Chapter 29: The Blessings of the Four Gods

Amidst the boundless, infinite evil and the endless, bottomless despair, Zhou Ke caught a glimpse of a name in the void: Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.

To the people of the modern era, he is known as a "pathological genius," a "toxic madman," and an "arbiter of souls." Yet, in the old age when magic flourished, he was revered, despised, and feared by the name: the "Monarch of Nihility," Dostoevsky.

"You think a mere sliver of madness is enough to destroy me? Don't underestimate the psychological fortitude of a fairy tale writer!"

Zhou Ke pressed his forehead against the floor, forcing two trembling fingers to extend and poke into the corners of his mouth to form a slight curve. As mentioned before, this habit of faking a smile helped him maintain a cool, rational mind. At this moment, with his consciousness on the brink of disintegration, even a shred of trivial sanity could save him from the abyss.

His self-rescue measures soon took effect. The black characters crawling across his vision began to recede, his five senses gradually returned, and his numb nerves regained sensation.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself high in the sky.

Beneath him were no longer the skyscraper-filled steel jungles, nor the dense and annoying flow of traffic and pedestrians that buzzed like wild mosquitoes. The sky here was blood-red, and the earth was a vibrant, maddening crimson. Jagged canyons carved by blades and axes crisscrossed the landscape, and the rugged ground was pitted with the hoofprints of warhorses, as if a great battle had just concluded.

Standing at the very center where the blood had spilled, a citadel stood—a fortress in the truest sense. Surrounded by stone formations of sword-blades, featuring columns and arches carved from pale bone, and adorned with the corpses of humans and dragons alike hung as trophies before the gates, every detail signaled its nature as a bastion of war.

"Hmm?"

In a trance, Zhou Ke heard a sound. It was a cacophony that shifted between cheers of celebration and the wet spray of blood and the snapping of bones, growing ever more majestic and defiant toward the heavens!

Zhou Ke heard it: "Blood for the Blood God, skulls for the Skull Throne!"

[You have received the recognition of 'Khorne.' Welcome to the family.]

"Who wants to join your family?"

Zhou Ke muttered instinctively, only to suddenly find the bleeding earth dissipating like mist, and himself returned to his apartment living room. He propped himself up on his elbows, looked at the large sweat stain on the floor, and said with a blank expression, "Wow, I really am quite sweaty."

Strangely, despite sweating so much, Zhou Ke showed no signs of dehydration, nor did he feel exhausted. His entire body felt unexpectedly light, and the pain from moments ago had vanished without a trace.

"What is going on? I feel so confident, as if I could punch through a wooden door just like Louis—no, perhaps even a thin iron door wouldn't be impossible."

Zhou Ke flexed his wrists, baffled by the changes in his body. After hesitating for over ten seconds, he opened *Crime and Punishment* once more. Sin continued to surge forth endlessly, though it was far less violent than the first time.

Mr. Zhou speculated that he had developed some resistance, much like antibodies left behind after a viral invasion. Looking at the left page, where the text stood like rows of ants, he could only faintly discern one sentence: "My only fear is whether our life tomorrow will be worthy of the suffering we endure today."

After reading it, Zhou Ke gave a bitter smile. "Well, tomorrow had better at least make me a millionaire."

He looked to the right page, which, like *Ragnarök: Jaw*, recorded the abilities of his "Truth."

[Holder: Zhou Ke]
[Sin Level: Lv3]
[Free Attribute Points: 10]
[Khorne Points: 100]
[Tzeentch Points: 0]
[Nurgle Points: 0]
[Slaanesh Points: 0]
[Heavenly Punishment: This Truth deviates from the laws of heaven and is rejected by all paths and techniques. The holder will be plagued by eternal misfortune, and their aptitude for the demonic path is sealed to the lowest level (Original: Level 10 Power of Reason has been sealed).]

"So, you're the one to blame for me becoming a talentless hack?" Zhou Ke narrowed his eyes and then relaxed; he was accustomed to such common tropes. Honestly, he should be thanking the seal. Whale-Eye had told him that aptitude determined the efficiency of interpreting Truth, and the sheer volume of information from just Level 1 of the Power of Reason had nearly driven him mad. He dared not imagine what Level 10 would be like.

He looked at the lines above. Aside from Khorne, which was stained a deep blood-red, and Tzeentch, which glimmered with a faint azure luster, the other two remained dark and pale. "I suppose they haven't been unlocked yet," Zhou Ke thought.

Following his intuition, he pressed his finger against the Khorne line. The blood-colored text dispersed like ink dropped into clear water, rapidly reforming into a new appearance.

[Khorne: The Blessing of the God of Courage and Honor]

Seeing the first line, Zhou Ke’s mouth twitched. Slaughtering everything, rivers of blood—you call that the God of Courage and Honor?

[Khorne Points can significantly enhance combat functionality, including strength, explosive power, and agility, wholeheartedly cultivating you into a perfect killing machine.]

"Oh, no wonder." Zhou Ke understood the source of his physical changes. He nodded and added all 10 of his remaining free points into [Khorne Points].

With his Khorne points reaching 110, the strength in his body increased once more, though not as intensely as the first time. He stood up, hopped on his toes twice, and then, with his tendons firing instantly, his figure blurred into an afterimage. By the time he stopped, Zhou Ke was standing on the wall at the edge of the living room. He held a frog-like crouch in mid-air for over a second before pushing off with his knees, landing gracefully on the sofa in a side-lying position with his head propped on his hand.

"Not bad," Zhou Ke marveled. He felt that if he had a small dagger now, he could easily slaughter thirty or forty of his former self. If he faced the doorbell ghost again, he could hold his own with a steel door and perhaps even suppress the entity head-on.

"Although my ether capacity is destined to be low, with the Truth ability of *Crime and Punishment*, my current strength should exceed that of most geniuses, right?"

"I never would have imagined this, never." Zhou Ke rested his hands behind his head, staring at the white ceiling, filled with emotion. He had originally planned to give up on becoming a mage and live a mundane life, continuing to pursue his dream of becoming a fairy tale writer.

However, destiny is truly mysterious and unpredictable. It is like an eraser that you cannot find when it falls to the floor, only for it to reappear automatically once you have bought a new one. Now, the missing piece of his talent was laid out neatly before him.

"The mage exam is in one week. There are six days left..."

As the sun set behind the mountains, the room gradually sank into darkness, with only the television, which had been playing for a day and a night, emitting a blue glow. The news anchors on the LCD screen were chatting back and forth.

"Good evening, viewers! Welcome to today's news segment."

"Today, we have some major, wonderful news!"

"Indeed. This evening, the Flame Emperor Guild was officially announced. They will be led by Zhu Yan, who awakened the 'Zhu Rong Chapter' of the *Classic of Mountains and Seas'."

"We believe that under the leadership of the young and promising Chairman Zhu Yan, the Flame Emperor Guild will become the nation's premier guild in the future!"

Zhou Ke suddenly laughed heartily. "With such an interesting source of inspiration for my writing, how could I possibly let it go?"