Chapter 25: The Ancestors of God

  The road to heaven! I exclaimed. Wen Long roughly assigned the personnel, he and Lao Yezi went up first, then Wu Feng and another guy, Su Yi and I were in the third group, with Wu Wen and Wu Bin brothers covering the back. Both front and back were main force warriors, which made me feel much more at ease. At a height of about 40 meters, looking up from below, it felt even higher, fortunately there was a ladder, if I had to climb up bare-handed, I would rather die than do it.

  We ascended one after another, and slowly surpassed the top of Fang City. It was only then that I discovered the city's peak wasn't a flat plain, but rather had many small stone pyramids built on it, standing there in clusters, surrounding the gigantic statue in the middle.

  "Wen Long's voice came from above, saying: 'Hey, Xiao Bai, shall we walk directly to the stone statue from here and take a look?'"

  "I said loudly: 'If we do this, I reckon we won't be able to come back. See those stone piles? That's definitely an array. Once you go in, who knows what will happen.'"

  Wen Long said: "Damn, really? I remember you also said that the Tian Di Tower is a desperate formation, but currently looking at it, there's nothing special about it. It's not even as powerful as those River Lords."

  I said: "Don't be careless, we haven't even entered the interior of this Tian Di Tower yet. You could say that basically we're just wandering around the periphery. What it's like inside, I'm not sure either."

  "Wu Feng said at this time: 'Then what are you doing here? You can't even get it right, how are we supposed to do it? Are you an expert on gun mechanisms or not?'"

  I laughed and said, "I have no choice either. Some things can only be thought of after seeing them with your own eyes. Without seeing it personally, it's just a guess. However, even if I saw this absolute formation with my own eyes, I estimate it would still be difficult to deal with."

  Wen Long also laughed and said: "Really something, we've invited a three-nothing expert, I rely on it, how does this thing have claws. Stop."

  We suddenly heard Wen Long's voice change, and then it stopped. At this time, Hou also rose to a distance of about less than ten meters, and Wu Wen's voice came from below: "What happened, why did you stop?"

  The old man's voice came over and said: "You quickly look at that statue."

  I knew that old man must have seen something, so I looked up at the statue. This position was exactly where the legs of the statue were, two snake-like bodies coiled down, very magnificent, with scales carved extremely finely, clearly visible, making people feel very realistic. What really surprised me was that I saw two pairs of claws on each of the snakes' bodies, kidding, how could there be claws on a snake's body?

  Su Yi also saw it and asked me: "You said that the snake's body has grown claws, isn't this adding feet to a drawing of a snake? Were ancient snakes all footed?"

  The old man's voice came saying: "In ancient times, snakes should also have no feet, but this one, it is obvious that it is not a snake anymore, it is a dragon."

  "Ah!" I exclaimed, taking a closer look at the statue. The old man was absolutely right, we were limited by our prior intelligence and knowledge. Wang Shengjun hadn't really approached the statue, from a distance it was indeed impossible to observe the two pairs of claws clearly, so it wasn't strange that he thought they were snakes. More importantly, the photos of the Nuwa and Fuxi statues we brought back from the previous place clearly showed snake bodies, so our thinking was fixed on the idea that whenever something like this appeared, it must be a snake, which is why seeing the claws felt so astonishing.

  "Wu Feng said: 'Old man, you're saying that this statue has its feet on two dragons.'"

  I'm going, this is truly the biggest kick in human history. I've heard the most about someone having one foot on two boats, but this guy has one foot on two dragons, what a concept.

  The old man corrected: "It's not that his feet trampled on two dragons, but rather his feet are the two dragons. Who is this person?"

  "Wen Long said on the side, 'Old man, don't sigh, let's go up and talk if we have something to say. If you really want to know who this person is, let's go up and take a look at his face.'"

  The old man replied: "Right, right, let's go up first and talk later."

  The team continued to move forward, this time we no longer chatted and looked at the statue with our eyes fixed. As we climbed further up, we discovered another unique aspect of the statue.

  Those two dragon bodies have a man's body on top, or rather, not one, but three. The one facing us has six huge abdominal muscles, which makes me think of the tight cluster of fat and lean meat on my belly. Further up are two huge pectoral muscles, and the sculptor, to show off his superb craftsmanship, even carved chest hair onto them. Truly admirable. The statue's arms stretch out horizontally, holding up that dome, with bulging muscles on both arms. Not one bit inferior to those muscle-showcasing bodybuilders often seen on TV.

  Look up a bit, and you can see the facial features of the statue, which looks more like an old man because of the wrinkles all over his face. Of course, it's also possible that this guy was born with this look. The proportions of his facial features are very close to those of a human being. If not for his dragon-like legs, I could have mistaken him for a statue of some bodybuilder. His whiskers make him look very majestic, and his two big ring-shaped eyes remind me of Zhang Fei from the early version of the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

  The old man stopped again, I don't know what he saw, we had to stop too. This feeling of being suspended in mid-air is very ominous, and for some reason, I always have a feeling that I want to let go and see what happens. I even think I have suicidal tendencies.

  The old man's voice came over and said, "Look at his little arm."

  I followed the statue's arm and finally found that its forearm was not like a human being. In proportion, the forearm should be thicker than usual, and I use the word "thick" because the forearm is not round, but rather an irregular trapezoid, similar to the riot shields we carry on our backs nowadays. The part where the forearm extends outward is very narrow, and the end forms a circular head, looking like a bone that has grown in the wrong place. The part that extends inward becomes wider and wider until it reaches the length of the forearm.

  Su Yi said: "Will it just be used to reinforce the sky, you see, that small arm is obviously supporting the sky."

  "I'd like to think so, but it's impossible. From an architectural standpoint, the dome is perfectly constructed and the pillar in the middle can support it, not to mention several small arms that serve as external pillars. It's almost indestructible. I think this guy might just be born this way."

  "You're kidding, who has forearms as thick as a chopping board?"

  I also couldn't help but say: "What's with the jokes, this guy's legs are as long as a dragon's, and his forearms are as wide as a chopping board, what's the big deal? Besides, why do you always think about that chopping board, I think..."

  I got stuck here, because I found that according to my imagination of the person's forearm, I should know this guy, at least, I've heard his name. Looking carefully, it always feels unrealistic, how could he grow up like this.

  Su Yi said on the side, "What? Can't think of a better metaphor than a face panel? In this regard, you'll never be able to surpass me, don't forget, I'm still the best at writing."

  I shook my head and said, "No, it's just that I suddenly remembered who this person is. I know him, or rather, I should know him."

  "What's wrong with him? He is the second master!"

  I raised my voice and said: "This guy is the ancestor of God - Pangu."

  "What?" I heard voices coming from above and below, apparently everyone had heard my conjecture.

  "How can you say this guy is Pangu?" Wu Feng's voice came first and asked: "This is different from what we saw."

  "Have you ever seen the real Pangu?" I asked him back, and then answered myself, "The Pangu we see are all recreated images by later generations based on mythological stories. You should know that sometimes these recreated images differ from the actual ones by a huge margin. Just like Zhang Fei in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, what you see is a rough man, but in reality, he was not only good at fighting, but also excelled in both literature and art, writing beautiful calligraphy and painting beautiful pictures, especially good at drawing beautiful women."

  "The old man asked at this time: 'What basis do you have for reasoning that he is Pangu?'"

  I stretched my legs over the empty space of the ladder and sat on it to reduce the weight of hanging myself. "The Heaven and Earth Pagoda, the round top represents the heaven and the square base represents the earth. From ancient times to now, who do you think has really achieved the feat of reaching for the sky and standing on the ground? Only Pangu. I didn't expect it to be like this because in the books I read, the Heaven and Earth Pagoda is actually not a person in the middle, but the Zhongnan Mountain that supports the heaven and earth."

  Su Yi interrupted me and asked: "Is it that Hou Zongshan who was later hit by something?"

  I nodded and said, "Yes, logically speaking, it should be Mount Zhou, so when I saw the Tiandi Tower, I was indeed a bit hesitant. Because it's not like what I've seen in books or imagined for myself. Just now you mentioned that its small arm is like a panel, do you know what I thought of?"

  Su Yi shook her head and didn't answer, but Wen Long picked up where she left off and said, "It can't be two axes, can it?"

  I forced a smile and said: "It's easier for soldiers to imagine getting it."

  Wen Long hastily explained, "Actually, I didn't think of my forearm as an axe, but this statue looks a bit like Li Kui, so naturally I thought of an axe."

  "Sui Yu looked and said: "Oh my god, it really looks like an axe. In that case, the axe in Pangu's myth of opening up the sky and earth was not picked up at all."

  I laughed and said, "According to myth, at that time the heaven and earth were not yet formed, who would go to forge an axe for him? And if we follow the myth, then the first living tool of human beings should be an axe, not a wooden stick."

  The old man chimed in, "Xiao Bai said it makes perfect sense. This must be Pangu, the most ancient god and ancestor of all gods. I never thought that Pangu's image would be like this."

  Su Yi said: "It's not necessarily so, maybe this is also a figure adapted by later generations based on mythological stories."

  The old man said: "There is also this possibility, but I think that this image may be more similar to Pangu. You see, just like Xiao Bai said, if the axe was grown on his body, it should be easier to explain."

  "I said, 'Old man, that's just a myth, where the axe is doesn't matter, don't forget, heaven and earth can't actually come together, nor can they be in chaos, can we go up first and talk about these myths later?'"

  The old man said: "Well, actually I wanted to say it just now, but seeing you all talking so enthusiastically, I didn't get a chance to interrupt. There's no way out upstairs."

  "Ah!" I felt a bit weak in the legs and hastily asked: "What's going on? You should be at the top now, how can there be no road?"

  "Otherwise, you're an expert in architecture, come and take a look at this broken thing. It's slippery and there's lightning on top, how can we get through?"

  "What the hell, we immediately took action, Su Yi and that row of people crawled down for a while to make way for me, I climbed up from the other side of the ladder. Who was the idiot who wrote in that book about the Heavenly Tower: it's easy to ascend from the earth to heaven, but hard to descend from heaven to earth? Come out, I won't kill you. Although the person who wrote this sentence is probably my eighth-generation ancestor."

  The sky, is already above my head, I now fully feel the pride of Pangu's "head reaching the sky", but others still have their feet on the ground, while we are standing on a ladder, and this sense of solidity under our feet is quite different from the distance of several layers of clouds. Later, when talking about this impression, Su Yi said that it was not so far away, clearly only 30 or 40 meters. A very realistic answer, 30 or 40 meters, falling from which would almost turn one into a pancake.

  The ladder reached the position, just at the edge of the sky, the sky is not directly formed a semicircle, there is still about five meters away from the top of the ladder to the top of the stone wall. Reach out and touch it, it's really slippery. Not to mention where to put your hands and feet, even a small white dot is nowhere to be found. In the five-meter-high space above, those lightning bolts flying down along the arc of the sky. The stone wall should be insulated, otherwise if we were in our current situation, we would have been struck by lightning long ago. This is the only thing that makes me feel lucky.

  There's no way out, I said to Wen Long, "You have flying claws, can't you hook onto the top?"

  Wen Long looked at me like an idiot and said: "My little Bo brother, you're going to get yourself killed! We're on a ladder here, the fulcrum is already small, and you can't use the soft [technique], how can the flying claw fly five meters? Alright, this is just a minor issue, I'll think of a way, but the key is that lightning, if the flying claw is conductive... look at it, white with red, red with purple. If it hits you, I won't say you'll immediately turn into charcoal, but at least you'll be gone."

  I smiled apologetically and said: "Can't I just admit I was wrong? But this is a dead end, what can we do now?"

  Wen Long said on the side, "Xiao Bai big brother, hasn't your brain also rusted? I think that if ancient people designed it to this extent, they definitely didn't intend for people to climb up. Ancient people weren't preventing lightning either. In my opinion, what we should be considering now isn't how to get up, but..."

  I think what he said makes sense, so I asked: "What is it?"

  Wen Long said: "But use your excellent brain, think about whether there is any mechanism."

  I looked at Wen Long, and the expression on his face had already started to solidify. This guy, although sometimes he looks like a simpleton, is obviously smarter than me, a so-called cultured person, because when he thinks about things, he always thinks about how to solve them.

  Wen Long waved his hand in front of my face a few times and said, "Hey, what's wrong? Your face looks terrible."

  "You reminded me of Blood Agency."

  Wen Long seemed to understand, saying: "You mean, like last time's blood mechanism? I'm going to try it." He bit his finger and smeared the blood on the stone wall above the ladder. The stone wall quickly flipped open upwards, and at the same time, I felt a surge of energy extending out from inside. Wen Long seemed unconscious, almost as if he was sucked in by the empty space within the stone wall. I was right next to him, but in that instant, I wanted to reach out and grab him, but a force blocked me, rendering me immobile, stuck to the spot. When the energy dissipated, Wen Long had already disappeared into the void, and the stone wall returned to its original state.

  Wu Feng was right under Wen Long's feet and said: "No way, again, this broken mechanism, this time it's good, directly going up."

  I lowered my head and looked at the old man under my feet, asking: "What to do? Another mechanism like this."

  The old man said without thinking: "Let's go in, we can't leave Wen Long alone inside."

  Wu Feng also climbed up and said to me, "This time, I'll go first." He bit his finger, applied the blood, and the mechanism activated again. Wu Feng disappeared. This time was better than last time because we were all mentally prepared, unlike last time when most people mysteriously vanished.

  Wu Feng was supposed to be next, but instead it was Wu Wen who came up, biting his finger and applying blood. As expected, nothing happened after the blood was applied, but instead it gradually coagulated into a drop, which dripped down the stone wall and landed on Wu Wen's body.

  Wu Wen's face changed, and he said, "Could it be that the mechanism has failed?"

  I looked at him and said: "It's not the first time, your blood, others don't recognize it."

  The old man was just under his feet and should have seen the situation. He said, "Why is this mechanism still picking people?"

  I just remembered that last time the old man was already down there and didn't know about this situation, so I explained: "Old man, you were right, this broken mechanism is really picky. Last time it was like that too, some people's blood, this mechanism simply doesn't recognize."

  The old man was indeed a leader, and immediately ordered: "Everyone, try one by one. Those who can enter will follow in, those who cannot enter will return to the original route and wait for us at the exit. Wu Wen, you go back."

  Wu Wen retreated, Wu Bin and the person from the second team also tried, but they didn't recognize them either. I watched as they gradually crawled downwards, seemingly preparing to retreat. Su Xi climbed over beside me and said, "Last time I was able to get in, this time there shouldn't be any problem, right?"

  I smiled and said: "This is uncertain, what if your blood has expired, whether it can be recognized or not, depends on it." I said, pointing to the stone wall.

  Su Yi glared at me with a hateful gaze and said, "You just wait for the consequences. Hmph." After that, she bit her finger, applied blood to it, and the stone wall indeed opened up. Su Yi disappeared into the stone wall.

  The old man also climbed up, looked at me and said: "You're the base." He said, with a blood-stained face, he went in too.

  Now I'm the only one left on the entire ladder. I sighed, and since I've come this far, I'll just go ahead. I bit my finger, applied some blood, and the stone wall opened up. I held my breath, preparing for the impact of the mechanism. Sure enough, it was that whirlwind feeling again, and I was lifted directly by that force, flying into the stone cave. Dizziness was inevitable, and as my consciousness blurred, I felt myself letting go of the ladder. At first, everything around me was pitch black, and I felt like I had slid upwards for a distance before suddenly turning to slide downwards. This time, the distance felt shorter, and I barely accelerated before I started decelerating again.

  Then, a bright light appeared before my eyes, and I slid out of a circular hole. What I saw was the familiar silver-glowing plants on top of the cave. As I sat up, apart from four faces that were too familiar to be any more familiar, there was also a stone monument that looked both familiar and strange.

  Divine Stele!