"To be precise," she continued, "there are two layers of the corpse. We live on the outer body, while this," she gestured to the world around them, "is inside it."

Liu Xing's stomach twisted. The gears in his mind spun so fast that if there were an engine in his head, it would be smoking. His heart hammered like a man having a heart attack, and his breath came in short, asthmatic gasps. This revelation shattered his expectations. It not only revealed that this world had a god, but that the god was also dead. The claim was so far-fetched that he would normally be skeptical, even coming from a saint. Yet, when she said they were living on the corpse of a dead god, something reverberated inside him—in his mind, in the air, and in place around him. It was as if the universe itself was trying to confirm her words. Of course, there was the fact that he was inside a dream, and perhaps the Silver Saint was manipulating these signs so he would not doubt her. Still, this information was too earth-shattering.

"W-what do you mean?" Liu Xing finally said. "Are you serious?"

Silver Saint flicked her left hand, and instantly, a white bandage appeared on it. Then, she began to wrap the bandage around her head several times. "Once you become aware of this and your senses grow vast enough, you will see the signs. You can decide not to trust my words, of course, but it won't change the facts."

Liu Xing licked his lips. Her words sounded like a challenge, as if what she said was the ultimate truth, and no matter what he did, he would inevitably find out she was right. "This... god, who was it? It wasn't... the heavens, right? Why was it dead? Who killed it? Is the god in the image of a human? Are we... merely cells inside its body?"

The saint finished covering her eyes with the white bandage and then smiled. "Cells inside his body, how creative. It's the first time I've heard that expression. It's not quite a fit, though. We're not cells inside his body; we're his creations. I don't know who this god was, whether he was born a god or ascended from being a human. While he had an outer body and an inner body, his form was not quite physical, like a human's, but more ethereal. His body was split between two dimensions."

The whale let out a wail, and then another, and another, until it sang a sorrowful song, as if this specific whale had been alive to witness the god and had lived a happy, cared-for life. Liu Xing's mind began to wander. He pictured a being so gigantic as it sat in the vast darkness, its body made of galaxies, nebulas, solar systems, black holes, and countless other celestial bodies. Somehow, he imagined the dead god had a mouth, and that mouth was curved into a sad smile.

His mind spun, his breath growing shorter with each inhalation. An indescribable feeling washed over him. He didn't know what to think or what to feel. He realized he couldn't process this information quickly. He needed time to think, to reflect, to slowly digest its implications.

Liu Xing's eyes darted around as if searching for something. Then his mind, perhaps seeking to protect itself by focusing on something else or perhaps out of true curiosity, latched onto the bandage the Silver Saint wore. "Why are you suddenly covering your eyes?"

She smiled. "My eyes are beautiful, aren't they? I wanted to show them to you, but normally, they are always covered."

"Why?" he asked.

"The most prominent reason is because whether they are covered or not, I cannot see."

His heart skipped a beat. "You're blind?"

"Indeed," she nodded. "I have been without sight since I was born. It was an okay life, you know. Contrary to popular belief, while it is a bit inconvenient, people can live without eyes, or without one limb or even both. Although, among the saints, I'm not the only one who lacks something normal people have. Unlike me, I know he has suffered a great deal." She paused. "When I became a saint, the heavens decided to replace my eyes, but they didn't give me normal sight. Instead, I see the world differently. Thus, I cannot see normally, yet I see things that cannot be seen by a normal human."

Liu Xing nodded, trying to store this information and distract his mind from the earth-shattering revelation from before. "If I become a saint, would my eyes be like yours?"

She laughed. "I hope not, but who knows, the heavens might think it's funny and do it anyway." After a moment, she stopped laughing, and then, with the bandage covering her eyes, she looked straight at him. "Now, let's talk about us, about saints. What is our purpose? Why do beings chosen by the heavens exist? Do you know why that is?"

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Is it perhaps to make the world a better place?" Liu Xing asked.

"That's a good answer, but it's way off. Try again, but take a moment to think this time. You need to apply the new information you just gained."

Liu Xing looked down again, seeing the flow of the shining river beneath his feet. The current was gentle, and if he focused enough, he could feel its soft movement on his soles, as if the river were alive. As he wondered whether the river below him was the blood of the dead god, he pondered the Silver Saint's question.

Saints were a special existence, though to be honest, aside from knowing they were favored by the heavens, possessed immense power, and had some kind of restriction, he knew very little about them. He had never studied them and never even thought about meeting one. Still, from the fact they were called saints and from the rumors that flew around—whether about their triumphs against demonic sects and cultivators or their stories of helping people—they were painted as good people trying to better the world.

But while bettering the world was a good answer, it didn't account for their existence in relation to the dead god and the Ancient Beasts.

Liu Xing pinched his chin. If he accepted what the Silver Saint said about the universe was true—information he desperately wanted to dismiss—and thought about the implications, then...

"Are you chosen by the heavens, perhaps, to revive the dead god?" Liu Xing said hesitantly. "In the first place, what are the heavens if what you said about this universe is true?"

The heavens, from his understanding, were akin to a force that governed the world. It dictated fate, sent heavenly tribulations to cultivators, governed the rules of qi and physics, and much more. From a certain point of view, the heavens could be considered a god. He was more inclined to believe the heavens were akin to the fundamental laws of the universe rather than a being, though the information about the dead god recontextualized his entire—albeit shallow—understanding. And since saints were chosen by the heavens, did that mean it was the remnant of the dead god?

The Silver Saint's mouth opened slightly, as if she were surprised by his answer. "To revive the dead god, huh? What a creative answer!"

"Is it true?"

"Not at all, but what an interesting thought! I have never, ever thought along those lines. Reviving a dead god, huh," she chuckled. "If our goal was like that, I think we, the saints, would need to learn from the basics and try demonic arts. After all, before we could revive a dead god, we would need to be able to revive a human first. And while some demonic cultivators trap spirits, harness other people's souls, and even reanimate corpses, they are far, far from true revival." She sighed contentedly. "Liu Xing, you ought to be a storyteller. Your mind is quite creative."

"It's way off, then?" Liu Xing asked.

"Yes, quite," she nodded. "Although your line of thinking is in the right direction. No, the heavens didn't choose us to revive the dead god. Instead, it chose us because it wants to preserve the corpse. As for the question of what the heavens are, I don't know any more than you do. It is... elusive. Some of my seniors think it has intent, while some think it is merely a system left behind by the dead god. There's no way to know, really. Even my eyes cannot unveil the heavens. What we know is that it exists and is prevalent, seeping into everything around us."

Liu Xing tried to digest her answers. While the answer about the heavens was interesting, he was more focused on the first part. In short, the saints' duty was to preserve the universe.

He thought for a moment, imagining a corpse on a table between them. He imagined the corpse was male, its skin white, its head bald. It was already dead, so what would happen to it? The answer was easy. It would rot. If left alone, flies would lay eggs on it, and then maggots would crawl over its body, eating it as the body broke down naturally. He imagined a dead god's corpse was different from a human's, but he humored the idea that the universe was breaking down and the saints were trying to preserve it.

He tried to think as if he were the heavens, and choosing saints—actual human beings, and only five of them—to preserve the whole universe was inefficient in so many ways. So instead, he looked at the crawling maggots on the imaginary body on the table and thought of the saints as birds or chickens or ravens, eating the maggots.

"You're fighting something," Liu Xing said.

The Silver Saint nodded sagely. "Correct. The god is dead. His corpse is where our universe blooms. It is rotting, and maggots are crawling across its body."

He tried to recall the rumors that surrounded the saints more carefully, trying to think of a single one where they fought something like the "maggots" that had been eating the corpse of the dead god. But even after thinking for a while, though he had heard rumors of them fighting demonic cultivators, he could not remember a single story of them fighting these "maggots." Creatures that were eating a dead god's corpse must have a huge impact on the whole world, and the first thing that came to his mind when thinking about beings eating a dead god's corpse—the maggots—was humanity itself.

But it wasn't humanity... right?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.