Chapter 2: The Aid of the Forest Goddess

Using the methods taught by Raymond to continuously strengthen his ethereal form with soul essence, Li Mingxing began searching the person who had suddenly attacked him for any clues he might need.

After searching for a long time, Li Mingxing only found 300 soul coins, two small gemstones, and the silver rapier the man had been holding.

Li Mingxing attempted to use the blade but found that even with his mastery of the sixth-level swordsmanship essence, he could not wield this silver sword effectively. It felt as if the sword’s temperament was at odds with his own; no matter how he tried, he could not wield it as naturally as he had his previous longsword.

After dragging the corpse aside with Zheng, Li Mingxing began to speculate about the nature of this "Inner World." The man they had encountered earlier had not attacked them immediately; he had only struck after asking if they were of Eastern origin.

From this, it was evident that the Inner World contained two major factions: Eastern and Western. Given Li Mingxing’s current appearance and identity, they could likely make contact with Eastern-aligned forces, but establishing a connection with Western factions seemed entirely impossible.

"Does this mean I have to provoke a war?" Li Mingxing muttered to himself.

Zheng and Aisha acted as if they hadn't heard him. In their view, given their current circumstances, the three of them could barely guarantee their own safety in this Inner World, let alone incite a war. They believed the factions within the Inner World were working hard to maintain a balance; surely, even those powerful entities would not dare attempt such a thing. Thus, they dismissed his words as a joke. After gathering their things, they continued eastward with Li Mingxing.

After traveling for about half a day, Li Mingxing suddenly sensed that something was amiss. The surrounding landscape appeared to be taking on a Westernized aesthetic.

Looking at the vast forests and the lakes bordering them, Li Mingxing frowned. "I have read Eastern and Western myths. Even if the East is close to nature, it would not live in such a primordial environment. This atmosphere feels much more like the habitats of elves or fairy-tale creatures from Western mythology."

Upon hearing this, Zheng and Aisha felt the same. Aisha, in particular, was Western by birth, and her ethereal form was that of a druid, making her highly sensitive to such things. As soon as Li Mingxing spoke, she understood.

"My lord, it seems you are right. What should we do? Should we head west?"

"No, wandering around aimlessly will only waste our time. Aisha, find a way to ask someone nearby for information," Li Mingxing decided after a moment of thought.

"Ask someone nearby?" Before Aisha could answer, Zheng scanned their surroundings. It was quiet enough, but who knew what dangers lurked in the nearby forest?

"Don't worry," Li Mingxing reassured her. "Apart from elves who aren't very fond of outsiders, most gods are relatively neutral. As long as you don't provoke them, they usually won't strike first. Besides, Aisha is a druid; she can move through the forest freely."

With those words, Zheng felt at ease, and Aisha entered the nearby forest.

Once Aisha had departed, Li Mingxing pulled Zheng down to sit on a nearby patch of grass and asked casually, "What do you think of this situation?"

"This is my first time entering the Inner World; I really don't know much about the situation you're describing," Zheng said, leaning her head on Li Mingxing's shoulder. "But I hope everything goes smoothly for you."

"I hope so too," Li Mingxing sighed. "I just don't know if the goddess of luck will remain by my side."

Perhaps Li Mingxing’s luck was truly that good, for Aisha soon returned with good news: they were currently on the territory of a forest goddess.

Li Mingxing did not know much about foreign mythology and was unfamiliar with this goddess, who was named Yiruolan. However, Aisha’s identity as a druid had earned her the goddess's recognition. Although Yiruolan did not want to let Li Mingxing and Zheng into her domain, she allowed Aisha to bring them food and guaranteed they would not be attacked while staying outside the forest.

Yiruolan also provided useful information: the Inner World was extremely complex. There were over three hundred entities with strength at the seventh-level lower tier, nearly one hundred at the seventh-level upper tier—approaching divine status—and twelve true deities. Because Yiruolan refused to explain the hierarchy of the gods, Li Mingxing did not know which of the twelve was stronger or weaker.

To Li Mingxing’s disappointment, even those at the seventh-level upper tier were not guaranteed an audience with these twelve deities; Aisha’s meeting with Yiruolan was considered quite fortunate. As for Li Mingxing’s plan to incite conflict among the twelve gods, it was impossible. These beings had lived in the Inner World for countless years; they understood the balance of power and would not—could not—take action lightly.

After hearing this, Li Mingxing was not overly discouraged. He pulled Aisha aside and asked, "Aisha, which path does this forest goddess follow?"

"I don't know. When I met her, I only felt as if I were in her embrace; the entire forest was her," Aisha recalled.

"We really don't know enough about the gods," Li Mingxing sighed. This was unavoidable; even his mentor, Raymond, was only a Lord-level hero and had not met many gods, so he could not have told Li Mingxing much about them.

Li Mingxing was still unsure whether forest-type goddesses were considered regional deities or higher-tier gods. Deciding not to dwell on what he couldn't grasp, he instructed Aisha to continue building a relationship with the goddess while he considered which deity he should approach next.

With the information provided by the forest goddess, Li Mingxing gained some insight into the Inner World. Of the twelve gods, six were projections of Earth’s religious deities, three had ascended after achieving divinity in other layers of the Inner World, and two had come from other mythological realms. Among these twelve, only the six from Earth’s religions had ever engaged in conflict; the others had not.

However, the Inner World was far from peaceful. While the twelve gods might not be fighting, the sixth and seventh-level beings below them were not so calm. Hostile factions would attack at the slightest provocation, just like the man Li Mingxing had encountered that day. Even though he had reached the seventh-level lower tier, instead of focusing on cultivation, he had attacked Li Mingxing the moment he realized they were Easterners, only to die by their hands.

This proved that the Inner World was not an easy place to navigate. If Li Mingxing only wanted to stay for fifteen days, he could remain outside the forest and ensure his safety. But if he wanted to complete the mission assigned by Raymond—and the Dark Alliance—to contact a deity willing to cooperate, he would have to take a gamble.

There was only one deity who would truly respect such a desperate move: the one the forest goddess called the "Headless War God." Li Mingxing understood that this was clearly a projection of Xingtian, the legendary figure who rebelled against the Heavenly Emperor in Eastern mythology.

It was said that his subordinates were all the strongest warriors. If one had a request, one simply had to bring him the heads of ten people of equal strength or five people of a higher tier, and he would grant an audience.

Furthermore, according to the forest goddess, there was a special method used by the Headless War God’s subordinates: they would decapitate themselves and hide their heads in a secret location to increase their strength by one tier. This method had allowed the Headless War God to gather three hundred sixth-level upper-tier, twenty seventh-level lower-tier, and four seventh-level upper-tier headless warriors.

This same method had made the Headless War God the strongest faction in the Inner World. If not for the fact that he lacked any distinction between light and dark, had no grand ambitions, and only cared for watching warriors battle, he might have already become the master of the Inner World, or have been destroyed by the other ten gods working in tandem.

Because of this, the Headless War God was known to all the other ten deities, and each of them shared some degree of acquaintance with him.

Li Mingxing decided to seek him out. Once he gained his approval, he could use him to contact the other gods and, ultimately, use the name of the Dark Alliance to reach an agreement and complete his mission.

Filled with confidence, Li Mingxing suddenly noticed a problem: twelve hours had passed, yet there was no sign of darkness in the sky of the Inner World. Looking up at the sun, Li Mingxing realized he was in trouble—a problem that would directly affect the success rate of his mission.