Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1307 My name is Qun, because we are numerous.
[The Way of Unity transcends limits; the material world is about to ascend—]

The combined power surged to its fullest extent, causing the nine rivers along the path to become even more turbulent—

[From this day forward, all Phantom Demons will gain telepathic abilities, and they will have the potential to merge and coexist with the living.]

The barrier between the dream world and the material world has become extremely weak, making it possible for extraordinary individuals to awaken telepathic abilities and gain the opportunity to learn the art of "fusion".

[The equilibrium principle has been updated, and a new equilibrium point has been established.]

“That is… the way of the united.”

Aiwass murmured, "Pure white robes, a silver crown... a pillar god in two forms?"

From Sand Clock's report, he had a general understanding of how the Unified Way exists.

As the latest manifestation of the Seventh Source River, it represents a compromise and fusion of authoritarianism and war.

Whether it's the "food" that devours everything to replenish itself, the "power" that decides everything with invincible brute force, the "authoritarianism" that rules the weak through power and rules, or the "war" that leads the masses to eliminate dissidents... the source of violence is becoming weaker and weaker, more and more dispersed. Just like the essence of the material world's ascension, more and more power is dissipating into the material world, making everyone begin to become stronger.

Ironically, the "undefeated god" chosen by the River of Violence in each generation is ultimately beaten to death by a mob.

Leaving aside the Crimson Calamity and the High Heavens—even the Silver Crowned Dragon's abdication was aided by Morgan; and Uranus's defeat of the Sky-Eating Beast also relied on the Hunter King's power. After all, this act itself is a form of hunting, where the loser learns from their defeat and grows stronger, which is precisely the protection of the River of Life.

Perhaps Genkawa finally understood... or admitted it.

The power of an individual has its limits.

A single pillar god cannot surpass the sum of all the other pillar gods.

Without a doubt, this is the weakest and least "violent" moment in the history of the River of Violence, from its inception to the present, and it is the moment when the river's water level is at its lowest.

However, it was also the moment when the Source River had the greatest impact on the material world—as the power of the material world was upgraded, the power of the Source River permeated more and more people.

—And this is also the moment when the pillar god is most unlikely to fail.

"The sacred number of civilization, combined with the sacred number of violence... will only lead to nothingness."

Aiwass murmured, "But if you add love... then you can create a miracle."

As long as there are enough people, failure is not easy.

For a behemoth, its own death is the end of everything; for a tyrant, their death may still leave some lingering effects; but for a wise king, not only his own death—even the end of the dynasty—will ensure that the laws and rules he establishes are passed down. And for a "war," simply killing the general is not enough to end it. So the Crimson Calamity is repeatedly killed, yet it can be reborn again and again—reborn in an increasingly twisted and insane form.

The death of the Crimson Calamity was not due to his individual demise, but rather to the emptiness behind him, and the denial of the Silver-Crowned Dragon.

If a general is abandoned by his monarch, his soldiers, and his people, then the war loses its meaning.

Same reason...

The essence of the Way of the Masses lies in the fact that "as long as there are enough people, there will be no failure."

Guinevere is a priestess who heals others, and Lancelot is a knight who protects others. In other words, they are a dual deity, one who is both healer and protector.

The Way of Unity emphasizes telepathy and fusion techniques, clearly indicating that it is a deity primarily focused on support.

The support is the core of the team, that's a given; but the death of the support doesn't mean the team has failed; it's normal for the support to be unable to defeat the enemy, after all, the damage dealers haven't even had a chance to attack yet.

Acknowledging one's own weakness, and then accepting more people... Although this is essentially a leakage of the power of the path, it cleverly avoids the "unbreakable bondage" of the river of violence.

The path of the Silver-Crowned Dragon has a similar flavor. However, he ultimately chose to consolidate all ultimate power for himself, so his defeat is still unforgivable. Because he was still the embodiment of violence; if he wasn't strong enough, if he couldn't win, then he wasn't violent enough.

For the Unova Path, even the Pillar Gods themselves no longer represent violence—

The choice of the twin whites is tantamount to distributing the power of the River of Violence to the other eight pillar gods. With great power comes great responsibility; conversely, with less power comes less responsibility. Therefore, as long as any of the nine pillar gods survive, this community has not been completely defeated.

From another perspective, the River of Violence is no longer even born for fighting.

Because the original pillar god of the River of Violence was born from nothingness.

—Among the nine source rivers, only "violence" and "mistake" are derogatory terms. The others are at least neutral.

The River of “Error” was already polluted by nothingness; its original state should have been “perfect.” The original tenth source river should have been a miracle.

And so is violence—

The Devouring Beast was tainted by nothingness from the very beginning.

The information in this world is extracted from the thorns of sin.

This desire and ability to "violently devour everything" is based on the very act of the Twilight Species devouring the world.

Defeating others, devouring others, gaining their power, and then taking their place—this is precisely the means by which the Twilight Species expands itself.

Destruction. Feeding. Completion.

From this perspective, the giant beast Nibiru was the earliest Void Apostle.

Eating the heavens, eating the heavens... Why is there a huge hole in the sky? That is the trace of the void having eaten.

Having inherited most of the knowledge and memories of the Reincarnation Heavenly Bureau, Aiwas already knows the essence of the Heavenly Canopy of this world.

Those stars... and that dazzling sun and moon, they are all illusions.

This world is not a continent, but a planet. The goblins' round-the-world travels and the time differences in various places are enough to prove this point.

If it is a planet, then why does a sun exist that can be shot down? And why are there star maps that change according to the birth and death of the Celestials and Apostles? And why is the essence of the Veil of Balance that is the sky full of stars?
The answer is simple.

Because the early inhabitants of this planet once built a "sky canopy".

They may have known that an unstoppable enemy came from the universe. Therefore, they chose to envelop the planet in an opaque shell… but they never imagined that the enemy would come from the dream realm, born from their very thoughts. Thus, only after the void had completely devoured the planet did it open the heavens and depart from this world.

That's why there's only one passage left by nothingness, that's why the sun in this world could be shot down... and that's why in the era without the sun and moon, this world was just a dark place. Each generation of sun, rather than shining, is more like using its body to block that hole, becoming a kind of "good conductor," thus activating this celestial canopy.

The curtain of equilibrium is the "protective membrane" that safeguards this fragile sky.

The power of the extraordinary and the phantoms is immense; many beings capable of high-speed flight possess incredibly strong bodies. Mages, inheriting runecraft techniques from their ancestors, are also capable of many remarkable feats.

Reaching sufficiently high places is practically effortless.

To prevent people from carelessly touching and damaging the sky, which already had a large hole, the all-knowing Sand Clock, with the help of the all-knowing Weizhe, built the "Curtain of Equilibrium" to prevent all beings from flying too high.

—This is the origin of the dispute between Sand Clock and Snake Father.

Sand Clock wants to build a screen of balance, and even rebuild the heavens, to protect the world once more; while Serpent Father wants to ascend beyond the world to see the real starry sky, to see what the ancient people were truly afraid of, and to find the hope that does not exist in this world.

This may not mean anything to some people... but someone has to do it.

Just like when a group of people are trapped on a deserted island, in a dense forest, in a desert, or in a toxic swamp, the best choice is naturally to shrink their activity area, minimize the consumption of resources, and wait for rescue or a miracle to happen...

But some people will choose to leave.

Even if I die, I want to die on the road to finding hope.

So, since "violence" cannot defeat nihilism, why not try a different path?

Since he was unable to defeat the power of the Twilight Species... then as the weakest pillar god, he should at least take care of the logistics.

The hero defeating the demon king doesn't mean the villagers will suddenly become happy; even after the hero ends the war and saves the world, people still have to live their peaceful lives.

Just like the question the Snake Father posed to the Sand Clock: Is an unchanging order really a good thing?
As a "tool of change," the Way of the Violent River offers an answer to this problem:
When people all hope for this, the world should change.

"From this point of view..."

Aiwass murmured, "The Path of Unity, as the purest form after the removal of the influence of the Sky Eater... may be the most wrong one, or it may be the most perfect one."

But another question arose in Aiwass's mind—

After the final explosion, the Silver Crowned Dragon, the Celestial Knight, and the Crimson Calamity all disappeared.

—Who was the one who actually died?

Although it seems that the position of the Celestial Knight should be held by the Celestial Knight... because he was the one who was pulled down by the Ring of the Tail, and the Silver Crowned Dragon does not seem to have died in battle, the position of the Pillar God has indeed changed hands.

Aiwas's question was quickly answered.

Because what appeared before him was not a pillar god.

Instead, there were three people—

Or rather, it's about two people and a dragon.

—Lancelot and Guinevere, riding the Silver Crowned Dragon, descended before Aiwass!

"Aivas!"

Lancelot greeted him warmly, "Here you go!"

Aiwas instinctively reached out and caught the knight's helmet.

In that instant, he understood what it was—

The power of the Celestial Slayer fragment seeped into his body, and word by word appeared before Aiwass:

[Celestial Fragments - Fragments of Protection and Loyalty]

[—The laws of protection and loyalty, the remnants of the power of the Priests. Used properly, they may become either Priests of the Shield or Priests of the Subordinates.]

...The Shield Celestial Division or the Minister Celestial Division?
Aiwas was somewhat surprised.

So it turns out that the Knight of the Sky was never going down the normal path from the very beginning... Ah, that's understandable. After all, he is a dual-wielding Knight, not a knight who became a knight alone—he has his queen behind him.

Whether it's a shield or a subject, adding Guinevere taints the concept. Not to mention, he wasn't originally a subject or a guard, but a monarch. "Knight" is precisely the most fitting term after this concept has been distorted.

"You are Aiwass..."

At this moment, Guinevere looked at him curiously, while the white dragon was somewhat surprised and helpless about being alive.

The Silver-Crowned Dragon clearly did not die permanently as he had wished—in fact, it was the Celestial Knight who weakened himself by introducing impurities, thus saving him.

The Celestial Knight abandoned his physical body and did not choose to ascend to the Pillar God as the Celestial Knight.

Instead, he chose to ascend to the position of pillar god using Voodoo's "identity card".

No wonder... the fragments of the Celestial Knights only appeared after the birth of the new Pillar God.

This is no longer just a pair of gods, but a trinity of pillar gods—and there will probably be more in the future!
Anyone who can be accepted can become a pillar god of the Unova. From this perspective, the Unova doesn't need apostles at all, because there's no need—if one can become an apostle, becoming "the eyes, hands, feet, and words of the pillar gods," then one can naturally become a member of the Unova!
From now on, this should be the only pillar god who can be referred to in plural form...

"...How should I address you from now on?"

Aiwas smiled with relief and asked.

“I am the ‘large flock’.”

Lancelot grinned.

Guinevere and the Silver Crowned Dragon said in unison, "Because there are many of us."

(End of this chapter)