Imagine Zhou Ziwei, this pseudo-divine son, thriving in this world, becoming some kind of prince, or even an emperor, surrounded by beautiful women who have borne him a multitude of children…
The two women exchanged a glance as if they were telepathically connected, their eyes both revealing a hint of ambiguous smiles...
Volume Two: The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 396: The Origin of Divine Power
In fact, if they were to stay in this world forever, Zhou Ziwei might not be as able to let go as Wang Xuewei and Chu Qiutang. Chu Qiutang's parents died in a car accident when she was young, and she grew up in an orphanage. After growing up, she joined the army. It can be said that apart from some comrades she got along with in the past, she had almost no one in that world that she could care about.
Wang Xuewei had just become heartbroken over her family. Perhaps leaving that world forever, leaving behind those relatives with whom she no longer shared any affection, would make her happier.
However, Zhou Ziwei had too many people to worry about. First, there were his parents from his previous life and his younger brother in this life, and then there were the few women he liked or who liked him.
Although Chu Qiutang and Wang Xuewei didn't know how much damage the white beam of light would have done to Zhou Ziwei, they naturally wouldn't let him take the risk since he was unwilling. When they saw Zhou Ziwei being hit by that white light from afar, their hearts felt like they were about to jump out of their mouths.
Although Zhou Ziwei ultimately survived the crisis unscathed, they were still quite frightened when they thought about it.
So the two women each took Zhou Ziwei's arm, one on each side, and followed him with sweet smiles toward the horse path in front of the city gate.
But... would that old man let them leave so easily? Zhou Ziwei, Wang Xuewei, and Chu Qiutang were all unsure. However, after experiencing this series of recent dangers, the two women had gradually become numb to Zhou Ziwei's increasingly miraculous abilities. This numbness led to a blind trust in him; in their eyes, it seemed that nothing in this world could stump Zhou Ziwei, and no danger could stop his advance...
However, Zhou Ziwei himself didn't have much confidence in himself.
To say that he would fight his way out of the castle regardless of the cost or consequences wouldn't be too difficult, it's just that the only thing he can use right now seems to be his soul power, and his soul power is dwindling. Also... if he really uses such a violent method to fight his way out, he will inevitably kill countless people.
If he incurs the wrath of the world's state apparatus as a result, he will likely face dire consequences.
Even if the three of them never want to go back to Earth, staying in this godforsaken place probably won't bring them any peace.
Therefore, Zhou Ziwei really didn't want any more conflict with these natives, so he could only grit his teeth and drag the two beauties down the city wall, while praying in his heart that his divine power as the "Divine Child" could subdue that old charlatan.
However, Zhou Ziwei underestimated the old charlatan's stubbornness and tenacity. When he saw Zhou Ziwei trying to escape, the old charlatan did not send troops to hunt down the three of them. Instead, the old charlatan himself scrambled to the three of them and, quite shamelessly, knelt down in front of Zhou Ziwei.
"Hey... what are you doing? Get up right now..."
Seeing this, Zhou Ziwei had no choice but to quickly step forward and help the old charlatan up, saying with a wry smile, "You're so old, yet you kneel before me. Aren't you trying to shorten my lifespan?"
The old charlatan, however, seemed to find nothing wrong with kneeling before Zhou Ziwei, given his age and status. His expression remained utterly respectful as he said, “Your Highness, you are a descendant of the gods, the hope for the revival of our Great Xia Kingdom. Any courtesy I offer you is perfectly reasonable; there is no question of it shortening my lifespan. I only beg Your Highness to consider the sake of the millions of people of our Great Xia Kingdom and accept the divine inheritance, so that our Great Xia Kingdom may receive divine favor and overcome the current crisis. Your Highness… I implore you.”
The old charlatan was about to kneel before Zhou Ziwei again when Zhou Ziwei quickly stopped him, frowning as he said, "Old man, I understand your feelings, but... please don't make things difficult for me, okay? To be honest, although that divine light didn't kill me, or even leave a single mark, it still caused me considerable harm. There's no way I would risk my life to perform for you just to convince you that I'm some kind of divine child. Heh, in short, there's absolutely no room for negotiation, so you shouldn't harbor any more illusions. If you believe I'm the divine child you're talking about, then show me that divine inheritance. If you don't believe me, then forget it; I don't care about it."
The charlatan was slightly taken aback upon hearing this. Hearing that the divine light could actually harm Zhou Ziwei, he immediately became somewhat puzzled.
That divine light is the source of power left behind by the gods; it should be beneficial to the divine child. How could it possibly cause serious harm to the divine child instead? Could it be that... the person before us is not actually the legendary divine child, but merely a powerful being capable of resisting divine light?
But how could this be? Didn't the prophet's prophecy say that only the true Son of God could withstand the baptism of divine light and survive? Is there something wrong with this Son of God, or is there something wrong with the prophet's prophecy?
The old charlatan, realizing this, immediately felt remorse and wanted to slap himself twice. As a servant of God, how could he question the prophecies of the wise men and prophets? What a sin he had committed…
But regardless of the truth, it seems unlikely that it will be possible to persuade the Divine Child to receive another baptism of divine light for the time being.
In a flash, the old charlatan remembered another way to verify the identity of the Divine Child, and was overjoyed. He quickly said to Zhou Ziwei, "Divine Child, if you really don't want to be baptized by the divine light again, that's fine too. As long as you were indeed struck by that divine light just now, then as the Divine Child, you must have already obtained the source energy of divine power. In that case, please show this old servant the source of divine power you have obtained!"
At this point, the old charlatan seemed afraid that Zhou Ziwei would be dissatisfied with him, so he quickly added, "My Lord, it's not that I don't trust what you say, but this matter is of great importance. If I hadn't personally witnessed and confirmed that you are indeed the Lord of God, I would never have dared to entrust the divine inheritance to you. Please forgive me, my Lord."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei's heart stirred slightly. He wondered if the divine power source the old charlatan was talking about was the strange white light that he had absorbed into his body and that was hidden in every cell of his body, capable of devouring metallic substances.
To be honest, Zhou Ziwei was quite interested in what the old charlatan was talking about as some kind of divine inheritance, and he didn't want to really break ties with the old charlatan, as that would be bad for both of them.
Anyway, trying it won't kill him, and there are only benefits and no harm. Zhou Ziwei doesn't mind fooling this old charlatan a little more. If he can really confirm the identity of this divine child and obtain that so-called divine inheritance, he might even find a way back to Earth. If that happens... that would be the best thing ever.
"Alright! If you insist on seeing it, then I'll show it to you. However... if what I show you isn't the divine power you're talking about, then you don't need to treat me as some kind of divine child anymore. But I hope that regardless of whether you acknowledge my identity or not, you won't try to restrict our freedom here, or try to take our lives here. I can tell you with certainty that if you do that, I guarantee you'll regret it."
As Zhou Ziwei spoke, he closed his eyes slightly, silently calling upon the mysterious white light spots hidden within his various organs and cells, hoping they could condense again and be released out of his body. Regardless of whether this thing was the source of divine power that the old charlatan had mentioned, Zhou Ziwei figured it was the only thing that could be somewhat reliable.
But who would have thought that last time, without Zhou Ziwei's summoning, those white light spots spontaneously coalesced into white light and emerged? But now, when Zhou Ziwei needed them, those white light spots were like naughty children. No matter how much Zhou Ziwei's soul consciousness pressed them, they completely ignored it and continued to entangle themselves in every cell of Zhou Ziwei's body, remaining unmoved.
Zhou Ziwei was sweating profusely, but to no avail, and he began to feel increasingly anxious.
It seems that even if this power is really strong, he has not yet truly mastered it and cannot use it for his own purposes. So isn't it just a decoration?
Opening his eyes, Zhou Ziwei saw the old charlatan looking at him with a puzzled expression. His eye twitched slightly, but he ignored the old charlatan and instead glanced around. Then he waved to an armored soldier not far away and said, "Brother... could you... hit me with that hammer?"
Unfortunately, the armored soldier couldn't understand Zhou Ziwei's words at all. Although he saw that Zhou Ziwei seemed to be calling out to him, he didn't understand why and just stood there, completely unsure of how to cooperate with Zhou Ziwei.
Although others couldn't understand Zhou Ziwei's words, the old charlatan could. When he first heard Zhou Ziwei's crazy talk, the old charlatan was slightly taken aback, and then a faint surprise appeared on his face. He nodded slightly, turned around and said a few words in the language to the armored soldier that Zhou Ziwei had just called out to. It seemed that he was temporarily replacing Zhou Ziwei as a translator.
The old charlatan clearly held a very high position in the hearts of these soldiers. Upon seeing the old charlatan speak to him, the armored soldier immediately bowed respectfully to the old charlatan... Of course, this bow was a unique, foreign-style butt-twisting salute, which made Zhou Ziwei feel a chill again.
Fortunately, the old charlatan did not misunderstand Zhou Ziwei's meaning. After hearing the old charlatan's words, the armored soldier immediately grabbed a pair of heavy iron hammers, each weighing at least tens of kilograms, and charged towards Zhou Ziwei with great momentum.
Perhaps the armored soldier's ferocity was too overwhelming, and the old charlatan, worried that Zhou Ziwei would be smashed into mincemeat by this brute, quickly shouted twice more at the armored soldier who was starting to lose control.
The soldier's running speed immediately slowed down after the old charlatan's shout, and then he gently tapped Zhou Ziwei's shoulder and back.
With a muffled "thud," Zhou Ziwei neither blocked nor dodged, but relied solely on his physical strength to forcefully withstand the two spiked hammers.
With two crisp "snap" sounds, one of the three-pronged spikes embedded in the iron hammer was broken off, while Zhou Ziwei only had two small holes pierced in his clothes. His body seemed to be unharmed, and no blood flowed out.
Even so, it still terrified Wang Xuewei and the others. They wanted to go forward to check on Zhou Ziwei's injuries, but Zhou Ziwei waved his hand to stop them.
Although he failed to unleash the white light within his body as desired, one thing was certain: after being struck by that white light, Zhou Ziwei endured those few seconds of excruciating pain and consumed a large amount of his soul power. As a result, the strength and resilience of his body were indeed forged many times over.
The armored soldier's brute strength was far greater than Zhou Ziwei had imagined. You see, Zhou Ziwei was still wearing the combat uniform that his old commander had specially equipped him with... the kind of combat uniform that even ordinary sniper bullets could hardly penetrate... and yet it was smashed through by that armored soldier's Iron Madman in one go.
However, when this powerful blow touched Zhou Ziwei's skin, it was as if it had struck the hardest iron block. Not only did the spikes on the hammer not injure Zhou Ziwei, but the recoil from Zhou Ziwei's body actually broke the two spikes off.
This shows just how incredibly strong Zhou Ziwei's physical abilities must be now...
However, this astonishing scene stunned the surrounding soldiers, but it had no effect on the old charlatan. He still stared intently at Zhou Ziwei, trying to see if he really had a source of divine power that could be released from Zhou Ziwei's body.
As for any other extraordinary qualities that Zhou Ziwei displayed, the old charlatan seemed to have completely ignored them.
Zhou Ziwei shook his head slightly, then roared at the armored soldier who was staring blankly at the broken spike on the hammerhead: "Harder... can you hit me with this hammer harder? Didn't you eat breakfast this morning? Or did you use up all your energy on a woman's belly last night?"
The armored soldiers were stunned by Zhou Ziwei's shout, but because they couldn't communicate in the language, they couldn't guess the meaning behind Zhou Ziwei's words. The old swindler sighed helplessly and had no choice but to repeat Zhou Ziwei's original words to the armored soldiers in their local language without any concealment.
"Ah—" The armored soldier was so angry at the old charlatan's words that his eyes were blazing with fury. Before the old charlatan could finish speaking, the soldier immediately raised his double hammers and, without any restraint, viciously smashed them down on Zhou Ziwei's head and shoulders.
That guy's ruthless, he's got guts...
Zhou Ziwei was initially full of confidence in the strength of his body, which had just been transformed by the white light and soul power. However, when he sensed the sudden, intuitive danger posed by the armored soldiers' power, which seemed to be several times stronger than before, Zhou Ziwei realized that the people of this world were indeed very powerful...
These two blows were too powerful, so powerful that Zhou Ziwei had no confidence at all in withstanding them. Helpless, Zhou Ziwei could only desperately gather a wisp of powerful soul energy, ready to use it to set up a simple force field to block the impact of this heavy blow...
However, before Zhou Ziwei could make a move, he suddenly felt countless white light spots surging out from every organ, every corner, and every cell in his body.
The process was so fast it was like a flash, lasting less than a hundredth of a second. Suddenly, a blinding white light rose from Zhou Ziwei's body, meeting the two hammer blows that the armored soldier was smashing down in anger...
A strange sound, like a soap bubble bursting, rang out. Then, just like last time, the two hammers that the armored soldiers had smashed into the white light were swallowed up by the white light without any suspense and disappeared without a trace.
Unlike last time, when the white light only devoured the blades of the soldiers' broadswords, the wooden hilts of their swords remained undamaged.
This time... the armored soldier's hands were empty, not even a blade of grass was left, which was obviously because the two heavy hammers in his hands were made entirely of metal.
"The source of divine power, it truly is the source of divine power... God... You have not abandoned your most loyal subjects after all..."
Upon seeing this scene, the old charlatan, who had been waiting for this moment for so long, was so overjoyed that he almost flew away. Without saying a word, he pounced on Zhou Ziwei, grabbed Zhou Ziwei's legs tightly with both hands, and mumbled something unintelligible.
It sounds like a monk chanting sutras, or a Taoist priest exorcising a ghost... Hmm, it seems this old charlatan is quite competent and has the potential to be a priest...
With a soft "smack," the old charlatan knelt down and gave Zhou Ziwei a heavy kiss on the foot. Zhou Ziwei was somewhat pleased that he now held the title of "Divine Child," so a kiss on the foot from the old man wasn't a big deal. However, what Zhou Ziwei found most unbearable was... well, the old man had to do it while wiggling his withered old buttocks. It was just too disgusting!
Volume 2: The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 397: The Tower of Wishes
Zhou Ziwei really wanted to kick the old man in front of him into a ditch, but it seemed that this old charlatan held a fairly high position here, so Zhou Ziwei didn't dare to be too presumptuous.
Hmm... even if we're going to play, we should find a secluded spot later.
He pretended to help the old charlatan up, and without beating around the bush, Zhou Ziwei immediately asked about the inheritance of the gods.
Zhou Ziwei had no interest in being a revered god here. The reason he released the white light from his body to meet the old charlatan's request was precisely for this inexplicable divine inheritance.
Zhou Ziwei had already planned ahead. He wanted to search within this divine inheritance to see if there was a way to leave this world and return to Earth. If there was, that would be best. If there was no information on that, even just an explanation of how to use the secret of this troublesome white light would be acceptable.
Only now did he realize how incredibly powerful the white light within him was. Its ability to devour metal completely ignored the opponent's strength and damage. Anything metallic, a flash of that white light, and he could devour it! Even without any other gains this time, this alone was enough to make him rich. With this precious divine light to control, wouldn't he no longer need to dodge missiles? He could just catch them with the divine light and devour them! He just didn't know how big the divine light's appetite was. If it swallowed something as massive as a missile, he wondered if it would suffer from indigestion or something…
The despicable old charlatan seemed to have seen through Zhou Ziwei's intentions long ago. Upon hearing this, he merely chuckled and went on and on about how the inheritance of the gods was of paramount importance and required an auspicious day to be chosen in the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty, Xianjing, with the presence of the Great Xia Dynasty's monarch and the elders of the temple. In short... you'd better wait! The inheritance of the gods won't be given to you so easily.
Zhou Ziwei was quite annoyed. He really wanted to flick his sleeves and tell the old charlatan in a very nonchalant way, "Take your divine inheritance and get out of here! I don't care."
However, Zhou Ziwei tried several times but still couldn't bring himself to say it. Helpless, he could only sigh and accept the old charlatan's invitation to stay in the castle called Tianshui City for one day. The next day, the temple would arrange for people to escort the three of them to Xianjing, the capital of the Great Xia Dynasty. Then, the temple elders would determine an auspicious day for the divine inheritance ceremony.
Zhou Ziwei had figured it out. It seemed that the divine inheritance was either an empty promise or, if it existed, it wasn't with this old charlatan. It turned out that he had been fooled by this old charlatan just now.
The temple in the city was naturally that tower, which looked much taller than the city gate. From the outside, the tower looked very imposing, but when Zhou Ziwei went inside, he was greatly disappointed... It was far too rudimentary. It was one thing that it lacked the service facilities of a star-rated hotel, but what was even more surprising was that there wasn't a single woman to be seen. Almost everyone he saw was a small old man who looked like an old charlatan, giving off a gloomy and oppressive feeling. Staying in this place would definitely not be comfortable.
However, in order to see the thing emitting divine light at the top of the tower, Zhou Ziwei still held back. First, under the guidance of two old men who were even older than the old charlatan, he settled into three relatively clean rooms on the twelfth floor of the tower. Then, before the old charlatan could arrange a meal, Zhou Ziwei couldn't wait to force someone to lead him to the top of the tower for a real visit.
When Zhou Ziwei saw the so-called Wishing Pool and the Eye of Divine Wrath at the top of the tower, he was utterly shocked.
Good heavens… what did he see? This so-called Divine Wish Pool was a metal melting pool a thousand times, ten thousand times more advanced than a steel mill on Earth! In that pool, which seemed to be made of some unknown material, seemingly entirely of jade, and was five meters long, wide, and deep, were various kinds of scrap iron and metal, as well as some miscellaneous ores, which had just been thrown in. Then, the old charlatan walked to the back of the Divine Wish Pool, knelt there, and prayed for a moment with his buttocks sticking out. Then, he reached out and pressed a switch. Immediately, a white light flashed across the Divine Wish Pool, and all the metals and ores that passed through the light vanished into nothingness… Most of the pure metals were directly decomposed, while the residue in the pool was directly thrown into a special garbage transfer station under the tower through a pipe.
As for the metallic substances swallowed by the divine light, if needed, they can be directly restored in the next level of the tower. In the next moment, a large piece of refined metallic substance will appear in the restoration pool below. If no further restoration is needed, then these swallowed metals will automatically decompose into nutrients for the divine light, allowing the divine light to slowly grow stronger.
According to the old charlatan, the metal materials in this city are basically all provided by this Divine Wish Pool. The reason why the Great Xia Dynasty has been able to maintain its prosperity is precisely because of the existence of the twenty-seven Divine Wish Towers in the country. They can continuously produce metal weapons that far exceed the average forging level of this world, which allows the Great Xia Dynasty to stand tall among the powerful nations even though the physical fitness of its people is generally weaker than that of its neighbors.
Of course, this Tower of Divine Wishes can produce and manufacture more than just refined metal weapons. Its most important feature is the divine light that can be emitted from the Eye of Divine Wrath, which also possesses terrifying destructive power.
Even someone as formidable as Zhou Ziwei almost died right there after being struck by the divine light; needless to say, others were no match for him.
Moreover, according to the old charlatan, this Eye of Divine Wrath actually has two different attack methods: single-target attack and area-of-effect attack. Especially against enemies from the air, no matter how many come, a single area-of-effect attack of the Eye of Divine Wrath will ensure that you wipe them all out without missing a single one.
In Zhou Ziwei's view, the so-called Eye of Wrath was simply a light-sensitive emitter made of a strange metallic substance and a transparent crystal. Moreover, it was a purely intelligent weapon. As long as someone received a request for assistance from the troops, there was no need for anyone to operate the Eye of Wrath to fire. Once a self-protection button was activated, the Eye of Wrath would automatically activate its protective power and search for targets in the air.
Since there are no flying units in the Tower Dynasty, the Eye of Wrath will automatically find and lock onto any aerial targets and shoot them down, thus minimizing the chance of accidentally injuring your own soldiers.
Zhou Ziwei found it hard to believe that such advanced intelligent instruments would appear in a world where the level of technology and culture seemed to be stuck in the era of cold weapons.
So how were these Towers of Divine Wishes created?
After the old charlatan's explanation, Zhou Ziwei learned that these so-called Towers of Divine Wishes were actually ancient artifacts. In fact, the entire tower was a single, integrated structure. The reason why it remained undamaged despite the passage of countless years was that the Tower of Divine Wishes had the ability to repair itself.
Amidst the chaos of war, these Towers of Wishes have always been a primary target of enemy attacks. After almost every large-scale war, the Towers of Wishes in the directly involved regions would inevitably be battered and bruised, and it was even possible that most of them would be destroyed by the enemy.
However, no matter how badly the Tower of Wishes is damaged, as long as the Pool of Wishes and the Eye of Wrath on top are not fatally injured, and a large amount of metal is thrown into the Pool of Wishes afterward, the entire Tower of Wishes will slowly repair itself until the entire tower is completely restored to its original state.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ziwei realized that the tower was actually a single, continuous structure. He tapped the tower walls and the ground with his hands and discovered that the entire tower was indeed made of metal, forming a seamless whole. There wasn't a single joint or welded part to be found on either the walls or the ground. How could such incredible welding technology exist in this backward era? So, to say that the tower was formed naturally... while still unbelievable, it wasn't entirely impossible now.
After visiting the Tower of Divine Wishes, Zhou Ziwei was so shocked that he couldn't speak. What exactly was this Tower of Divine Wishes? Was it an ancient artifact created by a true god? Or... a high-tech achievement of a prehistoric civilization?
Or the latter statement might seem more scientific, since everything in this world can actually be explained using scientific methods. If there are problems that cannot be explained by science, it only means that the technology we currently possess is not yet mature.