Chapter 188: God Loves All Spirits
“The primal laws of the gods are the rules and power that constitute this universe, yet they should not be the sole criterion for the gods’ actions and conduct as gods.”
“Of course, the gods’ own laws of nature should not be rigidly bound, becoming uniform and lifeless. This, too, is detrimental to the eternal prosperity of the universe.”
“For this, I shall grant the gods corresponding sacred honors and duties based on the laws of their nature, allowing the gods to fully utilize their talents and find their proper places, thereby achieving balance between ‘nature’ and ‘ego’ for the gods.”
“However, the gods must remember! Even though you possess divine duties, you must never act recklessly and arbitrarily! You must strictly adhere to the sacred justice order, always taking my sacred justice order as the highest criterion, and rigorously upholding the tenets of the divine twelve laws!”
“Gods, do you all understand?”
The gods once again proclaimed in unison, their voices vibrating the universe.
At this moment, they all prostrated themselves before the god king’s righteous discourse on the righteous path.
At least for this moment.
Zeus nodded in satisfaction, then turned his gaze back to the three furies, slowly saying: “Erinyes. You are the incarnations of ‘hatred,’ ‘rage,’ and ‘revenge’—all sources of chaos.”
“However, in this world, some revenge and punishment are also sacred and rightful. Those living beings who dare to violate my justice order, those who commit great sins of injustice, they deserve the most severe punishment.”
“From this day forward, you shall be the ‘truth defenders’ of my sacred justice order! You are the ‘sacred punishers’ of those living beings who violate all justice order!”
“All those who commit the heinous crimes of kin-slaying, arrogant tyranny, breaking oaths, neglecting guests, harming hosts—these wicked and brutal sinners shall receive the punishment they deserve from you!”
“From this day forward, you belong under King of the Underworld Hades, bringing these sinners the destruction and torment they deserve.”
The three furies trembled with excitement upon hearing this.
They never imagined that merely coming to pay respects to the new god king would grant them official positions!
They immediately knelt on one knee again, proclaiming passionately: “Great Zeus! Thank you for your generous bounty! You are the most sacred, most radiant supreme master! From this moment, your will is our will! We shall forever obey your sacred decree and defend your justice to the death!”
Zeus nodded in satisfaction.
The three furies then happily retreated behind their mother goddess.
And this time, they were no longer hesitant to lift their heads or cautious and restrained.
Each one held their head high, their expressions filled with unprecedented pride and majesty.
From today, they had fully integrated into the immortal god king’s entirely new great order!
Afterward, Zeus looked toward Lady of Night, thinking it was time to offer some comfort.
Since the last time, amid that goddesses’ conflict, he had dealt with her, they had not had time to meet alone.
Although they had been together while weaving the heavenly dao order, that was after all in public, busying themselves with the most serious cosmic affairs.
At that time, the gods were fully focused on weaving the order, and they truly had no chance to pour out their heartfelt feelings alone.
Now, after so much time, it was time to express his closeness to her, to alleviate the profound resentment in his beloved goddess’s heart.
For Zeus, handling this goddess was exceedingly simple, even after leaving her no face last time and thoroughly disciplining her.
But this pure great goddess not only harbored no resentment toward Zeus; instead, she was genuinely worried that Zeus was angry, worried that Zeus would blame her for being immature, and had been insecure for a long time.
While weaving the heavenly dao order, Zeus had also shown her particular favoritism, granting her much more share.
This bit of favoritism had already made Lady of Night’s heart immensely sweet and much more secure.
However, though there was no resentment, Goddess of Night’s heart was full of longing resentment.
Night’s sole Great Mother Goddess’s wild longing for Zeus had long been uncontainable.
Even after fighting with Mnemosyne, her desire to possess Zeus had not diminished in the slightest; rather, it had grown even stronger.
Hmm. Goddesses always grow stronger in possessiveness the more they compete.
Night is always greedy.
Though Night coveted Zeus, after the last merciless lesson and Zeus’s repeated discipline of her temperament, Lady of Night was now truly obedient and gentle before Zeus.
Zeus was extremely satisfied with this and naturally wanted to give her the comfort and reward she deserved.
Every effort and submission from the goddess must receive the most direct “positive feedback”!
That is the so-called “discipline.”
Wrongdoing brings punishment; doing well brings reward.
Tossing her back and forth like this lets her clearly know what she gets for how she acts, then timely tease and lure her, and naturally, she will be disciplined.
For Nyx, what she cared about most now was first Zeus, second her children.
Zeus didn’t mind personally going to thoroughly reward this long-suffering Nyx. But the current occasion was clearly inappropriate.
So he could only temporarily choose the latter.
Lady of Night’s eldest son and eldest daughter were Bright Aether Aether and Daylight Hemera; their honors and authority no longer needed further enhancement—they had always been indispensable foundations of the universe.
Besides them, there were several children Lady of Night had gestated alone during the long lonely years from Cronus ascending to god king until his overthrow, in the eras of various oppressions by the celestial pantheon, due to her own various dark emotions.
These night gods had yet to receive any formal honors or duties; they usually didn’t even dare appear openly in the universe and could only linger in the netherworld.
Mainly, none of the children Nyx gestated sounded good when spoken of.
Children born from Night’s negative emotions—how good could they be? The laws they embodied were ones gods loathed and no god would associate with them.
Today was perfect for using this most sacred council of gods to grant honors to these unfortunate children and incorporate them under the sacred order.
Many relatively negative laws actually contained extremely terrifying “destructive power.”
This destruction was often not direct physical or surface damage, but deeper fundamental destruction to order, civilization, society, and development.
Rather than letting these highly destructive laws wander outside order, becoming various scourges, it was better to incorporate them into order’s management, making them a link in order’s operation, and guide them correctly with the heavenly dao order.
Just as with the law of taiji—binary opposition yet ultimately unified.
Where there is good, there is bad; where there is light, there is dark; where there is yin, there is yang.
These negative and dark laws were themselves indispensable motivations driving the universe’s spiral progress.
Immediately, Zeus turned his gaze to those night god children standing nervously behind Nyx and personally granted them honors.
Goddess of Deception, Trickery, and Hypocrisy—Apate.
Goddess of Pain, Grief, Anxiety, and Misfortune—Oizys.
God of Mockery and Reproach—Momus.
God of Aging and Old Age—Geras.
Goddess of Violent Death and Untimely Demise—Keres.
Goddess of Friendship, Affection, Desire, and Love—Philotes.
These children Nyx gestated herself gave anyone a headache just looking at them.
Don’t think the friendship goddess is fine; she was specially gestated by Nyx out of worry that these children would fight, as a positive and benign child.
But Philotes was born of Night after all, gestated alone by the night god.
On one hand, she represents friendliness, familial love, and love between people, an important force in maintaining social harmony and interpersonal relations.
On the other hand, her divine authority also extends to the domains of “desire” and “love.”
Especially those intimate relations of secret or taboo nature, hidden in shadows.
Such as “adulterous affairs breaking oaths,” “love defying ethics,” “union defying physiology,” “union of pure desire,” and “fleeting pleasures,” etc. （For example: TXL, YP, YL, LL, DP, DF, PC, TJ, etc.）
The “friendship” she represents is not simply beautiful, but coexists with desire, conflict, and misfortune—an extremely complex, often unhealthy and detrimental to life and development, fragile and brittle emotion.
（To be fair, Philotes would definitely thrive under Zeus’s order.）
These children were truly sensible— of course, this was also due to Nyx’s prior stern instructions.
When Zeus summoned them, they promptly stepped forward one by one, respectfully kneeling and proclaiming in unison “Father God.”
Each performed exceedingly obediently and submissively—at least, they appeared quite normal on the surface.
“Night’s children are Zeus’s children.”
The night god lineage had resolutely, absolutely, unwaveringly upheld this highest criterion!
And Zeus had racked his brains for these nominal “children.”
He neither wanted these children to fully sink into their own purely negative emotional laws, nor did he want these laws to become utter scourges in the universe.
Though the laws they represented were not so good, they were still indispensable parts of this universe.
However, they absolutely could not be allowed to act freely—this would fundamentally destroy the sacred order’s tenets, which Zeus would never permit.
To this end, Zeus specially extended and controlled their laws’ authority, transforming them from purely negative to more profound binary unified existences.
For Apate, he added the authority to use “well-intentioned lies” to comfort hearts and dissolve obsessions.
As for Oizys, though she was the embodiment of “pain” and “suffering,” she would also be the guide for “transforming suffering.”
She would guide living beings to temper their spirits in suffering, strengthen themselves; draw power from pain, struggle for survival in adversity, thereby gaining indomitable, ceaseless will.
Momus, though god of “mockery,” “reproach,” “complaint,” and “criticism,” his direct and sharp words would also become the most precious “critical” force to pierce hypocritical facades and expose ugly truths.
Geras, though the embodiment of life’s inevitable decline, was also the granter of “elderly wisdom,” “rich experience,” and “valuable knowledge.”
He would let living beings, in the flow of years and growth of age, continually increase knowledge and wisdom, becoming bearers of civilization, earning juniors’ respect and life’s dignity for themselves.
As for Keres, they represented both the mercilessness of “death” and the cruelty of “war.”
But their existence would ceaselessly remind the world that beyond normal, natural death, there were more terrifying, merciless, and sudden forms of death.
This would awaken living beings to how precious life was and how important peace was.
And when living beings truly could no longer bear the pain and torment of living, perhaps there was still this final path.
Premature end.
Self-chosen cessation of pain, choosing one’s own life and death.
This, too, preserved for life the final and most precious dignity.
As for Philotes, her divine authority wasn’t so dark to begin with; Zeus merely extended it a bit.
That is—“simple and direct joy.”
True love may be rare, high pursuits hard to attain.
But living beings still have the right to enjoy the simplest, most direct joy.
From all sorts of love, living beings can always easily obtain the most direct “joy.”
However, her existence also warns living beings: joy from pure love is often fragile and brittle, always accompanied by discord and strife.
If merely chasing momentary pleasure, it ultimately leaves endless strife, hatred, and pain.
After Zeus’s remodeling akin to “re-creation,” these gods born of Night were no longer absolutely negative existences.
Though their origins remained relatively negative, they each gained positive aspects.
They could all adapt to Zeus’s “sacred justice order,” thoroughly integrating into this new cosmic order under the god king’s will and guidance, becoming indispensable links within.
In this world, there is no absolute worry-free bliss; even lofty gods have their own troubles.
As long as different “spiritualities” exist, there will inevitably be darkness.
All things, spirits, and laws mutually generate and restrain, yin and yang interdependent.
The universe’s beauty stems from the diversity of all things and spirits, so one must accept the ugliness brought by difference.
This, too, is the righteousness of cosmic balance.
Without darkness, whence comes light? Without evil, whence justice? Without filth, whence purity?
Without hardship and difficulty, whence comes growth?
However, the basic tenets and principles of sacred order should be positively upward.
The meaning of sacred justice order’s existence is to convert all negative factors into forces propelling cosmic progress.
Letting the entire universe, in continually drawing lessons and overcoming hardships, spiral upward in progress!
Converting all ugliness to beauty, steadfastly pursuing beauty.
Because the god king is the great father of all things and spirits.
God loves all spirits.
