Chapter 677: Walking Wisely Through Mountain and Field

After taking several photos, Meng Mei felt delighted. From now on, she could not only show them off but also sell them as limited edition photo prints to netizens, seeming set to make a fortune again! After all, previously, to get players of the Spore Evolution Sandbox to engage with Medusa, she had become a money-spending prodigy, emptying her entire fortune.

"Are you done?" Caroline glanced at her and slowly walked away.

"Don't rush. Wherever you're going, I can take you sightseeing and fulfill my duties as a host," Meng Mei said, following behind her with a serious expression. "There's almost nothing on this entire land that I don't know."

"For example, where am I going?" Caroline asked.

"There are only two places you could be going," Meng Mei said softly. "One is the Martial God Palace, where you can observe the Demon Realm, see body cultivators, their elixir recipes, and the system chips there. The second place is to see the lost remains of Rank Nine, Emperor Messiah, and Hermes... But Emperor Messiah has already gone to the ancient molten land and cannot be found. Are you looking for Hermes?"

Caroline looked at Meng Mei in surprise.

"So, shall I take you to Hermes?" Meng Mei smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Ordinary people can't find him. Only the local Earth Mother, by monitoring the world's faith and incense, can know his true form. He is omnipresent wisdom, manifesting in all walks of life, for wisdom is intangible!"

"Alright," Caroline nodded, knowing that even ordinary gods would likely need Earth Mother Qing Teng's help to find Hermes. "Consider it payment for the photos we just took."

"That was just the deposit. How about a few more photos for the final payment later?" Meng Mei's eyes lit up.

Caroline had never met such a shameless person who would take advantage of every opportunity.

As they chatted, they arrived in a part of the Demon Realm. Caroline also noticed that the Earth Mother's image was different from how she was described in stories. The Earth Mother in the tales was a flawless saint of heaven and earth, kind, benevolent, gentle, and compassionate towards all living beings... While her compassion was true, in reality, she seemed very clever and talked incessantly. In short, according to her own personality analysis data, she was a good person who was unconventional, not pedantic, and very clever and shrewd.

"I should have known," Caroline smiled. "Stories and history are written by others. This shrewd personality is the true Earth Mother Qing Teng from history; otherwise, she wouldn't be in this position." She continued, "It's not just talent; character is very important. It is precisely because she is kind, fair, intelligent, and not pedantic that she could become Earth Mother Qing Teng and possess such strong public trust... Which deity isn't extremely shrewd? If you pretend to be benevolent, others will see through it, and people wouldn't trust you from the start, nor would you reach such a height."

The Earth Mother Qing Teng's position was too unique, requiring immense public trust. It was precisely because she was an ancient being who, since the creation of heaven and earth, had protected all living beings as the Jianmu tree and had never killed a single creature, that she could initiate a revolution of an era, leading to today's prosperous age of the Six Realms.

Caroline said, "People often say that the times create heroes, but I believe you are a hero who created the times. At that moment, you had the right time, favorable geographical conditions, and popular support. The best era met the best person. At that time, only you, and solely you, possessed that kind of public trust and the ability to implement land reform. You happened to stand at the node of destiny, acting boldly and decisively in that most suitable era. Otherwise, it would still be an age of savagery."

"What the hell is land reform?" Meng Mei felt speechless.

"When I read stories, I like to evaluate every character within that era, and this was my assessment of you at that time... You lived in the tide of the times and simply didn't see your own accomplishments, taking them for granted."

Caroline walked slowly, then suddenly looked up and exclaimed admiringly, "Take, for example, the ancient molten land before us; it is still such a barbaric mythological civilization. Why can mortals still endure it? Has the conflict between gods and mortals not arisen? It's just that our land is too vast. The birth of a deity does not require destroying all living beings in an entire world; it only needs to destroy the mortals of one country, or kill a few hundred Heavenly Emperors. Therefore, the conflict between the people and the deities is not so immense."

Suddenly, a voice came from a distance, "Indeed, with a vast land, conflicts will be reduced. This is a trick of human psychology."

Inside a residential house, a middle-aged farmer was speaking. His skin was rough, and he wore a thick grey leather coat. Simple and unadorned, he exuded an honest and simple air. He was tilling the land in front of his yard, wiping sweat from his forehead with the characteristic honest smile of a farmer.

The two stopped.

"A farmer?" Caroline was surprised.

"Yes, just a while ago, he was a gym teacher," Meng Mei said, staring at him. "They say 'love what you do.' When your identity and profession change, I guess your way of speaking changes too. Last time, this gym teacher was on a podium, giving history lessons to the gods."

Caroline smiled. "Mr. Farmer, what are you doing?"

"Tilling the land," the farmer said.

Caroline asked, "Why do conflicts decrease when the land is vast?"

"Young city girl, it's a simple truth," the farmer said, swinging his hoe and turning to look at the two girls by the road. "The size of the land has a significant impact. If someone tells you that to become a god, the entire world will be destroyed, then people will have no choice but to resist. But if someone says that out of our world's three hundred countries, only one will be destroyed, then everyone will think, 'Oh, that's fine, it surely won't be me,' and they won't roar in defiance. Even if you look through all of history, between the lines, the words 'man-eating' are still abundantly written."

Caroline looked at the farmer. The farmer's tone was rough, but his words, though plain, contained profound reasoning.

Indeed, that ancient desolate era was at a crucial turning point because it coincided with the catastrophe of an entire world being destroyed. If it had developed further, the Six Realms would have become larger, like the ancient molten land, where killing only a portion of the people would not have prompted unity or inspired a collective determination for change. It was still that same saying: the right time, favorable geographical conditions, and popular support. The Six Realms were impossible to replicate.

The farmer continued with a smile, "At the same time, in the understanding of that molten land, 'life and death are predetermined, wealth and honor depend on heaven.' Everything is a destined fate, a destiny fixed from birth. People in that country will look at the destructive sky and murmur, 'This is fate,' and so, they will not resist."

Caroline's gaze deepened. It was indeed so.

"In our Ishdarian era, such things didn't happen... Perhaps that world should introduce a Fourth Pillar God, the Earth Mother Pillar God, to change that age of savagery," Caroline smiled. "'My fate is up to me, not up to Heaven!'"

Beside her, Meng Mei's face darkened. "You guys can chat all you want... but why drag me into it? This person is truly devious; don't try to trick me. I'm not like you; I'd be beaten to death by the Three Pillar Gods."

Meng Mei quickly said, "I can't change that land now. There was only one Six Realms that underwent such a transformation. If I were to act now, it would involve too many interest groups, and the Three Pillar Gods would attack me."

Caroline smiled.

At that moment, the farmer also smiled, put away his hoe, and said, "So, God from another world, what is the reason you are looking for me?"