Pastor's Tantra

——And a short while before that.

Aiwass, who was sleeping in the Eternal Church, opened his eyes slightly unconsciously for a moment, and then closed them again.

Aiwass, caught between reality and dream, suddenly stopped flying freely.

He frowned slightly and looked to the south, with a hint of worry in his eyes as bright as the sun.

"What happened?"

——Just now, Aleister had completely lost contact with him.

From the moment Aleister landed on the land of Star Antimony, Aiwass vaguely felt that something was wrong.

Originally, when Aleister was on the ship, Aiwass and Aleister could communicate in real time anytime and anywhere... But when Aleister entered the city of Leipzig, their communication gradually became blurred.

To describe it, it's like the difference between two people chatting with voice and typing in a window.

The former can easily detect what the other person is doing, can talk anytime and anywhere, and can also hear the other person's state and feelings from the words.

The feedback from the latter is delayed... Not only can words not fully express the information, but it is even necessary to wait for the other party to receive the message.

Like a priest listening to confession, Aiwass sensed Aleister's fragility and melancholy, and perceived the other party's sentimentality and emotional excitement.

In fact, their connection has indeed weakened. And as time goes by, it is further weakening.

Until just now, they were completely disconnected.

"It's so sad..."

Aiwass closed his eyes slightly and raised his head. His free-flying spirit was suspended in the air, opening his arms to embrace the sky: "It turns out that I have always been a mortal. I am not never sad, just as I am not omnipotent."

In his half-open eyes, there was a compassionate and glorious divinity.

In contrast to Aleister's increasingly intense and out-of-control emotions.

Aiwass clearly felt that his emotions were gradually fading.

Or rather--

He began to gradually understand the amber and tree-like spirits.

"How could you have such a dangerous idea?"

The voice of the Lord of Scales and Feathers rang out from Aiwas' heart.

Then, the voice rang out from Aiwas' side - a faceless man in black appeared near the sky where Aiwas was flying. He was riding on a chair, with his hands folded on the back of the chair and his head resting on his arms.

The incarnation of the Lord of Scales and Feathers said lazily: "Omnipotence... that kind of thing is not something you can touch."

"Well, I know."

Aiwas's voice was plain, peaceful and a little divine: "Human perception and self come from human incompleteness, from fear and incompleteness.

"It is because we will be hurt and die that we feel pain, which is a warning. People have touch, vision, hearing, smell, taste... This is all based on survival. Based on our incompleteness of "not omnipotence", the perception tentacles extend.

"If people become omnipotent one day, then these perceptions will no longer exist. How fragile and insignificant are the civilizations, cultures, countries, and emotions born from perceptions?"

"——That is why there is no [perfection] or [omnipotence] in this world."

The Lord of Scales and Feathers said casually: "All the extraordinary powers in this world are incomplete. No power is absolute, objective, and the only correct path, and there is absolutely no ability that does not require any cost or has any shortcomings.

"Through a piece of glass window, we can see nothing - what we see is the essence of the world. But if this piece of glass is broken by external forces, we can also get beautiful broken glass. Just like breaking perfection, we also get many imperfections... Your human civilization is also due to this... and it is also brilliant because of this. "

"Maybe so. "

Ewass replied calmly.

He did not look at the Lord of Scales and Feathers, but stood in the sky overlooking the earth.

For Ewass now, he can move forward as he pleases. He no longer needs to eat or drink, nor does he need to sleep or work - he does not need to do anything, and nothing can restrain him. Living in the gap between the material world and the dream world, nothing can affect him either.

Relying on the power of the Holy Crown, Ewass can change everything as he pleases. He merged with the corpse of the entire giant tree, and the entire theocracy became his extended body. Anyone living on the giant tree became his people, his Children.

Like the sun, quietly burning itself, equally giving light to the earth.

That feeling... is like playing "Stellaris", after setting everything up, entering the "sea-viewing mode". Quietly overlooking the galaxy, watching the color blocks being dyed.

Calm, curious, bored.

While feeling inexplicably relieved, time is passing meaninglessly. Just like sitting by the sea, watching the ebb and flow of the tide, watching the sun and the moon rotate.

Aiwass felt that his mood was extremely peaceful, without any distractions.

His pupils were clean and transparent, his brain was clear and ethereal, and his heart was calm.

"Do you gods usually feel this way?"

Aiwass suddenly asked.

"What feeling?"

The Lord of Scale Feathers raised his head: "Do you want to act at will? It's not impossible, but it's meaningless. The so-called 'Pillar God' is the pillar of the world that stands upright... We are indeed the pioneers on the road, but at the same time He is also a prisoner bound by Tao.

"Compared with the Pillar Gods, the Tiansi are much freer. The Tiansi have power that is not much weaker than the Pillar Gods, but they don't have to be bound by the Tao. They don't have to worry about too many consequences of their actions, and they don't have to worry about violating the Tao. The rules of the road..."

"——I mean, this feeling of ethereal and peaceful soul."

Aiwass's eyes were empty and emotionless: "I feel a little bit wrong, boss."

"Ah, don't take it too seriously, this is a good thing."

Although the Lord of Scales and Feathers has no face, his expression seems to have become serious: "It's best not to think too deeply. Just go and enjoy your hard-earned vacation. This is a super gift from your boss. Long paid annual leave..."

"I feel bad, boss."

Aiwass said calmly.

He looked down upon the earth, his eyes as compassionate as those of a god.

But at this moment, in the material world - above the twenty-second ring, in the "real sky" that no one can see, a huge eye opened silently.

——That's exactly Aiwass's left eye.

Its appearance seemed to make the sky darker—like it sucked away the light, or blocked the sun.

"Is this really normal?"

Aiwass said softly, his voice ringing like overlapping thunder and brilliant like the echo in the church: "I feel that my happiness is decreasing every day... Do all popes have to go through this?

"I can clearly feel that the power of dedication deep in my soul is constantly rising. Logically speaking, this should be a kind of enjoyment...or at least a trial. But on the contrary, I feel that I am very interested in the children. His love has become thinner, and his willingness to contact Aleister has also become weaker and weaker...

"I feel like everything in the material world is gradually fading away. I seem to be... forgetting. No, not forgetting, but abandoning...

"I hear what you mean, and maybe I understand the secret behind this. But I don't want to be a nihilistic and lofty god. I just want to be an ordinary person, boss."

Aiwass made a rare sound.

He raised his head slightly, and the huge eye in the material world disappeared.

"This is a trial, like a moth emerging from a cocoon - if I say this, will you still be determined to know the answer?"

"I'm worried about Aleister."

Aiwass replied softly: "If this trial only affects me... I think I might be able to bear it. But I can't use another person..."

"--Someone else?"

The Lord of Scale Feather interrupted Aiwass: "Shouldn't she be a jerk too?"

Aiwass was slightly startled.

……strangeness.

When did he start seeing Aleister as someone else?

When Aiwass's thinking fell into chaos, the voice of the Lord of Scale Feathers became more serious: "You should have enough faith in the cutting skills of sand timepieces, Aiwass."

"Naturally. That is the great art that created the Great Philosopher and the Supreme Heaven." Aiwass replied.

"In this world, the art of cutting is indeed a great art... After all, after rising high enough, the mixed self is not enough to master more power of the path. If you want to go further, you must obtain a purer self. Hengwo's Egg Moon Secret Technique, Huan Tiansi's tail-cutting method, Sand Timepiece's Gap between Two Instruments... are all like this.

"And the 'Gap of Two Instruments' will, in principle, completely and evenly divide all your power into two parts."

"I already know this."

Aiwass's voice was ethereal and sacred: "What I want to know is why this ritual will gradually make Aleister and I become abnormal, and why I will not be able to sense Aleister."

"Sand Time has asked you for details before - He hinted at you twice, but you still want to cut out the body of the Moon Child given to you by the Twin Mirror. This is undoubtedly the test given to you by fate. ”

"Trial..."

"It's a trial. You have chosen the most difficult division - but if you can return in the end, this will also be the foundation of your path to Tiansi and even the Pillar God."

The Lord of Scales and Feathers said softly: "Don't forget, the 'Moon Child' body embodied by Aleister has the characteristics and power of a real Moon Child. If we say that her path to transcendence is equivalent to Your path of devotion…

"Then what does her Moon Child's power correspond to yours? If the power on both sides is not equal, then it is not a perfect 'Liang Yi'."

...The power of the Moon Child?

Isn’t that the blessing of twin mirrors? The mirror image of reality and illusion also happens to be a kind of balance...

Aiwass just had this idea in his mind. He was suddenly startled, and suddenly recalled something in his mind——

[——My holy number is 11, that is the number of people who belong to us]

That was what the "holy entity" summoned by Jacob in the past said in his hallucination.

The holy number is eleven.

The so-called holy number is actually the number of the source river.

The source rivers are so powerful that even their numbers themselves are quite mysterious.

However, there are only nine source rivers in total. Logically speaking, there is no "holy eleven".

Aiwass had realized before... that the so-called "Holy Eleven" refers to the sum of two holy numbers. Using the power of two existing source rivers to create a new source river is also an "impossible power."

Devotion is three and transcendence is eight - the shepherding method is exactly the skill that can only be mastered by learning dedication and transcendence at the same time!

And if dedication and transcendence are established as an equal mirror image in the "gap between two rituals"...

The holy number of the path of love is one.

In other words, the symmetrical force that makes Aiwass's feelings gradually become weaker should come from...

"The holy number is...ten?"

Aiwass murmured: "The tenth path?"

……yes!

If Huantiansi wants to transcend the established principles of the entire world and become a new pillar god besides the nine pillar gods... then the holy number should be ten. Why is it eleven?

Unless...the tenth source river already exists.

Huan Tiansi knew about the tenth source river, so he directly planned to create the eleventh source river.

Once he realized this, Aiwass' gradually stiff thinking became active again——

When he gradually sensed a sense of crisis, it was as if he was about to wake up from a dream, and his thinking gradually became clear:

The original god of this world is the Stag of the Candlestick.

"... Si Zhu lit the holy fire, burned away the thorns of sin, and distributed the power of the source river to all living beings... Only then did this world have extraordinary power, and the path and mystery."

Aiwass's pupils trembled slightly, and he suddenly woke up from the meaningless death, and his expression came to life in an instant.

Just as his consciousness gradually returned to reality from a dream, even his speaking speed and tone gradually returned to normal: "So, in the very beginning...where did Si Zhu get the extraordinary power to burn the sin thorns?"

When Aiwass gradually woke up from that confused dream, he once again regained the vague connection with Aleister.

——At this moment, Aleister briefly regained consciousness, and the noise in his head and the uncontrollable instinct disappeared.

"That is the tenth source river that does not exist and should not exist, but has already existed. It is like a dry well, connecting other worlds.

"Where Si Zhu came from, I also came from there. Your predecessor...also came from there.

"It's just that now the Twilight Wall has completely blocked the road to the Tenth Source River. The 'world outside the Twilight Wall' that Snake Father is curious about is the other side of the Tenth Source River - what is there."

Seeing that Aiwass's pupils gradually became clearer, the Lord of Scales and Feathers gradually relaxed: "But... although the tenth path is now broken, since you have walked that path, it still remains in your body. Because of this, Aleister gained the power of the corresponding path of love.

"That's the blessing from the twin mirror... That guy is like an obsessive-compulsive disorder patient. He has given you a power that is symmetrical to it, but neither you nor she can exert it. But even so, Tao The contamination of the path itself is enough to corrode her thinking... But just as your dedication can defeat the will of nothingness, Aleister must also be able to surpass the instinct of the Moon Child.

"What you have to do is to stabilize your mind. Walk firmly on the road of dedication...Don't deviate due to temptation. Although I told you this, it will have an impact on tempering your heart...But in this way Your dedication can get rid of those remnants, and as long as you don't tell Aleister this secret, there won't be any difference in the final result.

"Because your problem has never been in the path of devotion - but in your defective path of transcendence. Huantiansi only gave you part of the transcendent heart, but gave you all of the devotion. That is Said, you want to re-cultivate a transcendent nature comparable to that of a saint... Now is the best opportunity.

"——That's why I said this is a trial."

"...I have one last question."

Aiwass realized something: "What level is Aleister's road impulse... at?"

"Of course it's...the sixth energy level."

The Lord of Scale Feathers replied ruthlessly: "After all, the material world can only allow the existence of the sixth energy level at most."