Chapter 10 Celestial Gods II

　　—The divine resides within us; we ourselves are part of the divine. Humanity has no need to worship invented gods; the socalled gods are simply human beings of elevated divinity.

　　Once no outsiders remained, Gongkong introduced the leadership of the clan to Su Ziqi and her companions.

　　The middleaged man was the Great Chieftain of the clan, named Gongdian. The other five were: High Priest Fang Mu, Chieftain Ge Xiong of the Bear Tribe, Chieftain Kong Xiaotian of the Tiger Tribe, Chieftain Xin Biao of the Leopard Tribe, and Chieftain Yu Yong of the Wolf Tribe.

　　High Priest Fang Mu was of modest stature, clad in a black upper garment and red trousers, his head wrapped in a yellow cloth, his face covered by a beastskin mask upon whose forehead a vertical eye had been painted—an appearance both sinister and uncanny.

　　Ge Xiong, Kong Xiaotian, and Xin Biao were of roughly the same age as the Great Chieftain Gongdian. They too wore yellow garments and yellow headcloths, differing only in the animals painted upon their chests.

　　Ge Xiong bore a great black bear; Kong Xiaotian a longhorned tiger; Xin Biao the Infant Leopard they had previously encountered.

　　Chieftain Yu Yong of the Wolf Tribe appeared somewhat older; upon the yellow linen of his chest was painted a gray wolf with bared fangs.

　　Su Ziqi in turn introduced the members of her party to the clan leaders.

　　Gongkong then reported in detail to the Great Chieftain how he had sighted the smoking great bird in the sky, how he and his subordinates had pursued it, and where they had finally encountered the humanclan celestial gods.

　　The Great Chieftain nodded upon hearing the account: “The arrival of the celestial gods is a blessing upon our clan. I shall prepare a banquet to welcome the humanclan celestial gods with due ceremony.”

　　Su Ziqi noted that the chieftain still addressed them as “celestial gods.” Since explanation had proved useless, she ceased further protest and allowed the designation: “Chieftain, you are too kind. There is no need for a banquet; we must return soon.”

　　“Night has already fallen; the forest is unsafe after dark. I beg the gods to deign to lodge for one night in our humble dwellings.”

　　Only then did the five realize that the sun had set and dusk was upon them.

　　After brief consultation they concluded that even by flying craft they could not reach the Kuafu before full darkness.

　　Traveling by night presented two dangers: unfamiliarity with the route, and the truth of the Great Chieftain’s warning. Having already witnessed the ferocity of the Infant Leopard by day, none could guess what still more perilous beasts the forest might conceal. They therefore decided to remain overnight with the Gongyou tribe.

　　Su Ziqi established quantum communication with the ship, briefly informed Captain Yang Zhiyuan of the situation, and inquired about the progress of repairs. Yang replied that Engine One had been restored; Engines Two and Three were still under repair.

　　Seeing that Su Ziqi and her companions were willing to lodge with the tribe, the Great Chieftain was greatly pleased and ordered a banquet prepared at once to welcome the gods.

　　The interior of the tree hollow gradually darkened. Servants appeared bearing certain flowers that radiated brilliant light in the darkness, like so many lighted bulbs.

　　They inserted the stems of these blossoms into sockets in the walls of the hollow; the great hall at once grew considerably brighter.

　　Dong Yifeng held one of the flowers and murmured: “To think that in this world there exist flowers capable of emitting radiant light by their own power in the night—truly miraculous!”

　　Gongkong explained: “Honored celestial gods, these are NightBright Flowers. Once plucked, so long as the petals remain undamaged they will continue to shine for several days.”

　　With leisure now afforded them, the company examined the hall’s arrangement by the new light. Side stairways indicated that the hollowed tree contained more than a single level.

　　At that moment the statue seated upon the dragon throne atop the platform drew their attention. When they clearly discerned its form, all were struck with astonishment.

　　“Is this not the threeeyed giant of the Martian murals?” Su Ziqi nearly exclaimed aloud.

　　It was a polychrome carving, apparently of wood. The figure wore a yellow robe and held a scepter tipped with a pineconeshaped object; upon its forehead stood a conspicuous third vertical eye.

　　Wang Yue observed that the statue differed slightly from the threeeyed giant of the Martian mural: first, this figure bore no horns upon its head; second, the pupil of its third eye was yellow.

　　Noticing the strange intensity with which Su Ziqi and the others regarded the statue, Gongkong hastened forward to explain: “This is the celestial god who created our Gongyou Clan; generation after generation we have worshipped him. In this land only you dare stare so openly at this wooden block. Ordinary folk who gaze upon it thus are punished for the crime of great disrespect by having their eyes gouged out.”

　　Su Ziqi exclaimed in amazement: “Heavens—it seems we have truly traversed into the era of the Martian civilization. The natives of this planet regard the threeeyed giant as their Creator God. What can this mean?”

　　Dong Yifeng remained unimpressed: “What is there to marvel at? A moment ago they still called us celestial gods. The Creator legend this native recounts is of the same order as Nüwa fashioning mankind or God creating man—mere legend, not to be taken seriously.”

　　Huamei took up the thread: “Professor, some creators do exist in reality. To us, for example, humanity is our Creator.”

　　Dong curled his lip and answered firmly: “Huamei, those are two different matters. Humanity evolved from ancient apes; I refuse to believe in any ‘Creator.’”

　　Seeing that the discussion threatened once more to turn upon the origin of humanity, Zheng Ya changed the subject: “Let the question of Creators rest for the moment. I have a different doubt. Suppose that tens of thousands of years ago both Mars and Mu Star truly existed within the solar system, and that the two planets were not adjacent but widely separated—why then would identical forms of celestialgod worship appear upon both?”

　　Wang Yue pondered, then replied: “Zheng Ya’s question is well put. If the worship of celestial gods were merely the product of imagination by the civilizations of these two planets, how could they have imagined identical figures?”

　　“Sister Yue, do you mean that celestialgod worship requires a prototype?”

　　“Precisely. Recall the example Zheng Ya cited earlier: during the Second World War primitive islanders worshipped the Americans as celestial gods. Perhaps the threeeyed giant truly existed; otherwise identical images and carvings could not appear upon two planets so distant from each other.”

　　Su Ziqi offered a new possibility: “Might there not be a temporal disparity between the two planets’ worship? For instance, the ancestors of Gongkong’s people may have carried the cult from Mars to Mu Star, or their descendants may later have emigrated to Mars and brought the worship of the threeeyed giant from Mu to Mars, thus producing identical cults upon both worlds.”

　　Zheng Ya smiled: “Ziqi, let us stop guessing. Gongkong stands beside us—why not ask him directly whether the threeeyed celestial god is a product of imagination or a real being?”

　　Upon hearing Su Ziqi’s inquiry, Gongkong answered without the slightest hesitation: “Celestial Sister, how can you doubt that our threeeyed celestial god is real? I tell you, upon this very planet the Green Clan of Evil Gods still live. Damn them—every one of those creatures is a devil!”

　　The company was thunderstruck; none had imagined that threeeyed giants might truly exist.

　　Su Ziqi continued: “Gongkong, what manner of celestial gods are the Green Clan of Evil Gods? Are they also the creators of your clan?”

　　“The Green Clan of Evil Gods now dominate our world; they are our enemies. Damn them—how could we have been created by such devils? We have but one Creator: the original of this statue—the Yellow Clan Celestial God.”

　　“The Yellow Clan Celestial God? How does he differ from the Green Clan of Evil Gods of which you speak?”

　　“The distinction is simple: the color of the pupil in the third eye is different. The celestial god who created our Gongyou Clan possesses a third eye of yellow; we honor him as the Yellow Clan Celestial God. Likewise the Green Clan of Evil Gods have third eyes of emerald green.”

　　“Emeraldgreen pupils?” Wang Yue exclaimed. She was meticulous and skilled at observing detail. “In the Martian mural the pupil of the threeeyed giant’s third eye is precisely emerald green. Ziqi, ask him further whether socalled Green Clan celestial gods exist upon Mars.”

　　Su Ziqi translated the question. Gongkong appeared to harbor a deep and bitter hatred toward the Green Clan; he answered with evident impatience: “The Green Clan of Evil Gods have always monopolized the fertile, resourcerich lands of Mu Star. Why would they ever go to the arid, barren, resourcepoor Mars?”

　　The five exchanged glances. The matter of the threeeyed giants grew ever more intricate and enigmatic.

　　Their minds turned upon the same questions: Who had painted the murals within the Martian lava cavern? Why did identical worship of the threeeyed giant appear upon both Mars and Mu Star?

　　Zheng Ya adhered to her earlier conviction: “I grow ever more certain that we have truly traversed spacetime and arrived in the era of the threeeyed giants.”

　　Dong Yifeng had never been one to credit the supernatural, yet even he was beginning to accept the possibility of temporal displacement: “This damned threeeyed giant is nothing less than our nightmare. Ever since we first beheld that mural of the threeeyed monster, it is as though a curse has fallen upon us—strange events multiply, and we have been carried to a planet that ought never to have existed.”

　　Though Gongkong could not understand their words, he seemed to sense that they were discussing the celestial gods, and said: “Our Yellow Clan Celestial God once prophesied that in the age of the end of the Dharma, humanclan celestial gods would descend from the heavens, come to our clan, and deliver us. The prophecy has proved exact: you are the humanclan celestial gods who have come to save us!”

　　The statement left them still more confounded.

　　Su Ziqi replied: “Gongkong, we are no celestial gods. You yourself saw that without you our Dong Yifeng would already have perished beneath the claws of that Infant Leopard.”

　　“We have never doubted the prophecy of the Yellow Clan Celestial God,” Gongkong answered. “Your arrival must foreshadow something.”