However, only Hao Ren knew about the secret connection between Vivian and the Creation Goddess. Everyone else was greatly puzzled, thinking that the native man must have been mistaken—perhaps there was someone in the world who looked similar to Vivian but held a high position. This was the most likely explanation they could think of. Hao Ren knew that explaining the reason would be troublesome, so he simply changed the subject: "Vivian, just cooperate for now."
Vivian was full of question marks: "Cooperate with what?"
"Pretend to be awesome," Hao Ren whispered in Vivian's ear, then walked up to the man. "Stand up, we have questions for you."
Vivian followed behind in a daze, muttering to herself after a long while, "I'm already awesome, I'm over ten thousand years old..."
The "tribal warrior" was still in great confusion. His gaze kept shifting between Vivian and Hesperides, with more attention focused on the short knife in his hand: the red light of the short knife had been flashing since just now, and it seemed to become brighter as Vivian and Hesperides approached. Hao Ren pointed to the short knife: "What's going on with this?"
The "tribal warrior" completely ignored Hao Ren. He just lowered his head to Vivian in fear and reverence: "Goddess, what is the purpose of your arrival?"
Vivian was stunned for a long time, and Hao Ren couldn't help but poke her arm: "He's talking to you, quickly make something up."
"Uh... oh," Vivian said with a confused look. She was really not good at this kind of bluffing. "I... I came down to take a look, passing by, just passing by."
The "tribal warrior" didn't seem to care about such a strange answer. His reverent attitude remained the same: "This world is flourishing as you wished, and the spirits of all beings will joyfully welcome your arrival."
Hao Ren realized that he was being ignored, so he coughed twice, even louder: "Cough, cough, wouldn't you like to introduce yourself?"
The "tribal warrior" looked up at Hao Ren in confusion, and then he suddenly realized: "I am Gazel, the great warrior of the West Wind Hanuk Tribe."
"West Wind Hanuk Tribe?" Hao Ren frowned. "Are there many more people like you?"
Gazel didn't quite understand Hao Ren's question. He hesitated slightly: "Each tribe has less than ten great warriors. The sacred blade bestowed by the goddess is limited, and not everyone is qualified to obtain it."
Hao Ren originally wanted to ask about the population, but Gazel obviously misunderstood. He mentioned the sacred blade, and Hao Ren couldn't help but look at the short knife in his hand when he heard the word: "You mean this? Can I take a look?"
Gazel's face showed a strange look. He seemed to think that these strangers walking with the "goddess" were a bit suspicious. Noticing his hesitation, Vivian finally knew what to say in this situation: "Let him see, we want to check... um, check if the sacred blade we gave you back then is working properly, after all, it's been quite a long time."
As Vivian spoke, the short knife emitted an even more obvious light, which seemed to be a signal, causing Gazel to let go of all his doubts and respectfully hand the weapon to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren took the short knife and examined this strangely shaped weapon even more curiously and carefully. It was a short weapon only a little over a foot long, with a strange hilt made of non-metal and non-wood material. The blade part had a curved shape like a dancing flame. On the blade, there were complex patterns, and its shape was between pictographic characters and simple patterns. After the translation plugin judged, it was a prayer praising the wind and flowing water.
The workmanship of the short knife was extremely exquisite, and the texture of the carved part was almost like an industrial product manufactured with high precision. After seeing the rough leather clothes on Gazel and the hand-made short bow behind him, it was hard to imagine that he or his tribe could make this kind of precision weapon.
Perhaps, as he said, this was a sacred blade bestowed by the "goddess," not forged by humans.
"Do you have any impression of this?" Hao Ren turned away from Gazel's sight and gave the short knife to Vivian to check.
Vivian was a little confused: "No, I don't remember having such a thing. Besides, I was as poor as anything back then. If I had gotten such an advanced weapon, I would have exchanged it for food. This kind of weapon would have been a fortune in human society hundreds of years ago."
Hao Ren stroked the red-glowing patterns on the short knife: "But it's obviously reacting to you."
Vivian put her hand above the short knife, and the red light on the latter's surface immediately brightened to the extreme. A surging, almost life-force-like aura came from the short knife, and the metal seemed to make a subtle sound as if it was cheering. Lily stuck out her tongue beside her: "Still saying it's not yours."
"The power on it is indeed very close to mine, but this knife is really not mine," Vivian glanced at Hao Ren. "Do you know something?"
"I'll tell you in detail later," Hao Ren said simply, turned around, and returned the short knife to Gazel. "Here, it's in good condition. Can you take us to your tribe's place now?"
According to normal logic, a person would not be active alone in this vast grassland, and this Gazel seemed to be an important figure in a certain tribe, so the "West Wind Hanuk Tribe" he mentioned should be nearby. Perhaps it was stationed in a certain direction that the probe hadn't had time to check before.
Gazel agreed without hesitation, but he glanced at the surrounding ruins with some embarrassment: "I have a mission here..."
"Oh, go ahead and do your thing first," Hao Ren nodded, and when he noticed that Gazel was still a little hesitant, he tugged Vivian and made her nod as well. "She agrees too."
Only then did Gazel feel relieved. He first ran to find his fallen quiver and arrows, and then, under the curious gazes of Hao Ren and the others, he ran to the large platform with many stone slabs and steles. He took out some herbal powder from his bag and lit these things on the stone platform with an almost sacred posture. The smoke from the burning herbs drifted towards the nearby stone slabs, and Gazel carefully observed the direction of the smoke, with a serious expression on his face.
At the same time, he seemed a little restrained and embarrassed.
This restraint and embarrassment came from Vivian, who was not far behind with a curious look on her face.
Hao Ren believed that Gazel was performing some kind of religious ceremony. He came to this ruin alone, perhaps with a mission given by the tribe: such as coming here to worship the goddess. And Vivian, who was recognized as the "goddess," was watching beside him, which would be embarrassing for anyone. After all, not every God has the style of Raven 12345, and not every Pope can scold his own God like Hao Ren.
Gazel didn't take too long to complete these rituals. After he stood up, Hao Ren took the initiative to greet him: "Let's go, and tell me about your tribe by the way."
At the same time, he also gave a new order to the data terminal in his mind: "Let all probes withdraw from Yun Ding and the surface crust. Now start to increase the intensity of scanning this 'underground world'. This space is more interesting than we thought."
Gazel didn't even ask much about the identity of Hao Ren and his group. It seemed that Vivian alone was enough for him to trust these strangers the most. He mentioned some things about this world. Since Hao Ren was not sure if the other party knew about the other layer of the crust above his head and the situation of the First Born, the scope he could inquire about was limited. The first thing he learned was about the situation of Gazel's tribe.
This underground world is covered by vast grasslands and sparse forests. In Gazel's cognition, the entire world is a structure similar to a round sky and a square earth. The magnificent high mountain called the "Pillar of Eternity" (actually the giant sky pillar tree) supports the structure of the world. Everything between heaven and earth is bestowed by the goddess, and everything about the goddess is an unquestionable truth. Gazel's tribe lives on the grassland, chasing the rivers and lakes that change with the seasons. They are a semi-sedentary and semi-nomadic people. Although they are often in migration, the route and location of each migration will not change. This is not only because the ecological environment of the underground world is as precise and stable as a clock, but it also seems to contain some kind of religious regulation.
In addition to the "West Wind Hanuk Tribe" mentioned by Gazel, there are also some other tribes living in forests, mountains, swamps and other places. These tribes usually maintain communication and maintain a very strange loose union.
Hao Ren inquired about it from the side and found that the population of all these tribes was very limited: the human population in this world was maintained at a very low level. Moreover, not only is the population limited, but the way of life of these tribes is also quite primitive. They hardly build any large-scale cities and other man-made facilities. Although those tribes living in mountainous areas seem to have this ability, they still maintain the oldest way of life.
Finally, the topic returned to the "sacred blade" in Gazel's hand.
Gazel firmly believed that this sacred blade was bestowed upon mortals by the goddess in ancient times, and it had an invisible connection with the power of the goddess.
"Only chosen warriors are qualified to wield the sacred blade," Gazel proudly showed off his qualifications. He put his hand on the hilt of the short knife, and showed Vivian his bravery, puffing out his chest: "Those who are not qualified cannot touch the sacred blade, they will die from boiling blood. When the power of the goddess approaches the sacred blade or the sacred blades approach each other, its power will be strengthened, but the light released by the sacred blade today is the only one I have ever seen in my life - according to the tribe's records, the goddess has not descended into this world for many years."
When he heard the saying "boiling blood," Hao Ren couldn't help but exchange glances with Vivian: the nature of this power was undoubtedly confirmed.
And the "screening divine power" nature of the sacred blade also explained how Gazel judged Vivian's identity: he did not rashly regard Vivian as a goddess from her appearance, but made a conclusion after sensing the latter's power.
Things seemed to be getting more and more interesting.