Guardian by Priest

Prologue: Innate

Translated by: Alyson (@alyson_trash on Twitter)

Note: This is translated from the simplified Chinese mainland version of the physical book so there might have been stuff that were censored or cut out. I will have no way of knowing unless I get the Taiwanese version and learn traditional Chinese which is no thank you lol. I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Buzhou Mountain has finally collapsed.

A hundred thousand mountains weep without stopping, Kunlun Jun is suddenly awakened from his rest while leaning against the Great Godly Tree, he lifts his head and spots a sky filled with violent wind and frantic snow. The sky is so dark, it seems as if it will never lighten ever again. The gray snowflakes resemble falling feathers and the biting cold is bone piercing; the scene is reminiscent of the expansive calamity of a wildfire.

Very soon, the perpetually white snowy peaks of Kunlun Mountain are covered in a layer of grey ash.

The Heavens and the Earth are thrown into chaos, creatures cower towards the ground, and deities are alarmed and flee in all directions. On the primeval Earth, as far as the eye can see, there are only ruins and the souls of the newly deceased.

This is the second time that tragedy is waging a war against the gods.

“Kunlun…… Kunlun……”

Shennong’s aged calls reach the depths of the mountain recesses, the feeble last syllables echo and fade in and out. He is despondent, looking as if he is about to take his last breath.

Kunlun Jun sighs and immediately passes through the ceaseless blizzard, seemingly out of nowhere, he lands near the ruins of Buzhou Mountain, his green robes swept by the strong winds sound like a flag. His expression is passive: “I already gifted you my soul fire, I also don’t want to meddle with their affairs, yet you still criticize me and ask me what I’m doing…… then what is this?”

The ruins of Buzhou Mountain are vast and dark, no light can penetrate inside at all; the earth has split into a hideous crevice, all kinds of foreboding creatures are surging out ceaselessly, their shrill cries are all mixed into one.

Kunlun Jun frowns and knits his brows, he knows Dixin breeds malice, but he had never realized their need to flee. With his back facing Kunlun, Shennong waves him over: “Come with me.”

“Wait……”

Shennong, without reason, said that the sovereigns of Hell have already infiltrated inside. Kunlun Jun hesitates for a short while but is ultimately forced to follow.

The rift in the ground is reminiscent of a nasty wound, exposing the truth concealed by the earth, the sinister creatures eagerly surround the two and circle around them incessantly, seemingly out of fear, but simultaneously ready to surge up and take a bite out of the divine beings’ flesh and blood.

“Fuxi’s Great Seal has been destroyed.” Shennong said, his voice barely audible.

“What?”

“With Fuxi dead for many years and the Great Seal originally weak, the Godly Dragon had knocked over Buzhou Mountain earlier, sweeping up strong winds, and scraping off your soul fire.”

“And then it fell down and burned a hole in the Great Seal?” Kunlun Jun looked incredulous, “Wise man, when you turned to me to borrow a soul fire, you said that it would be used to ‘suppress the souls of the world’, but didn’t say that you would release the fire and burn Fuxi’s Great Seal—”

Kunlun Jun’s speech comes to an abrupt stop, stunned by the world in front of his eyes, the two have already traveled through the damaged opening of the Great Seal and landed. This is the forbidden land that has been suppressed by Fuxi’s Great Seal for many years.

There is no light, no wind, no sign of life, even rainwater evaporates before it has a chance to reach this place. Shennong holds up the night luminescent pearl, Kunlun Jun observes the restless swarm of chaos surging below him, within the chaos rose countless humanoid forms and life, yet these “life forms” only seem to be able to pounce on and attack their nearby brethren the moment that they are born, to consume or be consumed. Their shrill cries are deafening.

Kunlun Jun looks blankly at the cruel state of the world: “What is this?”

Shennong replies “It’s from nature.”

“What……”

“It is from nature ah, little Kunlun.” As if he was sighing, Shennong said next to Kunlun’s ear, “No parents, no origin, like you and I, just like the great god Pangu —gods and the evil, both are ‘innate’.”

Kunlun Jun matches Shennong’s gaze, the old man’s eyes are cloudy and the edges of his iris are hazy, yet the divine being still retains his grandeur, infinite compassion, and mercy, free of desire and greed.

“Kunlun, the creation is yet to be finished, but the time for us to leave has come.”

“......it’s too late.”

Translator’s note: Hey I hope you enjoyed the tl! I only know really basic Chinese so this took me a long time to research and translate (even though it’s less than two pages long lol) so I hope nothing is too incorrect. Mythos is especially hard to translate so major props to anyone that has done it before. Please do let me know if there are any grammar mistakes or whatnot because lemme tell ya Chinese grammar totally goes over my head when I try to translate stuff. Toodaloo!

-Alyson