Chapter 173 Night Candle Rules 51 Behind the barrier, a sea of people...
Souls and monsters...bound together?
Is Nanmen Jue now a human or a monster?
Those who arrived all heard Zhang Jin's words and looked at Nanmen Jue with shocked expressions.
Nanmen Jue glanced indifferently at Zhang Jin's flushed face with his dark phoenix eyes and said coldly, "Everyone, move closer to me."
In a crisis, as long as someone steps forward and gives an order, the feverish brain will subconsciously obey.
Those who were still alive approached Nanmenjue, with swarms of snakes rushing behind them. As soon as one was killed, another would split off, making it impossible to kill them all.
As people rushed toward Nanmenjue, Nanmenjue opened his right hand, and a huge white bone scythe suddenly appeared in his hand.
The hilt of the knife was taller than half her body length, and the blade was two to three meters long.
She swung her sickle, hacking at the onrushing snakes.
With a single strike, the divine avatars, which had been chasing everyone in disarray, were completely annihilated, leaving only a sharp screech that gradually faded into silence.
Zhang Jin looked at her, his pupils shrinking slightly.
The gods fighting not far away also noticed what was happening. A crow cawed sharply and took flight, its silhouette blotting out the sky.
He flew to Nanmenjue and landed back on her shoulder, having returned to his previous size.
Because of the power of space, He had recovered from His previous weakness. His feathers were beautiful and his eyes were bright. Under His gaze, the giant snake gradually shrank back to the thickness of a thigh and the length of seven or eight meters. Then it coiled up and straightened its head, standing as tall as a person.
Nanmen Jue's gaze swept over the back of the snake's neck.
The raven said that His core was right there, in the snake's vital spot.
Zhang Jin was extremely cautious and fearful of the main god, but at this moment he was caught in a certain emotion. He didn't even care about the descending main god. He just stared straight into Nanmen Jue's dark eyes, as if he was venting his anger, as if he was relieved, or as if he had something more complicated mixed in. This made his face distort and his voice tremble.
"I knew it... How could a human possibly have any feelings for God? No matter what the excuses or the purpose, humans are just God's pawns and tools. All they have to do is offer their souls and obey orders."
The snake glanced at him, then looked at Nanmen Jue and the crow on her shoulder. "I really didn't expect you to use this method."
The power of the raven's transformation had been completely exhausted under His deliberate suppression. This method could indeed cause the power of Nanmen Jue and the raven to surge simultaneously in a short period of time, but the price paid was such that even the gods had to retreat.
Soul binding means that not only Nanmenjue sacrificed his soul, but also Raven and Nocturnus. This contract can only be achieved if both parties are willing.
"You've surprised me again, Nocturnus. Your shortsightedness shocks me," the serpent continued in human language. "Just to defeat this form of mine, you're willing to bind yourself to a human soul? Do you know what that means?"
Zhang Jin's expression suddenly froze; he realized that things might not be as he had imagined.
“How could I not know? This means that my contract with Nanmen has deepened, and we have a closer bond,” the crow said.
The snake burst into laughter.
It opened its snake mouth wide, looked up at the sky and let out a human laugh, a very strange scene.
"You call this a bond? Bound to a human soul, you will never be able to hurt him again. His cowardly thoughts and feelings will affect you at all times. When the fragile human dies, your soul will fall into an endless night—you might even perish from this pain! You call this a bond? This is clearly your surrender, I can already see your future."
The snake hissed menacingly, revealing its sharp fangs.
"You will perish in endless pain and loneliness, and I will be the final victor."
"What?"
Zhang Jin stared at Nanmen Jue in disbelief; the immense shock made his face turn pale.
"How could He... He's a god! Nanmen Jue, what gives you the right..."
Nanmen Jue tightened his grip on the bone scythe.
Before binding her soul, she had no idea what price the crow would have to pay.
Time was of the essence, so the raven simply asked her, "Are you willing to form a deeper pact with me, to bind our souls together, and to enhance our power?"
Nanmen Jue said, "I do."
The raven continued, "What if the price is your soul? What if you are forever stripped of your human identity and transformed into a monster they cannot comprehend?"
Nanmen Jue answered even faster: "Stop talking nonsense, I'm willing!"
The crow reminded Nanmen Jue of what she would have to pay, but didn't mention itself.
I didn't realize there were such serious side effects?
It was only to deal with one of the incarnations of the main god! Even if this incarnation is defeated, the main god will not die.
This contract cannot synchronize their lifespans. No matter how powerful Nanmen Jue is, he will eventually die. Compared to gods, human lifespan is like a firefly compared to the moon. Even a crow...
Nanmen Jue knew clearly that, just like the main god, even if the raven's incarnation died here, it would not truly perish. It might be greatly weakened, but it would not truly die.
Nanmen Jue simply wanted power, so He gave her power.
The tangled mess in my mind scattered and climbed, and the resolute cry of a crow rang in my ears.
"You seem to have forgotten one possibility."
The snake said, "What?"
“As long as I can completely kill you and absorb you, I will have enough power to break this contract,” the crow said.
The snake froze for a few seconds, as if it had heard the biggest joke in the world; an expression of utter disbelief appeared on its face.
“You,” He said, “you…”
Overwhelmed by absurd emotions, He hesitated for a moment, then gave the crow a half-smile.
That glance was extremely arrogant, clearly revealing His meaning.
"You?"
Opposite to Him, a sharp glint flashed in Nanmen Jue's dark eyes.
So that's how it is. All we need to do is kill the main god.
As long as there's a way, as long as there's a way!
Nanmen Jue looked at Zhang Jin and said, "Your power is very different from when you first came to this world. Have you also formed a contract with your god?"
Even the combined attack of several gold and orange-named fighters failed to kill Zhang Jin. Nanmen Jue fought him personally and clearly felt the difference between him and the beginning. Apart from this possibility, it was hard to imagine what other way he could have increased his strength so much in such a short period of time.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a contract that binds souls.
Zhang Jin's facial muscles twitched. Instead of answering the question directly, he said, "Nanmen Jue, you should stop being so stubborn. Destroying these reincarnation worlds will only accelerate the destruction of the universe. Haven't you experienced the enormous energy released when those worlds were destroyed?"
"Are you afraid of the universe being destroyed now?" Nanmen Jue said. "When you turned all these worlds into apocalypses, didn't you feel like you were increasing entropy? When you turned these worlds into purgatory and gave birth to monsters that wouldn't have existed before, didn't you worry that the universe would one day be destroyed? Zhang Jin, what's your position in saying these things? Look at them!"
She stretched out her arm and pointed to the crowd behind her.
Among the crowd were reincarnated individuals and a few indigenous people. After so much information was revealed, the indigenous people also understood the situation fairly well. They all stared blankly at the confrontation, cowering under Nanmenjue's identification.
“Look at these people. Some of them come from the same place as you, and some are natives who originally lived in this world. No matter who they are, they were all living perfectly fine lives, and then they were thrown into this hell. You’re telling me I’m creating chaos? Is it possible that this chaos would never have happened in the first place?”
"It's not because of me, but because of the god you serve." Nanmen Jue's wings fluttered, revealing that her emotions were not as calm as they appeared. "It's your god! It's your god who created this apocalypse entirely for selfish purposes! It's your god who arrogantly manipulates all life in the universe! On what grounds do you accuse me? Humans? Or a lackey of an evil god!"
Her voice rang out, hoarse and filled with grief. People were infected by her emotions. Looking at the red name that once made everyone fearful, which stood in front of everyone, their sorrow and resentment reached their peak.
"So that's how it is..."
"We didn't have to live in the apocalypse! So many people didn't have to die!"
“It is a god, but an evil god who treats all things as straw dogs. We have misplaced our trust.”
"I miss home. I've never missed home this much. If it weren't for God's choice, I would never have come to such a terrifying world! I want to go home! I want to go home!"
"I want to go home!"
"Give me back my peaceful home!"
Amidst the fervor of the crowd, Zhang Jin lost his voice.
The snake listened for a while with its eyes narrowed, then suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"Nanmen Jue, I thought you were so righteous and stern, but in the end, you're just an actor."
He slid forward, and as He approached, the fear of God gradually quieted the crowd. Nanmen Jue stood still, coldly watching the snake slide in front of her, its icy tongue almost licking her face.
Those blood-red eyes were filled with indifference.
“No matter how eloquent you are, you can’t change the fact that you killed those people,” the snake said. “I asked you before why you trusted Nocturnus so much and never doubted Him? Now it seems that you were in cahoots all along, and you knew exactly what you were doing.”
He looked at the crowd behind him and raised his voice.
"You fools, do you blindly follow anyone who speaks out? You believed everything Zhang Jin said before, and you still believe everything Nanmen Jue says now. Do you think he dares to answer that question?"
He didn't notice that Zhang Jin's expression turned particularly strange when the question was brought up again.
The chief god always believed that he had given the judge an order to change Nanmen Jue's answer, so that the judge would impose punishment, but in reality...
Nanmen Jue chuckled softly.
The snake narrowed its eyes.
“I told you before, the stupidest thing about you is that you never even realized it yourself,” Nanmen Jue said gently. “That is your blind self-confidence.”
This time, the snake was not provoked. It took a few steps back, squinted at her, and asked, "What are you talking about?"
"What I'm saying, can't the great God guess?"
Nanmen Jue spoke calmly, raising the bone scythe. The seemingly heavy blade moved with effortless ease in her hands. She made a light slash in the air beside her, tearing the void apart and revealing a huge, transparent wall that appeared out of thin air.
Behind the impassable wall, a huge crowd had gathered.
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