Chen Zhou had just come to his senses from the surging power of his promotion. Before he could even savor the new sensations brought by the Abnormal Grade, his train of thought was interrupted by a commotion within the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
He saw several paper dolls escorting a man toward the altar.
Following beside them were several townspeople in charge of management.
"Lord, you must seek justice for us!"
As soon as Zhang Cuigu arrived, she immediately knelt before Chen Zhou, weeping with snot and tears.
"It's this thief! Not only did he try to escape from the mine, but he also trampled one of your spirit plants!
"That was your treasure. I carefully tended to it every day, never neglecting it for even a moment."
Chen Zhou's gaze fell upon the man on the ground, who was tied up tightly.
The man's clothes were so covered in dirt and bloodstains that their original appearance was unrecognizable. His hair was a mess, and a trace of blood hung from the corner of his mouth.
He was staring fixedly at Chen Zhou with eyes filled with a mixture of humiliation, anger, and despair.
Looking at this somewhat familiar face, Chen Zhou finally remembered.
Wasn't this Xing Yue, the captain of the Blackwater Guard from Lantao City, who had been captured by Jian Huaishuang and Shitou a few days ago?
After listening to Zhang Cuigu’s rambling but clear report, the expression on Chen Zhou's face became quite strange.
He looked at Xing Yue on the ground and wondered if everyone in the Blackwater Guard had some sort of mental illness.
What kind of nonsense was this man up to?
He had gone through all that trouble and risked his life to escape the mine, only to dive headfirst into the spirit fields just to trample one of his spirit plants?
Even if he held a grudge and wanted to vent his anger, he didn't have to use such an... eccentric method, did he?
The spirit plant was innocent.
Under the gaze of countless eyes, Xing Yue felt as if needles were pricking his entire body.
He knew he was dead meat this time.
The first time he was captured, the evil spirit might have spared his life for some reason, imprisoning him for forced labor. That was a humiliation, but at least he was alive.
But the second time, after a failed escape attempt and intentionally damaging the other party's important property, he couldn't think of any reason why he would be allowed to live.
Forget it, death is death.
As a captain of the Blackwater Guard, dying at the hands of an evil spirit could be considered a worthy death.
Thinking of this, he actually calmed down. He stiffened his neck and closed his eyes, assuming a posture of one awaiting execution.
"Why did you do it?" Chen Zhou spoke with interest, his voice flat, revealing no joy or anger.
Xing Yue didn't open his eyes, merely squeezing out a few words from between his teeth: "Kill me or skin me, do as you please! Don't expect me, Xing Yue, to bow to an evil spirit like you!"
"Heh," Chen Zhou was amused by his display of unyielding character. "You ran into my territory, trampled my field, and broke my things, and now you're putting on this 'tough guy' act for me?"
He took a step forward, looking down at Xing Yue with a hint of playfulness in his tone. "Who gave you the courage?"
Xing Yue snapped his eyes open, his blood-red eyes burning with fury. "This is a nest of life-stealing evil spirits!
"As a member of the Blackwater Guard, slaying demons and devils is my heavenly duty! I only regret that my cultivation is insufficient to strike a fiend like you down with my blade. It is my own incompetence! But to make me submit? Absolutely impossible!"
"A nest of evil spirits?" Chen Zhou didn't refute the title. He was indeed an evil spirit; there was nothing to deny.
He simply spread his hands and glanced around at the indignant townspeople. "You say this lord steals lives. Then open your eyes and look. When have I ever harmed the life of anyone here?"
"You..." Xing Yue was momentarily speechless.
"This lord saved Daling Village and Shideng Village from the mouth of the snake demon. They revere me as a god. I took in the refugees of White Jade City and gave them a place to settle and live. I slew the demons of Qudao County to restore peace to this land.
"Even for you lot, the so-called Blackwater Guard, I only had you work the mines to redeem yourselves. I never took your lives."
His words were powerful and resonant.
The way the surrounding townspeople looked at Xing Yue shifted from simple anger to disdain and hostility.
"Nonsense!" Xing Yue's face flushed as he argued forcefully.
"You evil spirit, you're just silver-tongued! If you hadn't used demonic arts to bewitch them, why would they willingly slave away for you? You dare say you haven't harmed anyone? Did the destruction of White Jade City have nothing to do with you?!"
His gaze passed through the crowd and saw the faint golden carp in the distant blood pool. He became even more enraged. "And those Dragon Carp, the legendary auspicious beasts, are now imprisoned by you in a blood pool, wailing day and night! This is ironclad proof!"
Chen Zhou looked at his somewhat dazed appearance; his stubborn defense seemed so hollow.
"The matter of White Jade City was done by White Jade. He has now been absorbed by Jian Huaishuang. I can bear that karma for him.
"However, the original residents of White Jade City are now living quite well within the City of the Wrongfully Dead."
"As for the Dragon Carp..." Chen Zhou smiled.
"With which ear did you hear them wailing? They eat and drink well here, their cultivation progressing by leaps and bounds every day. They live more comfortably than I do. If they wanted to leave, they could leave at any time. Have I forced them to stay?"
These words once again left Xing Yue speechless.
His lips twitched for a long time before he finally squeezed out a sentence through his teeth: "It's you! It must be you! You used evil methods to change their minds and illusions to bewitch them! You made them take a foe for a father and turn black into white!"
This was the only explanation he could think of.
A powerful evil spirit must be proficient in arts that delude the human heart.
Hearing this, the smile on Chen Zhou's face grew even more peculiar.
"You're right," he nodded, admitting it frankly. "I do indeed have such an ability."
He watched Xing Yue's expression change abruptly at his admission. "I just acquired it."
"Would you like to try?"
Without waiting for Xing Yue to react, a ghostly light flashed in Chen Zhou's eyes.
He activated his newly awakened ability—【Bone Erosion】.
A bone seed formed from pure death energy flickered from Chen Zhou's fingertip and silently sank into the space between Xing Yue's brows.
Xing Yue only felt a slight chill at his brow, and then he felt nothing at all.
He looked at Chen Zhou warily, not knowing what trickery the other had performed.
However, in the next second, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
A voice that seemed to emerge from the deepest part of his own heart.
【The escape failed.】
【I'm dead. No one will come to save me.】
【The City Lord has probably already abandoned us.】
【The glory of the Blackwater Guard is nothing but a joke.】
These voices were filled with despair, dejection, and self-doubt, crazily gnawing away at his will.
The firm conviction he took pride in began to crack before the whispers of this evil god.
"No... it's not like that..." Xing Yue's eyes began to glaze over. Cold sweat seeped from his forehead as he unconsciously muttered to himself.
Chen Zhou's voice sounded in his ear like a devil's temptation: "Tell me your true purpose. Why did you try to escape so desperately? What exactly was it for?"
【Say it. Say it and you'll be free.】
【Your persistence is meaningless.】
【The Lord God is merciful. As long as you confess, you can live.】
The voices in his mind overlapped with Chen Zhou's voice, forming an irresistible command.
Xing Yue's tense body suddenly went limp, as if all his strength had been drained. His eyes completely lost focus, and his lips opened and closed uncontrollably, uttering his deepest secrets word by word.
"I... I want to escape back to Lantao City and report to the City Lord..."
"White Jade City was just on the way. Our task was to investigate... to investigate the strange poison that appeared in several counties."
"The poisoned die miserably. Their bodies are stiff, and their skin turns... a bronze color, like... like the bronze statues in a temple."
"We tracked it for months, and all clues pointed to the rumors of evil spirits in the Dead Man’s Forest..."
As he uttered the last few words, Xing Yue seemed to use up all his strength. His head slumped to the side as he lost consciousness completely.
Rate on N.U.
