Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

"Ah, this can still be replenished."

Just as Du Yi was frowning, the leader of the four priests, Ansag the Crowned, spoke up and added a sentence.

"At least in the... well, in the deeds of the eagle-headed men, in the prayers of those evil eagle-headed men, there are stories of eagle-headed men going to the underworld to bring souls back, if it's you..."

Ansag the Crown didn't say the rest directly, but it was clearly a request to Du Yi to find a way to bring Melk's soul back from the underworld.

So, here's the problem.

How do I get to the underworld?

Looking at the still-thin eagle-headed sun god on the ground, Du Yi knew that this matter would probably not be so easy to get the answer from.

However, now that he knew the soul could be brought back, Du Yi wasn't in such a hurry. In any case, according to the other three priests, Melk would linger in the underworld for a while even if he died, and wouldn't just disappear completely.

"That's alright then. If all else fails, I'll go get them all together when the three of you are dead."

Although the specific procedures for bringing back souls from the underworld are still unknown, at least according to these three priests, the eagle-headed man didn't find it too troublesome—so it would be even less troublesome for him, since his skills couldn't possibly be worse than the eagle-headed man's.

However, in order to find out how to leave the Underworld, the familiar torture of the Sun God was once again put on the agenda. Unfortunately, this time the eagle-headed man unexpectedly chose not to cooperate, which allowed Du Yi and the three priests to torture him for a few more days.

However, it only lasted a few days.

This is not because they extracted anything from the interrogation.

It was because yet another priest had been murdered.

The four priests became three, and the remaining three immediately had a huge workload. In order to keep the newly established kingdom running normally, the remaining three priests could only take time to come and torture the sun god. However, just as they went back to deal with those documents, Ban, one of the remaining three priests who controlled the treasure bottle, was also split in two.

This time it's quite obvious that the perpetrator used a heavy weapon like a greatsword or axe. Of course, the possibility of using a one-handed sword cannot be ruled out, but to split a person in two, bone and all, with a one-handed sword would require superhuman strength.

Simply put, this couldn't have been done by an ordinary person. Although that sounds like a pointless statement, since Melk's death couldn't have been caused by an ordinary person, at that time, they all suspected that perhaps one of Melk's close associates had betrayed him.

But now, just looking at these wounds, we can immediately pinpoint the killers to those experts.

Yes, you're an expert.

This is also what makes the world different now compared to before.

In the past, people all wanted to be priests, whether they were priests of the sun god or priests of other gods. In short, being a priest who served the gods was a good thing. Not only would you feel a great sense of accomplishment, but your family and friends would also feel proud.

Now, after the unification of the upper and lower reaches of the river, as stories of victory gradually spread, people's impressions of priests have also been gradually changed by these stories.

No one wants to be a priest anymore. The once glorious priests have become villains in stories. In those stories, these evil priests often shout in the name of God and then commit a bunch of evil deeds under the guise of glory.

And when the priests in these stories began to do evil, brave warriors appeared.

These warriors possess superb martial arts skills honed through countless battles, and they also have a training method called "levels." Although these warriors are often weak at the beginning of the story, through persistent training, they eventually defeat the evil priests and become renowned masters.

For example, there's Setka the Mad Axe, one of the "Four Warriors".

As one of the four warriors who personally killed the evil god high priest Matt Perry, Setka was a highly skilled fighter.

"But I really didn't do it!"

Seeing that Ansag the Crown and Sathek the Greatsword had both come to confront him, Setka quickly waved his hands in defense, even throwing the axe on his back aside to show his sincerity.

"This really wasn't me, you have to believe me. No matter how arrogant I am, how could I... Well, even if I wanted to challenge someone, it would be a direct challenge to High Priest Sarthek. I've been eyeing your divinely bestowed blade for a long time."

"Ok?"

Satek the Greatsword immediately frowned, and his right hand was already on the hilt of the sword behind his back.

However, just as Sataik was about to lose his temper, Ansag stopped him.

"Let's observe."

Ansag silenced Sataik with a look, then gestured for Setka the Mad Axe to continue.

In the ensuing conversation, although Setka repeatedly insisted that he hadn't done it, he made no attempt to hide his greed for the divinely bestowed blade—in a sense, this was a common trait among these warriors, regardless of their level, they all had an unexpected obsession with equipment such as weapons and armor.

Just like now, Sethka even boasted that he would help find the murderer if Sartek was willing to lend him the God-given Blade.

"Actually, these kinds of things aren't hard to investigate."

To show his sincerity, Setka simply spoke first.

“A master killer doesn’t kill without a purpose; it’s either for equipment, for leveling up, or both… According to the two priests, the other two priests’ Libra and Divine Bottle haven’t been turned over, which means the killer doesn’t really care about these kinds of accessory equipment…”

"Wait a minute?"

Ansag, the Crowned One, suddenly frowned.

He himself already possessed things like levels and experience points. After all, after the Serpent God absorbed the eagle-headed man's technology and created the divine glasses, many of those who fought for the Serpent God equipped themselves with these items. And after seeing experience and levels, people were indeed more enthusiastic about grinding for experience to level up.

This was within Ansag's understanding, after all, he himself had improved his experience through training. Although leveling up might be a bit too long, seeing the experience increase that accompanied his training still gave Ansag a great sense of accomplishment.

If it weren't for the limited production, which meant that the magical glasses could only be given to warriors first, the four priests would have even planned to make this convenient item available to everyone under the Serpent God's rule, so that they could all gain experience and level up.

But now...

Killing people to level up?

"problem occurs!"

Ansag immediately realized the immense hidden danger involved.

Chapter 193 The Source of Chaos Above the Boundless Starry Sky

Now that they had the clues, finding the murderer was no longer a difficult task. In just two days, Ansag and Satek had found out who the murderer was.

Like Setka the Mad Axe, the murderer was also one of the Four Warriors, known as Amonsa the Greatsword, and was skilled in using an extremely wide, shield-like greatsword.

The weapons and the wounds on the corpses matched up, and after some investigation, the whereabouts of the greatsword Amonsa also matched the deaths of the two priests.

Logically speaking, if the evidence is conclusive, then arresting the person is the right thing to do, especially in such a heinous case as the murder of two priests; beheading them on the spot would not be unjust.

However, the trouble lies in the capture itself.

Having already killed two priests, Amonsa the Greatsword was naturally not going to surrender easily. Moreover, as one of the four warriors who fought against Matt Perry, the messenger of the evil god, Amonsa's level was already extremely high. After killing two priests, his strength had increased to an outrageous level.

"You actually came to us on your own initiative? That's good, it saves me the trouble of going to each of you one by one."

Seeing that the remaining two priests had joined forces to block the door, Amonsa not only showed no intention of dodging, but even swung his greatsword.

"As long as I kill you all, I can advance further..."

"Do it!"

The two priests weren't about to waste words with the thugs; they were ready to settle scores and avenge their grievances on the spot.

But what moved first was the greatsword, which was even wider and thicker than a shield.

This was an extremely difficult and arduous battle. Ansag and Sathek had never fought such a tough battle before. All their divine spells were dodged by his cunning movements, and not a single strike of their swords could land on their opponent. Watching Amonsa, the Greatsword Master, wield that greatsword heavier than a man and stroll leisurely through the attacks, they even thought for a moment that they would die here as well.

Fortunately, Amonsa the Greatsword seemed a bit too confident, and even habitually used his greatsword to block the slash of the broadsword, striking a very cool pose.

And then there was nothing more to say.

A divinely bestowed blade is still a divinely bestowed blade; no matter how broad and thick the greatsword was, it was ultimately sliced ​​open on the spot.

Amonsa, who was behind the greatsword, was also cleaved in two by the serpent-scaled blade.

"Finally killed him!"

Still shaken, Ansag and Sataik quickly began to tear open their robes, which had been ripped to shreds by the sword, and bandage their deep, bone-revealing wounds.

Yes, although they successfully killed Amonsa, they were in no better shape than Amonsa, who was split in two—if Amonsa hadn't suddenly become arrogant and courted death, they probably would have died from bleeding alone.

This was the closest they had ever come to death. They didn't even have a chance to summon the Serpent God to save them. Even though the great Serpent God was outside the city, it would still take some time to get from outside to inside.

In that short time, Amonsa could kill them eight times with his sword. Facing Amonsa, whose level was terrifyingly high, even being able to concentrate and speak had become a luxury for the two of them.

So, partly to report the murderer's execution, and partly for their own lives, the two remaining priests rushed outside the city and came to Du Yi's shadow.

"Anyway, that's about it."

After recounting everything he knew in one breath, the two priests finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then they looked at the evil eagle-headed man, which was still in a flat state.

"That system about levels and experience is entirely a conspiracy by this evil eagle-headed man! It's a means for him to throw us into chaos! We must kill him!"

Of course, the talk of fighting or killing was just talk. After all, even when the serpent god's giant tail came crashing down, this evil eagle-headed man was only flattened. Although he couldn't be killed, he would definitely be tortured. They had to let the evil eagle-headed man have his strange magic removed first.

However, just as the two remaining priests were about to begin the torture...

The eagle-headed sun god, which was pressed against the ground, suddenly burst into laughter.

"You want me to undo it? You actually want me to undo it... How could I possibly undo something like this?"

The sun god Ujat laughed heartily, so much so that tears streamed down his face.

"This is the power of the starry sky, the supreme power from the boundless starry sky... But now it seems that this is obviously bait left behind by a higher being. Now that this thing has spread here, it is equivalent to you swallowing the bait."

The more he talked, the more frenzied the sun god Ujat became. He could no longer contain his joy; he had been waiting for this day all this time!

"You've finally met your match! You've suffered the same fate! You'll end up like me, with nothing left!"

The more Ujat thought about it, the happier he became, especially when he considered the dilemma the evil serpent was about to face—if he let it run rampant, these mortals would eventually become obsessed with leveling up and lose all sense of reverence. But if he didn't let it run rampant, if he killed all these mortals, then with the loss of followers, the evil serpent would revert to its former state as a savage animal god…

"……etc."

The sun god Ujat suddenly felt that something was not quite right.

This evil ancient serpent, though it currently possesses a vast empire, seems to be, at its core, merely an ignorant animal god.

Whether it's the soul or consciousness, this evil ancient serpent clearly has no knowledge of them whatsoever. Its usual methods of attack are pure brute force—although in Ujat's eyes now, that is clearly a high degree of unity between consciousness and body. Heaven knows how this evil ancient serpent managed to do it.

But at least when it's thrown, it's definitely brute force.

"Ah this."

Ujat suddenly realized that he might have been too happy too soon.

However, it seems to be alright. Even if this evil ancient serpent is just an ignorant animal god and does not need believers to attach their consciousness, if these mortals really fight each other to improve their level, it will still plunge this serpent demon's empire into chaos.

It's better than nothing, Ujat thought.

Killing will cause chaos, and not killing will also cause chaos. When this system of levels and experience is implemented, the seeds of chaos have already been sown.

Faced with this attack from the boundless starry sky, what could this evil ancient serpent do?

"What's there to say? Arrest those who should be arrested, kill those who should be killed."

Just then, the familiar voice of the giant snake suddenly rang out.

"Is this so trivial that you even need to ask me?"

"But this kind of thing..."

Ansag and Satek were about to speak, but then their eyes lit up as if they had suddenly remembered something.

"That's right! That's how we should do it! Arrest those who should be arrested! Kill those who should be killed!"

"Ah."

Unlike the two priests, the sun god Ujat, who was pressed against the ground, merely chuckled.

Arrest those who should be arrested, kill those who should be killed—he's tried this method before. Under his command, Matt Perry of the Sunspear killed a large number of people, but then what?

And then that was it. This kind of thing can't be eradicated. The source of chaos called levels and experience has been planted, and the people of this land are destined to kill each other.

And he only needs to watch the show.

All we need to do is watch the show and wait for chaos to break out under the serpent demon's rule. Although this chaos may not affect the evil ancient serpent itself right now, considering that this power is clearly bait thrown out by some being in the starry sky, there's no doubt that something else might happen later.

So Ujat waited, this joke becoming his only thought during this time. The thought of the ancient serpent facing the calamity descending from the stars, while he, the loser, escaped from the calamity, made Ujat want to laugh.

But soon, with the two priests' handling of the situation, Ujat's smile faded.

Chapter 194 Reign of Chaos

The two priests' approach was not complicated at all; in fact, it could be described as overly simplistic.

First, they issued a law that allows for the immediate execution of those who commit intentional homicide. Of course, such a law already existed, so repeating it now is essentially the same as not mentioning it at all.

Then, Ansag and Satek did something that no one expected.

They summoned one of the four warriors, Setka the Mad Axe.

"From now on, you will be in charge of maintaining public order."

Ansag patted Setka on the shoulder, his face full of encouragement.