Chapter 502: Trinity Goddess

Hell is empty……

Souls are not in the human world either!

This is the current strange situation; starting a few days ago, the Hell caseload in various places began to show an obvious decline.

Until today, it has finally begun to return to zero.

This kind of strange situation naturally attracted the attention of the Yama Adjudication Agency, which has already begun dispatching Gods of Death one after another to investigate the cause.

To tell the truth, Shiki Eiki also had a suspect, and likewise reported this suspicion upward.

Just in a short time……

I'm afraid there's no way to get a response.

As for now, it seems the Yama Girl's suspicion has been confirmed——or rather, that suspect simply doesn't bother to conceal it.

"It was me." Xia Zhi admitted this matter very readily.

"……"

"……"

"Why?" The green-haired Yama Girl clenched her sleeves, her voice carrying unprecedented anger and helplessness, "Just to cut off my way out?"

"You overthink it." The youth waved his hand casually, "Hell is merely a side effect of my plan's execution, not worth specifically targeting."

His explanation carried a condescending composure.

It's just that this composure stemming from absolute strength instead made his words more persuasive.

Hearing this, the Yama Girl's tightly pursed lip line relaxed slightly, her heart subconsciously letting out a slight breath of relief.

Not targeting me is good……

She had thought it was some pervert with twisted tastes who had specifically set their sights on her.

How do you say that term, what legal loli or something? It's really nauseating…… just imagining it gives me goosebumps.

"What plan?" Shiki Eiki shook her head vigorously, throwing away those strange associations and thoughts, forcing herself to focus on the key point——

Just what kind of action could have a side effect that brings the entire Netherworld to the brink of collapse?

"I've already taken control of the human world outside, though I reckon Hell hasn't paid much attention to it before."

The youth thought for a moment, then laughed lightly.

"You indeed focus on constructing the order of the afterlife, always staring only at the deceased's ledgers."

"Of course, I'm not blaming you……"

"After all, being able to understand one's own responsibilities as the boundaries of one's power, and not preparing to interfere with the world of the living, is actually quite a competent performance……"

These words are not false.

Hell has always abided by ancient boundaries: the living in the Living World, the dead in the Dead World.

The living belong to the living, the dead belong to the dead.

Hell is responsible for the final Judgment, letting good and evil meet their due end in the end; the Judges also only care about the soul's final destination, never crossing the boundary to interfere in the human world.

Only a special place like Gensokyo, where people all know and confirm Hell's existence, would this Yama go over in her leisure time to preach.

Her original intention was also for their own good, just giving a reminder to those who have lost their way.

But it's merely limited to this.

Preaching is just preaching, and won't forcibly demand restrictions on how others act.

But precisely because of this, Hell isn't particularly concerned with the trends of the human world; because there's no thought of direct interference, there's also not much reason to maintain observation.

For example, many times——

It's often only when a large number of souls suddenly pour into Hell, and the number of dead increases abnormally and massively in a certain period……

That existences like Yama, Gods of Death, Judges, etc., would infer that a violent large-scale war might have occurred in the human world outside.

"You won't even spare their souls?"

Shiki Eiki felt no joy at being proven right, but after rapid consideration, pressed her lips tightly and asked.

Hell has lost the flow of souls……

And this person before me controls the human world……

Combining these two, the truth seems obvious; after all, ultimately, only humans are Hell's main clientele.

First, their quantity is huge, numbering in the tens of millions……

Second, they are short-lived species; birth, aging, sickness, and death are utterly commonplace……

Among the intelligent beings of this world, this is the underlying logic of soul flow, the cycle of life and death.

After all, you can't really expect those fellows who are relatively far fewer in number, and are each and every one Immortal Species or immortals, to become the mainstream clients, right?

If that were the case, it'd probably take hundreds of years to complete even one or two cases of business.

"I'm not some soul-harvesting devil……"

Xia Zhi laughed lightly.

It's just that this statement truly lacked persuasiveness, earning the Yama Girl's skeptical gaze.

"That strange banner you summoned earlier, who knows how many living souls are bound inside it!"

Lady Shiki is an upright person, therefore at this moment she also pointed out the problem bluntly.

That banner covering the sky and blotting out the sun, seemingly able to envelop an entire Star……

When it unfurled, black smoke billowed, as if an invisible giant hand had extinguished the daylight……

The clear firmament surged with turbid purple-black cloud waves; deep in the cloud layers, crimson lightning flashed from time to time, like blood threads seeping from a wound.

The instant the banner face unfurled, countless distorted souls screamed as they broke free of their bindings, dragging gray-white mist-like trajectories through the Star's atmosphere.

Even the Dragon God couldn't help but frown at that scene.

Similarly……

It also naturally startled Shiki Eiki.

In the view of this Yama Girl, it was entirely possible that this unknown bizarre existence had already destroyed who knows how many worlds along the way before arriving in this world.

Those are the souls of living beings from other dimensions that he harvested.

This is a very goosebump-inducing speculation.

Therefore, the Dragon God's resulting compromises and concessions also appeared that much like appeasement... only unfortunately, that was also a helpless choice.

Shiki Eiki could do nothing about this either, and her mood was also quite heavy.

Until now, perceiving an opportunity, she raised this line of questioning without any hesitation.

"Oh, you mean the Renhuang Banner..."

The Qi Refining scholar spoke that treasure name that made one unable to keep a straight face, while simultaneously extending his hand quite calmly, and that banner appeared in his hand.

It was a normal size, not the kind of overwhelming physical scale that could obscure the firmament, covering even the light of celestial bodies.

However, black qi lingering was still present...

"This is just a special effect." He spoke calmly, and with a thought, the banner in his hand changed color.

Golden light dazzling the world, purple qi dense and misty, colorless myriad forms...

Completely altering that black qi special effect that looked evil and ferocious, it became especially sacred, also especially noble, like auspicious omens manifesting in the mortal world.

"As for the souls inside..."

"Actually, I constructed a Spirit Particles Constructed world inside, simulating a complete world's entire ecology..."

"Inside there are billions of advanced AIs... um, that is what the outside world calls Artificial Intelligence, giving computers consciousness and thinking ability..."

"Reaching this stage, it's not much different from true souls; what you see are actually the performances of these advanced AIs..."

Xia Zhi spoke nonsense with a straight face, even throwing out quite sci-fi concepts with a serious air.

Actually, the Ten Thousand Souls... cough, the Spirit Particles Constructed world inside the Renhuang Banner does indeed exist, and is indeed a database of an entire Earth.

But that wasn't simulated by him; it was harvested.

Mainly considering that in that World Line, Mooncell had been refined by him into a Great Dao Golden Core, and could no longer fulfill its own functions and duties.

And once the shielding signal sent by that Observation Device to the entire Milky Way was lost, the Predatory Youxing would soon arrive, harvesting everything.

Rather than leaving that Earth for the Predatory Youxing to harvest, better to pack it up and take it himself.

So he scanned all Spirit Particle information from billions of humans, to flowers, birds, insects, fish, even plants, microorganisms, and so on —

everything, all of it, and pulled it into the Golden Core's Photon Network... then

in a single breath destroyed the planetary surface, destroyed the entire planet's ecosphere...

However, this matter cannot be told to outsiders; even if spoken now, it would be hard to make the Yama Girl understand the complex logical relationships within.

Might instead cement his infamous Title (Achievement) like "Great Devil Who Destroys Worlds."

That would be bad, sullying his innocence out of thin air.

Shiki Eiki hesitated slightly; if this person were merely explaining simply, she definitely would not believe it.

But the other party spoke so seriously, claiming those fundamentally weren't souls but sentient constructs... this seemed to have some merit.

"Then what about Hell currently having no souls?"

"Since I already hold authority over the mortal world, naturally it encompasses all aspects, including the laws of soul reincarnation..."

The youth quite readily answered the Yama Girl's doubts —

"Birth, old age, sickness, death still proceed, but their souls will no longer circulate within this world, instead flowing along the Qi Sea I opened up, into my Dojo..."

Where is his Dojo?

Naturally, it is the Canghui Galaxy!

To date, the brilliant Star River that has cost him the greatest effort and greatest magical power to maintain and shape.

To say it is reopening Heaven and Earth, creating a Universe anew, that is definitely impossible, truly too exaggerated... but if according to a comparatively narrow definition of "World (Youxing)" —

Then within this vast Star River are contained billions upon billions of worlds and possibilities.

In such a situation, he only lacks people.

So when there is an opportunity, he will try his best to conduct Reverse Colonization, relocating humans from other worlds, or races with potential, into his own Dojo.

"So, there will still be people dying, and still be people being born..."

Shiki Eiki gently inhaled, summarizing:

"But regardless, the overall tendency of souls is to flow to another world, and the place determining reincarnation will no longer be inside our world's Hell..."

"— Is that so?"

"Yes, of course it's not excluded that in the future, you could be allowed to re-establish a subsidiary company on this side; who can say for sure?"

The youth spoke with a smile, inviting again: "So how about it, Miss Ying Ji, care to consider working at my Dojo?"

"..."

"..."

The green-haired Yama Girl pursed her lips, silent and not speaking.

And at this moment, a cheerful and open-minded voice transmitted over —

"I think this is pretty good too, really, why doesn't Ying Ji consider it a bit?"

The surrounding space suddenly distorted, as if torn open a crack by a formless giant hand.

Hell's dim scenery rapidly dissolved like a faded scroll, replaced by a chaotic yet majestic domain —

Shattered celestial bodies suspended in a dark purple Sky Curtain.

Scorching magma rivers winding and flowing in the Void.

"After all, Hell is empty... even I find it boring." The words dragged out in tone, the voice mixed with a girl's lightheartedness and a god's laziness.

As the words fell, a dark red halo scattered on the Void her bare feet stepped on, each step rippling Wave-like ripples.

Deep crimson long hair fell past her shoulders, cut with straight bangs at eyebrow level.

A black choker encircled her neck, connected by a gold chain to three shrunken stars.

"... Hecatia-sama?"

Shiki Eiki froze slightly, then immediately spoke subconsciously.

The Qi Refining practitioner stood calmly in place, hands behind his back, his gaze casually sizing up this goddess, then he slightly raised an eyebrow.

She's actually a three-in-one goddess?

(Chapter End)