You want me to take out a loan to practice cultivation? I'll just pay off the debt physically.

Is it a sin for us to risk our lives, shed blood, and survive countless near-death experiences to attain the position of true gods, and then pursue some of the honor and enjoyment that gods are entitled to?

This resentful question, like a final accusation, echoed across the battlefield.

Before the words were even finished, the enormous divine phantoms of Agris, Yu Xiao, and the God of Pain and Rules suddenly materialized in the shattered void where the energy turbulence had not yet subsided, projecting themselves before the astonished eyes of all the members of the Crimson Heart Society.

At this moment, the three illusory figures stood tall and proud, exuding a strange, martyr-like fanatical aura despite their disheveled escape and the wounds on their divine bodies.

They raised their hands in unison, their movements perfectly synchronized, pointing resolutely, their arms, burning with the light of their own rules, towards the deep, boundless abyss, making their final vow.

Even though I despise your decaying bodies, the fire of my pure heart and ideals has not been extinguished!

Once I forge a new, pure heart in the Abyss of Stars, I will surely let you hypocrites witness firsthand what true purity, righteousness, and supreme virtue are!

The divine voices of the three gods' oath echoed and rolled like billions of thunderbolts in the shattered void, each word seemingly carrying the power of a curse, causing the faces of every member to twitch.

However, the echoes of that oath still reverberated mournfully among the shattered fragments of space, while the crimson stream of light, condensed from the burning battle rules of Agrelius, had vanished without a trace.

[Only the battlefield, ravaged by turbulent energy flows, the ruins of the Fire Seed base with its core hollowed out, and the cold, burning gaze of the five True Gods of Rules, their bodies stained with blood, amidst the deathly silence.]

The oath sworn by Agrus, Yu Xiao, and the God of Pain, echoing throughout heaven and earth, had a core intention as naked and clear as lightning tearing through the night.

They roared with all their might, proclaiming the same deafening denial: They were not traitors!

Even if it is undeniable that they were able to touch that supreme authority only through the long stairway to godhood built by the Red Heart Society with all its resources.

Even though, not long after they became gods, they were quick to discard the heavy vows they had made and the mission that had given them power, as if they were worn-out shoes.

[Even his time in the Red Heart Society was shorter than that of the Star Demon God and the Heart Demon God.]

Even though they refuse to offer a single drop of divine power or blood to the organization that sustains them, their faces, shrouded in divine radiance, still bear an almost tragic self-affirmation.

They firmly believe they are still good people!

The magnificent divine sound resounded throughout the universe, carrying an undeniable divine power, repeatedly emphasizing that they had not betrayed the pure ideals that had served as the beacon of their souls.

It's as if all their demands and betrayals after becoming gods were merely a higher level of steadfastness that mortal eyes cannot comprehend.

However, these three newly ascended True Gods' grandiose yet blatantly hypocritical oaths not only failed to quell the unrest, but instead sparked an even more violent uproar within the Red Heart Society than before.

The members of the Red Heart Society, now at its peak, are a group that has undergone rigorous ideological tempering and received systematic and profound idealistic education.

Their minds are like steel forged through countless trials; they possess an almost instinctive, precise, and ruthless ability to recognize and critique such performances that are logically contradictory, internally hollow, and rife with deception.

They looked at the violent majesty emanating from Agrus's lava-flowing divine body in the projection, at Yu Xiao's seemingly rational but actually arrogant data-driven divine light, and at the oppressive pain emanating from the God of Pain's distorted surrounding laws, and found it all laughable.

Listening to their grand pronouncements, which attempted to use lofty rhetoric to mask their selfish nature, the entire Red Heart Society erupted in a chilling, collective disdain born from extreme anger.

The laughter was filled with mockery, and even more so with a condescending, all-knowing disdain.

Do they think that by donning the cloak of divinity, they can distort the true nature of betrayal?

[Do you think that by declaring with a voice blessed by divine power, you can disguise cowardly escape as noble perseverance?]

This blustering, hollow performance appeared utterly ridiculous and pathetic under the meticulous, analytical scrutiny of the Red Heart Society members.

This performance, like a clown clumsily performing a coronation before an emperor, was stripped bare of its hypocrisy under the watchful eyes of countless sharp, idealistic gazes.

That's ridiculous!

[Especially some of the loyalists who previously worshipped Aglios, Yu Xiao, and the God of Rules of Pain now feel that their worship has been wasted.]

What kind of people are these?!

However, this harsh, collective snickering and cold contempt was not the only response.

In the shadowy corners of the Red Heart Society's vast territory, in the hearts of those spies carefully planted by the whispers of the abyss, the temptations of hell, or other forces, the declaration of the Three Gods of Agris stirred up entirely different ripples.

To these infiltrators, accustomed to the supremacy of power and the pursuit of self-interest, the declaration of the new god was not laughable at all; on the contrary, it was filled with a cruel and self-evident truth!

Before becoming a god, one must naturally keep a low profile, proceeding cautiously and treading on thin ice within the framework of the Red Heart Society's strict, almost inhuman laws and lofty ideals.

The resources you want, the status you crave, you have to obediently wait in line according to the rules.

[For certain purposes, one must even sacrifice personal interests.]

But now he has ascended to the throne of gods, possessing near-eternal life and the power to manipulate the laws of nature.

Must we continue to endure those rigid rules and regulations that bind mortals? Must we still risk our lives for those former comrades who were once equals but are now as insignificant as ants?

This is utterly absurd!

If that's truly the case, then wouldn't this godhood have been created in vain?

Isn't power meant to break rules and enjoy privileges?

While the Red Heart Society certainly has noble role models like Wang Meng, who sacrificed his life for righteousness and was willing to burn everything for his ideals, they are ultimately a tiny minority—heroes, saints!

How can we apply such harsh, otherworldly moral laws to demand that every newly empowered God be judged?

This is simply asking the impossible!

Perhaps those angry members of the Red Heart Society are overthinking things, blinded by their own overly lofty idealism.

[There are also pantheon organizations throughout the world that fear the Red Heart Society; they have completely deified the Red Heart Society.]

Ultimately, isn't the Red Heart Society just a vast organization formed by countless beings?

As long as something is composed of living beings, selfish desires are like a deeply ingrained disease, impossible to eradicate!

For those true gods who ascend to the heavens in one step and truly control a portion of the world's fundamental rules, this extreme selfishness stemming from life instinct—the desire for self and the continuation of their bloodline—will only be amplified infinitely by the power of divinity.

[Until the very end, it completely overwhelms all collective ideals instilled later in us!]

Don't they want their descendants, who flow with noble divine blood, to stand at the pinnacle of all living beings from birth, looking down upon the mortal realm?

Don't they want to open the door wide for their own blood-related offspring, paving a smooth, thornless path illuminated by divine light?

This idea is an instinct rooted in the deepest recesses of the life cycle!

[Perhaps some people might resist for the sake of their so-called ideals and beliefs.]

But these people will always only be a small minority.

For the general public, opportunism and the pursuit of privileges are the instinctive choices.

Look at those absolute, rational, and emotionless authorities who claim to be gods or believers in gods!

They would even use their authority to create privileged paths and exclusive paradises for their divine descendants within their divine kingdom, for those whose connection to them might not be so close, or whose emotions might be distant.

[And what about the true gods of rules who retain more of their inherent emotions and have a more direct and closer connection with their own bloodline?]

[Just because they are born into the Red Heart Society, must they simply watch their incomparably noble divine children be squeezed onto the same starting line as ordinary beings in the mortal world, experiencing the same trials and bearing the same risks?]

This is utterly blasphemous to the noble blood of the gods!

Since we already possess such earth-shattering power, enough to carve out our own territory, why not simply create a new Red Heart Society that belongs entirely to us and operates entirely according to our own will?

In this realm under their absolute control, their bloodline will shine eternally, and their will will be the supreme law!

This is the most direct and essential temptation that power brings!

Therefore, after repeatedly pondering Agris's declaration, the high-ranking officials of various factions and the spies lurking in the shadows of the Red Heart Society all put themselves in Agris's shoes and reached a surprisingly consistent conclusion.

I understand, I completely understand!

This is simply normal human behavior!

Even the will of the abyss, symbolizing the ultimate source of chaos and destruction, upon receiving the fluctuations of this declaration, revealed a rare hint of near-approval in its terrifying whispers that permeated countless planes.

For Agris, who hailed from the Lava Demon race, having such thoughts was simply a natural consequence etched into his bloodline.

Can one really expect a demon lord who crawled out of the abyss of lava to suddenly become a saintly figure, devoid of desire and selfless, after gaining supreme power?

That would be the greatest blasphemy against the very nature of the abyss!

[The path to godhood for demons—indulging in pleasure, domination, and satisfying endless desires—is the only true path, in accordance with the logic of the abyss!]

However, amidst all these perceptions and assumptions, the Will of Hell still believed this was a scheme by the Red Heart Society.

[What Aglios and the others were playing was merely the prelude to a tragic drama!] (End of Chapter)