Inside the shrine, the clay deity statue wrapped in faded red cloth was slowly turning. Its head tilted slightly downward, and the curve of its mouth twisted into a sinister grin that looked far too lifelike to have been carved.
Lan Tao shivered violently in terror.
The blind crone frowned so deeply that her brow could have crushed a fly.
Though she was blind, her hearing was exceptionally sharp, and the bizarre occurrences in the room did not escape her ears.
“Jiang Guihua, do you wish to alter your destiny?”
A strange, genderless voice rang in her ears.
Having lived for over sixty years and spent more than half her life playing the medium, she had deceived high officials and hoodwinked the common people.
By now, even she could barely distinguish between her own lies and the truth.
If anyone asked if she believed in ghosts and gods, she actually did not; she knew better than anyone how those so-called divine powers were faked.
Yet this bizarre voice had instantly exposed her closely guarded birth name and her deepest desire.
The shrine flared with a brilliant red light, shaking violently.
“The deity has manifested! The deity has manifested...”
Lan Tao knelt before the shrine, kowtowing repeatedly.
With a heavy thud, Jiang Guihua also fell to her knees.
“G-Great Immortal...” she stammered, her voice trembling. “This blind crone did not know of your arrival. I beg the Great Immortal for forgiveness...”
Lan Tao was already too terrified to speak. He watched with wide eyes as the clay deity statue rose from the shrine.
No, that was not right. It was not rising; it was floating!
Its base lifted off the altar table, hovering in mid-air as it looked down upon him and Blind Granny.
“Jiang Guihua, your lifespan is at its end. In the Hall of Yama, your name on the Ledger of Life and Death has long been circled in red. You have spent this lifetime playing the charlatan and harming countless souls. You know full well which level of Hell you deserve to be punished in after you die.”
The invisible Yun Shu held the clay deity statue, using a voice changer she had purchased from the Pinduoduo System to terrify the two people in the room.
【Jiang Guihua Shock Value +100】
【Lan Tao Shock Value +100】
【Current Shock Value: 6,825,200】
Jiang Guihua blurted out instinctively, “I... I can alter my destiny! As long as my destiny is changed, the underworld messengers won't be able to claim my soul!”
The voice from the statue was filled with pure mockery. “Do you truly believe that with your paltry, insignificant skills, you can swap someone else's destiny onto yourself to prolong your life? What a pipe dream.”
“Great Immortal!” Tears streamed down Jiang Guihua's face. “Since the Great Immortal knows everything, you must also know how much suffering I had to endure just to acquire these skills.”
“I was born blind and abandoned by my parents as an infant. A half-crazed charlatan took me in.”
“But that old fraud didn't take me in out of pity. He possessed a book detailing many horrifying, dark arts. Following the instructions, he tortured me for fifteen whole years, wanting to fill my heart with hatred so he could throw me into a furnace and refine me into a malevolent ghost!”
“If I hadn't been ruthless enough to kill him first, I would have long been slaughtered by his hands and turned into a malevolent ghost!”
Her voice was sorrowful, and her shoulders shook violently as she lay prostrate on the ground like a lowly worm.
“I refuse to accept this! I refuse to accept it, Great Immortal! We are all human, so why do some people get to live in leisurely comfort while I am destined to rot in the mud? Great Immortal, show mercy! I beg the Great Immortal to alter my destiny! Please, alter my destiny!”
“As long as you can grant me a few more years of life, I will do whatever you command in the future!”
A long silence ensued.
Jiang Guihua almost thought the Great Immortal had already departed.
She froze, and just as she was about to ask—
the voice rang out once more.
“It is not entirely impossible to alter your destiny.”
Hearing this, Jiang Guihua snapped her head up, her cloudy, pale eyes widening as her expression shifted from utter despair to ecstatic joy in an instant.
But the Great Immortal's next words—
made the smile freeze on her face.
“Go perform a task for this seat. Once it is accomplished, this seat will alter your destiny and guarantee you another thirty years of life.”
Jiang Guihua swallowed hard.
Her voice was dry. “G-Great Immortal, please give your command.”
“Go kill the Divine Lady and her believers.”
Originally, Jiang Guihua had not believed there was a real Divine Lady, but hearing the deity statue's words, she realized that she was indeed a genuine goddess.
This deity statue was something she had brought back from overseas, a genuine evil deity statue. For an evil deity to be so wary of and hostile toward her, who else could she be but a true Divine Lady?
“G-Great Immortal...” she probed cautiously. “The Divine Lady possesses boundless divine power, while I am but a mere mortal. I fear I cannot even touch a single strand of her hair, let alone kill her. Why don't you reveal your true form and show us a clear path?”
“A mortal naturally cannot kill the Divine Lady.”
The red cloth on the clay deity statue fluttered. “As long as people believe in the Divine Lady, her divine power remains infinite. Not to mention weak mortals like you, even this seat can only temporarily avoid her edge and cannot descend in my true form.”
With just a few words, Yun Shu had smoothly explained away why she had not revealed herself, dispelling Jiang Guihua's doubts.
Prostrating herself on the ground, she kowtowed like garlic being pounded. “Great Immortal, we are slow-witted. We beg you to enlighten us.”
Cold sweat trickled down her graying temples.
“Stretch out your hands.”
Jiang Guihua shuddered. Not daring to hesitate, she hurriedly extended her hands from her sleeves, palms facing upward. Her ten fingers trembled like dry branches in an autumn wind.
Yun Shu pulled a transparent bottle from her sleeve.
It was a bottle of Nongfu Spring water with the label torn off.
The Pinduoduo System sold them for two points a bottle.
“This water is the ultimate poison in the world, colorless and tasteless.” She tossed the Nongfu Spring water, which had a small amount of sleeping aid dissolved in it, to Jiang Guihua.
Jiang Guihua cradled the bottle that had appeared out of thin air.
Though she could not see, she could feel it.
This object was highly unusual.
Seeing the item that had suddenly materialized in Jiang Guihua's hands, Lan Tao felt an even deeper reverence and dread for the deity statue floating before him.
“The Divine Lady's power comes from the belief of her followers. As long as you can use this water to kill the believers she brought to Chaoyang City, her divine power will surely be greatly diminished. When that time comes, this seat will personally step forward to slay the Divine Lady, take her heart, and unite the Three Realms.”
Yun Shu didn't even need to draft her words to bluff them. “Rest assured, once the deed is done, this seat will not forget your contributions.”
Jiang Guihua and Lan Tao were incredibly thrilled.
One of them desired longevity, while the other craved power.
Now, the opportunity was right before their eyes.
As long as they helped the evil deity succeed and unite the Three Realms, they would surely win the evil deity's favor and obtain everything they desired.
How could this not be exhilarating?
Desire is bottomless, especially when one believes they have a powerful backer; at that point, greed completely triumphs over fear.
Having painted a lethal, illusory pie for the two of them to ensure they would obediently remain in Chaoyang City to be rounded up in one fell swoop, Yun Shu left with the little fox, vanishing from the blood-scented room.
After a long while of hearing no movement,
Lan Tao raised his head and timidly peeked at the shrine.
Seeing that the clay deity statue had returned to its original state, he said, “Blind Granny, the Great Immortal... the Great Immortal seems to have left.”
Jiang Guihua handed him the bottle. “Find a way to slip this poison into those believers' food.”
Rate on N.U.
