Cheng Shi took in the reactions of every person in the crowd. He smiled silently and spoke again — his second sentence plunging the entire square into deathly silence.
"I know that the Rosna Empire has never truly known devotion. And He knows this too."
"..."
The mont those words fell, the fear hovering above the square grew thicker. Cheng Shi even felt Gongyang Jiao inside his ring eagerly straining to resurrect — perhaps deterred by Cheng Shi's status, or perhaps resurrection within the Fun Ring wasn't as simple as the Screaming Earl had originally imagined. Either way, his desire to revive was intense, but he never followed through.
Cheng Shi paid him no mind. Having killed him once, he could do it again. His focus now wasn't on the Ram but on the potential target sowhere in the crowd.
Don't forget — this was a fishing operation. The bait had been cast, but the fish hadn't surfaced.
The other "fisherman," Da Yi, wasn't with Cheng Shi. Under Cheng Shi's orders, he was currently threading through the shadows at the square's edges, searching for suspicious individuals. But to an assassin's keen perception, virtually everyone in the square seed suspect.
The biggest red flag was that none of them dared look directly at the divine envoy. Their expressions were panicked, terrified that raising their heads might draw attention.
Da Yi was sharp. He quickly identified the reason behind this phenonon — exactly what Lord Ultraman had spoken of... lack of devotion.
These people weren't truly devout toward Decay.
And of course they weren't. With the World Destroyers bearing down on them and given Rosna's current condition, wanting devotion ant having no combat strength, while wanting combat strength ant abandoning devotion.
The desperate, survival-seeking populace had been trapped in the cracks of religious devotion, unable to break free, dragged along step by step to this very mont.
Perhaps they truly had been waiting for a "War Faction" First Prince to tell them they no longer needed to be devout — that they should use their own strength to resist the World Destroyers. But they'd waited and waited, and the First Prince was gone.
So many had resud their "devotion," but this devotion was rely a plea for rcy from a deity who had never once gazed upon this land — not pure, untainted faith.
And that was precisely why this entire square's worth of people had generated such an enormous amount of fear.
They wanted to live. They were also afraid to die.
So when Lord Ultraman proclaid that "the Rosna Empire has never truly known devotion," they were terrified.
Seeing this, Da Yi let out a cold laugh. 'Good — be afraid. Fear breeds chaos too. The more frightened you are, the more Lord Ultraman might enjoy it.'
But amid such a massive crowd of suspicious individuals, trying to find one who stood out as even more suspicious was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Still, Da Yi didn't dare complain and could only keep at it.
Cheng Shi was patient too. He had plenty of ti to wait. Even if Da Yi found no one, he had other thods to continue fishing — thods that were not only effective but could also win this trial in the process.
As for how to win the trial — it was all contained within this ventriloquist act.
"Fear not, children of Rosna. He has never been angered by this, nor has He ever intended to unleash divine punishnt.
Our Lord is loving. Compassionate. rciful. He cannot look upon a flock of faithless believers, yet He doesn't wish to see the Rosna Empire gradually wither away in that faithlessness. So He has sent
here to bring you His forgiveness.
Children of Rosna, you need worship Him no longer. You need no longer offer Him trivial sufferings of flesh and skin. He permits you to break the oaths you have sworn, to release yourselves from Decay, and to return to who you truly are.
Yes, you heard correctly. From this mont, the Rosna Empire... is free.
You needn't fear the divine punishnt of oathbreaking, nor agonize over the sin of blasphemy. He has never targeted you. Though Decay is the universe's final tomb, even within that tomb's depths lies love and compassion.
Praise Decay, children of Rosna!
Use your no-longer-frail bodies to build a wall. Take up the weapons in your hands and defend your holand.
I shall bless you on our Lord's behalf — as the final repaynt for a century of the Rosna Empire's devotion."
With that, Cheng Shi removed his own mask, silently pointed at his shadow below, and fired a healing chain imbued with the Shared Divine Grace effect at Qu Yan in the center of the square.
The healing chain spread from one to ten, from ten to a hundred. In the blink of an eye, rich healing energy blanketed the entire square.
The awestruck, speechless populace felt vitality returning to their bodies. One by one, their eyes went wide, their jaws dropped, and expressions of incredulous ecstasy spread across their faces. Heedless of the biting gales and piercing blizzard, they pulled open their clothes — and discovered that the Sin Cleansing Scars on their backs were truly, slowly dissolving.
Only when they witnessed the retreat of Decay with their own eyes did the square finally erupt in the most fervent, most joyous cheers:
"Praise Decay! Praise Decay!"
One had to admit — this was perhaps the most genuinely devout mont the people of Kannar City had ever shown toward Decay since the founding of the Rosna Empire.
But the absurdity was that this most devout mont occurred precisely when they believed they'd been released from Decay's chains of faith.
When the tide of belief receded, the foam left on the mudflats slowly burst apart with soft crackling sounds. But whether those sounds were a farewell to the waves or a celebration of seeing daylight again — no one could say.
As the mastermind behind it all, Cheng Shi smiled when he saw this scene — a bright, genuine smile. The tableau before him bore a striking resemblance to the scene Poison had described. Was this a coincidence?
No. It was entirely deliberate.
Cheng Shi's plan had never been a simple act of impersonation. When his performance failed to lure out Rosna's resistance "instigator," his target had already shifted — from a Rosna citizen to a Him. Or rather, two of Them.
He couldn't be certain exactly who was watching this trial, but he was certain that at least one — perhaps two — of Them would find the current scene extrely interesting.
Don't forget: this scene was practically a 1:1 recreation of the historical event Poison had discovered. This kind of drama — using the future to reenact the past — would surely delight both the ever-amusent-seeking Deceit and the destiny-is-predetermined Fate!
And Cheng Shi, the clown hiding behind the curtain, needed precisely Their delight!
Yes — his calculated targets were none other than his two patron deities, the twin gods of the Void path!
He wanted these two to inject a variable into this directionless search. Let Them play Their ga against Existence, and within that divine contest, perhaps he could scavenge so winnings from the margins.
After all, Existence didn't like having existence distorted. But Void did. And when Void encroached upon existence, Existence would respond with corrections and compensations — producing wondrous changes. Those changes were what Cheng Shi truly wanted!
Just like now: this 1:1 recreation was a perfect opportunity to overwrite the past. To make this coincidental scene even more convincing, Cheng Shi had even deliberately spared Old Gallon's life — specifically to give the Historian a chance to record the present mont.
But understand: the three players present alone could never alter history, because none of them possessed mory.
However!
Lacking it now didn't an lacking it forever.
If one of the two within Void truly wanted to see the clown take the stage and intervened in this trial, then Existence would inevitably produce a deviation — making this scene beco history in a perfectly logical way.
And Cheng Shi was waiting for exactly that.
He couldn't easily sense whether the gods had intervened, though. Out of caution, he could only wait. But when the cheers in the square grew louder and louder without any change manifesting, the clown started getting impatient.
Furrowing his brow slightly, he grabbed a shirtless Kannar citizen at random and asked:
"How do the Historians of Rosna... record history?"
The ecstatic citizen didn't even notice that Cheng Shi's question didn't sound like sothing a fellow countryman would ask. Lost in the euphoria of liberation, he nodded frantically:
"On human skin, of course!
Why else do you think Historians are called Cobblers? They record history while simultaneously making offerings to Him! But now we don't have to anymore!
We're free!
Praise Decay! He is so rciful and compassionate!
Ah, wait — who are you?"
"..."
Cheng Shi raised an eyebrow and shoved the man back into the crowd. He looked up at the high wall where Old Gallon stood and the corners of his mouth curled upward:
"So it seems... it's Fate. The story has co full circle once again.
Well, since You've already turned Your gaze this way, I suppose Void has already encroached upon Existence. In that case, where exactly is the change that Existence has produced to compensate?"
The mont those words fell, five blood-soaked figures appeared atop the imperial court's high wall, buffeted by the wind and snow. They gazed down at the square below, their faces etched with shock. Among them, a tall, lean man crouched down and picked up sothing from the hands of an old man whose body was coated in frozen blood — a piece of human skin upon which the very scene before them was depicted.
"Just as I thought — this is the place! Pe Laya's experint was correct. We really have co back!"
At the sa ti, another person pointed at Qu Yan in the center of the square and shouted excitedly:
"The Gift of Sores! That dagger is in that NPC's hands!"
...
Reviews
All reviews (0)