaving later to help take back chairs or tables from so-and-so’s house, presenting a simple and harmonious rural scene. But thinking about the recently learned Dark Moon war and this world’s chaotic history, along with the peculiar Goddess belief, I can’t help but feel a sense of alienation in this peaceful scene: such a quiet and harmonious village really shouldn’t exist in this chaotic era. I wonder if this place will be engulfed when the Dark Moon war starts. But we’re certainly involved: Bingdisi sensed divinity from the amulet Ron has, and this Dark Moon war is likely related to the Divine Artifact. You see how complicated this is... originally I thought the task would be simple and planned to finish within ten days.

Qianqian, who didn’t know where she had gone wildly playing, finally returned at this time. She was holding a big clay pot filled with strange, handmade snacks. The girl was beaming with a smile as she happily talked while stuffing what she thought was the tastiest snack into my mouth: "These are exchanged with Anwina-baked little cakes from the people here, they’re so hospitable, Ah Jun, try some!"

I was instantly stuffed by this girl and couldn’t speak, only able to express my praise by pressing her hair with a smile. It’s those scatterbrained people who easily feel the world’s beauty, look at how happy Qianqian is now...

Visca somehow emerged from a corner, her small frame dirtied, maybe having gone exploring again, and upon seeing the large clay pot Qianqian was hugging, she immediately lunged at it. The two naughty kids, both big and small, seem quite joyful. I temporarily put these two immature little ones aside and stretched my neck searching for Lin Xue and Pandora’s figures, only to witness an unexpected scene:

The two were still sitting by the previous long table, Pandora already had a large pile of gnawed clean bones in front of her, while Lin Xue was speaking with an old man: precisely that peculiar Village Chief!

I led a group over, rubbing Pandora’s head a little before finally turning my face towards Lin Xue: "Yo—what are we talking about?"

Visca lunged and gathered all of Pandora’s gnawed clean bones to her side, crushing them and earnestly starting to play a puzzle game. Pandora blankly watched for a while before joining this childish game. Lin Xue raised her head and gave me a silly smile: "Discussing world peace..."

"Sorry, I didn’t fully trust you initially, might have offended slightly," the Old Village Chief stood up, showing me a broad but slightly embarrassed smile, "Old man like me should apologize for that."

I didn’t expect Old Master would still keep this thing in mind, seems my suspicion that the Village Chief ’resisted outsiders’ was a misunderstanding. I quickly waved my hand at him: "Don’t mind, don’t mind—how come you’re changing your tune now?"

The Old Village Chief chuckled awkwardly: "Just realized you really are just passing travelers, and unfamiliar with this place."

I slightly tilted my head to the side, indeed seeing Miss covertly make a victory gesture when no one noticed: obviously, the old man had just been hoodwinked by her, though not sure which direction she led him...

"It’s quite uneasy outside now," Lin Xue spoke up, breaking the slightly uneasy atmosphere, she dug a rough biscuit from Qianqian’s large clay pot, munching while explaining the situation," Dark Moon People movements have been detected within numerous countries, this upcoming Dark Moon war might come sooner. Every nation globally is busy recruiting, the Hasad Duchy has expanded recruitment across the whole nation; the first batch of troops has already been sent to the foot of Long Bridge Mountain Range. Gandor Empire adjacent to Hasad Duchy is not slow in recruitment progress either. Now in the wilderness and mountain paths, civilians are utterly unseen; even Adventurers mostly joined the Church Army as mercenaries. In other words, currently those traversing the wilderness would be comprised of three types: Dark Moon People using black witchcraft to disguise themselves, recruiting troops, and local courageous prepping for enlistment.

At this moment, Miss glanced at me: "So it’s understandable the Old Master might be jumpy seeing us, we don’t look like any of those three, yet with the current tension outside, even a mere rabbit jumping in might scare someone here: Pine Forest Village is right next to Long Bridge Mountain, with Hasad Duchy just across the mountain. The village ain’t big but it is quite special."

I got somewhat confused by Lin Xue’s explanation; some place names she mentioned I’ve only heard of, some completely foreign — evidently all realized during her chat with Old Village Chief: Miss might not know the Dark Moon war situation as deeply as Bingdisi and I, but she extrapolated the current outer world situation quite well from the Old Village Chief.

Even if Old Village Chief’s insights aren’t much, having just returned from a big town, he certainly knows the world is about to change.

I quickly exchanged the intel with Miss through Spiritual Connection and finally understood precisely what her heap of terms referred to: 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Pine Forest Village’s terrain had been raised earlier, one side is a vast endless pine forest, the other closely adjoining a stretch of continuous mountains, sequestered and barely known — yet its geographical location is rather special, this small village is right on the border between two countries.

The village lies on Gandor Empire’s frontier, crossing that pine forest brings one to the Empire’s border’s final commercial city, while following the mountains in either south or north direction takes one to Gandor Empire’s border’s twin fortresses. In essence, this mountain range runs north to south, what Lin Xue mentioned as the "Long Bridge Mountain Range."

Should one cross this range, west of Long Bridge Mountain Range is Hasad Duchy’s territory: another major human nation.

Although Bingdisi and I hadn’t perceived any changes with the "moon" up there, it indeed activated intensely, supposedly stranded by the outer space environment, Dark Moon People, are frequenting the earth. Nations globally are hence on high alert; after the Church confirmed imminent Dark Moon war outburst, each nation besides deploying maintaining highly-trained readiness regulars, they resorted to temporarily summoning a large number of new recruits— Dark Moon war eventuality indicates a world war, merely relying on regulars alone makes guarding their borders impossible.

With Hasad Duchy and Gandor Empire being the strongest two human nations naturally, they reacted faster, the former already mobilized massive Corps to Long Bridge Mountain’s foot, ever ready for frontline deployment while the latter accomplished regulars mobilization and is now hastening recruit formation.

Old Village Chief, after visiting outside, realized the outer world’s tumultuous change, upon returning found a group of strangers emerging within his village— though we included quite a few younger ones, it understandably raised some concerns within him, hence a tiny misunderstanding arose.

Truth be told, while Old Master may dwell on it personally, we’ve soon enough brushed it aside; not purely due to broad mind rather primarily because we’re accustomed to traversing various world dimensions frequently... (To be continued. If you liked this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) and cast recommendation votes or monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)