With imprisoned rage, the burning heat of the desecrated Holy Light Badge, and the determination to tear apart hypocrisy.
Like a cannonball fired from a gun, it slammed into Luo Ning Feng's face, which was distorted by astonishment and the backlash of power!
"This punch! For the old people you've forgotten! For the townspeople you've turned into puppets! For your own lost brain! —For you!"
Bang--!!!
A dull and heart-pounding sound of flesh colliding was heard!
Mark's fist hit Luo Ning Feng's face hard!
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
The eternal gentleness on Luo Ning Feng's face, the rage after being exposed, the madness of losing control of his power...
All expressions froze, then peeled off like broken candy shells.
He was knocked back and staggered, his body becoming ethereal for a moment. A clear, sunken fist mark appeared on his seemingly gentle middle-aged face!
"Ugh... How is that possible? How could you possibly hit me!?"
Roning uttered a groan of pain that was not like a human voice. It was not entirely due to physical pain, but more of the confusion and pain of having his faith completely shattered.
Mark kept his fist pumping, breathing heavily, sweat mixed with sticky syrup dripping down his forehead.
He stared at Ronin intently, his voice hoarse but carrying a hint of justice from a true priest:
"Answer me, Luo Ning Feng! Look at this broken 'paradise' of yours! Look at those puppets you 'blessed'! And then look at your own hypocritical face... Do you! Really think... they are happy?!"
This punch not only shattered Roning's body, but also shattered the sugar-coated shell of self-deception that he had carefully constructed over the past twenty years.
This question, like the final death knell, exploded deep within Luo Ning Feng's already twisted and hollow soul.
Luo Ning Feng staggered backward, his illusory body fluctuating violently in the honey-colored light, like a projection with a poor signal.
The face that had been wearing a gentle fake smile since they met was now filled with astonishment and a deeper pain.
This is the excruciating pain of being forcibly woken from a sweet dream and facing blood.
The remaining "seven-colored black light" holy light on Mark's fist peak did not dissipate. Instead, it was like a maggot on the tarsal bone, drilling madly into the place where Ronin was hit!
This is not purely destructive magic, it carries an indescribable "penetrating" property that comes from a higher existence.
It instantly pierced through the thick sugar shell of Ronin's soul, which was constructed from sweet lies and twisted will!
"Ahhh——!" Roning suddenly hugged his head and let out a shrill and distorted scream.
The voice was no longer the deliberately disguised mellowness or cold sharpness of before, but was filled with real and unbearable pain.
The honey-colored light on his body flickered and flickered wildly, like a light bulb with poor contact.
The face belonging to "Luoning Feng" twisted violently, melted, and reorganized in pain, as if two forces were tearing at him frantically inside his body.
"No...it wasn't me...it wasn't me!"
Ronin's voice was intermittent, filled with childish fear and helplessness.
He hugged his head, curled up, and his body trembled like a fallen leaf in the wind.
That eternal smile completely shattered, revealing the most primitive, fragile, and true soul underneath.
Roning, the young monk who was once full of enthusiasm and wanted to use maple syrup to change the poor fate of his hometown.
"That book... from the Holy City... 'A Study of Northern Scenery: Ancient Volumes'..." Ronin's voice was hoarse and filled with tears. "The one in the mezzanine... isn't a reconciliation ritual at all... It's a trap! It's a curse! It's... It's in there!"
He suddenly raised his head, and his once empty and gentle eyes were now full of bloodshot, with bottomless fear and regret deep in his pupils.
Colorful black light traveled through his body like a red-hot probe, burning the core of his polluted soul.
However, it also briefly suppressed the will of another being, allowing him to gain a moment of clarity.
"It...it chose me in the Holy City Library!"
Ronin's voice was filled with despair. "It amplifies my desire for 'happiness'... and distorts my understanding of 'peace'!"
"It made me think... that sacrificing oblivion was a necessary price to pay! It... it used my hands, my ideals, my formations... to build this gigantic 'honey nest' in Maple Leaf Town!"
He pointed painfully at the space around him that was still slowly disintegrating and flowing with sticky honey light:
"It... the Lord of Sweet Devouring! It feeds on the sweet emotions emanating from purified souls! And it also... nourishes itself on the painful memories it devours! Jealousy, resentment, and sadness... are the delicacies it craves most!"
Roning's body twitched violently again.
The pain and clarity on his face were instantly covered by a cold and resentful will that forced its way in.
His voice suddenly became strangely overlapping, as if two people were speaking at the same time:
"Shut up...humble...vessel! I grant them eternal...sweetness...as...a gift!"
But the colorful black light became stronger again, and Roning's consciousness briefly regained control.
His eyes shone with a final burst of clarity and eagerness, and he roared desperately, wanting to reveal all the sins he had committed before sinking completely:
"Those old people! Those old people!" Roning's voice was filled with tears and grief. "Their souls... have long been eaten away and riddled with holes!"
"Every full moon night, when the formation's core is operating at full strength, the Lord of Sweet Devouring will extract the most intense emotional fragments from the souls of all the townspeople! The elderly... the more experience an elderly has, the richer their emotions become... they are its favorite aged wine!"
"They...are no longer human! Their bodies are empty! They've become...empty shells that can only smile foolishly! In order...in order not to arouse suspicion..."
Roning's face revealed an expression of extreme pain and madness. "I planted their... empty shells... in the deepest soil of this maple forest! I wrapped them with maple tree roots... so that they, hahahaha... would be with me!"
Monica stood behind Mark holding Xiao Mu, and the identification array was running wildly in her wine-red pupils!
She saw it!
The moment Ronin told the truth, her vision penetrated the thick layer of fallen leaves and soil under her feet and saw the horrifying scene.
Countless human figures that were shriveled like dehydrated bark were tightly entangled and wrapped by the thick maple tree roots and buried deep under the maple forest!
On their faces, there was the same empty and happy smile as the townspeople!
"roar--!!!"
After Roning said those words.
A roar that sounded like a mixture of the flapping of insect wings and the boiling of sticky liquid erupted from the depths of Ronin's throat!
The remaining clarity and pain on his face that belonged to Roning evaporated instantly like a drop of water thrown into boiling oil!
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