The True Face of the Goddess

"Solved, Xia Lun."

The Goddess gently clapped her hands, and the warm smile in her eyes fell upon Xia Lun. The soul orbs floating around them began to drift along invisible paths, as if celebrating a victory unseen.

"Ah..."

Xia Lun stood rooted in place, still reeling from the sheer shock of what had just happened. He opened his mouth, but his throat was dry, and for a moment he couldn't string together a single coherent sentence.

"Did I scare you that badly?" the Goddess said with a light laugh, the soft radiance surrounding her dispelling the last trace of chill from Xia Lun's heart. "Ask whatever you want to ask."

"What... was that thing just now?" Xia Lun took a deep breath and couldn't help but ask.

"A malevolent deity from beyond the world, seemingly from the future." The Goddess said it casually, but the fleeting sharpness in the depths of her eyes told Xia Lun this was far from simple. "I've already dealt with it, so naturally it won't be going back. Judging by its essence, it was a fragment of the Chaos Demon God King's finger given form... sigh, after enduring the end of the previous epoch, that one still hasn't been completely annihilated?"

The sheer amount of information in the Goddess's words left Xia Lun's head spinning. Right now, he neither understood the concept of "from the future" nor had any idea what the Chaos Demon God King even was.

"The Beast God pillar..." Xia Lun suddenly thought of something. The visage of the false truth actually bore a certain resemblance to the Beast God that the beastfolk had once worshipped.

"Hmm... after all, the beastfolk are also devils, and devils are races that evolved under the influence of the Demon God race's power..." The radiant wings behind her fluttered gently, scattering starlight-like specks of light. "That thing must have coveted this world for a long time, so it secretly left behind its own faith..."

The Goddess paused again, her gaze falling on Xia Lun with a hint of understanding: "The reason it was able to pinpoint you so precisely this time is likely because it used that pillar you came into contact with as an 'anchor point,' and with the help of another evil deity, forcibly traced back and squeezed its way into this slice of time of ours."

Xia Lun nodded with a vague understanding, feeling like his worldview was being forcibly expanded.

"Um... Goddess." Xia Lun hesitated, but still couldn't resist speaking up.

"What is it?" The Goddess's voice carried a smile.

"Could you please stop patting my head?" Xia Lun couldn't help but say, then let out a light cough, his tone tinged with awkwardness. "I know it's rude to say this, but I'm a married man."

"So what?" The Goddess looked utterly unconcerned, her hand still resting on Xia Lun's head, her movements even gentler. "Xia Lun, I like you very much... You could even say I love you."

Xia Lun's face stiffened, his body tensing up as if pulled by invisible strings. He then took a deep breath: "I will never betray my wife."

"Haha... what are you thinking?" The Goddess extended her slender finger, gently tapping Xia Lun's forehead with affection and a hint of teasing.

"My love for you is not the love between a man and a woman... You are my most satisfactory creation."

The Goddess let out a soft sigh and gently embraced Xia Lun.

"I admit, at first, I did harbor a bit of selfish intent. I wanted to make you into the Chieftain... But later, I gradually realized that you are not him. You are you—the one and only Xia Lun. And he surely wouldn't want to be 'resurrected' by me in this way..."

"Uh..." Xia Lun stood somewhat awkwardly in the Goddess's embrace, but her words quietly eased the tension in his heart.

"You really can be a bit dense sometimes, Xia Lun." The Goddess chuckled and pinched his cheek. "If I really had that kind of interest in you, would I have let Aina do whatever she wanted with you? I don't have any strange fetishes."

Did Aina do whatever she wanted with him?

Xia Lun instinctively tried to recall, but it seemed like he was the one always doing whatever he wanted with Aina.

Of course, he wasn't about to say that out loud.

Meanwhile, the Goddess's gaze drifted past Xia Lun to something behind him, and a sly, playful smile appeared on her face.

"Xia Lun, you should know that my love for you is something mere romance between a man and a woman could never compare to... I love you far, far more than Aina does..."

Her radiant wings cast a holy and gentle glow, enveloping the two of them. The Goddess once again cupped Xia Lun's face in her hands, her eyes flowing with a warmth and affection that seemed capable of melting everything.

"Thank you... Goddess." Xia Lun said from the bottom of his heart. The Goddess's love made him feel both burdened and infinitely at peace.

Then, Xia Lun paused slightly.

"Ask whatever you want to ask." The Goddess noticed his hesitation.

"What's the relationship between you and Aina..."

Xia Lun finally voiced the question that had been lingering in his mind for so long. The nearly identical faces of the Goddess and Aina had always been one of his greatest doubts.

"That child was specially prepared by me for you—as your wife." The Goddess said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world, slowly placing her hands on her hips, even with a touch of smug pride. "Because I created you using the Chieftain as a template, Aina naturally had to be like me. I could never accept someone who looks like the Chieftain falling in love with another woman... Ah, there's also another child who looks a bit like me, but she's a little scatterbrained..."

Xia Lun was completely dumbfounded.

In his mind, the Goddess had always been an elegant, dignified, majestic, and distant figure. He never expected that once she opened up, she'd be this lively...

"Is that so? You actually think that way." The Goddess pouted like a young girl, her tone carrying a hint of playful petulance. "After all, I usually have no one to talk to. I can't chat naturally with those believers like this—every word I say to them is treated as a divine edict..."

Xia Lun couldn't help but burst out laughing, but then he tightened his expression: "Goddess, please don't casually pry into my thoughts."

"Pfft—so stingy. I mean, I created you after all. It wouldn't kill you to spoil me a little more, Xia Lun." The Goddess pursed her lips again, clearly unaware that she was the one acting spoiled at this moment.

Xia Lun's mouth twitched. He never expected the Goddess to have such a rich repertoire of facial expressions.

A slightly disrespectful thought crossed his mind... wait, she wouldn't still be prying into his thoughts, would she?

The Goddess suddenly averted her head, looking a bit guilty, and reached out a finger to poke at a slowly spinning soul orb beside her.

She was absolutely still prying.

"Cough, cough, no, I'm not." She suddenly turned back and denied it with a completely straight face.

"You definitely were still prying into my thoughts." Xia Lun said indignantly, feeling like all his defenses had been stripped away—he had no privacy left whatsoever. "Goddess, I want to leave this place now. Please send me back."

"Aw, no way? There's still time. Stay and keep me company for a little while longer..."