Chapter 223 - 179: Nuwa in the Ancient Mythology of the Dream World

Li Kang gave Chu Bamboo a profound look and said, "Legend has it that the giant birds of steel are the Divine Envoys of the Great Goddess Nuwa."

"The Great Goddess Nuwa, who currently resides in the Grand Ancestral Temple, once commanded a divine clan of steel back in the Mythical Era. She quelled calamities and waged war against the Fierce Beasts and all manner of demons. By exterminating the beasts of the untamed wilderness, she carved out a homeland for our ancient ancestors to survive—"

"Yes, this primordial land is none other than the Imperial Capital... It is the land upon which Nuwa gazed, and it is the very origin of our Daqian Human Race."

Li Kang’s eyes held a profound depth, and his words were laced with an inexplicable emotion.

"...Wait a minute!" Chu Bamboo’s brows furrowed. He pushed himself up, his expression more severe than ever. "Ancient legends... what ancient legends?"

’When I first heard him, I thought the source of this myth was the previous civilization—’

’For all I knew, this whole legend could have just been some mythological variation that spun out of my good buddy’s meddling, pitting C Company and Celestial Net Company in a deathmatch... As for why it says Nuwa was in command and not Z... perhaps too much time has passed, and the information revealed in excavated ruins, like murals, was incomplete...’

’Even setting that aside, it’s common knowledge that myths about Divine Beings merge and get grafted onto each other! The myths from different countries in the Real World... isn’t it just a case of you copying me and me copying you?!’

’But the more I listened, the more I felt something was off... Carving out a homeland for the ancient ancestors! The Imperial Capital, the origin of the Daqian Human Race. And Nuwa commanding a clan of steel to hunt Fierce Beasts...’

’This was clearly the point in time when the previous civilization fell and the Dream World civilization was just beginning to sprout.’

’And Nuwa’s clan of steel—’

’If I’m not mistaken, they must be the remnants from the Real World: robotic dogs, drones, and other unmanned machines!’

’The question is, were the Fierce Beasts they hunted just ordinary wild animals... or were they contaminated monsters?’

’I’m leaning toward monsters. Because Li Kang said something very interesting... *waged war*! That’s enough to prove that the other side had the power to resist the steel torrent... They might have even traded blows, and Nuwa might have suffered major losses in the early stages!’

’Ordinary wild animals... they wouldn’t have that kind of backbone!’

"You don’t know?" Li Kang gave Chu Bamboo a strange look. "It’s the Celestial Court from Taoist legends."

"I know some of the myths," Chu Bamboo said, his face expressionless. "The problem is, I don’t know the myths of the Extraordinary World!"

"They’re more or less the same, right?" Li Kang sounded a little uncertain. He closed his eyes and thought for a long while before saying carefully, "In Taoist mythology, isn’t the Great Goddess Nuwa... our creator? And the ancient Celestial Court was the dwelling place of the gods! In the myths, the Great Goddess Nuwa is one of the Ancient Emperors of the Celestial Court. She’s known as Wa Huang!"

After a brief pause, Li Kang’s voice took on a tone of profound emotion. "If the Great Goddess Nuwa wasn’t suspected of being the Human Ancestor, the mother of humanity! How could She possibly reside in the Grand Ancestral Temple for so long?"

Chu Bamboo: "..."

’I had learned a bit about mythology in the past, but my understanding was shallow.’

’For one, the Real World already had myths about the Celestial Court. Back then, I still just saw this place as a dream, so I only skimmed over its mythology.’

’After all, I was a high school dropout in the Dream World and hadn’t learned much of its formal knowledge... Most of what I knew came from the Real World.’

’In the Dream World, I had simply trained a ton of absurd Skills...’

’Of course, the main reason was that I looked down on the knowledge of the Dream World... The breadth of knowledge from a high school in the Real World was already greater than that of a university in this world!’

’No, if you exclude all those formulaic, dogmatic essays in the humanities... in terms of pure knowledge like physics, chemistry, and mathematics, this world’s universities would have a hard time even competing with a middle school from the Real World!’

’Of course, the requirements for literary skill in those university essays were far higher than in the Real World...’

’Typical for a feudal era!’

On the other hand, the Dream World’s mythological system was incredibly chaotic and convoluted. At least, the school textbooks Chu Bamboo had read back then were a complete mess, leaving him utterly bewildered.

"Huh? The Great Goddess Nuwa is the creator of the Human Race?" Wall Announcements looked completely dumbfounded. "Didn’t they say that the God of the God Worship Sect is the true creator of the Human Race?"

’Yes, a perfect example...’

Chu Bamboo’s eyebrow twitched. He watched in silence as Li Kang’s expression froze. Then, Li Kang’s eyes narrowed, and he glared daggers at Wall Announcements, making him break out in a cold sweat. Wall Announcements clasped his hands behind his back, an embarrassed smile on his face.

’But then again...’

’Wa Huang, Celestial Court... clan of steel... mythology...’

’At that moment, a very serious question surfaced in Chu Bamboo’s mind. Could it be... that during the Ancient Era, a group of people actually survived that hopeless apocalypse, arrived at the dawn of civilization in the Dream World, and then created the first human civilization?’

’These survivors from the ancient past established the Celestial Court! They carved out a homeland for the Human Race...’

’It sounds quite plausible!’

’But if all of this is true...’

"In the end, what happened to the Celestial Court?" Chu Bamboo murmured. ’Even if it was true, I’m fairly certain that group of ancestors is basically all dead!’

’Otherwise, this world definitely wouldn’t be the way it is now.’

’To put it simply, if that group of people had survived to this day, maybe even holding high positions in Daqian... at the very least, Daqian’s written language would have to be the Chinese from the Real World, right?’

’I don’t think those ancestors would have been so bored that they’d just up and create a whole new written and spoken language—thinking about it that way, they probably died off quite early! They might have even died before the early humans of this world had formed the most basic civilization.’

’Of course, it’s also possible the early humans had already formed a basic civilization with its own writing and language, so there was no way to teach or spread Chinese...’

’But regardless of the possibility, I can be almost certain that they died suddenly before they had time to spread the knowledge they brought with them from the Real World...’

’And as for that...’

"No idea!" Li Kang said with an air of absolute certainty.

Chu Bamboo: "?"

"It probably fell apart! Who knows? Anyway, there’s no organization called the Celestial Court now! And I’ve never heard of any gods from the Celestial Court descending... or rather, the only one I’ve ever heard of is the Great Goddess Nuwa, I guess?" Li Kang shrugged.

Then, he sighed. "Actually, if it weren’t for the fact that the Great Goddess Nuwa actually exists, I wouldn’t believe any of it was real... The Celestial Court! After all, the textbooks nowadays repeatedly state... that it’s ultimately just a myth! Only a myth."

"The problem is, doesn’t the God Worship Sect believe in God? From that angle, shouldn’t they count as a remnant of the Celestial Court... I’m sorry, I was wrong!" Wall Announcements, halfway through his contrarian point, felt a cold, sharp gaze, reacted instantly, and immediately backpedaled.

Li Kang took several deep breaths, patted his cheeks, and forcibly suppressed the urge to lecture Wall Announcements. He guessed, "Of course, it could also be because it involves some kind of contamination issue..."

"After all, even information about the Extraordinary can’t be leaked to the public, let alone about Divine Beings! If other Divine Beings besides Nuwa really exist... information about them! Tsk." Li Kang paused, then gave Chu Bamboo a strange look. "Why so serious! And why are you suddenly asking so many questions?"

"It’s nothing." Chu Bamboo was silent for a very long time, then suddenly smiled. "I’ve just taken a sudden interest in the mythology of the Daqian Dynasty, and its earliest history! Besides, what you said was too vague! I was thinking I should find some books to read later..."

"But right now, I’m not sure which books to read... The myths of, ahem, *our* world, seem like anyone can make them up, and there’s no clear organization to them... It’s all just too complex and chaotic."

"I see! That’s true, the myths of each Church are all slightly different..." Li Kang pondered for a moment. "Hmm, then let me recommend a few books... The Captain’s Office has a list of recommended mythology readings... I think those should be a bit more reliable than you trying to find a needle in a haystack by reading the myths published by every Church."

"Alright." Chu Bamboo nodded thoughtfully. ’The fact that the Captain’s Office has specific recommendations... that seems to carry a hidden meaning.’