Chapter 55

The mastermind behind the scenes!

These blue 【Memory】 powers tugged at the deepest memories of the ascetic monk, slowly cutting and rewriting his cognition like a scalpel.

In the blink of an eye, he forgot his original intent and forgot who Du Xiguang and Fang Jue were, standing there blankly with a dull expression.

"15 seconds! Hurry!"

Hearing Du Xiguang's roar, Fang Jue snapped out of it and immediately reached for 【When Fear Arrives】.

He felt that the struggle of this demi-artifact was not intense at all, not at all like something that could throw a person away. Although he had doubts, for the sake of safety, he issued a decree again:

"In this place, resistance is forbidden!"

Theoretically speaking, the 【Order】 power on a player is ultimately too little, and their rank is far inferior to a demi-artifact.

Especially as a subordinate relic of dual divinity, 【When Fear Arrives】 should not have been affected at all.

Yet unexpectedly, this demi-artifact quieted down under Fang Jue's decree.

The scene was too tense, so much so that everyone subconsciously ignored this point.

Fang Jue felt a surge of joy, quickly picked it up, and threw it hard toward Du Xiguang.

He was not denying his own ability, but simply believed that in the memories, the person who brought him to browse through memories must have more tricks than he did!

Du Xiguang flipped up and caught the demi-artifact thrown to him, feeling a sense of relief in his heart.

Finally!

After racking his brains, he had finally found it; the clue to the trial might be in...

"Boom!"

Before Du Xiguang could take another look, a world-destroying thunderous force slammed toward him.

"Pfft—"

Du Xiguang was struck by the overwhelming thunder, his entire body charred as he was sent flying, crashing into the corridor wall.

But that dagger was still gripped tightly in his hand.

"Very good, you are the first sinner to survive my thunderous punishment.

Even I have to admire such a physique.

The southern front is tight, and it is exactly the time when people are needed.

Give up the resistance, hand over 'it', and I will give you a chance to serve as a 'prisoner of war'!"

The same words rang in everyone's ears again, only this time the target had changed.

Fang Jue looked at the watch on his wrist in astonishment; Mo Qiusi had come up a full 6 minutes earlier than in the memory!

Was it the commotion of the ascetic monk forcing his way in that caused the people downstairs to change?

He looked up and found that in the crowd behind Mo Qiusi, he himself and Du Xiguang were not there.

Instead, Cheng Shi, who should have been taking the thunder at the door, was standing in the position they had previously occupied.

Fang Jue stared blankly at all this, knowing that this trip was likely going to fail.

Yet at this moment, a sudden change occurred again!

Du Xiguang, holding 【When Fear Arrives】, seemed to think of something and suddenly looked at Fang Jue with a horrified expression.

He seemed to want to say something to Fang Jue, but before he could open his mouth, the light in his eyes dissipated with a boom.

Fang Jue's body stiffened violently, and then the scene before him gradually peeled away like a shattered mirror, spitting him out of the sea of memories in the blink of an eye.

His vision plunged into darkness once more.

When his consciousness returned to his body, Fang Jue found that he seemed to be no longer in the inn.

He opened his eyes, looked at the shackles on his hands and the chains on his ankles, and was shocked into silence for a moment.

And sitting before him was none other than one of the judges who had been arresting people in the inn this morning.

"Alright, the boring tricks should end now; confess whatever you remember quickly.

That way, it will be better for both you and me."

On the other side.

Cheng Shi opened his eyes and found that he was no longer in the inn.

This was a dim limestone cave; the dense, symbol-like stalactites on the ceiling reminded him of a place:

The underworld!

He had seen these kinds of symbol-like stalactites in an underworld trial once; it was said that this was the underworld cave elves showing their piety to the 【Gods】.

How did he get here?

Was the mastermind really a 【Filth-Fallen】 believer from the underworld?

Just as Cheng Shi was cautiously observing everything around him, an unexpected person appeared before him with a chuckle.

Cheng Shi was shocked, his mouth hanging open in bewilderment:

"It really is you?"

The person smiled and nodded:

Give up resistance, hand over 'it', and I will give you a chance to act as a 'war prisoner'!"

Cheng Shi did not feel any malice from him, and even sensed a hint of goodwill; he pondered for a moment and replied earnestly:

"To be honest, my suspicion of you was very limited; if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would have been hard for me to make the correct judgment.

As for the reason for suspecting you, it's very similar to why I suspected the bard you controlled.

When a person wants to create slaughter through fear, simply spreading rumors to create panic is not efficient.

If I were that person, I would first make everyone believe they are very safe, and only then create the fear of slaughter in the safest place.

This psychological gap is enough to break the defenses of ordinary people and become the sharp blade in my hand.

This is perhaps the reason why you would persuade every new traveler to take a look at 【Blooming Awaits Only Withering】, right?"

Standing before Cheng Shi was none other than the owner of the "Life Light of Mad Growth" inn.

He laughed out loud and clapped:

"You are very smart, and also very suitable."

"Suitable?"

"Indeed, suitable. Since you could guess it was me, why not think about why I came?"

Cheng Shi frowned, speaking as he thought:

"You deliberately sent that dagger of slaughter into the hands of the Grand Tribunal, targeting some judge.

Or perhaps Mo Qiusi himself directly!

I am not familiar with the history of the Grand Tribunal, but I have some understanding of this period.

The 【Truth】 believers of the Tower of Reason discovered too many laws of the universe, which made them feel omnipotent, and their confidence in exploring the ultimate mysteries of divinity rose to an unprecedented height.

But because every great scholar has their own cognitive system, communication between them, apart from promoting their own arguments, was just persuading others to switch to their own sect. This situation of talking past each other while each holding their own views gradually became more chaotic in the current era of mixed schools.

Now they despise the unchanging nature of 【Order】 and loathe the diligence of their peers; coupled with the instigation of underworld beliefs, it didn't take long before war broke out in pursuit of the "unique" 【Truth】.

And once the war started, the momentum could not be stopped, and the flames of war gradually spread to the southern border of the Grand Tribunal.

And you, since you have already come to the heart of the Grand Tribunal and want to kill Mo Qiusi, then at this sensitive time node, could it be that you want to disrupt the rear of the Grand Tribunal, leaving them unable to attend to both ends, so that the front line is no longer so solid?

In other words, you want to lead the flames of war into the Grand Tribunal and drag the judges into the vortex of war as well?

Hmm, not bad; in this way, the underworld has the opportunity to take advantage of the chaos to devour more surface forces and spread beliefs wantonly in the war-torn lands, which is very much in your interest.

Thinking about it this way, killing a first-rank judge, who happens to be a so-called child of 【Order】, would be a very good start.

I wonder if I guessed correctly?"

The inn owner listened to all this silently, his face showing shock as he clapped in admiration.

"Impressive! Very impressive!

You almost said it all correctly.

Your thinking is very sharp, so sharp that I find it hard to believe you are not one of us.

To be able to deduce so many conclusions with just one or two days of observation while missing so much information is truly remarkable."

"Us?" Cheng Shi noticed this special word in the owner's mouth again and said with slight surprise:

"You are not alone?"

"Of course, what kind of strength do you think it takes to not reveal the slightest flaw under Mo Qiusi's nose?

I admit, I cannot do it.

So you guessed right, and you also guessed wrong.

Ados is indeed a puppet, but he is not mine; he is his own!"