38: Chapter 38 The Industrial Age

In the capital of the Starfire Empire, Chu Xingyang studied the blueprint in his hand, then looked up at the magnificent building before him.

It was the Xingyang Temple, covering twenty thousand square meters and standing 188 meters tall. After 120 years of construction, it was nearly half finished.

For over a hundred years, the empire had been working diligently, constructing day and night. Even the ten-meter-tall imperial palace where the emperor resided was built using secondary materials discarded from the temple construction years ago.

In the Iron Age, this speed of construction was already the limit of the nation's power.

Chu Xingyang expressionlessly tossed the blueprint to the architect: "Stop construction, effective immediately!"

The seventh-generation architect of the temple, Moli, felt his legs go weak with fear and immediately knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly: "great deity, I do not know where we have gone wrong, please enlighten us. For so many years, we have been doing our utmost to build the temple, never daring to slack off for a single moment!"

Behind him, the people of the Star Fire Nation also prostrated themselves on the ground, wailing in unison: "We Hope the Xingyang God will investigate clearly; we are sincere and have poured our hearts and blood into this. Every aspect of the project has never been handled carelessly."

Chu Xingyang frowned: "When I say stop, it stops! It is too taxing on the people and wastes too much wealth."

On his way here, he had passed a mass grave containing ten thousand people—those who had either died from overwork or accidents while building the temple over the past hundred years.

Beside him, Yu Lan blinked, a surge of inexplicable emotion welling up in her heart. If she had known earlier that there truly was a deity, and such a deity at that, she would have converted long ago and would never have joined forces with the giants and Armored People to resist the Gospel Army.

Moli looked troubled: "But with it only half-built, you cannot move in, great deity."

Chu Xingyang remained indifferent, thinking to himself, can't a god live in an unfinished building?

However, he still used his divine power to utilize the construction materials already brought to the site to hastily seal the roof of the temple and finish the exterior facade.

Although it was much shorter than the blueprints, at a hundred meters tall, it was already the tallest building in the world at that time.

In the following months, as a servant of the god, Yu Lan flew back and forth between the temple and the ground, happily busy decorating the deity's room.

Finally, she installed a massive wind chime on the top floor and clapped her hands in accomplishment.

Chu Xingyang initially found the thing, which tinkled in the wind, a bit annoying.

But later, he realized that in the towering temple, there was only himself living on the top floor and Yu Lan on the level below. Only then did he realize that without some sound, it was too lonely.

In the 122nd year of the Xingyang Calendar, leaders of various countries and tribal chieftains from the five continents came together to the capital of the Starfire Empire on a pilgrimage.

The massive city was packed so tightly that not even water could pass through. Everyone crowded in front of the Xingyang Temple.

While waiting for the deity to appear, they praised the magnificent temple endlessly.

At this moment, the fifty members of the Divine Choir began to sing the Hymn to the God in front of the temple.

These singers were all pure-blooded Music People.

Although, under the suggestion of the Xingyang God over a hundred years ago, the five races of the Starfire Empire began to intermarry and integrate, and even the emperors of the last few generations had the bloodlines of several races.

However, the Music People, who were proficient in music and extremely talented at singing, had selected eight families to only intermarry within their clans, in order to form and maintain a Divine Choir capable of singing the Hymn to the God like heavenly music.

The lingering and soul-stirring divine hymn floated in the air, and everyone's eyes were filled with tears as they trembled with great excitement.

But after waiting for a day, the crowd did not see the deity appear.

It was not until evening that Yu Lan flew down to the ground and spoke nonchalantly: "The Xingyang God said that whatever needed to be said has already been told to you, so don't come here in the future."

She scratched her head, recalling carefully: "In short, be prepared for the incoming alien spacecraft, even for the worst. But don't abandon artistic life for the sake of developing technology, or something like that. I can't remember that much, you'll have to figure it out for yourselves."

The disappointment of not seeing the deity did not wash away the emotion and piety in their hearts.

Everyone knelt on the ground, pressing their foreheads to the earth: "We will certainly not fail the deity's expectations. The Xingyang God is the only light in the darkness, and our eternal Hope. Your wisdom brought us civilization, and your kindness watered our growth!"

Since then, humanity, being loyal believers of the god, had their hearts illuminated by the god.

With a sense of crisis, they shared a common hatred for the enemy, and with the Xingyang God as their backbone, humanity ceased fighting and infighting, entering a brand-new period of concerted effort and peaceful development.

In the 168th year of the Xingyang Calendar, several continents, under the guidance of Moli, jointly developed a lightweight and practical steam engine.

Humanity thus entered the Steam Age.

In the 177th year of the Xingyang Calendar, the first railway on Blue Star was built and opened to traffic. With the curling white smoke rising from the train, people had a brand-new way of traveling.

The subsequent invention of the steamship also greatly shortened the travel time between continents, and the ocean was no longer a vast, detestable chasm.

In the following decade, various small vehicles with several wheels emerged. Chu Xingyang named these various strange and curious vehicles "automobiles."

He watched the bustling traffic and rising white smoke in the city below from the top floor of the temple, feeling very gratified.

In the 200th year of the Xingyang Calendar, humanity's first glider successfully completed its test flight.

The elderly Yu Lan was filled with emotion at the scene, muttering to herself in a low voice: "The era when only the Winged People were in the sky is gone forever."

At 96 years old, she had a full head of white hair; she no longer had the strength to spread her wings, nor was she capable of serving the Xingyang God at all.

But Chu Xingyang did not send her away; instead, he smiled by her bedside with a loving expression: "You have served me in this temple for your whole life. Now that you are at this age, let me go down and buy you the honey gummy candies you love the most."

Yu Lan on the bed was streaming with tears; being able to serve the deity for so many years made her feel that she was already the happiest human in the history of this planet. But she never expected that on the verge of death, she would still receive the honor of being cared for by the god.

Chu Xingyang walked out of the temple wearing a fake beard, when he suddenly felt a strange gaze from behind.

He turned around and saw an old woman in tattered clothes hurriedly lowering her head.

He immediately felt it was strange; the capital of the Starfire Empire had many shelters and relief stations, so there shouldn't be any homeless people.

Subconsciously, he handed over a few gold coins. The old woman lowered her head, took them with trembling hands, and then immediately turned and walked away with a staggering gait.

"Wait a moment!" Chu Xingyang called out.

The old woman's figure paused, then she pretended not to hear and continued walking forward.

"I said wait a moment, Wei Wei!"

The elderly woman had her name called out by the deity once again, and she fell to her knees and wailed.

Chu Xingyang walked over and squatted beside her, waiting until her emotions had stabilized before asking: "When did you come here?"

Wei Wei sobbed softly: "In the 122nd year of the Xingyang Calendar, I came with the pilgrimage team of the Rising Sun Alliance."

"And you have been wandering here for 78 years? Why didn't you come to find me?"

"I saw that you had a new maid, that woman who can fly." The more Wei Wei spoke, the more aggrieved she felt, and the tears she had just stopped flowed out like a bursting flood: "I thought you didn't need me anymore, so I just waited under the temple, wanting only to see the deity one last time before I die."

Chu Xingyang reached out and helped her up: "In the first few years after leaving the Central Continent, I could hear your daily pious prayers. But later, there were too many people praying on the planet, so I couldn't be bothered to listen anymore. However, I know that even at over a hundred years old, you are still quite healthy. Come back to the temple with me; I happen to have something for you to do."