Chapter 456 Perhaps Everyone is a Devourer of Evil (6800, First Update)

On the sea, between heaven and earth, the gods looked at each other.

The sea began to churn, and water vapor gradually condensed. Originally, the cloudless sky gradually saw large swaths of dark clouds, covering the starlight of the stars and moon.

On the Deep Diver, Su Zhou stood in the center of the deck, with Yalber and the sailors kneeling before him, while the youth simply looked up curiously, gazing at the sky above.

The holy and towering Judgment Dragon, like a mountain range in the clouds, coiled at the apex of the firmament, the golden dragon overlooking the earth and seas with indifferent and merciless eyes.

Only Su Zhou, who had blocked His judgment and heavenly punishment, the one almost one with Him, could receive even a glimmer of attention from this dragon.

But then, with a gust of wind, He turned his head and looked at Yalber on the Deep Diver, who had already closed his eyes, despairingly awaiting death.

The pirate's beard and hair fluttered in the wind, with no sign of resistance.

Immediately afterward, the Lord of Judgment spoke, His holy voice rumbling, shaking both realms, arriving like thunder.

【Judgment.】

【You, plundered merchant ships and fishermen.】

【You, killed the innocent and good.】

【You, abandoned the righteous law and precepts.】

【You, desecrated the sacred and faith.】

So declared, the Judgment Dragon determined the sins of the King of the Sea of Affliction, delivering the final verdict: 【Yalber Idris, you violated the teachings of the covenant, ignored the restraints of the precepts, and despised the authority of the code, and are therefore a backslider.】

【You have betrayed the covenant between man and god, committing a hundred and seventy-two major sins and nineteen minor sins.】

【Final judgment. Death penalty.】

【Lightning strike immediately.】

The moment the divine voice fell, the judgment was reopened.

In that instant, above the firmament, endless seas of clouds were born out of thin air, and layers of fine golden electric light flickered and roamed between the rolling clouds.

A sacred aura permeated, and countless powers of vows converged, the Eye of Judgment taking shape once more, with the light of punishment brewing within.

In the Spirit Realm, a similar invisible force collapsed, locking onto the soul, guiding the arrival of the judgment, and providing the final foreshadowing.

For a time, an aura of the heavens collapsing, unblockable and unyielding, spread.

But this time, after the Judgment Dragon pronounced its sentence, Su Zhou stood with his hands behind his back, showing no intention of intervening.

Clear punishment and upright law, this is the right path.

At first, Su Zhou did indeed want to ask Yalber for some information, which was why he didn't kill him immediately. But in fact, through the Mind of No Thought, he had already grasped the most important key elements—whether it was the possible existence of the 'Harbinger Family' or the pirates' plan to find the Soul of Primordial Water and become gods, he already knew these most critical pieces of information, with only some insignificant details left to clarify.

So, an evildoer like Yalber, dying was just dying. There was no need to protect him. Su Zhou's initial protection was just out of habit. After all, his 'judgment' wasn't over yet, and the Judgment Dragon of this world had come over to interfere, which made him a little unhappy.

But unhappy as he was, no matter what, Yalber was a person from the Cycle World. The Judgment Dragon, in accordance with the covenant, proclaimed his sins, which was the order of this world. Committing a crime meant receiving punishment, which was very reasonable.

However, Su Zhou, who had intended to watch from the sidelines, did not expect that this time, the Judgment Dragon condensed a manifestation and appeared in the world, it was not just to punish the great pirate Yalber.

【You, are guilty.】

After proclaiming Yalber's sentence, the Judgment Dragon's gaze indifferently swept over the Deep Diver and the Boar, as well as everyone on them—wherever the god's gaze fell was their domain, and in His domain, those with guilt were destined to receive punishment.

Thus, everyone on the Deep Diver and the Boar, except for Amon, felt a vast and blazing aura, with rumbling thunder exploding in their ears. It was the gaze and foreshadowing of the Lord of Judgment.

Immediately, some were weeping and repenting, praying; others were angrily cursing, unrepentant; and even more were begging and shivering, denying their guilt and unwilling to admit reality. For a time, the two ships were filled with noise because of the god's gaze.

Naturally, Nidhogg and Sarah were no exception.

It was as if a bolt of lightning had flashed before their eyes, and the aura of destruction, so clear it was almost tangible, was right before their noses.

"Waaah—"

The premonition brought by the Lord of Judgment's gaze immediately gave the Wind Folk girl on the Boar a fright. She instinctively hid behind Amon—Sarah tightly grasped the hem of the gray-haired priest's robe, her little face pale: "I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die—*hic*."

She trembled, and then, just like that, she couldn't catch her breath, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted.

"What the fuck..."

On the other hand, Nidhogg, the captain of the Boar, though pale, still had the courage to look up. He cursed, instinctively stepping forward: "I admit I'm guilty, but according to the covenant, the judgment is definitely not deserving of death!"

"Doesn't the Lord of Judgment reason?!"

But very obviously.

Whether it was repentance, prayer, angry cursing, begging, or standing up to argue, these were all meaningless to the Lord of Judgment.

Under the gaze of the indifferent dragon eyes, countless thunderbolts, each containing infinite power, leaped out of the Eye of Judgment at the top of the firmament simultaneously. Lightning snakes danced wildly in the sky, spanning heaven and earth, like a forked tree growing upside down, crashing down on everyone.

"Are you just judging randomly like this?"

But at this moment, the youth's voice, laced with a hint of annoyance, rang out.

Seeing that the Judgment Dragon seemed to be trying to wipe out everyone present, punishing and eliminating them all, Su Zhou could only raise his left hand.

He held up his index finger, and this finger was like a black hole. The moment it was raised, the lightning in the sky was like a magnet, all of it turning with an astonishing arc, converging towards this fingertip.

One dividing into ten thousand, and ten thousand returning to one.

In an instant, the originally awe-inspiring punitive lightning all struck the youth's fingertip, gradually becoming invisible as the lightning flashed, and being absorbed into Su Zhou's body.

Withdrawing his hand, Su Zhou furrowed his brows and flexed his index finger a few times, moving his finger—the Judgment Dragon's lightning punishment was not powerful, it was probably just derived from the size of the received power of vows, and derived a corresponding intensity, but at the end of the day, it was also an attack issued by a Hegemon-level True God. He blocked it all with lightning magic and felt that his finger was a little numb.

Even he felt a little uncomfortable, so if these thunderbolts struck a little girl like Sarah, wouldn't she certainly die?

【...】

The lightning punishment was blocked for the second time, and above the firmament, the indifferent gaze of the Judgment Dragon's manifestation once again shifted to Su Zhou—He was neither happy nor sad, and was not angered by the obstruction of the judgment.

And Su Zhou also looked at the other party, the two sides looking at each other from afar, the youth's tone slightly dissatisfied, and questioned in a deep voice: "Yalber and his crew are one thing, these great pirates and his subordinates who have ravaged for decades, where did they come from being innocent and good people? So I won't stop you from punishing them."

"But on the Boar, not to mention that most of the crew are not deserving of death, Captain Nidhogg should also be judged, but using lightning punishment might be a bit too much—not to mention Sarah, she can at most be considered attempted robbery in a desperate situation when she was starving, it doesn't even count as a crime, why kill her?"

Su Zhou's voice echoed in the high sky, and his thoughts even crossed the Spirit Realm, directly reaching the Judgment Dragon's main body far away.

In response, the golden god stared at Su Zhou, seemingly listening.

Then, a calm response echoed in the youth's heart.

【Because of hatred.】

This voice was exactly the same as Su Zhou's, but with the vicissitudes of history, like the voice Su Zhou could have after witnessing hundreds of years of reincarnation in the Cycle World.

He answered so calmly, as if stating a truth: 【All the Fire Folk and Wind Folk hate pirates, Sea Folk, backsliders, and criminals.】

【Tens of millions, hundreds of millions of people, are like this.】

【They pray, make wishes, and beg me to bring down punishment—all their wishes are praying for their death.】

【God, fulfills wishes.】

【So they must suffer judgment and punishment.】

The Lord of Judgment's response was very simple, crude, and logical.

But, at the end of the day, it still belonged to the category of 'tyranny of the majority.'

"This is your reason?"

Su Zhou looked at the dragon. After hearing the Lord of Judgment's response, and knowing the true thoughts of his derivative body in the Cycle World, he wasn't actually angry, but just wanted to let out a sigh.

Because back in Sunset City, when he saved Sarah from the lightning punishment, he had already clearly known this.

The intensity of judgment and punishment in this world is not applied according to the severity of the violated covenant code, but is judged by the intensity of the public's prayer power.

Some people commit major crimes, but the public doesn't know about it, so there is no lightning punishment, and the temple needs to take action itself to strangle, behead, or burn them at the stake. And some people have not committed any mistakes, they are just different from ordinary people, unwilling to believe in gods, and unwilling to accept the constraints of precepts, so they are regarded as monsters. Even if they escape to islands, isolated from people and living alone, they are still deeply hated.

It's like the Devourer of Evil.

The sins that the demon lord doesn't care about, even if others see them as major sins, don't count as evildoers to him. And if others think something is as it should be, if it violates the demon lord's wishes, then it is an evildoer.

To put it bluntly, the Devourer of Evil is simply replacing public justice with one's own heart.

It is indeed a demonic path supernatural power. What justice is, to put it bluntly, the supernatural power possessor's fist is big, so he can forcibly pronounce judgment. In essence, it is pure arrogance.

Su Zhou has been praised and praised all the way because his concepts of good and evil happen to coincide with the simple justice recognized in the eyes of ordinary people—but if it were different, he would be a pure demon, and the biggest and most terrifying kind of demon.

Is this a bad thing?

Actually, it isn't.

Demons have a demonic path, and naturally have their own methods to relieve the world. Supernatural powers of free will can be evil, and naturally can be good.

It's just...

"Lord of Judgment, you are a god."

Looking at the dragon in the high sky, Su Zhou gazed at the other party's body, which was condensed from the power of vows, illusory and hazy, and couldn't help but sigh: "If I am one person, and always one person, with no one following me, no one worshiping me, no one recognizing me, no one believing."

"Then I can do whatever I want, act as I please, with no shackles to bind me."

"But this is the path of being human, being a demon—it won't work as a god."

"If the god's thoughts and precepts cannot transcend human prejudice, then what is the meaning of the god's existence?"

Precisely because he himself is the Devourer of Evil, Su Zhou knows very well the similar essence between himself and the Lord of Judgment before him, as well as the differences.

All the way he has come, whether it is the Divine Tree World, the Cycle World, the Beast God Realm, the Divine Dragon World, or his other actions on Earth, the core idea is nothing more than 'for my own pleasure.'

Even helping others, at the end of the day, is for Su Zhou himself to be able to get by. He doesn't care what others think, whether they are grateful or hateful, dissatisfied or worshipful.

And the Cycle World at this time is the same.

Just like the judgment of Sarah in Sunset City.

Those devout Fire Folk, praying for the Lord of Judgment to bring down divine punishment, are also 'for their own pleasure.' Their hatred and hostility all originate from the sense of superiority brought by faith.

Do the masses care about the 'evildoer's' thoughts on the judgment stand? Do they care if he is innocent? Never. The masses just want to see someone labeled as an evildoer and judged, enjoying the pleasure of 'the evildoer is dead,' satisfying their own sense of superiority, and the collective sense of having many like-minded people.

True morality, the fairness that requires effort to think about, is all thankless work, how can free will be more pleasurable.

The Devourer of Evil is such a terrifying supernatural power and force. Su Zhou knows very well that as long as his values are slightly skewed, he can arbitrarily grow a moody monster who replaces the will of heaven with his own will.

For example—in order to obtain evil souls to grow, he can regard everyone in the world as 'evildoers who are unwilling to obediently die and dedicate growth food to himself,' and then regard everyone as evil to kill and devour evil souls.

Terrifying? But this is the power of the Devourer of Evil. Su Zhou didn't do this, simply because he is Su Zhou, his will is firm, and he will not waver in order to obtain power.

This inner line of thinking is no different from 'you are unwilling to believe in my god, and unwilling to obediently die.'

Su Zhou should have felt chills from this, and he has no position to criticize the Judgment Dragon—because they are actually one, they are exactly the same existence.

The Judgment Dragon is also a Devourer of Evil, only He is a Devourer of Evil composed of more people, a Devourer of Evil composed of the 'wishes' of the entire Cycle World, all the Wind and Fire Folk—the power of vows praying for judgment is the evil soul that allows Him to grow, and the backsliders recognized by all ordinary people are the evildoers used to devour.

But now, through the sights and experiences of Sunset City, the thoughts on the judgment stand, and once again analyzing the essence of himself, Su Zhou is very clear that the thoughts in his heart are completely different from the past.

And the Judgment Dragon is no longer his reflection.

So, the youth spoke once more, negating the god.

"You're wrong, Lord of Judgment."

"Good and evil, justice, righteousness, are not chosen like this. If you only listen to the thoughts of the majority, and do not judge according to a standard, judgment is nothing more than a riot."

"Most of the masses are blindly following. They are too easily guided. Like during a plague, everyone is unwilling to be locked at home, wanting to move freely and work—but as the one presiding over order, you should conversely restrain the masses for the safety of everyone, instead of allowing the plague, that is, the wrong, to spread."

Su Zhou's voice could be clearly heard even by the people on the distant Boar.

The dragon above the firmament, upon hearing this, also gave a simple response.

【God, is the wish.】

【The prayers of all beings, are the heart of god.】

【They are guilty, undoubtedly.】

At the same time.

On the deck of the Boar.

Priest Amon looked up at the distant high sky. For a time, his heart was in a mess.

—Two Lords?

—And they are even arguing and debating with each other?

What exactly is going on? The covenant doesn't say how to face this situation!

But relying on the big heart he had developed recently, by accompanying Su Zhou and witnessing what the other party was doing, Amon quickly calmed down.

"Don't think about the external appearance, but think about the essence."

Muttering to himself, the priest closed his eyes and thought in his heart: "Very well—I now know that the Lord who appears in the form of a dragon has descended, wanting to kill everyone on the Deep Diver and the Boar, except for me."

"The Lord in human form initially protected Yalber, but it should just have been instinct. During the second judgment, he didn't stop it at first, obviously feeling that this sinner deserved to die, just like the Lord imposed judgment on that person who spread the plague on the judgment stand in Sunset City."

"But then, he blocked the Dragon Lord's judgment again, protecting everyone."

After summarizing, Amon opened his eyes.

At this time, he had made a decision in his heart.

"The Lord in human form, is right."

Thinking this, Amon turned his head. He took off his robe, covered the unconscious Sarah under the robe, and carefully placed her aside. He muttered to himself: "At least, I think it's right."

Amon could feel that the little girl's body was very light, very weak... Sarah's clan had wandered from the Sea of Affliction all the way to here, spending a long time. And in the short time she was captured for robbery because of hunger, and then sent for judgment, she had only eaten a little fish on the shore before.

So weak, and facing the Lord's premonition of judgment, how could she not faint from fear?

People have empathy. Amon put himself in her shoes. He thought, if he was about to starve to death, wanting to trade with others for food to survive, but was rejected because of faith issues.

Then would he rob them?

If he robbed them, whose sorrow would it be?

Naturally, it wasn't those robbed fishermen, they were not wrong. The one who was 'wrong' was indeed Sarah and her clan who robbed.

But the real root, the one who was truly 'guilty,' was the pirate who drove Sarah's clan away from their homeland... and, the precepts that caused the current situation, making it possible to discriminate against those who have not committed evil for no reason!

Mistake and sin, are worlds apart.

"What exactly, is sin?"

【The Lord of Judgment's Holy Word says: He who fights monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.】

【The struggle and fight for public justice is also like this. When we fight with evildoers, we should be careful lest we also become evildoers.】

After settling Sarah, the priest slowly raised his head, and looked once again at the Dragon Lord in the sky, whose atmosphere was already very tense, as if he was about to bring down the thunder tribulation for the third time, and the human Lord who wanted to stop the other party.

Amon's face was distressed. He didn't know what sin was—he was just a priest, not a pope, nor a god. He had no right to determine what was sin.

But, he understood very well.

"At least, we can't let those who have not committed mistakes, die innocently."

"If we let this happen in the name of the majority's public justice, then we will become evildoers."

And at the same time, in the sky.

Regarding the Judgment Dragon, who had begun to gather the power of vows for the third time, condensing the thunder punishment, and insisting on continuing to judge everyone, Su Zhou just shook his head slightly, and took out the Blade of Annihilation from his personal space, aiming it at the god's power of vows manifestation above his head.

"God of Judgment, for your people, you may be a good god."

"But, you are far from being a good creator of order."

Regarding Su Zhou's sentence on him, the Judgment Dragon did not give any response.

Only at the top of the firmament, streaks of light golden electric light were rolling back and forth in the clouds, and then in the blink of an eye, they condensed into thunder light spheres, instantly illuminating the night sky like the sun.

For a time, the magnetic field between heaven and earth began to change dramatically. Under the control of the Judgment Dragon, the endless spiritual power drove the clouds and electric light to swirl restlessly, forming a huge vortex of dark clouds with a diameter of tens of kilometers—His will caused the charges in the atmosphere to collide and intertwine, forming a golden divine thunder that shook the heavens.

The power of vows and the real phenomena of heaven intertwined, and the supernatural phenomenon created by spiritual power combined with real thunderclouds, and its power instantly increased tenfold.

The first and second judgments were blocked by Su Zhou, and the power of the lightning punishment was increased accordingly, and the current third judgment has actually reached the point where a Hegemon-level being is making an all-out effort!

The next moment, accompanied by earth-shattering thunder, beams of lightning almost as real as substance were condensed in the center of the dark cloud vortex. They were so dazzling that they illuminated the heavens and the earth as if it were daytime. In the thick dark clouds, electric light flickered, like a web of spiders crisscrossing, and just as it condensed into an almost substantial thunder spear, the judgment's thunder punishment crashed down!

And just as this terrifying thunder punishment crashed down, the Judgment Dragon's voice resounded between heaven and earth.

【I am, the wish.】

【Which is also, correct.】

"Correct my ass!"

And Su Zhou's crisp negation, at the moment the thunder punishment crashed down, he tightly grasped the divine blade, and said in a low voice: "You are wrong—the past me was too!"

At this moment, facing the Judgment Dragon representing his past self's mistakes, the youth's mind was clear, he swung the blade with all his might, and what he was cutting down was not only the thunder punishment and the dragon, but also the last trace of recognition in his heart for his past self.

A shrill roar resounded, the divine blade's light was radiant, and the majestic blade aura mixed with the red-golden flames swept back across the sky, meeting the thunder punishment head-on.

The boundless light of the power of vows condensed on the Blade of Annihilation was no less than the divine thunder spear condensed by the Judgment Dragon, and Su Zhou was even more here in his true body, and the power he condensed was far higher than the Judgment Dragon, who was just a manifestation of the power of vows—what's more, the Blade of Annihilation came with all kinds of special effects such as slaying the undying, slaying the power of vows spiritual bodies, and assassinating gods, so it was perfect for dealing with the Judgment Dragon!

Therefore, the lightning spear that bloomed in this third judgment was instantly penetrated by the vertically slashed blade light, torn into two halves from the middle, and collapsed like an illusion.

And after that, the huge dark cloud vortex was divided into two along the trajectory of this blade moving forward, and the opening was covered by raging red flames.

After splitting the clouds and dividing the sky, the momentum of the blade still did not stop, but still extended like lightning towards the distant horizon—behind the dark cloud vortex, above the firmament, the Judgment Dragon's manifestation of the power of vows was also cut open by a blade mark several hundred meters long and ten meters wide, and the huge manifestation of the power of vows began to gradually turn into light spots like rain all over the sky, gradually collapsing.

A straight beam of starlight and moonlight fell down along the crack, illuminating the ocean that was covered by the dark clouds that appeared because of the confrontation between the gods.

Su Zhou withdrew the Blade of Annihilation, turned his head, and no longer looked at the high sky.

This time, he had completely repelled the Judgment Dragon's manifestation, and interrupted this thunder punishment.

It has to be said that the Judgment Dragon's power did indeed reach the Hegemon level. Even if it was just a manifestation of the power of vows making a move from afar, the power of the lightning punishment it condensed was extremely powerful. Just now, that lightning spear that gathered all the spiritual energy within tens of kilometers was probably enough to instantly destroy a small city, and kill most of the people in it.

If Su Zhou didn't have a weapon, he would probably have to reveal his true body in order to block that lightning while ensuring the safety of everyone.

Slowly descending back to the Deep Diver, now, Su Zhou felt that he might have roughly understood the views between the Great Existences.

"—Can this be considered correct too?"

Muttering to himself, the light spots of the power of vows formed after the Judgment Dragon collapsed were slowly falling. Su Zhou looked around at these rain-like light spots, and couldn't help but shake his head slightly, then stretched out a hand, took one, and said in a deep voice: "No wonder the Great Existences can't stand each other. The struggle for what is correct cannot have the slightest compromise... huh?"

Just as he was thinking, suddenly, Su Zhou sensed a familiar feeling from this light spot of the power of vows that he had caught.

Of course, it wasn't that the aura or the essence of the power was familiar. After all, Su Zhou and the Judgment Dragon were so closely related, it would be strange if he wasn't familiar—what really made Su Zhou let out a soft exclamation was the aura faintly carried by this light spot of the power of vows.

"Soul of Earth? No, it's another kind of feeling... This familiar feeling, I've definitely seen it somewhere else outside the Cycle World!"

Thinking this, after all, he was someone who had eaten a lot of Wisdom Fruits, Su Zhou quickly thought of where this familiar feeling came from.

It was in the Divine Dragon World, during the Dragon Ball War, the alien dragon serpent he hadn't seen many times, 'Leviathan'!

In other words—Dragon of the Multitude of Humanity!

I was drunk yesterday, sorry...