Because of the rebellion in the Second Heaven, the Governor was unwilling to stay any longer and ordered to go directly to the Third Heaven. The road they came was all dark, and when they left, in addition to darkness, there was also dead silence. When he saw the faint light in the sky of the Third Heaven, Du Ze subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and the gloom in his heart dissipated a lot. Although the Third Heaven was not bright, at least it was not as hopelessly dark as the Second Heaven.
It was already night when the carriage team arrived at the capital of the third heaven. Because of what happened today, no one was in the mood to talk. After being welcomed into the palace by the local executive officer, they all went to rest. Before going to bed, Du Ze was still thinking about what Xiu said at the end of the rebellion. Although he couldn't guess it, the cute master seemed to have found a way to pass the level. Xiu didn't explain, and Du Ze didn't much ask. The stupid cute readers have always been very confident in the IQ of their protagonists. The cute master said that they could get out soon, so they would definitely be able to get out of the Tianzu copy within five days.
The next day, the Governor sat on the throne without saying a word, and could sense his surging anger. The Third Heaven's Consul knelt below in silence, not only did he fail to produce the "gift" to the higher-ups, he also failed to pay the amount of light everyone he was supposed to pay.
"You two—" Unexpectedly, the Governor did not fire at the Consul, but suddenly instructed Xiu and Eric: "Go collect the missing light today." When Xiu and Eric looked over, he snorted: "This is your job."
"not good."
Two completely different answers echoed in the main hall. Eric looked at Xiu, who agreed immediately, in surprise and confusion. Xiu ignored Eric's angry eyes and asked the governor in an overbearing tone that was almost an order: "Give me the permission to collect the full amount."
"Yes." The Governor responded very quickly. He seemed to realize that he was too impatient. He coughed lightly and added: "You must pay all the light elements you collected."
Xiu grinned, his eyes were bloodshot. "Of course."
After getting the permission, Xiu was about to leave with Du Ze, but was stopped by Eric. The Son of God had an extremely cold expression at this time. He stood in front of Xiu and asked, "What do you want to do?"
Xiu sneered, and the shadow began to twist and slowly expand until it became a huge creature. The silver dragon lifted Du Ze onto its back, spread its huge wings and looked down at Eric below. In his shadow, the Son of God was so small that he even looked a little pitiful.
"Don't you know exactly what I want to do?"
"!" Eric used his arms to block the strong wind. When he put his hands down, the silver dragon had already flown away with the black-haired young man.
The civilians of a village were driven out, and they gathered outside, watching in fear and shock as the soldiers used powder to encircle their homes. Three wizards chanted spells, and light filled the box at a speed visible to the naked eye. At the same time, a ball of darkness poured into the village like ink, turning that area into a dead place where no living creature could survive.
Du Ze watched all this silently. This was the fifth village they had completely collected. The amount required by the Governor had already been met, but Xiu did not return. Instead, he led the officers' men to continue moving forward. Seeing that they had more and more light elements in their hands, Du Ze felt puzzled: even if they collected more, all of these light elements had to be paid, and there was no benefit in improving their qualifications.
What on earth does the Lord want to do?
The mage stopped chanting, and the soldier lifted the treasure chest filled with light and began to head to the next place. The civilians who were left behind stared blankly at their homes shrouded in darkness. They had nothing and seemed to have lost the focus and future of their lives. After wandering around in a daze for a while, many followed the mage and the soldier. of control in silence.
When oppressed to the extreme, the only thing left is resistance.
Du Ze soon saw the broken wings representing the Fallen again. When the seventh village was destroyed, the civilians who lost their homes could no longer endure and raised their left hands. They were carved with broken wings and became Fallen. Some picked up hoes or branches and surrounded Xiu Tuan, who led the mages and soldiers. Du Ze stood next to Xiu. time.
Xiu began to chant dragon language magic, and a huge gray magic circle appeared in the dark sky, covering's head. The Fallen saw that the situation was not good, and tried to break through the defense line of soldiers and mages to attack Xiu.
It seemed as if gray rain was falling from the sky. Countless gray lights fell from the large magic circle, illuminating the angry and frightened faces of the fallen. Each ray of light could take away a fallen. In the face of absolute power, these fallen who were once civilians had no chance to resist. They were defeated even faster than the living dead in the second heaven. oppressed for so long that everyone had made up their minds to fall and die, but they could not shake the upper level in the slightest.
"stop!!!"
A roar resounded across the battlefield, and Xiu raised his eyes to look at Eric who had finally caught up. Eric jumped off his horse, which was running out of breath, and his chest was heaving violently, whether from anger or exercise. The soldiers spontaneously made way for the two inspectors, so Xiu and Eric came face to face.
Eric took a deep breath and temporarily suppressed the anger in his chest. "Give me a reason why you did this."
The magic circle was still spinning slowly in the air. Xiu's expression was hard to read in the gray light. He did not answer, or rather ignored Eric. As the last fallen screamed and was swallowed by the gray light, Eric's eyes were filled with uncontrollable anger. His voice rose from low to high, almost roaring: "Why did you kill them!?"
"Have you forgotten that you are still climbing the tower?"
Compared to Eric's excitement, Xiu's voice was almost cruelly calm. The silver-haired, red-eyed dragon casually pointed to an unknown place in the void, his smile unusually dull under the gray light. "The rules written in the divine tower... don't you understand yet?"
The script prepared by the tower for climbers is very simple, and each level is constructed according to the characteristics and talents of each race. The demons must be cruel, the undead must be evil, the humans must be selfish, the dragons must be greedy, the elves must be indifferent, the beasts must be violent, the dwarves must be fanatical, and as for the last celestial race, they pay with humility and therefore have arrogance.
A hint of confusion flashed across Eric's eyes, but it was soon replaced by greater anger.
"So you are so disregarding of other people's lives? Just to climb the tower?!"
"It's just like what the Governor said." Xiu sneered, "What does their life or death have to do with us?"
The tit-for-tat between the two made Du Ze feel as if he was watching "Mixed Blood": the protagonist who has been harming the country and the people, and the old enemy who has been redeeming others. They stand on the other side of darkness and light respectively, vividly interpreting sin and justice.
Eric looked at Xiu deeply. He seemed to think that he had made a serious mistake - he actually went to reason with the heretics. The Son of God shifted his gaze, and Du Ze's figure was reflected in his green eyes.
"My Lord, do you think so too?"
Once Du Ze was involved, Xiu's smile disappeared as if he had been hurt, and his expression became aggressive. Eric was not afraid of Xiu's dangerous gaze, and stared at Du Ze firmly, as if he wanted the black-haired young man to make a decision: "Do you think he is right?"
Du Ze couldn't help but look at Xiu and found that Xiu was looking at him as well. The man didn't explain anything, just said one sentence: "Do you believe me?"
Two people, two choices. Anyone with a normal mind can tell that Eric's position is just. Moreover, Du Ze never agrees with Xiu's inhumane and cruel behavior in "Mixed Blood". Du Ze's eyes flickered between Xiu and Eric. In fact, he didn't need to think about it at all, and he could make the most correct choice.
"I believe you." In order to pronounce the words clearly, Du Ze always spoke slowly, which made him look particularly serious and solemn, as if he was reciting a lifelong oath. He looked at the stunned Eric and repeated it again as an answer to the Son of God: "I believe in Xiu."
——The Eric in front of me is still the "Eric" in "Mixed Blood", but the Xiu beside him is no longer the "Xiu" in "Mixed Blood". This is enough.
Eric's eyes were filled with disappointment and confusion. Xiu suppressed a sigh and suddenly picked up Du Ze, hugging him with such force that it seemed as if he wanted to stuff this person he loved so much into his flesh and blood.
"Let's go."
Du Ze hurriedly grabbed the doujinshi that was about to slip off, and missed the best opportunity to refuse. Being firmly held in the arms of Xiu, a certain silly and cute boy held the doujinshi with a stiff face, not knowing where to look. His wandering eyes swung to the back, and Du Ze found that Eric, who was left behind, did not stop him where he was, but followed silently.
In the newly arrived town, even though all the townspeople knelt on the ground and begged, they were still driven out of the town by the soldiers and watched their homes being swallowed by darkness. At this point, Du Ze actually understood what Xiu wanted to do: that person was forcing everyone to fall and forcing everyone to stand against the Celestial Tribe - he wanted to destroy the Celestial Tribe, including the Governor. As long as the most senior Governor died, Xiu would be the only candidate for the next Governor.
The ending was already foreseeable, but the process was indeed bloody. The townspeople's cries echoed in the darkness, and Du Ze couldn't help but glance at Eric. The blond-haired, blue-eyed Saint was standing at the edge of the town, his fists were already bleeding, but when the townspeople knelt and begged, when the soldiers drove the townspeople out, and when the wizard chanted the spell, Eric seemed to know that he couldn't stop all this, so he remained silent.
But would Eric give up so easily?
Suddenly, a ray of light rose between the gloomy sky and earth, and the townspeople kneeling on the ground raised their heads in astonishment. A feather of light floated into the town covered by darkness. It was not dazzling, but with a bright and soft gleam, it undoubtedly split the darkness apart and melted with it. Xiu turned his head suddenly, and his scarlet blood eyes stared closely at Eric who did all this. As the feather melted, light returned to the town again. All the townspeople were surprised and happy. They bowed their heads and knelt again, but this time they were grateful.
"Thank you, thank you!" The townspeople looked up at the Holy Son with reverence, their faces flushed with excitement. "You are truly the incarnation of the God of Light!"
Eric's tightly pursed lips finally relaxed slightly, revealing a bright smile. "This is what I should do."
Du Ze felt as if his heart was pinched by a pair of pliers, and it was so painful that it numbed him. Eric in front of him was bathed in light, and his golden hair was rendered particularly brilliant and bright by the light - just like the person he used to be. Even though he knew that Eric's actions would hinder Xiu's plan, Du Ze did not want to deny the current Eric at all, as if he was denying the past Xiu who would let himself get hurt for others.
However, those who are now denying Eric and at the same time denying the cultivation of the past are actually cultivating themselves.
"Do you think that by doing this, you can save them? And that they will be truly grateful to you?"
Xiu stared at Eric in the light, the smile on his face even colder than when he wasn't smiling.
"I always thought you were just naive, but I didn't expect you to be so stupid."
Xiu's words were like cold wind blowing into Du Ze's clothes, and then passing out with his body temperature. Every word that person said seemed more like a mockery of his past self than a mockery of Eric.
——Xiu, why are you so nice to everyone?
——I just did what I was supposed to do.
——Do you think that if you save them, they will be truly grateful to you?
Xiu told Eric and his past self that this was stupid.
Eric and Xiu looked at each other. Eric was standing in the light, so the shadows around Xiu seemed particularly dark.
"You are pitiful." Eric said, "In your eyes, everyone is ugly. You don't trust others and only care about yourself. You are pitiful."
The emotions in his chest were boiling and about to explode. Du Ze wanted to tell Eric how naively the man he accused had believed in beauty. Even though he was betrayed by the people he had saved and sold out by the people around him, he still chose to believe, which is why he was hurt even more deeply. This kind of hurt continued to accumulate until the moment of his death, when that person no longer had the choice to believe in others.
Du Ze was interrupted by Xiu's laughter before he could finish his words. The man's laughter was very hearty, and his eyes and brows were filled with willfulness and arrogance.
"Eric." Xiu called Eric's name for the first time. "You will soon know who the truly pitiful person is."
"You are wrong about one thing." Xiu did not defend himself, but only emphasized one point: "There is someone who I will trust even if I don't care about him."
Xiu held Du Ze tightly in his arms. He kissed Du Ze's black hair, with deep attachment in his eyes.
"I want only one person like this, that's all."
Eric involuntarily looked away, but at the moment he looked away, he felt that this was an act of evasion that was close to giving up. The executive officer's men saw that the two inspectors seemed to have finished speaking, and one of the mages came to ask Xiu for the next step.
"Sir, shall we go back or continue on?"
Since the spell to collect light elements cannot be used continuously in the same area in a short period of time, Xiu glanced at the town that was redeemed by Eric, and then ordered to move to the next place. As expected, Eric continued to follow them, and used his own light feathers to neutralize the darkness after each complete collection. Du Ze obviously felt that Xiu's mood was getting worse and worse. Because of the same camp, Eric could not stop Xiu, and Xiu could not stop Eric's actions. Eric's behavior not only made Xiu feel very annoyed, but also hindered Xiu's plan. Because of Eric's act of redemption, the people passing by not only did not hate the Celestial Clan, but were full of gratitude to the Celestial Clan - especially Eric.
“Swoosh—”
The soldiers in front suddenly commotion, and the whole team stopped. Du Ze smelled the rusty smell of blood, and he saw two soldiers carrying a wizard over. An arrow pierced the wizard's throat, and the wizard was obviously dead.
"Sir, we can't go any further." The two surviving mages supported each other and said with pale faces, "There's a group of bandits stationed ahead!"
Xiu was in a bad mood at the moment. He looked at the town built on the mountain in the distance. There were not only checkpoints there, but also teams patrolling back and forth on the city walls. It was obvious at first glance that they were not good people.
"No need to expel them, just levy all of them directly."
"But..." The wizard was a little embarrassed for some reason. After saying "but" for a long time, he seemed to have finally thought of a reason and quickly said: "But they will resist..."
A huge gray magic circle unfolded in the sky. Xiu stared at the wizard: "Any more questions?"
Being stared at by those bloodshot eyes, the wizard almost ran to execute Xiu's order. The soldiers avoided the archers' attack range and sprinkled powder on the edge. The sentry at the checkpoint was still shocked by the huge magic circle that suddenly appeared in the sky. When he saw the soldiers on the opposite side began to surround their town with powder, he immediately sounded the siren. Du Ze saw the city gate opened with a bang, and a group of armed bandits rushed out from inside. However, before they ran a few steps, they were hit by the gray light of the magic circle and nothing was left.
It seemed that the quick demise left the other side no time to react to what had happened, and another group of bandits rushed out of the city gate, and were once again annihilated by the gray light. Next, no matter if they were ordinary people or warriors, as long as they ran out of the town, they would be locked by the magic array in the sky and annihilated by the gray light. Soon, no one dared to leave the town anymore, and even the gate was tightly closed after several sacrifices.
After the powder was arranged, the mages began to chant the spell. Since one of the mages died, the remaining two mages had some difficulty in performing the spell. As the light was collected, the darkness slowly poured into the town like pouring water. There were several screams of fear in the town, probably because the darkness flowed into the houses. However, no one opened the city gate and ran out. Those bandits seemed to choose to die at home rather than expose their bodies in the wilderness. The movement in the town was getting bigger and bigger. Du Ze could even imagine everything in the panic: as the darkness was injected, the space for those people to escape in the town became smaller and smaller, and it became more and more crowded. They could only watch the darkness surround them until they were drowned.
At this moment, Xiu suddenly spoke up: "Why, you won't save them?"
Eric seemed to have never expected that Xiu would suddenly speak to him, and was unable to react for a moment. Xiu pointed to the town where the screams came from, and suggested seriously: "Don't save them? Just like you did before."
Because of Xiu's words, everyone's eyes were focused on Eric. Du Ze looked at Eric's feathers. Including the town before, they passed through three settlements on the way, so Eric now had three and a half feathers. If Eric wanted, he could take out a feather to dispel the darkness of the town opposite and save the bandits.
Seeing that Eric didn't move, Xiu smiled without surprise.
"You didn't save them because they were a group of violent criminals."
Although it should be a rhetorical question, Xiu made it sound like he was stating a conclusion. Xiu's attitude made Eric unhappy, but he did not deny Xiu's words. "They chose to become sinners and should be punished accordingly."
"You must have grown up in the Temple of Light." Xiu grinned. "Those people must have taught you this: there is only absolute 'good' and 'bad' in this world. Civilians are 'good', the Temple is 'good', so they are all kind and should be protected; bandits are 'bad', heretics are 'bad', so they are all evil and should be punished."
Eric wanted to refute, but he didn't know what to say the moment he opened his mouth. Although Xiu's description was a bit extreme, he couldn't find anything to deny. Eric, who was chosen as the Son of God since childhood, has indeed lived in the Temple of Light. His enlightenment is the Holy Book of Light, and his mentor is the respected Pope. Growing up in the temple, he believes that bandits who bully the people, disrupt government affairs, and rob houses should be punished. Is there anything wrong with that?
"Come here." Xiu suddenly called a soldier over and pointed at the gradually quiet town and asked, "How long have these people been here?"
"My Lord, they occupied the city after the last governor left. The Consul sent troops several times, but was unable to remove them."
"Why? They are not strong."
"The surrounding civilians will protect them." The soldier paused, then said, "And because of rebellion."
Eric looked at the soldier in surprise, as if he couldn't understand what he was saying. Xiu remained calm and let the soldier continue.
"Those bandits often hostile us, obstructing us from collecting light from the surrounding areas, and even robbing the light that has been collected and distributing it to the surrounding villages. Many people have joined them, including the son of the governor, so that lord couldn't bear to take heavy measures, nor did he dare to report it to the lords."
"Bullying the people, disrupting government, robbing homes..." Xiu's voice was neither loud nor slow, but every word struck Eric's heart. "You're right, they are indeed a group of violent criminals who should be punished."
Eric's eyes widened. His long-held belief was like a hard rock that suddenly cracked. Although the crack was not big, it spread to his entire body like a spider web. He saw his own shadow in Xiu's eyes, painted blood-red from head to toe.
"You are no different from that celestial being." The man said, "How arrogant you are to make such absolute distinctions between others."
The author has something to say: Protagonist: Do you believe me?
Reader (answered immediately): I don't believe it.
Author: Why?
Reader: Who would believe him if he told me to be on top tonight?
Protagonist (smiling): I'll make you believe it.
Reader: (?Д?≡?д?)! ?
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