Chapter 894
The Seven Great Sins
“Ahhh…” Zhu Tang groaned, covering his eyes with his hands.
Facing such surging power, even shielding his eyes was useless!
Even though his eyes were closed, the intense Power of Transcendence struck his soul. The overwhelming impulse that could shake one’s very being transformed into physical damage upon him—two trails of blood slowly dripped from his tightly shut eyes.
This was the eighth floor, a number that perfectly aligned with transcendence.
The winged demons surged forward, their infinite Power of Transcendence manifesting as deep purple, almost black, gales, making it difficult for everyone to stand steady.
An almost endless horde of demons—they advanced with the might of a sky-shrouding, sun-obscuring torrent. It was like encountering a swarm of bats after venturing into a cave, only these bats were slightly larger and far more numerous.
Eivass possessed extensive knowledge of demons.
Though they were still distant, a quick glance allowed him to roughly identify the species of these demons.
Whip demons, eye demons, shadow demons, deformed demons, trap demons, ice demons, blood demons, blade demons…
—Their numbers easily exceeded five hundred!
The weakest were at least Fourth Tier, with a scattered few Fifth Tier powerhouses among them.
The only good news was probably that Eivass didn’t see upper-tier phantom demons like flame demons, winter demons, or night demons, which typically surpassed the world’s limits. After all, without a profession system like Demon Avatar that could directly hatch great demons, such great demons below Fifth Tier wouldn’t appear in the Material Realm.
These winged demons were all the fallen souls of those Winged Ones who had sacrificed themselves!
They were imprisoned here, preserved in frozen time until now—they hadn’t consumed anyone’s soul.
Sin (M)’s pupils flickered with electricity as he began to chant a spell. The demons seemed to grow even more frenzied upon seeing this electric light.
The martial monk Mu had already silently taken his place at the forefront of the group, like a solid wall;
Little Cat entered stealth mode, and the ground ahead was rapidly being laid with traps by her;
The Dream Traveling Monk’s body leaned back and fell into slumber, while his soul-body, shining like gold, stepped forward;
Zhu Tang, having recovered slightly, began to take out chess pieces from his portable ritual kit to set up a formation;
The Little Butterfly on Eivass’s shoulder reappeared as the Butterfly, blocking in front of him…
Even Master Amber became serious, gripping the amber prayer beads on his left wrist, ready to scatter them at any moment.
Eivass continued to pray and bless them. Rays of light flickered among the group.
Light shields appeared and dissipated on their bodies, followed by the insignia of blades, then a pair of wings. Next came a transparent, web-like light wall, finally granting everyone a vague, semi-invisible state…
Cardinal Galatea, however, merely gazed at her former colleagues. Now reduced to a puppet, her eyes were filled with sorrow and grief.
“In order to raise the King of Winged Ones high into the Dream Realm, for the continuation of the race and the future of the world, they sacrificed their lives and offered their souls. If the King of Winged Ones could become a god above gods, all these souls would become his Apostles…”
She clearly had no intention of attacking them, merely maintaining the illusion with Eivass.
Eivass also recalled the words of the Lord of Scales and Feathers:
[…”Metamorphosis” represents the constant nature of the eternal change of all things… that which goes up will eventually go down, and that which goes down will eventually go up. All things cycle and change, only the Way remains unchanged.]
That which goes up will eventually go down, and that which goes down will eventually go up.
“…Is this ‘that which goes up will eventually go down’?” Eivass whispered.
Cardinal Galatea nodded: “After the ‘Four Elements’ of the Path of Wisdom were stripped away, relying solely on the ‘Seven Marks’ of the Path of Power was insufficient to guide those souls onto the spiral and cyclical path of ascension.
“Furthermore, when the purpose became corrupted, no longer serving the continuation of civilization, these souls’ sacrifices were too insignificant compared to transcending fate. The scales tilted, and the voices of those praying in their soul state could not reach the King of Winged Ones, thus they could no longer provide Devotion.
“And without the Devotion to stabilize their minds, and no longer transcending for the sake of others, the desire for transcendence based on power would inflate infinitely. This triggered a chain reaction—the runaway power of change, coupled with a lack of Truth, and a decrease in the willingness for self-sacrifice… most crucially, the utmost pursuit and worship of ‘Power’. All these combined turned into the sinful nature that causes corruption.
“Thus, He also fell from His high place. The Seven Great Sins were born from this.”
The root of the sin of Lust comes from people’s innate desire for the continuation of civilization, the potential impulse for the act of creation. When people disregard the purpose of creation to be a “necessary” matter for “civilization,” uncontrolled desire becomes lust.
The sin of Gluttony stems from the excessive indulgence in necessary pleasures that bring joy, and the waste of them. This is an innate pursuit of power, of the Path of “eating”—people yearn to become strong and enjoy more resources. Until the desire for “Devotion” is lost, they then seize the food that rightfully belongs to others and arbitrarily squander the violence of “eating.”
The sin of Greed is the desire to possess more than one needs. The differences between people gave birth to civilization, but if the purpose of transcendence is no longer to “continue civilization,” it becomes plunder. That is precisely transcendence without Devotion.
The sin of Sloth comes from people’s abandonment of responsibility. For the ancients, everyone had their own work to do; any time wasted by one person meant an increased burden for others. Under the irresistible trend of transcendence, resisting transcendence by resisting Devotion itself became a great sin.
The sin of Wrath is due to the lack of power from the Origin River of Wisdom—violence devoid of truth, power not controlled by wisdom, and power unrestrained by Devotion and unbeneficial to civilization, becomes dangerous wrath. It becomes the cause of mutual harm.
The sin of Envy also originates from the differences within civilization. Greed intends to have more for oneself, while envy wishes others to have less; greed leans towards material possessions, while envy leans towards things beyond material. Both are forms of transcendence uninfluenced by Devotion.
Coupled with the ultimate pride—the ancients fancied themselves gods, intending to bypass the Pillar Gods and manipulate the Origin River, creating a great existence above the Pillar Gods. This in itself was the prototype of the sin of pride. However, their ultimate goal was the “continuation of civilization,” intending to transcend doomsday, which obstructed this ideal, and thus it was not considered a sin.
Until the loss of the power of Devotion, the purpose of the proud heart was no longer selfless. It became the fundamental great sin—for it was itself an error, and only when motivated by Devotion was this error temporarily obscured.
These were not entirely born from transcendence, but all stemmed from the loss of Devotion.
“But the original plan of the Sky-Piercing Tower didn’t require Devotion at all…”
Eivass realized the truth behind everything, the birth of the demons: “It was precisely due to the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s conspiracy that he added Devotion and Transcendence as a combined force to the ritual, which reduced the ritual’s tolerance for error and caused a mutation… Wait, hold on?”
…Ritual?
“Actually, one thing the Ring Heavenly Envoy said was correct… we *did* need to incorporate the Path of Devotion.”
Cardinal Galatea tilted her head slightly, looking at Eivass with a complex expression, as if looking at the captivating serpent of old: “Because we overlooked one thing—this very matter already aligned with the principle of transcendence, thus automatically becoming a ritual, already containing the Power of Transcendence. Even if we hadn’t incorporated the ritual of Devotion, it would have failed in the end. And due to complete imbalance, the ritual would have collapsed the moment it began.
“It was precisely because the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s suggestion was correct that the wise among us believed the ‘Serpent.’ Because He desperately saved us… yet used us as tools.
“He enabled the King of Winged Ones to successfully ascend to the Dream Realm, yet gave him the ironic title of ‘Fallen.’ The pure souls who had once ‘devoted’ themselves were not annihilated by the destructive failure. Instead, influenced by the corrupting power of the Seven Great Sins, they transformed into a new species of phantom demons, full of power but lacking wisdom…
“—Because their Path had deviated and degenerated into evil, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy called them demons.”
This is why the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s Shepherd’s Method is so effective against demons.
This is why demons are always desperately craving the souls of priests who are willing to self-sacrifice.
This is why the Ring Heavenly Envoy always wants to pull the Fallen Heavenly Envoy down to earth with the Ouroboros Ring.
This is why the Sin Scholar, belonging to the Ring Heavenly Envoy, and the Demon Avatar, belonging to the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, can transform into each other.
This is why the “Endless Knot” can transform dark-attribute demons into elemental beings…
…This is why, even though the Fallen Heavenly Envoy dispatches demons to plunder souls from the Nine Origin Rivers to arm himself, Candlemaster and Hourglass (Deity) did not act against Him; although the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had once rebelled against Father Serpent, Father Serpent did not kill Him.
Because He once—at least once—was an innocent.
But this Ring Heavenly Envoy… his mental state seems unstable.
Compared to Ai Shiping, whom Eivass saw in this first round, this Ring Heavenly Envoy appears colder, more rational, and more ruthless. He can sacrifice everything to achieve his goals.
The fact that the Ring Heavenly Envoy committed such an act and still remains a Pillar God candidate, and that this was not stopped by other Pillar Gods concerned about doomsday… suggests that his actions were also tacitly approved or even permitted by the other Pillar Gods.
But why did He try to stop the Sky-Piercing Tower’s plan?
Was it because He already knew that this plan was impossible to complete?
…Or did He know that even if the plan was completed, it would be futile in the end?
Or perhaps…
In the previous eight failed rounds, had the Sky-Piercing Tower succeeded? But it ultimately proved ineffective against doomsday?
Only such an answer could explain his ruthlessly decisive and cruel actions—
—Because this was “Necessary Evil,” “Preemptive Death”!
Eivass’s body trembled.
Not from fear, but from a deeper, more profound touch with the truth.
The more he understood, the less awe he felt for the Ring Heavenly Envoy.
He would eventually break free from the fate of a pawn—raise his head, and deliver a punch to that guy!
While Eivass was lost in thought, the surging tide of demons had already crashed upon them!
(End of Chapter)
