No matter how Guo Pan threatened or bribed them, no one moved.
The soldiers knelt on the ground, not daring to lift their heads.
Some quietly shrank back, while others simply buried their faces in their arms, pretending they hadn't heard a thing.
Their spears and sabers lay scattered across the ground.
Yet, not a single hand dared to pick them up.
“You!” Guo Pan’s body trembled with rage, his voice cracking. “You dare defy military orders?”
A young soldier finally looked up, tears and snot streaming down his face as he shook. “Lord... Lord Guo... that is the Divine Lady... we cannot... we cannot lay hands on a deity...”
“Bullshit! She is nothing but a witch!”
Guo Pan kicked the soldier over and scanned his surroundings, only to find that every soldier was avoiding his gaze.
These soldiers were no longer under his control.
In an instant.
A surge of violent fury crushed the last of his reason.
He gripped the hilt of his blade and suddenly spun around, charging toward the seemingly fragile green-clad figure.
“I’ll kill you!”
The blade sliced through the air with a cold flash, cleaving straight toward the Divine Lady’s face.
“Divine Lady!”
Shen Yu’s body moved faster than his mind.
As a frail scholar, he didn't even know what he would do after throwing himself forward, but he lunged anyway.
However, he was ultimately too slow.
The blade was still a foot away from the Divine Lady.
Light.
A brilliant green light radiated from within the Divine Lady, blooming outward like a massive orchid.
It enveloped her completely.
Guo Pan’s blade struck the barrier of light as if hitting an invisible wall.
No, it was harder than a wall.
It was a chasm, a boundary that a mortal could never cross when facing a deity.
A massive force of recoil traveled back through the blade, sending a sharp pain through Guo Pan’s hand.
The next second.
His body was sent flying like a kicked ball, tracing an arc through the air for nearly twenty meters before slamming heavily into a tree on the opposite side.
The tree trunk snapped with a loud crack, and he tumbled to the ground, blood gushing from his mouth.
Seeing this, the tense string in Shen Yu’s mind finally relaxed.
Just now, his concern had clouded his judgment; he had momentarily forgotten that a deity possessed power unmatched by mortals.
A mortal attempting to harm a god was like an ant trying to shake a tree.
Shen Jue’s expression was inscrutable. The things he had once firmly believed in were cracking under the weight of one visual shock after another.
Could there really be ghosts and gods in this world?
【Shen Jue Shock Value +50】
【Li Si Shock Value +100】
【Wang Laowu Shock Value +100】
【...】
【Current Shock Value: 42,610】
“Cough... cough cough...”
Guo Pan struggled to crawl up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the figure as he gnashed his teeth.
“Witch... you witch...”
The Divine Lady looked down at him from above.
“Utterly incorrigible.”
As soon as she spoke, her dark eyes changed.
Her left eye ignited with a faint golden glow like the rising sun, while her right eye swirled with a silver radiance like the cold moon in the sky.
Gold and silver converged; the sun and moon shone together.
Immediately after, her attire changed as well.
Black.
An overwhelming, all-consuming black.
Ink-colored robes cascaded from her shoulders in layers, each one flowing with dark gold patterns that looked like ancient incantations.
Her waist was cinched tight by a dark gold belt that hung down to her knees, embroidered with complex totems—part dragon, part snake—coiling and twisting with an inviolable majesty.
Her hair ornament changed too; the white jade was gone, replaced by a crown of black and gold.
Exquisite dark gold bead chains hung from the crown, partially veiling her features. Combined with those heterochromatic eyes of gold and silver, she appeared both mysterious and dangerous.
Everyone present froze in place.
Rumors said that deities possessed multiple divine forms.
To think it was actually true.
Suddenly, the entire valley grew dark.
The light was completely swallowed by something.
A black mist spread out from beneath the Divine Lady’s feet, diffusing rapidly like ink dropped into clear water.
It swallowed the mountains, the forest, the stream, the bamboo sheds, and the Divine Lady Temple.
It swallowed everyone.
“What’s happening?”
“I can’t see!”
“The Divine Lady must be angry...”
The crowd cried out in terror.
Yun Shu watched the system, which was still busy.
She silently urged it to hurry up.
“Almost there, almost there...” the system replied.
Yun Shu was a bit anxious, but she could only wait.
Originally, she wanted to pull the full Heavenly Balance Set, but her luck was truly terrible. She only managed to get the Mountain-Suppressing Crown, which gave her the Majestic Pressure skill.
Without the full set, the skill of the Brilliant Heaven-Bearer Robe could only pull one person into the Domain of Retribution.
She had to find another way to punish Guo Pan while earning a massive amount of Shock Value at the same time.
Two birds with one stone.
The system wiped away its sweat. “Host, it’s ready. I’ve set up the scene; you can use the Dream-Entering skill now.”
Yun Shu didn't hesitate.
While everyone’s vision was obscured by the black mist, she quickly switched to the Floating Dream Set and activated the Dream-Entering skill.
The set’s Dream-Entering skill was area-of-effect, capable of plunging everyone nearby into a fabricated dream.
In the next second, she switched back to the four components of the Heavenly Balance Set and pulled Guo Pan into the Domain of Retribution.
The system was responsible for linking the dreamscape with the Domain of Retribution.
The two of them coordinated perfectly.
After an unknown amount of time, light reappeared.
The people were no longer in the valley.
The refugees, the soldiers, Shen Jue, and Shen Yu were all standing on a circular spectator stand, looking at each other in confusion.
“Where is this?”
“Could this be the Eighteen Levels of Hell?”
“How could hell be this bright?”
“Then is this the Heavenly Palace?”
The sounds of discussion buzzed like a swarm of bees.
Some were terrified, while others were curious.
After all, they had never seen such a sight. This grand circular hall, which didn't look like anything from the mortal world, was many times larger than the government offices in Xindu City—grander than any building they had ever seen in their lives.
Shen Jue reached out to touch the railing of the stand. The overly realistic sensation left him completely baffled.
“How was this done?”
Compared to the others, Shen Yu appeared much calmer. He lightly patted Shen Jue’s shoulder. “Brother, no human could possess such great power. This is the power of a deity.”
“The sorcerers misled the country, causing the people to suffer. It is only natural that sorcery is hated now.”
A flash of fanaticism suddenly appeared in his eyes. “But everything the Divine Lady does is for the sake of all living beings. Regardless of whether it is real or fake, in my heart, she is the only true god in this world.”
Shen Jue’s gaze was dark, and for once, he didn't argue.
It was because what Shen Yu said made sense.
There are good and bad people, so there are naturally good and bad sorcerers. He shouldn't generalize.
However, his deep-seated loathing still made it impossible for him to feel any goodwill toward these supernatural displays.
“The Judgment Hall is open; sin shall have nowhere to hide.”
Hearing the voice, everyone instinctively looked toward the open space in the center.
A moment later.
Deputy Commandant Guo Pan appeared before everyone’s eyes.
He was dragged into the Judgment Hall like a dead dog by two faceless shadows, his previous arrogance completely gone.
The Divine Lady stood at the highest point, looking down over the entire hall.
With her black and gold crown and ink-colored robes, her face was partially hidden by the dark gold bead chains, her gold and silver eyes shimmering faintly.
“Guo Pan.”
“The Divine Seed carries the luck of heaven and earth to protect the people of this land. In your ignorance, you nearly destroyed the hope of thousands of living souls.”
“Today, I shall personally judge your sins.”
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