Traveling through the second dimension, the joy system encourages me to laugh heartily!

They are believers, a group whose mindset has been shaped by thousands of years of faith.

Even if some of the clever ones noticed something was wrong, they would only imagine that the cult leader was being protected by a goddess.

So the demons' plot succeeded.

"demon!"

From the crowd, an old voice was the first to utter the word.

Then came the second, the third, the tenth… the outcry spread like a plague. What began as scattered accusations quickly coalesced into a unified roar:

"Demon! Demon! Demon..."

The voices of hundreds of thousands of people echoed deafeningly in the square. The believers' expressions changed from initial fear to anger, their eyes from confusion to fanaticism. They pointed at Chen Ming as if he were a true sinner who had blasphemed the sacred.

Meanwhile, the knightly orders of various countries had recovered from their initial shock. They saw the ruins, the "severely wounded" priest, and connected it to the kings who had disappeared without a trace after entering the Grand Cathedral—the logic was simple and direct: the kings were dead, and the only one who emerged unscathed from the ruins was this fallen angel.

"For the King!"

The captain of the Lionheart Kingdom's knights was the first to draw his sword, his voice trembling with rage. Behind him, three hundred royal cavalrymen simultaneously raised their lances, their hooves beginning to pound the ground restlessly.

"For justice!"

"For glory!"

The battle flags of knightly orders from various countries were raised one after another, and the metallic scraping sounds of swords being drawn filled the air.

More than five thousand elite knights lined up around the square, their eyes fixed on Chen Ming. Their gazes were not those of a vigilant enemy, but of a blood feud with the man who had killed their king.

The situation is about to get out of control.

Chen Ming stood in the center of the square, surrounded by the roars of hundreds of thousands of believers and locked onto by the killing intent of thousands of knights. Light wings floated slowly behind him, their radiance appearing lonely and blinding amidst the angry roar.

He suddenly laughed.

The laughter was soft, yet it miraculously drowned out all the roars and clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Heh...I'm a demon?"

Chen Ming raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the distorted faces around him. His expression held no anger, only mockery.

"Then let me ask you," his voice was calm, yet carried a power that pierced the heart, "why did the demons you speak of travel thousands of miles to this world to defeat the five demons who plague it? And why did they go on their way to save towns attacked by demons and clear away the rampaging monsters?"

His question was simple and logically clear.

But in a frenzied atmosphere, logic is the most fragile thing.

"We have no interest in listening to the devil's nonsense!"

The cult leader's shrill voice rang out. He struggled to take a few steps forward, his body swaying as if he might collapse at any moment, but his voice was unusually loud:

"Hero Epona! What are you waiting for? Slay this bastard who wields demonic power! This is the will of the goddess!"

He turned his gaze to Epona, who stood beside the ruins of the Great Cathedral.

At this moment, the demons were making a shrewd calculation—to let the hero and the angel fight, and no matter who won or lost, the demons could reap the benefits. Even if both were severely injured, the other two demons lurking in the shadows could easily clean up the mess.

If Chen Ming had not chosen to woo this female hero, but instead followed the goddess's request to kill her after she defeated the Demon King, then Epona and he would still be strangers at this moment.

Faced with the cult leader's accusations and the goddess's divine decree, the unfamiliar hero might very well obey the order and raise his sword against Chen Ming.

Unfortunately, the demons miscalculated one thing!

They didn't know that Chen Ming was a lecherous old man, and that he had already won over the female warrior!

"I didn't sense any demonic power..."

Epona tilted his head and pretended to be stupid.

Her golden ponytail swayed gently with her movements, and she wore a confused expression, looking completely innocent.

"I sensed a very powerful divine energy emanating from him..."

As she spoke, she even sniffed the air as if she were really smelling the magical ingredients in it.

If the other two demons hadn't yet shown up, and she hadn't needed to continue the charade to lure them out, she would have already gone up and chopped that pretentious "leader" in half with her sword.

Upon hearing this, the demon's face revealed an almost undisguised expression of disappointment. A flicker of anxiety flashed in his eyes, but he quickly suppressed it.

"I can tell!"

It raised its voice, trying to overwhelm the doubters with its imposing presence, "As the leader of the Yalan Cult, I possess the 'Eye of True Sight' bestowed by the goddess! I see the demon possessing this sinner! Dark wings, blood-red eyes, and a twisted soul! Therefore, he must be executed!"

These words, spoken with righteous indignation and coupled with his stance of persisting in revealing the truth despite being "severely injured," are indeed highly inflammatory.

Chen Ming interrupted at this moment.

His voice remained calm, a stark contrast to the demons' agitation.

"Before that, I'd like you to answer my question from earlier. If I were a demon, why would I do things that are clearly beneficial to humans and detrimental to the demon race?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding crowd:

"People can lie, and words can be fabricated. But people's actions do not lie. Everything I have done over the past few years is real, something that has been witnessed by thousands of people."

His logic is impeccable.

But the demons' response was—

"You are no longer allowed to use the devil's sweet words to bewitch the people!"

The issue was completely avoided.

The chicken talks with the duck.

The demons didn't answer Chen Ming's questions at all, only repeating empty accusations like "You are a demon" and "You must be executed."

Normally, bystanders should be disgusted by such perfunctory rhetoric—when one side presents facts and reason, while the other side only resorts to labeling and slogans, rational people would lean towards the former.

But the fact is just the opposite.

Compared to Chen Ming, who offered a plausible explanation, the crowd in the square was more inclined to believe the cult leader's fabricated charges.

The reason is simple: those words came from the leader of the Yalan Cult.

The authority accumulated over millennia of faith has transformed into the most impenetrable mental prison at this moment. Believers need not think, need not verify, they only need to believe—believe in the judgment of the Church, believe in the intuition of the leader, believe that those high-ranking figures cannot err.

As expected of the stronghold of the Yalan Cult...

Calling them devout believers sounds nice, but these brainwashed people who have given up thinking have unconditionally regarded Chen Ming as an enemy.

Chen Ming had anticipated this situation, but he didn't expect it to be this serious.

As things stand, the situation is simple yet brutal: the cult leader's words are seen as speaking on behalf of the goddess, as sacred pronouncements; while Chen Ming's words are characterized as the murmurs of the devil. Within this dichotomy, any logic, any evidence, and any defense becomes meaningless.

Because the premise has already been set: the cult leader represents the goddess, and opposing the cult leader is tantamount to opposing the goddess.

As long as this premise exists, nothing he says will matter.

Therefore, Chen Ming wanted to break this premise—that Yalan Garula, as the goddess's mouthpiece, carried more weight in her words than the demons who held the title of cult leader.

Chapter 335: The Goddess's Kindness

Chen Ming's extensive explanations weren't necessarily out of kindness.

It just doesn't make sense.

He would also kill indiscriminately.

But since there is still a chance to persuade them, he naturally wants to give the people a chance to live.

This will also leave a good impression of honesty and kindness in front of Epona and Miler.

Moreover, if he is too bloodthirsty, and the goddess misunderstands that he also wants to destroy the world, who knows what kind of trouble he might cause.

So they still have to play the role of a champion of justice, standing on moral high ground and pointing fingers.

Thinking this, Chen Ming's figure disappeared in an instant.

And with him returned was a beautiful young girl with hair as white as snow and skin as white as jade.

She wore an extremely simple white robe, devoid of any embellishment, yet naturally radiating a soft glow. Her long hair cascaded down to her waist like a waterfall woven from moonlight, the ends swaying gently in the breeze. Her face was exquisitely beautiful, seemingly otherworldly; her red eyes were calm and deep, and as her gaze swept over the crowd, it carried a compassion and majesty beyond her years.

Her attire was a perfect imitation of the goddess image described in the Aramaic scriptures, making her very eye-catching and instantly attracting the attention of all the believers.

Even those who have only seen the church murals can instantly recognize that this is the standard image of "Yalan Gabriella".

No, this is Yalan Garula herself.

Some people knelt down instinctively, some began to pray softly, and many more simply stared wide-eyed with their mouths slightly open, as if they had witnessed a true miracle.

Mirle had now fully embraced the role of Yalan Gabriela and addressed the crowd.

"I am Yalan Garula."

Her voice wasn't loud, but with the help of Chen Ming's wind magic, it carried throughout the entire square, clear as if whispering in everyone's ears: "Everyone, please listen to me, the cult leader has already been murdered, and the current cult leader is a demon in disguise!"

An uproar erupted instantly, but was quickly suppressed—everyone wanted to hear what happened next.

“I tried to reveal the truth, but the demons noticed. At the bathhouse where the ritual was performed, I was almost killed by assassins sent by the cult leader. It was the angel who, guided by the goddess, came to my rescue and helped me escape danger. After that, I hid and waited for the right opportunity to reveal the truth.”

"This is the time of judgment. In the name of Yalan Garula, I hereby testify that the angel is indeed the messenger sent by the goddess to save the world! He brought not destruction, but hope; the demons he slew were the very filth the goddess sought to cleanse; the lives he saved were the very people the goddess wished to protect!"

She had prepared these words for a long time, carefully considering every word to ensure they were both befitting Yalan Carola's identity and conveyed a sufficient amount of information.

More importantly, she spoke with genuine emotion—because she knew this wasn't acting; it was about saving lives.

Only by believing her words can these deceived believers and manipulated knights survive.

Those who don't believe will surely meet their demise soon.

After Mirle finished speaking, Chen Ming took the opportunity to speak.

“Indeed. The goddess granted me the power I needed to defeat the demons, and I descended to this world according to Her will, defeating five demons! Would a demon do such a thing?”

The rhetorical question echoed in the air.

Then, the atmosphere changed.

It wasn't a slow, gradual change, but an almost instantaneous reversal. The hostile gazes of the previous second were now filled with wavering, doubt, and reflection.

Everywhere you could hear exclamations of "So that's how it is!" and "Oh, that's how it is!"

After all, no matter how many false accusations are leveled against Chen Ming'an, his actual achievements cannot be erased. Slaying demons and saving towns—these are facts witnessed and experienced by tens of thousands of people.

The reasoning didn't work before was because the cult leader used the name of the goddess and the authority of faith to suppress the logic of the facts.

Now, the name has come to Chen Ming's side—Yalan Jialula, the recognized goddess spokesperson, is personally endorsing him.

The logic is also on his side—his actions completely contradict the accusation of being a "devil."

When the name and the facts are aligned, public opinion naturally reverses in an instant.

Seeing that the outcome was decided, Miler pressed her advantage. She took another step forward and raised her right hand—a gesture that Yalan Carola used when making important announcements.

"The truth has come to light, and I hereby declare this."

Her voice rose slightly, carrying a solemnity akin to proclaiming a divine decree:

"The hero Epona, chosen by the goddess, and the angel dispatched by the goddess are both present. Now is the time to annihilate the demons who have seized control of the church!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Epona drew his holy sword.

Golden light shot into the sky.

Meanwhile, the six pairs of light wings behind Chen Ming simultaneously unfolded to their maximum extent.

In this situation, the demon, acting as the cult leader, stood quietly in place.

One second ago, he was still putting on a show of being seriously injured and indignant;

The next second, all the pretense fell away like a mask.

He straightened his back, his tattered priest's robe fluttering even without wind, and all the human expressions that should be present on his charred face—pain, anger, and compassion—had vanished.

Instead, there was only emptiness.

It wasn't calm, nor indifference, but utter inorganic matter. His lips were slightly parted, but there was no rise or fall of his breath. He stood stiffly between the ruins and the crowd, like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly cut.

The air seemed to freeze.

The clamor of hundreds of thousands of believers, the metallic scraping of the knights, the crackling of flames—all sounds diminished at this moment, as if absorbed by some invisible force.

All eyes were focused on the cult leader who had suddenly "frozen," and an instinctive fear spread through their hearts.

"Ah ah ah..."