"I'd rather call it giving up."
Black Crow said, "Not all followers of the Four Pillar Cult are bad people. Most were previously believers in other sects. The earliest Four Pillar Cult seems to have originated from a sect that lost its grand law..."
"In the past, everyone chose to follow grand laws to resist the night, but the Four Pillar Gods offered them another choice: indulging in the present. After all, once a grand law is lost, not everyone can cling to ideals and keep trekking through the night. Since an easier option presented itself, the Four Pillar Cult naturally spread like wildfire."
"Besides..." Black Crow sighed. "A long time has passed since the Grey Fox Divine Era. Not a single grand law has ascended to godhood in two hundred years. With ideals so far out of reach, the Four Pillar Cult found fertile ground to rise."
"Therefore," he paused, his voice firm, "the Four Pillar Cult must be torn out by the roots. Otherwise, Senluo will never welcome another Divine Era."
"What's the relationship between the Grey Fox Divine Era and the Fire Cat Divine Era?" Leaning against the wall, Yaxiu asked with his eyes half-closed.
"Fire Cat was the Second Divine Era; Grey Fox was the Fourth." Black Crow pointed toward the panels beneath Yaxiu. "This scrap was probably excavated from Grey Fox ruins."
Igola asked, "So a Divine Era is an age where everyone follows a grand law, dedicating their entire lives to realizing its ideals?"
"Yes. A wonderful era that exists only in legend." Black Crow sighed with emotion, then added, "To be honest, it's rather hard for me to imagine what a land without grand laws looks like. Is every single one of you a Candle Count, steadfastly striving for your ideals in daily life even without the guidance of a grand law?"
Harvey: "Pretty much."
Igola: "Of course."
After a brief silence, the three turned their gaze toward Yaxiu. The corner of Yaxiu's mouth twitched. Only then did he realize that in this room, he was actually the closest thing to a Four Pillar cultist—was having no ideals forbidden? Was indulging in an ordinary life a crime? Sleeping until waking naturally, eating Lalafell every meal, and diving into the Void Realm after playing games—what was so bad about living like that?
*Turns out I really am a Four Pillar cultist!*
"Wait," Igola caught onto something. "Going by what you said, does that mean anyone who's an idealist can walk through the night?"
"Yes," Black Crow said. "But they must be exceptionally pure and unwavering. Even if they journey through the night, they will not be tainted by Strangling Green. Because after death they often become new grand laws, such individuals are known as Candle Counts—meaning future grand laws about to ignite."
"Though I think I might be one, I don't dare wager on it." Black Crow glanced at them. "Would you dare gamble?"
The two shook their heads in turn. Then they looked at Harvey, who seemed deep in thought; under their oppressive stares, Harvey shook his head as well.
"Has Strangling Green always existed?" Igola rubbed his temples to refresh himself. "It sounds like the aftermath of some disaster."
"It has existed at least since before the White Dove Divine Era over a thousand years ago," Black Crow replied. "Eras change, environments change, races change, but the grand laws and Strangling Green have never changed."
Yaxiu suddenly thought of the Sword Princess and asked, "With your environment being so harsh, does that mean you have no way to fend off Abyss disasters?"
Black Crow asked, "What Abyss?"
Right at that moment, Harvey blurted out, "Something's wrong."
Yaxiu and Igola, whose eyelids were drooping heavily, realized it immediately as well—their strength was completely sapped, and their minds had grown so exhausted and drowsy that they hadn't even noticed their sorcery power rapidly dissipating!
They instantly shot suspicious glances at Black Crow, the only person here still moving normally. Black Crow didn't hesitate either: stomping the floor, driving a punch, kicking back, and throwing an uppercut, four swift strikes blasted the warehouse to splinters!
Outside the warehouse, there were no cultists waiting to recapture them. On the contrary, the surroundings were deathly still, save for the crackling of the bonfire in the distance. Black Crow turned to look past the edges of the camp, an edge of urgency leaking through his aloof tone: "The night is closing in."
The warehouse had been about fifty meters from the edge of the night, but now only twenty meters remained. The darkness seemed to violently swallow the streetlamps' light. Any later, and they would have silently become part of the night!
Black Crow stepped right up and scooped up both Igola and Yaxiu, then turned to see Alice scooping up Harvey. Of the three Sanctuary Sorcerers, Harvey was the only one who retained combat capability after suffering an unknown attack.
Harvey smiled at Yaxiu and Igola. "Now you know the perks of the necromancy faction, don't you?"
The corners of Yaxiu and Igola's mouths twitched—damn it, he actually got to flex!
With the night closing in, they had no choice but to retreat toward the camp's central area. All along the way, they saw desiccated corpses inside buildings and across the ground, as if this place were a graveyard from long ago.
Yet as they drew closer to the center, Yaxiu and the others could actually see specks of silver sand rising from their bodies, flowing toward the square's bonfire as if swept into a whirlpool. And with each speck of silver sand lost, they distinctly felt their souls and bodies weaken another notch!
"Get... away..." Igola said weakly. "Any closer... and we'll turn into the things you crushed underfoot earlier..."
"Right behind us is the night," Black Crow said. "Are you sure you're a Candle Count?"
Igola: "Better than... watching myself... get sucked dry."
"If the mutation correlates with what I've done in the Void Realm," Yaxiu exhaled faintly, "I'll probably turn into a Fishcleaver Dragon."
Alice suddenly spoke in Harvey's voice: "It's pointless even if we keep getting closer. The Four Pillar Cult's sanctuary seems to have failed. Sooner or later, the night will swallow the whole camp."
"That's right." Black Crow nodded. "I doubt many people are left alive in the camp by now. A grand law's power is tied closely to the number of its followers. While the Four Pillar Cult isn't a grand law, the principle is likely much the same... Just as it isn't the grand law that achieves the ideal, but the believers, the ones protecting this camp may seem to be the Four Pillar Gods, but in truth, it's the believers themselves."
Having said that, Black Crow set down Yaxiu and Igola and instructed Alice, "Watch over them. Don't let the night swallow them. I'm going to pass judgment."
Alice nodded, strapped Harvey onto her back, and then held the two Sanctuary Sorcerers by the scruff of their necks with both hands, as if carrying cats.
"Pass judgment?" Yaxiu forced down his drowsiness and lifted his head.
"This camp is an evil nest of the Four Pillar Cult. If the other party is wiping it out in the name of justice, that is indeed understandable. Presumably, as long as I point out that there are several innocent bystanders caught in the crossfire here, they will halt this indiscriminate slaughter. That would make them a good crow."
"However, if they have no intention of stopping and disregard your lives, then they shall be judged a wicked crow." Black Crow said calmly, "And against wicked crows, there is only one path: slaughter them all."
"By the way," he said solemnly to the three sorcerers, "if I fail and you die, I hope you will record me in your sorcerer manuals. If future generations read of my deeds in your manuals, perhaps they will follow my path."
"I am an adjudication retainer of the Kill-All-Crows Cult, Tamaxi Kill-All-Crows. Our cult's ideal is to slaughter all wicked crows, trample sinners underfoot, find joy in crushing evil, and forge a good-crow society where everyone delights in ravaging wrongdoing—wiping out fraud, assassination, antisocial acts, and every other crime."
Igola the Swindler, Harvey the foremost hitman of Kaimeng, and Yaxiu the cult leader: "..."
"You think our ideal is wonderful too, don't you?" A distorted chuckle came from behind Black Crow's mask.
"Since they all deserve to die, they might as well serve as stepping stones for good people."
Chapter 530