"You... you're not right!"
"Who exactly are you?"
The shrine keeper looked at the young man in shock and asked.
The young man, however, maintained his usual half-smile and uttered two words: "Ying Chen."
If Ashiya Douman, who had just entered the Golden Body, had heard these words, he would have been terrified and fled immediately.
But the shrine keeper had no idea what these two words represented.
The shrine keeper frowned. "What Ying Chen, Shu Chen, I advise you not to rely on a bit of trivial kung fu to run amok here. Otherwise, you won't even know how you died."
Originally, the shrine keeper's words were meant as a threat. Unexpectedly, Ying Chen nodded very seriously. "I really don't know how I will die. After all, I've lived for over two thousand years, I can't die even if I wanted to!"
"..." The shrine keeper's gaze towards Ying Chen immediately showed a hint of pity and sympathy.
So this guy wasn't just in the late stages of chuunibyou, but also had delusions of grandeur!
The shrine keeper decided not to get entangled with Ying Chen any further, and a sharp glint appeared in his eyes.
He wanted to deal with Ying Chen directly!
He twitched his arm, and a long, thin, and sharp silver needle appeared in his hand.
This silver needle was custom-made for him.
It could penetrate a human heart without anyone noticing. By the time the person died and their blood congealed, the wound would be undetectable.
Even the most experienced forensic examiner would only conclude death by heart disease.
However, just as the shrine keeper was about to stab the silver needle into Ying Chen's heart, he saw Ying Chen extend his hand gently.
Then the silver needle in the shrine keeper's hand was in Ying Chen's hand!
An uninformed observer would have thought the shrine keeper had willingly handed the needle to Ying Chen!
The shrine keeper's expression changed drastically.
Realizing something was wrong, he turned to flee, intending to enter the shrine and awaken Ashiya Douman.
Unfortunately, before he could act, his feet lifted off the ground, and he was suspended in mid-air.
Ying Chen had grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up!
Ying Chen looked at the shrine keeper, while his other hand toyed with the shrine keeper's silver needle.
"I heard that as long as the speed is fast enough and the needle is thin enough, even if the entire needle is inserted into the eye and then pulled out, you won't feel any pain."
"Shall we do an experiment?"
The shrine keeper was greatly alarmed.
His head shook like a rattle drum. "No, no, no... Don't!"
"I am just an ordinary and innocent shrine keeper. Why are you treating me like this?"
Hearing the shrine keeper's words, Ying Chen couldn't help but laugh.
"Ordinary? Innocent?"
"How do you think you can be associated with these two words!"
"You don't really believe that you worship Guanyin Bodhisattva, do you? And that all the decrees you receive come from Guanyin Bodhisattva?"
Boom!
The shrine keeper's mind went blank, leaving only a few words echoing in his head: "He knows! He knows everything!"
However, the shrine keeper still held onto a sliver of hope.
The shrine keeper deliberately feigned shock and retorted, "If I don't worship Guanyin Bodhisattva, who do I worship? This shrine has existed for five hundred years, and it has always been a shrine to Guanyin Bodhisattva. It's even recorded in the local gazetteer, and no one has ever disputed it! You can go and check if you don't believe me!"
"And as Guanyin Bodhisattva's most devout follower and the caretaker of this shrine, it's not strange for me to have strange divine decrees in my dreams, is it?"
Hearing the shrine keeper's sophistry, a mocking and playful expression appeared on Ying Chen's face.
For some reason, seeing Ying Chen's expression made the shrine keeper panic inexplicably.
But he quickly calmed down.
His explanation was flawless. Even if Ying Chen knew something, he couldn't be convicted.
However, in the next second, with a single sentence from Ying Chen, the shrine keeper was struck as if by lightning and stood there dumbfounded.
"Those strange divine decrees, did they also include ordering you to harm infants?"
"You keep saying you worship Guanyin Bodhisattva, but when you receive such a heinous decree, you don't hesitate and act on it immediately, without feeling any conflict or impropriety with your faith."
"So... you actually knew all along that the person issuing orders to you was not the true 'Spiritual Inspiration Great King Guanyin'!"
"But he made you an offer you couldn't refuse, so you pretended to be ignorant and assisted evil, willingly helping him commit countless heinous and inhumane acts!"
"The main culprit deserves to die, but a hypocritical villain like you, who pretends to be ignorant while knowing the truth, deserves to die even more!"
By the time Ying Chen uttered the last sentence, his tone had become extremely chilling.
Clearly, even Ying Chen, who had seen his fair share of things, was still filled with extreme hatred for people like the shrine keeper!
Chirr!
Ying Chen gave the shrine keeper no chance to argue. The silver needle in his hand flashed.
It instantly pierced the shrine keeper's eye!
"Ah!" The shrine keeper wailed, his face contorted in pain.
The legend wasn't true! No matter how fast or how thin the needle, it would hurt when inserted into the eye!
And it was a pain that went deep into the bone!
Facing the shrine keeper's wailing, Ying Chen remained expressionless.
He withdrew the silver needle and thrust it again.
It pierced the shrine keeper's other eye!
"Since your two eyes cannot distinguish right from wrong, good from evil, what use are they?"
Tears of blood flowed from the shrine keeper's two eyes.
His entire face was twisted and contorted by the intense pain, looking extremely terrifying.
"My Lord will not spare you!"
"You are dead!"
"My Lord will flay your skin, pull out your tendons, grind your bones into powder, and use them as adornments for the Golden Body!"
"Your soul will be imprisoned in the shrine forever, unable to live and unable to die!"
The shrine keeper's voice was hoarse as he uttered venomous curses.
Ying Chen remained unmoved and simply said, "You can still speak, which means it's not painful enough."
With that, the silver needle flashed again.
It pierced the shrine keeper's throat.
Now, the shrine keeper could only make a sound like air leaking from a bellows, unable to utter a complete sentence!
"Die... die... die!"
The shrine keeper's expression was ferocious as he glared at Ying Chen, uttering the same syllable again and again.
Clearly, even though he couldn't speak, he had not stopped cursing Ying Chen!
Instead of being bothered, Ying Chen nodded understandingly. "Alright, as you wish."
Then, Ying Chen slowly applied pressure to the shrine keeper's neck with his fingers.
The shrine keeper's face instantly turned red, and he struggled to breathe.
An unprecedented fear of death descended upon him.
He was finally terrified.
He wanted to beg for mercy, but he couldn't utter a single word.
Only the sound of dripping could be heard from below.
The shrine keeper had wet himself from fear!
"Farewell."
"You're welcome."
Ying Chen said indifferently.
Then, with a "bang," the shrine keeper's neck exploded, and his head rolled to the ground.
His face was etched with unwillingness and despair!
If he could still speak, the shrine keeper would have said one thing to Ying Chen.
"I cursed you to die! I didn't tell you to send me to my death!"