It seemed the best solution at the moment was to kill Nü Tu Fu and obtain the Spirit of the Girl Constellation. He could then use both Nü Tu Fu and Dou Mu Xie to deal with these small white beasts.
Only the Mansion Spirits barely possessed any resistance against the pollution.
Chen Zhou took a deep breath and reached out into the void, closing his hand.
The Judgment Whisk appeared in his hand, and a wave of pressure rippled out from him. The surrounding white beasts froze, instinctively sensing a threat.
Standing before the judgment platform, Chen Zhou watched the whisk transform into a calligraphy brush in his hand.
The tip of the brush was pitch black, emitting an eerie, ghostly glow.
Gripping the brush, Chen Zhou began to write in the air.
The characters were blood-red, each stroke neat and solemn.
“The sinful beast, Nü Tu Fu—”
Halfway through, his brush tip suddenly jerked to a halt. No matter how much he tried to drive it forward, the whisk refused to budge.
He stared at the blood-red words hanging in the air, his brow furrowing deeply.
The whisk conveyed to him that Nü Tu Fu bore no sin.
Even though it was covered in filth, from the very moment of its birth, its existence had been confined to the duty of guarding. It had never seen the light of day, nor had it ever contaminated any living creature.
Xuan Cai had left it inside the bronze gate to guard the seal and prevent the white pollution from spreading.
From its long vigil to its eventual pollution, it had now lost its will, and even its sense of self had become incredibly blurred.
It was merely a tool, placed in a specific position to execute a specific function.
A tool had no concept of good or evil, and thus, no sin.
Without sin, how could he pass judgment?
He glanced at the four Sources of Divine Power on his system panel and came to a decision.
He still had a trump card. He could activate the completed authority of the Judgment Whisk—Sinful Karma Punishment.
【Sinful Karma Punishment】
【As the God of the Yin-Yang Decrees, you possess the authority to judge sinful karma and inflict punishment. You may bypass the target's merit and sinful karma to enforce a judgment.】
【The effects of this authority are weakened against those with great merit or profound fortune, and extremely potent against those riddled with sin and deep karma.】
【Please use this ability with caution. It requires the consumption of a Source of Divine Power. Excessive use will damage your godhead and cause your status to drop.】
【Every time you judge sinful karma, you must bear the corresponding cause and effect. Without sufficient power of faith to purify it, it will backfire upon you.】
A forced judgment.
It did not matter if Nü Tu Fu was actually guilty; if he said it was guilty, it was guilty.
As long as he pinned a charge on Nü Tu Fu, the judgment would take effect, and the punishment would descend.
With a thought from Chen Zhou, a Source of Divine Power began to burn.
Divine power surged into the Judgment Whisk, causing it to glow. The gray-white bristles turned golden, and the brush tip hovered in the void, poised to write.
The divine script on the judgment platform flashed frantically, its dark-gold glow intensifying into a blinding golden light. The entire platform trembled, as if vibrating with excitement for the impending verdict.
Chen Zhou raised his hand, gripped the brush, and continued writing in the air.
“The sinful beast, Nü Tu Fu—”
The second stroke fell.
Chen Zhou's body shuddered violently as a sudden wave of palpitations struck him.
The black threads in his sea of consciousness began to riot.
A bone-chilling aura surged out from the black threads, spreading along his divine soul to his entire body.
Hallucinations began to flash before Chen Zhou's eyes.
He saw himself standing on an endless, desolate plain. The sky was a chaotic void, the earth squirmed, and a terrifying, colossally tall figure loomed in the distance.
Chen Zhou looked down at his hands.
His hands were mutating, and his consciousness was being stripped away by the black threads. Though the terrifying figure had not yet opened its eyes, Chen Zhou felt as if he were already being watched by It.
His sense of self was being absorbed bit by bit by the black threads, and the terrifying figure seemed to be gradually awakening.
He wanted to move, but he couldn't.
He wanted to speak, but no sound came out.
He wanted to close his eyes, but his eyelids refused to obey.
He could only stand there, helplessly watching himself disappear bit by bit.
The sensation was far more terrifying than death.
Chen Zhou felt as though he was about to be completely erased when, suddenly, a silver-white light pierced through the desolate plain.
Moonlight shone through the cracks in the plain, bathing Chen Zhou in its glow. Like a hand, it pulled him out of that chaotic void.
Chen Zhou snapped back to reality, realizing he was still standing in the ruins, his hand still gripping the Judgment Whisk, and the Source of Divine Power still burning.
Yet his body was drenched in sweat, cold droplets dripping from his forehead.
Dou Mu Xie stood beside him, the silver-white moonlight from its horn shining on his face, icy cold.
The chill of the moonlight seeped into his skin and his divine soul, suppressing that bone-chilling aura.
Half of Dou Mu Xie's body had turned completely white. The white pollution was still spreading, having already passed its spine and fast approaching its head.
Using the last of its strength, it had released the moonlight to wake Chen Zhou.
Then, it turned and charged toward Nü Tu Fu.
Chen Zhou's heart tightened as he watched its retreating figure.
He lowered his head and looked at the hand holding the brush.
There was a tiny, chaotic speck of pitch-black on his fingertip, no larger than a needlepoint. It was completely distorted, as if transitioning from three dimensions to two, and then from two dimensions into an indescribable mass.
In an instant, Chen Zhou knew what it was. It was It.
Chen Zhou decisively cut off the burning of the Source of Divine Power.
The moment the golden flame died out, the black threads in his sea of consciousness stopped spreading. The judgment platform began to dissipate, the Judgment Whisk reverted to its gray-white color, and the calligraphy brush turned back into loose bristles, drooping beside Chen Zhou's hand.
However, the backlash of the authority arrived.
A frigid energy welled up from the Judgment Whisk, drilling into his arm and seeping into his body like countless ice needles piercing his veins, making him shudder from head to toe.
This was the backlash of forcibly activating Sinful Karma Punishment and interrupting it halfway.
It wasn't severe, but it was far from pleasant.
Chen Zhou took a deep breath, mobilizing the power of faith within him to suppress the frigid energy.
He had been too careless. The white pollution was also related to the Heavenly Tribulation.
The thing that had crawled out of the goddess's memories, the thing that had almost erased him, and the thing that had left black threads in his sea of consciousness were fundamentally of the same origin as the white pollution inside the bronze gate.
No wonder Lou-Metal Dog's pollution was so off the charts. No wonder Nüba had only been completely polluted after coming into contact with the white beasts.
She must have been just like him back then, marked by the Heavenly Tribulation for some reason. It was only when she came into contact with something related to the Heavenly Tribulation again that the mark was activated, infecting her completely.
Once Chen Zhou figured this out, his heart sank completely.
He could not use Sinful Karma Punishment. Every time he judged sinful karma, he had to bear the corresponding cause and effect, and this cause and effect would drag in the Heavenly Tribulation.
He was already marked by the Heavenly Tribulation. If he truly got entangled with it, it wouldn't be as simple as mere hallucinations.
Chen Zhou glanced at the system panel again.
With only four Sources of Divine Power left, he could no longer use divine techniques. Using them again would be suicide.
Even if the system could protect him once or twice, could it protect him every single time?
He did not want to gamble.
If he lost the gamble, he would become the second goddess.
Polluted, distorted, erased, and then turned into a part of the Heavenly Tribulation.
Chen Zhou's thoughts then turned to the Xuandu Ghost Decree.
The authority that allowed him to steal the abilities of others.
Originally, he had thought that if push came to shove, he would steal Nü Tu Fu's pollution ability to fight poison with poison.
But looking at it now, that would also be seeking his own demise.
Chen Zhou stood in place, his mind racing.
The battle around him was still raging.
More and more white beasts poured out of the bronze gate in an endless stream, like waves crashing one after another.
Chen Zhou's Ghost Domain was compressed once again, now shrunk to a mere two feet around his body. The gray-white mist was as thin as a veil, on the verge of shattering at any moment.
Dou Mu Xie was still locked in combat with Nü Tu Fu. The white pollution had already spread to its cervical vertebrae, leaving only its head and a small patch on its chest in silver-white.
It probably couldn't hold out much longer.
Lian hung suspended, bound by the white tentacles from the gate. She was still weeping, but no sound came out.
Her body grew increasingly withered, and most of the black spots within her had already drained away. The remaining spots squirmed frantically beneath her skin, as if sensing something and desperately trying to escape.
But they could not escape.
Condensing his death qi into a claw, Chen Zhou crushed a white beast blocking his path, though his fingertips were stained with a speck of white.
Chen Zhou merely glanced at it and ignored it. He walked over with difficulty, squatted beside Lian, and pressed his hand against her shoulder.
“Lian.”
Lian's body shuddered slightly, and she slowly turned her head to look at Chen Zhou.
Her eyes were unfocused, her pupils dilated.
“My Lord…” her voice was tiny, almost inaudible.
“Am I going to die?”
“You won't die. How could an evil spirit possibly die?” Chen Zhou said.
Lian fell into another daze.
“My Lord… if I can't go back… will you remember me?”
Chen Zhou's grip tightened.
“I told you, you won't die.”
“But…” Lian regained a brief moment of clarity.
“I feel like I'm disappearing… bit by bit… being drained from my body… being erased from my memories…”
Her voice began to tremble.
“I don't think I can remember what many people look like anymore.”
“Soon, I might even forget you, My Lord.”
“I don't want to forget them…”
“I don't want to forget everyone…”
“And I… don't want to be forgotten…”
Lian's voice grew fainter and fainter, eventually reducing to a whisper so soft that even she could barely hear her own words.
A vein throbbed at Chen Zhou's temple, and he gritted his teeth.
Reason told him that the best choice right now was to abandon Lian.
Retreat, destroy the Jianmu clone, and return to the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
Lian was not a living person; she was the remains of an ancient deity, a body of an evil spirit.
She wouldn't truly die. As long as there was enough death qi, she could revive once again.
At most, she would lose some memories, some divinity, and some power.
But her existence would remain.
When the time came, he would simply set out from the City of the Wrongfully Dead again, cross the realm barrier once more, and charge through the Myriad Ghost Array.
Once Dou Mu Xie recovered, he could bring Wing-Fire Snake and Dou Mu Jiao—who both had resistance to the pollution—and there would be a very high chance of rescuing Lian.
Furthermore, if they didn't leave now, once Nü Tu Fu completely suppressed Dou Mu Xie, once more white beasts poured from the bronze gate, and once Lou-Metal Dog led the other six Mansions to find the Graveyard of Ten Thousand Beasts and blocked his path, they wouldn't even be able to leave if they wanted to.
Not just Lian, but all of them would be left here to die.
Logically, there was absolutely nothing wrong with this decision.
But Chen Zhou did not want to do this.
Because Lian had already been abandoned once.
She had been abandoned by her former believers and deemed an ill omen by the Grave-keepers of the Western Region. No one remembered that she was also the goddess who had once brought green shade to the land.
When that history was buried by her own hands due to unspeakable reasons, throughout the endless passage of time, later generations only knew her as a monster that brought calamity.
Until Chen Zhou took her away from the Western Region.
Only then did she have a name, a family, and a place to belong.
And now, she was to be abandoned once more?
Chen Zhou really did not want to do that.
Unless he was driven into an absolute dead end, he did not want to give up on anyone.
But in such a desperate situation, how could he break the deadlock?
Chen Zhou stood up and looked around.
The white beasts were still surging forward, his Ghost Domain was growing thinner, Dou Mu Xie was on the verge of collapsing, and Lian was about to be completely drained.
His offensive methods were completely countered by the white pollution. He couldn't use divine techniques, he couldn't use his authority, and he didn't dare to use the Source of Divine Power.
What else did he have?
Chen Zhou fended off the attacks of the white beasts alone while quickly reviewing his abilities in his mind.
Ordinary techniques would be polluted, and he dared not use divine techniques. His Ghost Domain had already been compressed, and Faith Conferment had already been used with limited effect.
What was left?
He could still summon the Great Emperor's Palace.
But would that be of any use? The Ghost Emperors inside the palace couldn't come out, so they couldn't help him break the deadlock at all. It seemed he didn't have a single ability that could counter the white pollution.
Chen Zhou raised his hand, and death qi condensed once more into a giant palm, slamming down toward the nearest group of white beasts.
Boom—!
The ground shook as rubble flew in all directions, and several white beasts were flattened into meat patties.
Yet the patties squirmed on the ground for a moment before reconsolidating, returning to their original forms within a few breaths.
Without hesitation, Chen Zhou clenched the giant hand into a fist and smashed it down upon the newly recovered beasts.
Boom—!
They were flattened into meat patties once more.
And once again, they regenerated.
Chen Zhou ignored this and kept smashing. One punch after another, like a game of whack-a-mole, he pounded the beasts so hard they didn't even have a chance to stand up.
But his own hand was beginning to turn white.
As the giant palm of death qi made contact with the white beasts, the white pollution spread backward along the death qi, creeping up Chen Zhou's arm like vines.
Chen Zhou glanced at his whitening wrist. Decisively raising his other hand, he condensed a bone blade and severed it with a single slash.
The arm fell to the ground, rapidly turning completely white before mutating into a new white beast.
On the other side, Nü Tu Fu bit down on Dou Mu Xie's neck. The white pollution surged in from the wound, spreading down its cervical vertebrae.
Within Dou Mu Xie's eye sockets, the silver-white flames flared violently before rapidly dimming.
Nü Tu Fu released its grip, hovering in midair as it flapped its wings, preparing to deliver the final blow to Dou Mu Xie.
Chen Zhou's expression darkened. Just as he was about to rush over, he suddenly heard a low chuckle.
“Big Demon, we haven't met for a few days, and you've already ended up in such a sorry state?”
Chen Zhou froze, snapping his head around.
At the edge of the ruins, the ground suddenly swelled into a massive mound. Rubble and soil flew everywhere as a giant, earthy-yellow earthworm burrowed out from the dirt.
The earthworm was colossal, as thick as a water vat. Its body was segmented, with each segment covered in fine bristles that gleamed with a metallic luster under the moonlight.
Sitting cross-legged on the earthworm's back was a white-robed monk.
His robes were pure white, without a single speck of dust. The hem of his robes hung down on both sides of the earthworm, swaying gently with its squirming movements.
His features were handsome yet demonic, with sharp eyebrows, starry eyes, a high-bridged nose, and thin, rosy lips curled into a faint, enigmatic smile.
A cinnabar mark sat right between his eyebrows, as red as blood, making his complexion appear even more pale.
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