Chapter 144: Godmother: What a Trash God, Even I Am Better
The Burning Heart Goddess finally woke up, but she had always known that Zhao Mingyue was haunted by a powerful Red-clothed Evil Ghost. Unfortunately, her injuries were severe, and the timing for her to wake was not right. If she forced it, the backlash would be too much.
Now that she was finally awake, her first target was obviously Bai Yu—she had to eliminate her first.
Zhao Mingyue was her Goddess, a once-in-a-millennium treasure, and she would never give up on her.
If it weren’t for issues with her own body, she would have dispatched this little thief who dared to invade her exclusive Goddess’s body a long time ago.
She was the one who arrived first!
She did not believe that this ghost couldn’t sense her presence. Since it had sensed her, how dare it shamelessly possess her Goddess! This was nothing less than a challenge to her authority.
But it was fine; it was just a ghost, the lowest of the low. Just k*ll it and be done!
The Burning Heart Goddess had never taken Bai Yu seriously; in her view, Bai Yu was like a fly buzzing around while she was trying to sleep—more annoying than anything else, a mere insect without provoking strong feelings.
Even her anger was scarce. No Evil God would waste their time getting angry over a bug.
After rummaging through some memories, the inner workings of the Burning Heart Goddess began to change quietly. Upon encountering Bai Yu’s memory of incomprehensible fear, she couldn’t help but sneer.
She thought the ghost had no fear at all.
Turns out, you’re scared too.
Such tidal waves of fear must be an extreme nightmare deeply buried within your heart.
“Let’s experience despair again, ghostly despair has a delightful taste.”
Gently touching the largest memory fragment, the Burning Heart Goddess used her powers to peek into Bai Yu’s memories.
As the memory fragment unfolded, she seemingly immersed herself within it as an audience member. She needed to extract the fear from this memory as a foundation to build a dream; this would increase her chances of eliminating Bai Yu safely and soundly.
Simultaneously, it would also produce despair, which was just the icing on the cake to make the dish tastier.
The campfire crackled, sounding like frying beans, and a burnt smell filled the air, mingled with the iron tang of bl**d and a peculiar damp moldy odor. As her vision gradually brightened, the Burning Heart Goddess gradually recognized her surroundings.
A grey, fluffy substance hung in the air. It was remarkably quiet, seemingly a subterranean chamber used for worship. The flickering flames from scattered bonfires at the wall cast dim light, and in that feeble illumination, she could see the yellowed, weathered walls, etched with peculiar murals and indecipherable texts.
This scene was all too familiar to the Burning Heart Goddess.
After all, she was an Evil God; her sacrificial grounds were far larger and way more sacred. Compared to her space, this god seemed like a rat hiding in a sewer. Such a cramped area; there weren’t even any offerings.
“So, you’re afraid of the gods? Just a wild god.”
Looking up at the murals, the words were unclear, but the content was somewhat understandable.
The first painting depicted the descent of the gods.
The second moon rose from the depths of the earth and fell back down, numerous beings were obliterated, towns destroyed, the seas howled, mountains collapsed, and even the ground itself was split apart into deep gashes leading who-knows-where.
The Burning Heart Goddess gazed intently at the center of the mural, which appeared to be a spherical object covered in eyes and tentacles. Clearly, these murals left a profound impression on this ghost; otherwise, it wouldn’t remember so many details.
After all, she was viewing memories rather than reliving that period, so what she could see was driven by what Bai Yu deeply kept in her heart; anything Bai Yu failed to remember appeared to her as a dark fog or a vague picture.
That’s why the Burning Heart Goddess had been so shocked upon entering.
What had happened in this room that left such a deep impression on the ghost named Bai Yu? Every detail was engraved vividly, utterly incredible.
She had seen countless memories from people, yet even someone confined in a basement wouldn’t have memories as crystal clear as this.
The Burning Heart Goddess even wondered if this ghost had lived here since childhood, never stepping outside. Otherwise, how could the memory be so vivid?
Even she felt as if she had stepped into another world, rather than merely spying on memories.
Ignoring the first mural which had such exaggerated descriptions, the Burning Heart Goddess didn’t take it seriously. Gods could k*ll and enslave believers, sure, but even their true essence was insubstantial; it couldn’t cause this level of destruction. It was overly exaggerated.
But that was normal; after all, wild gods loved to exaggerate. It made it easier to attract believers, spreading their power wider and making themselves stronger.
The second mural depicted divine might.
Countless bl**d threads began to spread from the divine body, connecting with the earth and piercing the sky; the once-bright sky dimmed. It wasn’t cloudy; it was like the sun hung in the sky but was covered in a layer of grey haze.
The divine body seemed intangible, yet had a semblance of existence. The Burning Heart Goddess experienced a strange sensation; each time her gaze shifted and returned to focus on the deity in the mural, its form dramatically changed.
The issue was that in the brief glances, she couldn’t recall the god’s previous form—was it eyes? Tentacles? bl**d threads? Or a distorted, painful mashup of human features?
Not remembering the last form, the Burning Heart Goddess dismissed herself as overthinking it, assuming it was just the ghost’s memory becoming convoluted.
The third mural illustrated believers.
People began to walk towards the place where the second moon rose, more and more, from the first to the tenth, then a hundred, a thousand, and then an endless sea of people.
Everyone began to kneel for the god’s birth.
The fourth mural depicted the Goddess.
In the sacrificial square, a little girl wore a golden, mysterious mask etched with countless eyes.
She appeared to be dead—her body was a patchwork. Supporting her were twisted tentacles and bl**d threads.
The mural ended here. As a “seasoned Evil God”, the Burning Heart Goddess sensed something was off. Normally, murals serve not only as records but also as promotions of the god’s power. It was essential to show that this deity could bring good things too, like food, harvests, wealth, and women, glory and status.
There should be both intimidation and temptation; this was how to attract more people in.
Pure fear would stifle the development of believers and lead to their loss. When necessary, benefits should always be provided, even if the believers were lowly.
But in these murals, there was nothing. The content was scant—just gods being born, the world being destroyed, numerous believers appearing, and the Goddess as sacrificial offerings.
It seemed to say nothing about the state of the destroyed world, nor the benefits of believing in the god.
“Looks like this one is just as brainless as my three foolish brethren.”
The birth of an Evil God is just a fragment of consciousness and curse. As the curse of evil thoughts spread, the awareness gradually became fuller until it formed a true Evil God. For a long time, Evil Gods were somewhat confused; the clearer their consciousness, the stronger they were. This indicated that the curse had spread widely enough.
Thus, the Burning Heart Goddess thought this one was merely a rat in the sewer.
It over-exaggerated itself but neglected the benefits.
Adjusting her gaze to the interior of the sacrificial room.
There were people in the room—over thirty of them.
These individuals were thin, their skin completely pale like corpses, filled with black beneath. They wore matching white clothing, kneeling with their heads bowed, hands clasped in prayer at their chests.
All their expressions were blank, eyes tightly shut, as if frozen in place, resembling stone statues.
Their appearances couldn’t be more identical—every strand of hair, every crease completely the same. Upon closer inspection, the Burning Heart Goddess seemed to see something stirring beneath their skin, wanting to break free, or was it just worms?
“What are they worshiping?”
For some reason, seeing these people filled the Burning Heart Goddess with unease, a growing discomfort within her.
After all, this was merely a segment of memories.
Her gaze shifted to the front of these kneeling figures, the one they were worshiping.
It was a little girl, only about ten years old.
Others might not know, but the Burning Heart Goddess could be sure that this little girl was definitely dead.
Just as depicted in the mural, her body was stitched together; it could be someone else’s body or perhaps her own chopped-up bits sewn together with thread. The stitching scars on her small body were a horrifying sight.
She had to admit the little girl was cute, but beyond that, the Burning Heart Goddess couldn’t see anything special.
An ugly doll had tumbled onto the ground, standing out starkly in this scene.
At this point, there wasn’t much left to say. It was a simple scene.
She didn’t even see any bloody sacrifices.
“Then what on earth is this guy afraid of?”
There shouldn’t be such a strong negative emotion in a place like this; there were no murderers, no evil ghosts, nothing.
Just as the Burning Heart Goddess pondered this, her consciousness jolted awake, like a sudden electric shock.
The little girl in front slowly opened her eyes, which were completely hollow and dark.
The Burning Heart Goddess gasped. The little girl was looking right at her!
“How could this…”
Suddenly turning her head, all the kneeling believers opened their eyes… so many eyes.
Under their skin were not worms but eyes; their skin tore open, connecting with flesh and bl**d threads, each person having at least hundreds of eyes. In an instant, thousands of eyes focused on her.
“I’m not just a fragment of consciousness; this is supposed to be that ghost’s memory! How could this…?!”
And it didn’t stop there; the Burning Heart Goddess realized something even more terrifying.
The walls started to change. bl**d seeped from the cracks, and the walls began to shift toward the direction of shrunken, wrinkled skin. Eyes popped open, staring at her with extreme malice.
bl**d threads spread, and tentacles reached out.
The Burning Heart Goddess felt as if her head might explode; overwhelming fear enveloped her. Then, the truly frightening thing happened.
Her consciousness couldn’t escape; she was trapped in this memory fragment.
Only then did she grasp where things went wrong.
There was no door in this sacrificial room!
It was completely sealed off, with nothing at all.
The world trembled violently. With no way back, she noticed the eyes in the walls and the believers’ eyes mirrored her fear, shifting from malice to terror.
It was as if something had come that even they feared…
“It’s that god!” The Burning Heart Goddess’ eyes widened with rage.
She hadn’t expected that these eyes and bl**d threads wouldn’t even be the true essence of that god…
—
Sorry, I’m late, everyone.
There will be more updates this afternoon and evening. Look at how hard I’m working.
Throw in a ticket, will you?
It’s Crazy Thursday!
