Only God
Chapter 236 - 202: Those Who Followed the Prophet

Chapter 236: Chapter 202: Those Who Followed the Prophet

The time had already turned to night, and a myriad of stars blanketed the black sky, vying to shine the brightest.

"Xilan, are you setting out?"

Casas spoke up as he observed the elf that had always followed Noen.

Xilan caressed a newly erected stone tablet within New Rule Garden.

It was his record of the stories about Prophet Noen, a story that had not yet been named. Xilan intended to return to Nus Kingdom and, after consulting with the priests in Pattern Garden, would come up with a name.

Casas glanced at the long table nearby, where Xilan’s traveling bag lay. Without looking, he could guess what Xilan intended to bring back.

Xilan noticed his gaze and then approached the table, saying,

"Inside there’s a copy of what’s recorded on this stone tablet, and another of what I have seen and heard here. All of these I will take back to my people."

Casas nodded slightly.

Although they were but slender rolls of papyrus, to the elves of Nus Kingdom, they were supreme Holy Scriptures, encompassing not only the deeds of the Prophet but also the words of God.

Casas beheld the three stone tablets within New Rule Garden, his heart unavoidably filled with melancholy.

"As your Prophet, he has left like this and will never return."

Elf Xilan turned back, looking at Casas.

Casas took steps forward, his fingers gently tracing the inscriptions on the tablet as he continued,

"Sometimes, I really don’t understand why these things have the power to demand a mortal’s life’s effort.

I once heard Noen tell stories, and yes, they were indeed moving, but I never imagined a day when these heart-stirring tales would come so close to us.

I can’t comprehend Noen. I don’t know for what he bid us farewell, giving up his life."

Casas seemed to be talking to Xilan but also muttering to himself, almost as if he were conversing through the stone tablet with the distant Noen.

Noen had always supported him, and he had supported Noen too. The Stone Slave, in his eyes, was not just a revered Prophet but also an inseparable brother.

Now that Noen was gone, Casas felt as if a part of himself had died.

"I don’t know how to answer you, Casas, but perhaps in the Prophet’s eyes, his departure does not equate to a permanent farewell."

"What does it mean, then?"

Casas asked in return.

Xilan simply shook his head and continued,

"Except for the Prophet himself and God, perhaps no one knows."

Casas laughed bitterly; Xilan’s words did not sound like words of comfort.

"Very well, Xilan, very well."

Casas gestured towards New Rule Garden,

"This place, as a gift that Noen left for this world, I will tend to with care."

Xilan nodded slightly.

The son of the Prime Minister spoke in such a way, evidently to give the elf peace of mind about his journey to Nus Kingdom. After all, the journey was long and arduous, and Xilan might fall along the way or, for various reasons, remain in Nus Kingdom, never to return.

Then, Casas gazed into the distant night sky,

"That question..."

Casas sighed,

"Perhaps I will spend a lifetime searching for an answer."

A gentle breeze arose with the swaying of the wheat, their greenish hue still unripe. Above them stretched the vast night sky. Casas closed his eyes, his mind filled with the sounds of prayers from the old days in the New Rule Garden, as if the figure of Noen still stood before the stele, smiling as he told stories to the believers.

Time had changed the scenery, and the past was no more. There stood Casas, gazing into the emptiness of his own soul.

---

The next morning, Xilan shouldered his knapsack, followed by a group of Stone Slaves, sent by Casas to escort him to the Nus Kingdom.

They did not cross the Path of Death but instead, after trekking across vast deserts, they turned into the grasslands. They encountered two sandstorms along the way but, fortunately, got through without harm. Soon after, they followed the paths of the grassland and stepped foot into a vast Secret Forest.

The Ancient Kingdom of the Elves appeared before the travelers.

Inside the Ancient Kingdom, the Guards, from afar, noticed people leading camels into the forest. Initially cautious, but upon recognizing Xilan leading the group, they excitedly blew the horns to signal the news.

Before long, Priests hurried down from the altars on the high mountains.

"Is it Xilan?!"

"Really Xilan? The one who followed the Prophet?"

"Xilan has returned! He has fulfilled the mission bestowed upon him by the dual kings, he has followed the Prophet and witnessed his stories!"

The entire Holy Land was stirred once again.

Why say "once again"?

Not long ago, when God made a covenant with Prophet Noen at the summit of the Holy Mountain, the voice of God’s covenant came from atop the mountain and echoed throughout the entire Kingdom.

The Elves trembled incessantly, with lights and prayers throughout the night, filling every corner of the Kingdom.

The Priests proclaimed God’s Heavenly City, the afterlife realm fated to descend.

The spiritual world of the Logos people was on the verge of an unprecedented great renewal—the afterlife would no longer be vague and full of conjecture, but a tangible reality endorsed by God’s words.

Past speculations had been disproven, and the truth would be fully revealed after the descent of the Heavenly City.

At this moment, Xilan set foot in the Holy Land. The Priests guarding the Holy Land hurriedly surrounded him, examining him with eyes full of indescribable excitement.

This was the man who had followed the Prophet!

Aside from Xilan, who else had witnessed the full extent of the Prophet’s great deeds?

The High Priest approached Xilan, his chest heaving violently, trembling hands raised in salute before he asked in a wavering voice,

"Xilan... our Xilan, you have witnessed the stories of the Prophet, among so many Logos people, only you have witnessed his journey."

Xilan, too, trembled as he spoke,

"I was merely fortunate enough; the Prophet chose me to follow by his side."

He then took out a stack of papyrus from his knapsack and presented it with both hands.

The High Priest’s pupils quivered, instinctively knowing what it was even before Xilan spoke.

He excitedly took the papyrus from Xilan’s hands, his aged fingers flipping through it again and again.

Then, the High Priest took a deep breath, faced everyone, and said with a trembling voice,

"The stories of the Prophet... these are the deeds of the Prophet chosen by God!"

"At the end of this story, the Prophet was called by God, leaving in a blinding light. He walked with God until God’s kingdom descended upon this world!

Prophet, bearing the blood of the Logos people,

We Logos people, the earliest to make a covenant with God!"

He held the yellowed papyrus aloft as if lifting a sacred artifact of his people, tears streaming down his eyes once more.

At that moment, everyone faced the Holy Mountain and knelt down, their hands pressed together, and the prayer of their millennia-old faith resounded in a single moment.

They blessed and praised the deeds of the Prophet, they believed wholeheartedly that one day, in this mortal world, the glory of God would return again: that was the afterlife, the Country of Descent, the supremely good and beautiful Heavenly City!