Chapter 12: Supreme Fear
Night fell, and the hall of the small courtyard lit up, the dim yellow light filtering through the window lattice and falling in blocks onto the snow outside.
Guangfeng Restaurant was still full, but Liu Ruhai decided to be a hands-off boss today and enjoy a good meal with his wife and daughter.
He cooked a table full of dishes, including the trotters soup Liu Sheng had been craving, as well as chicken stewed with potatoes, fish-flavored eggplant, and a dish of sour cabbage with cured meat using the cured meat Liu Sheng brought back.
A large piece of trotter, drenched in red oil, was placed on Liu Sheng's rice, the fat and red oil seeping into the snow-white rice, looking very appetizing.
"Hurry and try it, your father's cooking has improved a lot!" her father urged proudly.
Liu Sheng took a big bite of the trotter. After long hours of stewing, the meat was soft and tender, almost melting in her mouth. The meaty aroma was infused with a faint scent of herbs, and paired with Liu Ruhai's special spicy dipping sauce, every bite brought a rich, spicy flavor and the mellow richness of meat juice. With a mouthful of rice, a sense of satisfaction welled up naturally.
Liu Sheng ate with her mouth full of oil, giving her father a thumbs up.
Her father's cooking was naturally good, otherwise Guangfeng Restaurant wouldn't have been able to open. More importantly, without this skill, he wouldn't have been able to win her mother's heart.
Ling Youlian was beautiful and skilled in Artifact Refining. Although her family had declined, she was still a collateral branch of the Guanghai Ling Family, a prominent scholarly clan. By all accounts, she was a proper Young Miss from a noble family, and the men who pursued her could line up from the village entrance to the village end.
When they were studying at Changxing Academy, Liu Ruhai deeply understood the principle of "to win a woman's heart, you must win her stomach." One day he would send Ling Youlian bamboo shoot stewed pork he made himself, and the next day he would send small pastries shaped like little rabbits. Gradually, the two fell in love, and after leaving the academy, they decided to live together in Little Green Garden.
And then Liu Sheng was born.
"Eat slowly, your face is all oily." Ling Youlian took out a handkerchief and wiped the red oil from Liu Sheng's face, a little disdainfully.
"It's a blessing for a daughter to eat well, look how thin she's gotten from hunger." Liu Ruhai looked at his daughter, his eyes full of tenderness.
Then he picked up a piece of chicken for Ling Youlian. The chicken had been fried until its surface was crispy and fragrant, then stewed with potatoes until aromatic, perfect for a snowy day.
"Try this, I removed all the chicken skin, I know you don't like greasy food."
Ling Youlian smiled softly at Liu Ruhai upon hearing this.
Liu Sheng scrunched up her nose at her parents' doting, but a smile flickered deep in her eyes.
However, that smile suddenly dimmed.
She thought of "Yi Yu."
For that girl, a family sitting together, chatting and eating easily, seemed like a scene that hadn't occurred for a long time.
How exactly could she help "Yi Yu"?
Unbeknownst to her, Liu Sheng went from single-mindedly wanting to complete the high dimension analysis of 【34576】 to wanting to give "Yi Yu," who was trapped within, a true liberation.
...
Under the cold night sky, Liu Sheng sat alone on the rooftop, wrapped in a thick padded jacket.
The higher she stood, the stronger the wind, but thankfully, her full stomach provided a continuous source of warmth.
Liu Sheng looked up, the giant god's face in the dark night sky overlooking the world, divine light dancing on its face, illuminating Little Green Garden with a stark, pale glow.
The vast, clear eyes on the god's face, which seemed to see through all things, appeared to be meeting her gaze, its slightly parted lips as if about to tell her something.
She suddenly had a feeling that if the Supreme God were to take a gentle breath at this moment, it could suck her into its mouth, disappearing without a trace into its profound oral cavity, not even needing to chew.
She was less than an ant to the Supreme God.
This fantasy made her legs feel weak, and looking at the Supreme God again, an indescribable, immense fear surged within her.
It shouldn't be like this.
Liu Sheng had heard from her classmates who could communicate with gods that when they saw the Supreme God, they felt a sacred majesty, a natural closeness, and instinctively desired to prostrate themselves before it, striving to approach it, embrace it, and find eternal peaceful belonging.
It wasn't just those god-communicating cultivators; everyone in the world worshipped the Supreme God. For them, the Supreme God bestowed Spiritual Qi upon the world, resisted evil and strangeness, and was the supreme power that maintained the order of heaven and earth.
At every important moment, whether it was a celebration of harvest or a prayer in times of disaster, people would devoutly pray to the Supreme God, hoping to receive its protection and guidance.
But for Liu Sheng, the Supreme God was distant and cold, vast and oppressive.
The longer she gazed, the stronger her desire to escape became, but she despairingly realized that she was just a tiny human trapped on this ground. The Supreme God was always above her, enveloping her, watching her coldly, imprisoning her…
Was it this difference in thought that prevented her from connecting with the Supreme God?
Ultimately, preventing her from cultivating with the gods?
But she had to cultivate.
She wanted to participate in the Honghu Plan.
She wanted to go to the National Academy.
Liu Sheng tried to steady her breathing, wrapped her clothes tighter, controlled the trembling throughout her body—whether from cold or fear—gripped the seven profound token in her hand, closed her eyes towards the Supreme God, and attempted to meditate according to the god-communicating method taught at the academy, searching in her heart for the faith and desire hidden by fear.
In this world, people did not need to use statues or temples to pray to the Supreme God, because the Supreme God pitied the world, directly manifesting its Holy Face in the visible sky. One only needed to be under the clear sky to express their heart's desires to the Supreme God.
The night wind continued to howl in the air, but Liu Sheng's heart gradually calmed down.
As her meditation deepened, the seven profound token in her hand subtly warmed, and a faint cool Qi permeated her palm and entered her body. Her mind seemed to clear significantly, and her consciousness gradually immersed itself in a strange tranquility. It seemed as if the entire world had stilled, leaving only her and the giant god's face confronting each other in the vast, dark Universe.
She seemed to see not just the god's face, but also the neck beneath the god's face, and the body beneath the neck. It was an indescribable existence, neither entirely physical nor entirely illusory, slender and well-proportioned, luminous and transparent, enveloped in a faint Holy Light.
Is this God?
God is vast.
She is tiny.
She stood distantly opposite God, like a speck of dust floating in the air, surrounded by the deep, boundless Universe, with distant stars seemingly twinkling.
She felt fear, wanting to kneel and submit at its feet; this was a Soul-level oppression.
No.
Another thought emerged.
Something very terrifying would happen if she submitted.
That thought said so.
She felt as if she was in a semi-dream, semi-awake state, but when she tried to open her eyes and see clearly, everything disappeared.
She was still sitting on her own rooftop, where the cold wind howled. In the distance, the scattered lights of Little Green Garden flickered faintly, and the continuous mountains stood silently in the darkness.
That inexplicable connection disappeared.
Liu Sheng had tried to communicate with the gods countless times since childhood. This was the first time she had perceived such a faint connection, which might truly be due to the seven profound token.
But Liu Sheng felt that this was different from a connection for communicating with gods; all she felt was coldness, and even…
…malice.
As soon as this thought emerged, Liu Sheng felt a chill run through her body.
How could the Supreme God harbor malice towards her?
This should be the warmest, most sacred existence under heaven.
She must have been mistaken.