Chapter 21: Evil Reaps What It Sows — Establishing the "Netherworld Law Domain"

"We pay our respects to the Honored God!"

Liao Xiu'er and Liao Chengping immediately knelt down and bowed reverently.

"Hon… Honored God?"

"Wh… where… where is this…"

Liao Xiong's eyes were filled with helplessness and terror. Beneath the overwhelming divine might, he had no power to resist whatsoever — he collapsed to his knees before the hall, trembling uncontrollably.

He had never felt fear like this in his life.

He didn't even dare to lift his head to look at the blazing, sun-like figure seated at the head of the hall.

"Liao Xiong, five years ago you pushed Liao Xiu'er and Liao Chengping into a well, causing their deaths. Do you confess your guilt?"

Li Yue gazed down at Liao Xiong with cold indifference.

"I confess…"

Liao Xiong trembled as he spoke.

In this hall suffused with divine majesty, he had no courage to lie.

"In that case —"

"This god sentences you to the punishment of soul annihilation."

Li Yue's voice rang out with solemn authority.

The moment his words fell —

The soul of Liao Xiong, kneeling in the hall, instantly scattered and was reduced to nothing.

Expressions of excitement, joy, and elation spread across the faces of Liao Xiu'er and Liao Chengping.

Finally —

They had finally had their revenge!

Five years.

A full five years, and the murderer Liao Xiong had at last received his due retribution!

At this moment, a phrase rose unbidden in their minds:

Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil — if the reckoning has not yet come, it is only because the time has not yet arrived!

"Inform Li Youming of this matter."

"He will know what to do."

Li Yue instructed.

"We humbly obey the Lord's divine decree!"

Liao Xiu'er and Liao Chengping, mimicking the manner of speech from storybooks, accepted the order with great reverence.

Whoosh —

Their forms flickered, and they had already departed from the Divine Domain.

The gloomy courtroom that had filled the Divine Domain dissolved in an instant, returning to its original empty, boundless appearance.

Li Yue still preferred the Divine Domain in its original state — nothing within it, everything suspended in the void.

"Now that I have Ghost Soldiers —"

"They ought to have a place to carry out their duties."

Li Yue mused.

The Divine Domain was his private space; naturally, it was not fitting for Subordinate Deities, Ghost Soldiers, and the like to come and go freely.

As a Ninth Grade (Upper) Ordained Earth God, he possessed the ability to establish a "Netherworld Law Domain."

The "Netherworld Law Domain" —

Was a place of operations dedicated to Subordinate Deities, Ghost Soldiers, and their ilk.

In terms of rank, it was naturally far inferior to the Divine Domain.

But it no longer belonged to the mortal world either — it was, in essence, a separate pocket of space.

"Establishing a Netherworld Law Domain ten meters long, ten meters wide, and three meters high requires ten units of Divine Power…"

"But this Divine Power cannot be spared."

He shook his head.

Glancing at his remaining one hundred and one units of Divine Power, he made up his mind.

Instantly, ten units of Divine Power flew out from within him, flashed outward from the Divine Domain, and descended beneath the Land God Shrine.

At once —

Beneath the Land God Shrine, a space thick with yin energy slowly took shape.

This space was permeated with dense yin energy, and the yin energy within the earth surged ceaselessly into it.

The Netherworld Law Domain lay underground, beyond the mortal realm.

His Divine Domain, meanwhile, hovered above the Netherworld Law Domain, from which he could easily observe everything within it.

The Subordinate Deities, Ghost Soldiers, and the like within the Netherworld Law Domain could look upward and see only a towering, heaven-like Divine Domain suspended above them — but they could perceive nothing of what lay within it.

"This will suffice for now."

"Once the Subordinate Deities, Ghost Soldiers, and their numbers grow, I can continue to expand it."

He murmured to himself.

Then —

He turned his gaze to one side of the Divine Domain.

There, the massive corpse of a wolf demon lay in silence.

It was the wolf demon from Thousand Wolf Mountain that he had effortlessly slain with a single Heavenly Thunder Art earlier in the day.

"The corpse of a peak second-grade wolf demon…"

"It should be worth a few units of Divine Power."

His gaze was calm.

He opened the Divine Shop within the Regional Marketplace and placed the wolf demon's corpse inside.

Immediately —

The Divine Shop displayed the value of the headless wolf carcass.

"Seven units of Divine Power."

"Not bad at all."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Without hesitation, he sold the headless wolf carcass to the Divine Shop.

Seven units of Divine Power materialized within him.

"Ninety-eight units of Divine Power in total."

He closed his eyes and began to contemplate the Divine Art known as the Heavenly Thunder Art.

He had used the Heavenly Thunder Art once during the day.

He had noticed —

That while he could wield this Divine Art with reasonable proficiency, he had not yet fully mastered it.

There were still flaws in his execution.

He believed —

That if he could perform it with true perfection, the power of the Heavenly Thunder Art would rise by a considerable margin.

"If only I weren't short on Divine Power — actually casting it in practice would be the best method of training…"

"Alas, poverty limits one's ambitions."

"For now, I can only simulate the casting in my mind."

He felt a helpless resignation.

Still, growing stronger bit by bit was nothing to scoff at.

After all —

Beyond the Heavenly Thunder Art, the other three Divine Arts he had mastered — the Cloud Mist Art, the Flight Art, and the Earth Passage Art — likely all suffered from the same issue.

Mastering a technique did not mean one could execute it flawlessly.

Only by executing every Divine Art with perfection could one truly reach the limits of a Ninth Grade (Upper) Ordained Earth God's power!

* * *

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhang Family Village, Liao Family Village, and the previously absorbed Chen Family Village had all essentially been fully integrated into Four Seas Village.

Every villager in Four Seas Village offered incense to Lord Zhangyue morning and evening. Even those who lived far away were required to face the direction of the Land God Shrine and offer incense from afar.

Of course, the most devout Believers would come in person to the Land God Shrine to offer incense.

The story of Liao Xiong's crimes, of Lord Zhangyue dispatching Ghost Soldiers to claim his soul, and of his sentence to soul annihilation, had spread like wildfire throughout all of Four Seas Village.

Liao Xiong's corpse had even been brought back for the villagers to witness.

Nearly every villager now held Lord Zhangyue in even greater reverence and awe.

Lord Zhangyue commanded Ghost Soldiers — anyone who committed evil would be hunted down by them, their soul seized and destroyed!

Who could hear that and not tremble?

There are gods three feet above your head!

Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil — if the reckoning has not yet come, it is only because the time has not yet arrived!

These two sayings spread far and wide throughout Four Seas Village, and every soul took them to heart.

This event also deepened the faith of the Four Seas Village villagers considerably.

After all —

The god's grace is as vast as the sea!

The god's might is as inescapable as a prison!

The god's grace fills Believers with joy; the god's might fills them with awe.

Joy and awe combined — faith naturally grew ever more devout.

"Deming, go and summon the village chief and the others for a meeting."

Li Youming stepped out of his room, looked toward his second son Li Deming, and gave the order.

A month ago, he had received a Divine Decree: within three months, the number of Believers must be expanded to over one thousand five hundred.

These one thousand five hundred people all had to be Four Seas Village residents, settled within the village itself.

It was a formidable task.

Four Seas Village had a population of only a little over eight hundred — the gap was enormous.

And in this entire region, there was only Four Seas Village.

To grow —

They would have to attract people from outside this region to join Four Seas Village.

That would not be easy.

After all —

If you told someone your village was under the protection of a god, would they believe you?

So he had spent a full month in preparation.

And now, at last, it was time to begin.

"This time —"

"I will carry out Lord Zhangyue's Divine Decree with flying colors…"

Li Youming said to himself, his gaze resolute.