"Heh—"
Like a sneer, Chen Junting slowly raised his head and looked toward the gray northern horizon. There, it was as if he could already hear the muffled thunder of the barbarian iron cavalry charging, and see the blood-colored skies of beacon fires. The fragrance of wine from the Maze Tower, Jialing's soft whispers, and the sycophancy of the courtiers... All that illusory prosperity, all that whitewashed scene of peace, collapsed with a roar before this stark reality of a land covered in starved corpses, revealing its skeletal white foundation!
Regret, fury, humiliation... all sorts of emotions burned like toxic fire in his chest, almost tearing him apart!
"Return to the palace!"
Chen Junting violently turned around. His voice was hoarse, but it carried an ironclad resolve. The hem of his dragon robe flapped in the northern wind, his back as straight as a drawn sword.
Not long after, the atmosphere inside the Zichen Hall was as solemn and murderous as iron. The once-luxurious furnishings now seemed to be covered in a layer of ice.
Chen Junting sat upright on the dragon throne. Though his face was haggard and his eye sockets sunken, his eyes were shockingly bright, burning with an icy flame. He was no longer the deluded monarch living in a drunken stupor within the Maze Tower, but an old dragon thoroughly enraged, eager to drink blood.
As for the deposed Crown Prince, Chen Shuo, he stood at his right hand.
"Pass down my decrees!"
Chen Junting's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached every corner of the hall, carrying the unquestionable majesty of thunder.
"First: The treasonous minister Li Ju deceived his sovereign, disrupted the court's discipline, sold official positions, embezzled military funds, and concealed military reports, resulting in the loss of the northern frontier and the suffering of the people! His crimes are unforgivable! He is to be executed by lingering death! Exterminate his three familial generations! His faction members, once verified, regardless of rank, shall be executed immediately! His assets are to be confiscated and forfeited to the state!"
This iron-blooded and cruel command fell like ice, and the few remaining old ministers in the hall felt a chill pierce straight to their marrow.
"Second: The wicked consorts like Jialing bewitched the sovereign, corrupted the court's discipline, and were extravagantly wasteful! Though they have been executed, their crimes are hard to erase! Their corpses are to be exposed at the northern watchtower for three days! The Maze Tower's lake of wine and forest of meat are to be completely destroyed! All precious ornaments are to be sealed and confiscated to fund the military!"
"Third: Crown Prince Chen Shuo is loyal and daring in his admonishments, his heart tied to the state. Though his actions were flawed (referring to the mutiny), his intentions are pitiable, and his heart is as bright as the sun and moon! He is hereby restored to the position of Crown Prince! Given the seal of the Regent, he shall act on my behalf to oversee the court, pacify the people, and procure rations and military equipment!"
"Fourth: I have been deficient in my virtues, refusing loyal counsel, indulging in pleasure, allowing sycophants to seize power, military preparedness to decline, barbarians to run rampant, and the people to be displaced! I have failed Heaven above and the people below! I hereby issue an 'Edict of Repentance,' to be distributed to every province and county in the realm! I shall personally lead the six armies to the northern frontier to punish the barbarians. I will not return to Chang'an until this shame is avenged!"
This series of decrees—every word like a knife, every sentence soaked in blood! Without the slightest hesitation, without a moment's delay.
Even if some ministers wanted to dissuade him, under the emperor's gaze that seemed to say "whoever speaks for them shall die," they dared not say much.
The empire's massive war machine, under the cold and efficient will of this suddenly awakened emperor, began to emit a grinding, heart-palpitating roar.
Three days! A mere three days!
Chang'an seemed to have undergone the baptism of a fierce storm.
Li Ju was escorted to the execution ground. The once-glorious "Supervisory Lord," now disheveled and limp as mud, was stripped of his official robes, tied bare-chested to the execution pillar. The executioner's skill was exquisite, his bright thin blade fluttering like a butterfly through flowers. The shrill, inhuman wails lasted for a full six hours before finally turning into a blurry skeleton of flesh and blood. Dozens of his faction members were also beheaded, heads rolling to the ground, dirty blood soaking the yellow earth. The citizens of Chang'an watched from afar; their initial fear turned into an earth-shattering cheer of long-suppressed elation!
At this moment, all the accumulated resentment was thoroughly vented with the execution of these treacherous ministers.
The Maze Tower, this extravagant demon's den at the foot of Mount Li, was thoroughly destroyed by the imperial guards under Chen Junting's strict orders. The white jade pool that once flowed with fine wine was smashed to pieces by giant hammers; the emerald "Apsara Bathing the Buddha" mural set into its bottom was pried out and removed; the wrought-iron branches hanging with delicacies were toppled; the gorgeous silk curtains were torn down.
As for the meat in the forest and the wine in the pool, they were all rewarded to the soldiers. Countless rare treasures, gold, and silver vessels were cataloged and carted off to the national treasury and the Directorate of Armaments.
The corpses of Jialing and those beauties were wrapped in straw mats and hung from the northern gate tower of Chang'an, stiffly swaying in the cold wind, silently warning of the consequences of bewitchment and extravagance.
Coupled with the "Edict of Repentance" sent nationwide, decrees stamped with the emperor's jade seal and the crown prince's regent seal seemed to sprout wings, flying to all corners of the empire—Open the granaries! Relieve the victims! Conscript troops! Audit the treasuries! Rectify military preparedness! Gather rations! Forge weapons! Requisition civilian labor! March north to conquer!
For a time, more than half of the peasant uprisings dispersed.
At this moment, the entire empire, amidst pain and chaos, was forcibly twisted onto the track of war. The massive inertia made every step incredibly difficult, but Chen Junting and the Regent Crown Prince Chen Shuo displayed unprecedented cold efficiency. Any evasion, delay, or embezzlement would face the harshest military punishment!
...
At dawn seven days later, outside the Xuanwu Gate in the north of Chang'an.
The north wind was like a knife, rolling up the residual snow and dust on the ground, fluttering countless banners. The emperor's banners with black backgrounds and golden dragons, and the military flags of the various garrisons, were pulled taut in the cold wind. The army's armor was awe-inspiring, their swords and spears like a forest, arranged in silent and murderous phalanxes, like a jungle of steel covering the vast plains outside the city. At this very moment, the air was filled with the scent of rust, leather, and warhorses, so heavy it was suffocating.
The general's platform towered high!
Chen Junting was clad in black armor, draped over with an old, washed-out robe that even had a few patches—that was the battle robe he wore when he launched the surprise attack on Luo Capital all those years ago. His graying hair was tightly bound by a golden crown, the wrinkles on his face carved like knives, and in his deep-set eyes burned an almost maddened flame. He stood on the high platform with his hand on his sword, overlooking the torrent of steel below. The armor was cold and heavy, yet it strangely comforted his aging body, awakening the long-dormant youthful spirit deep within his blood.
Beside him, Crown Prince Chen Shuo was similarly dressed in military attire, standing at his side, his young face bearing a solemnity and resolve beyond his years. In his hands, he held a scroll of bright yellow imperial decree.
Chen Junting slowly raised his hand, and the entire drill ground instantly fell dead silent, with only the howling wind remaining; yet, there was no fury in his eyes.
A ruler must not raise an army out of anger;
A general must not engage in battle out of resentment.
He was very clear on this principle.
As for Pride... it had long ceased to exist.
At this time, Chen Junting's eyes were entirely filled with clarity. His current silhouette seemed to overlap with the Crown Prince's.
"Soldiers!"
His voice seemed to be carried far away, rolling over the earth like muffled thunder, clearly reaching the ears of every soldier, carrying a desolate yet tragic and heroic power, "I! Have sinned!"
These words, were earth-shattering!
The gazes of all the soldiers in the army instantly focused on that aged yet upright figure on the high platform. After all, reading a decree was different from hearing it from his own mouth.
"I was blinded by slander, bewitched by pleasure! I nurtured a malignancy that led to disaster, allowing sycophants to run rampant! Military preparedness decayed! Barbarians ran wild! The northern frontier fell! The people suffered! This is all my fault alone!" Chen Junting's voice was hoarse; every word seemed to weep blood, confessing the deepest shame and repentance of an emperor.
"I have already issued the 'Edict of Repentance,' announced to the world! My sins are witnessed by Heaven and Earth! Yet, the state is in peril, and the people are hanging upside down! This is not my shame alone; this is the national humiliation of our Great Qian!"
Chen Junting violently drew the sword at his waist. The blade's edge carved a tragic cold gleam in the faint morning light, pointing straight north!
"Today, with this ruined body, wearing this old armor, I march with you! If we do not break the barbarians, I swear not to return to the capital! I will use my blood to wash away my sins! I will use the barbarians' blood to sacrifice for our fallen soldiers and civilians in the north!"
"Valiant veterans! Together we face the national crisis!"
"Until our blood runs dry! We will not rest from battle!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The hot blood in the soldiers' chests was utterly ignited! The suppressed fury, the heroic spirit of defending their homeland, the complex emotions toward this suddenly awakened monarch who would risk death to atone for his sins—all of this finally transformed into a roar like a tsunami! The sound waves, like a tangible tidal bore, swept across the entire drill ground. At this moment, their roaring fury seemed to scatter the flowing clouds in the sky and shook the thick city walls of Chang'an!
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Until our blood runs dry! We will not rest from battle!"
The roars were like thunder, the killing intent piercing the heavens!
Chen Junting took one last look at the towering Chang'an city behind him, and at the Crown Prince beside him with his resolute gaze. He violently swung his long sword forward, the movement clean and decisive, carrying the resolve of no return! He roared: "The army, march!"
Woo—
The desolate and vigorous sound of the horn tore through the sky, like the roar of a giant dragon. At this moment, the torrent of steel began to slowly move.
Heavy footsteps, the clopping of hooves, the rolling of wheels converged into a torrent that shook the earth, carrying the resolve to wash away the shame and the tragedy of burning one's bridges, rolling relentlessly toward the war-torn north. The scene also abruptly came to an end!
...
"It's over."
In the Forest of Life in the Divine Realm.
The God of Envy glanced from the corner of his eye at the God of Wrath. "Didn't expect the original sin of Wrath to just disappear like that."
"Don't just talk about me!"
As soon as these words were spoken, the God of Wrath immediately pointed at the God of Pride. "Look at him, the original sin of Pride disappeared even more soundlessly."
"Tch—"
The God of Pride wanted to refute, but he was indeed powerless. He just curled his lip and fell silent.
Seeing these two thorns temporarily speechless, the God of Destruction, who had remained silent all along, turned his gaze to the only two who hadn't made a move: the God of Envy and the God of Gluttony.
Seemingly noticing their Lord's gaze,
"My Lord." x2
"Mm."
After responding, the God of Destruction spoke: "Next are your original sins. Do you want to go together? Or one by one? If it's the latter, who goes first?"
The God of Envy and the God of Gluttony looked at each other, and finally...
"I'll go first."
The God of Gluttony was the first to speak, and then his seven divine rings lit up, and a dark yellow divine power plunged into the lower realm.
...
Thus, in the lower realm, just after Chen Junting woke up from passing the second stage, before he could even say a word to Old E and the others, he felt dizzy again and passed out.
However, before fainting, he still had a thought in his mind: 'Damn it! Can't you give a person a break to catch their breath?!'
And the next third stage was vastly different from the previous ones. Because in the first two stages, his mind incarnated as a human, but for this third stage... for some unknown reason, Chen Junting transformed into a Taotie—a mythical beast that would never stop eating and would ultimately eat itself to death.
For this stage, the original sin of Gluttony aroused the gluttonous desire of the Taotie that Chen Junting had transformed into. If he didn't restrain it, the consequence was naturally self-evident: he would end up bursting from overeating, nothing more.
Anyway, facing the desire to gorge, at first the Taotie that Chen Junting incarnated as still followed its instinct of hunger. But as the Taotie's belly grew larger and larger, his mind, which had never been fully occupied by the original sin of Gluttony, instantly regained its clarity.
So he easily passed this stage.
And when this third stage passed, the final fourth stage seamlessly connected. It didn't even give Chen Junting time to wake up; the God of Envy in the Divine Realm directly bestowed her trial.
As for the content of this fourth stage...
Chen Junting directly became a painter, and his task was to paint the Great Buddha in a temple. Besides him, there were two other painters, who were also his brothers.
Only, after the Great Buddha was painted, the Buddha actually opened its mouth and spoke of the future destinies of the three. One had a good fate: by a stroke of luck, he would gain the appreciation of a noble and become a royal painter; One had an average fate: he would continue the trade of painting, and though he wouldn't achieve great things, he would eventually marry, have children, and live a stable life; One had a bad fate: a year later, his parents would die, and though he would marry, his wife would have an affair with another man, the child born would not be his own, and later he himself would starve and freeze to death, considered to die young.
It was just unknown which of the three destinies corresponded to whom?
Thus, for a moment, suspicion and jealousy surged in their hearts. No matter who it was, each of them became jealous of the one with the good fate, and even jealous of the one with the average fate.
Under the guidance of the original sin of Envy, Chen Junting directly fabricated a lie. He said there was a kind of mythical beast called "Lei," and if they ate its meat, they could eliminate their suspicion and jealousy.
Therefore, after that, the three brought their gear and headed to Tanxiang Mountain, preparing to hunt the "Lei" and eat its meat.
However, how could there be any "Lei" in this world?
There was only the evil of human nature.
Originally, Chen Junting, influenced by the original sin of Envy, planned to lure the other two painters up Tanxiang Mountain and kill them, so as to ensure that he would be the one with the good fate.
But ultimately, upon stepping onto Tanxiang Mountain, while the other two painters couldn't find the so-called "Lei" and Chen Junting was just about to make his move, the clarity within his mind overpowered the original sin of Envy.
With a chuckle, he directly said, "It seems this rumor are false." Then he made an oath with the other two painters: whoever turned out to be the one with the good fate would step forward to help the other two. This way, they wouldn't need to be jealous. After all, everyone had their own destiny, and there was no need to forcefully demand otherwise.
Thus, the fourth stage was passed!
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