Book 4: Chapter 15: God’s Chosen? Trash!
“High roller, as long as you are my friend, I’ll bring you around when you come to Lungmen.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“My friend, hello!”
“My friend, hello!”
Chen Heng and Exusiai clasped each other’s hands, showing an epic scene. This represented them establishing a shallow friendship.
Exusiai did it for Chen Heng’s bullets. Chen Heng could tell, but he did not care. After all, he had as many as needed.
Chen Heng did it to have a local tyrant bring him around Lungmen. Exusiai knew as well, but she did not care.
This was truly the embodiment of each taking what they needed.
Texas could also tell. These two were simply casual friends—at the very least, they were at the moment—so she did not want to get involved.
“Exusiai, would you like to practice shooting with me? I’ll front the bullets.”
“I see. He Who Knows Fate, you want to practice shooting? Since you asked so sincerely, I’ll reluctantly agree.”
Texas could tell the two were having fun, so she said nothing. In fact, she felt curious about how long the two could maintain this superficial friendship. Would they become genuine friends after maintaining such a friendship for some time?
Of course, she did not expect that the two’s relationship would change on a whim. Furthermore, it would be a complete change.
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Thirty minutes later, Chen Heng, Exusiai, and Texas sat in the cold drinks section of the canteen.
“Truly thank you, He Who Knows Fate. This is the most delightful training session I’ve ever had. This day is almost perfect. The only thing missing is ahpulu pie.” Exusiai delightedly drank the orange juice in her hands. By the way, Chen Heng had paid for it.
“Ahpulu pie?” The name sounds strange. Is there such a strange pie on Terra?
“It is actually apple pie. Everyone gets confused the first time they hear Exusiai say this,” Texas explained, as she had noticed Chen Heng’s confusion.
Huh? What a strange name for it. If I guessed right, this is just the English transliteration of apple pie, right? Exusiai’s English is simply terrible.
[TL Note: Do remember this novel was originally written in Chinese, so they are currently speaking/thinking in Chinese. Ahpulu is the English transliteration of the Chinese transliteration of apple.]
“He Who Knows Fate, let me tell you. Apple pie is truly delicious!”
“Ah! Apple pie! I recall making that before.” Chen Heng’s thoughts wandered as he looked at the fruit juice he held.
That was something from two years ago. Back then, Chen Heng was famished and wanted to order food delivered. However, a typhoon shut down the entire city, so no food delivery was available. He could only search his home for something to eat.
In the end, he only found two apples and raw bread dough.
Eventually, his hunger forced him to search for a recipe for apple pie. When he made it, the result was indescribable. The taste…
“Really? If you like apple pie, we are siblings from different parents!” Exusiai felt happy that someone finally shared her tastes. Apple pie is clearly delicious, but Texas isn’t interested in it.
“Exusiai, can you remove the halo above your head?” Chen Heng did not want to continue this topic, so he redirected the conversation.
“Oh, this? That’s impossible.” Exusiai touched her ever-glowing halo.
“What about when you sleep at night? Can you turn it off? It is so bright; it will disturb your sleep, right?” Chen Heng found the halo hovering in the air strange. Why can this thing hover above every Lateran? Furthermore, it cannot be removed?
Do they have it at birth? If that is the case, the delivery of a Lateran is quite tough.
“A good friend! Finally, someone understands my pain! You have no idea. I have to wear a blindfold to sleep. It is such a hassle. Texas also refuses to sleep with me because of this.” It seemed like mentioning the halo had flipped a switch, resulting in her complaining about the halo endlessly.
Speaking of an angel’s halo, Chen Heng had seen the real deal before. It was not Gabriel’s but in his own world. That was in the future. He and Mo Qingtong represented the Special Affairs Bureau in a competition in the West.
During the quarterfinals, Chen Heng met a young lady addressed as a saint by the Puritans. After failing to defeat Chen Heng, she brought out her trump card and summoned the image of an angel. Furthermore, it was not an ordinary angel but the Chief Archangel Michael, the leader of the angels. Such a trump card actually appeared in the quarterfinals.
[TL Note: Puritanism was a religious movement that advocated the removal of all Roman Catholic practices from the Protestant Church after the English Reformation, where the Church of England broke away from the Catholic Church and the authority of the pope. In the real world, it never formed a formal Protestant denomination. Today, while some ideals live on, this term is rarely used. Here is the Wikipedia entry on Puritans: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritans.]
Back then, Chen Heng wanted to complain about cheating to the judge.
However, he said nothing in the end. Not that he did not want to say, but even the judge knelt.
He recalled it was because the competition took place in the West, so most of the people present were Western experts. Eighty percent of the experts there knelt, including the saint who summoned Michael’s image. The remaining twenty percent were werewolves, vampires, and other creatures of the dark factions.
Back then, Chen Heng felt nothing and even wanted to launch the final blow on the kneeling saint. However, he did not act rashly so that he could return to China safely. What if he attacked, and all the Western world’s light faction experts viewed him with enmity? He could simply say his farewells to the world.
However, something strange happened that rendered the saintess stupefied.
Chen Heng had some understanding of this method of summoning an angel’s image. Typically, it would just summon ordinary angels or principalities, at best powers or virtues. Chen Heng had never seen anyone who dared to summon the Chief Archangel Michael. Furthermore, this was just the quarterfinals. Wouldn’t it be better to keep such a trump card for the finals?
[TL Note: Principalities, powers, and virtues are classes of angels proposed in the fifth or sixth century. Nine levels grouped into three orders were proposed. The levels in ascending order are angels, archangels, principalities, powers, virtues, dominions, thrones, cherubim, and seraphim. Note that this classification is not recognized by the Protestant Church or the Catholic Church as far as I’m aware of, so take this information with a pinch of salt and don’t read too much into this. Exusiai is also another word for powers, from the Greek ?ξουσ?αι, and the Chinese name for Exusiai is also the term for powers. You can read more about this proposed hierarchy of angels at this Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_in_Christianity.]
[TL Note: I’m unaware of what hierarchy the author is using, but based on context, it seems that he considers Archangel Michael to be at the top of the angel hierarchy. Since he omitted archangels as a rank, it’s possible that archangels rank at the top for this novel.]
After that, it became Chen Heng’s turn to be stupefied. Michael ignored the saintess below him and flew directly to Chen Heng.
“Human, are you willing to become my executor?” What was going on? It was exactly as seen. However, anyone with a normal mind would accept.
“No.” Chen Heng refused straightforwardly and without hesitation.
“Can you tell me why?” Back then, Michael did not get angry. Instead, he looked at Chen Heng with interest, wanting to hear what Chen Heng could cook up.
“Because I prefer to rely on myself, not others.”
In truth, he thought, This great me looks down on assisted cultivators. Even if I cannot cultivate, I also look down on you. I’m not saying assisted cultivators are trash, but…alright, assisted cultivators are trash. Although I cannot defeat you, I still look down on you. This is an attitude problem.
Of course, Chen Heng could not say this. Otherwise, even the Special Affairs Bureau could not protect him—God said so.
“Interesting. This is very interesting. You truly are a Chen Clan descendant. Despite being one of God’s chosen, you abandoned God. Since you refuse, there’s no point in me remaining. Perhaps we will meet again, interesting little fellow.” After saying that, Michael vanished.
Back then, Chen Heng did not overthink. After all, his Chen Clan had its glory days. Perhaps a Chen Clan powerhouse had met Michael before.
When Chen Heng’s focus returned to the competition, he was taken aback, as nearly all the light faction hidden-world experts were staring at him, livid, including the kneeling saintess and the pope on the stage.
Chen Heng only reacted at this moment. He seemed to have…perhaps he had…he probably openly mocked all the people from the light factions.
At that point, Chen Heng decisively chose to forfeit. He did not even stay to watch the rest of the competition, using his ability to cross the ocean and return to China.
He felt if he stayed there any longer, he might never return.
After that, Chen Heng absolutely refused to go to the West. However, he heard the West had already blacklisted him. Although they were not allowed to kill him, they could beat him up. Furthermore, they could beat him up as badly as they wanted as long as he did not die.
Of course, these were things that would happen in the future.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢