Chapter 359: Long Live the Shadow God

However, Ji Ming wasn't some pervert, so he merely smiled quietly and then restrained himself.

By the time he looked at the Count again, his expression had become steady and calm, like a detective summoned by the victim to investigate.

Are you sure this is the place where the lady came at that time?

The Count nodded repeatedly, and before he could even speak, he placed his hand on the door.

That's right, this is it! Don't waste any more time—let's hurry in……

Wait a moment.

What are you waiting for!

The Count bellowed again, but immediately realized something was wrong and quickly lowered his head.

Sorry, Divine Chosen, but I've been waiting for this day far too long—I really can't wait another second!

I understand, I understand—I actually can't keep acting either.

Ji Ming smiled again, then immediately turned cold.

Let that thing in your head speak to me.

Ah, what?

Wind Shadow Count, you may rest now.

Ji Ming extended his hand, and after saying that, he snapped his fingers.

Snap!

Logically, having issued the shutdown command via the Suggestion Technique, the mindless Wind Shadow Count should have collapsed immediately, enjoying infant-like comfortable sleep.

But he didn't; instead he stood motionless, emitting a cold laugh, until Ji Ming slapped him.

I've tolerated you this whole chapter—don't you know to repent yet!?

All I can say is fortunately the Count is a professional; otherwise that slap would have sent his head flying.

Even so, his body still flipped smoothly seven hundred twenty degrees in the air before clattering to the ground.

The strangeness hidden in the Count's mind was also dazed by that slap; he lay on the ground covering his face, unable to utter a word before Ji Ming.

What are you looking at? Hurry up and open the door!

Yes yes yes yes yes……

Before Ji Ming could launch the Warm Heart Foot Combo, seeing the host already beaten to a bloody mouth, like after eating a dragon fruit, she hurriedly climbed up from the ground.

While repeatedly saying yes, she held the door, striving to push forward while pouring Shadow Power into it.

It is obvious that this ancient door, which looks ordinary and even has some moss, has Shadow Power as its only key.

I just don't know whether, if an ordinary person pushed it, they would be ignored outright or trigger a counter‑magic that would destroy it completely.

And while Ji Ming was thinking in silence, the entire door had already been opened, yet the scene inside, like the architecture itself, was submerged in heavy shadow.

Interesting, indeed it seems to have been protected by a Shadow Magic Array……

The open door resembled a giant mouth that devours people, making Ji Ming think of Lao Nv Shi's materials shop; in an action‑type game, you'd need a save point after just three steps.

And it can only be said that, as a ghost possessing a noble, its imitation of the Count's demeanor is utterly lifelike.

All I saw was it bowing respectfully, making a gesturing invitation toward the interior, with none of its earlier playfulness.

Please, sir, enter; please……

However, Ji Ming raised his chin and said.

You go first.

Ah this……

Although the ghost didn't want to comply, it feared being struck down by the Divine Chosen to the point of needing CPR, so it could only shrink its head and act as his vanguard.

But precisely because it was scouting ahead, the Divine Chosen seemed to let his guard down a little, following it into the darkness.

Yet after they had walked dozens of steps, there should have been some reaction in what ought to be a high‑difficulty dungeon space, but there was none, so the Divine Chosen finally couldn't hold back.

Hey, what exactly is this place? Not even a monster spawns here?

Hehehe.

I don't know whether it's the beautiful mental state of this bunch of god‑ghost weirdos, or the intense thrill of luring a strong enemy into an encirclement and then counter‑killing them.

The strangeness gave a cold chuckle at those words, then sprinted off into the darkness, leaving only a trailing sentence.

Archbishop, save me~

You……

Before the Divine Chosen could give chase, he saw a dim purple light suddenly flare up before him.

No, not only that; this purple light was not calm, and after appearing it began to grow wildly like cells dividing.

Soon, dense purple specks appeared all around the Divine Chosen—front, back, left, right, even above—like the evil eyes of a terrifying beast, all fixed on him.

At that very moment, several bonfires burst into flame indoors, their purple flames likewise illuminating the whole space.

Using that light, the Divine Chosen slowly looked around and realized those purple glows were the staves of necromancer after necromancer, and the twin eyes of shadow warrior after shadow warrior.

They were all fanatics of the evil god, now poised to strike, gripping their weapons, ready to judge him, this heretical leader deserving of death ten thousand times.

Ha ha.

Seeing this, the Divine Chosen laughed, and for some reason began praising them.

Not bad at all—if a strong enemy really showed up here, you'd surely annihilate them completely.

Such behavior was both abnormal and strange, yet the Shadow Cultists weren't frightened; they merely thought he was bluffing, so they remained unmoved.

Still, no matter how you say it, he is also a Holy Light Divine Chosen, so proper etiquette had to be observed; thus a similarly purple‑robed scepter‑bearer slowly stepped forward from the crowd.

Good evening, lost lamb.

The Divine Chosen raised his head.

You are the Archbishop?

The visitor gave a slight bow.

Not bad, I am the Shadow Court's stationed commander in Radiant Light South, holding the position of Archbishop, and after following my lord I abandoned my birth name, solely using the alias 'Yinni'.

Heh, that's Archbishop Yinni, huh……

It's a shame that this sentence, which could be considered a sincere self‑introduction, seems to have already exhausted the Archbishop's entire patience.

Or rather, he's willing to say his name and title outright, merely to let this noble enemy die with full understanding.

Thus, as soon as his words fell, he raised the scepter in his hand; shadow, pulled by the purple fire, twisted into chains and shot toward the Divine Chosen.

Unexpectedly, that Divine Chosen had no intention of dodging at all, standing still and letting the chains hit him, striking the ground and forming a magic formation that could bind his movement.

Now the Archbishop truly had no idea what to do; he deployed all the nearby dioceses he could control, those he couldn't, and every high‑level combat force he could summon, just to be able to, in this Wind Shadow Territory he had painstakingly cultivated for years and that wielded great influence, completely wipe out this heretic leader who had forged a blood‑deep grudge with the Court.

After all, being assigned to work behind enemy lines already shows the Great God's trust in him, but being behind enemy lines also means being too far from the Court and too close to the cold bench.

If this continues, when will I get promoted? When will I advance further?

——I really want to advance!

Now the Strange Council is missing fully half its members; many are restless, many are making moves, all to vie for these extremely precious seats.

Therefore I must achieve a feat that will shake the world, retrieve the face the Great God dropped for Him, so I can return to His sight, replace that foolish Shadow Feather Person, and become His greatest reliance in this life!

But now everything is ready, even the east wind is blowing wildly; all that's left is for me to light the match and toss it up—yet this goal suddenly does something quite unexpected.

Hey, no, how…?

It's just like you're holding a sniper at point A, throwing smoke, flashing, and burning, having done everything you needed to do, patiently waiting half a round under the pressure of fallen teammates, finally seeing the enemy's head pop out of the window, and your aim is locked on without even needing to look through the scope.

You flash a smile, ready to trade a graceful tap for victory, brutally silencing the foolish teammate, but that guy just stands there dazed, holding an AK, jumps straight out the window, and dies.

Did we win?

We won.

Did we really win?

I feel no sense of accomplishment at all.

So the Archbishop's current mindset is like when Ji Ming once prepared a full set of weapons to fight to the death against AdaiEr's bloodline curse, trying to save the little assistant's life from fire and water, only to inexplicably succeed at the mission.

It feels awful.

But Ji Ming's goal is just to win, so winning is winning; afterwards he also happily fondled the magic power armor and ate the melon from those two streamers who like to spew nonsense and smear their own game, thus putting this regret behind him.

But now it's different; for the Archbishop, this fight isn't about being fierce or ruthless—how to show off his brilliant martial prowess! How to stress his loyal devotion! How…

Ahhhhh!

Thus the Archbishop broke down, pointing at the Divine Chosen's head and shouting angrily.

"You stubborn heretic, what plot do you still have? We've laid a net of heaven and earth; you have absolutely no chance to escape!"

Ji Ming frowned.

No, I voluntarily surrendered and am waiting to be beaten—why are you the one getting anxious?

Fine, I take back what I said earlier: "Your mental state is worse than that of Evil God cultists!"

If we're talking about going crazy, it's still this bunch of Evil God believers.

No choice; he could only stop teasing the opponent, took out a black crown from his pocket, and placed it on his head before everyone present.

The next moment, the Divine Chosen standing at the center of the field vanished instantly, replaced by a tall black shadow.

To be frank, with Ji Ming's current strength he doesn't need any other means; just his thunder‑light would be enough to wipe out the Shadow Court followers present seven or eight times over—but why do this?

Killing is a means, not an end; right now there's clearly a better solution laid out before us.

Thus, surrounded by a shadow aura so thick it's almost like the incarnation of the Great God himself, he slowly opened his arms and spoke a line.

"Long live the Shadow God!"

——Our own people, bro, our own people.

Fortunately, everyone's aware of being Evil God believers; those wearing masks wear masks, those pulling down hoods pull down hoods.

Otherwise, if these words were spoken, Ji Ming reckons he'd have to treat a bunch of patients with dislocated jaws today.

Even so, the field stayed silent for a full ten seconds, until a laugh that could be described as drawn‑out rang out.

That was Archbishop Yinni; he finally grasped the principle that an Archbishop must howl to act, and he was now going crazy on the spot.

Thus he laughed another full ten seconds before finally catching his breath, gritting his teeth, and shouting hoarsely.

"Impossible! You must have used some kind of illusion trick!"

"Illusion trick?"

"Indeed, there really is a 'method'."

Ji Ming didn't answer, but the shadow beneath his feet gradually extended, soon clinging to the magic chains nailed into the ground and silently absorbing them, making them part of himself.

This isn't destruction by brute force, nor a dismantling through clever trick; it's assimilation, meaning his magic and the Archbishop's share the same source.

Oh, if merely sharing a source couldn't achieve this, one should say it comes from a higher‑rank power.

But the Shadow Court isn't a massive organization like the Holy Light Court, and the Wendigo isn't an ascended true god destined to live as a lonely elder in the Divine Kingdom.

Thus they have no pope as the Great God's spokesman, nor a cardinal as the power hub; beneath the Great God there are only archbishops who govern the various regions.

Even someone like Yinni, so filial he gave up his name, is nominally the Archbishop of Radiant Light South Territory, but in fact he oversees all the dioceses within the kingdom, the other areas merely being 'entrusted' to him.

So for Shadow magic to surpass him, there's only one possibility: ……

Yinni's attitude did a 180‑degree turn in an instant; if it weren't for the crowd here, he'd probably have dropped to his knees to apologize.

"You… you are the Great God?!"

Hey, no, who are you calling a repeatedly defeated clown sheep!

Ji Ming felt insulted, so he quickly stopped the riddles and explained repeatedly.

"No, I'm not, I'm that…… the Shadow Divine Chosen."

"Divine Chosen?"

The Archbishop was bewildered again.

Although the journey was far and he had gone deep behind enemy lines, his connection with the God was intermittent, but our church has never had the concept of God's Chosen.

But the fact before us is…… his status in the Holy See is absolutely higher than mine; besides being God's Chosen, there doesn't seem to be any other possibility.

——Unless you're willing to suddenly have a cardinal appear on your head, after all, being God's Chosen is at most an honor, not a position.

So he could only guess in a positive direction; perhaps the Council suffered heavy losses, and the Lord God, to get through this difficult period, promoted a few talents on the spot.

Unfortunately, thinking this far, Yinni felt no joy at learning the truth; instead, it added a few points of sorrow.

Nana, Kami-sama, why won't you tell my loyal and awesome self, about such a big matter?

Though bitter, Yinni, as the foremost filial son, still chose to accept, raised the scepter to signal all believers to lay down their weapons, and led the way in performing a respectful bow.

"It turns out you're the God's Chosen, sir; your sincere brother offers you a salute!"

Then came a clatter; the surrounding believers bowed and kowtowed, making even those who had set up Ji Ming feel a bit embarrassed.

Don't kowtow, brother; I can't keep the smile from my lips.