Chen Zhou took a deep breath as the remaining death qi within his body surged frantically, transforming into a massive hand that blotted out the sun.
Since he had chosen to believe, he would trust until the very end.
He was followed by so many believers willing to place their faith in him, to fight for him with their lives, and to build a Great Wall of flesh and blood behind him.
The path of a god was never one walked alone.
Since there were fellow travelers willing to follow him against the heavens to change the world and reshape the universe.
Then how could he, as their god, act with cowardice?
The massive bone hand gripped the air, and the giant brush transformed from the Judgment Whisk was caught firmly in his grasp.
The tip of the brush pointed toward the crumbling earth beneath him.
"Since you have all entrusted your lives to this venerable one..."
A blazing battle intent ignited in Chen Zhou's eyes, his voice low and firm.
"Then today, this venerable one shall surely create..."
"...a miracle called hope!"
The giant hand made of death qi gripped the brush transformed from the whisk.
The handle was cold yet heavy, as if he were holding the convictions of the entire Gloomlight Province.
Chen Zhou poured all his focus, along with the surging death qi and the power of divine path authority, into the brush; then, he turned the nib and aimed it at the ground below!
"You were originally the dragon vein of the empire, carrying the fortune of heaven and earth to protect the people."
"But the empire is corrupt, the emperor is senile, the people suffer, and resentment reaches the heavens."
"You absorbed that resentment and underwent a corpse change into a dragon, causing disaster for a thousand years—your sinful karma is heaven-shattering!"
Chen Zhou's voice suddenly rose, sounding as if he were making a proclamation to heaven and earth.
"Today, by my divine path authority, I judge your sins!"
"You shall receive the punishment—of being consumed by karma-fire!"
"Boom!!!"
From the tip of the brush, a blood-colored character for 'sin' whistled out, plunging straight into the ground.
Instantly, the entire land of the provincial capital sagged downward as if pressed by an invisible giant hand.
Immediately afterward, a shrill dragon's roar echoed from deep underground.
"Crack—crack-crack—!!!"
The ground began to collapse on a massive scale.
The wreckage of the palace buildings, rubble, soil, and even the malevolent ghosts and black-spot monsters that failed to escape in time all fell into the bottomless abyss along with the collapse.
A giant sinkhole over a thousand zhang in diameter appeared in the center of the provincial capital.
The sinkhole was bottomless and pitch black, with only dense, inseparable black sinful karma qi and death qi gushing out.
Chen Zhou looked down at the sinkhole with cold eyes.
This was the truth beneath the provincial capital—a hell that had been concealed for a thousand years.
Deep within that hell, the silhouette of a colossal creature was faintly visible.
Its body was rotted away, revealing pale bones; the remaining flesh was a sickly blue-black and covered in pustules.
Its body was pierced by nine massive pillars, pinning it firmly to the subterranean bedrock.
Right now, the corpse dragon was struggling frantically; the ownerless sinful karma within its body was continuously burning and exploding under the induction of the authority of judgment.
"Boom! Rumble! Boom, boom, boom—!!!"
Explosions echoed continuously from underground, each one blasting a massive bloody hole into the corpse dragon's body, accompanied by thick black sinful karma qi.
The dragon-suppressing stakes piercing its body also shook violently during the explosions, and the sound of chains snapping was incessant.
When the Judge saw the dragon-suppressing stakes emerge, the greed in his eyes flared.
He couldn't be bothered with Jian Huaishuang anymore, turning his body and rushing straight toward the nearest three dragon-suppressing stakes.
Relying on the natural attraction of the godhead to sinful karma, the three dragon-suppressing stakes almost flew toward the Judge of their own accord.
However, Chen Zhou's target had never been those three.
He brandished the brush in his hand, and a vast divine path aura locked onto the remaining nine dragon-suppressing stakes.
Blood-red characters for 'sin' poured down like a torrential rain, smashing into each of the nine dragon-suppressing stakes!
He intended to destroy all these sources of sinful karma at the fastest possible speed before the Judge could react.
"You dare!" the Judge shouted, his massive eyeball instantly turning blood-red.
He immediately understood Chen Zhou's plan.
This cunning false god actually wanted to use those three small parts to trade for the remaining large portions.
Though the Judge was greedy, he was not stupid.
He directly abandoned the three dragon-suppressing stakes that were almost in his grasp, letting them float in the air.
Instead, he controlled the black-spot Judge phantom to abruptly raise the brush of sinful karma and point it fiercely at Chen Zhou.
"Godhead pressure—rejection by heaven and earth!"
For a false god without a godhead, the heavenly authority they stole was ultimately a tree without roots.
The opponent surely wouldn't hold on for long.
When that happened, he could absorb all the dragon-suppressing stakes at will.
Status suppression descended once again.
Chen Zhou felt the space around him completely solidify; the pressure was so intense that he couldn't even move a finger.
The blood-red characters he had flung out froze in the air, their speed dropping sharply.
"Dammit, it's the godhead again."
"What a troublesome thing."
Chen Zhou spat, but his gaze grew increasingly sharp.
He hadn't expected the Judge to be able to use the godhead so freely; hadn't he been quite amateurish just moments ago?
Was it the increase in sinful karma that allowed him to become more proficient in using the godhead?
The death qi within Chen Zhou's body circulated frantically as he was forced to resist using his own strength, attempting to counter the suppression stemming from their statuses.
"Do you see? This is the difference between a true god and a false god."
"Before the majestic heavenly might, your struggles are meaningless!"
There was a hint of laughter in the Judge's voice.
"Kneel and offer up your sinful karma, and perhaps this seat might..."
However, before he could finish, an abrupt change occurred.
A faint Brahma chanting drifted from the direction of the palace.
Chen Zhou looked toward the sound and saw several weak flickers of golden light piercing through the sky filled with ghost qi and black spots, flying toward the Star-Picking Platform.
They were several golden butterflies, with soft Buddhist light flowing over their wings; they appeared exceptionally fragile under the pitch-black sky, yet were incredibly determined.
The butterflies flew slowly, passing through the chaotic battlefield and avoiding the violent death qi, finally arriving before Chen Zhou.
Then, they gracefully dissipated, transforming into individual golden Sanskrit characters.
The verses of the Rebirth Mantra softly emanated from the Sanskrit characters.
They seemed capable of soothing agitation and calming the mind.
Under the baptism of the Rebirth Mantra, the malevolent ghosts that were originally roaring frantically in hell actually began to quiet down.
The madness and malice on their faces began to fade, replaced by a sense of peace.
The Sanskrit characters also combined and extended in the air, forming a thin, translucent light screen in front of Chen Zhou.
The moment the light screen appeared, Chen Zhou felt a weight lift from his body.
The suppression coming from the Judge's godhead was actually blocked for the most part by this seemingly fragile screen of light.
Though pressure remained, it no longer hindered his movements or his ability to exercise his authority.
"The vows of living beings always have an echo."
"The vengeful spirits throughout the city and this widespread suffering are both sinful karma and vow power."
"The vow power of all beings can purify defiled earth and settle the mind."
"May our god's heart and intent be clear and unobstructed, undisturbed by external demons."
Chen Zhou was stunned, then immediately understood the source of the Sanskrit characters.
"This is... the vow power of all beings?"
At the same time, he faintly heard countless tiny voices coming from the light screen.
Those were the last flickers of human prayer from deep within the pain and resentment of the malevolent ghosts in the provincial capital hell that had not yet completely vanished.
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