Chapter 338: 338. Speaking Ill of Others Behind Their Backs Brings Reckoning

The director's level of beastliness is as consistent as ever.

After a slightly stunned lip-smack, Li Ang forcibly shook off that unfriendly thought and began searching along the path for the dog god the director had knocked out, following the method Elder Emma had taught him.

A unconscious, three-headed dog, bound by red hair…

An unconscious, three-headed dog, bound by red hair…

As Li Ang silently recited the phrase over a dozen times in his heart, a dog matching the description indeed appeared ahead—not quite perfect, but close enough…

"Elder Emma…"

Looking at the three dog heads floating in the black-and-yellow swamp beside the Path of No Return, each two full circles larger than a round dining table, Li Ang muttered in disbelief:

"Just the head alone is this big? If fully pulled out, it'd be at least five or six meters long—this can't be called a puppy anymore, can it?"

"To us, it's enormous. But among the gods of the Death Realm, it's the smallest in size."

The voice came from Emma, resting on Li Ang's back.

"In our world, souls depend on physical bodies, so the body holds top priority. If a form grows too massive, its own flesh cannot bear the strain."

"Thus, unless a fallen god or some entity wielding alien rules briefly corrupts our world's laws, you rarely see anything of colossal size on land."

"But the Death Realm's rules differ—it does not recognize physical form. So as long as the soul can sustain it, a Death Realm creature's size can grow nearly without limit—even to the scale of a mountain range."

"As for the dog god guarding the Death Realm's gate, it spends most of its time outside the Death Realm and is one of the few true gods there with an actual physical body—making it the smallest in physical size among all true gods of the Death Realm."

So that's how it is.

Thinking of the Death Realm's master who ground his own bones into bricks and laid them all the way from the entrance to the deepest depths, Li Ang nodded in sudden understanding.

Indeed, if the "First Dead One" hadn't possessed a massive enough form, he wouldn't have had nearly enough bones to grind into powder—but…

"How do we wake it up?"

After glancing at the dog god's fangs, each longer than his own foot, Li Ang hesitated and asked:

"Shout at it loudly? Tap it? And… it's already been knocked out by the director—will it even help us open the gate?"

"It will help."

Looking at the three-headed dog god floating in the swamp, Emma's expression grew complex.

"Olivia has a… rather notorious reputation in the Death Realm. She came here many times for my sake, spoke with the dog god repeatedly—so when it sees me, it will let us out."

"As for waking it, it's simple: the dog god identifies the living and the dead by scent. It's extremely sensitive to the breath of the living—just blow gently near its nose."

"Oh…"

Instantly grasping Emma's tactful answer, Li Ang sighed at the director's infamous reputation, then carefully stepped off the Path of No Return, reached the swamp's edge, and blew a sharp breath directly toward the dog god's nose.

…

"Woof?!"

Even though Li Ang stood seventeen or eighteen meters away from where the three-headed dog was sunk, the moment his breath—charged with the scent of the living—reached it, all six eyes and twelve eyelids of the three heads stirred simultaneously.

"Alive!"

With a still-muddled mutter, the nearest dog nose—each as large as a basketball—sniffed violently. The ears, previously drooping over its brow, snapped upright and twitched left and right, scanning for sound. Its already protruding teeth bared in unmistakable hostility.

"Who dares intrude into the Death Realm? I'll…"

"Angsi!"

Seeing this, Emma, still on Li Ang's back, lifted herself slightly, meeting the six enormous dog eyes head-on, and called out loudly:

Emma slightly propped herself up, meeting the six enormous dog eyes glaring at her head-on, and shouted:

"..."

The six lantern-sized eyes, glowing with eerie green phosphorescence, studied Emma carefully. Then the dog god's facial muscles twitched slightly, and it growled with ill will:

"It's you… You've come again to visit your family in Grief City? Didn't they say they refuse to see you? How can you still not give up?"

"So it's you… you're going back to Regret City to see your family again? Didn't they say they refuse to see you? How can you not understand what it means to give up?"

Hearing the dog god's opening words, Li Ang's eyes narrowed slightly.

If he remembered correctly, that was where the dead burdened by overwhelming regret or remorse lingered—home to countless souls unwilling to move on.

Only when all the living forgot them, when no one remembered them anymore—or when the people or events they had once regretted, hated, or longed for faded with time or death—did these souls finally leave Grief City and continue along the Path of No Return toward the End Cliff.

So… Emma's clan, at least some of them, hadn't truly departed—they still lived in Grief City, and still held resentment toward her?

So… Emma's elder's clan, at least some of them, never truly left—they still live in Regret City, and have never stopped hating her?

Clearly stung by the dog god's words, Emma's face paled slightly. She bit her lip and said:

"Open the gate. We need to leave the Death Realm now."

"Fine. I'll open it. You damn Cleaners always abuse your anomalous artifacts to break the rules, meddling with life and death!"

The massive dog head wore a distinctly human expression of disgust as it glared at Li Ang and Emma.

"I'll remember your stench! When you return as dead souls, I'll bite each of you—hard. Especially you!"

"I've memorized your stench! When you come in as the dead, I'm going to bite each of you—big, deep chunks! Especially you!"

Staring at the three-headed dog god glaring at him with murderous intent, Li Ang blinked in confusion:

"Me? I've never been here before!"

"Hah. Before you lie, why don't you ask this woman who I am?"

The dog god snorted loudly, expelling black-yellow swamp sludge from its nostrils, then sneered:

"In strength, I'm the weakest true god of the Death Realm. But in scent? No one compares.

One whiff, and I know—you were here three years ago. And in the recent past, you've nearly entered the Death Realm over a hundred times, only escaping back using your anomalous artifacts. Am I right?"

I can tell just by smell—you came to the Death Realm about three years ago, and in recent times you've nearly entered it at least a hundred times, only escaping back each time using an anomaly. Am I right?"

Recently? Yes—he'd used the ram's horn and heart to evade death countless times, easily over a hundred.

But three years ago… wasn't that when I first "arrived"?

"Hah. Speechless now?"

As Li Ang frowned, trying to piece together the truth, the dog god—convinced it had silenced him—smugly opened its mouth and roared with deafening force.

"Woof!"

With a deep, thunderous bark, the massive gate far ahead creaked open slightly. Li Ang and Emma vanished instantly, as if swallowed by a black hole.

"Get out now!"

Spitting three times toward their departing direction, the dog god grumbled angrily:

"Damn Cleaners Bureau! Damn Cleaners! And that damn red-haired woman! When she dies, I'll… Huh? Anpu?"

Sensing a familiar scent, the dog god turned its head in surprise toward the crocodile god emerging from the swamp behind it:

"Damn Cleanup Bureau! Damn Cleanup Agents! And that damn red-haired woman! When she dies, I'm going to… Huh? Amp?"

After smelling the familiar scent, the three-headed dog god turned its head in surprise and said to the crocodile god emerging from the swamp behind it:

"Why are you here? You never usually… uh…"