Youjiaxi walked slowly out of the tavern, maintaining a facade of calm on the surface. Yet once he left the tavern behind, his pace began to quicken involuntarily.
Though he kept reminding himself inside that he had waited thousands of years—a few more days wouldn't hurt, and he must not fall short on the verge of success—he was now the sole remaining candidate anyway, victory was in sight, and there was no need to rush for a moment.
Yet this self-consolation was like hunger in the belly: the more one endured it, the more one fixated on it, and the more keenly one felt that scorching, burning sensation deep inside.
This city was not large, but it teemed with the aura of the living.
The scent of fresh flesh and blood drifted constantly into Youjiaxi's nose, making his already agonizing hunger grow even more intense.
Just as Youjiaxi was about to hasten his steps and leave this temptation-filled place, an eerie voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
"Why endure it? Over all these years, it's not like you've never broken your abstinence. Several times, you secretly ate something, didn't you?"
Youjiaxi was startled. With a sudden spring, his body leapt over ten meters into the air, landing atop an adjacent building.
Yet no matter how he searched, he could find no trace of where the voice had come from.
"Don't waste your effort looking for me. I am your inner heart; I am the resonance of your soul. Jergal has deceived you for thousands of years. Shouldn't you wake up by now? Right now, you are indeed the only candidate left in the Elegy Poetry Society, but what about a few years from now? How long had that lich even been a member? How do you know Jergal won't drag in another newcomer in a few years? Are you going to wait around for another newcomer to kill himself and fall into Hell?"
Though Youjiaxi did not answer, his hands trembled faintly.
These words struck straight to the heart of his fears. He was indeed worried about this, only forcing himself not to dwell on it earlier.
For Youjiaxi knew the initiative was not in his hands; whether Jergal brought in someone new depended entirely on the deity's whims.
"Face reality. Jergal never intended to let you inherit the God of Death's divine portfolio. Since that's the case, why keep enduring for such an illusory dream? Look at this city full of the living. You've been hungry for a very long time, haven't you?"
Youjiaxi clenched his claws, grinding them together with cracking creaks.
Pouring fuel on the fire, a group of paladins came rushing over.
Perhaps the gathering of the Elegy Poetry Society had finally alerted these slow-witted paladins, or perhaps Youjiaxi's ten-meter leap had drawn their attention.
When they caught sight of Youjiaxi's true form as a ghoul, radiant Holy Light flared brilliantly from each of them.
The blinding light stung Youjiaxi's vision, making him narrow his blood-red eyes. As the paladins drew their longswords, Youjiaxi could no longer hold back; flailing his claws, he pounced upon them.
Although Holy Light countered the undead, the disparity in strength was far too vast. The armor upon their bodies was torn to shreds like paper, and severed limbs quickly scattered across the ground.
As the Holy Light faded, Youjiaxi clutched half a bloody head, an overwhelming urge welling up to shove it into his mouth. If he devoured all these corpses before him, surely it could give him half a minute of fullness?
He had been starved for far too long. Ever since he became a ghoul, the hunger had never vanished. No matter how much flesh and blood he devoured, the sensation of satiety lasted only an instant before he plunged right back into the unending torment of starvation.
Beside his ear, the seductive voice sounded once more: "Eat. What are you waiting for? It's not like you've never eaten. Over all these years, though you rarely broke abstinence, it wasn't nonexistent. Didn't you make a rule for yourself that taking a bite or two in combat doesn't count as violating your own code?"
Youjiaxi opened his maw wide, poised to stuff the half-head into his mouth.
Yet at the final moment, he hurled the gory thing away in rage.
The splashing blood struck a shadowy corner, revealing a pale elf.
Youjiaxi roared, "Who are you?!"
The pale elf shrugged, not expecting his disguise to be exposed. Truly, members of the Elegy Poetry Society possessed some genuine skill; even if they were not deities, they had touched that threshold, making it difficult for a mere avatar to fool them completely.
Confronted by the furious Youjiaxi, the pale elf sneered, "Who I am doesn't matter. What matters is whether what I said is true—you already have the answer in your heart... Ouch!"
A streak of bloody claw marks flashed past, nearly tearing the pale elf's head off.
Dodging backward, the pale elf flew up into the air.
Youjiaxi glared at him, yet did not pursue. He could sense that this pale elf was extraordinarily powerful; victory was far from guaranteed. He merely wondered who this was, going out of their way specifically to tempt him into breaking his abstinence.
"The undead are all such stubborn hardheads. Then keep waiting. You can live for a very long time anyway—let's see when you finally give up hope."
The bizarre elf vanished into the sky, and Youjiaxi lost all trace of his aura.
More Holy Light flared up, converging from all directions across the city. Youjiaxi glanced toward the sky and ultimately had no choice but to sprint toward the outskirts. If he wasn't going to feast, he shouldn't get himself drenched in blood and tempt himself further.
The city went into martial law, but in the end it amounted to nothing. The deaths of a few paladins merely heightened the tension in a city that was already on edge.
Yet such trivialities were merely one part of Ryan's chaotic turmoil, not even important enough to reach the desk of the Supreme Arbiter in the Imperial Capital.
After leaving the tavern, the Rose of Decay and Aige returned directly to the Underdark via a teleportation array. Mercury City had not changed at all, remaining dead silent like a graveyard.
As they entered Mercury City, all the undead hid in the shadows and corners, daring not show their faces before the Rose of Decay.
Everyone knew that the Undead Queen had been in a terrible mood lately; the slightest misstep would bring punishment resulting in soul annihilation.
The Rose of Decay remarked with feeling, "You can already travel so far from your true form. It seems you aren't far from becoming a true deity."
Aige's true form was a ghost ship, and while her true form remained upon the high seas, she could now condense an avatar to travel to the Underdark. It was clear that her power had grown substantially.
Aige did not hide it either, admitting frankly, "Yes. His plan has been going very smoothly. My divine realm is on the verge of solidifying. In two years at most, I will become a new deity."
Hearing Aige mention Anbaixiu, the Rose of Decay felt a twinge of sourness, though she quickly put that minor emotion out of mind.
Calling that man's soul back from Hell would inevitably demand a tremendous price, and the Rose of Decay feared she might not be able to afford it alone. If Aige was willing to help, things would become much easier.
The two proceeded along until they soon reached the deepest part of the castle.
Protected by countless magical barriers, Anbaixiu's remains were sealed within a crystal coffin. The youth with black hair and dark eyes looked as if he were merely asleep.
Melina leaned upon a longsword, keeping watch beside the coffin.
Melina's face showed less innocence now, replaced by a quiet, taciturn demeanor.
Anbaixiu's departure had had a profound impact not only on the world, but on those around him as well.
This time, however, the Rose of Decay brought good news.
"Melina, I've found out your father's whereabouts."
Hearing the Rose of Decay say this, Melina's eyes immediately lit up, and she asked with pleasant surprise, "Really? Then we can bring Father back?"
The Rose of Decay originally wanted to say it wouldn't be so easy, but seeing Melina's expression, she nodded and said, "Yes. Your father's soul has fallen into Hell, likely in Zariel's hands. We can ransom him back. We definitely can."
"Wonderful!" Melina said excitedly. "Let me summon Zariel right away!"
Back when Anbaixiu was alive, Melina had always served as a reusable sacrifice to lure Zariel into descending.
The Rose of Decay shook her head. She didn't possess Anbaixiu's skill to simply place Melina on a magic circle and shout a couple of words to bring Zariel over.
That wasn't summoning; that was fishing.
In this world, only Anbaixiu could treat a hell lord like a fish to be caught.
To summon Zariel, one had to abide by the rules of this Archduke of Hell. A massive blood sacrifice, an enormous magic circle, and meticulous incantations—not a single one could be missing.
Fortunately, the Underdark did not lack any of these things.
After several hours, the bloody, sinister magic circle was fully prepared. The Rose of Decay and Aige chanted the incantation to summon Zariel together, and then all that was left was to await the other party's response.
Yet after a long time had passed and the coppery stench of the blood sacrifice had nearly turned putrid, there was still no response whatsoever from within the magic circle.
"Zariel actually didn't reply?" The Rose of Decay felt something was off. Regardless of Anbaixiu's condition, an Archduke of Hell wouldn't pass up an opportunity to bargain. This was an obvious chance to turn a massive profit—how could Zariel remain indifferent?
At the very least, she would come up to hear an offer, wouldn't she?
Could it be that Zariel was clutching Anbaixiu's soul so tightly that she wasn't even willing to hear an offer?
That would truly be troublesome.
Chapter 518