"No... no... I don’t want to die!"
"Divine Maiden, I was wrong, we know we were wrong!"
"Divine Maiden, spare us, Divine Maiden…"
The voices were pitifully faint, like a baby's babble, like the last sighs of the dying.
Yue Fuguang stood by the window, the pleas for mercy coming to her ears one after another.
Her expression appeared calm, her fingers idly playing with the multicolored pearl in her hand.
He Jin and Yu Huaixian guarded her courtyard, while outside the gate, Feng Tang was receiving a flurry of Flower City officials who had rushed over to assess the situation.
"Censor Feng, what do you make of this…?" The Prefect of Flower City had cold sweat beading on his forehead. Outside, the sky looked like a torn bolt of silk; clouds peeled back on either side, revealing behind them a churning, thick darkness.
It was not the darkness of night—night has stars. This was pure, light-devouring blackness, an abyss of nothingness.
Seeing this, the Prefect had a fair idea of what was happening. He and his subordinates were not actually worried that the Young Master would harm innocent commoners.
As for those who had done evil—if they died, they died. What concerned them most now was: after the Young Master had finished dealing with those people, how would she turn to handle them?
Wind blew in from outside, and the assembled officials shivered. This was no ordinary wind. It was bone-bitingly cold, carried a metallic, rusty scent, and felt clammy and sticky, cutting into their bodies as if it could burrow into their very bones.
Of all the people in the room, only Feng Tang seemed unaffected. The wind appeared to recognize him, swirling around him but never touching him.
The wind swept over the mountains, forcing ten thousand trees to bow. It swept through villages, sending roof tiles scattering. It swept over the gathered crowd, and everyone shuddered at once—a cold that rose from the depths of the soul, unrelated to body temperature.
The onlookers wanted to run.
But their legs refused to obey.
Some were muttering under their breath—perhaps prayers, perhaps pleas for mercy, perhaps just meaningless syllables. Some clamped their hands over their children's eyes, while their own eyes bulged so wide they threatened to split.
Some fell to their knees, the impact against the stone floor unfelt, because pain had been drowned by fear.
What were they afraid of?
They were afraid of that gaze falling from the heavens.
That gaze had no form, yet it was more oppressive than any form could be.
It seemed to rest upon each person, yet also upon no one in particular.
It felt as though it had settled onto every heart, transforming into an invisible blade that sliced through flesh, through bone, straight down into the deepest corner where all sins were hidden.
Someone suddenly remembered stealing a neighbor’s egg when they were ten. Someone recalled the knife they had once stabbed into a rival’s back. Someone dredged up those shameful secrets they thought would never see the light.
So the Divine Maiden really does know everything—this thought echoed in countless minds.
Those who had once personally taken part in burning the so-called drought demon lay prostrate on the ground, their fingers clawing into the dirt, nails bent backward without their notice.
Their bodies seemed squeezed by an invisible force, every inch of skin pressing toward the earth as if they wanted to bury themselves alive, as if anything was worth it just to disappear.
Their lips quivered, repeating only a few words over and over:
"I was wrong... I was wrong..."
But it was too late.
The mountains let out another sigh.
This time, cracks split open beneath their feet, gaping wide like the maw of some colossal beast.
But those people did not fall into the abyss as expected. Instead, to the horror of the onlookers, something began to climb out from the depths!
Clatter, rustle, hiss!
Dirt and gravel from the abyss seemed to peel away and fall.
Something in the hearts of those kneeling also seemed to fall along with it.
Under the crowd’s gaze—some terrified, some "anticipating"—the things from the abyss finally crawled onto solid ground.
"Liu Fuling!"
"Zhou Old Man!"
"Zhang Stone!"
"Qian Xiaohu!"
"Zhang Xiaocao!"…
Name after name was called out from the lips of the villagers. And these "people" who had crawled up from the abyss of hell grinned at them.
With that grin, endless flames erupted from their bodies, and the scent of charred meat rushed into everyone’s nostrils.
Ugh!
That smell dragged the villagers’ memories back to that day. They might not be as scared as the perpetrators, terrified unto death, but to merely watch everything, to do nothing at all—that itself was a sin.
Crack!
Purple lightning slithered through the churning dark clouds, followed by booming thunder.
"Today, I grant you all special privilege: Those with grievances may settle them; those with wrongs may avenge them. You will not be punished by the Lord of the Underworld!"
Yue Fuguang’s voice sounded across the sky, spreading outward like ripples. At the same time, her colossal divine manifestation slowly materialized against the pitch-black firmament.
The deity bent her head to gaze upon mortals, her solemn and majestic visage commanding awe without anger—striking such terror into the guilty that they wished they could burrow into a crevice.
Perhaps due to the circumstances, the Divine Maiden’s manifestation now looked very different from when the people had first seen her bring wind and rain. It seemed more imposing… and heartless?
Her eyes looked down upon them as one would regard ants to be crushed beneath the foot at any moment.
Not only did the commoners collapse, unable to stand, upon hearing Yue Fuguang’s words and seeing her manifestation—even the gathered officials of Flower City, at the moment her apparition appeared, hurriedly straightened their robes and prostrated themselves in reverence, no longer daring to defend themselves in the slightest.
The deity sees all clearly. The Young Master, as the Divine Maiden, would surely know every deed they had done. There was no point in speaking further now.
"Thank you, Divine Maiden!"
"Thank you, Divine Maiden!"…
The visitors who had emerged from the depths of the earth voiced their thanks in unison, their voices hoarse and icy—making everyone who heard them shudder with dread.