Chapter 242.3: Lu Changsheng Enters the Divine Region! Slaying Villains in the Name of the Evil God! (III)

Deep in a dense forest, a group of men in black was chasing a young woman who carried a boy of seven or eight on her back.

"After her! Tang Lu can't get far."

"Master has given the order. Capture the Tang siblings, dead or alive."

"They're just ahead."

These men in black were vicious and murderous, plainly bent on killing the woman and the boy ahead of them.

The two were sister and brother, and with him on her back she could barely run, so that even among the thick trees of the forest the pursuers behind her gradually closed the distance.

Swish, swish, swish.

Several more men in black swept around and cut straight across Tang Lu's path, and she came to a stop at once. Saying nothing, she drew the short saber at her waist, her gaze cold as ice.

"Sister, are we going to die?" the little boy suddenly asked, his voice trembling.

Even a child could tell how dire the situation was. Tang Lu did not answer him but stared at the men in black around her.

"Does Fourth Uncle really mean to wipe us out?" she asked coldly.

"Hehe, Ms. Tang Lu, you're a clever one. You should know better than asking such a pointless question."

"Since Master has already made his move, of course he wants to tear out the roots. Why would he let you two leave? Just so you can come back in a few years and take revenge on him?"

"Don't resist, and we'll make it quick for you."

The men in black closed in on the pair step by step.

"Uncle Liu, do you know why I fled in this direction?" said Tang Lu. "We're near the sea here, and there's an invisible barrier, so there's no leaping into the water to escape. There's forest, yes, but no shaking you off in it. And yet I came this way without wavering. Why do you think that is?"

Her words gave Uncle Liu and the others a moment's pause. Indeed, why had Tang Lu insisted on fleeing here, when earlier she could have fled into the mountains or the coast instead?

Something was not right. Fleeing into the mountains would have made it far easier for her to escape her pursuers.

"Wait. This place... There's an Evil God here!"

At last, one of the men in black remembered what made this place so terrible. This forest was haunted by an Evil God! Nearly everyone knew that encountering an Evil God meant certain death, and a wretched one at that.

Tang Lu's lips curled into a cold smirk. "That's right. An Evil God. One used to appear in this place, and with so many of you giving chase, you're sure to rouse it. Since my brother and I can't escape, then I'll drag every one of you down with me!"

Tang Lu had to be desperate, completely out of her mind, to willingly go somewhere where an Evil God lurked.

Fear took over Uncle Liu and his men, but he gritted his teeth and said, "Ms. Tang Lu, Young Master, my apologies..."

Then, he gave the order. "Kill them!"

The men in black raised their sabers and rushed the siblings at once. As for the Evil God, that was a matter for later, and they were not about to be cowed by a few words from Tang Lu. Come what may, the Tang siblings had to die.

As death closed in on them, Tang Lu closed her eyes. She knew that as long as she refused to abandon her brother, there was no escape for either of them, and if there was no escaping, then she would simply stop running. Still, in those last moments, her heart burned with hatred and regret. She had failed to protect her little brother and avenge their parents and kin.

Just when the men were about to strike, a gust of sea wind seemed to sweep past, and carried with it something that could shake one's very soul. Every single man in black was overcome with a fear he could not suppress, as though something terrible was about to happen.

The men in black had already raised the sabers in their hands, yet that uncanny presence froze them in place, leaving them unable to bring the blade down on their victims.

"What the...? My hand won't listen!"

"Wh-What's happening?"

"Why can't I move?"

"What's happening?! What are we going to do?"

"Evil techniques, this has to be evil techniques! Is the Evil God already here?!"

Terrified, the men in black could not help screaming. The terrifying presence that had chilled their blood had to be an Evil God. But where was it exactly? How close was it?

Clang!

One of them even dropped his saber, his face twisted with terror. Many followed the direction of his gaze, and what they saw sent a chill down their spines.

It was a person, an unfamiliar young man floating in the air. He seemed to be radiating no aura, yet the men in black felt a chill emanating from him, sinking into their bones. It was as though they instinctively understood they stood before a natural predator. None of them dared to speak.

Meanwhile, the mysterious young man seemingly took no notice of any of them, walking in the air step by step until he stood before Tang Lu.

"Do you seek revenge?" he asked them, looking down from above.

Tang Lu was taken aback for a moment, but she gritted her teeth and answered almost without hesitation, "I do."

"Would you serve an Evil God to exact your revenge? Would you take an Evil God's power, whatever the cost?"

"Yes. Whatever the cost!" Tang Lu's tone was absolutely firm, as though she had settled the matter long ago. Had she not fled all this way precisely to seek out an Evil God? She understood perfectly well that only an Evil God could help her take revenge.

The young man smiled in response to her answer.

He was none other than Lu Changsheng. He had rushed here after sensing the group of people. Thanks to his sharp senses, everything that had taken place here was perfectly clear to him. He knew who the two siblings were. Tang Lu might very well be his entry ticket into the Divine Region.

Uncle Liu gritted his teeth. "Ms. Tang! You... You must not serve an Evil God!"

To him, an Evil God was the pure manifestation of wickedness, and wherever one appeared, blood ran in rivers and countless people lost their lives.

Lu Changsheng did not spare Uncle Liu so much as a glance; he merely waved his hand.

Thud.

One after another the men in black collapsed to the ground, without a stir, without even a single wail. From a distance it looked as though they had fallen asleep, but in reality, all traces of life had left their bodies.

Several dozen men, all of them skilled fighters, had died just like that, without a sound. Their corpses then crumbled bit by bit into fine dust and in the blink of an eye vanished without a trace, as though these people had never existed at all.

Tang Lu's heart lurched at the terrifying sight, and a chill spread through her entire body. Now she was convinced that the man before her was a true Evil God, an entity with power beyond all understanding.

"Sis... E-Evil God..."

Tang Lu's little brother was trembling from head to foot , and she immediately soothed him before kneeling respectfully before Lu Changsheng.

"Master, I ask that you avenge me. I, Tang Lu, shall follow you for as long as I draw breath!"

That was how important revenge was to Tang Lu. She was willing to give up everything to attain it.

"Very well. But revenge can wait for now. First, tell me where you come from."

"Master, I come from Kang City, in the Great Moon Divine Empire."

"Divine empire?"

Lu Changsheng immediately seized the key piece of information. So not a royal empire, but a divine one.

"That's right, the Great Moon Divine Empire, which honors the Great Moon True God as its deity. But the one who actually founded it and holds its power is the Great Moon False God."

Lu Changsheng turned this over in his mind. A Great Moon True God and a Great Moon False God, huh?

The True God had to be a deity born as such, while the False God was most likely one who had thrown in their lot with the True God and attained godhood by means of the power of faith.

A True God's strength, however, was hard to judge; they might rival a Human Saint, or an Earthly Saint, or even a Heavenly Saint. A False God's strength was bound up closely with their True God's, and the stronger the True God, the stronger the False God tended to be. It also depended on how much faith the False God had gathered, for the richer that faith and the wider the territory they held, the stronger the False God grew.

Even so, False Gods generally only rivaled the Divine Ability Realm, and those on a par with a Human Saint were few in numbers. As for a False God rivaling an Earthly Saint, that was impossible unless their True God was a Heavenly Saint.

From Tang Lu's account, Lu Changsheng learned a great deal about the Great Moon Divine Empire. Her standing was far too low, however, to touch on the empire's core secrets, and regarding the Great Moon False God and True God, the few things she knew seemed more like rumor and myths than factual information.

Lu Changsheng's objective was the deity fragment, which meant the True Gods of the Divine Region. However, he could not afford to make any rash moves. He would have to prepare thoroughly and fully grasp the situation first.

Since Tang Lu knew nothing of the Great Moon Divine Empire's inner workings, he would have to scout and gather that information himself. Doing so out in the wild hills and empty ranges was clearly impossible; he had to enter the Great Moon Divine Empire.

"Let us go to this Kang City and reclaim the place that belongs to you and your brother!" Lu Changsheng said resolutely, staring down at his entry ticket into the Great Moon Divine Empire.