Chapter 107
Copying a Western Fantasy
Zhou Yun Sheng went back to the Xinghai space and face palmed for a long time, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The man he was looking so long for was actually always by his side.
He couldn’t feel his lover, but his lover could accurately find him every time, which made Zhou Yun Sheng doubt whether his coding level was higher than he’d imagined. Maybe he was a virus, a program, or a soul that was controlled by the Lord God, all sorts of speculations were swirling in his mind.
But soon, he didn’t have the sense to think about anything else, a huge amount of energy, bigger than he’d received from any previous reincarnation, frantically poured into him and instantly repaired the damage to his soul. It also changed his gray soul into a bright white, faintly mixed with a few strands of golden light. A B-Class world’s energy was nothing to sneeze at.
He smiled as some of the energy flowed away to an unknown space, then turned on the AI on his wrist.
007, which had not been turned on for a long time, was very excited, the screen displayed “Welcome Back Master”.
“Go to the next world.” Zhou Yun Sheng clicked the transfer button, and his tall figure disappeared into the vast galaxy.
When he opened his eyes again, he was kneeling in an empty and immense hall. In front of him was a five-meter-high statue, carved in the image of a middle-aged man who was wearing a white robe and a thorny crown, he gazed at the believers kneeling at his feet with compassionate eyes.
Almost subconsciously, Zhou Yun Sheng knew that this was the statue of the God of Light, and here was the ancient Light Temple of the Sagya Kingdom. There was no one else in the temple, and there was no extra furnishings. Only a rectangular altar was placed in front of the statue, filled with flowers, fruits, and pastries for the God.
There was a solemn atmosphere, causing Zhou Yun Sheng to dare not stay. His folded his hands flat on the ground, lowered his forehead against the back of his hands, showed obeisance to the God of Light, then slowly retreated.
The two maids at the door immediately stepped forward to put on his white cloak, one maid in the front, the other in the back, then they respectfully sent him back to his room.
The room was not as spacious as the main hall, but the furnishings were extremely luxurious. The most conspicuous furniture was a huge, gold gauze covered, four-post bed. Opposite the bed was a small door, and behind it was a natural indoor hot spring.
It seemed the original owner knew how to enjoy life, and his status wasn’t low. Zhou Yun Sheng took off his cloak, took out a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet, then slowly sipped while reading his body’s memory.
Yes, this time he didn’t need to use 007 to hack into the Lord God’s database to steal information, he could learn what the original owner would experience in the future from his memory. This was because the original owner was reborn, and both the old and new soul superimposed on each other and caused irreversible damage. Seeing that both were about to disappear, 007 decided to make his master’s soul directly possess the body.
The two souls had vanished, only leaving behind deep and extremely dark memories.
The original’s name was Joshua, because he was born with light attributes, he was carefully instructed by the Bishop of the Light Temple in Sagya Kingdom. When he reaches adulthood, there was a high chance that the Bishop position would be passed to him.
When speaking of light attributes, you had to talk about the continent where the Sagya Kingdom was located. Thousands of years ago, this continent was very prosperous, there were many different races, there were elves, huge dragons, beastmen, dwarves, goblins, humans, etc. and every race had their own gods. Under their god’s blessings, they lived free and comfortable lives.
But for unknown reasons, the gods began to abandon them, and they left the mainland one after another. Without divine power to suppress it, the demon fog in the Dark Abyss began to spread to the mainland, contaminating the magical races into deviant devils, demons who wantonly killed their own countrymen.
A war inevitably broke out, but it didn’t curb the demons, it only resulted in the goblin, dwarf, dragon and other races becoming completely extinct, leaving only the elves, humans and beastmen to struggle. Under the combined prayers of three dedicated priests, the God of Light who was intending to leave the continent, remained and gave his followers the power to destroy the demons.
The three races continued on, and the Light God became the only faith in the continent.
The power of light could identify parasitic devils in the body and expel them, it could also curb the spread of demon fog. The Light God lived in the Ninth Heaven, it was impossible for him to parade around the continent to save every creature, so he made the creatures that contained light attributes his messengers, allowing them to sow the seeds of hope in the mainland.
But these types of people were very few, calling them rare was not an exaggeration, they were 1 in 100,000. If there weren’t enough light priests to create light circles and worship the God of Light, the demon fog in the Dark Abyss would eventually spread to the whole continent.
At that time, the world would truly come to an end.
Looking at this memory, Zhou Yun Sheng raised his eyebrows in surprise. He felt that the characteristics of the demons were somewhat similar to zombies, but the demons couldn’t infect people with a scratch, the demons had to directly implant their power into the person’s body.
He clicked on his watch’s interface, ordering 007 to search for the world’s savoir, the protagonist, then continued looking through Joshua’s memories.
In order to cultivate as much powerful light priests as possible, every races’ offspring was tested at the age of three, and whenever they found light attributes, they would immediately send them away to the Light Temple in the capital to be cultured.
That’s how Joshua left his parents and came to Gagor (the capital of the Sagya Kingdom) and grew to 16 years of age under the Bishop’s careful tutelage. But in this year, he met with a predestined fate of suffering. He fell deeply in love with the Second Prince of the Sagya Kingdom, Alger Orton, charmed by his handsome appearance, and elegant and noble temperament.
He promised the Second Prince to help him compete for the throne, so he drugged the Bishop, and while the Bishop was sleeping, he whispered ‘the Second Prince will become the ruler of Sagya Kingdom’ into the Bishop’s ear, impersonating an oracle.
The Bishop woke up, convinced, and conveyed the oracle to the King during the Second Prince’s adult baptism ritual.
The worship for the Light God had already reached the point of fanaticism in the nation, so naturally, no one dared violate his wishes. On the third day after the adult ceremony, the Second Prince was coronated as Crown Prince over the First Prince.
When Joshua thought he would live a happy life with the Second Prince, a teenager named Boel Britte appeared. Not only did he have an elf-like appearance, he had a very frightening light power and a keepsake from the God of Light. He was a real resident from the Ninth Heaven who’d traveled to the Light Temple as a messenger.
He became bewitched by the Second Prince, and he eliminated all obstacles to be with him as a soul mate. This made Joshua jealous beyond reason, so he used a variety of means to harm Boel, but he was always stopped by Boel’s admirers.
Eventually, Boel gently lifted a finger and a bright golden light pierced Joshua’s shoulder. So understated yet so powerful, he shocked the whole world and they fell down in worship. Joshua’s position as future Bishop was taken away by Boel, but because Joshua had light attributes, the Second Prince couldn’t openly execute him, so he deceitfully led him to the Dark Abyss and pushed him down.
Joshua broke his leg and prayed to the glorious Light God to keep the corroding demon fog at bay. The God of Light didn’t abandon his believer, and Joshua miraculously survived in the Dark Abyss, constantly expelling the demon fog that was trying to invade his body. In this way, he lived for two hundred years, and he prayed to the God of Light every second of that two hundred years.
He believed that the God of Light had heard his voice, saw his suffering, and blessed him with the power of light to protect himself. This benevolence made him achieve supreme enlightenment, so he gave up his dedication to the Second Prince and his hatred of Boel, and became the Light God’s most resolute and fanatical disciple.
Two hundred years later, on his deathbed, he confessed his sins to the Light God, and vowed that if there was an afterlife, he would devote all his love to the Father, and not be contaminated by vulgar mortal feelings.
This memory was very heavy, even Zhou Yun Sheng, who had been through thousands of lifetimes, had to sigh in pity for Joshua.
Just then, 007 sent over the protagonist’s data. Densely packed, the subtitles flashed by quickly, but that didn’t prevent Zhou Yun Sheng from reading. In less than five seconds, he understood the world’s background, and broke out in mocking laughter.
This was a BL world, but unlike the previous worlds, the protagonist shou of this world was a harem leader, surrounded by six main gongs, all with extraordinary identities and superior strength. Among them was the future King of Sagya Kingdom, the Pope of all light priests on the continent, the Beast King, the Elf King, the Dark God who resided in the Dark Abyss, and the God of Light who resided in the Ninth Heaven.
Whoever stood at the world’s peak couldn’t escape Boel’s charm, and they were all willing to share him. Because the gongs maintained a delicate balance, the demon fog spread stopped, and all creatures lived in peace as Boel became the world’s uncrowned king. It seemed that the whole world revolved around Boel, no one could resist his appeal. Anyone who stayed by his side would develop ulterior motives for him, of course, those motives didn’t include maliciousness.
The Light God heard Joshua’s voice, saw his suffering and blessed him so he could survive, what a joke! That event was actually a punishment the Dark God and God of Light had inflicted on Joshua, to make him live in misery in the abyss, no different from the dead. Poor Joshua even felt grateful for this.
Idiot! Zhou Yun Sheng scoffed in front of the mirror, looking at the long platinum blonde and straight haired, light blue eyed teenager.
But this fool made him feel pity, so he would complete his wish to be a competent light priest. Of course, what else could he do? The world had divine presence, so it was at least A-Class. Although he’d just received a B-Class world’s energy, it was not enough to dominate here. The Dark God and the God of Light only needed to glance at him and Joshua’s body would poof into smoke, and his soul would be seriously wounded.
The pain of having his soul traumatized was horrible, Zhou Yun Sheng didn’t want to feel it a second time.
He would stay far away from Boel and all his drama, wait for adulthood and apply to travel the mainland, spreading the gospel as a light priest. This would sufficiently change Joshua’s fate.
Thinking of this, Zhou Yun Sheng’s slightly unstable mood finally calmed down. The only problem now was – He was a godless man, it was impossible for him to embrace the Light God wholeheartedly, but the priests of this world relied on prayer to the Light God to gain power.
The more beautiful and pious the prayer, the more power you’d receive from the Light God. Although innate talent was important, there were many qualified priests who accumulated a strong light power because of day after day of pious prayer. Some even eventually became a kingdom’s Bishop.
How could a person without faith be devout? The Light God had the power to read hearts, he would never bless a false believer. If his power of light was too low, when Zhou Yun Sheng explored Gagor, he would be torn to pieces by the demons who despised light priests, making Joshua suffer a fate more tragic than the previous life.
Zhou Yun Sheng rubbed his eyebrows. He felt that the worlds were becoming more and more difficult.
He took off his robe and walked naked into the hot springs, relaxing his nerves while transforming Joshua’s body. Joshua’s innate talent was not very good, when he’d tested his light attributes the property stone only issued a weak white light, but after 007’s adjustment, he would be a top talent.
Unfortunately, on this continent, the quality of your strength and the positions you qualified for didn’t have a proportional relationship. Many qualified children were rejected because their self-importance made them ignore their devotion to the Light God. The light power in their bodies gradually reduced until it disappeared.
On the other hand, a lot of ordinary and even children with inferior talent were blessed because they recognized their lowliness and dedicated themselves wholeheartedly to the God of Light. They accumulated power through daily prayer, and after 10 or 20 years, they often got amazing achievements.
It seemed that the God of Light needed the power of faith, and he and his light priests shared a mutually beneficial relationship. You give me the power of faith, I’ll give you the power of light, no faith, no light.
As a person without faith, Zhou Yun Sheng was in a bind.
The impurities in Joshua’s body were slowly removed. At the moment, his white skin was like flawless jade, emitting a shiny luster, and his blue eyes were more distant than the vast sky and deeper than the vast ocean. His extremely beautiful facial features lost its paleness and sharpness, so he now looked like the perfect example of a quiet and compassionate person.
When you looked at his eyes, a peaceful and warm feeling would spread through you, all the creatures he gazed upon were not willing to lose his line of sight.
As a mortal priest, his appearance had already reached its limit, any more adjusting would be superfluous. Zhou Yun Sheng draped on his bathrobe and gave the boy in the mirror a satisfied look.
As the villainous male rival, Joshua’s appearance wasn’t inferior to the protagonist, but he was missing the protagonist’s kind, pure and clean temperament. However, after Zhou Yun Sheng’s blessing and transformation, the current Joshua was a clear blue crystal pool, a graceful breeze, no one could look more gentle and pure than him.
If he went out into the world, his image would become the supreme example of a great light priest in all the races’ imaginations.
The external hardware was fixed, now all he needed was a devout heart. Zhou Yun Sheng laid in bed and thought about countermeasures, but he soon unconsciously fell asleep.
The next morning, he woke up at Joshua’s usual time, and an idea quickly popped into his mind. He dismissed the two maids, then walked to the huge floor length mirror, staring at the slim teenager as he murmured: “I love the God of Light. With all my life and my soul, I love him. In order to be eligible to kiss the edge of his robe, in order to serve him, I’m willing to pay everything.”
He paused for a moment, then stressed, “I love him. I love him until I’m senseless. I love him to death.”
After speaking, the boy’s slightly unstable eyes became firm. Yes, Zhou Yun Sheng had hypnotized himself. That was the only way to make his subconscious wholeheartedly glow with devotion, otherwise, the Light God would see through him.
The top deception was not to deceive others, but to deceive yourself. For twelve hours, within the period of validity, Zhou Yun Sheng would become a fanatical believer of the God of Light. After it expired, he would become his original self.
Of course, if more cultivation was needed, he could give himself a longer time limit.
He put on his priest robe and walked with his two maids to the main hall as a newly reborn light priest.
The Bishop was waiting for him in front of the statue, he whispered, “My child, you’re sixteen years old, and you’re going to travel in two years. The demons are very hostile to light priests, so to better protect yourself from them, it’s best to increase your time of prayer. Be sure to accumulate enough power before traveling. I love you my child, and I hope that Father God will love you like I do.”
He touched the teenager’s eyebrows with his fingertips, vaguely revealing a few anxieties.
Because he had fallen in love with the Second Prince, Joshua lost his dedication to his prayers, so the power of light he’d accumulated in his body had weakened until it almost collapsed. He was the only child of light born in the Sagya Kingdom after nearly fifty years of searching, if he lost his position, the Sagya Kingdom would become a demon-ravaged purgatory.
A week ago, the Bishop had asked Joshua to light the property stone and he almost failed to do it, this made the Bishop suffer several sleepless nights. He was silent for a moment, but he couldn’t let it go, he handed a piece of stone to Joshua and said, “Use your full strength to light it, my child.” If the stone couldn’t light, he would have to consider replacing him as heir. Perhaps he could ask the King to send troops to another country to grab a light child.
His body had just been transformed, so his light power had increased a lot. Zhou Yun Sheng was not worried, he calmly took the stone and inputted power.
The property stone changed from an ordinary gray-brown into a transparent bright white, there was also some golden strikes mixed in, very dazzling. Even the Bishop himself could only make the stone glow white, never gold. Only those with the most devout prayers could obtain it, it was a rare gift from the Light God.
It seems that the child became aware of his own mistakes and confessed to the Father, and the Father graciously forgave him. This is outstanding. The Sagya Kingdom will have a great and powerful priest to watch over it.
The Bishop patted the boy’s thin shoulder and said some encouragement, then slowly left the main hall. At his age, no amount of prayer was useful, his old body was unable to load more power. The future belonged to the young people.
Zhou Yun Sheng bowed to the Bishop as he walked away, then looked back to the statue of the Light God. His gaze was full of passionate love. Because he couldn’t suppress the desire in his heart, he bypassed the long altar and kissed the statue’s instep.
“Father, you’ll never know how much I love you.” He whispered, then he retreated back to the long altar, kneeled on the ground with his hands folded, and began to pray.
Since prayer was the source of strength, it was natural that the priests would not pray out loud. There were no prayer samples spreading between temples or a Light Bible or so on, everything depended on the priest’s ability. They must try their best to impress themselves on the Father’s heart.
Currently, Zhou Yun Sheng was extremely, deeply in love with the God of Light, even his soul was engraved with the words ‘I love the Father’. Once he saw the Light God’s statue, he would naturally tear up, and devout and touching prayers would spill out from his mouth. He didn’t even need to stop and think.
“My Father, thank you for tending to me, choosing me, trying to refine me
To be your most faithful believer, and to bear your ubiquitous glory.
Your power is calling me, your kindness is a blessing to me,
You pull me back from confusion, and save me from the darkness.
I’m so small and unworthy of your care,
But still I kneel here, asking you to drive me, to rebuke me, to lash me,
So I may never forget your love, forever.
I’m willing to present my soul as a sacrifice, please accept it Father.
When you penetrate it to read it, I wish you could gaze at the humble love that is stored therein,
For that would be the greatest happiness in my life.
Father, please look at me,
Father, please listen to me,
Father, please use me,
Father, cast your most powerful light to crush me.
But if I have the privilege of you listening to my prayer at this moment,
I beg you to have pity on me and make this broken body live,
Because of my love for you, my heart is weak,
It desires to follow you until eternity.”
The spiraling sound lingered in the main hall and reverberated, like jade impacting metal, like water crashing against the river bank, like bright flowers being weighed down by dew, like a gentle breeze rustling the trees.
So soothing, so gentle, so unforgettable.
In the Ninth Heaven above, a golden haired, golden eyed, beautiful man was listening. His frowning brow unconsciously relaxed, and the harsh corners of his mouth actually had a hint of a smile.
He reclined on a wide, soft chaise, surrounded by young, charming, and innocent looking boys. One of them seemed to be particularly spoiled, he quietly climbed up his lap and softly asked, “Father, why are you ignoring us?” As mortal beings, they naturally couldn’t hear the voice coming from the mortal realm’s temple.
The boy’s voice was very sweet and very cutesy. His thin voice was quite charming, but he’d coincidentally interrupted the man’s listening, making him miss the last few words of the prayer.
The man’s relaxed brow scrunched up again. Millenniums of existence had shaped him into a deep chasm, which made predicting his majestic temperament increasingly difficult. He calmly lifted a finger, and the elf-like, beautiful teenager instantly poofed into smoke, as if he’d never existed.
The rest of the people paled in fright and immediately retreated far away, trembling on their knees as they waited for sentencing.
But the man didn’t move against them, he just summoned the magic water mirror that only he could see into.
In the mirror, a young boy, who was more beautiful and gentle than any of the boys present, was kneeling in the temple in pious prayer. He’d closed his eyes, and his thick curly eyelashes were stained in tears because of his extremely warm love. He looked more fragile than the early morning blooming flowers, and more sweet and lovely than a lotus leaf covered with water droplets.
His rosy lips opened and closed, spilling out sweet words of love.
“Father God, please look to me. Father God, please listen to me. Father God, please use me. Father God, I beg you to use your powerful light to crush me …” His pitiable and pious prayer caused the man’s heart that had frozen over hundreds of millions of years to soften a little.
He stretched out his fingertips to caress the boy’s reflection in the mirror, rubbing his thick eyelashes and crystal tears as he murmured, “I’m looking at you, my child. I’m listening to you, my child. I’ll use you, as long as you come to me. But sorry my child, I cannot bear to crush you.”
He suddenly chuckled, then reversed the time in the water mirror, listening to the passage over and over again, contented. He waved his hand and dismissed the frightened boys.
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T/N:
Elves –精靈 – jingling, the generic term for spirit / fairy / elf / sprite / genie. Generally the way to tell which one the author is referring to is by description. Tall like humans for elves, small with wings for fairies. There was some confusion because of a scene later on, but I’ve settled with elves.
Beastmen-獸人 – shou ren – beast/animal man/people. Google calls it orcs, but it’s just the slang for the orcs from WoW. Goggling the Chinese characters gets you pics of furry porn, so don’t goggle it.
Ninth Heaven-九天 – jiutian, the highest of the heavens
Shou & gong- Uke and seme respectively, learn it already
Pope – Author uses Archbishop here, but it’s the Pope. A rare inconsistency by the author. But I’m not catholic, maybe they’re the same person idk.
Boel Britte- His name is 寶兒- Bao-er, interpreted as Boel, but it’s probably supposed to be Boa, aka the Korean singer who the author seems to be a fan of. Bao-er means treasure child, Britte, pronounced Bright. Might be a play on light treasure.