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#133 - Chapter 20: An unexpected surprise

The boat moved faster than he had expected, and before dark, he saw the silhouette of Thousand Faces Island. He rowed around half the island, comparing its position to Harrenhal.

The boat ran directly onto the shore. He jumped out, grabbing the rope and pulling the boat further up the beach. Nine years later, Liu Yuan once again set foot on Thousand Faces Island. He stared at the somewhat eerie woods in the setting sun and grinned, "Hehehe, little kitty, you better still be alive."

At the same moment, deep in the woods, the shadow lynx that had been lying on a branch suddenly jumped up as if electrocuted. Its fur stood on end as it scanned its surroundings uneasily. A brown figure leaped over from nearby, making a low sound to try and soothe it, but was met with a fierce snarl, warning him not to approach.

The Forest Child was at a loss. He had never encountered such a situation before. Soon, several more Forest Children jumped down from the trees. "Kechua, what's happening?" they asked, looking at the agitated shadow lynx, their wooden spears subtly pointing in its direction.

The first Forest Child said, "I don't know exactly. Lightning was sleeping when it suddenly seemed frightened. And it's very aggressive; even I can't get close."

The elder Forest Child said, "Animals are very sensitive to danger. Lightning must have sensed something dangerous. Beto, go back immediately and tell everyone to be vigilant. It's best to have the priest send out crows to take a look."

Liu Yuan didn't plan to explore the island at night. He walked to a weirwood tree, reaching out to touch the bone-white bark. The face carved into the weirwood tree was unsettling. He walked halfway around the tree, found a good spot, and quickly drew his blade, slashing horizontally. A faint ripple of Qi energy flashed across the blade, and the tree, which would have taken two people to encircle, was cut in two.

In this life, he was re-cultivating martial arts. Because he had reached that realm once before, he didn't encounter any bottlenecks in his cultivation. When his physical body was restricted, his national arts and internal energy cultivation broke through to the next level. He felt that Qi was gathering in his Tanchong and Qihai acupoints. Both Gang energy and True Qi could be released from his body or attached to his weapons.

Wielding his longsword, he quickly chopped the dry parts of the weirwood tree into a pile of firewood. Usually, there weren't many trees around weirwoods because they deprived the surrounding area of nutrients. Liu Yuan started a fire, took out the skewered meat he had prepared, and roasted it, adding some seasoning with satisfaction. The aroma of the meat filled the air.

As for why he came here? It was to find an opportunity to advance to the fourth tier. Previously, Liu Yuan had been stuck at the peak of the third tier for decades, and had made many attempts, but no matter how he trained or strengthened himself, he couldn't break through to the fourth tier. The average person's attributes were at 10 points, and reaching the extreme value of 20 points was considered the first tier; attribute points from 21 to 50 were the extraordinary stage, called the second tier; and attribute points from 51 to 80 were the third tier, considered human saints, with strength reaching extraordinary heights.

Liu Yuan's trial task to advance to the fourth tier had failed, but the task reward clearly indicated a shard of divinity. So he made a bold guess: could the realm after the extraordinary be becoming a god? Changing one's life essence, from human to god, or becoming a demigod with divine characteristics, the key to this transformation was possessing divinity.

Liu Yuan's initial idea was to obtain divinity from those mythological creatures, but unfortunately, dragons didn't have this characteristic, and were just third-tier creatures like him. Giants were even worse; most giants were at the peak of the second tier.

So he could only set his sights on the legendary gods. Reviewing what he had learned at the Citadel, the Seven Gods worshiped by the Faith were actually seven different aspects of one deity, representing seven different virtues. But people with lower levels of education would think they were seven different gods, and the Seven Gods had never shown any divine miracles.

So Liu Yuan believed that the Seven Gods didn't actually exist, and the same was true for the Drowned God and Storm God of the Iron Islands, the Horse God of the Dothraki, the Great Shepherd of the Lhazareen, and the Many-Faced God of Braavos. They were all personifications of the beliefs of various peoples.

But there were also gods with true magical powers, such as the Old Gods. They were the gods worshiped by the Children of the Forest, and should be nature gods in charge of rocks, earth, and trees. The Green Seers were probably the inheritors of the natural god system, with abilities including controlling nature, probing the past, and predicting the future. Legend has it that, to prevent the First Men from landing on Westeros, several Green Seers cast powerful magic, shattering the Arm of Dorne and forming the chain of islands known as the Stepstones.

Another was R'hllor, the Fire God, also known as the Lord of Light, the Heart of Fire, the God of Shadows and Flame. He was a god from Essos, not well-known in Westeros. People in the Seven Kingdoms usually called him the "Red God." When Liu Yuan was studying in Oldtown, he had entered a temple of R'hllor. In the Free Cities, especially Lys and Pentos, there were temples of the Lord of Light. A few monks who served the Lord of Light possessed some ability to control fire. It was said that high-ranking priests could foresee the future from the flames, and could even bring people back to life from the flames. There were rumors that artifacts blessed by the Lord of Light could allow high priests to maintain their youth.

And there was also the ancient Other God, who only existed in legends. Also known as the Cold God, the God of Darkness, Night, and Fear. His true name was never spoken by the world.

Interestingly, the R'hllor Church on another continent had records of the Cold God. Followers of the Lord of Light believed that there were only two gods in the world: the Lord of Light and the Other God. They waged an eternal war for the fate of the world.

Darkness, cold, and death were considered servants of the Other God, while shadows were considered servants of R'hllor. Red priests believed they were given the ability to fight the servants of the Cold God. The ending of the story was very interesting: the two gods were evenly matched, and in the end, both were severely injured and fell into eternal slumber. But the wills and divine powers of the two gods would be reincarnated, continuing that unfinished divine war.

Combining the above information, Liu Yuan believed that his path to advancement lay in them. The weakest of them was the Green Seer, so he would of course pick the softest persimmon. To find the Green Seer, he had to find the Children of the Forest. Many documents mentioned that the Children of the Forest lived on Thousand Faces Island, and there was also an ancient Green Men organization responsible for guarding it.

Liu Yuan was holding a barbecue buffet here, and what's more, he was burning a weirwood tree as firewood, which quickly attracted the attention of the Children of the Forest. Before long, four or five figures arrived, who were the Wood Dancers among the Children of the Forest.