"Clang!"
Before the bone spear could reach Yin Wudao, it was suddenly shattered by a mysterious black light.
Bone fragments flew in all directions, but none could even get within three feet of Yin Wudao.
Chen Zhou's gaze tightened.
This aura of black light... it was all too familiar.
It shared the same source as the black-spot monsters he had seen in the Eastern Region trench, but it was far purer and more powerful.
It was the aura of divinity.
Yin Wudao stood atop the high platform, bathed in black light. Looking down at the imperial city which had transformed into a ghost domain, his face twisted into a state of morbid ecstasy.
"Hahaha! Wonderful! Simply wonderful!"
Completely ignoring his still-bleeding left eye socket, Yin Wudao spread his arms wide as if embracing this living hell on earth.
"Look at this grand spectacle. This is what a Ghost Dynasty should look like."
"My imperial father always thought about whitewashing the peace, using that fake prosperity to cover the rot beneath the ground."
"How foolish."
"Since it has already rotted to the core, why not flip it over completely and let it air out?"
"I no longer wish to be a penned pig or sheep. I want to follow the true god to the summit!"
Along with his mad laughter, the eyeball he had gouged out earlier spun rapidly in the air, frantically gathering the surrounding ghost qi.
Amidst the wailing of myriad ghosts, the eyeball stretched and expanded like a living thing.
It was beginning to grow.
First, fine black meridians spread from behind the eyeball, weaving together into a blurry outline of a neck and torso.
Next, phantoms of bone, muscle, and skin were rapidly sketched within the ghost qi.
In just a few breaths, a blurry human figure appeared in mid-air.
It was a headless monster. Where the head should have been was replaced by a bloodshot eyeball.
The eyeball turned slowly, its cold gaze sweeping over everything below.
His form was blurry, seemingly existing between the physical and the illusory. One could only vaguely see that he was wearing ancient and tattered ritual garments.
'It's him!'
Chen Zhou's heart sank, his gaze locking onto the eyeball monster.
The mysterious and unfathomable offering in the palace who had been hiding behind Yin Wudao all along—this was the being with the same aura as the black spots.
Damn it, he was lurking right under our noses in this manner the whole time!
His concealment ability was simply inconceivable.
"Divine remains aura?!"
Tuoba Feng, who was swinging his blade to slay malevolent ghosts, suddenly looked up with shock written all over his face.
He actually felt an aura identical to the divine remains emanating from this eyeball monster.
However, he was certain that the true divine remains were still lying in the underground palace of the god's tomb in the Western Region, suppressed by the ancestral array of the Grave-keeper clan.
"Lord, be careful!" Tuoba Feng shouted a warning.
"This thing carries the aura of the divine remains."
"The origin aura is too similar."
"But the divine remains are clearly still in the Western Region. What on earth is this thing?!"
Hearing this, Chen Zhou's expression grew even more solemn.
Is it something derived from the divine remains?
No wonder Yin Wudao dared to say a true god stood behind him.
Even if it was a dead and corpse-transformed god, it was still troublesome enough.
At this moment, the malevolent ghosts and black-spot monsters gushing from the ground had already covered the entire imperial palace. Their numbers were so vast that they seemed impossible to slay.
Cangming summoned towering waves, freezing the rushing monsters into ice sculptures before shattering them.
Tuoba Feng said nothing more, striking the stone coffin behind him once again.
"Ancestors, aid me in slaying these demons!"
The stone coffin swung wide, and nearly a hundred powerful heroic spirits whistled forth.
Clutching illusory weapons, they clashed with the malevolent ghosts.
Though the heroic spirits bore sinful karma, their battle intent was soaring. They managed to forcibly tear an opening through the ghost tide.
Jian Huaishuang also quickly summoned paper people to assist in the fight.
Sheets of paper snow fell to the ground, and paper people landed with giggles and cackles, their battle cries echoing through the air.
With these reinforcements joining in, the scene became even more chaotic, but the offensive of the malevolent ghosts was somewhat suppressed.
The eyeball monster hovered in mid-air, the massive eyeball on his neck turning slowly to scan the battlefield below.
"My... name..."
"...Judge..."
The eyeball turned slowly, finally locking onto Chen Zhou.
"Gauging... sinful karma... measuring... life and death... cycle..."
A raspy voice drifted from within his body.
He seemed to have not spoken for a long time; his speech was disjointed and stumbling, as if his linguistic abilities were impaired.
"Acting as... a walking envoy... for God... in the mortal world..."
"Judging... all... sinners..."
As he completed his proclamation...
"Rumble—"
A violent roar erupted from deep underground.
The black ghost qi spewing from the fissures no longer dispersed. Instead, drawn by some unseen force, it converged frantically toward the judge of sin in mid-air.
He was absorbing the ghost qi that had accumulated in the Provincial Capital Hell for countless years!
Deep underground, the eighteen Dragon-Suppressing Stakes, originally used to seal the dragon vein and formed from condensed towering sinful karma, began to vibrate violently.
"Whoosh!"
Amit the surging ghost qi, one Dragon-Suppressing Stake was the first to break through the ground and soar into the sky.
The Dragon-Suppressing Stake flew straight toward the Judge. The moment they touched, they merged together perfectly.
The black flames of sinful karma burning around the Judge flared up instantly. His blurry form solidified slightly, and the pressure he emitted skyrocketed.
'I can't let it keep absorbing!'
After crushing a group of black-spot monsters, a cold light flashed in Chen Zhou's eyes.
If this thing was allowed to continue, who knew what kind of monster it would evolve into.
While it hadn't fully stabilized, he needed to strike first.
Moreover, absorbing sinful karma was exactly what he wanted!
Isn't this the equivalent of stuffing explosives into its own stomach and then handing the fuse over to me?
Chen Zhou raised his hand and summoned the Judgment Whisk.
He stepped through the air, crossing hundreds of feet in a single stride to arrive above the judge of sin.
With a thought, the threads of the whisk instantly converged and restructured, transforming into a giant brush that floated before Chen Zhou.
Chen Zhou's death qi condensed into a giant hand, grasping the brush as he pushed his Divine Path Authority to the limit!
"Sins weighing upon you, crimes too many to record!"
"Today, I shall use this brush to judge your guilt!"
An illusory judgment platform manifested high in the sky, radiating a vast and majestic dignity.
A massive, blood-red character for 'Sin' appeared in the air. Carrying the weight of heavenly might, it pressed down ruthlessly toward the Judge below.
This was the authority of the divine path, the decree of a god, enough to annihilate the souls of any guilty party.
However, as the 'Sin' character pressed down, the eyeball on the Judge's neck merely rolled upward slightly.
A layer of black spots suddenly surged from within him, instantly enveloping his entire body.
The blood-red 'Sin' character fell upon the black spots, yet it failed to stir even the slightest ripple.
The brush in Chen Zhou's hand suddenly jerked to a halt, unable to descend further.
Chen Zhou's brow furrowed.
Through the ripples coming from the whisk, he could sense that his judgment had been blocked.
No, more accurately, it had been isolated.
The whisk could not judge its sins.
'Unable... to judge?' Chen Zhou's heart jolted.
Rate on N.U.
