Chapter 8: Bond Building in Progress?

“Do I have to die too?”

“Not necessarily,” Lin Hong said lazily.

“I’m just letting you sleep. Whether or not you can wake up is hard to say.”

The next moment, the point of ghostly light at his fingertip flickered and vanished into the young shopkeeper’s brow.

The girl’s body trembled before she slumped against the back of her chair.

Her breathing quickly became even and long as she fell into a deep, infant-like sleep.

This was another form of mental probe that could perceive the essence of a soul.

Lin Hong needed to confirm the girl’s true nature.

The next instant, a sudden, irresistible counter-force surged back, and with a loud bang, Lin Hong was sent flying.

This was truly unexpected.

The force was ridiculously strong, launching him through the air until he slammed against the wall, landing with a painful grimace.

“Hiss—damn it.”

Lin Hong felt a tightness in his chest, making him quite uncomfortable.

‘How many times have I been knocked back today?’ he grumbled inwardly.

‘My cultivation is still not where it needs to be.’

He walked back to the still-sleeping girl, his gaze complex.

Even though the contact had lasted only a fraction of a second and resulted in a devastating backlash, Lin Hong had managed to catch a glimpse of the truth in that flash of lightning.

The young shopkeeper hadn’t been lying.

Her soul was pure; she was a genuine human.

However, at the deepest depths of her sea of consciousness lay a sleeping will—one that was incredibly powerful and filled with evil and madness.

It was the will of an evil god!

At least its most vital part.

It shared the same origin as the Evil Priest he had just slain, yet it was tens of millions of times more pure and powerful.

The girl’s body had been chosen as a vessel.

No wonder the mental suppression and emotional erosion within the garden domain hadn’t affected her in the slightest.

The mental imprint he had left behind wasn’t strong enough to provide that level of protection; the actual cause lay within the girl herself.

Lin Hong recalled her earlier mention of being spared from torment.

The Evil Priest must have intended to use some method to awaken the evil god within her, or at least accelerate the process.

Thinking of this, Lin Hong felt a pang of sympathy.

With such an entity slumbering in her sea of consciousness, even its unconscious emanations would be enough to plague an ordinary human with nightmares for years.

From the moment she was born, she had likely never enjoyed true peace, pursued by nightmares at every turn.

Lin Hong stopped trying to probe further.

His current mental cultivation was far from enough to do anything significant while that will remained dormant.

Moreover, the evil god’s will was entangled with the girl’s soul.

Acting recklessly would only cause severe damage to her.

Lin Hong pondered.

He wanted to help, but his strength was insufficient.

After some thought, he decided to do what he could.

He gathered his mental energy once more, using a spiritual technique to infuse the mental imprint inside her body.

He altered the structure of the imprint, giving it the effect of stabilizing her mental defenses.

This would ward off a portion of the mental pollution and grant her a moment of peace.

This was delicate work; he had to ensure the imprint didn’t disturb the sleeping will of the evil god.

“Whew.”

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Hong stopped.

He felt exhausted and weak.

It was a costly endeavor, as this trip had drained a significant portion of his mental origin.

He estimated that after returning, he would need four or five days of focused cultivation to recover.

On one hand, it was a necessary expenditure to slay a follower of the evil race. On the other…

In his home universe, one of the codes of the Border Guard Evil-Slayers was: “When faced with compatriots suffering from the evil race, one must unconditionally provide all possible aid and protection.”

This was his duty, even in another world.

Moreover, the girl’s soul was pure, showing that she had been fighting back and refused to yield to the evil race.

Lin Hong wouldn’t be stingy with his help.

“For now, my strength is insufficient. I can only do this much; I can’t help you more.”

“We will meet again in the future. I hope you are still yourself then!”

Having said that, Lin Hong tidied up some of the mess and left immediately.

…

On the way back, the night wind felt cool.

It was likely well past midnight by now.

‘Is there any smell of blood left on me?’

Lin Hong sniffed himself but couldn’t detect anything.

To be safe, he decided to speed up to let the wind clear away any lingering scent.

Otherwise, it would be a major problem if the priests or Lovella smelled something.

During the journey, he reviewed the previous battle in his mind, going over every detail.

“There’s a problem,” he whispered.

Previously, he had sensed several times that the evil god the priest worshipped belonged to a specific lineage from his home universe.

However, he couldn’t quite place it.

While the essential aura was undoubtedly that of the evil race, there were differences.

The aura carried a strange fluctuation, creating a sense of blurred confusion.

This fluctuation obscured the clear energy signatures of the evil race, making them chaotic and mixed.

It was precisely because of this fluctuation that he hadn’t recognized those few members of the evil race when he first arrived in this world ten years ago, out in the starry sky beyond the continent.

Lin Hong frowned and quickly made a guess.

It was highly likely that after the evil race invaded this realm, they merged with the laws of this world to exist as gods and gain faith, resulting in a mutation.

This surprised him.

Destruction and plunder were the nature of the evil race.

Unless they encountered a resistance they couldn’t crush with sheer violence, why would they willingly change themselves to adapt to, or even merge with, the laws of a world?

This was something even the evil race in his home universe hadn’t achieved!

Of course, the evil race his home universe faced was far more powerful than the one in this realm.

Were the native beings of this world once so powerful and extraordinary?

Did they force these parasite-like entities to change their strategy and settle for merging with the world?

Lin Hong pondered, but then even greater doubts surfaced.

If that were the case, what happened with those gods and demons who surrounded and attacked him in the starry sky ten years ago?

He clearly remembered that when he was first stranded in this world ten years ago, that sudden death blow in the starry sky happened without warning.

The attackers’ auras were mixed.

There were members of the evil race who had merged with this world but remained foul, but there was also majestic, holy power of the same origin as Princess Celestia, along with other native divine powers of various attributes.

Why would they join forces?

If the native gods were strong enough to force the evil race to change their way of existence, why would they cooperate with these invaders to hunt him down?

He was an outsider, but wasn’t the evil race as well?

Why was there such a double standard?

Could they have been corrupted or controlled by the evil race in some way?

But his memories didn’t suggest that.

Those native gods were clear-headed, and their use of laws was natural and seamless.

Unless some massive change had occurred in this world, or they had reached some sort of compromise or even a deal with the evil race?

For example, the Old Covenant mentioned by the mysterious panel earlier! Could it be related to that?

In a single moment, Lin Hong’s mind raced, considering many possibilities.

Unfortunately, there were too few clues and too many layers of fog.

He couldn’t figure it out.

At this point, Lin Hong climbed through the window, taking a detour before returning to the treatment room.

Everything was exactly as he had left it.

His energy was excellent, and he didn’t feel tired.

He changed his clothes and lay down on the bed.

Instead of sleeping, he called upon the mysterious panel in his mind.

Having slain another sub-soul of the Evil Priest, he had earned another 200 Destiny points.

He didn’t care much for them now; he intended to use the panel to learn about the evil gods of this world first.

He felt that he knew too little about his future enemies.

The evil race in this world might have mutated entirely.

He needed to know his enemy; otherwise, how could he launch large-scale hunts against their followers in the future?

Sinking his mind into his mental sea, the light flowed, and the mysterious panel appeared.

Just as Lin Hong was about to speak, he froze.

The mysterious panel had changed.

A new area had appeared with the title: [Bond].

“Bond what?”

Lin Hong muttered as he “looked” closer.

This new area was different in style from the rest of the panel.

It lacked the ancient charm and instead seemed to contain a certain karmic rhythm.

Within the area, there were only two simple, clear lines of text.

[Bond Establishing: Target – Diana Wilde]

[Connection with Evil God “Court of the Banquet” weakening. Current progress: 1%]