Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 568 The Eyes of the Glutton
Heaven is driven by greed, and man by desire.

If a god were to devour all realms, his belly would surely contain the dreams of all living beings.

—From *Zi Bu Yu* (The Master Did Not Discuss), Chapter on Greed

As the lightning faded, the air deep within the cave became stagnant, like still water.

The runes on the rock face shimmered in the dim light, like a cluster of fallen stars breathing. Limestone slowly crumbled from the cracks, and the sound of the debris hitting the ground was amplified into a suppressed echo in this enclosed space.

Miranda stood silently amidst the collapsing lines, her smile carrying a strange warmth that seemed to soothe all danger.

Her fingers gently brushed over the two Soul Altar cards, their surfaces gleaming with a cold light that reflected the indifferent glint in her eyes.

She closed the card, and the skin on her fingertips slowly cracked open, revealing transparent mycelium that emerged from her body, coiling and twisting around her like a group of silent snakes.

They meandered down her wrist bones, burrowed into the ground, and instantly extended to the cave walls and ceiling, making the entire cave seem to breathe with her.

"Don't rush to draw your sword, Lord of Destiny." Her voice was gentle, yet carried an undeniable authority. Her tone was like a mother comforting a crying child, or a deity looking down upon a mortal awaiting judgment.

"I'm not here to kill you."

Si Ming didn't speak; he simply stared at her, his fingertips hovering over the writing brush, his eyes deep and cold.

The chessboard beneath their feet lit up with light patterns, and silver-white squares appeared one by one, as if hinting at a will that could gather the entire space at any moment.

Miranda seemed unfazed by the murderous intent; she maintained her elegant composure.

She stepped forward, her boot heels striking the rocky ground with a crisp sound.

Her tone was calm and slow, each word sounding as if it had been calculated.

Do you know the true mechanics of this instance? Or rather—do you think you do?

At that moment, a hint of pity and contempt flashed in her eyes. Her expression was more like a doctor announcing the cause of a patient's illness than a confrontation between enemy and prey.

“The Seven Souls Altar is the key. The Three Souls Altar is the lock.” She gently raised her hand, her fingertips twitching slightly.

The winding vein of light from the fungal hyphae on the cave ceiling lit up, like a flowing river of light weaving through the rock layers. The cave was bathed in a crimson glow, and dust particles floated in the light, as if a ritual was taking place.

Miranda's voice sounded exceptionally calm amidst the interplay of light and darkness: "Once the purification of the seven souls is complete, the instance will enter its second phase—'The Sealed Land of the Gluttonous Beast'."

She chuckled softly, her tone turning slightly cold. "But that's not the end, it's the door."

The rock beneath her feet trembled slightly with her voice, and the mycelium seemed to respond to her command.

Her gaze swept over the crowd and finally landed on Si Ming's hand, where the "Guardian of the Light of the Amnesiac" was radiating a pale golden glow.

Miranda's voice remained gentle, yet it carried an undeniable power:

"The Three Souls—Tai Guang, Shuang Ling, and You Jing—are the three links that seal Taotie. Each Soul Altar Card can weaken its Star Calamity power by a quarter. When all three cards are gathered, it will fall to the mortal realm. At that time, even low-level players can achieve godhood and take away the ultimate mystery."

She smiled, a smile as sharp as a blade, elegant yet dangerous. "Isn't this exactly what you wanted, Lord of Destiny?"

Si Ming remained silent, and the air in the cave gradually grew colder.

A glint flashed in his eyes, but there was no emotion in them.

Selene chuckled softly, a sharp contempt in her voice.

She crossed her arms, her eyes like two sharp blades: "You really know how to talk."

Miranda ignored the sarcasm and continued, "I'm not greedy, I only want the Gluttony. You can take the other spoils, I don't need them."

Her fingers traced patterns in the air, and wisps of fungus slid from her fingertips, forming an ancient symbol in mid-air. "As long as you hand over the Soul Altar Card to me, you can safely leave the instance once I've completed the walkthrough."

Yu Weiwei's lips trembled slightly as she whispered, "It doesn't sound like... a bad thing."

Her voice was somewhat weak, carrying the instinctive fear of the unknown.

Zhuang Yege lowered her voice as well: "She's right, we can't deal with Taotie alone. Even if we weaken it, we'll still die. Perhaps..."

“Perhaps what?” Celian interrupted coldly, a bloodshot glint in her eyes, her tone like an icy blade.

"Give our lives to this madwoman?" The blood patterns on her fingertips suddenly lit up, and the blood energy surged like mist. A pair of blood wings unfolded behind her, and the air temperature plummeted.

She didn't say anything more, and suddenly swung her claws.

A deafening roar tore through the air, and a crimson blade of light fell like a meteor, heading straight for Miranda's heart.

The blood-stained blade pierced the air, producing a sharp, shrill sound. At that moment, even the air trembled.

With a muffled thud, the blood-red blade shattered in mid-air, turning into countless ashes.

The barrier of calamity surrounding Miranda rippled slightly, and her cloak remained completely unwrinkled.

She lowered her head, a gentle smile playing on her lips: "Rude." There was no anger in that smile, yet it was more chilling than any threat.

Selene licked her lips and replied in a low voice, "I don't want to make a deal with a monster."

Si Ming finally spoke, his voice as steady as iron: "She did nothing wrong." This sentence shocked everyone at the same time.

Si Ming looked up, his gaze sharp as a cold glint: "If I agree to your request, I'll give up my life. After you get the Taotie, will you spare our lives? You are a member of the Eye of the Primordial, Miranda."

Miranda's smile froze for a moment, but the next second, she smiled again, a smile that was deeper and colder.

"Sometimes, being too clever by fate isn't a good thing."

Si Ming's lips curled slightly, her tone cold and firm: "Sorry, I won't give you this card."

The air fell into an eerie stillness.

Miranda's sigh was gentle, like a mother forgiving a naughty child, yet it was as cold as falling into an icy river.

“Boring humans.” She raised her hand, and the mycelium in her palm wriggled as if it were alive.

Two Soul Altar Cards slid out from her sleeve and floated in mid-air.

"I originally wanted to save some energy." She gently spread her five fingers.

In an instant, countless transparent mycelia burst forth, instantly entangling the two cards.

A teeth-grinding cracking sound rang out in the air, "Crack—crack—" The two cards were simultaneously shredded, the fragments turning into countless particles of light, like dust from shattered souls, which flickered for a moment in the darkness of the cave before disappearing.

Time seemed to stand still at that moment, and even breathing became heavy.

Miranda, with her back to the crowd, spoke calmly yet with a deathly chill: "Since you won't cooperate..."

She slowly raised her head, her eyes gleaming with an inhuman coldness. "Then prepare to welcome the complete Taotie."

A humming sound rang out as the altar began to tremble, and the entire cave shook violently.

The rocks beneath our feet cracked layer by layer, the fissures spreading along the light veins of the mycelium, and the ground emitted a low rumble.

Si Ming raised his hand, and the Mysterious Card appeared, its silver light blooming at his fingertips.

"Illusory Chessboard." The light of destiny spread rapidly, and the silver-white chessboard covered the space, providing everyone with the last few floating footholds.

The darkness continued to expand, and a low "breathing" came from the depths of the crack, a sound like the heart of the entire world awakening.

Yu Weiwei's voice trembled slightly: "This is not an earthquake." Si Ming did not answer; he just stared intently at the abyss.

A light rose from the depths, but it was not bright; it was black.

The light, so dark it was almost imperceptible, refracted and reflected. At the edge of the abyss, a pair of enormous eyes slowly opened.

That is not the eye of a living being, but the gaze of the world itself.

The air solidified, and even time seemed to be seen through those eyes. Then, an indescribable growl shattered the silence.

Thump! The air vibrated, the cave walls rippled, the ground rose, and the dome collapsed.

Yu Weiwei whispered hoarsely, "That is..."

Miranda turned around, a smile playing on her lips, her expression serene, like a believer who had met a deity.

Her voice was filled with fervent reverence: "He has awakened."

The Taotie slowly rose from the abyss. Its colossal shadow shattered the cave ceiling and tore apart the boundaries of dimensions.

Its form could not be fully observed; it had the body of a sheep, the face of a human, eyes under its armpits, tiger teeth, human claws, a spine like a snake, and skin like mist. It was pieced together from countless fragments of dreams, and every twist was like the wailing of a thousand souls.

That face had a half-smile, and every breath it took made the space tremble, the air turn into liquid, and time slow down.

Its two eyes under its armpits opened simultaneously, the whites of its eyes rolled inward, and its pupils rotated, making those who saw it almost forget how to breathe.

That's not "seeing," that's being stared at.

It opens its mouth, and deep within its throat lies the end of the world, where swirling barbs and fangs intertwine to form the gates of hell.

Each tooth was engraved with flowing runes, which seemed to be chanting.

"I became a god by devouring. I endured eternity by hunger."

The sound wasn't an echo, but a pressure, as if heaven and earth themselves were speaking.

The cave collapsed, swallowing the light. The light from the chessboard of fate flickered wildly, supporting the last piece of space.

He gazed at the chaos and murmured, "Taotie, the god of devouring, has finally awakened."

Miranda stood in the center of the storm, closed her eyes, and opened her arms.

Firelight, dust, mist, and mycelium swirled around her. She slightly raised the corners of her mouth, a gesture that resembled a goddess welcoming holy light, or a madman facing death.

Her voice was low and devout, with an almost tender ecstasy: "Come, my glutton, devour me, grant me new life."

Boom—The world shattered, the air was torn into fractured patterns, and the void seemed to be crushed by a pair of giant hands.
The silver chessboard beneath their feet floated into the air, cracks spreading outwards from the center, and the chessboard shattered into countless floating stone slabs, surrounding a pitch-black abyss.

Deep within the darkness surged a light that resembled blood but wasn't; it was the breath of the Taotie.

With each breath, the air emitted a sharp hissing sound, and space was pulled inward, as if the gravity of the world was being devoured by His hunger.

The health bar appeared, and a red light trail stretching across the sky slowly emerged in the void, twenty bars, neat and indifferent.

Every frame is pulsating, like a heart beating, and the light flickers with His breath.

Si Ming looked up, his gaze slightly narrowed, and said in a low voice, "...Health bar?"

Miranda was already suspended in mid-air, the mycelium beneath her feet wriggling like living things, and transparent threads spreading outwards.
Bridges of fungi and blood vessels rapidly grew in the air, bending and breathing like the ribs of a creature, suspended in mid-air, connecting her to the ancient beast that devoured the heavens.

She turned around, her eyes cold yet smiling: "Do you see that, Lord of Destiny?"

She raised her hand and pointed to the health bar, each segment burning like twenty cursed stars in the sky.

Her voice was calm, yet it drowned out the wind: "If you had given me the Fetal Light Card, this beast's health should have been reduced to only five bars."

She chuckled, her tone turning cold: "But now, I'll have to put in some effort."

The roar of the Taotie was like the sound waves of a collapsing hell, and light shot out from its armpits and eyes, shining like the center of a collapsing universe.

Its face resembled both a human and a beast, and its enormous sheep-like body meandered like a mountain ridge. Its scales rippled with a metallic sheen, and the air was shattered into layers of circular ripples.

Miranda raised her hand, unleashing the full power of the Disaster Domain: [The Lord of a Thousand Tyrants in the Corruption Fungus Forest].

Her body was entangled by countless hyphae, and the fungi under her skin intertwined with her blood vessels to form complex patterns. Blood-red hyphae emerged from her back, palms, and neck, weaving a semi-transparent cocoon.

The cocoon shimmered with lightning patterns in the light, as if it had sealed the entire galaxy within its shell.

The next moment, the cocoon burst open, and a goddess of calamity, enveloped in mycelium and blood-red light, was born.

She took a step, and the mycelium beneath her feet rapidly spread, unfolding into a vast sea of ​​fungi across the void.
Thousands upon thousands of parasitic beasts emerged from it, their bodies twisted and bizarre, their bones flowing beneath their skin, soft fungal tendrils growing from their hollow eye sockets, and spitting out red mist containing spores from their mouths, like creatures abandoned by reality.

They roared and charged toward the Taotie's feet, each one bursting into flames the instant it charged, polluting the air with a dark red hue.

Taotie raised its tiger claw, which was like a mountain covering the sky, with twisted muscles and barbs. It roared and fell down, compressing the void into a bright line.

Boom—The parasite was smashed like a wave, its body burning up in the vacuum, turning into countless ashes that fell to the ground. Miranda had vanished.

The next moment, she appeared on another fungal bridge, her body shimmering with mycelium, as if she were traveling through a fungal network.

Her arms were like a conductor's musical score, rising, twisting, and swinging down, with countless hyphae surging out from her arms, sharp enough to cut through the air.

She swooped down, her blade trailing a red light, cleaving through the night sky like lightning, and instantly pierced the Taotie's shoulder.

The colossal body exploded, revealing a series of bluish-black cracks, and the first health bar in the void dimmed. Miranda landed softly, her voice like a whisper: "Nineteen left."

She smiled, her eyes as deep as the night. The parasitic beast tide rose again, the ocean of mycelium reflecting red light, shimmering with countless tiny spores that climbed up the Taotie's back, spine, and fangs, like a giant biological web.

The Taotie roared; its sound was not a tone, but a vibration itself, like a million dreams shattering at the same moment.

Its claw-like arms swept across, causing space to warp into vortices around it. Tentacles extended from these vortices, but these tentacles were not physical entities.
Rather, they are extensions of space—invisible yet visible, one, two, a hundred, a thousand, stretching out from the depths of the void and drawing towards Miranda.

The moment the tentacles struck the edge of the disaster zone, they flashed with flames like electric arcs, but were corroded the instant they made contact. Skin peeled off, flesh and bones shattered, and even the light was swallowed up.

Miranda's laughter echoed through the blood mist, low, elegant, and almost pleasurable.

She stretched out her arms, swirling and turning in the air with mycelium, the parasitic beasts following closely behind, gathering behind her and leaving a long trail of light.

The trail resembled the tail of a burning comet, carrying the cries of thousands of lives.

The Taotie's second eye suddenly opened, spitting out a beam of light, and the temperature soared.

Thunder, fire, wind, and fog erupted in its fury, and all the natural elements lost their order.

Miranda crossed her arms, and the energy of the disaster zone suddenly gathered, forming a semi-transparent shield.

Lightning bolts danced wildly between the mycelium and flesh, thunder collided with spores, blooming into a dazzling display of crimson and silver light, the air shattered, and the shockwave sent the people of the Fate-Bearing Sect staggering in the distance.

Zhuang Yege barely managed to steady herself, her voice trembling: "She... she actually withstood the calamity of Taotie?" Si Ming's gaze was as cold as ice: "Her calamity domain is the rule of the gods."

Miranda let out a low growl, a sound that was not human, but rather the echo of some ancient being.

She abruptly retracted all the mycelium, causing the air to vibrate as hundreds of thousands of mycelia simultaneously folded, intertwined, and compressed.
A giant red blade, tens of meters long, formed in her palm. The blade shone with light, and its interior resembled flowing blood.

She leaped up, transforming into a beam of red light that slashed diagonally down from the sky.

That strike was like a falling meteor.

The blade flashed, tearing through the void; the roar ripped through eardrums.

The Taotie's left arm was severed, and blood gushed out like lava, turning into a shower of light.

The second and third health bars flashed in succession before going out. The Taotie roared to the sky, its sound waves shattering space.

Its eyes flowed with a grayish-black liquid, which resembled a falling star, turning the void into dust wherever it passed.

Miranda stood in mid-air, her arms hanging limply, the giant blade in her hand still dripping blood.

The blood wasn't red, but a liquid that shimmered with silver light.

She looked up at the enormous ancient beast, her eyes filled with fanatical light. In that moment, she no longer resembled a human, but a believer.

"Submit to me—!" Her voice echoed in the boundless darkness, shattering countless mycelium. She opened her arms, her smile utterly fanatical: "I am your true master!"

Her cloak billowed out, transforming into a storm of thousands of mycelial strands, completely swallowing the light behind her. It was a lunar eclipse, the mark of the calamity lord.

Miranda's voice resounded throughout the heavens and earth: "I am the ninth seat under the Primordial Throne, Gluttonous Lunar Eclipse!"

The blood-red blade ignited once more, its scorching light illuminating the entire void. She waved her hand and roared, "Today, I will claim the Card of the Supreme One!"

The void shattered, light surged, and the power of the Calamity Lord clashed with the will of the Star Calamity in the air.

That was a war between red and black, between gods and calamities, between the creator and the betrayer.

Si Ming stared at the still-flashing health bar from afar, now down to seventeen bars. His face was pale, and his voice was low: "She can't win."

He watched as those two beings, beyond mortals, tore apart the universe, their divinity and calamity intertwining into a sea of ​​light and shadow. What rose in his heart was not awe, but a chilling fear.

The hunger of God has consumed all the realms.

Human greed will eventually consume one's heart.

If the celestial calamity does not end, then the gods will remain forever.

—From *Zi Bu Yu* (The Master Did Not Discuss), Chapter on Greed, Part 2

(End of this chapter)