Chapter 836

Chapter 66 The Hell of Perception (Three)

“Sin.

I whispered softly, then stood up and looked at the tall walls of the castle beyond the distant fortress, biting my little finger as I pondered deeply.

This scent

Though faint, it was truly like the smell of flames licking blood, the scent released when such flames burn.

Evil,

A terrifying scent.

But for me now,

It has become a familiar scent.

“Sin?”

The Lady Sword Ghost walked to my side and asked, following my gaze toward the wall.

The towering wall in the distance was majestic and ancient, as if it had stood undaunted for a thousand years in the wind. In fact, the history of the Silent Fortress was indeed long-standing, said to date back to the end of the Divine Arrival Era or the early days of the Church’s establishment.

Yet, now, parts of the battlements were filled with gaps, and some sections of the wall were cracked; large gaps between bricks were covered with moss and plants resembling “climbing vines”—all signs of erosion from war and long years.

When I came here last time, these marks were already present.

But now,

Looking at the grand wall in its entirety, an eerie blood red had appeared somewhere, unknown when.

Blood-red, giving the impression that the color wasn’t solidly on the wall, but rather a ‘filter’ added by the surrounding space to the wall, as if a layer of flowing red mist slowly moved around the wall.

I couldn’t describe this feeling clearly.

But looking at the wall here, everything seen would be tinged with a faint red, just like bleeding eyes.

And as the gaze rose higher, seeing the sky above the wall, that red would deepen, even hearing faint, distorted buzzing in the ears, like some kind of illusion.

Suddenly, I felt a headache.

So I quickly turned away and looked again at the gathering place less than two hundred meters away. That layer of ‘red mist filter’ in the air instantly disappeared, the faint buzzing in my ears ceased, and my vision cleared again.

What happened?

An illusion?!

“You mentioned sin. What do you mean?”

The female swordsman beside me did not notice my anomaly and seemed to have not seen the strange situation on the other side of the wall. Her expression remained unchanged, only repeating her question after seeing that I ignored her.

“The power of sin is infecting this place,” I replied absentmindedly, biting my fingernail harder, wanting to swallow the whole little finger.

Why can’t she feel it?

Previously, only I noticed the changes here first and informed the Lady Sword Ghost, who then suddenly realized something was amiss.

Then, if I hadn’t told her about the changes?

What would happen?

“The power of sin?”

The female swordsman seemed more puzzled after hearing my words: “Do you mean the sin fire of those heretics?”

“No.”

I took a deep breath and continued walking forward: “What kind of heretics could achieve this level? Even if there were any, they have perished in Dongzhou. The one appearing here now must be the higher-level power, the so-called ‘essence of the goddess.'”

Yes.

I was certain my judgment was correct.

Because this power had gradually touched my instinct—

That instinct that wanted to get closer to it.

“Deity.”

Lady Sword Ghost followed behind me, her voice surprised, still holding tightly onto the sharp blade in her right hand. As we got closer to the bloody ruins of the camp, she seemed increasingly tense and vigilant.

“But isn’t sin the power of demons? You killed the source of the demon’s power in Silgaya North, that terrible thing which I saw.

“Yes.”

I nodded: “But who told you that thing was really a demon?”

However, the divine body has indeed perished, shattered in Woodward Forest. Not only that, but even the essence’ has merged

Into my body, it became part of my strength and constantly influenced my spirit.

So strictly speaking, even though I still couldn’t figure out how this power had invaded, if it really had happened, it could only be because of me.

But clearly, it wasn’t me.

I had just arrived here.

Then, there was only one possibility left.

“The Church.”

While trying to sort out my thoughts in my mind, I heard Miss Sword Ghost’s subconscious response.

Two seconds later, she suddenly realized: “Ah.”

“Did you realize?”

I casually glanced behind me, looking at the female swordsman’s expression.

She seemed shocked,

her face frozen, her steps halted.

It didn’t seem fake.

The female swordsman might really not have known about these things until the very last moment, still being deceived by the Church.

I could judge that for now.

After a while, when I had walked quite far, Miss Sword Ghost suddenly came back to her senses, quickly catching up, returning to my side, her words rushed but with a slight stutter: “Demons… are they lying to everyone?”

“Otherwise?”

I shrugged: “But strictly speaking, that can’t be considered as a god either.”

Seems like I said too much.

Let’s stop here.

So I changed the topic: “Regarding the goods the Church sent from Woodward Forest to the Silent Fortress, now, try to think—see if you can recall anything.”

“”

Miss Sword Ghost’s head seemed somewhat confused, evident from her hesitant facial expressions. It seemed like an overwhelming amount of information had suddenly hit her, making her not-so-smart brain struggle to process it.

But after all, she was Miss Sword Ghost. She couldn’t understand it, and soon threw these questions aside, unwilling to think about them further.

“I haven’t seen the goods, I can’t remember those.”

As she spoke, she quickened her pace forward, seemingly eager to figure something out.

So next, I followed her, and soon we stepped onto the land covered by blood-red roots, entering the ruins of the camp outside the fortress.

We became more cautious, exploring the foreign camp cautiously for a long time, entering some tents or wooden sheds that could still barely accommodate people. Inside, we saw signs of life—burned charcoal, soup bowls, teacups, or wine jugs. Sometimes, we could find pieces of used clothing from the debris of collapsed wooden boards.

But there was no sign of people.

Those blood-red root-like vines entwined on the canvas or walls were too dangerous for the female swordsman to touch; she avoided stepping over those on the ground. But I wasn’t afraid of this. When I first entered the camp, I casually pulled off a branch entangled among the ruins and examined it closely.

Although it turned to ash in my hand and drifted away into the sky with the wind shortly after,

I still recognized what it was.

In my memory, in the so-called “Dragon Land” which was actually the “Dragon House,” I had been relentlessly pursued by many similar things—the gigantic, disgusting flesh mass that eventually hatched into a divine body, with countless tubular tentacles extending from it.

The difference was that those tentacles were alive.

But the “roots” spreading here seemed to be withered or dead. They no longer moved, and if pulled, they would quickly turn to ashes in the wind.

When another “withered root” crumbled into powder in my palm and dispersed in the air, the female swordsman, who had been searching in a nearby collapsed shed, came out with a layer of ash on her head.

Ah.

Seeing the “root” turning to ashes in my hand, her footsteps paused slightly, her face frozen for a moment, but then she quickened her pace, walking to my side, and said urgently: “Hey, I suddenly remembered something…”

Just as the words left her mouth, they abruptly stopped.

Immediately afterward, we both turned around, looking back at the path we came from outside the camp.

From there, the sound of chaotic hooves could be faintly heard.