Lin Xiyue leaned in close to Su Wan's ear, lowering her voice to a whisper that only the two of them could hear.
"It's a waste of talent for the Azure Dragon Celestial God not to play the part of a tsundere young mistress."
"This stubborn refusal to admit the truth is exactly like you usually are."
Su Wan glared at her fiercely.
A layer of frost instantly condensed on the back of her hand, silently warning the other to shut up immediately.
Lin Qingyue did not miss this opportunity to dig deeper into the backstory.
This was a great opportunity to gather intelligence.
She walked slowly to the side of the writing desk, rested one hand on the tabletop, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Qingxuan, who was pretending to organize the ink bottles.
"There is something I have always been curious about."
Lin Qingyue stared at Qingxuan's profile and threw out her question.
"The Vermilion Bird Sovereign once mentioned you to me."
"In Her description, the Azure Dragon Celestial God is the one who governs the vitality of the East, has the most conservative personality, is extremely arrogant, and is very particular about complicated formalities."
Lin Qingyue's fingers tapped gently on the tabletop.
"This is very interesting."
"As fellow Four Celestial Gods who have known each other for tens of thousands of years, the Vermilion Bird actually didn't know about your private situation? She always thought you were a rigid old fossil?"
The movements in Qingxuan's hands stopped.
She turned her head and pushed up the heavy black-framed glasses on the bridge of her nose.
"What's so strange about that?"
She placed her hands on her hips, her voice growing louder as if she were defending her last shred of dignity.
"We are all deities with reputations to uphold, and we only gather once every few hundred years. Of course I have to put on airs!"
"I'm socially anxious, not stupid!"
"If I didn't put on a stiff and arrogant front, was I supposed to discuss novel outlines and character settings with them at a high-level divine meeting?"
Her defense was full of conviction.
"Even if I was scared to death inside and just wanted to scurry back to my nest to write, I absolutely couldn't back down on the surface!"
"I had to use the most ornate language and the most serious expression to keep them all in line!"
So, this was the so-called "Pride."
Using extreme majesty to mask the cowardice and social anxiety within.
This layer of protective coloring was painted so thickly that even Celestial Gods of the same rank were fooled.
A mischievous smile flickered in Lin Qingyue's eyes.
"Then."
She seized the opportunity to throw out another probe, her tone tinged with the bait of gossip.
"How much do you know about the Vermilion Bird's true personality? In your impression, what kind of person is She?"
When asked this, Qingxuan's face immediately filled with disdain, and her evaluation came without hesitation.
"What personality could she have?"
"A complete-and-utter manic patient who sets mountains on fire at the slightest disagreement."
She curled her lip, even making an explosive gesture with her hand.
"At every divine assembly, she's always the loudest. Irascible, reckless, with nothing but magma in her head."
"I don't ever want to stay under the same roof as her for the rest of my life, she's annoying as hell!"
The four team members exchanged glances.
Inside the temple, a wave of absurd silence descended.
Others might not know, but they had personally gone through the Vermilion Bird's trial and seen that Deity of Fire after her nirvana rebirth.
The Vermilion Bird's wrath was nothing more than a sorrowful disguise she used to combat the endless weariness of her soul.
Lin Qingyue silently sorted this out in her mind.
The Vermilion Bird thought the Azure Dragon was a stiff and arrogant guardian of rules.
The Azure Dragon thought the Vermilion Bird was a manic violent lunatic with only magma in her head.
So all four of these renowned Celestial Gods were double-faced all along?
One "on-duty state," one "off-duty state."
When they gathered for meetings, they each showed up in full divine gear, unfathomable and exuding an air of prestige, each posing more exhaustingly than the last.
After the meeting ended and they returned to their respective temples, taking off their magnificent robes, they immediately revealed their true forms, exposing all sorts of bizarre psychological disorders and personality flaws.
The most absurd part was that after spending tens of thousands of years together, they had actually never seen each other's true "off-duty" state!
What kind of plastic divine friendship was this!
"No wonder the rules of this world have mutated into such a state."
Lin Qingyue chuckled softly and shook her head.
"You supreme Administrators are all living in a massive psychological disconnect."
These words were like a needle, precisely piercing through Qingxuan's forced tsundere shell.
Her shoulders instantly slumped, the aura she had just cultivated vanishing into thin air, and she reverted to that decadent shut-in girl.
"What else could I do..."
Qingxuan muttered softly, her voice full of grievance.
"It's not like I volunteered to be a god."
"I woke up one day, and the Will of the World told me: From now on, you are the spokesperson for this realm, the pillar that maintains its stability. Who asked for my opinion?"
"Luckily, they gave me three colleagues later, otherwise I'd be worked to death. 'God loves mankind' is no joke; we Four Celestial Gods are basically just nannies."
The sheer volume of information in these words sent a jolt through Lin Qingyue and the other three.
Here it is.
Without them even needing to ask, She was just spilling everything.
"So you mean you aren't the original gods of this world?"
Lin Qingyue feigned ignorance.
"Original?"
Qingxuan sneered, the sound laced with a hint of recollection and disdain for the ancient ages.
"The original gods... were nothing like 'Celestial Gods' like us."
She paused, seemingly trying to organize her words, or perhaps recalling a memory that caused even her to feel a visceral sense of discomfort.
For the first time, the atmosphere in the Temple grew truly solemn.
The previous laughter and cursing about web-novel tropes felt like nothing more than a warm-up act before the grand drama began.
"Before we talk about this, you need to understand one thing."
Qingxuan's gaze focused with rare intensity, carrying the profound depth unique to an ancient being.
"In your minds, what exactly is a 'god'?"
Lin Qingyue answered, "The object of mortals' awe and worship, and also their guardian. Just as you said, 'God loves mankind.'"
Qingxuan nodded, then shook her head.
"That describes us, the Four Celestial Gods, yes. But the 'Ancient Gods' who came before us... they were something else entirely."
She raised her hand, Divine Power condensing at her fingertips.
This time, instead of the vitality that could enlighten all creation, it shaped a mass of chaotic, twisted black shadow emanating with primordial malice and misfortune.
The shadow seemed alive, writhing and expanding in her palm, transforming into countless mouths twisted in agonizing wails.
"The Ancient Gods are primordial beings that predated us, and even all living creatures in this world."
"They have no fixed form, no rational thought, only a pure instinct: Devouring."
Qingxuan's voice was kept extremely low, as if afraid of awakening some taboo slumbering deep within the ages.
"They fed upon all things in the world; mountains and rivers were their staples and drinks."
"But what they loved to eat most was living beings."
Unconcealed disgust surfaced on Qingxuan's face.
"The emotions, memories, souls, and bodies of living beings... to them, these were the most supreme and delicious feasts."
"In that era, there were no concrete rules like 'Pride' or 'Wrath.' There was only the purest fear and despair."
Xia Lian instinctively tightened her grip on the twin blades at her waist. Even just hearing the description made her scalp tingle.
"What happened next?" Lin Xiyue pressed.
"Later, the Saviors appeared."
Qingxuan's tone turned a bit strange, as if she were telling a story that even she found absurd.
"A group of... well, how should I describe them?"
"A group of beings with bodies forged of steel, hearts driven by raging flames, and eyes flashing with the light of endless runes, descended from the Otherworld."
Su Wan's brow furrowed deeply.
Beings forged of steel? Was it some lost construct technology, or... a creation of a higher-dimensional civilization?
"Their leader, a steel giant of incomprehensible power, led his steel army in a world-sweeping war against the Ancient Gods."
Qingxuan's description conjured unimaginable images in the minds of the four women.
Steel constructs that towered into the clouds clashed in a mythic struggle against the invisible shadows that devoured heaven and earth.
"In the end, the Ancient God was defeated."
Qingxuan waved her hand to disperse the mass of black shadows, as if their continued existence for even a second more disgusted her.
"But His core, the 'Heart' that gathered the negative source of the entire world, could not be completely destroyed."
"That steel leader, using all his technology, could only seal it."
"He laid down a super sealing formation that covered the entire continent."
"This seal not only suppresses the Ancient God's Heart, but also absorbs the primordial energy leaking from it in reverse, transforming it into the vitality that nourishes all things."
Qingxuan pointed to the azure jade floor beneath their feet, then to the ten-thousand-year-old ancient tree outside the Temple that He had turned into a courier.
"This entire world, everything we see, is built upon that Ancient God's Heart."
"The seal, combined with that Heart, is collectively known as the 'World Heart'."
"And that steel leader, due to his supreme merit in saving the world, had his existence engraved into the laws of the world and ascended to godhood."
"His title is the 'God of Machinery and Creation'."