Chapter 490-1: Descent of the Mother Buddha of All Evils, the Price of Incense (1)

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. It did not echo — it simply existed, as if the air itself had always carried it and only now chosen to let it be heard.

Lin Xun did not stop what he was doing.

The destructive energy continued flowing from his palm. Another incense burner's accumulated malice began to drain, the dark condensed smoke unraveling like thread being pulled from a spool.

[The vibration from the golden statue grows stronger. Fine cracks begin to appear along the surface of the altar's stone base. The remaining courtesans and musicians in the great hall scramble for the exits in a stampede of terror, not one of them willing to remain a moment longer.]

[The voice speaks again, still unhurried, still carrying that vast undertone — you are not from this land. And that Shell you wear is not yours. Interesting.]

[You continue to drain the incense power. You reply: This seat is just passing through. Hand over your incense and this seat will leave. Refuse, and this seat will take it anyway — while also tearing down that ugly statue outside.]

[A pause. Then — a laugh, low and genuine.]

[The cracks in the altar's stone base spread further. The golden statue on the altar begins to glow, a deep sanguine light blooming from within the gold, slowly intensifying…]

[You have touched the incense of the Mother Buddha of All Evils. Incense Forced Descent Mechanism activated!]

[Current descent progress: 11%]

Lin Xun let out a quiet exhale. Good.

The system had confirmed it — the Mother Buddha of All Evils was a genuine god-level entity, one that had accumulated enough incense power over generations to qualify as a proper divine being even within the corrupted, malice-soaked framework of this world. Forcing a god to descend in person required sustained pressure on their incense source.

He had done noisier work at the temple gate. The incense drain was the real provocation.

[The sanguine glow within the golden statue deepens further. The air of the great hall grows heavy — not with heat, but with something older, something that presses down on the chest and makes the lungs work harder. The candles on the altar burn sideways despite the absence of wind.]

[Descent progress: 19%]

[From outside the great hall, sounds of commotion arise — shouts, the crash of footsteps, the ringing of urgent temple bells. A new wave of monks has gathered at what remains of the temple gate. There are far more of them than before, and at their head stand two figures whose auras are unmistakably different from all the monks who came before.]

[Two Extreme Evil Great Dharma Kings of the All Evil Precious Temple have arrived!]

[One is a towering woman in black robes, her head shaved smooth, her face tattooed from chin to forehead with the image of a weeping ghost. In her hands she holds two curved bone-white sickles, each one pulsing with concentrated malice. Her Shell Level reads as significantly higher than the three Dharma Kings you defeated moments ago.]

[The other is an ancient monk who appears so old as to be desiccated — skin like dried leather over bone, eyes sunken so deep they seem to have retreated into the skull. Yet the malice radiating from this ancient monk is the most oppressive of all. He carries no weapon. He needs none. The air around him simply warps.]

[The woman in black robes looks at the blood-soaked stairs, at the headless and lance-pierced corpses piled along them, and at you, standing alone in the center of the great hall with one hand lazily extended toward the altar. Her expression shifts from readiness to something approaching uncertainty.]

[The ancient dried monk does not speak. He simply watches.]

[You glance at them over your shoulder and say — if you wish to join your fellow monks, come in. This seat will not refuse you the honor.]

[The woman in black robes' grip tightens on her sickles. But she does not advance.]

[Descent progress: 28%]

[The sanguine glow from the golden statue has by now filled the entire altar with red light. The temperature in the great hall has begun to drop sharply despite the blazing candles. Frost crystals form along the edges of the shattered doorframe behind you.]

[The voice of the Mother Buddha of All Evils drifts through the hall once more — ]

[You are draining a river by holding your palm to it, little dragon. Impressive patience. Shall I tell you something interesting while we wait?]

[You say: Speak.]

[She says — the incense you are draining is not truly mine. Every drop of malice stored in those burners belongs to the people of this city. Their fear. Their prayers to something that harms them. Their faith offered to that which devours them. You are not taking from me. You are taking from them.]

Lin Xun's expression did not change.

"That's the nature of evil incense," he said quietly, not bothering to address her through the game text. "Parasitic from start to finish."

He kept draining.

[Descent progress: 37%]

[The golden statue's sanguine glow pulses, once, twice — like a heartbeat.]

[Then the statue's smile changes.]

[Where before it had been languid and dreaming, it is now fully awake. The gold surface of the statue ripples like disturbed water, and from within it, like something vast pressing through a membrane too small to contain it — ]

[Something begins to push through.]

[Descent progress: 51%]

[The two Great Dharma Kings at the hall entrance take a step back involuntarily. Even the ancient dried monk's warped air stabilizes for a moment, as if whatever radiates from the altar has impressed even him into stillness.]

[You stand your ground. The End Dragon's Destruction Armor flares brighter. You drive the dragon lance point-first into the altar's stone base — not to destroy it, but to anchor yourself against the pressure that is beginning to build in the great hall like a tide coming in.]

[Descent progress: 63%]

[The golden statue cracks from crown to base. Through the cracks, sanguine light pours like liquid.]

[Then the statue shatters.]

[And where it stood, something that was not a statue stands instead.]