You stand on top of the collapsed Treasure Pavilion, with shattered tiles beneath your feet. The nobles, who were drained of their life force by the golden bird but are now alive, are frantically digging through the rubble. Their fingernails are bleeding from the effort as they search for even a single fragment of gold leaf.
'Golden Bell,' you say, your voice strained as you witness this absurd scene. 'Why? The evil has been vanquished and their lives have been saved. They're clearly rescued, yet they seem to suffer more than before.'
Golden Bell perches on your shoulder, its tail no longer swaying lightly. It looks down at the frenzied figures, its tone carrying a desolate weariness of worldly wisdom. 'Tracer, you saved lives, but they lost their dreams. For some, living in a golden lie is far more pleasant than facing the drab truth. By cutting off their source of greed, you cut off their hope for life.'
The ghostly figure beside it sneered. Its silhouette appeared even colder in the moonlight. 'All beings suffer. Only self-salvation is possible. You think you're a saviour, but in their eyes, you're the devil who stole their paradise.'
Incense smoke veils withered bones; a compassionate face hides a wicked heart.
If you wish to gain the mercy of the gods, first ask yourself: who are the innocent victims?
You left the money-grubbing capital city behind and arrived at the mist-shrouded No Return Ridge mountain range.
The mountain path was lined with stone niches of various sizes, each housing a deity known as the 'White-Clad Mother'. It was said that wishes made here would be granted, even if you were seriously ill or disabled. The air was filled with a strong sandalwood incense, its scent somewhat bitter and carrying a faint odour of rotting flesh.
You came to an ancient temple halfway up the mountain which was filled with kneeling worshippers. Strangely, these worshippers made no sound, only prostrating themselves devoutly; the echo of their foreheads striking the ground filled the empty hall. Using your 'Eye of the Source', you looked and gasped sharply.
You saw that each worshipper had a long, thin, transparent tube growing from their back. The other end of the tube was inserted straight into the enormous White-Clad Mother statue in the centre of the hall. The Mother's statue had a kind face and a compassionate smile. However, inside the clay sculpture, you could see a bright red heart beating wildly.
'Pseudo-god...' he mutters through clenched teeth. The broken jade ruler in his hand emits a low, resonant sound. 'Stealing the souls of those on the path of reincarnation in the underworld and trapping them in a clay sculpture to be tormented by incense offerings — is this your so-called "benevolence"?' The statue's eyes slowly shift and lock onto the Yin Spirit. A clear, sacred voice echoes through the hall:
'Former Judge, you are already an outcast of the mortal realm, so why interfere with the beautiful dreams of humankind? If you can offer me the two obsessions recorded in the book, I will make you the true god of this Mountain of No Return. What do you say?"
Ignoring the alluring divinity of the 'Holy Mother' and her attempt to calm the frenzied spirit, you pressed your hands firmly onto the cold, slippery base of the statue. You endured the overwhelming scent of sandalwood incense that nearly filled your lungs.
'Want to see my bargaining chips? Let me see your true colours first.'
'You're insane!' Jinling shrieked, instantly transforming into a golden light behind you and attempting to shield you from the statue's oppressive aura. 'A false god of this level — their sea of consciousness is a bottomless pit; it will be drained dry!'
Seeing this, the spirit's previously cold eyes narrowed sharply. Instead of stopping you, it swung its broken jade ruler violently. A dark barrier blasted away the fanatical believers who were trying to pounce on you. It muttered a curse:
Boom!
Your consciousness was instantly pulled into a dark, blood-red void, devoid of celestial music or Buddhist light. Beneath the statue's compassionate clay exterior, you saw a 'bone tower' made from thousands of skeletons. These bones had not been piled up at random; they had been painstakingly bound and stitched together with crimson cinnabar rope to form the shape of a gigantic foetus.
The transparent tubes behind each believer were drawing upon their lifespans and emotions, converging them at the centre of the bone tower where a pitch-black, venomous infant girl sat.
'Is that the saintess who was sacrificed to the heavens by the entire village during the great drought fifty years ago?' You glimpsed the truth amidst the chaotic fragments.
The so-called White-Clad Holy Mother was not a god; she was an abandoned child who died with extreme resentment. She exploited people's fear of disease, establishing a cruel, mutually beneficial pact with mortals: she granted them instant healing in exchange for the last vestiges of their lives.
Because of your intervention, spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the statue's perfect white glaze.
'Save us... Holy Mother... Help us...' the believers wailed, their life force flowing rapidly towards the statue. The spirit stood at the eye of the storm, holding a broken jade sceptre covered in dense runes of judgement. He looked at you, his tone laced with cruel scrutiny. 'Tracer of the Source, see clearly. If you shatter this statue now, these believers who have sacrificed their lives for health will die instantly from a relapse of their illnesses. If you don't shatter it, this false god will achieve complete physical sainthood.'
He handed the jade ruler to you coldly. 'This is the judge's ruler of the underworld. Though broken, it can still sever cause and effect. With this strike, will you kill a god or slaughter humans?"[Book of Rebirth – Situation Analysis]
Target name: False God – Black Infant
Status: Hatching progress: 85%. Lifeline of thousands of believers.
Cause and effect feedback: Extreme chaos. Saving one person is equivalent to killing a hundred; destroying one god is equivalent to destroying a thousand families. Bond sensation: The 'Golden Bird Spirit' in the book flaps its wings uneasily, sensing a deeper form of exploitation than 'greed' exists here.
Interactive Quest: The idol's fragments are peeling away and the vengeful infant spirit's hideous face has been revealed.
Without hesitation, you stepped forward amidst the frenzied wails of the hall. Your fingertips pierced the chilling aura that seemed to freeze the soul and gripped the spirit's hand, which was holding a ruler, tightly.
This was the first time you had truly touched it: it was cold and hard, like an unyielding stone from the River Styx. Yet the moment you grasped it, a violent tremor ran through it.
'Are you insane?' The spirit's voice was exceptionally clear amidst the deity's shattering roar. For the first time, a flicker of doubt appeared in his habitually indifferent eyes. 'This is the law of the underworld. Forcibly activating it with a mortal body will cause your soul to be consumed by karmic fire!'
'You said I am the master of this book.' Facing the scattered clay fragments, his gaze blazing, he continued, "Since the karma is too great for me to bear alone, as a permanent member of this scroll, you must fulfil your duty as the 'God of the Underworld'.
Seeing the almost obsessive resolve in your eyes, the spirit suddenly let out a long, self-mocking laugh. The sound shattered the sandalwood incense that filled the hall.
'Fine! Since you want to drag me down with you, let's witness the true sins and punishments of this mortal realm!' Gripping your hand, he produced the broken jade ruler — the Earth God's Ruler of Judgment — which burst forth with an unprecedented dark light. Countless black runes peeled from the ruler and transformed into chains that danced in the air.
[System notification: Judge's Laws activated.] You swung the ruler together and time seemed to freeze over the entire No Return Ridge.
This wasn't brute force, but a higher-dimensional 'correction'. The black rune chains wrapped precisely around millions of transparent, blood-sucking veins. Rather than severing them directly, you used the Ruler of Judgment to redirect the life force that the infant had stolen over the past fifty years.
'No! That's mine! My body!
[Book of Rebirth – Ending: The abandoned child becoming a god is merely an obstacle born of hatred; the worship of all beings is nothing more than an exchange of lives. In alliance with the Earth God, the tracers restored order, severing the false position and restoring the true nature of beings. From then on, the mountains were devoid of the Holy Mother, leaving only a wisp of breeze.
[Rewards obtained] Card seal: Earth God – Vengeful Infant (Special Attribute: Can inflict the "Weakening" effect on the target or sense hidden bloodline connections).
Spirit Bond Upgrade: The spirit's trust in you changes from 'Judging' to 'Contractor', and some of its sharp tongue transforms into 'Battle Guidance'.
Causality Value: +30 (Current total: 65/100)