Chapter 40

Lin Yu looked into the darkness—it was Lu Yao.

It was Lu Yao, who had survived as a revenant and now walked with a stiff, rotting corpse of a body.

Behind Lu Yao stood Xie Wu, missing a leg.

Xie Wu limped, half-paralyzed, while Lu Yao trembled, her body covered in sores. The two of them made their way toward the crowd with great difficulty.

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow and watched calmly as the two drew closer. The scene she had so meticulously crafted was about to unfold.

Lu Yao's face twisted with malice. "I once received the blessing of the Rain Goddess. She saved my father. As the previous Divine Maiden of Heaven's Mandate Tower, she showed no favor to the current Divine Maiden, but instead helped a poor orphan like me. So this Divine Maiden bore a grudge and wanted me dead!"

Lu Yao spoke with righteous indignation. "Not only did she want to kill me, but she also slaughtered over a hundred people to boost her cultivation, draining their blood and using their lives to refine pills!"

Then, Lu Yao began to sob. "Do you know how perilous that night was? This so-called Divine Maiden is nothing but a demon in human skin. I saw with my own eyes how she killed the innocent—those people died so miserably! Only I, by sheer luck, escaped with my life!"

The crowd's expressions shifted repeatedly, but no one moved. Zhou Yu and Hu Sheng couldn't convince the people, and neither could Lu Yao. She could say whatever she wanted, but whether they believed her was another matter.

Besides, her claims were too outrageous. The people didn't believe the Divine Maiden would do such things.

After all, only those who were compassionate, kind to all, and dedicated to saving lives were worthy of becoming the Divine Maiden.

Seeing the crowd hesitate, Lu Yao realized she might have overacted. Her eyes blazing with fury, she tried to find fault with Lin Yu. In her panic, she blurted out, "She's only been in office for a few days, yet she already has a century's worth of cultivation for saving lives. Don't you find that absurd?!"

Lu Yao screamed hoarsely, "It's because she slaughtered too many people that the heavens sent down punishment! Think about it—why was the last divine punishment sent?"

"It was because a fame-seeking astrologer made wild guesses, costing the lives of over a thousand people! It's the same this time—the Divine Maiden brings calamity to the world, and the gods are warning all living beings!"

For a moment, there was dead silence. Many were half-convinced, but no one dared speak.

From the back of the crowd, a lazy voice drifted over. "Miss Lu, weren't you burned to death in the Rain Goddess Temple? How is it that you're here now?"

Fu Ming smiled with a hint of malice. "Could it be that you've borrowed a corpse to return to life?"

Lu Yao's movements froze stiff. The matter of revenants must never be brought into the light. If most people knew, she would surely incur heavenly punishment!

Lu Yao bit her lip hard.

"So it is you!" Heaven's Mandate, no—The God of Glory descended from the sky with a massive formation!

The common folk had never seen such a sight. In an instant, they scattered in all directions, screaming.

The once-empty street dissolved into chaos, a writhing mass of panicked ants. The God of Glory stood above them, casually firing off circles of light to toy with the tiny creatures.

The crowd was trapped in the center, an invisible spell of light enveloping them, holding them in place.

After dealing with the onlookers, The God of Glory swept his gaze over the crowd—but Lu Yao was nowhere to be seen!

The God of Glory's eyes fell on Lin Yu. His tone was dripping with contempt. "I thought you were suspicious the moment I saw you in that cave that day. How dare you harm A Niang? I'll kill you!"

With that, he conjured an alchemy hammer and swung it at Lin Yu. At the same time, a colossal alchemy furnace floated in the sky, like a dark cloud blotting out the moonlight above everyone's heads.

The furnace burned with an eerie golden light, as if it would suck everything in and melt it down!

Lin Yu curled the corners of her mouth. Zhang Yulin and Yu Jia burst out of the darkness, leaping from the rooftops to land steadily behind Lin Yu.

Zhou Yu recognized the infamous The God of Glory at once and was about to kowtow to him, but he sensed something was off. Why did it feel like The God of Glory was out for their blood?

Before Zhou Yu could figure things out, he grabbed Zhang Yulin in front of him and asked, "Junior sister, what are you doing?"

Zhang Yulin glanced at him, her tone brimming with fervor. "Don't worry about it. Just fight!"

Zhou Yu: ??

Hu Sheng, on the other hand, quickly grasped the situation and stood resolutely behind the group.

The God of Glory stood arrogantly atop a wall, looking down at Lin Yu. Lin Yu was unafraid, lifting her head to meet his gaze.

The God of Glory sneered. Then, the alchemy furnace floating in mid-air descended upon them! The furnace, weighing several hundred stone, came down with the force of a mountain, crushing the surrounding houses.

Half the houses collapsed, and with no more resistance, the furnace plummeted unimpeded toward the trapped commoners!

"Seal!"

A fierce wind swept through as Lin Yu and the others joined hands to conjure a massive barrier above the crowd. But under the furnace's oppressive weight, the formation shattered in an instant with a thunderous boom.

The sound of breaking formation pierced everyone's eardrums, leaving only a ringing in their ears.

Sweat beaded on Zhou Yu's brow. "What do we do? Do we have to fight him one-on-one?!"

Lin Yu didn't turn around; her eyes remained locked on The God of Glory hovering in the air. Her gaze was unwavering. "Shut up. If you don't want to fight, leave."

Zhou Yu gritted his teeth, unable to make a decision.

The God of Glory laughed lightly. "Overestimating yourselves."

He once again manipulated the furnace to slam down!

Lin Yu's eyes swept across the surroundings. After the furnace had struck once, almost nothing remained except a few bare branches.

Lin Yu pressed her lips together, then made use of what was there. The broken branches rose into the air, connecting to form a brown rope. Lin Yu flung the rope with all her might!

In a flash, Lin Yu looped the rope around the trapped commoners and hurled them all away from the furnace.

A flicker of shock crossed The God of Glory's face. Perhaps intrigued, he withdrew the furnace and descended to the ground.

Lin Yu steadied her breath and said dismissively, "You've been played by Lu Yao all along, toyed with by a mortal, and now you're even willing to come down to the mortal world to avenge her. How pitiful."

The God of Glory: "So what? She only toys with me, not with others. To her, I'm the most special."

The God of Glory didn't see anything wrong with that. After all, others didn't even get the chance to be toyed with by Lu Yao.

Lin Yu: "You..." Fine, this kind of supremely self-assured person couldn't be brought down with words...

The God of Glory pointed his alchemy hammer at Lin Yu. "Hand over A Niang. Where did you hide her?"

Lin Yu's gaze instinctively flicked behind her, signaling the others to come closer. Then she revealed a cryptic smile, her tone almost taunting.

Lin Yu spoke slowly, enunciating each word with unusual clarity. "She's dead. I killed her."

The God of Glory's expression finally cracked. His face twitched. "I'll kill you!"

Raising his alchemy hammer, he charged at Lin Yu!

Lin Yu reacted quickly, blocking the first killing blow—but only that one. The force from the hammer numbed everyone's chests, and they nearly collapsed!

The God of Glory was, after all, the god with the most followers in the world. Even if he wasn't the God of War, his combat power was terrifyingly strong.

Lin Yu's lashes trembled slightly. "We can't win. Run!"

Without giving anyone time to react, she summoned her divine power to create a beam of light and fled in a random direction!

Zhang Yulin, Fu Ming, and Yu Jia followed Lin Yu without a second thought, abandoning the fight entirely.

Only Zhou Yu and Hu Sheng were left behind. They exchanged glances: "Huh? We're not fighting anymore?"

Lin Yu looked back. "Are you still not running? Waiting to die?!"

The two froze for a moment before Lin Yu swiftly pulled them into the escape beam. A stream of light shot off into the distance!

Seeing this, The God of Glory relaxed his guard. He had thought the group had some real skill, but they couldn't even withstand his first move before fleeing.

Watching the direction of their light formation, The God of Glory squinted. "You think you can get away? Not one of you will escape!"

All of them would have to pay for Lu Yao's life.

Of course, it wasn't just those small fry. The entire Jiangnan region would have to pay for Lu Yao's life too...

He was about to kill the commoners still trapped in place before chasing after Lin Yu's group. But when he turned around, he found the commoners had already fled, leaving only their backs.

Chasing after them wasn't worth it, so The God of Glory turned and followed the direction Lin Yu had fled!

...

The light formation dispersed in a dark, ancient temple. Nothing could be seen, but faintly, a huge crack ran through the temple wall—big enough to serve as a door. Snow and wind blew through the gap, leaving only a bone-chilling cold.

A statue on the altar was wrapped in something like mud, its face indistinguishable. It was unclear whose temple they had stumbled into.

"I'll go ahead," Fu Ming said.

Lin Yu nodded slightly to him. "Alright. Stay safe."

Fu Ming and Yu Jia quickly left the temple and soared onto its roof. They had little time—at most a few breaths before The God of Glory caught up.

Seeing Fu Ming leave, Zhou Yu still didn't understand what was happening. Weren't they here to persuade the townsfolk not to believe in the so-called divine punishment? How did The God of Glory show up and try to kill them? How had it come to a fight?

Zhou Yu pointed at Lin Yu and Zhang Yulin. "Wait, what are you two doing? Getting into a fight with The God of Glory—how could you even think of that? I never realized before, but our tower really is full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!"

Lin Yu ignored him. She climbed up onto the altar until she was level with the statue, feeling around for something.

Zhang Yulin had scouted ahead earlier, so she reminded her, "It's at the base."

Zhou Yu was still too steeped in the idea of divine supremacy to accept such blatant disrespect toward the gods.

If he had known what Lin Yu intended to do, he probably would have collapsed in fright, then kowtowed to whatever statue it was to beg for forgiveness.

Lin Yu glanced at Zhou Yu. "Find yourself a place to hide."

Zhang Yulin gave Zhou Yu a pat on the shoulder. "Take care. While the barrier isn't up yet, you can still run. Once it's sealed, you won't be able to."

Lin Yu crouched behind the statue, doing something unseen, while the crisp sound of jingling gold could be heard. Zhang Yulin, meanwhile, began systematically wrecking the temple's furnishings—the offering table, the cushions, the candlesticks—all smashed to pieces.

Hu Sheng stood nearby, watching with his heart racing. Suddenly, his eyelids shot up as The God of Glory appeared at the temple entrance like a vengeful ghost!