Chapter 419: The Heart of Inquiry, the Fallen Nobility

When criticizing her adversary, the Holy God was truly not polite at all; she rambled on and on, pouring out a bellyful of dissatisfaction in a torrent.

However, it contained a sense of being angry at his failure to live up to expectations, a feeling of wishing iron could turn into steel.

Strangely, it was also like her attitude toward the apostles, only without that high-and-mighty, mother-hen stance.

Their relationship was, in fact, not that bad.

Paused in place, Du En couldn't help but think this.

Or perhaps it should be said that the only two gods of the Source Star Realm might even be "kin," "sister and brother"—such a close relationship, it was actually not impossible.

He further speculated this at this moment.

But.

Du En looked up at the extravagant, useless, brightly lit, never-dark, and perpetually singing giant palace towers before him, then turned back to glance at the silent residential area he had just passed; that side was very crude and simple, with houses small and built densely together, like pigeon cages.

With the Fluorspar Disease currently raging, many shacks had been built to house the extra population that had moved in, yet even so, many people could only sleep on the streets, covered in mud.

It was as if it were some rural refugee camp, not at all like the capital of a nation! Moreover, this contrast was extremely abrupt; outside the palace and the palace itself were like two pictures, two worlds, almost cut and pasted together!

Admittedly, the Dark God was indeed trying to protect his people.

On the city walls, inside the buildings, and even within this Dark Capital, his power invisibly permeated, leaving not a trace of diseased spiritual energy inside.

He himself possessed aspects that shared commonalities with the Holy God.

However, he was also truly indulging the people to an extreme, which was why such a sharply contrasting and disjointed situation was created.

"He is too close to the human world."

The Holy God's rambling finished before she knew it, as if she had completely severed all emotional ties to the past; her voice became distant and lofty as she delivered her verdict: "To be close yet not teach is to walk a path of chaos and no Dao; he should be eradicated."

Therefore, she pushed for the two Holy-Dark Wars, and even though both sides were now tortured by the Fluorspar Disease to the point of having nothing left, she would do everything in her power to continue until the current second war was ignited.

But when it came down to it, although the Fluorspar Disease was created by the Unmoving True Monarch, the Dark God was the one who directly released it! Therefore, the Holy God's crusade against the Dark God was indeed backed by righteousness, and there was no issue with it.

It was just, what exactly was the situation with that first Holy-Dark War, or rather, its end? The Holy-Dark War—there was undoubtedly the influence of the Unmoving True Monarch in this.

How exactly was it pushed? Du En remained silent, feeling the need to get to the bottom of it.

Thus, he proceeded to wave his hand, and a door was cut into existence.

Candlelight flowed out from within, and the perpetrator had already intruded without ceremony, yet the Dark Nation's upper echelons, whose defenses were lax to the extreme, did not notice at all.

They had no shackles of mortals, were full of vitality, and day and night were the same to them; at this moment, amidst the bright lights, they were forming cliques and carrying on with their luxurious daily lives.

"Brother, have you been well lately?"

"Good! Of course, good! The great Crowned One shines upon us, so naturally, it couldn't be better!"

"Hehe, but how did I hear that you, Brother, were overworked a few days ago?"

"Who said that?! Who is spreading rumors?! Isn't it just that I changed my thirty-second concubine? How could I possibly be exhausted by that?!"

"Haha, I said as much; it must be the lowly wretches under your command spreading gossip. Rest assured, Brother, they have already been properly punished."

"Oh? You specifically brought it up—could it be?"

"Yes! It is exactly that 'could it be'!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go quickly. I've been lying at home these days—cough, I've been hearing about this constantly, and I am extremely curious!"

"Haha, Brother, don't be too anxious. Calculating the time, it hasn't been our turn yet... Speaking of which, is this lowly woman from the outside really that exciting?"

"Hey, let me tell you, don't go blabbing this around."

"Yes, yes, yes, I beg for your guidance!"

"Ordinary commoners are, of course, not worth the trouble; I have to change a dozen batches a year. But the one I got this time is a lowly woman from the City Defense Army! Tsk tsk! She was quite haughty at first, but what is the status of us noble lords? We are the superior beings, personally enfeoffed by the Crowned One, enjoying glory for generations!"

"I understand, I understand..."

The conversation between the noble youths suddenly became stiff; the attendants accompanying both sides all had wooden faces, heads lowered, holding up the trailing hems of their robes—which were five or six zhang long—and carrying over a dozen types of ceremonial regalia, with no one daring to look up.

Thus, they did not see that the masters they served were already marionettes.

Du En passed by and, with a casual refinement, turned the two pieces of trash—whose strength was fed to them and who couldn't even cultivate a Golden Core—into crude, semi-finished human puppets.

Continuing upward along the way, there was a whole pile of such trash that would provoke him to strike; they were simply everywhere.

The palace towers were where the nobles lived.

They were like a nest of maggots, dense and crowded.

Because he harbored the thought of exploring the truth, he naturally could not rush to the top of the tower and start fighting directly.

In other words, this casual action contained a fairly obvious probe.

Honestly, being able to sneak in here so easily was strange to begin with.

The Holy God went without saying—the Dark God's old rival.

Even on Du En's side, although the Unchanging Ice Soul was a brilliant secret technique for concealing one's presence, it had been used within the perception of that General Ming before; it was impossible that it hadn't been reported to the Dark God.

In other words, there must be precautions!

Yet, he had still arrived smoothly under the other's nose!

Was it a case of having the heart but not the strength, or was there another motive? Du En immediately made a further probe.

Because on these noble youths, there were still amulets bestowed by the Dark God, with a family crest resembling a rune engraved on the front and their birth data on the back.

Looking at the two he had easily taken, Du En glanced at the Holy God's hanging lamp.

There seemed to be some misgivings here, but more than that, it was a tacit approval and praise for Du En's probing action.

Even if this action contained a bit of a desire to actually confirm whether the Dark God should be eradicated.

Clearly, this behavior, for the Holy God's side, was an act of distrust!

But she was very appreciative.

"Do not blindly believe, do not waver, do not fall... It seems there is no need for preaching, sigh."

Thinking to this end, the Holy God could not help but sigh inwardly, genuinely revealing a sense of regret.

After all, her final "child" was actually the most perfect one, rendering all the patient guidance and earnest teachings she had prepared—having learned from past lessons while in the dark, sunless Holy Mausoleum—completely useless.

She felt some regret.

But even more so, relief.

In short, her emotions were somewhat complex.

Du En withdrew his gaze.

Snap! He crushed the Amulet of the Dark God.

It was out of various intentions that he would perform such a highly risky act, one that would be clearly perceived by the Dark God.

Moreover, besides probing and investigating, there was actually one more matter that could not be delayed. The whereabouts of Yun!

She did not know what method she used, but she had actually snuck into the Dark Capital and left several guiding mystery locks in the residential area, leading into this royal palace.

Regarding what she had discovered, Du En also wanted to ask clearly; naturally, he needed to find her first, which was why he entered the tower palace to proceed.

The key point was that, in fact, whether the Dark God had perceived it in advance or not did not have much impact on the overall situation.

Because the sufficiently threatening General Ming was already confirmed to be able to hold them back, and the City Defense Army, which could be considered an interference factor, could only fight bloody battles on the city walls.

Inside this royal palace tower, however, it was visible to the naked eye that it was full of a bunch of rabble.

Du En did not arrogantly think that the Dark God had no preparations beforehand, nor did he feel that when he had secretly crept right under its nose, before the throne of the god, it had not yet perceived him or had no room to react.

He waited quietly for a moment; there were no ripples.

As expected, it was suspiciously easy.

If that was the case, then thinking of the worst-case scenario, this action here was actually within its expectations and calculations, then...

Du En was not surprised; he simply began to climb the tower.

His footsteps were hurried yet fast, calm and waveless yet he struck.

Very quickly, he arrived at the third floor, heard the heavy cheering ahead, and after casually disposing of the nobles on the road, he went to take a look along the way.

It was very obvious that this was the matter these guys were just mentioning with excited expressions in their words.

The brilliant light was like honey, flowing stickily.

A stage located amidst layers of red curtains was quickly revealed before one human and one god.

This was a place decorated gorgeously, in bright red and deep purple.

This was a beast-fighting arena.

A large crowd of nobles gathered here, each with red faces and ears, inexplicably excited, calling out incessantly toward the arena.

"Hit harder! Hit harder!"

"Hahaha! Yes, yes, yes, put some effort into it!"

"As long as you can knock down your opponent, I will forgive your previous crime of deceiving your superiors and allow you to return under the brilliant illumination of the God!"

Amidst such shouts, there were two people in the arena, fighting in close quarters like wild beasts.

One was a tall and burly man wearing only a pair of shorts, with shackles and chains on his body; his cultivation was quite good, a standout who had formed his own Golden Core, but restricted by the shackles, he could not fully unleash it and could only let it flow within his body to strengthen his physical power.

His expression appeared gloomy, carrying a trace of annoyance and unwillingness, but more of it was anticipation and longing; he let out low roars, attacking the opponent with rhythm and form.

However, it was very obvious that he was at a disadvantage.

There were multiple claw wounds on his body, dripping with blood, making his face turn pale, and there were even glowing purple light spots beginning to sprout within the wounds, bringing increasingly obvious pain.

His muscles twitched uncontrollably, his physical origin was feeling terror, and the crisis of life and death made the man's mood increasingly worse.

Comparatively, his opponent would not be like this.

Because that was a disease-mutated one.

It appeared to be a normal infection of the Fluorite Disease, with its neck locked by a black iron hoop that had divine power flowing on it, suppressing the upward spread of the mutation, but its body had long since become deformed and swollen, turning into a monster-like form.

The head still largely retained its original appearance; it was a young girl, appearing young and immature, retaining a bit of innocence and cuteness, probably only twelve or thirteen years old.

Although the infection of the Fluorite Disease was curbed to a certain degree, it was clear that the pain had not diminished much, causing the poor girl's mind to have long since collapsed, turning her into a vessel for venting madness.

The twisted, mutated limbs flailed wildly, completely without method, and her magic power cultivation, under the ripening of the Fluorite Disease, had reached the level of approaching the Nascent Soul stage.

Moreover, she was fearless of death, or rather, she was just seeking self-destruction.

The identities of both were clear at a glance.

Man, soldier, committed a crime, became a gladiator.

Girl, commoner, made a mistake, became a disease-mutated one.

Then they fought each other in the beast-fighting arena, providing a brand-new stimulation for the extravagant, day-and-night carousing nobles of the Dark Kingdom.

These guys, one by one, had flushed faces, were abnormally excited, shouting, their expressions appearing twisted.

Even though on the city walls, a war determining the survival of the Dark Kingdom was currently taking place...

Snap! A crisp sound, insignificant amidst the cheering of the whole arena.

It was the sound of shackles and chains breaking one after another.

Whether below the stage, on the stage, or above the stage, all shackles and chains possessing form were shattered.

Whether it was the attendants of the nobles or the so-called criminal gladiators, they all gained freedom at this moment; the shackles that restricted and bound them were all shattered.

"M-my lord, what is going on!?"

"Has the, has the God abandoned us!?"

"Ahhh, no! Please continue to protect us again!"

A burst of noise suddenly arose; whether attendants or gladiators, they were basically panicked and at a loss, all inexplicably fearful, directly kneeling and prostrating, with only a scattered few still standing in place, appearing at a loss.

Although the tangible shackles were broken, intangible shackles were still tightly locking them.

No, is it really like this? Except for a portion of fanatical, brainless guys, as well as those with deep-seated fears, when it comes down to it, these guys who were still diligently serving as attendants and slaves, although treated like pigs and dogs by the nobles, as long as they were still under the radiance of the Dark God, then, facing the ordinary commoners outside the tower palace and within the Dark Kingdom, they were not necessarily not looking down from a position of superiority.

They were merely sincerely wishing to cling to the powerful and wealthy, for the sake of obtaining the glory and wealth that did not belong to them but which they greedily craved.

Even if they "committed a crime" and fell into trouble, they still hoped to recover and climb back up.

The Holy God was not surprised; there was no sighing or lamenting, it just looked at Du En.

His expression did not change; he was very calm about this, having long since anticipated it.

Thus, he flicked his finger once more.

Boom! This time the sound was very distinct, causing the group of nobles—who had been in high spirits but had their mood ruined by the clamor of the lowly slaves and were just about to erupt—to immediately have no time to pay attention to the situation behind them.

Because the protective membrane separating them from the beast arena shattered at this moment.

The pungent stench of blood and the corrupted Qi surged over on the spot, making them feel as if they had fallen into an ice cellar; their bodies' instincts were breached instantly, and quite a few of them actually lost control of their bowels.

Then, streaks of dim light flashed as various God-Bestowed Amulets manifested their power, isolating the infection of the corruption.

But the gladiators in the arena stared blankly as they saw the collar on the neck of the corrupted girl before them shatter and fall.

Pfft.

It made no sound upon hitting the ground, simply turning into dust.

Because her foundation was too poor and lacked even a trace of cultivation, she, having corrupted to such a degree, would only face the result of physical collapse and self-destruction if she continued to mutate.

However, amidst the agony of the corruption, she, whose mind had long since shattered, actually smiled at this moment with clear emotion, as if experiencing a final flash of brilliance.

(End of this chapter)