NOVEL NEXT Chapter 37: Honestly; dumb to trust the {Faux God}!
The first appearance of a Faux God other than {The Little Black Cat}... It’s a secretary bird - you get it?
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The masters of the {Qian Merchant Family} & {Absolute Divine Truth Sect} were standing in a hidden location far away from prying eyes.
Only lighting was from formations with stones embedded inside the walls; what it allowed one to see was the opulent display in front of the pair. On a stage of mahogany under chandeliers of gold was an ongoing play. It displayed several slaves - which the Qian head had brought - in various yellow domino masks upon their faces with ornate outfits. These outfits seemed to be complete mixes of different era’s from different places but not a single one could be randomly chosen as if a single fibre was away from what the ‘play’... They only knew everyone around would suffer as a result.
Then again that wouldn’t matter to the slaves since the play they were doing had the atmosphere of a comedy to the point it may be called a pantomime. Still the actions of the actors on stage was about as far from ‘funny’ as one could get as they ‘acted’ out several tragic scenes. These ranged from a child getting their hand bitten off when trying to pet a wolf to a pregnant daughter who was kidnapped when she was young being beaten to death by her unknowing father in a noble brothel. Quite frankly none of the scenes were anywhere near funny and this was only compounded by the fact that the slaves were put under some form of mind control to ensure they fully acted of the scenes… To the last drop of blood.
“As always it’s quite a disgusting scene…” <Sect Master Zhengye>
“Unfortunately this isn’t a scene but a whole 3 hour long performance however we have no choice if we want answers. This is merely the safest way to summon any {Faux God} without access to som-” <Qian Head>
“I know that there is no other way to summon the thing - doesn’t mean I understand the sick tastes of those monsters… It’s hard to say whether they’re actually any better or worse than the very demons I was sworn to destroy. Beings of absolute madness if anything else which only can be summoned by rituals that make no sense. At least demons get something out of demonic rituals yet these monsters… It feels more like they’re rituals are so crazed as to reduce the chance of someone being successful in summoning them. *Tch* I was foolish to ever listen to your stupid plans!” <Sect Master Zhengye>
“I made a deal and got told that the power needed to overthrow those stupid birds was located in the heart of {The Oni Village} how was I supposed to now you wouldn’t be strong enough with the support of the entire Orthodox Alliance!” <Qian Head>
The atmosphere got tense between the two men as the enraged Sect Master who was just ranting previously slowly turned to his weaker companion. His qi thumbed as the pressure of someone at the peak of Nascent Soul realm weighed down on the Spirit Realm merchant's head causing his blood to boil. He only barely managed to stop himself from falling to his knees but blood still seeped from his mouth while his body hunched over under the pressure - the merchant instantly regretted his words in his moment of anger.
“You speak as if I was the one who needed you - if you knew how to keep it in your pants I doubt you wouldn’t have even requested help from this creature. Was it not you who convinced me that it was a good idea to set up the oni for whatever item you needed? It also wasn’t me who came up with the idea of using that very item to kill the beasts under the Zhu to ascend to becoming {The Heavens}... Yet it was me that has already lost a Heaven Ranked treasure while you go to comfortably watch at home with your hand in your pants while those matriarchal savages mocked me to an audience of the entire world!” <Sect Master Zhengye>
Although the merchant wanted to complain that it was the Sect Master Zhengye who was so easily coaxed into not only becoming the number 1 sect but becoming one of the most powerful individuals in the world… He knew that would be a very poor choice. Luckily all their ‘actors’ had finally finished bleeding out which led to a yellow, black, grey and white spiritual energy pouring out from their dead bodies that began to melt. It was quite the gruesome sight but the show went on as it slowly formed into a giant fire in the centre of the stage in front of them men - the pressure put on their minds made both of them shudder as a primal fear took over them. Even Qian who had done this ritual previously couldn’t stand the creature.
From the flames came the being they wished to call however all their anger seemed to vanish them the moment they did thanks to the unbelievable power. If Artemis was the vice to Munzumira then the being in front of them was quite literally {The Secretary in Yellow} who’s very name summons their true form resulting in it being classified as forbidden. Even the two powerful men had no idea what the creature's real name was… Though many beings of power refused to share their real name so it wasn’t uncommon.
They had supple white skin with grey hair tied in a large bun with several feathers poking out while piercing black eyes hid behind a yellow domino mask that had a sharp beak over the being’s nose. The top of the mask had several more feathers that stood with grandness. The many feathers had a white base that slowly turned grey only for the tips to suddenly become completely black.
A white blouse contained their meagre chest while a white tail coat was tied over that however the cuffs were strangely black with the wrists taking a slightly grey tint which was easy to miss just like on those feathers upon their head. Black puffy shorts with a grey leather belt with golden buckle over a pair of yellow pantyhose showed off their long legs. A pair of yellow kitten heels with a black bottom upon their delicate feet.
“Although the actors were very lacking the noble upbringing required to truly put blood & sweat into their parts I have seen even worse showings. At the very least they seemed driven to provide their all into their parts which surely helped with the final showing. May I wonder why you two gentlemen have directed such a performance; I do not suppose it is to invite me for a date is it?” <Secretary>
Their figure quite literally shown with their opulent yellow light. A flick of their hand resulted in a feathered fan forming in their hand as they used it for intended - feathering their plump yellow coloured lips resulting in their graceful face vanishing. The flames used irradiated a heat so fierce that the cultivators thought it could only come from a {Heavenly Beast}. Though there were rumours {The Secretary in Yellow} them originally being a {Three Legged Golden Crow} so it wasn’t too surprising .
Yet those flames certainly were something far beyond the powers of two {Pseudo-Immortal}s even if the {Faux God} long abandoned that race.
The light seemed to make the being only more alluring as it ensured they saw every inch of those long legs. Even if their chest was not apparent, their brief look at their face made the two feel like crawling on their hands and feet in worship towards her… They would have if they were weaker beings. The first to overcome the immediate restrictions on their mortal minds was of course the Nascent Soul realm sect master.
Seeing as he lost the most he should be the one to question the being.
“My ally here apparently made contact with you in order to gain access to your abilities in order to achieve greater power than the {Imperial Phoenix Family}...” <Sect Leader Zhengye>
“Indeed that was the case. One of his descendents played a dangerous game of placing his hand on the prey of an apex predator; foolish isn’t enough to explain that. The result can only be described as a comedic dance in the rain & thunder. So who better to turn to than myself for the information to possibly rise like a phoenix - truly ironic hahahoho.” <Secretary>
“I think I would describe it quit-” <Sect Leader Zhengye>
“Hahaha indeed it was quite funny - no other description is apt!” <Qian Head>
Zhengye was at first disgusted with the merchant but then he turned to look towards the man only to see his veins popping from his forehead. Clearly he had other choice words to give yet from his voice alone one would never guess; though more visible was the glimmering of his cold sweat against the opulent light from the {Faux God}. Knowing that the merchant wasn’t merely attracted made him partly calm him down - of course they shouldn’t contradict the beings words.
Taking a deep breath, he continued on under the seemingly disappointed eyes of the bird.
“We were merely curious as to why the information you gave us was false.” <Sect Leader Zhengye>
“There exists no such thing as ‘false words', only false interpretations.” <Secretary>
“If your words weren’t false wouldn’t I have that Jian Zhen’s head in my hands with his sect as rumble under my feet mis-” <Sect Leader Zhengye>
“Please forgive him for his ignorance!” <Quan Head>
Before he could finish the cautious merchant practically squealed out in panic.
This confused Zhengye, making him turn to face the man only to spot something else in his peripheral vision while a warm trickling came from his neck. The figure that was in front of him had already sent a kick towards his neck without him noticing - for the first time in a long time someone nearly killed him without him being able to understand how. Although the bird paused midair the blood still trickling down made him know for sure he was seconds away from death especially as he turned to look at the dissatisfied expression on that beautiful face.
“Unfortunate… It would have made quite the amusing play for one of the most powerful men who died after being seen with the most powerful merchant. I suppose I’ll accept this apology on an account of the amusement he has offered me thus far.” <Secretary>
They retreated their feet back to the ground before the fan returned to their left hand with a gust of yellow flames. A cold sweat was now also running down the sect master's entire body as he just stared motionlessly at the being for a bit longer. Ever since he became the heir he could count the number of times he was threatened with the prospect of death… Yet even those were never that overwhelming.
“I-I am sorry for questioning you.” <Sect Leader Zhengye>
He only barely managed to squeak out those words yet the {Faux God} just snorted.
“As if I can be affected by the accusations of a low levelled creature like yourself.” <Secretary>
“The mistake you made, Sect Leader Zhengye, was referring to {The Secretary in Yellow} as a female. It’s disrespectful as they are neither man nor girl. Rather they are something between the two.” <Qian Head>
“*Snort* To put it simply I’m a femboy who likely has a bigger set of balls than either of you two cowardly mortals. Trust me, that leaves you packing very little gents… Of course that could change in a fashion which would satisfy us both hahahoho.” <Secretary>
Despite the words which ‘made sense’ none of that made sense to him.
They were telling him the ‘mistake’ he made was calling this being by the wrong pronoun nearly cost him his head!? Before he could realise what was happening he felt the very chin of the being was resting on his left shoulder while their right hand curved around his neck to raise his chin up. Forcibly moving the man's head as if studying before that arrogant voice filled his ears with clear amusement.
This allowed him to calm down a little, though, with a frown clear on his face.
“Unfortunately I have somewhere to be else I may take you as a sacrifice to myself… Still I’ll give you a little knowledge update. We {Faux God}s aren’t the demons who deal with absolute deals but rather we’re more akin to gamblers. All we have to do is give you information which can be true in the correct circumstances yet anything more unless we like you. If you approached the oni in a different manner… Indeed you may have be able to overcome the phoenix’s yet you failed~!” <Secretary>
“But we-!” <Sect Leader Zhengye>
“Would you have acted more cautiously if you didn’t know the potential they held? Well that simply isn’t my problem now is it. Mr Qian over there requested my help obtaining information and he obtained it hahahoho.” <Secretary>
Before Zhengye could turn around to announce his disagreement to the being vanished as if they had never been there…