The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-333

Chapter 333: They Are Not Rigid People

Hao Ren should not have told them about “traffic police”. He had to spend additional time and effort to explain the concept to the four ascetics. After they finished their long explanation, Hao Ren and Becky got a little thirsty as well as tired. The burly, bearded man with grey hair meditated in silence for a while. He was the eldest ascetic among the four of them. Hao Ren eas beginning to think that the old man could not understand him. He was about to explain again when the old man suddenly looked up and said, “I understand all of it. There are two worlds—one is on the surface while the other exists subtly with a fragile link. The process of teleportation and umm… the ‘traffic police’; I understand all of it.”

Hao Ren was immediately relieved and said, “That’s good…”

“You mean, we come from another dimension that you call The Plane of Dreams,” another male ascetic with a short beard said as he looked at Hao Ren deeply, “and you call your own world the Surface World. These two worlds shouldn’t be connected, but because of a crack in a barrier called the Wall of Reality, a space tunnel was created and we were ‘dumped’ from our world, ending up here as a result. And, you are the one who controls access of this nature?”

Hao Ren nodded. Then, he heard the man ask in an unusually serious tone, “So, what is the position of the goddess in your system?”

Hao Ren was stunned. He felt like he was f*cked, and thought that he was finally experiencing the most likely situation one would experience when communicating with a religious fanatic. How does one explain the ascription of a god, whose rank was not much higher than a village chief from a macrocosmic perspective, and at the same time not provoke their hot and fragile faith?!

He had given a little thought to this sensitive issue, so he did not mention that there was a real god standing behind him. He mentioned Raven 12345, but did not shift topics to the troubled field of “real god” and “false god”, because he knew that Raven 12345 did not care about such labels. However, the ascetics in front of him would very likely fight with anyone for the “Authentication of the Real God”. He had carefully bypassed sensitive points when answering their religious questions, but he did not expect to face this problem head-on: when their worldview suddenly expanded from one planet to two universes, where would the supreme goddess stand?

Watching Hao Ren’s stiff expression, the four ascetics surprisingly did not pursue the question any further. Hao Ren thought he was going to get involved in a religious debate. He did not expect the bearded man to just nod indifferently and say, “It seems that this is a complicated problem, the glory of the goddess is limited to our land.”

Then, he just stood up and asked, “When shall we leave?”

Hao Ren was not the only one. Vivian was just as surprised and she asked, “You’re not pursuing this topic, huh? Isn’t your goddess supposed to be supreme?”

The big, bearded man shrugged and said, “She is our supreme goddess, but she may not necessarily be yours. It is enough that the glory of the goddess shines over her people. Where glory cannot reach, we consider it a test of our pious faith.”

The moment “Big Beardy” finished talking, the other three ascetics put their hands on their chests and whispered, “Keep the light in the dark and remain silent in the light.”

Hao Ren did not really understand what Big Beardy was talking about. He just scratched his head and said, “Oh, since you have no objection, let’s go then. I’ll take you to my house. After that, I have to take a group of people to the Blood Lake.”

“Blood Lake?” Big Beardy immediately frowned. He was very sensitive to this and asked, “Why are you taking people to the Sacred Grounds?”

Hao Ren spread his hands out and said, “When you were sent into this world, another group of people from this world fell into your world. It was a disaster. You are lucky to have survived this. The people who were sent there are dead. Can we at least get their corpses home?”

The ascetics were devout believers, but the Disciples of Glory’s belief in the goddess did not seem as extreme as one may think. When Big Beardy heard Hao Ren’s words, he was no longer stubborn about the issue of their holy land. Again, he put his hand on his chest and whispered, “Goddess, please have mercy on those poor souls! We have been tested here, but the people of the Otherworld have been implicated! May their souls be comforted by the goddess in the Sacred Grounds.”

“I don’t think I can keep up with their train of thought.” Lily suddenly poked Hao Ren on the arm and whispered, “Landlord, you’re so smart. You actually managed to communicate with them!”

Hao Ren rolled his eyes and thought, they were the ones who usually could not keep up with Lily’s train of thought. Finally today, it was Lily’s turn.

The woman, who was one of the slightly older ones among the ascetics looked at Becky curiously and asked, “Wait a minute, there was something I wanted to ask this young lady just now… You’re from Holletta, right? Why are you here? With this… traffic police?”

Becky was immersed in the excitement of seeing people from her hometown, that she reacted and said, “Oh yes, I haven’t said anything about myself yet. I was also sent to this world. But, you are here because of natural disaster; I’m here because of a noob’s casting failure and a natural disaster…”

Hao Ren muttered, “I’m not a noob. You’re here because of a natural disaster.”

“Looks like we’re not the only ones in trouble?” The older female ascetic said and looked as if she was thinking about something. “This is a really mysterious field that nobody has ever dabbled in. I never expected there to be such mysteries in the world… And this man somehow has the power to control the passage between the two worlds. She looked at Hao Ren subtlely and said, “It appears that you deserve our respect. You are the one who holds the mysteries we do not understand. Although I don’t quite understand your work, you are obviously in a ‘higher’ position than us.”

These words immediately made Hao Ren feel a little shy. He did not expect it to come from her. These ascetics were not as rigid as he had imagined after all. On the contrary, they had a strong grasp of things and were able to accept new concepts quickly. Although they always used the doctrine of the goddess to help them explain everything, they were undoubtedly open-minded and sharp: this was very different from the image of ascetics portrayed in many stories.

In fact, this was the exact feature that distinguished the ascetics of the Disciples of Glory: they were not only devout and fanatical believers, but also thoughtful thinkers as well as knowledgeable scholars, who mastered various secrets. The ascetics devoted their life to their faith; not to marry, not to have children, not to own estates and any form of private property, not to participate in any secular fights for power, or even human justice. All their energies were devoted to the study of knowledge in addition to their combat skills and divine spells. The Disciples of Glory believed that all knowledge in the world was created by their goddess. Therefore, the ascetics also regarded the process of learning knowledge as a kind of worship.

Basically, the ascetics of the Disciples of Glory had the qualities of a scholar—a rarity in other denominations.

Of course, stubborn, fanatical ascetics also existed, but most of them were in the forefront of the crusade against heresy and belonged to the puritan combatants. They would not become the keeper of the Orb, and would certainly not be here.

This saved Hao Ren lots of trouble.

As Hao Ren watched them talking to each other, he suddenly thought of something. He realised that there was still a lot of trouble awaiting him. “Wait! I almost forgot! You all can’t go back yet!”

The four ascetics turned and looked at Hao Ren at the same time. “I forgot to tell all of you… the teleportation between The Plane of Dream and the real word is a one-way journey. Currently, two-way teleportation is limited to objects only, not humans. You guys… can probably go back and stay for only 10 days,” Hao Ren said helplessly.

Becky also looked sad and she explained the Wall of Reality’s dire situation clearly. She then heaved a deep sigh and said with a mournfully, “I’m still waiting to be knighted and rewarded with a big piece of land to bring glory to my ancestors!”

The four ascetics looked at each other and realised that neither Hao Ren nor Becky were lying. The big, bearded man pondered for a while, then he looked at Hao Ren and said, “You mean we can’t stay in The Plane of Dreams for a long time, but it’s okay to go back for a short while?”

Hao Ren nodded. Big Beardy then looked calm and said, “That will do. It doesn’t matter if we can go back or not. As long as the Orb gets back to the sanctuary of the goddess, it’s okay. Times are hard, but we readily accept this test.”

Lily poked Hao Ren on the arm and said, “Landlord, I can’t keep up with their train of thought again…”

Hao Ren grinned and said, “You don’t have to. It’s a good thing anyway.”

Then, he looked at Big Beardy, trying to make himself appear sincere as he said, “By the way, can I have a look at the Orb of the Holy Synod…?”

Big Beardy immediately looked tense and asked, “Why?”

Sure enough, this was a touchy topic.