Chapter 350 Judgment of Lightning

Flashes of lightning shot intermittently across the horizon all through the night, illuminating the blackened night sky, and right after each flash, the guttural and harrowing cries mimicking that of a monster in excruciating pain could be heard from afar.

The incessant lightning blasts went on for an entire night, and each smiting of the lightning hammered fear into the sentries manning the borders of Country Y, that their hair stood on ends all night, dreading if it was the dead – warriors of the West who had perished during the border skirmish – coming back to demand repayment.

When morning finally came, the sentries crept over the border to reconnoiter what was happening over the horizon.

It was still quite a way from the Huaxia side of the border, but they did not dare move any further, for just at the rock cliffs ahead was the engravings that Chu Xun had left. The very ones which had killed one of the Pope’s godchildren.

Then the sentries saw him – Angus, imprisoned at the center area between the borders of both countries. But the near-dying man looked utterly unrecognizable and worse for wear with his entire back blackened and charred with blood streaming down all over him.

Buzz!

The enchantment initiated another lightning blast and a bolt leaped out of the dark clouds overhead and smote hard on Angus’s back.

“ARGGGGHHHH!” Angus emitted another racking wail as terrible as a banshee’s.

Horrified, the sentries wheeled around and scarpered quickly, calling what they saw a monster.

The sentries put almost a hundred meters between Angus and them before they hid themselves in a small patch of forest to record what they saw and uploaded the footage to the Internet.

This was sent to an expert of Country Y, who spent two hours studying the footage. Finally, panting hard with beads of sweat rolling down the side of his face, he said, “This is someone now being adjudicated by the gods in Huaxia. The lightning blasts are the gods’ punishments upon the transgressor and I believe that the person is Chu Xun.”

“You may be right. Much evil the Devil has wrought and the gods must be angry at him. This explains it,” added his colleague.

Chu Xun being punished by the gods with hails of thunderbolts. Never a happier word had been heard by the warriors of the West.

In fact, they nearly held a huge celebration for this.

“Hahahaha, don’t you Huaxia people have a saying: From heaven the gods look down and see all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on Earth. This is what you deserve, Devil!”

“The lightning blasts are the punishments from the gods of our country for Chu Xun’s crimes of killing so many people!” said a comment left by warriors of Country Y.

“As if you’ve done anything to warrant such favor. Anyone could very see that these are judgments meted out by gods of the West!” retorted a remark left by someone from the Dark Guild.

At the headquarters of the Holy Temple, Louis wavered with indecision at first, although he immediately decided to release a statement of his own. The Holy Temple could not allow the Dark Guild to claim all the credit.

“Look at how this place shines like day! Clearly, this is the Sun God! Only the great and mighty Sun God has such means to tame the Devil!”

Everyone west of Huaxia – from Country Y to every other warrior of the West – insisted that this must be divine intervention and the one now doling out judgment upon Chu Xun was one of their gods.

Myriads of contending ideas and opinions teemed the Internet.

What first began as a discussion that someone from Country Y started on Western online message boards, slowly sparked into another sensation that eventually Huaxia warriors learned about.

But when they saw the short video clip, they were puzzled. It seemed to resemble a formation enchantment the more they looked at it.

Then a directive came from the government of Country Y, ordering the borders sentries to keep a close eye on the strange phenomenon taking place and broadcast it live online.

As soon as the live transmission started, what everyone first saw were dark, menacing clouds roiling overhead with flickers of lightning and the rumbles of thunder, and there was one man beneath it all, enduring the lightning blasts striking down on him again and again.

Huaxia warriors all simmered with speculations and guesses.

Then they saw it – a mob of people approaching and as they drew nearer, they began to realize who it was.

Once again the entire cyberspace resumed the desolate stillness of a desert.

For everyone could, with their own eyes, saw the man leading the approaching throng was none other than the Devil Chu Xun, whom the West had been purporting to be “suffering judgment from their gods”.

The Country Y sentries almost lost their minds when they saw Chu Xun. Dropping the broadcasting paraphernalia in terror, they turned around and fled in the direction they came from.

The Internet sizzled again with a raucous riot.

Huaxia warriors began launching salvos of jeers and ridicules.

“Worthless trash of the West. Did you not say Chu Xun is being punished by your gods?! Look more closely with those dog-like eyes of yours!”

“Since the world can now see clearly that it is not Chu Xun suffering from these punishments, the one now being blasted by lightning might instead be your gods then?”

“That’s right! Look at your so-called gods, being imprisoned by the Devil and now is being punished by him! What happened to ‘Good will always triumph over evil’, eh?”

“I wonder which of the Western gods is now being punished.”

Huaxia warriors all had a good time lampooning the West.

Unaware of the fracas still going on the Internet, Chu Xun walked up to Angus and asked, “How do you like it, Angus?”

The Country Y sentries might have fled, but in their panic, they left behind the broadcast equipment which was still running and what Chu Xun said could clearly be heard all around the world.

“Angus?! That piece of shit that looks even worse than a beggar is the Deputy Prelate of the Holy Temple?!”

The warriors of the West stirred when they heard Chu Xun, the notion that he was the one doling out, not receiving, the punishments a painful truth to them.

More so, for the Holy Temple of the Sun who had just released their statement not long ago saying how that must be the Sun God raining judgment down on the Devil. Who would have guessed how the tables had turned instead.

“Wow… So the one being struck by lightning is none other than the Sun God,” said a disparaging comment left by Huaxia warriors.

Louis felt a prickly sensation on his cheeks as if someone had smacked him across the face, his eyes twitching and his lips quivering as he gritted his teeth with anger and embarrassment.

“Chu Xun… You Devil… You lowly vermin… How dare you… Just you wait… The Beacon will make short work of you…”

Elsewhere, the Dark Guild and the rest of the Holy Temple’s rival factions gloated with glee. They did respond with statements of their own before, but none of their messages came as loud and strong as the Holy Temple’s, which had invariably claimed that only the Sun God possessed the ability to rain lightning bolts. They could not have been any happier at the Holy Temple’s predicament.

Seething with anger, the Holy Temple immediately contacted Yan Wushuang, demanding an answer. Why would the Devil subject Angus to such treatment after agreeing to return him?

But a dubious Yan Wushuang did not understand. “What the hell did I do,” he wondered.

“Stop your phony playacting! You people are so fly-by-night!” glowered Louis.

Annoyed, Yan Wushuang barked, “Stop your nonsense. I don’t even know what’s going on!”

Only then, did Yan Wushuang finally learn about everything.

“Continue such treatment on our Deputy Prelate, and the Holy Temple shall cease all dealings with you!” they threatened.

Chu Xun instead looked delighted. He had Yan Wushuang responded with another intimidation of his own, “Send the items quick or we’ll have Angus flayed alive.”

“HOW DARE YOU!” came the response from the Holy Temple.

Miffed, Chu Xun grumbled, “Just shuddup and be quick at it. Any more delays and Angus will really be dead.”

With that, he had Yan Wushuang cut off all contact with the Holy Temple. He pointed into the air and operated the enchantment. Another bolt of lightning came hailing down from the sky and Angus’s painful shrieks began once more.

With every member of the Holy Temple shaking with fury and the High Prelate Louis roaring with manic rage, it was the first time anyone had forced the Holy Temple to such indignity and shame and it was all Chu Xun’s doing.

Angus could well feel that his life was leaving him. The lightning blows struck upon him again and again, before pausing for an hour as respite, yet there was no way his healing rate could keep up with the damage he continually suffered.

Deep inside his heart, Chu Xun was the real Devil incarnate. He could never depend on the Holy Temple to save him in time, he realized, and he needed to do something if he wanted to survive.

“P-p-please… Devil… Let me out… I’ll tell you everything you want to know…” he begged pitifully. All that he ever wanted was to leave this place.

“You don’t have to. I have nothing I need to know,” muttered Chu Xun placidly, “You should say your prayers and hope that the people coming to ransom you reach here in time.”

Those words sent the cyberspace into another uproar. Chu Xun had just craftily informed the entire world that the Holy Temple wanted to ransom back Angus.

“Is the Holy Temple admitting defeat?”

In the great hall of the Holy Temple, Louis’s anger had only just expunged when Chu Xun’s voice came blasting through at full volume and rekindled his rage, and the High Prelate roared again with rabid madness.

“WHERE ARE THEY?! GET THEM THERE ON THE DOUBLE! I WANT CHU THE DEVIL KILLED!”

This time, Chu Xun had really stomped the name of the Holy Temple into the mud.

The warriors of the West were indignant. The West had always prided itself in being more dignified and excellent compared to Huaxia. How could they suffer such weakness?

Forced up against a wall, Louis immediately released another statement, “The brilliant illumination of the Sun God touches every one of its citizens. The Sun God will never forsake any one of his devotees and the Holy Temple will ensure the safety of its people, whatever the cost, whatever the effort.”

This seemed to work somewhat. At least pious Western devotees of the Holy Temple remained staunch in declaring their undivided loyalty to the Sun God.

Chu Xun was hardly amused when he heard about this. Coolly, he spoke for the benefit of the camera still maintaining the live broadcast, and he said, “It’s that one thousand five hundred magical herbs and elixirs that is saving him, not some worthless Sun God.”

It directly contradicted Louis’s statement. Louis had only through strenuous effort just prevailed in restoring the faith of his devotees when Chu Xun’s words came ringing as a tolling bell through the cyberspace, puncturing his inflated facade while exposing much more of the Holy Temple’s skeletons to the world.

“How?!” Louis asked himself, “How could there be such an insufferable person?!”

“So the Sun God you worshiped so devoutly is none other than a thousand five hundred magical shrubs and elixirs,” teased the Dark Guild with overflowing voracity.

Louis ignored the mortifying remarks and instead, he unabashedly put up a benevolent and kind appearance as he made another statement, “Be they a thousand five hundred or even fifteen hundred magical herbs and elixirs; nothing is more valuable than the lives of the Sun God’s citizens. What’s more, these are gifts from our might god himself.”

One could hardly dispute Louis’s aptitude in cajoling and enthralling the followers of the Holy Temple. Listening to him somehow reignited the faith of the devotees of the Holy Temple as they cheered and reaffirmed their adoration for the Sun God.

“Ah, I might have neglected to mention that it’s a thousand five hundred middle-grade magical herbs and elixir.” Chu Xun’s voice came over the broadcast again with unnerving placidness.

That nearly had Louis spew the deepest contents from inside his bowels. “This accursed bastard just can’t stop his meddling at every possible juncture!”

…

Meanwhile, at the Huaxia-Country Y border, Angus felt his end looming not far ahead and he knew that if he wished to survive, he would need to save himself.

“Please… Devil… Let me out… I’ll tell you about the codices of the Holy Temple and its carefully-guarded discipline, the True Flames of the Sun…”

The last few words struck a chord and Chu Xun felt tempted.

But through the broadcast, Louis was listening. And he was shaking. It would be disastrous if Angus were to divulge the secret pith to learning the most arcane discipline of the Holy Temple: the True Flames of the Sun.

The True Flames of the Sun, as its name suggested, was a powerful fire-based magical discipline, and the only other person skilled in fire-based techniques that Chu Xun knew would only be Winsome Widow and he was confident that she would have a lot to gain if he could impart to her what he could learn from the secrets of the True Flame.

Chu Xun undid the magic of his enchantment and released Angus.

“Dammit, you can’t!” scream Louis frantically. The True Flames of the Sun represented the cornerstone of the Holy Temple. Angus might have learned only one-third of the full discipline, but it was the Holy Temple’s most secretly-guarded knowledge. With no other way, he sent word to the team heading straight for the borders and urged that they made haste.

“You are a prominent figure of Huaxia, Devil! What you’re doing lacks decorum!” In his desperation, Louis left Chu Xun a message.

Chu Xun saw it and spoke at the camera, “Let me guess: you’re trying to stall me.”

“That is immaterial. But what you’re doing is tantamount to declaring war upon the Holy Temple! Bear in mind that the True Flames of the Sun is the keystone to the Temple and I swear that the Holy Temple shall do its utmost to exact unswerving vengeance upon any offense of this degree,” said Louis.

Chu Xun broke into a roaring fit of laughter. “I’d like to see you try,” he sniggered.

“Wait! Do you think that you can learn the magic of the True Flames just through verbal information alone? No. Without the Sacred Dew of the Sun as catalyst, you’ll never make it work,” Louis cried out.

“The Sacred Dew of the Sun?!”

“Is that so?” Chu Xun turned to look questioningly at Angus.

Angus nodded, saying, “It’s true. Without the Sacred Dew, you’ll never master the True Flames of the Sun. Not even if you have the full code.”