Zhao Si remained stubborn, while Sun Silang wore a savage grin, surveying his surroundings with the arrogance of one who had nothing left to lose.
Their sophistry, wailing complaints, and mixed threats were an attempt to muddy the waters, even hoping to incite the emotions of those who were unaware of the full truth.
However, the citizens at this moment had just personally felt the vastness of god’s grace. Their hearts were filled with righteousness, and they felt only disgust toward these attempts to distort the truth.
"Shameless!"
"Bah! How did I give birth to an ungrateful beast like you?"
"To dare insult the lord... you truly deserve ten thousand deaths!"
Public anger flared even hotter, their curses surging like a tide.
Hong Ling’s face was frosted with coldness; she did not deign to waste words with these criminals.
"Both witnesses and physical evidence are present. How can we allow your sophistry to defile the divine ear? The law is as immovable as a mountain; it cannot be questioned!"
Having spoken, she took a step back. Like everyone else, she turned her gaze toward the shadow upon the Nine-Skull Throne.
Chen Zhou simply lifted a single finger.
In an instant, death energy erupted like chains from the void, entangling the dozens of prisoners.
"Aaah—!"
Several people let out shrill screams, their features instantly becoming distorted!
Their bodies immediately began to mutate as pale bone spurs burst through their limbs, torsos, and even their faces without warning.
In the blink of an eye, those who were living humans just moments ago had been transformed into bone-spur urchins.
Their expressions were frozen in the agony they felt before death. There was no flowing blood, only the faint sound of bone grinding against bone.
The entire process was incredibly swift.
The square, which had been boiling with public fury, was now deathly silent.
As they looked at those once-familiar or strange faces transformed into bone-spur hedgehogs in an instant, everyone understood one thing.
Grace could grant youth and power.
Might could strip away life and form.
God's grace was as vast as the sea; god’s wrath was as deep as hell.
The god certainly protected them, but he would never indulge them without limits.
In this city, peace and order had to be exchanged for hard work and adherence to the law.
After the silence came an even more surging, turbulent frenzy.
Only by driving out the black sheep could one see a clear sky.
The brief moment of fear acted like ice water quenching steel, making the iron of their faith even more indestructible.
Someone was the first to raise their arm and shout.
"The Bone God’s judgment is wise! We shall follow the divine law!"
The roar of voices was higher and more sincere than ever before.
They had witnessed the vastness of the blessings and personally felt the ruthlessness of the divine punishment.
At this moment, an even more stable faith took root in their hearts.
It was a reverence for absolute power, an endorsement of a clear order, and an incomparable sense of luck that they could live peacefully here.
Splash!
A sliver of golden light leapt from the Blood-Prison Pool and then scattered like a warm, sweet rain, enveloping the entire inner city area.
Everyone bathed in the golden light, whether they were ordinary citizens or paper people, felt their bodies lighten. The fatigue of consecutive days of labor was swept away, their minds became clearer than ever, and even the circulation of spiritual energy in their bodies seemed to become a bit smoother.
Chen Zhou also turned his gaze toward the Blood-Prison Pool, looking at the several golden carp that had sunk back into the water.
He wasn't sure if it was a hallucination, but he felt the cinnabar crests on the heads of those carp seemed slightly larger than before.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the crowd, a monk as thin as a dried stick was trembling with excitement, his exposed gums chattering incessantly from extreme exhilaration.
It was Ku Chan, who had hurried back from Lantao City.
He had witnessed almost the entire process of the great festival.
His heart beat wildly, nearly bursting through his shriveled chest.
'I followed the right person! I truly followed the right person!'
Ku Chan screamed internally. The trace of resentment he once felt from being forced to submit had long since vanished, replaced by a fiery sense of fortune.
This lord was truly possessed of vast supernatural powers. Just those miraculous pills that could increase cultivation would definitely cause a massive sensation if brought into the commandery office.
He just didn't know if the lord had a method to survive the Three Transformations of Eerification. If that method was as miraculous as the pills...
Hiss—
Ku Chan didn't dare think further.
Right now, he just wanted to go over, kneel at the lord's feet, and bark like a dog.
What was so bad about being a dog? It was wonderful!
Woof!
Upon the altar, Chen Zhou began to check the Evil God Faith Panel.
Currently, there were approximately 50,000 people within the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
General Believers had surged to over 40,000, Shallow Believers to over 8,000, and True Believers to over 700.
This was the largest increase.
There were over 10 Devout Believers, almost all of whom had transformed from True Believers after receiving the blessings, such as Li Dazhu and others.
Fanatic Believers and Saints still remained at one each. It was clear that shallow faith was easy to obtain, but reaching fanatic faith—viewing faith as more important than life itself—still required time and coincidental opportunities.
Chen Zhou had become wealthy overnight, now gaining approximately 75,000 Evil God Points every day.
The points required for his breakthrough mission were now trivial, and he could finally exchange for the good items in the shop he had been eyeing for a long time.
【Ghost Domain Expansion Voucher (5,000 points)】: Expand the range of the Ghost Domain by ten percent upon use.
【Yin-Wind Lumberyard Upgrade Blueprint (10,000 points)】: Upgrade the Yin-Wind Lumberyard to Mysterious Grade upon use, producing wood of the fourth-stage and below.
【Wailing Mine Upgrade Blueprint (10,000 points)】: Upgrade the Wailing Mine to Mysterious Grade upon use, producing low-grade spirit stones and ore of the fourth-stage and below.
There were other blueprints as well, but there was no rush. He would wait until the lumberyard and mine were upgraded and he had accumulated some fourth-stage construction materials before exchanging for them.
He could invest the excess points into the Bone Forge first. His nearly 1,000 Bone Ghost Servants were currently almost all third-stage; upgrading one to the fourth-stage required 500 points.
Calculating it this way, he would still need to wait for a few days before he had enough to upgrade all the skeletons to the fourth-stage.
After finishing with the panel, Chen Zhou returned to the Ghost Domain, bringing the peripheral Ku Chan along with him.
As soon as they entered the land of dead silence, Ku Chan plopped down to his knees.
"Master! Things are not right in Lantao City; the security is incredibly tight!
"This humble monk spent a great deal of effort to find out that it seems copper poison is causing serious trouble across Thousand Isles County. The commandery office can't hold it back anymore and is preparing to submit a memorial to the higher-ups to ask for reinforcements!"
Chen Zhou frowned slightly. "That’s it? Your Buddhist sect didn't make any moves in Lantao City?"
Cold sweat almost poured down Ku Chan's forehead. Knowing he had been inefficient, he hurriedly kowtowed.
"Master, please forgive me. This humble monk was unable to contact an old acquaintance from several centuries ago, which is why I couldn't find the specific movements of the Buddhist sect."
"An old acquaintance?"
"It... it is a blood flood dragon great demon."
Ku Chan did not dare to hide anything.
"That fellow has been coiled in a deep pool outside Lantao City for many years, always controlling the commandery office. Who would have thought that when I went this time, I wouldn't see even a hint of the dragon. I fear... I fear he has met with misfortune."
Chen Zhou was so angry he laughed.
So for several centuries, the human commandery office had been kept like livestock by a great demon.
No wonder the county towns beneath it were even more miserable, with demons eating humans at will.
He finally understood. On the surface, this world was managed by a human dynasty, but secretly, who knew how many factions had turned it into a sieve.
Rate on N.U.
