NEC Chapter 139: Questions That Gods Cannot Answer

As a high priest often responsible for external affairs of the Divine Court, Farrell had traveled to many places and cities.

He had touched majestic city walls carved by a thousand years of wind and frost, strolled through super plazas that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, gazed up at the world's greatest magic tower built with the entire strength of the Silver Kingdom, and had spent his entire childhood in the Divine Court's capital, that holy city filled with a thousand temples, ten thousand divine statues, and air permeated with the atmosphere of fanatical faith...

Even those unremarkable small towns had their own elegance and unique scenery.

In comparison, Vast Sea Territory, this city literally "carved out" from endless yellow sand, had a population of merely a few thousand to this day. According to Farrell's understanding, if this place didn't rank last, he really couldn't think of any other territory that would be worse.

However, every time he came to Vast Sea, he would involuntarily recall what Scholar Elliott had said, "They, have such spirit!"

Indeed, they had too much spirit.

Farrell had come here many times, and moreover, the Divine Court had established a branch here, so he understood Vast Sea's situation fairly well.

During the day it was a bustling construction site, and after dinner, the rest time for Vast Sea Territory's workers became a vivid world of "people."

Bronze-skinned men gathered in twos and threes, discussing the day's gains with each other, occasionally counting on their rough fingers how many work points they still needed to become provisional citizens!

The women huddled in windshieltered corners, chattering in low voices filled with the warmth of daily life, whose child had received another commendation, how beautiful the new floral fabric at the collective sales cooperative was, whether the extra work points saved were enough to exchange for material to make their daughters new clothes.

Little ones looked enviously at those older children wearing Youth Corps badges, puffing out their tender chests higher than the cafeteria aunties', strutting proudly across the square doing goose steps. Occasionally, bold little ones would clumsily follow behind, awkwardly trying to learn a few steps, sometimes panicking into moving the same arm and leg together, drawing good-natured laughter from watching adults.

And recently, the territory had even dug two large pools in the public areas, filled them with water, and made them into public bathhouses.

The water was cold, of course, but it was disinfected daily, and most importantly, it was free, saving washing water in their own dugout homes.

Workers who had labored all day would go in for a rinse and come out refreshed, their faces unable to contain their smiles.

This was a desert, a desert where water was incredibly precious.

Only those who had stayed in beastman slave camps knew how hard-won their current lives were.

So in this desolate, lonely desert wasteland where barely any green could be seen, the wild, vigorous vitality bursting from these people made Farrell seem to glimpse shadows of those fanatic believers in the Divine Court's capital.

Local Bishop Avery stood beside High Priest Farrell with an ashen face.

He had just developed his thirtieth believer locally and been promoted to first-level bishop based on performance, but both he and Farrell knew these achievements were all arranged for them by Lord Chen Mo.

On this land, the Lord of Vast Sea was the only deity.

If the lord was unhappy, any god's representative here wouldn't survive until evening, even with divine protection, it would be difficult.

This was the main reason Farrell had personally come here to earnestly advise Chen Mo. He was beginning to like this magical land.

He sincerely hoped to develop this lord into a believer of the gods.

The trouble Chen Mo was facing now was quite a good opportunity.

Farrell even had a feeling that if Chen Mo, this miracle lord, joined the Divine Court, he might create the fastest promotion legend in Divine Court history.

He himself would also be recorded in Divine Court annals because of this!

All these beautiful aspirations vanished when he met Chen Mo again the next day.

Chen Mo seemed to have completely recovered from yesterday's distress, his expression neither sad nor happy, calm and unperturbed.

With territorial officials sitting on one side and Divine Court representatives on the other, under Farrell's expectant gaze, Chen Mo slowly opened the thick stack of papers before him.

"Before resolving the Cloudmist Domain matter," Chen Mo's voice was steady and clear, "I want to clarify several technical issues with the Divine Court first."

"Regarding the use of forbidden curse-level attack spells and items that damage continental laws and incur divine punishment, I completely trust High Priest Farrell's advice. However, I think we need to discuss the specific standards involved."

"Does this damage to continental laws mainly refer to the slaughter of life, or environmental destruction?"

Farrell took a deep breath. This stubborn fellow still needed patient persuasion.

"The nature of the Starry Continent does not fear destruction. Gods can always reverse mountains and rivers and reshape the earth."

"However, the death of life is irreversible. Even gods cannot resurrect the dead in their original form."

"Therefore, using forbidden curse-level spells to destroy life is the greatest malice toward the world and will face merciless punishment from the gods!"

This was still the Divine Court's orthodox explanation. Chen Mo nodded and immediately followed with a second question, "Then what about large-scale wars where thousands or tens of thousands die? Including beastmen in the northern White Deer Plains who have repeatedly slaughtered humans, isn't this also trampling on life? They might even kill more people than a single forbidden curse. Why don't they face divine punishment?"

Farrell took a deep breath.

This question involved quite complex issues, touching on "unwritten rules" the Divine Court preferred not to discuss deeply.

Farrell had to use an analogical approach to attempt a vague explanation.

"Lord Chen Mo, let me put it this way. If we consider the Starry Continent as a living being, its body would have two parts: the dead, armor, and the living, flesh and blood!"

"Mountains and earth are like the world's spiritual energy armor. Damaging them isn't a big problem because they can be repaired."

"Minor injuries to the flesh, a cut here, a bump there, also don't matter. The body will heal itself, and these injured parts are sometimes absorbed and transformed into new nourishment."

"But if a large chunk of flesh is suddenly gouged out, or a limb is severed, this is unacceptable to the body. Such damage cannot recover, or the cost of recovery is enormous!"

Chen Mo pondered for a moment. You could say there was an explanation, but you could also say it wasn't clear at all.

These interpretations from the "gods' perspective" were obviously concealing many things. He decided to send this information back to Blue Star to see if they could make reasonable interpretations from a more pragmatic angle.

No point wasting time, there was still much to discuss.

"High Priest Farrell, I'd like to ask a more quantified question. Does this mechanism of large-scale forbidden curses destroying life and triggering divine punishment have a specific numerical limit? For example, killing ten thousand people, or twenty thousand?"

Chen Mo leaned forward slightly, "Suppose divine punishment activates when at least ten thousand people are killed at once. Then would killing nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine people not trigger it?"

Farrell's expression became somewhat stiff.

"Rustle", Chen Mo turned a page, looked at Farrell, and continued asking, "Let's use ten thousand people as the standard. Among these ten thousand life forms, are we calculating pure humans only, or including beastmen and elves?"

"Are different races calculated together or separately?"

"Are half-beasts and fish-people included in the statistics? What about undead creatures?"

"What about livestock? For example, camels, do these numbers count? Going smaller, do swift owls count? Do mosquitoes count? If calculated this way, casually setting a fire in the mountains would probably count as mass slaughter."

Seeing Farrell's vacant stare, Chen Mo simply continued asking without waiting for answers.

"Are unborn children in pregnant women's bellies counted separately?"

"If counted, is it from the moment of conception, or when the fetus grows to a certain stage?"

"What if the fetus has congenital defects and is destined to die young, shouldn't that not count? Can gods accurately distinguish and judge this?"

The Divine Court scribe taking notes began trembling uncontrollably, his quill dripping ink onto expensive parchment, spreading alarming stains.

He occasionally looked up helplessly, casting pleading glances at Farrell and Avery. The two high-ranking priests could only maintain stern faces, pretending not to see.

"Rustle!"

Chen Mo turned another page.

"Oh yes! There's also the question of time."

Farrell covered his forehead in pain.

"Let's still assume the standard is destroying ten thousand lives. Is there a relatively precise measure for this time span?"

"A forbidden curse instantly killing ten thousand lives counts as triggering. But what about taking an hour to complete the destruction of ten thousand lives?"

"What about two hours? A day? There should be some standard. The calculation time can't be infinitely extended, right?"

"Let me give a specific example. Suppose a mage casts a plague spell affecting ten thousand people, but many don't die until years or decades later. How is this calculated?"

"If it's all attributed to the mage who cast the forbidden curse, does divine punishment come immediately after casting, or after all victims are dead and all damage is tallied?"

"If divine punishment comes when the spell is cast, but these people are later saved and don't die, then what?"

"What if, hypothetically, someone afflicted by the spell should die in ten days, but the next day another person kills the victim early? How is this calculated?"

"Rustle", another page turn, making Farrell's heart tremble.

"You just said casting forbidden curses on mountains and earth doesn't incur divine punishment. But what if the forbidden curse causes river dikes to burst, and lives are lost to flooding, do these count toward the caster?"

"Deaths not immediately caused by natural disaster but by plague resulting from flooding, are these calculated?"

"Or deaths in the second or third year from starvation due to flood-destroyed farmland, are such lives included in statistics?"

"..."

"Rustle",

"If a forbidden curse was originally aimed at a confirmed uninhabited blank area, but during or after casting, a group of reckless people actively entered the destruction zone and died as a result, how is responsibility calculated?"

"Though this area had life present, if we issued clear warnings beforehand and gave them sufficient evacuation time, but some stubbornly refused to leave, can this serve as grounds for exempting divine punishment?"

"..."

"Rustle",

"What if it's not a self-cast forbidden curse spell, but a pre-made forbidden curse-level item? Does divine punishment target the item's creator, distributor, or user?"

"If I'm the item's owner and someone steals it from me, causing life destruction, how would gods handle this? Who bears primary responsibility? Is there joint liability?"

"..."

"Rustle," "rustle," "rustle"...

High Priest Farrell pressed his head firmly against the table surface, sweat streaming down his forehead like a river, soaking the gold-threaded embroidered collar of his divine robes.

He had realized that trying to explain the "reasoning" behind divine punishment to this logically monstrous lord was digging an bottomless pit for himself, even for the entire Divine Court!

It might even create unspeakable troubles for the gods.

Would this require gods to produce an "Implementation Guidelines for Divine Punishment Usage" or "Sentencing Standards"?

A full two hours.

Vast Sea officials kept their eyes on their noses, noses on their hearts, silent as cicadas in winter.

Divine Court representatives all looked ashen, sitting on pins and needles.

Only this lord would sip tea, ask a few questions, sip more tea, ask more questions.

Oh, and he went to the bathroom twice in between.

Not drinking made his mouth dry, drinking too much made his belly swell.

"Regarding divine punishment, these are all the questions I can think of for now. If I have more doubts later, I'll supplement them anytime!"

"My personal opinion is that the Divine Court should provide quantified, timed, and qualified responses to this. Divine punishment represents the gods' majesty and justice, it shouldn't be so vague! Isn't this damaging the sacred image of the gods? Right?"

"This will trouble High Priest Farrell. I believe that until we reach consensus on this issue, it would be very inappropriate for the Divine Court to intervene in Cloudmist Domain's affairs!"

Finally, Chen Mo turned the last page and pushed the paper roll aside.

Farrell breathed a slight sigh of relief. He struggled to lift his head slightly, wiped the sweat blocking his eyes with his sleeve, and was about to say something following this opening...

Then he saw Chen Mo pick up another paper roll.

The high priest's heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

"Next, we need to discuss another issue."

"Regarding war rights in Cloudmist Domain."

"Until now, I still believe Greenspine Kingdom's war against Cloudmist Domain is an outright war of aggression. It's just that currently, no one on the Starry Continent upholds justice."

"Since Greenspine initiated war and Mistmoon Divine Court didn't intervene, why does Mistmoon Divine Court intervene when Cloudmist Domain's Lady Frost fights back?"

Farrell finally caught his breath and quickly unstuck his lips that had been pressed together, responding, "Lord Chen Mo, please don't misunderstand. The Divine Court has no intention of interfering with Lady Frost's personal war actions."

"The core issue is that she's using the unicorn entrusted to her by Mistmoon Divine Court. This is Mistmoon's symbol and sacred vessel. Using it as a war weapon is inappropriate and shouldn't be allowed!"

"If the Divine Court takes action, it's merely arranging for beast tamers to reclaim the unicorn that belongs to Mistmoon, preventing the Divine Court's sacred beast from being involved in secular wars..."

Unicorns, being transcendent-level creatures, were somewhat overpowered in this kind of territorial warfare, equivalent to towns fighting each other with one side deploying intercontinental missiles.

And for such overpowered creatures, even if the Divine Court gave them away, they had their own control methods.

The little girl could command the unicorn through the Divine Court's pendant, but once the Divine Court's beast tamers arrived, such lower-level control methods would be easily nullified by the Divine Court.

Well, you spent a fortune to use powerful weapons, but the Divine Court still held the keys, this operation seemed somewhat familiar.

Chen Mo snorted and interrupted rudely, "Since Mistmoon's war weapons are 'unsuitable' for intervening in other nations' disputes, what about dwarf merchant guilds investing in Greenspine Kingdom early, providing war funding, supplies, and possibly 'technical advisors' and 'spy intelligence', doesn't this count as war intervention?"

"Why haven't I seen Mistmoon Divine Court 'drag' those dwarves back for punishment? Hmm?"

Farrell smiled bitterly, "The Divine Court can't control dwarf affairs!"

"Tsk tsk, can't control dwarves, so you can only control the dwarves' enemies, right?"

"I've always suspected your Divine Court has some leverage held by dwarves, which is why you let these fellows run wild like this!"

"I'm also making one thing very clear to you!"

Chen Mo slowly stood up, looking directly at Farrell.

"I have no interest in Cloudmist Domain's territory. Dwarves can have whatever mines, gambling houses, or money changers they want."

"Dwarves sponsored Greenspine's attack on Cloudmist Domain, Cloudmist Domain lost, even the earl died in battle, these are all acts of war, and I have nothing to say about them."

"However, dwarves have what they want, and I have what I want!"

"Lady Frost's safety is my only bottom line."

"If something happens to her in Greenspine's hands, I'll find Greenspine. If something happens to her because of your Divine Court's interference, then I'll come after your Divine Court too!"

Farrell wasn't surprised by this stance. He forced a smile and spoke gently, "Then you should persuade Lady Frost. Whether she retreats to the Emerald Duchy, comes to our Divine Court, or we arrange for escorts to bring her to your Vast Sea Territory, all are possible. These are the safest options for her."

"Why let a weak woman struggle desperately in a hopeless situation?"

Chen Mo yielded no ground, "Then why don't you persuade Greenspine to get lost and go home? Why don't you persuade the dwarves to mind their own business? Why must I be the one to persuade Frost?"

Farrell was forced to pause by these rapid questions, his smile finally faltering, his voice taking on a harder edge, "Reality is what it is! Greenspine Kingdom is stronger than Cloudmist Domain! Dwarf merchant guilds are stronger than your Vast Sea Territory! Isn't it natural law for the weak to make appropriate compromises to the strong?!"

"Exactly!" Chen Mo clapped his hands, "Why didn't you just say this from the start? Going around in such big circles, talking about rules, protection, inappropriateness, shouldn't do this or that, you should have just said you have bigger fists!"

"But don't take me for a fool either."

"Vast Sea has its own intelligence sources."

"Cloudmist Domain is such a small place with just over a hundred thousand people. The dwarves trying to extract profits there are just a few 'lower-class scum' who can't make it to the main stage! I've found out all their names."

"Can they represent the entire dwarf race? Ridiculous!"

"Similarly, I don't believe your claim about recalling Frost's unicorn is a decision from the Divine Court's highest levels."

"At most, this is just a decision made by a few Divine Court internal parasites who are in cahoots with that small group of dwarf flies, falsely using the Divine Court's name! They cannot represent the righteous Divine Court's decisions, can they?"

"So yes, you're right that dwarves are stronger than me, and the Divine Court is stronger than me!"

"But specifically in this situation, whether this small group of dwarves and a few priests are stronger than me is really uncertain!"

"How about we test it?"

Without waiting for an answer, Chen Mo waved his hand with decisive finality.

"Day after tomorrow at dawn, in the northwest desert, I cordially invite the respected High Priest Farrell, Bishop Avery, and all Divine Court guests to enjoy a 'fireworks' display carefully prepared by Vast Sea Territory."

"Perhaps after watching, you'll change your minds."

"Instead of me persuading Frost, maybe you'll go back and persuade the relevant parties!"

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