Goliath smiled faintly.
"Yes! After your view on this era, it's only fair to hear my view on this era."
Goliath tossed a bag of gold coins to the minstrel at the top of the bar and said, "You come down, I'll be the minstrel this time and tell everyone a story."
The minstrel took the gold coins and happily vacated the speaking spot.
"Kid! If the story's no good, you'll be in trouble!"
"Hey there, boy, you're bold enough to interrupt even a story that the great Pires is enjoying!"
The bar's patrons grew curious instantly, heckling arose, and some of the more temperamental ones started shouting loudly.
"The story should be quite interesting." Goliath gave a faint smile.
He started telling the story.
"In the north, there was a vainglorious king who built a tower much like the Tower of Babel, with a palace on top, but within just over a decade, the kingdom was destroyed, and the tower was abandoned,
where now resides some giant sub-species, rumored to hide countless gold from the old king. Young adventurers planted magic beans, climbed the vine up to the cloud tower, bypassed the giant, and sought treasures."
The opening seemed like a story that was all too familiar.
Below, the patrons hissed.
They had all heard this story!
But the continuation of Goliath's story was unfamiliar to anyone:
"The ranger defeated enemies, leaving behind tales of heroism nearby. He returned to his hometown to prove his courage to Duke Silla, and demanded to marry the duke's daughter Anna with the treasures he had collected."
The ranger and Anna were truly in love.
The ranger was originally a farmer in the village practicing swordsmanship, holding his sword even in sleep at night.
One day, when robbers invaded, he drove those bandits away. Anna, hearing of his deeds in the city, developed a fondness and went to meet him.
Gradually, feelings grew between the two.
The Duke Silla was also a kind, amiable old man. Seeing the ranger's request to marry his daughter, he agreed, asking the ranger to prove his strength and was willing to marry off his daughter to him.
Thus, came the story of the young ranger who traveled the land, planted magic beans, and climbed vines.
It was supposed to be a perfect story.
The ranger who abandoned his sword would live happily with Anna.
But then things suddenly changed one day. The duke and his daughter seemed to hear some demonic whisper: You deserve better! He's strong but not wealthy enough!
The kind and naive Anna gradually fell into corruption, becoming sharp and scornful, looking down on him.
Anna became interested in another nobleman because he was wealthy.
Anna started to give the ranger all sorts of strange conditions and brought along another man to humiliate him.
It was then the ranger's mind became filled with temptation.
The voice said: You are the strongest ranger of this era, and this is what you end up with after abandoning your sword?
Want to change everything? The dark divine object can restart everything before you.
"So, the ranger followed that voice, taking it as a teacher, and gradually seized the dark divine object. But his wish to become the Demon King was just to win back his first lover."
"When he secretly brought the dark divine object home, he began killing Anna and her family, making their souls into shadows, and then casting amnesia magic."
"He wanted to restart and return to that most beautiful moment."
"He used shadows to create Shadow Anna and Shadow Duke, building a new noble estate, but every restart ended with pure and kind Anna quickly falling into corruption, with no good results."
Goliath suddenly sneered and said:
"The era was beautiful before, but the birth of demonic nature isn't something anyone can control... So, with each Anna he killed and restarted, the ranger was consumed deeper by despair."
"On the day he beheaded the one-thousand-seven-hundredth Anna after a restart, the world's strongest darkness was born."
"That man exaggerated to such a degree that in just seven years, from a candidate Demon King, he completely fused with the divine object, becoming the second generation Demon King..."
"It was then he realized one thing," Goliath said.
"What thing?" The Box of God couldn't help but ask.
Goliath said, "Without light, how could there be darkness? The most evil darkness initially falls from a great hope called light; without hope, there wouldn't be deeper despair."
"That brave and kind-hearted ranger cried, wanting to save everything, but the more he pursued the past, the more he fell into darkness."
"Again and again, the youth, full of expectations, restarted the whole estate, but each evil and greed of Anna left him hopeless."
At this point, the story ended abruptly.
Goliath returned to the table, asking, "Who do you think is at fault in this story?"
"The era." God smiled lightly.
Beside, the Metal Box expressed some pity: "What a pitiful guy, he still loves that fallen lover deeply."
"No, he doesn't love her anymore."
Goliath said coldly, "Repentance? Suffering? Longing for the beautiful past? Those are things only a kind Angel would do; as ruthless and insidious demons, they don't have these emotions."
"The Demon King is living happily now, just like Anna being restarted again and again without regret; the current ranger won't either."
Liu Jun fell into a brief silence.
When darkness descends, once-kind angels are victims.
But when these victims fall into darkness, they begin to enjoy it, transforming into another kind of ruthless dark creature.
Goliath's story is also the story of every living being of the era.
They don't want to become demons, yet have long been devoured by the plague, and the seven deadly sins have spread across the human world.
Good people become ugly, lovers fight for interests, brothers turn against each other.
Goliath suddenly mocked:
"But, God really has his ways, the younger generation back then all idolized him."
"Even Lilith was just one of them."
"God can only be described as sinister, tricking most foolish people into serving him. Rilla and Lilith are the same."
He always guessed others with the most malicious intentions, believing God to be just that insidious.
"Tell me, can't the Demon King do the same?"
"Spreading the law and teachings of the Demon King, writing them in books, making them worship and respect him... would not new candidates for divine host arise among them... wouldn't that serve him as well?"
He had such an idea.
But the next second, his expression froze because the Metal Box was mocking him: "The demons of this era are all sinister, all want to kill the Demon King; this tactic likely won't work! No one will worship a Demon King!"
"This era is too wicked!"
Demon King Goliath couldn't help but curse angrily, "Everyone wants to kill the Demon King, isn't there a single good person?"
With so many bad people, it's hard for him to be a bad person.
Even though he's a bad person, he still wants to live among good people.
"But, Lilith is truly a foolish woman, right?" Goliath suddenly said, "The Demon King is terrified that God will settle everything, so he had her go to the capital, but who knew she wasn't afraid at all."
"Later I figured it out, she isn't fearless, she's just plain stupid."
"You... have a point." God paused, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
"God is more tolerant than I imagined, even evil people have their place, he really didn't make a move, I underestimated God's magnanimity."
Goliath laughed heartily, "I was fooling Lilith, I have a hunch that God would deceive her too, tricking her to work for him would be a simple task."
In their conversation, it seemed like they didn't consider Lilith as anything important.
Goliath suddenly said, "What do you think this era's future development will be?"
"What do you think?" God retorted.
Goliath spread his palms, looking indifferent:
"I have nothing much to pursue, beyond resisting the next outbreak of the Divine Trial, hoping to see a higher landscape, wanting to break through the fifth tier to see what kind of lifeform that is."
"Perhaps God thinks the same way."
"I went through history, I don't deny Xiangtuo Mo's greatness, but he sacrificed too much for the era, such people are boring, the strong should not seek benefits for the weak, becoming strong should be the primary goal of the strong."
He paused,
"Moreover, I think God should in the short term, collaborate with his Hell faction's Subordinate Gods to confront the upcoming Divine Trial."
"The next Divine Trial, no one knows how powerful it will be, so... perhaps Hell will resist the next calamity," God said softly.
Goliath smiled gently,
"I believe we should enhance the era's environment."
"The Xiangtuo Myth is the myth of creating life, creating the left brain, right brain, heart, hand, eye..."
"The God Myth is the myth of creating the environment, creating the mysterious wind, sun, Nether River, Hell, Tower of Babel..."
"We should utilize Lilith more; her transmission of Divine Power is very special, I wonder if adding mystery to transmission can make the great mountains, forests, and even the true sun in the sky become God's subordinates?"
Liu Jun suddenly found Goliath very interesting.
His thoughts surprisingly aligned with his own.
The Demon King disrespects God, disrespects anyone, is ambitious, a radical civilization promoter, also wants to shape a new environmental era!
He is also the first to dare to speak to him like this.
Even though Xiangtuo Mo, footless bird, Insect Thirteen, these era's kings are smart and impressive, they all have uniformly respectful attitudes towards the Divine Spirit.
But isn't that what I cultivated?
Wasn't it Liu Jun himself who taught an era to be so beautiful and kind?
This led to everyone being full of respect for the Divine.
But now seeing someone like Goliath, he suddenly found it quite interesting.
Diversity of the era is what's interesting.
Perhaps.
It's precisely these self-interested bad people that better promote an era?
Thinking about it, Liu Jun couldn't help but secretly scold himself:
"This is truly the white moonlight and the cinnabar mole; once you have one, you find the one you couldn't have before to be the best."
"Clearly, I long for a beautiful and upright era."
"However, having Hell, divided into two good and evil regions, is also quite good."
Bidding farewell to this young man, Liu Jun chose to leave.
The next Divine Trial is imminent.
He indeed wouldn't weaken the era's power to make a move against this Goliath.
...
Celestial Kingdom.
Liu Jun returned to the sky and saw Lilith, the plague Subordinate God, request an audience.
Upon inquiry, she had been waiting outside the Celestial Kingdom for three days.
"I, Lilith, the Plague God, wish to follow you, to become God's right hand, to use my [transmission] to promote [mystery] for you."
"Please let me follow you, I will be your most devoted believer!"
The Metal Box beside him showed an annoyed expression, "God, what should we do."
Liu Jun, without hesitation, "Tell her, no meeting."
"Alright." The Metal Box was about to leave.
"Wait a moment."
Liu Jun thought for a moment, then took out a core full of intense mystery, "Give this to her, tell her if she can spread mystery more widely, then I will accept her as my Subordinate God."
This was a case of waste utilization.
It must be said, the power of [transmission], and any Divine Object are a perfect match, able to enhance the talent of any mushroom.
Outside the door.
The Metal Box went out and conveyed God's words and then left.
Lilith looked at the doorway.
Not even a meeting?
She showed an angry look.
That damned Demon King, so cowardly, doing nothing but enjoying in the Demon Capital, leaving her to bear the entire demon race's wars and development!
Even God won't help her now!
But she couldn't even defeat the unchanging Rilla, and God shouldn't be affected by her toxins, she certainly couldn't defeat God either.
She could only leave with the core, intending to use her power to spread mystery on earth.
"I want to show God that the Light lineage doesn't match God at all!"
"It was just in the right timing that Light was chosen as the first Subordinate God, the most suitable god should be me!"
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