Chapter 12

When this flawed, crazy world looked utterly detestable, he would naturally think—wouldn't a faster, more effective path be better? Seizing the power of the Professor, that incompetent waste, and blasting this world to pieces. He could almost hear the devil whispering in his ear. For a moment, Qi Xing almost felt his heart being captured.

But,

"Mr. Qi, please, please do not do anything foolish."

Even though she had been overwhelmed by the Loli Evil God's might, Elaine remained an elite among the exorcist nuns. Even in her difficulty, she struggled to lift her head from the ground. Even if she were to die, she would still issue a voice from death to warn Qi Xing,

"I know you have always had unique ideals—but no matter how beautiful the goal, using evil as a tool will only lead to self-destruction. Once you make a wish to the devil, there is no avoiding the path of corruption!"

In her sky-blue eyes, there was no wariness or suspicion of Qi Xing's potential fall, only deep concern and worry.

Sigh.

You can betray anyone, but you cannot betray the principles in your own heart.

Qi Xing had no way to betray such a gaze.

"I'm sorry, I won't betray my teammates."

He sighed, his regret genuine,

"If I had walked here alone, perhaps we could have made a deal."

"No matter, this is very cute, and it makes me know you even better."

The Loli Evil God narrowed her eyes cutely, a smile still hanging on her lips,

"This ship will fully sink into the Sea of Unconsciousness in about thirty minutes. You can go and try your best to save people."

As soon as the words fell, Elaine and Artemina both felt that the infinite weight binding them had vanished without a trace. They no longer even felt pain from Samael's aura. But the shock they felt in their hearts far exceeded the pressure their bodies had endured before.

This was not the nun's first time facing a demon—but a demon like this? She could not imagine that darkness could actually possess such divine might. That cute girl's appearance was merely the monster's outer skin. At first glance, it was a person, but in reality, it was like a black suit drawn by a child scribbling on the world, making her feel that a single touch would lead to heart-wrenching terror.

Sitting on the crimson throne, she mocked everything established, mocked the ignorant and weak nun, and looked down upon everything in the world.

How terrifying. How arrogant.

How could there be such a demon? Why could there be such an enemy?

Facing such a monster, Sister Elaine realized for the first time how tiny she was, as ephemeral as something that would vanish with a single breath.

She really wanted to just run home, pretend she hadn't seen anything, and forget everything that had happened on this ship.

However, once the cruise ship sank any deeper from the deepest layer of the Inner Realm, it would fall into the Sea of Collective Unconscious, also known as the [Dissolution Ocean]. Any human consciousness would dissolve within it; even if saved, they would not have their original personality or memories.

It seemed that Samael had no intention of stopping them. But in just thirty minutes, it would be difficult for the three of them—Qi Xing and the others—to save five hundred people.

What to do? The only way was to break the core of the Inner Realm and return the entire cruise ship to the material world. In that situation, large-scale panic might erupt on the ship. Because hundreds of men would suddenly wake up and discover that their █ had been cut off. But there was always a way to handle that, probably.

Or perhaps obtain infinite divine power directly from Samael, reverse time and space, reconstruct matter, and solve all the problems in the world.

What to do?

Qi Xing had actually already thought of a solution.

As the saying goes, a transmigrator can be bad, but they must absolutely never be cowardly. They can be cruel, cold-blooded, and selfish; they can backstab allies and be ungrateful. But they must never shrink back because of the possibility of failure. They can be insidious, cunning, despicable, shameless, sanctimonious, and can even not treat others as people, viewing them as NPCs—but they must never be spineless.

Qi Xing was no longer willing to be bad, no longer willing to be selfish, no longer willing to not treat others as people.

Because he was kind, he could not be cowardly. Evil without courage is normal; goodness without courage is worse than nothing.

"I've thought of a way. Two ladies, are you willing to gamble with me?"

He pulled his two teammates a bit further away and asked them in a low voice.

The Loli Evil God conjured a pair of red, fluffy earmuffs from the void, put them on, and adopted a relaxed attitude of [Chat amongst yourselves]. No one knew if she was just toying with them. But Qi Xing couldn't be bothered to care about that anymore.

He spent three minutes discussing and negotiating with his teammates, explaining his idea.

After hearing the plan, the Magical Girl was somewhat hesitant: "I… think this method is not very reliable…"

The nun let out a sigh of pure despair.

But they were both good kids, the kind of people who would feel heartache if they saw two or three thousand people potentially dying miserably before their eyes. Such people were rare in this world.

To save lives, does one really need to find a reason?

The two girls looked at each other; although they had only just met today, at this moment, they both had some realization. Artemina had the feeling of [Wow, so being an assistant to Master Leipu is so hard]; Elaine couldn't help but start to doubt herself, perhaps she really needed more teammates.

But when there's no other way, no matter how crazy the method is, you have to take it out to gamble and try. You cannot be limited by common sense.

This principle was something both of them, having been saved by Qi Xing, were especially clear about.

"No matter the result, I will provide power to the best of my ability."

The Magical Girl nodded firmly, making up her mind.

"At this point, could I possibly say no?"

Elaine retorted, but she did not continue to insist on objecting.

Looking at their expressions, Qi Xing couldn't help but feel some warmth in his heart, while also feeling a bit pained.

To have such teammates who would accompany him to gamble and fight (even if one of them was just temporarily roped in today), Qi Xing had to be grateful for his good luck. Precisely because of this, he could not betray their trust and expectations.

"Samael."

Qi Xing turned around and said to the Loli Evil God on the throne,

"I refuse to serve a master weaker than myself. So I want to gamble and fight you first. If I lose, I will willingly become your agent, loyally serve you as a god, and keep my word; if you lose, you will give me the power fragment for free."

"Hey! Mr. Qi!" The latter half of the sentence was obviously a bit greedy, making the nun anxious, "It would be enough to just ask her to break the [Inner Realm] if she loses!"

But Samael laughed. Her laughter was as pleasant as a bell, crisp and cute: "You want to gamble and fight me? Winner takes all? How shall we fight?"

"First, pause the time for the ship sinking into the [Inner Realm]. We will prepare for thirty minutes, and then I will fight you one-on-one. The two of them will not attack, so you must not hurt them either." Qi Xing said cautiously, "As long as I disperse this projection of yours, I win."

The request was a bit much. But Samael still showed a cat-like smile: "Then, as long as I beat you to your knees and make you unable to move, I win."

She had no objections to this and looked full of confidence. Perhaps for an eternal being, this was very reasonable. After all, Qi Xing was just a half-baked cultivator, merely an ordinary human powerhouse.

But even an ordinary human half-immortal has a few tricks up his sleeve.

You know in the *Tom and Jerry* cartoon, when Tom runs full speed off the edge of a cliff and only then realizes he's overshot, what his reaction is? He doesn't look down, but instead carefully probes with one toe to see if there's anything beneath his feet. Until the very moment before he falls, he will not… um… give up.

Qi Xing must be feeling that way right now. Perhaps, if he hadn't stopped to check if there was ground beneath his feet, he could have kept running on endlessly.

"Deal."

016: Playing God

Thirty minutes before the gamble begins, outside the temple.

"First, there is one thing I really must ask clearly."

Qi Xing began,

"Why does Samael keep saying she is a god? Satan is not a god."

Samael = another name for Satan, a name He used in the Mesopotamia region during the ancient era; this was easy to understand.

[Satan] was probably the most famous and also the most powerful evil demon king in the world. So, it was easy for Qi Xing to understand why Samael was unfathomably strong.

Satan is a fallen angel, a devil, a dragon, the original serpent, the great adversary, the king of darkness. Qi Xing understood all of this.

But Satan is not a god… Devils shouldn't be gods… right?

"Uh,"

He didn't expect that after Sister Elaine heard this question, she would actually hesitate for several seconds before answering,

"Actually, Satan can indeed be considered a god."

Huh??

This statement shocked Qi Xing for a moment: Elaine, you aren't messing with some heretical stuff, are you?

"It's not heresy, it's legitimate. In the *Gospels*, Satan is referred to as [the prince of this world]; the Apostles of the Son also called Him [the ruler of authorities], [the ruler of the dust of the world]. Saint Peter said in his epistles that Satan is [the god of this age]—and even someone unlearned like you should have heard that famous story."

Elaine sighed, calmly retorting and explaining,

"The devil took the Son up to the highest mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to Him: [If you bow down and worship me, I will give all of this to you.] That's right, just like what she did to you a moment ago. Because [this world now] does indeed belong to Satan. It can be said that in the current world, Satan truly plays the role of the world's strongest evil god."

Qi Xing was speechless. He had indeed heard this story.

In the most traditional worldview of Christianity, the current world—this world of dust that is full of sin, flaws, and a complete mess—was never meant to be governed by the god in heaven, but had long ago fallen into the hands of Satan. Therefore, Satan is the King of Darkness, the god of this age.

As for the future great battle between good and evil, the final judgment of God, the resurrection of the dead, and the beautiful [New World] after the apocalypse—those are all for the future [new] world, what does that have to do with me in the [current] world?

Interestingly, it's not just Christianity that has such a worldview. Many other religions, including Buddhism and Taoism, are similar. Because any mature religion must admit that the current world is not some beautiful heaven and does not follow an ideal, ought-to-be law and order.

Some Taoist sects would say that the mortal imperial court is the corresponding manifestation of the sacred order of the Heavenly Court. But this worldview clearly doesn't hold up when the Mongols and Jurchens come to kill, destroy your imperial court, and rule and enslave your Central Plains world. Did the Heavenly Court also get turned into a cream puff by Eternal Heaven Tengri?

Therefore, what rules the current Age of Dharma Decline is clearly neither the Buddha nor the Heavenly Court. It is the Heavenly Demon, it is Papiyas.

"You say heresy? If you really apply some concepts from ancient heretical sects, such as the views of the Bogomils, they believed that the current world was not created by God at all, but by Satan; Satan is not a demon, but the second son of God, the head of all angels. If we go back to even earlier ancient heretical theories, such as the Marcionites from two thousand years ago… O Lord, this is too heretical."

Elaine shook her head and made the sign of the cross. Although she ran around wearing a combat outfit that exposed her thighs and navel, her views were actually relatively orthodox Roman. It was just that she had studied all those heretical classics.

As for Qi Xing… sorry, I can't distinguish between all your Christian sects. Who can tell them apart?

Qi Xing suspected that even the angels and demons might not be able to tell them apart. For two thousand years, people have been messing around. Even the Mediterranean carpenter would smile bitterly if he saw it, and God would be amused.

However, Elaine's words faintly triggered a flash of inspiration in Qi Xing—she said that [this world of sin, flaws, and a complete mess] might have been created by Satan.

To the people of this world, these claims were just religious inferences, just concepts. Because they had never truly seen [other worlds], they had no feeling about it. Elaine didn't feel there was a problem with wearing a nun's outfit that exposed her thighs and navel. A powerful Magical Girl wouldn't strike back even when threatened by an ordinary person. Why would such powerful people meekly let themselves be bullied and raped by school teachers? Thinking about these was useless. One could only accept reality.

The villains of this world could brag and talk endlessly about their evil plans, and no hero would interrupt them. No one would aim for the villain's crotch to attack.

Except for Qi Xing.

Because Qi Xing is a transmigrator.

He had truly experienced different worlds. Although his home wasn't an ideal, beautiful utopia of freedom, it was still much better than this big cesspit marinated in erotica.

Then who exactly created this big cesspit?

"Very good. If I finally have the honor today to see the culprit behind this eroge cesspit, then I should beat her up even more."

Qi Xing let out a long breath. After hearing Elaine's explanation, he didn't feel the pressure increase. Instead, he felt a sense of clarity, and his fighting spirit grew even stronger.

Thirty minutes later, they had finished all their preparations.

Only Qi Xing returned to the temple alone.

"Ready?"

The Demon God, the Evil God, Samael was waiting patiently here. She looked full of interest.

"Then come at me, I am looking forward to your moves."

Unknowingly, perhaps because he had heard Elaine's explanation just now, Qi Xing found that he himself was actually looking forward to this battle more and more.

Me fighting the King of Darkness? Really?

It's a pity that this King of Darkness didn't intend to fight Qi Xing seriously. She said she was looking forward to it, but when it was time to start, she was still sitting on the throne, smiling and waiting for Qi Xing to attack first.

Fortunately, Qi Xing didn't intend to have a fair duel with Samael either.

"Me being weaker than you doesn't necessarily mean I will lose; it is decided by our respective mindsets, strategies, and minds during the battle—Samael, being this arrogant, you will surely be defeated by my hands!"

Without waiting for the Loli Demon God to reply, Qi Xing had already exhaled his Qi, which had been accumulated to the limit, and took a step toward the throne!

Boom!

Extreme speed!

With one step taken, his body soared, exploding with a thunderous sonic boom like a fighter jet in flight, the shockwaves and wind even cutting cracks into the surrounding temple walls!

Having taken just one step, Qi Xing had already entered the supersonic realm. The powerful momentum of his punch was like he wanted to pierce the blue sky with his hand in one go! Wherever the fierce force went, gravel and broken bricks flew everywhere, all scorched red and hot by lightning!

This was lightning. By the time you saw the light, your head would have already been blown off. In this detestable R18 world, no matter if you are a hypnotist, kidnapper, or use traps, poison gas, magic eyes, or even time stops, you would get your head blown off by a single punch because you couldn't react in time!

He charged toward Samael like a rocket launch.

Then an extremely terrifying thing happened. Because the Evil God used a movement that looked like it should be slower, but in reality seemed even faster, she slowly conjured a cup of black tea from the void, elegantly took a sip, ate a small piece of chocolate, wiped her mouth, and then flicked Qi Xing away with one finger.

Unreasonable?!

This flick of Samael's finger, like a great roc spreading its wings to hate the low sky, slammed over like the falling sky. At the critical moment, Qi Xing transformed the Yin and Yang Qi, turning his fist into a palm, changing from Yang-hardness to Yin-softness, floating and soft to the extreme, spinning rapidly in circles in the air.

He saw his Qi, which had been accumulated to the limit, first appear in black and white colors, like Taiji Yin-Yang fish intertwined head to tail, only without the white and black dots in each, and then it spun faster and faster, and faster and faster, finally turning into a deep, dark, unfathomable chaotic hole that was neither black nor white.