Chapter 14: The Evil God's Ritual

Shen Qingyue leaned in Lin Ye’s arms, looking up at him. Her shyness hadn’t entirely faded, but a stronger shock had overtaken it.

Skyvault Academy’s textbooks had always taught that evil gods came from beyond the stars, born in the untraceable mists of history: higher beings whose mere gaze could twist ordinary people and drive them mad.

Yet Lin Ye had spoken as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world.

Seeing her shocked and bewildered expression, he gave a disdainful laugh.

He remained seated against the thick branch, one arm around her waist and the other resting casually on his knee. He looked less like a man about to reveal a secret that could overturn an entire era’s understanding than someone discussing a slightly outdated piece of history.

“Of course he was human. There are Outer Gods who really come from beyond the stars, and every one of them is a tremendous nuisance. But there aren’t nearly as many as you imagine.”

He glanced up at the night sky, a note of irritation in his voice. “Outer Gods are busy too, you know. Where would they find the time to stare at this little patch of land every day and drop by to invade every other week? Do you really think humanity’s so appetizing that every Outer God is lining up for a bite?”

Shen Qingyue opened her mouth. The thoughts she’d only just managed to arrange were thrown into confusion again.

Everything she’d learned at the academy described evil gods as disasters descending from beyond the world. No history book, Sequence textbook, or course on corruption had ever questioned that point.

“But the textbooks say evil gods descend from the stars. The records of the Dark Age say so too: they came out of the mists of history, bringing corruption and disaster. Our instructors also said humanity still can’t understand their true origins.”

She spoke earnestly. “It isn’t just one book. It’s a conclusion accepted all over the world. Even the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs’ public records say the same. Surely every book can’t be lying to us?”

Since meeting Lin Ye, much of what she’d taken for granted had already been overturned more than once.

Sequence 0 wasn’t confined to legend, and an evil god wasn’t necessarily impossible to speak with. The available pathways extended far beyond the Archon pathway known to the academy, and Lin Ye could reel off advancement methods treated as priceless treasures as though they were nothing.

But this was different.

The earlier revelations could be explained by the academy’s information being incomplete. The origin of evil gods, however, was a foundation of almost all modern history and Sequence theory.

Before she could recite everything from the textbooks, Lin Ye took up her point. “The books say Outer Gods came from the stars, out of the mists of history. They aren’t human and can’t be understood through human emotions or rules. That’s about the size of it, right?”

She nodded instinctively. “Basically. The wording in the textbook is more complicated, but the meaning is the same.”

“Bullshit.”

He said it with extraordinary bluntness.

She stared at him for quite a while, at a loss for words.

Looking down at her, he no longer sounded playful. A trace of coldness entered his eyes. “What’s ‘universally accepted’ is only the story agreed on by the people who lived to the end. History has never been written by the dead, or by the defeated. Whatever the people who control the cities, academies, Bureau, and textbooks want you to believe is what you’ll see from childhood.”

“How convenient to blame every disaster on beings from beyond the stars. If evil gods aren’t human, no one has to take responsibility for their birth. If forbidden zones were caused by outside forces, humanity can always remain the victim.”

“As for what really happened, bury everyone who knows, wait a few thousand years, and the lie becomes the truth.”

The night wind moved through the treetops, making broad swathes of leaves and branches rustle.

Shen Qingyue suddenly felt much colder.

“Then where did they come from?” Still reluctant to abandon what she knew, she tried to defend it. “Even if the books hide part of it, they can’t have invented all of history out of nothing. The Sovereigns in the forbidden zones have completely different forms and powers. Some can hardly even be called living beings. Can a human really become something like that?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

After thinking for a moment, he met her eyes. His casual manner gradually faded.

“First, remember something I’m about to tell you.”

His expression made her sit a little straighter.

He spoke deliberately. “People know ghosts are frightening; ghosts know how vicious a human heart can be.”

She repeated the words to herself but still didn’t understand. Frowning, she asked, “Do you mean evil gods were all driven to become what they are by other people?”

“It isn’t that simple. Some were forced to that point; others chose it themselves.”

Seeing she was still confused, he tried an explanation she could follow. “If I remember correctly, Skyvault Academy offers only one Sequence pathway for exchange: Archon, right?”

She nodded emphatically.

“Yes. Official students can exchange enough credits for the method of advancing to Sequence 9 of Archon. A lot of people in the Bureau and city defense forces follow it too. It’s said to be one of the most stable pathways, with the lowest risk of corruption.”

Until yesterday, it had been the only Sequence she truly knew.

She’d never even seen the names Assimilation, Dreaming, Twilight, or Frenzy—the pathways Lin Ye had mentioned in the Mysterious Shop—in a textbook.

Lin Ye nodded. “Sequence 0 of Archon is called Emperor. You should know that, right?”

“Huh?”

Her earnest expression froze.

She hesitated, looking awkwardly into the distance. “I… suppose I do.”

In fact, the academy publicly taught the Archon pathway only up to Sequence 7.

The names, abilities, and advancement methods above Sequence 7 were all Bureau secrets. Ordinary students had no access, and it wasn’t even certain that most academy instructors knew them.

She’d nodded with such confidence a moment ago that admitting she knew nothing now felt embarrassing.

Lin Ye seemed not to notice. “The ritual for an Archon at Sequence 1 to become a god is to establish a nation with tens of millions of citizens, win the heartfelt support of every one of them, and make a grand vow accepted by the entire nation. When the vow is truly fulfilled, the ritual advances Sequence 1 to Sequence 0: Emperor. You know that too, right?”

Her expression grew blank.

She had no idea.

But he spoke so naturally, as though every Skyvault Academy student should have memorized it on their first day.

Unwilling to admit ignorance twice in a row, she answered hesitantly, “Y-yes, I suppose. It sounds reasonable.”

He nodded, satisfied.

Memories gradually surfaced in his eyes.

They weren’t experiences he’d lived in this world, but a buried piece of history from the vast setting of *Echoes of the Abyss*.

“About seven or eight thousand years ago, a supernatural awakened the Archon ability. He was talented and lucky enough to develop this pathway that no one understood all the way to Sequence 1.”

“There was no complete system of advancement in that era, and no ready-made ritual to follow. He could only guess what Sequence 0 required, based on his powers, experience, and instincts. But he guessed the ritual for godhood wrong. His advancement failed, and he fell along with everything he’d built.”

Shen Qingyue listened quietly without interrupting.

“Many years later, in an accident no one foresaw, the S-rank contained artifact called the Book of Revelation revealed the true ritual for the Archon pathway. It was the first complete road to godhood made public at the time.”

Lin Ye tapped lightly on the fabric at her waist, his voice calm even as the story grew heavier. “A genuine road to godhood was laid before everyone. What do you think happened?”

She thought for a moment. “A lot of people fought for the chance to become a god.”

“Right. Four people reached Sequence 1 of Archon in that era, but only one Sequence 0 can exist on a pathway.”

“They were all standing at the threshold of godhood. None would step aside. So each established a nation and fought for population, territory, and the support of subjects. They waged war, swallowed one another’s lands, and ruined grand vows their rivals were close to fulfilling.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but she could almost see the vanished age.

Four enormous nations collided across the land. Cities became ruins in war, and tens of millions were forced to choose whom to serve.

It had long since become impossible to tell whether the citizens’ support came from faith, self-interest, or fear of death.

“They fought for years. Bones piled into mountains and blood ran like rivers. In the end, only two of the four remained, and they divided the other nations between them. Finally, they met the conditions of the ritual at almost the same time and began fulfilling their respective grand vows.”

“One succeeded.”

Lin Ye raised a hand toward the moonlit land in the distance. “He advanced to Sequence 0: Emperor. Within his territory, his will is an inviolable law of heaven and earth. As long as his nation exists and its citizens support him from the heart, he can never fall.”

Shen Qingyue listened intently, a hint of longing in her eyes.

It was the first time she’d heard such a clear account of a Sequence 0’s authority.

Compared with the textbooks’ vague descriptions of terror, the power to establish a nation and turn one’s will into law was closer to what she imagined a true god to be.

But she soon noticed that the successful man didn’t seem to be the point of Lin Ye’s story.

“What about the other one?” she asked. “If they began their rituals at the same time, and only one Sequence 0 can exist on a pathway, did he fall after failing?”

Lin Ye gave a cold laugh.

Rather than look at her, he narrowed his eyes at the far edge of the night sky. Moonlight touched his profile but couldn’t dispel the chill that had appeared there.

“Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps fate’s guidance, or perhaps someone had been plotting against him since the day the Book of Revelation announced the ritual.”

“That man didn’t complete the Emperor’s ritual for godhood. But by a twist of fate, he completed another ritual.”

A powerful unease rose in her. “What ritual?”

“An evil god’s ritual.”

At those words, goosebumps rose along her arms.

“An evil god’s ritual…” she repeated involuntarily.

She’d never imagined that evil gods had rituals too.

Lin Ye nodded, speaking more slowly. “At the final moment before the grand vow is fulfilled, while every person in the nation is immersed in anticipation of their wish coming true, personally destroy your own nation.”

“What?!”

She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes full of disbelief.

Her voice trembled with shock. “You mean he killed every citizen who supported him himself? That was a nation of tens of millions!”

“Yes.”

Lin Ye spoke slowly. “Only one Sequence 0 can be born on a pathway. Once the other man became Emperor first, his road was cut off completely.”

“He couldn’t accept being one step from godhood and never having the chance to take it. So, in grief, rage, and despair, he chose to bury everyone with his failure.”

Shen Qingyue’s breathing tightened as the scene appeared unbidden in her mind.

Everyone in the nation was waiting for the grand vow to be fulfilled.

Perhaps they’d already gone into the streets, embracing loved ones and celebrating the end of a long war. They believed their ruler was about to become a god, and that the future they’d awaited was finally coming.

But at the height of their hope, death descended.

“At that same instant, the grand vow he’d made to all his people became countless inescapable shackles, piercing his body.”

Lin Ye’s voice mingled with the night wind, as though it had traveled seven or eight thousand years to reach her. “His citizens, still immersed in their hopes, were eternally fixed in the moment before death.”

“For as long as he exists, his people endure with him. For as long as that grand vow remains unfulfilled, he is bound forever by his own oath.”

She slowly lowered the hand covering her mouth, her face pale.

At last she understood what Lin Ye had said before.

People knew ghosts were frightening; ghosts knew how vicious a human heart could be.

He looked down at her, moonlight reflected deep in his eyes.

“He is the evil-god Sovereign of the Ghost Domain, one of the four regions of Silent City, itself one of the seven forbidden zones.”

“The Oathbreaker.”