Genesis: Starting with Growing Mushrooms

Chapter 22 Prehistoric Extinction, Creator God
The army quickly retreated like a receding tide.

Fortunately, Liu Jun responded promptly and investigated the case in a timely manner.

And they swiftly quelled the coup, preventing it from escalating into even greater chaos.

The arriving angel king appeared to have aged countless years.

After a hasty farewell, he led his army and the cherubim he had just escorted back; he had far too many things to deal with.

Seeing this farce, even the amber swallowtail butterfly, who only knew how to eat, was stunned and somewhat sullen.

"Go back, everyone," Liu Jun sighed softly.

Beside him, the martial arts fanatic in charge of war and security, the fifth brother, Die Mingren, who was usually silent, suddenly couldn't help but speak up: "It seems I need to speed up my cultivation efforts."

The butterfly involved, Red Fungus, frowned slightly: "Why would they frame me?"

This was an undeserved disaster.

Diechi was happily eating Xiaochonglong's skewers when she said, "Because you have the worst reputation, it's the easiest to frame someone and use them as a pretext to start a fight."

"Oh dear, what a mess this is."

The butterfly red fungus had mixed feelings.

While he was watching, the fourth brother sneaked into his lab and roasted the little dragon, but he lost all interest in catching the gluttonous Butterfly Pool Indigo.

These days, though noisy and chaotic, are peaceful and warm.

But he was even more afraid that he and his five siblings would end up killing each other.

We will definitely, definitely not have that day.

"Should we still deal with this?" Butterfly Red Fungus wanted to know what the truth was and who was framing him.

"Just let nature take its course," Liu Jun said calmly.

Whether to investigate or not, and how to investigate, is Chong Shisan's business.

Angelic Sanctuary.

After returning, Chong Shisan stayed alone in the palace for three whole days.

He knew the prophet wouldn't lie to him; if it wasn't the Butterfly Clan who did it, then the culprit was right beside him. The culprit had painstakingly planned this war, and probably even it couldn't have imagined that tens of thousands of troops would be no match for the prophet.

The murderer is his own bedmate, the innocent green caterpillar who once told him that they would transform into butterflies and fly together as a pair of lovebirds, now the Angel Queen and Archangel.

He was my mentor back then, the honest and kind-hearted butterfly who taught me and other insects how to tie knots themselves, the wheel angel, the angel of knowledge?

Even when doubts arose, he became paranoid, thinking that it was possible that the Archangel Worm Thirty was also involved.

Spend countless years pretending to love your child, then kill him to start a rebellion?
The more he thought about it, the more confused he became, and the more wrong it seemed.

He suddenly didn't want to face it anymore, and he didn't want to accept either answer.

What happens after it's found out?

What should he do?
He lay quietly on the throne, in the village at the foot of the Holy Temple Mountain, under the setting sun.

Listening to those vibrant young angels, chatting and laughing together in twos and threes, I was reminded of them from back then.

He then truly realized that he was getting old and had become too soft-hearted.

My old friends are getting old, and they don't have much time left to live.

Is there any point in pursuing this further?

He was afraid; afraid to face the truth.

He simply placed Chong Qiqi, Chong Sanshi, and Duoshou Hudie under house arrest for life, forbidding them from ever leaving their respective palaces again.

Just like the imperial court back then, they stopped pursuing the real culprit and left them with some dignity.

Then he began to treat the majority of the angelic offspring who had died or been injured.

Although two-thirds of them died, the rest were saved.

In the next few years.

The King of Angels grew older and more burdened with worries.

In his later years, he became paranoid and even turned into a tyrant, fearing that his subordinates would rebel, and would dismiss them or conduct thorough investigations at the drop of a hat.

He appointed inspecting angels to arrest traitors, oversee the world, and guard against close advisors.

He promoted one group, then quickly dismissed another, turning himself into a tyrant and gradually losing his reputation for charity.

One of the insects hurriedly exclaimed, "Tyrant! He's a tyrant!"

An angel said, "Such a fellow is not worthy to be the King of Angels!"

“I have pursued beauty all my life, but now I have chosen to actively lose my beauty.” He quietly accepted the little angel’s criticism. He felt ashamed of the butterfly clan, ashamed of the former emperor who endowed them with wisdom, and ashamed of the prophet who extended their lifespan.

He was depressed and avoided everything.

Three more years have passed.

In his later years, as his life came to an end, the King of Angels suddenly wanted to see the Prophet and the late Emperor to express his remorse.

But he didn't dare!
The loneliness of having no trusted friends, and the guilt of attacking the Cangwu Tree back then, were like coils of silk, tightly binding him, embracing him, and suffocating him.

Until this day.

He received an invitation from the Multi-Handed Butterfly.

In Chong Shisan's memory, he was an honest, kind, and research-enthusiastic scholar.

If he wasn't the mastermind behind it all.

When Chong Shisan came to the laboratory, he saw that the multi-handed butterfly from back then had aged terribly.

Time is a gentle knife, changing the appearance of the angelic warriors who once fought against the Tyrannosaurus Rex. They are now completely old.

"The rope should be tied like this here."

"Let's try this knotting method; perhaps it can optimize the brain structure of our race."

It is leading a group of research angels, fiddling with bottles and jars, continuing to shine for the angel race.

"You came."

The multi-handed butterfly led the King of Angels to sit down in the inner room.

"How did you become like this?"

The Butterfly looked at its old friend, who had lost his former vigor and become a suspicious and wary old king.

It felt both heartache and helplessness. Everyone said that the most painful thing was losing a beloved son, but who knew that this king of angels had also had a hard time?

"Over the years, I have been looking for ways to change our current tense relationship and get us back to the way we were in the past."

“It can’t be found,” Chong Shisan said in a low voice. “Once doubt arises, everything is irreversible.”

"Those times, we can never go back to."

The angel king spoke calmly, “I was too merciful back then. I should have found out who was behind that upheaval in the court and stopped it in time. Everything would not have turned out this way.”

"No, there's still a chance," Butterfly suddenly said. "Over the years, I've been searching for a way to get back to the way we were back then, and I've found that way."

With a hint of hope and longing in his aged eyes, Chong Shisan quietly looked at the multi-handed butterfly opposite him.

That's simply impossible.

Because time cannot be reversed.

However, a glimmer of hope rose within Chong Shisan; his life had been too dramatic.

He spent the first half of his life on the battlefield, a glorious life indeed.

However, he lived a life of suffering in his later years.

"So, I called you here."

"For years I've been researching the figure we saw back then, and why I suddenly disappeared. Now, I finally have the answer." A glimmer of hope appeared on the aged face of the Multi-Handed Butterfly. "I know what that figure really was!"

"Do you remember the Trials of God?"

"Over the years, I have been researching the history of that time, and various documents."

The first trial of the gods was personally undertaken by Amber Butterfly. The umbrella of light was everywhere, blinding everyone.

Fortunately, the Phoenix Emperor was born a saint with keen senses. He closed his eyes and picked up divine objects along the way, passed the trial, and returned to his race with the divine treasures.

The second trial was even more bizarre!

Although it posed no threat, the area fell silent as one approached the treasure.

Finding it was the hardest part, but once the location was discovered, the trial was easily passed.

The first and second trials are at least not life-threatening, but the third trial starts to become terrifying.

Magic carpet.

Proximity to mutation.

Amidst countless corpses, the team painstakingly wrapped and sealed the item inch by inch with the help of a suicide squad, barely managing to bring it back.

"The trials of the gods are perhaps more difficult with each trial, and this fourth one is even more bizarre."

"Because this treasure possesses the divine power of [aging]."

They were referring to the "Gift Mushroom" from a few years ago, which is known for its short-lived, unrequited love.

"In previous years, Butterfly Heart of the Butterfly Clan personally led a team to search for many years and finally found the fourth trial of the gods. All the creatures in that place had died long ago and it had become a forbidden area."

"They aged a little with every ten feet they flew, and the army died before they had even flown a few dozen feet."

"What's even more interesting is that if you throw a butterfly egg in, it will hatch into a cicada in no time. The green worm crawls forward for more than ten feet and then becomes a cicada pupa. Then it transforms into a butterfly on the spot, flies for more than ten feet, and dies of old age."

As Chong Shisan listened to this trial of the gods, he analyzed, "Each trial has become more bizarre and difficult."

The multi-handed butterfly said, "Furthermore, these trials are becoming increasingly bizarre and difficult. Perhaps one day, the trials that descend from the sky will endanger the entire world and become epochal calamities."

Chong Shisan lowered his voice, "Aren't you worrying too much?"

"What's there to worry about?"

The multi-handed butterfly couldn't help but ask, "Do you know why the Trials of the Gods exist?"

Chong Shisan said, "We don't know."

"Then, what god is it that left behind these treasures?"

Multi-Handed Butterfly continued to ask questions:
Where did the treasure come from?

"What's the pattern?"

"Why haven't any treasures been created before us?"

"Why is it that trials are gradually descending upon us in our own time?"

These words made Chong Shisan feel uneasy.

indeed.

Why did it only appear now?
What about before?
This is a fatal problem.

"You've been thinking about these things?" Chong Shisan was taken aback.

The multi-handed butterfly slowly said:

"In order to find out if any trials of the gods had occurred before us, I specially dispatched some angels to search everywhere."

"Finally, I discovered a huge secret."

"Why were there no other divine trial treasures before us?"

"Because I discovered that civilizations have experienced countless mass extinctions throughout their history."

As he spoke, he handed a top-secret silk scroll to Chong Shisan.

Upon closer inspection, Insect Thirteen observed that the different geological layers concealed other extinct ancient creatures and life forms that no longer exist.

Before this era dominated by dinosaurs, there were clearly several extinction events!

Because Liu Jun wanted to perfect this world, he downloaded complete data from the cloud to the AI, including data on the previous prehistoric mass extinction in the strata.

Insect Thirteen observed the information and wondered, "Could a sudden change in the environment cause maladaptation, leading to periodic extinctions of organisms?"

"I may not understand the past, but I understand the present."

Chong Shisan continued, "Our climate has changed now. We butterflies used to live in spring and die in winter, which was also a life cycle, wasn't it? Perhaps it has just been extended."

Multi-Handed Butterfly nodded. "That's what I think too."

"Then..." Chong Shisan suddenly thought of something, and his expression gradually stiffened.

The multi-handed butterfly suddenly said slowly, "Yes, the environment has changed drastically, but why has the environment changed so drastically? Haven't you noticed yet?"

"What exactly did the trials of God give us?"

"Light! Perhaps in the future, it will become the sun god of this world, illuminating the entire world."

"What about the others? Wind, water, and even the current gods of wisdom and immortality all control the sudden changes in the environment of heaven and earth."

"Each god holds the cornerstone of the world's changes."

Chong Shisan remained silent, and various clues led him to suspect a terrible possibility.

He murmured to himself:
"I see! I see! Could it be that there were various trials of the gods in the past?"

"Through trials and tribulations, they became heroes of the land, living epics and myths. They grew along the way, eventually becoming lofty figures who ushered in an era of glory!"

"And in the end? Why did the gods who passed the trials of the gods perish?"

"Is it because you can't withstand the trials that God sends down time and time again?" Suddenly, the multi-handed butterfly spoke up.

Chong Shisan remained silent for a long time before answering, "I don't know."

As the multi-handed butterfly pondered, her mind became hazy, and her voice trembled:

"What exactly is it? It bestowed upon everyone in this world the power to control their environment, and sent down trials to enable us to create the world and control our environment?"

Now, prophets and former emperors have been revered as gods.

God of wisdom, God of longevity.

And what is the origin of this being that gives it all its power called?
Chong Shisan smiled and looked up at the world high above. "If it has a name, the being that overlooks each era from the sky and sends down treasures time and time again should be..."

"Creation God."

After he said that, they all fell silent.

Suddenly, Chong Shisan understood what he had to do and in what form he would reunite his group of friends.

Abandon all prejudices and stop dwelling on all mistakes.

A powerful thought suddenly arose in the King of Angels' mind:

Forget the past. Just get together, fight for your dreams like you did back then, and come to the end of your life. That's enough.

He has something to do.

This is a momentous event that benefits the times, will no longer be a disgrace to the Butterfly Gods, and will be significant for the entire era.

In this way, he will surely be forgiven.

He suddenly remembered how his friends in the tree hollow had said they had seen a mysterious and majestic god:
"According to the cycle, the next Trial of the Gods is not far away."

"Angels, it's time to reunite."

(End of this chapter)