Chapter 15: The Anomaly of the Idol

A short while later.

After subjecting Mu Tong to a thorough interrogation, Song Xuanqing finally understood what was going on.

First and foremost: this world truly had no gods.

At least, not anymore.

And it wasn't just gods — immortals, Buddhas, and the like were absent as well.

Yet, based on what Song Xuanqing had come to understand about this world, legends of immortals and divine beings had existed since ancient times.

In that regard, it was quite similar to ancient China from before his transmigration.

Tales of immortals, the Heavenly Court, the Buddha — all of these circulated in this world.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for villagers to make offerings to him and revere him as a god.

Because ordinary people in this world did believe that gods and immortals existed.

Cultivators like Mu Tong, however, knew full well the truth.

There were simply no such things as gods or immortals in this world.

Even the legendary Heavenly Court, the Underworld, and the Buddha — none of it existed.

Those were nothing more than legends.

This was common knowledge among all cultivators.

Song Xuanqing found this puzzling. If this world truly had no gods or immortals, then why had legends about them existed since ancient times?

Had this world truly never had immortals or divine beings?

Song Xuanqing didn't believe it.

After all, he himself was a god.

Even if only a Feral God.

Mu Tong fell into thought after hearing Song Xuanqing's doubts, and after a long pause, he said:

"Based on some unverified rumors, this world may have once had those legendary immortals and gods a very long time ago — but right now, they don't exist."

Song Xuanqing frowned and pressed further: "Why don't they exist? Where did they all go?"

Mu Tong: "……"

That question was far too profound. He had no answer.

In fact, it wasn't even certain whether this world had ever had immortals or gods to begin with.

Those were all just rumors.

In any case, this world currently had no such beings as gods or immortals.

Song Xuanqing remained skeptical about this.

After all, Mu Tong was not particularly powerful — a small-time figure with a limited perspective. It was entirely possible that gods and immortals did exist in this world.

He simply didn't know about them.

Even so, in the eyes of most people, gods did not exist.

Which meant that Song Xuanqing's true identity was something he probably couldn't afford to let others discover.

When the entire world assumed that gods did not exist, and yet here he was — an actual god.

Song Xuanqing didn't even want to think about how much trouble that might bring him in the future.

Even if he was only a Feral God.

If he were powerful enough to fear nothing, it wouldn't matter — but the problem was, he wasn't powerful at all right now.

Song Xuanqing wasn't arrogant enough to think that killing two small-timers like Mu Tong and Mu Nan had made him some unstoppable force.

Not to mention, both of them had already been injured when he dealt with them.

It seemed he would need to keep his cover tightly sealed going forward — he couldn't let anyone know he was actually a god.

On another note: even though this world had no gods, the natural forces of heaven and earth operated beyond the bounds of science.

And so, divine idols were not entirely ordinary things.

The materials used to craft idols varied widely. Idols enshrined by rural villagers like those in Song Xuanqing's village were typically made of stone, clay, or wood.

Wealthier households might have jade idols, or even golden ones.

And at the highest level — the imperial court or major sects and factions — idols were crafted from all manner of rare and precious materials.

Yes, even though those people all knew that immortals, gods, and Buddhas didn't exist in this world, they still made offerings to idols.

This contradiction between belief and action was something Song Xuanqing couldn't quite understand.

But as for the idols themselves — given enough time, they had a chance to give birth to various divine anomalies.

For a rural idol like Song Xuanqing's, there was a probability that, over time, an idol anomaly would emerge.

The Three-Eyed Lady's idol in the neighboring Liu Family Village was a prime example — it had given birth to an idol anomaly.

Specifically, the first eye of the Three-Eyed Lady's idol.

That was the idol anomaly that had manifested within that particular statue.

As for what exactly an idol anomaly was and what it could do, Mu Tong couldn't answer that either. He only knew that the Tianshan Sect collected them wherever they could be found.

In the eyes of the Tianshan Sect, an idol anomaly was no different from any rare heavenly treasure.

An idol that had produced an anomaly simply contained a precious object within it — but fundamentally, the idol itself remained nothing more than an inanimate object.

Beyond idol anomalies, there was another strange phenomenon an idol might give rise to — an idol spirit.

An idol spirit was not a god. It was a spirit.

Simply a spirit born from an idol.

On this subject, since Mu Tong himself knew very little, Song Xuanqing didn't learn much either.

He only gathered that idol spirits were extremely rare, and tended to appear only in idols enshrined by major sects, factions, or the imperial court.

At first glance, Song Xuanqing thought he might be one of these idol spirits.

But after careful reflection, he concluded that he was not.

He was a god, not a spirit.

As for what exactly a spirit was, he'd look into it more carefully when the opportunity arose.

Worth noting, however, was that both idol anomalies and idol spirits could only emerge from idols dedicated to nonexistent deities.

Some ignorant rural folk would enshrine idols of demons and malevolent beings — and those idols would never give rise to any divine phenomenon whatsoever.

On the contrary, those who worshipped demons and evil spirits typically met grim ends.

Because demons and evil spirits, more often than not, ate people.

Having learned all of this, Song Xuanqing took the opportunity to ask Mu Tong about cultivation as well.

Whether out of fear of death or some other reason, Mu Tong was fairly cooperative.

The path of cultivation in this world was quite diverse. Speaking in broad terms, the human race primarily practiced the Martial Path, and its practitioners were known as Martial Masters.

The Martial Path was divided into five realms: Body Tempering, Qi Absorption, Spirit Gathering, Mind Transformation, and Spirit Communion.

Each realm was simply divided into early, mid, and late stages.

The Body Tempering realm focused on forging the physical body — hardening the muscles and bones. At this stage, one had not yet transcended the limits of the human body; it was purely about building thick blood and qi, raw physical strength, and learning various combat techniques.

The second realm, Qi Absorption, involved drawing external true qi into the body, offering a significant increase in destructive power compared to Body Tempering.

The third realm, Spirit Gathering, involved refining true qi to a sufficient degree that it transformed into spiritual essence. The body underwent something akin to a complete rebirth, granting all manner of extraordinary Divine Arts.

As for the Mind Transformation and Spirit Communion realms — since Mu Tong himself was only in the Qi Absorption realm and had only a vague understanding of Spirit Gathering, he knew even less about those two higher realms.

The reason this was described as only the broad framework of cultivation was that even among those who walked the Martial Path, the specific methods practiced by different sects and factions were almost entirely distinct from one another.

The Tianshan Sect that Mu Tong belonged to was a perfect example.

While they technically walked the Martial Path, the outside world largely referred to them as the Demonic Path.

The imperial court and orthodox Martial Path practitioners wanted nothing to do with them.

This was because the Tianshan Sect's cultivation methods and conduct were cruel, wicked, and utterly without restraint.

In this world where demons and evil spirits ran rampant, ordinary lives were already cheap — but in the eyes of the Tianshan Sect, ordinary people weren't even considered human.

It was precisely for this reason that the Tianshan Sect had a truly terrible reputation.

And no small number of sects and factions stood in opposition to them.

The Ancient God Society was one such faction.