Dialogue

"Undead. Addicted to killing. Slaughterer of three million lives. Do you acknowledge your crime?"

Brilliant golden light flared from a priest statue in the Pure Land, a realm saturated with netherworld energy. Its voice boomed with immense authority.

Jiang Cheng was pinned in place by a golden divine power, unable to move a muscle.

A wall of golden light blocked his path. Beyond it, A Silly Cutie was trapped in a swamp, shouting anxiously. Beside her, Path to Hell wore a look of utter disbelief.

After the statue delivered its judgment, all three of them had been transported to this swamp of black energy.

A sharp pain lanced through Jiang Cheng's heart as he looked at A Silly Cutie, who was helpless and on the verge of tears.

He wanted to step forward, to reach out and pull her from the mire.

Unfortunately, the golden wall was like a barrier between worlds, cutting off all connection. He couldn't even communicate with her.

"If you want to condemn someone, you'll always find a charge."

Jiang Cheng focused his soul fire, trying every method he knew to break free from the divine power and escape the swamp at his feet.

But it was useless.

His leg bones were sunk deep into the muck, and no amount of struggling would budge them. He only sank deeper.

Jiang Cheng understood. This was an opponent he couldn't hope to resist right now. He spread his hands, stopped struggling, and gazed up at the towering statue.

"You must have a reason you can't kill me. If that's the case, why the grand show? What's your purpose?"

"Hmph. You don't have the qualifications to speak with me as an equal. Your fate is to await death. Do not struggle in vain."

The stone statue's cold voice resonated in Jiang Cheng's mind.

"The one thing I hate most is waiting for death."

Jiang Cheng focused his soul fire again.

"With your power, you could kill me instantly. Instead, you need the special environment of this Pure Land just to imprison me. And your judgment said you wanted to strip away my power, but it seems you can't do that either... It appears you're not as powerful as you look."

"Boy, you're seeking death!"

Hearing Jiang Cheng's mockery, the statue seemed to lose its composure. It raised a massive hand, ready to smash down on him.

A howling wind accompanied the hand as it descended toward Jiang Cheng's head.

"No! Don't kill him! Kill me instead if you must!"

A Silly Cutie screamed, tears streaming down her beautiful face as she begged the statue.

The statue ignored her completely, its hand continuing its descent.

Trapped in the swamp, Jiang Cheng looked at the enormous hand blotting out the sky. Instead of panicking, he laughed with disdain.

"An empty threat."

He crossed his arms and calmly stared at the hand above him.

"This kind of intimidation doesn't work on me."

"Wh-what intimidation? I'm going to kill you right now!"

The statue's cold tone suddenly vanished, replaced by a flustered one.

At the same time, its hand stopped dead three inches above Jiang Cheng's head, unable to move another inch.

"If you could kill me, why go to all this trouble?"

Jiang Cheng said leisurely, completely disregarding the stone hand hovering over him.

The statue's pride was clearly wounded.

"Insignificant undead, such boasts! Watch as I—"

"You talk too much."

Jiang Cheng mercilessly cut the statue off.

"Tell me, why would the Hell and Light factions set aside their differences to form an alliance? It can't be just to imprison little old me, can it?"

"You... you actually know my identity?"

As soon as the words left the statue's mouth, its majestic aura seemed to diminish.

"This is impossible! How could you know I'm the avatar of the Evil God?"

The stone statue's face twisted into a surprisingly human-like expression of pure astonishment.

So, it's the Evil God's avatar.

Jiang Cheng thought to himself. He was starting to think this statue wasn't very bright.

Perhaps he could use it to get more information.

"I don't just know you're the Evil God's avatar. I know why you've imprisoned me, too."

"That's impossible! You're lying!" the statue panicked. "Only the Fallen Hand Gafir and the Misfortune Goddess know about this! You couldn't possibly know!"

Fallen Hand. Misfortune Goddess.

Jiang Cheng filed away two more key pieces of information. The names were unfamiliar, but they might be useful later.

What he knew for certain was that this was a joint effort between the Light and Hell factions, and he was the key to their plan. And this supposedly majestic statue could only imprison him; it couldn't actually harm him.

But then Jiang Cheng realized a problem. The statue couldn't harm him, but that might not be true for A Silly Cutie.

If the statue took her hostage, he would lose all his leverage.

"The Fallen Hand and Misfortune Goddess wouldn't tell me, of course, but you should know what kind of power I possess..."

"What? The Heavenly Emperor already knows our plan?"

The statue looked completely bewildered.

"If that's true, why hasn't he appeared? Does he hold us in such contempt?"