Book 2: A God’s Marriage

Chapter 30: A God’s Marriage (I)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

Violent thunder and lightning streaked through the stormy night sky. The sky and the earth were trapped in a loud sound that pierced the clouds and cracked the rocks. The top of the thick clouds hung low and surged, the top of the big waves below mixed with the seething, while the hurricane wind was like a circling dragon, and forced the distance between the sea and the sky to an infinitely depressing degree.

A small wooden boat, in such a storm, was shaken and tossed. Glaciers broke in the vast sea, fragile like a feather, and at any time they could be torn to pieces by external calamities.

Another bolt of lightning fell. Twisted silver snakes illuminated the sea and attacked the broken ice, while they also illuminated the appearance of the boat.

It was brand new and could be evaluated as a beautiful sealed long boat. Unpainted white wood, so that the hull of the boat appeared like an elegant ivory cream, which was vaguely carved with some fuzzy curled patterns, painted with a gold-like, copper powder. It looked more ancient than luxurious. The slender prow of the boat had a cluster of flowers, but after being subjected to thunderstorms and tsunamis, as well as the wind and rain, the flowers had long since withered and left only a few stems tightly tied, bare and hanging in the wind.

This was not a boat for sailing, or even a boat suitable for launching. Who would be so wasteful as to push it into such bad weather, into the sea of ice and thunder?

“…The weather is so bad, the gods are not happy with this offering…”

The man on the shore looked away from the bad weather in the depths of the sea and murmured worriedly.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” The man next to him hurriedly chided. “This is the test of the storm. The sacrifice sent every year has to go through this process. It’s the gods looking at our piety!”

The waves raged more and more rampantly, the swirling whirlpools stirred up countless deep, bottomless eyes, while the canoe swayed and almost broke around the eyes. The sound of the roaring thunder resounded through the world like a giant eagle spreading across the sky, and made a wanton, wild whine as it streamed across the vault.

A crack had already penetrated the boat from head to tail, and the cross wood barely supported the bottom of the boat. It could no longer afford the slightest shock, then it was a true miracle that it had lasted until now. At this moment, the sea water poured into the closed cabin, cold and biting, completely drenching the heavy woven blanket inside.

Yun Chi was awakened under those circumstances.

He was dazed, his brain was muddled, and all he could feel was the sharp pain of broken bones. He couldn’t even move a little finger. The back of his head was cold, and he didn’t know whether it was blood or water.

…What’s happening to me?

Yun Chi wanted to vomit, but his soul seemed to be completely separated from his body, and he could only feel it, not control it.

…How did I get here?

The water was still pouring in. Half of his body was soaking in the bone-chilling ice water, and he couldn’t get out, let alone struggle. Maybe it was the sound of the ship cracking, maybe it was the sound of the ice colliding, or maybe it was a hallucination brought on by pain, but there was a sound like a sneer that kept coming to Yun Chi’s ears from all directions in small increments.

I remember I was in a coffin. I was, I was…

The whispers got louder and louder, and Yun Chi couldn’t help but listen intently. No, it wasn’t something else, it wasn’t an illusion, it really was a sneer! It was shrill and piercing, with the arrogance of complacency, as it looked down on his suffering from above.

“…It’s almost over, this year’s sacrifice…”

“Let him die! Let him die!”

“… How dare you think of coming to the Wind God’s side when you’re so weak…”

“Let him die! Let him die!”

Seemingly along with these vicious whispers, the wind and waves became more intense, and Yun Chi’s canoe became more and more unable to withstand the harsh environment.

Dead…? Am I dead?

Yun Chi was too confused, too scared. I’m not dead, how can I be dead? I was just…That’s right! I was just in a cave, leading my team, lamenting together over the great discoveries in archaeology, so now how could I be here?

A handful of cold seawater, like a relentless slap, fell hard on Yun Chi’s head. He winced deeply and heavily, finally remembering a few fragmentary pieces.

Objectively speaking, Yun Chi was both a wealthy idler who had inherited his parents’ legacy, and also an adventurous person and Adventure Society-certified explorer. His last big moment of sobriety came when the team he led discovered off the beaten path the remains of a civilization that had survived in the rainforest.

–The golden frescoes were so vivid and seemed endlessly beautiful in the darkness of the underground. They still glowed with a flowing brilliance that was as striking as a sunset.

…What next? How did he appear here, at sea? Could it be that his team members were adventurous and greedy, so they secretly harmed him…?

No, not necessarily. The expedition had been formed for quite some time, and Yun Chi was familiar with the character and morals of his team members. He knew that they were all good people who could be trusted to have his back, so what reason could they have to assassinate him? What’s more, the rainforest was located in the hinterland of the La Mosquitia ¹ region. How far would they have to run to find a sea where they could dump a body?

While he was thinking hard in fear and anxiety, the voices got noisy again.

“Well, well, he’s dead!”

“Is he dead?”

“Death has no mercy on him! He will never be able to enter the Storm God Palace, haha!”

“Alas, stop it. If you’re dead, Lord Wind God will blame us…”

What, who’s dead, are they talking about me?

From the bottom of his heart, Yun Chi didn’t have good feelings towards those voices and was filled with disgust. He was about to retort loudly, but his body suddenly sank down.

Or rather, it was a weight not from his body but from his soul. It was as if he had been smashed from the sky to the ground. After that, Yun Chi’s eyes suddenly opened wide and he spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with salty water!

“Cough, cough!” Yun Chi could suddenly control his body, so he struggled to raise his arms to protect his head, and felt that the fierce wind outside really had begun to gradually calm down. The churning and turbulent seawater also slowly began to quiet.

So strange? What was this situation? Who was the wind god? Were they really wind gods, or was it a bizarre code name? In any case, how could the great forces of nature be manipulated by those disgusting little voices, and where exactly had he strayed to? The world of Truman?

At that moment, a particularly sharp and piercing shout suddenly cut across the others, and shook Yun Chi’s brain raw.

“No! Lord Wind God is coming back! If he sees us plotting to kill the sacrifice, he’ll kill us for sure!”

“What?! Quickly, quickly! Get rid of him, get rid of him!”

“Yes, we can’t let Lord Wind God see that!”

Oh my god, what the hell is that?

Yun Chi didn’t have time to cuss before the battered and bruised canoe beneath him shook violently, the waves spun at high speed, and the wind howled loudly. It was as if an irresistible hand grabbed him firmly and threw him hard into the unknown distance…

In the bottom of the boat, Yun Chi was heavily folded into a ball, as he blacked out and lost consciousness.

–

He opened his eyes in the darkness and sniffed the water vapor coming from the icy sea.

The new god was letting his power loose again, stirring up the waves of the sea…In the past, this would have been an unforgivable transgression, but times changed, the world changed, and the old laws and ordinances could no longer restrain the newborn gods.

He sighed softly and felt the terrible hunger that was brewing in his belly.

It was time to find food and fill his stomach for another day when the sun would rise and the moon would set, he thought.

So he got up. His huge body was like a small mountain, so it shook the pine branches into rustling, while at the same time the snow on the pine branches couldn’t stop bouncing down in all directions. The animals that were resting in the forest, feared that huge creature, and all fled in terror, which caused the woods to chatter.

I will not eat your flesh and blood, or accept your offerings, he thought, as he dragged his heavy body awkwardly towards the sea. My beloved food snacks have been in the sea and ice reproduction cycle. They maintain the development of the divine spectrum of prosperity, but also witnessed the fading of the divine spectrum…Perhaps they will also eventually witness my demise and the end of the last of the old gods.

He walked slowly toward the shore, and felt the cool and pleasant breeze gently surround his cheeks. He walked past the mountains which echoed His former gifts; He walked past the streams, which washed away His former glory; He walked toward the unknown and unknowable sea, which treated its old master with silence, and would not boast to Him of the richness of the present, but of the riches that did not belong to Him.

They all sighed together: Sa’gya, go away…You don’t belong here anymore, go away…

He turned a deaf ear to them, not wanting to speak in vain and break His years of silence. He just stubbornly walked forward, as He waited until the tip of his nose was next to the surface of the sea, swirling with broken ice, then slid his whole body into the sea.

Under the sea, His movements immediately became a hundred times more flexible. The fish that had not opened their wits sensed the god’s breath and scattered in fear, and instead of waving their claws to catch those small things that thought they were nimble. He dove all the way down to the sea bed, and one by one, broke off the big, fat sea urchins and stuffed them into the hairy pockets on His chest. It was only when it was too stuffed to fit that He returned the way He came, alone and balled up, lying on his back on the surface of the sea.

The long spiny sea urchins, which were so sharp that to other creatures that they could almost be used as weapons, were as docile and soft as balls of fluff in His hands. He broke one open, cupped the shell in his paws, and got close enough to suck the sweet bile.

He ate quickly, but did not eat the entirety. He only went about sucking, and then dropped them down into the sea, with the remnants of the yellow bile left to feed those brave little fish. He broke them one by one, half and half, and soon, a large group of fish gathered under him.

So He would “dive-surface.” Repeated several times, and ate about the same, then He took a few remaining large sea urchins, and swam to shore.

There seemed to be something floating around him, also white, but not like an ice floe.

He was rarely curious, but he couldn’t help but stretch out his paws and pull the thing to himself, then cupped it closer and looked at it.

Wooden boat? It looked like a wooden boat for a sacrificial vessel. Ah, was it this, that caused the wind and waves the night before?

He sighed again. Even if he wasn’t satisfied with his sacrifice, why did he have to make the sacrificial ship look like this? What is put on the sacrificial boat were usually young pups. People were willing to break up their families to show their devotion to the God, so why do you have to…

Wait, cub?

He froze.

The ship was shattered, what about the person inside?

He straightened up anxiously, used the wind coming and going from east to west at sea, as he tried to sniff out a hint of a strange smell.

Indeed, there was the smell of blood in the sea breeze. But the sea had long since ceased to be His territorial possession, and the island where He lived had become an increasingly forgotten place of abandonment, and the farther He went, the faster He lost power…

Not true! Over there. The smell of blood went in the direction of the land!

He did his best to go as fast as he could, splitting the water and breaking the waves and speeding towards the location of his destination, before hastily jumping onto the shore, looking left and right; looking everywhere.

It was true…It was true! There was a live pup lying on His beach! Though badly wounded, covered in blood, and with an unsteady, trembling soul…But He was alive after all!

He stumbled and lunged and lost the sea urchin he’d brought all the way in His arms, but He couldn’t care less about the food, He just carried the cub in His round, thick paws, and then looked around alertly.

Good, there was not a new god’s eyes watching here…So, now he is mine!

He breathed in joy, and his plush chest filled with a long-lost joy. With the cub in his arms, Sa’gya went straight into the deep snowy forest and never came out again.

The author has something to say: [New book!]

Yun Chi: * Wakes up in a sealed space filled with flowers and decorative silks* What – am I Snow White?

Lightning, tsunamis and all the disasters: apparently playing the evil queen and starts destroying Yun Chi’s boat even more gleefully

Yun Chi: crying Ouch! Stop it, stop it!

Sa’gya: drifts out to sea to eat sea urchin and tries to look less cute, but fails because sea otters are just the cutest Do I smell a pup? Great, I’m going to adopt him right away! rushes over and furtively looks around Oh yeah, no one objects!