Bellatrix was regretting her choices deeply now.
She knew that divine prophecies were usually accurate, unless deities were deliberately lying to toy with mortals.
Yet she had never expected the prophecy to be fulfilled so quickly. She had intended to wait and see, hoping to reap some benefits without having to pledge herself.
In the end, the God-favored had marched right up to her doorstep. What was more, he had not even lifted a hand himself; the various undead creatures under his command had crushed her completely.
The moment she saw Anbaixiu appear, Bellatrix thought it was a punishment sent down by the goddess to chastise her for scorning the oracle and trying to play opportunistic tricks.
Therefore, Bellatrix resolved to seize this final chance and follow the divine revelation, dedicating herself wholeheartedly to this God-favored.
Anbaixiu, however, knitted his brows tightly. Something was very wrong here.
"As I recall, the tenets of the Goddess of Pain don't forbid lying."
At those words, Bellatrix grew a little panicked.
Previously, she had only thought about how to play clever tricks, never considering this issue.
Just because she pledged allegiance, did that mean he had to accept it?
The being before her was a lich, inherently opposed to the living. How could such a racial gulf be bridged by a mere pledge of surrender? Bellatrix knew she had to show Anbaixiu her sincerity, or she would likely die right here. And dying while defying the Queen of Pain's revelation meant her soul would probably plunge straight into the Hells to endure eternal torment.
Anbaixiu indeed suspected Bellatrix was lying.
Kneeling down in sudden surrender, complete with an attitude of absolute obedience—had this been a paladin of the Ryan Empire, he might have been willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but followers of Loviatar were hardly renowned for their honesty and integrity.
Just as Anbaixiu was contemplating whether it would be safer to kill her outright, Bellatrix hastily spoke up: "It is truly an oracle from the Goddess of Pain! You are a great being destined to bring boundless agony to the world. As a disciple of the goddess, I shall dedicate everything to the noble God-favored."
Anbaixiu swiftly retorted, "Don't you go spreading rumors! I am a scholar, at most a businessman. I am nothing like you perverts."
Although liches fell into the evil alignment, they were distinctly different from the perverts who worshiped pain. Liches were rational, communicative, and open to doing business.
Loviatar's followers, on the other hand, were tyrannical and cruel, their perversity nauseating to the vast majority of races.
On what grounds did Loviatar claim he would bring agony to the world? He was a lich who usually hand-crafted souls from scratch. Among the undead, he was practically a saint! Did being a deity give her the right to talk nonsense?
He absolutely could not accept this title of Loviatar's God-favored.
Yet intuition told Anbaixiu that what this woman said was likely true. Could the Goddess of Pain have actually given her an oracle? The thought made Anbaixiu feel uncomfortable all over. Being targeted by this goddess felt like nothing good could come of it.
"You said just now that you are willing to dedicate everything to me? Do you actually have the final say over the Trix family's possessions?" Anbaixiu asked.
Hearing Anbaixiu's words, Bellatrix knew there was hope and quickly said, "I am the daughter of Duke Trix—his only daughter, and the sole heir to this domain."
"An only daughter?"
Few nobles ever had just one child; if any mishap occurred, the family succession would fall into crisis. Moreover, the more bloodline descendants there were, the more prosperous a family became. The Duke of Flaying possessed considerable power, so having only a daughter was thoroughly unreasonable.
Yet Bellatrix said with great pride, "In all the past rituals, I was the only one who survived. I am his only daughter."
That reasoning was actually quite convincing.
"Fine. Since you claim you can dedicate everything to me, lead me to your treasury."
Regardless of what the Goddess of Pain had in mind, securing whatever tangible benefits he could get first was definitely the right move.
Bellatrix seemed somewhat surprised. What was with this lich? He had just won the allegiance of nobility and acquired such a vast territory, yet his very first demand was to visit the treasury?
Still, Bellatrix did not dare refuse. She knew full well that this was her pledge of loyalty. If she failed to satisfy him, she would die a gruesome death.
Bellatrix had no choice but to lead Anbaixiu out of the mining area and toward the main city.
Compared to the Leitman family's lands, the Duke of Flaying's domain appeared somewhat desolate. While the Lord of Storms and the Goddess of Pain were both unhinged deities, Viscount Leitman was still a normal person when not enraged, and his management of his territory was fairly ordinary. The Duke of Flaying, however, was a different story. In order to please this perverse goddess, tortures were genuinely everywhere in this territory.
Crucifixes could be seen everywhere along the road, stained with patches of blood, with rotting corpses still hanging from some of them—resembling nothing so much as the handiwork of an old-school vampire like the Impaler Duke.
The people of the domain held tremendous awe and dread toward Bellatrix. From far off, they prostrated themselves completely upon the ground, not daring to utter a peep.
Seeing this, Anbaixiu was delighted.
The more cruel and tyrannical the lord, the more wealth they would inevitably extort, which meant his haul shortly would be all the greater.
Bellatrix led Anbaixiu forward, arriving before a castle before long.
Grand lords generally possessed castles of their own. It was the core of a family, their final stronghold, and their most meticulously crafted sanctuary.
With a single glance, Anbaixiu detected traces of several magical traps.
With Bellatrix guiding the way, however, Anbaixiu encountered no resistance whatsoever and soon met the Duke of Flaying, who had hurried over upon receiving word. Compared to Bellatrix, though scars were visible across the Duke of Flaying's face, his self-mutilation did not seem quite as ruthless as his daughter's; this duke still resembled a human being.
The Duke of Flaying began, "Great God-favored—"
Anbaixiu swiftly shut him up. "Before I get to the bottom of this, mention oracles one more time and I will turn you all into experimental materials."
The Duke of Flaying glanced at his daughter in astonishment. Something was amiss here. Why did the goddess command them to follow this lich, only for the lich to treat the matter with utter disdain?
Under Anbaixiu's insistence, they arrived before the treasury doors.
Swung open, the neatly arranged chests of gold coins pleased him immensely.
Not bad—there were seven to eight hundred thousand gold coins alone, along with priceless utensils whose value was difficult to gauge. Yet what drew Anbaixiu's eyes most was the blood-wreathed statue standing in the center of the vault.
This was no decorative divine idol casually set up at an entrance; Anbaixiu could sense the immense power coiled about it.
Bellatrix hurriedly explained, "This is an artifact we brought from the old kingdom. By offering sacrifices of pain, one can communicate directly with the goddess."
Anbaixiu said nothing, for the moment his eyes met those of the statue, it felt as though he had stepped into a mysterious realm.
His soul and body were severed entirely, rendering even a lich's phylactery useless.
Without question, this was the power of a deity.
Chaos reigned on all sides, filled with the ceaseless din of piercing wails.
An enchantingly bizarre beauty appeared before Anbaixiu. She wore revealing, form-fitting leather, and iron spikes and rings of various shapes hung from her exposed skin—a sight that induced phantom pain in anyone who looked.
Yet her countenance was breathtakingly beautiful, and her sinister, ferocious sneer seemed infused with perverse charm.
Undoubtedly, this was Loviatar, the Goddess of Pain. Perhaps what stood before him was merely an avatar of hers, yet Anbaixiu's soul still felt tremendous pressure.
Loviatar walked up to Anbaixiu's soul fire and stretched out a finger to touch the burning flame.
"We finally meet, intriguing lich."
The goddess's fingertip seemed laden with potent venom; a mere touch caused Anbaixiu to experience an agony that pierced deep into his soul.
Liches possessed no sense of pain. This long-lost sensation made Anbaixiu tremble, rendering him almost unable to speak.
Yet a moment later, Anbaixiu felt another peculiar sensation, as if his soul had achieved sublimation after enduring that excruciating torment.
Anbaixiu recalled Loviatar's doctrine: *Pain is sacred. Endure pain, enjoy pain, and your existence shall transcend to a higher realm.*
Loviatar read Anbaixiu's sensations like an open book. Pulling back her finger, the goddess said to him, "You are even more gifted than I imagined, faithless one. How about becoming my chosen? I shall grant you even greater power and help you become a true god."
This Goddess of Pain was actually serious! He was nothing but a skeleton with no sense of pain; what could she possibly see in him?
Anbaixiu had only just recovered from the pinnacle of agony and ecstasy. Hearing Loviatar's proposition, he replied frankly, "No. Your doctrines are a bit too extreme, Goddess."
Anbaixiu's soul was presently under Loviatar's complete control, making lying and concealment utterly pointless; being frank was the better choice. Right now, Anbaixiu could only gamble that Loviatar did not dare violate Ao's rules, and that pulling him into this divine realm-like space was merely to negotiate with him rather than threaten him.
Naturally, Loviatar saw right through Anbaixiu's thoughts. The Queen of Pain was very displeased by Anbaixiu's refusal, but just as Anbaixiu had reasoned, this deity truly could not do much to him.
When deities wished to act against mortals, they faced immense restrictions.
A saying circulated across the continent: the faithless were far less likely to suffer divine retribution than devout believers. That was because deities could not use religious tenets to bind those who held no faith in them, whereas they faced far fewer restrictions when disciplining their own followers.
Take the God of Alchemy, for instance. Even after being desecrated, he could not strike out directly; only when the Lord of Knowledge found the situation intolerable could he borrow the power of that mighty deity to strip away those alchemists' creativity.
Thus, in Anbaixiu's eyes, refusing Loviatar's invitation was the only sensible choice. If you did not believe in her, you were beyond the Goddess of Pain's jurisdiction. Once Anbaixiu agreed, Loviatar could use the pretext of violating dogma to punish him at will.
Loviatar spoke in an irritated tone, "You are a little too clever for your own good, lich."
Anbaixiu was unmoved and said to Loviatar, "As a faithless one, I naturally have to be clever, or I would have ended up in the Hells long ago. Goddess, manifesting this realm consumes the power of faith stored within the statue. By my estimation, it won't last much longer. So if you have anything else to tell me, I suggest you make it quick."
Loviatar snorted coldly, continuing, "I originally intended to use a simpler method to make you serve me, but it seems there is no easy way after all."
Anbaixiu sensed something amiss. Why did Loviatar sound like she was about to make a move by force? Was she truly so reckless that she dared violate Ao's rules? Did she not fear having her godhead stripped and being cast down into mortality?
"Wait, respected Goddess of Pain, everything can be discussed! I am a mere lich; I'm not worth such a great sacrifice on your part," Anbaixiu said.
Loviatar revealed a savage smile and said to Anbaixiu, "Heheh, worry not. Why would I violate Ao's laws to punish a mortal at whim? Yet just because a deity cannot punish mortals does not mean she cannot bestow a blessing. I know you once cast aside a certain formidable power. Now, let me help you pick it back up. Accept pain's love for you."
Loviatar uncoiled the whip hanging at her waist and lashed it viciously across Anbaixiu's soul.
Chapter 107