Demon Eye Heavenly King stared at Zhang Yuanqing, looking directly into the radiance and overbearing pressure of the Lord of the Sun. "Fear came looking for me," he said.
Zhang Yuanqing nodded.
"I figured! As things stand, both the orthodox and evil factions have taken heavy hits to their demigod-tier forces. After advancing to level nine, your Alluring Demon Eye has grown even more formidable, and with the opportunity bestowed upon you by the Weapon Master Chiyou, it wouldn't be difficult for you to tie down a demigod in the short term if you went all out.
"Fear would definitely try to pull you back to the evil faction."
"I was very tempted." Demon Eye's gaze and expression carried the earnestness of a boy speaking of his dreams.
"I know!" Zhang Yuanqing's expression was equally solemn.
Demon Eye Heavenly King shifted his gaze away from Zhang Yuanqing's face and looked up at the azure sky. After a silence of perhaps three to five seconds, he spoke slowly:
"You might not know this, but I actually grew up in an orphanage. I was an abandoned baby."
Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a few seconds. "In the mural illusion at Shushan's South Courtyard, that couple was..."
Initially, he had assumed the Demon Lord was the child who grew up in an orphanage, which was why he had been so passionate about taking care of the kids there. Later, after seeing Demon Eye's parents in the mural of Shushan's South Courtyard, he assumed Demon Eye cared for orphanages because he saw those children as the weakest and purest, which made him fond of them.
He had never expected that after going in a full circle, things would loop right back to his original guess.
"They were my adoptive parents." Demon Eye Heavenly King plucked a blade of weed from a fissure in the cracked hallway floor and held it between his lips. Gazing into the azure sky, he drained all emotion from his eyes, his tone turning ethereal.
"Ever since I gained consciousness, I lived in that orphanage. The director was a divorced woman in her forties. Together with two caretaking matrons, she looked after over fifty children. She was the most terrifying person I had ever met."
The most terrifying person? Zhang Yuanqing was startled for a moment, then formed a guess in his mind.
Sure enough, the corners of Demon Eye Heavenly King's mouth curled up.
"Orphanages back in those days weren't like the ones now. Supplies were scarce, and just having enough food and warmth was a challenge in itself. The social safety nets weren't comprehensive, and supervision was nonexistent. The only requirement placed on orphanages was to keep the children alive.
"The director and her two staff treated the children terribly. For the three of them to handle more than fifty kids at once, their best method was domestication. First off, crying was forbidden—no crying during the day, no crying at night. Any child who broke the rule was subjected to corporal punishment, beatings, and verbal abuse. If one beating wasn't enough, they gave you two, beating you until you became obedient. Every night, I could hear the shrill screams and wails of children.
"By the time I was four, I had stopped wetting myself. Aside from infants who couldn't take care of themselves, any child who could walk had to wash their own clothes and pants, or else freeze."
He pointed toward the frost clinging to the corner of the playground. "In weather like this, I was left bare-bottomed to freeze for an entire day. Even now, I remember that cold and helplessness vividly. From the day I was born, I never felt a single sliver of warmth. What I remember most are the beatings and the fear."
Suffering abuse had left an indelible scar on his childhood psyche? Zhang Yuanqing nodded, thinking to himself, *Do you need me to help purify you?*
"In that era, being able to survive was already a blessing. No one cared about psychological issues... Were you adopted later?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Demon Eye Heavenly King nodded. "When I was six, a childless couple adopted me. They treated me very well. They bought me new clothes and sent me to school. Mother felt I was too thin and malnourished, so she specifically ordered milk for me—a bottle of milk every morning, the kind that came in glass bottles. When I came home from school, Father would always ask: 'Did any classmates bully you? If anyone did, you have to tell me, and Dad will stand up for you.'
"Stand up for me... Heh. In all those years at the orphanage, no one had ever stood up for me. Father came from the countryside and knew many rural friends. Every weekend, he would bring back wild game from the country to nourish me.
"I lived with them for three years. Those were the happiest days of my life. For the first time, I felt the beauty of life and the beauty of human nature. I thought life would continue like that, until one day..."
Demon Eye Heavenly King stopped abruptly, saying no more.
There was no need to say what followed. The murals of Shushan's South Courtyard had already told Zhang Yuanqing everything.
Looking into the azure sky, his eyes reflecting a mixture of wistfulness, agony, and furious hatred, Demon Eye murmured faintly, "I lost everything once again. I left that home, never went back to the orphanage, and never accepted adoption again. I began wandering for seven long years until I obtained my character card. From then on, only one goal remained in my life: to cleanse this filthy world.
"I will make those who bully the weak face retribution. I will make those who bend the law for personal gain receive punishment. I will make authoritarian power crumble to dust."
Zhang Yuanqing listened in silence, recalling the mural at Shushan's South Courtyard—an isolated building collapsing, burying the young couple, while a little boy turned away and walked off, his back solitary...
In truth, starting from that day, the little boy had already died. The one who survived was Demon Eye Heavenly King, the lonely avenger.
After a long silence, Zhang Yuanqing said slowly, "Thank you for telling me your story. I will relay your choice to the Five Elements Alliance. The next time we meet, we will be mortal enemies fighting to the death."
He left behind the black long saber wrapped in flames and departed in a streak of golden light.
Demon Eye Heavenly King sat in the corridor, motionless like a sculpture.
***
Returning to Songhai, Zhang Yuanqing took out Yata no Kagami, which had long since been repaired, and summoned his avatar.
Tossing Yata no Kagami to the avatar, Zhang Yuanqing said, "Go do your own thing!"
Catching Yata no Kagami, the avatar sighed. "Understood."
He then dispersed into starlight.
Zhang Yuanqing passed through the barrier of the real world and arrived in the galaxy-like Spirit Realm. His gaze transformed into golden beams of light, sweeping across the Spirit Realm world.
Soon, he found the dungeon that Ling Tuo had once concealed, the one hiding the Merit Roster.
Before the final battle, he needed to refine the Merit Roster and take control of this causality-type item. It might not necessarily be useful—after all, the ability the Merit Roster had displayed so far was placing bounties on Spirit Realm walkers with low Morality Points, seemingly lacking formidable offensive power.
However, it was a causality-type item, and "bounties" might only be one of its abilities.
Zhang Yuanqing took a step forward and arrived within the dungeon world.
This was a primordial dungeon where chaos had yet to divide, devoid of any concept of up, down, or cardinal directions. Floating quietly amidst the chaos was a divine artifact resembling an unfurled metallic scroll, shimmering with golden light.
It was roughly thirty meters long and six meters wide, flowing with faint golden radiance. Inscribed across its surface were countless tiny characters, all Spirit Realm IDs.
Its back was engraved with ten Golden Crows soaring with spread wings, accompanied by layers of cloud patterns.
A heavy, magnificent, and dignified aura washed over him, making Zhang Yuanqing feel profoundly familiar and close to it, as if it were a natal weapon he had wielded for years, woven directly into his bloodstream.
From the metal rods at either end of the Merit Roster, golden fibrous energy threads extended deep into the chaos, appearing to link to objects unseen.
Purely out of instinct, the Sun Origin manifested behind Zhang Yuanqing's head, turning into a dazzling golden sun disk from which Golden Crows burning with golden flames flew out one after another.
Nine Golden Crows circled the Merit Roster. After a brief flight, two Golden Crows seized a corner each, while a third grabbed the top edge, furiously flapping their wings.
The Merit Roster was slowly pulled out from the chaos, inch by inch, as the golden threads connecting its four corners to the void snapped one by one.
*Whoosh!*
Once completely pulled free, the Merit Roster burst into golden blazes, assimilating with the Golden Crows.
As if struck by divine inspiration, Zhang Yuanqing raised his hand. The enormous Merit Roster shrank on its own until it was the size of a tablet computer, resting quietly upon his palm.
After waiting several seconds, no item properties appeared. Instead, a stream of knowledge flooded Zhang Yuanqing's mind, naturally acquainting him with the Merit Roster's information and functions.
As a causality-type item of the Sun domain, the Merit Roster was an emblem of justice and order. Its fundamental function was recording "merit."
No matter what a person's merit was like, they might fool the world, but they could never fool the Merit Roster. Every evil deed ever committed was known to Heaven, Earth, and oneself.
"Heaven and Earth" referred specifically to the Merit Roster.
The second function was "Grace."
The Merit Roster bestowed a measure of grace upon the top ten individuals on the merit rankings, granting them protective golden light that repelled all evils. In ancient times, this was known as becoming a "Sage" or "Attaining Sagehood through Merit."
However, the Grace ability required the power of the Sun Origin to activate. After the ten Sun Crows were sealed into the Bronze Sacred Tree by Empress Wa, the Merit Roster had become like an electronic appliance without a power source, and this function had consequently shut down.
The third function was "Retribution." The Merit Roster would mete out punishment to wicked individuals who harmed those blessed with merit, or to depraved heretics whose Morality Points were excessively low.
The method of punishment was randomized—sometimes it struck with lightning, sometimes it induced madness, sometimes it brought calamity, sometimes it inflicted the Five Celestial Decays, sometimes heavenly fire scorched the spirit, and so forth.
Involving causality, the punishment could not be evaded by any means, though it could be blocked.
Yet given the Merit Roster's status, the forces in this world capable of blocking its retribution were few and far between. Even if one could withstand it, it was essentially done by exhausting their health pool.
Furthermore, anyone who harmed the Lord of the Sun—the master of the Merit Roster—would inevitably trigger "Retribution."
Holding the Merit Roster, Zhang Yuanqing's somewhat dampened spirits instantly surged with excitement.
*With this, I can basically prevent the real world from suffering the evil faction's 'carnival.' I can inflict retribution on anyone whose Morality Points fall below sixty. Wiping out the evil faction's low- and mid-tier Spirit Realm walkers won't be an issue at all,* Zhang Yuanqing rejoiced inwardly.
Controlling the Merit Roster was equivalent to controlling the blade hanging over every Spirit Realm walker's head. Anyone whose Morality Points failed to meet the standard could have their account banned.
This was an administrator privilege!
The randomized retribution could also diversify his arsenal, catching evil demigods like the Lord of the Stars completely off guard.
They might be able to rely on their deep foundations to forcibly endure the damage of Retribution, but different retributions brought different forms of punishment, far more versatile and effective than simply burning everything with solar divine power.
***
Inside the Clash of the Gods dungeon.
With a black full moon above his head, starlight dazzling in his left eye, and deep pitch-black darkness in his right eye, the Lord of the Stars opened his inventory and retrieved a flesh pod composed of biological matter and covered in red blood vessels.
Then, he looked at Asura, who stood three meters tall with three heads and eight arms, resembling a dark iron tower.
Asura silently retrieved a wooden box carved with a yaksha demon face, opened the lid, and tipped out a handsome young Caucasian man.
This was the offspring of Old Mac, the proprietor of the Bacchus Club.
Next, Asura drew a blackish-red dagger and tossed it to the Lord of the Stars.
Stored inside the dagger was Old Mac's spiritual essence blood.
Although the evil demigods did not know that the Lord of the Stars was the greatest traitor within the orthodox camp, the Clash of the Gods dungeon had been a premeditated operation by the evil faction from the start.
Therefore, before the Demon Seed unlocked the Sun Dungeon, they had already prepared offspring and blood. If anyone died in battle, they could subsequently use the Mother Goddess's Womb under Asura's control to revive them.
Naturally, the prerequisite was that after dying in battle, the fallen demigod's items had to be recovered by the evil faction.
The Lord of the Stars remarked with regret, "The Lord of Myriad Demons' demigod item is in Void's hands."
Asura stated indifferently, "Then he has forfeited the right to be revived! Resurrect the God of Wine. That kid could arrive at any moment."
Chapter 997