But Zhu Pan could not swallow this grievance.
"Fine, this seat has remembered you."
Zhu Pan's voice grew calm, but beneath that calm lay a torrential slaughter intent.
"In the next century, this seat will surely descend upon the Gloomlight Province in person to repay today's humiliation a hundredfold."
"When that time comes, this seat will let you know the consequences of offending the Sky-Monitoring Office."
"This seat will surely extract your soul and roast it in divine fire for ten thousand years!!"
Chen Zhou smiled.
"Sure, sure. I'm really looking forward to it."
"Come rain or shine, I'll be at the provincial capital waiting for you."
Zhu Pan was enraged once again.
But he didn't have time to say anything more, as the chains had already completely dragged the vermilion light into the altar.
The Bone Altar slowly closed.
In the instant the last sliver of vermilion light vanished into the altar, Zhu Pan felt a terrifying force crush over him.
It was a power that completely transcended all the laws he knew—ancient, vast, and indescribable.
What kind of power... was this?
His last sliver of consciousness vanished.
【Fantastic!】
【You have successfully sacrificed a sliver of a false god's divine sense that was disturbing the orthodoxy of heaven and earth.】
【Your Divine Path Authority · Yin-Yang Decree (Incomplete) has once again been supplemented.】
【Your new ability, Sinful Karma Punishment, has been enhanced; you can now not only adjudicate sinful karma and impose punishment, but also grant pardons to those who are guilty.】
---
【You have gained two opportunities to confer the rank of Ghost General (Subordinate God).】
---
【You have obtained an Earth Grade special building blueprint: Dingnai Hall.】
Chen Zhou looked at the string of rewards, the smile on the corners of his mouth impossible to suppress.
"Lord Zhu Pan, you really are a good person."
Chen Zhou sighed from the bottom of his heart.
As the phantom of the Bone Altar that pierced through heaven and earth slowly dissipated, it was as if even the wind on the Altar of Heaven had come to a standstill.
Little Pig and the Nine-Age Crane were the first to react, cheering for Chen Zhou with all their might.
"Oink!"
Little Pig rolled around excitedly in the air, nudging Chen Zhou's leg with its snout, its little hooves made of fiendish qi constantly gesturing toward Chen Zhou's majestic appearance from moments ago.
"Ga!"
The Nine-Age Crane also let out a long cry, flapping its wings as it circled Chen Zhou, its crane eyes filled with reverence.
Truth be told, although this feather-plucking evil spirit was detestable, damn, he really provided a great sense of security!
After returning, it would definitely discuss things with the Old Pine again and call over more old friends to settle in the City of the Wrongfully Dead!
Those civil and military officials, palace maids, and eunuchs who were trapped in the dream, still frantically devouring themselves or maintaining their sacrificial postures, all stopped their movements at this moment.
With the disappearance of Zhu Pan's divine sense, the madness in their eyes gradually receded, replaced by a hint of confusion.
What had just happened?
Why did the vermilion sky that had always hung high overhead, pressing down on them like a nightmare, suddenly change color?
That high-and-mighty Zhu Pan, who decided life and death with a single word... had been slaughtered?
They had personally seen that vermilion light representing the will of a true god being dragged in by the chains of the Bone Altar and then completely vanishing.
Even the suffocating pressure in the sky dissipated along with it.
Is it... over?
The nightmare that had plagued them for five hundred years had been resolved so effortlessly by this strange black-robed man before them?
Yu He's mind was even more of a blank.
He had spent three whole years, working day and night without rest, to study the sacrificial substitute meat.
He had attempted to communicate with a deity using the power of a mortal, trying to use a chef's skills to exchange for the lives of his compatriots.
His goal was to prove that mortals were also qualified to speak with gods and did not have to forever submit to cruel and bloody sacrifices.
He thought that as long as he did well enough, as long as he explained the logic thoroughly enough, the deity would show mercy.
But just now, the black-robed youth had told him in a nearly crushing manner.
Reasoning with a false god was useless; directly slaughtering the god was the hardest logic of all.
"Mas... Master..."
A cautious voice broke Yu He's daze.
He lowered his head and saw the young man who had been kneeling at his feet, crying with a runny nose and tears, looking at him with a face full of concern.
Song Zi'an's eyes were red and swollen. He wanted to reach out to support Yu He but was afraid this was just a dream that would shatter at a touch, his hands trembling in mid-air.
"Are... are you alright?"
Yu He subconsciously shook his head.
He opened his mouth, wanting to tell this young man not to call him master.
He was only in his early twenties and didn't even have a partner; where did such a large disciple come from?
Moreover, being called master by a man who looked even more mature than himself always made his back feel cold.
But when he met the youth's eyes, they were clear as water, filled with admiration and worry.
The words of refusal reached his lips but were swallowed back down.
"I'm... fine."
Yu He took a deep breath, forcing down the shock in his heart.
He turned around, compelling himself to calm down as he walked toward Chen Zhou step by step.
Song Zi'an hurriedly followed behind him.
Yu He stopped in front of Chen Zhou and knelt down deeply.
"This commoner, Yu He, thanks... Lord for your rescue!"
He followed Song Zi'an's previous form of address and called out 'Lord'.
"If not for Lord's descent, we would likely still be trapped in this Path of Hungry Ghosts, never to be reincarnated."
"Lord said just now that this is a dream of the Path of Hungry Ghosts, and that everyone has been dead for five hundred years, their souls trapped here, turned into hungry ghosts."
"I... although it is hard for me to accept for a moment."
"Everything I have seen just now, including the appearance of Zhu Pan and Lord's power, proves that your words are not false."
"Therefore... please grant us guidance, Lord. How should we leave this place?"
Only then did Chen Zhou slowly speak, his voice calm: "It's very simple."
"Since you are awake, then take a look at your true selves."
Little Pig understood perfectly.
Without the suppression of Zhu Pan's divine sense, it was the absolute master here.
In an instant, purple fiendish qi surged brilliantly.
And those civil and military officials dressed in lavish robes saw their features quickly shrivel up, their plump bodies becoming as thin as matchsticks.
Their bellies bulged high, and their limbs were as thin as hemp stalks.
They reverted to their forms as hungry ghosts.
They all stood quietly in place, heads bowed, hands clutching dark lumps of meat, devouring them bit by bit, no longer frantic and no longer biting one another.
Yu He lowered his head and looked at his own hands.
The hands that were originally slender and powerful, holding a spatula, had now become like withered tree bark, covered in age spots.
The skin hung loosely, and his knuckles were thick and deformed.
A flood of memories surged into his mind.
Yes...
He was indeed already dead.
Five hundred years ago, no strange black-robed Lord had descended like a celestial soldier from the heavens.
Zhu Pan had punished everyone.
He could only watch on the Altar of Heaven as the palace people devoured the sacrificial substitute meat day after day, yet their stomachs could never be filled.
He watched as the friends around him died one by one, watching Yin Xuan eat himself until only bones remained in his regret.
Five years ago, he left Zhenlong Mountain for the last time to head to the provincial capital's imperial palace.
He had attempted to use the black meat he newly researched to satisfy the hungry ghosts, only to be besieged by the rampaging malevolent ghosts and left heavily injured and on the brink of death.
Before dying, he saw Yin Xuan's remnant soul struggling in pain within the Path of Hungry Ghosts, seeing those once vivid lives now reduced to slaves of hunger.
He was powerless and unwilling.
There was nothing more despairing than being a chef, yet ultimately having to watch everyone starve to death with his own eyes.
Rate on N.U.
