Chapter 1168
Bound by Sin
Three Ritualists wailed in agony, their bodies being slowly crushed as if by an invisible millstone, bound tightly by the power of Great Sin.
“—As expected.”
Eivass watched the enemies who had attacked him suffer, but there was no smile on his face.
The Authority “Bound by Sin” was essentially a control and judgment ability “based on moral judgment.” It was the best manifestation of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s power of Sin and Punishment—those burdened with Great Sin could not escape the chains and torment of their own sins. Even without Great Sin, it was an extremely strong chain.
The deeper their sins, the stronger the power of Great Sin entwined around them… the tighter the chains, the more agonizing the torment.
The Great Sin here did not refer to the laws of a nation, nor was it related to one’s own sense of morality. Its judgment was very vague because the law of “Great Sin” was based on the creation of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
But no one knew exactly what matters the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had defined as “Great Sin” when he ascended to godhood. The Fallen Heavenly Envoy had never taught this knowledge to the believers in the Material Realm. It could be said that he had deliberately concealed the specific judgment criteria to prevent people from fully understanding it.
What the Ritualists had been able to ascertain over the years were only a few universally abhorrent great taboos, such as “using their own kind as ritual materials” and “cannibalism.”
And according to Eivass’s judgment… in this damned desert, it was impossible for many people to be innocent. Especially the Ritualists… although there were also Ritualists of the Purified Faction who vowed not to use materials of their own kind, not to kill, and not to use curses.
But it was obvious that these Ritualists sent to kill and slaughter entire cities could not be from the Purified Faction, so Eivass knew without even looking that they were bound to be Bound by Sin.
—This was practically the only guaranteed fate in the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi.
If they had no Great Sin, they would be dragged into a deep coma by the power of Bound by Sin; and if they were riddled with Great Sin, they would be executed as if trapped in eighteen layers of hell.
In fact, this was originally the duty that the Fallen Heavenly Envoy should have undertaken.
The law of Fallen was for him to divide the souls in the Material Realm into good and evil, thus creating more changes. And because there was good and evil, there was a need to punish evil. With changes, this cycle of change would stabilize—allowing good people to fall into evil, and evil people to atone and become good. This was the complete law of sin that corresponded to the concept of the “Origin River of Easier Change.”
The Origin River, in addition to granting him the Authority of Fallen, also gave him the Authority of Sin and Punishment. He was to build “Hell” in the Dream Realm, to screen the souls of sinners and give them chastisement. If a soul could not be purified, it could be made into a Demon and remain in the Dream Realm without participating in the cycle… thus, the proportion of good and evil in the souls of the Material Realm would always be changing, creating change.
This was the judgment given by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy when he was Lucifer.
One could only say that the Origin River’s original plan was flawless.
This seemed to perfectly fit the needs of the Origin River of Easier Change and was highly likely to create infinite variable factors in the Material Realm.
However, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy refused—he never wanted to be the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. So he completely ignored the Origin River and only used the “Sin” part of the power of Sin and Punishment to create his own Great Fallen Sin Hall and his own Demon Legion.
He was only responsible for making people fall, but not for punishing evil or purifying souls. In the continuous cycle of souls through generations, the “original sin” mixed in increased. This was the main reason for the gradual decline of morality in the Material Realm.
This was similar to the Shadow Heavenly Envoy, who had reinterpreted and executed their duties according to their own understanding.
The Shadow Heavenly Envoy was originally supposed to provide the betrayers and avengers with the power to complete their schemes or revenge, thereby creating variable factors in the Material Realm’s society and allowing the Material Realm’s races to iterate themselves. Using “hatred,” the opposite of “love,” as a foundation to become the Heavenly Envoy of “Shadow.”
Where there is the moon, there is its shadow.
The Shadow Heavenly Envoy was able to serve as the Heavenly Envoy of the Path of Love with such a strange domain because she was the completion of the Hengwo Authority—the act of “love” could create through reproduction, but the motive of love was not enough to overcome beasts; hatred could.
But the Shadow Heavenly Envoy refused to give power to betrayers due to her own likes and dislikes.
Because she occupied the domain of betrayal herself, she could not give birth to new Heavenly Envoys of betrayal… As a result, betrayers could only seek power from the Transcendent Path, which also pursued chaos. But not all avengers and betrayers had grand ideals, so this pursuit became many times more difficult.
After all, the Origin River’s sole purpose was to maintain and expand its own concept. As for the survival of civilization itself, perhaps only the Third Origin River and the Sixth Origin River were concerned.
Heavenly Envoys were not purely good or evil gods; they had their own preferences. Whether it was the Pillar Gods supporting their Apostles to create Heavenly Envoys, or wild Phantom Demons resonating with the Origin River on their own… after obtaining the power of the Origin River, they had the right to use that power according to their own ideas.
In any case, once the Origin River gave out a Heavenly Envoy Fragment, it could not be taken back. And as long as a concept existed, a new Heavenly Envoy could not be born.
—The result was that, after thousands of years, the Night Demon finally executed the most fundamental command of the “Fragment of Fallen and Sin” for the first time: to punish evil.
The task set by the Origin River of Easier Change eight thousand years ago was finally completed!
Because of this, the Night Demon suddenly felt a resonance from her Path—
The Power of Transcendence surged into her body in a continuous stream, causing her level, which had recently been raised to level 51 with the breaking of the limit of the Transcendent Path, to increase rapidly… even incidentally injecting power into Eivass!
Deep purple light erupted in Eivass’s pupils for a moment, a manifestation of the complete resonance of the Transcendent Path. The depth of his Path was increasing at a visible rate, as if he had done something that perfectly adhered to the principles of the Path.
Feeling the influx of power within him, he was startled and touched his eyes.
—Eivass truly didn’t know what extraordinary act he had performed.
Just punishing three extremely sinful Ritualists had inexplicably triggered a resonance with his Path!
“…It seems even the Father Snake wanted me to kill them.”
Eivass’s lips could not stop curving upwards as he laughed with delight.
At his level, the amount of free experience required to advance one level was enormous. And it was too slow to improve his level solely by studying and acquiring extraordinary knowledge. Only by completing a Great Deed in the practice of his Path could he rapidly increase his level within months, or even weeks.
“How do you plan to deal with them, Master?” Viness inquired.
“Torment them a little longer, then transform them into demons—and then have them go back to attack that Lord of Good. It’ll be their just deserts.”
Eivass commanded mercilessly, “Simply killing them would be too easy for them.”
(End of this chapter)
