The sudden realization of the world’s truth and understanding that he could become just another lost possibility at any moment was no less shocking than discovering oneself as a disposable side character meant to power up the protagonist, rather than being the main character of a young adult story as initially believed.
While some might find this reality devastating, it didn’t negatively impact Bai Yi’s spirit at all. Instead, he became more excited. It felt like discovering an intriguing hard mode after playing through what seemed to be an overly simple game. Even his seemingly boring role as a savior had become interesting.
“My existence is an eternal surprise – that’s what life is,” he mused.
On his way home, Bai Yi casually flipped through his birthday gift – not the diary from Bai Xin, but rather a collector’s edition poetry anthology from the old director. Seeing the marketing tagline “Essential Inspirational Poems for Today’s Youth” on the cover, he suspected this was exactly why the director had bought it.
The director, unsure of what children liked these days and having never noticed any particular preferences from Bai Yi, always gave him such positive, uplifting gifts. Perhaps her lingering memories of his past made her worry about his emotional state?
As Bai Yi leafed through the anthology, that line caught his eye immediately. He recited it softly, feeling a peculiar emotion. It was indeed a good poem.
The thought passed quickly as the visible countdown reminded him to take action, even if it meant making moves that might seem extreme to ordinary people. After all, he aimed to become the most extraordinary version of Bai Yi.
Just then, Bai Yi sensed something. A distant connection gently touched his consciousness – countless surging waves of faith. If previously they had merely flowed around him like quiet streams, now they were boiling and churning.
“This level of intensity rivals a major ceremony,” he thought.
Driven by curiosity and indefinable anticipation, he closed his eyes. Ripples appeared in mid-air, slowly sketching out an ethereal card invisible to ordinary people. The young man in the flower field smiled.In the illusory spiritual realm, different from reality, countless points of faith surged toward him at the pinnacle like celestial stars, making the endless flower field even more luxuriant. Below the flower field lay soil fertilized by despair and misfortune.
Bai Yi’s consciousness spread along those infinite points of faith. In a familiar sensation, his spirit seemed to suddenly float from his body, lifted higher and higher by an invisible force until he could look down upon the world below.
He recognized the source of this flowing faith –
“It’s the Holy Federation, as expected.”
Although the Flower Speaker’s alternate identity was constantly active worldwide, collecting countless people’s despair and misfortune to nourish the flower field, the Holy Federation undoubtedly had the largest concentration of his followers. While other regions had only scattered, independent believers, here someone had unified them, establishing a dedicated sect that continued to expand.
Looking down through the flow of faith in his “divine” state, Bai Yi could see faith flowing in every city of the Holy Federation except the Holy City, though even it had been partially infiltrated.
Countless scenes floated before his eyes: the orderly gold-red buildings of the majestic Holy City; sprawling slums filled with low houses, chaos, and noise; bustling metropolises where various races mingled; large harbors with crescent-shaped beaches stretching into endless azure waters; lush green wilderness with ancient forests; small chapels with rainbow-colored domes resonating with children’s choir songs…
Elite members of high society, poor people struggling to maintain dignity despite decent clothes, zealous and devout clergy, young and beautiful maidens… These drastically different scenes and completely unrelated people mysteriously merged together across every city in the Holy Federation, performing identical prayer rituals simultaneously.
Such a scene could never have been orchestrated without an extremely powerful figure behind it. Even the Sun Temple’s ceremonies were limited to the Holy City alone.
These people’s clothes were spotlessly clean, bearing no holy symbols but instead featuring various flower patterns. Even where the sun emblem should have been on their chests, blooming flowers took its place, completely separate from the Sun God’s followers… Yet their expressions and postures would appear utterly devout to any Holy City resident, exactly like the faithful they knew.
Clearly, they had no elements related to the Sun God, and their prayer ritual was entirely different from the Sun Temple’s prayers to the Sun God.
The ceremony spread across the Holy Federation occurred simultaneously in every city. As countless prayers rose at once, in another dimension beyond reality, the young man in the flower field opened his eyes.
His spirit looked down from the high heavens, seeing countless devout faces and hearing prayers flowing continuously through invisible threads of faith.
“Ah, it’s him again, or rather, of course it’s him.”
Samuel – the founder of the Candlelight Society, the extraordinary person who had captured all cults within the Holy Federation and transformed all cultists into zealous followers of the Flower Speaker.
Since the Candlelight Society’s establishment, the Flower Speaker had often sensed continuous faith and prayers from the Holy Federation.
Originally, Bai Yi had let this flow naturally, paying it no attention – he was just an ordinary high school student, after all, and had no interest in being some evil deity.
But now, his perspective had changed.
Everything valuable and useful was worth utilizing – perhaps they would all become key elements for future success.
So, he’d start with the “Flower Speaker.”
“To carve out a second faith within the Sun God-worshipping Holy Federation, no, more like usurping the Sun Temple’s authority – what a terrifying person.”
“Someone like this couldn’t possibly be insignificant…”
“Samuel? The archangel who betrayed the Sun God in the Holy Federation’s scripture – what an interesting name choice. With such fervent faith in me and fanatical expansion of the Candlelight Society, what could your purpose be?”
“Let me see… the misfortune and desires buried deepest in your heart…”
With these whispered words, the deity’s gaze turned toward that most special follower. Everything about them opened up to him.
Soon, the young man in the flower field let out a soft sigh of understanding.
“I see!”
“…I’ve seen your determination.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to give you a bit of hope first…”
In some unknown location within the Holy City, at the front of the crowd, a man in pure white robes who had been praying silently suddenly trembled, then raised his head. Others followed suit.
A mysterious, ethereal force seemed to descend, washing over their souls like clear water, cleansing away all anxiety and distracting thoughts, leaving their minds extraordinarily clear and peaceful.
Simultaneously, a soft sigh echoed:
“Such devout desire, such unwavering determination…”
“And hope born from intense misfortune and despair…”
“—I have heard your wish.”
A breeze seemed to sweep through the Holy City, causing flowers to bloom everywhere instantly.
Samuel, his face hidden beneath a hood, suddenly opened his eyes. In his pupils, a virtual space seemed to overlap with reality. The real flower field merged with the illusory one, and the mysterious flower shop surrounded by endless flowers emerged in the depths of the virtual space. Its closed doors slowly opened to him…
In that moment, understanding dawned on him and tears streamed down his face. He instinctively prostrated himself, offering the highest respect to this merciful deity—
“…Oh omnipotent Lord!”
…”No, I’m just an ordinary flower shop owner.”
“Resolving the sorrow and misfortune of those destined to come here, using despair and misfortune to nourish seeds of hope – this has always been my desire.”
Deep in the flower shop, the mysterious owner casually crossed his hands in front of him, showing an ordinary smile.
“Flowers are meant to convey happiness, aren’t they?”
“However, to fulfill your wish, you need xtraordinary power that transcends the boundary between life and death…” In the youth’s palm, an ethereal seed kept trying to materialize but never quite solidified. “And a seed that might grant its owner extraordinary power requires unimaginable nourishment just to be born. Individual misfortune and hope are far from enough…”
“—It needs to gather more people’s misfortune, and even more… heartfelt hope and desire from others.”
“More people’s misfortune? Should I create more misfortune myself…”
This thought appeared in Samuel’s mind immediately but was rejected the next second.
“No, that’s wrong. I misunderstood.”
Thinking of how he had gathered so many believers for this large prayer ceremony, he suddenly understood, almost trembling. “I should seek out more people who have experienced misfortune and desire extraordinary power… They will be the lambs who share in divine grace with me!”
After contemplation, Samuel’s expression completely relaxed. Having realized something, he lowered his head devoutly.
“…Lord, I shall spread your name.”
In mid-air, the ethereal card slowly dissipated, and the youth in the flower field closed his eyes again, seeming to fall asleep, with only a faint flower fragrance lingering in the air.
The boy slowly opened his eyes. In the depths of his black pupils, there seemed to be an astonishing divinity – for this moment, he seemed beyond human.
But quickly, that divinity rapidly faded.
He closed the inspirational poetry book and showed another completely lighthearted smile.
Bai Yi cheerfully hummed a tune, hopping along the pavement home. “La la la, all done!”
The Flower Speaker situation could basically run on autopilot now…
“Next, I should continue Joey’s script. Let me think, what should I do next?”
Quickly switching to another identity, Bai Yi finally remembered what he needed to do. “Speaking of which, the Chenxing Empire seems to have found several collections and contacted me through the newspaper, right?”
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