As the voice above the heavenly screen slowly faded, the eyes of countless people on Douluo Star once again gathered on the vast screen.
Hell Judge Zhong Tian!
That name was now deeply etched into countless minds.
Level 154 Soul Power, the terrifying divine ability Taotie Devours Heaven, and a special ability that could turn sin into nourishment for himself.
Each was enough to leave people awestruck.
What made everyone even more curious was what sort of past an Underworld ghost god who wielded such terrifying power had.
How had he become the eighth-ranked powerhouse on the Underworld Powerhouse Rankings?
And why did he possess such a special power of judgment?
Countless questions welled up in their minds, and the heavenly screen evidently did not keep them waiting long.
Inside the Fengdu Grand Hall.
The many ghost gods of the Underworld were also watching the heavenly screen.
Seeing the abilities Zhong Tian had displayed, many of them showed their approval.
To the Underworld, Zhong Tian meant far more than a God King with formidable combat strength.
As the Hell Judge, Zhong Tian was also a vital part of the Underworld's system of judgment.
Evil souls entering the Underworld had to be examined.
Those burdened with grave sins had to be punished.
Those who tried to escape judgment and use their power to conceal their crimes were a particular focus of Zhong Tian's attention.
Even before the Underworld truly reached out to the mortal world, Zhong Tian had already shouldered the important duty of judging sin and distinguishing good from evil.
And now, the Underworld was about to rebuild the mortal world.
That duty would naturally become even more important.
"Haha, that fellow Zhong Tian is looking more and more like a judge."
An Underworld ghost god spoke with a laugh, his voice full of praise.
"More than that! With his Taotie Martial Soul and his current God King Level strength, wherever sin exists, he has room to work."
"That's right! If he establishes a complete system of judgment in the mortal world, those who commit evil may not be able to sleep at night!"
At those words, peals of laughter rang out through the hall.
Zhong Tian was evidently quite pleased by the praise from the many ghost gods.
He reached up to stroke the beard on his chin and raised his head slightly, wearing a smug expression as though the praise were only natural.
How did he look anything like a Hell Judge whose very name struck terror into people's hearts?
He looked more like an old gentleman who had just been praised and could not resist admiring himself.
The sight brought a look of surprise to the face of Bibi Dong, the former Pope of Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong had now become the Underworld's Meng Po.
During her time there, Bibi Dong had witnessed the majesty of the Underworld's gods and gradually come to understand how these ghost gods conducted themselves.
Even so, Zhong Tian's appearance still took Bibi Dong somewhat by surprise.
Level 154 Soul Power!
A Hell Judge who had mastered the divine ability Taotie Devours Heaven!
Could such a being really show such a smug expression?
Bibi Dong could not help taking a few more looks at Zhong Tian.
She found it hard to connect the smug, beard-stroking fellow before her with the primordial Ferocious Beast on the heavenly screen that had devoured countless souls.
Before Bibi Dong could speak, however, Qian Daoliu, who was standing nearby, smiled and patted Zhong Tian on the shoulder.
"Zhong Tian, look at you. You're now eighth on the Underworld Powerhouse Rankings."
"When the Underworld truly gains a foothold in the mortal world, don't forget us old friends."
"After all, when it comes to judging sin, we'll probably have to trouble you plenty in the future."
Qian Daoliu spoke quite naturally.
The Underworld was no longer the mysterious force that had existed only in the netherworld.
Since it had decided to rebuild the mortal world, a system capable of maintaining order and punishing sin was naturally indispensable.
And a Hell Judge like Zhong Tian could undoubtedly play an enormous role.
Hearing this, Zhong Tian smiled and waved a hand.
"Rest assured, Lord King Yama."
"I, Zhong Tian, may be no sage, but I'm certainly not an ungrateful man."
"Besides, judging sin is my duty in the first place."
At this point, Zhong Tian's expression grew somewhat more restrained.
A hint of coldness surfaced in his previously smiling eyes.
"Since the Underworld intends to rebuild the mortal world, we absolutely cannot allow those evil people to continue getting away with their crimes."
"Evil must be repaid with evil, and sinners must get what they deserve."
"That is the rule our Underworld must uphold!"
With that, Zhong Tian said no more and turned back to the heavenly screen.
As he watched, the image on the screen changed.
[For the Hell Judge Zhong Tian, in the past, he had been nothing more than an ordinary commoner on Douluo Star.] [Relying on his own talent and cultivation as a Soul Master, he had changed his fate step by step and ultimately become a noble.] [Yet it was precisely this status that brought him into real contact with the lives of the nobility and allowed him to see the sins this world hid beneath its glamorous exterior.]
As the heavenly screen's voice rang out, the scene in the image gradually came into focus.
It was a bustling city.
The streets were broad, shops stood in rows, high walls rose around noble estates, and elegant carriages rolled slowly down the streets.
Compared with the ordinary people who wore ragged clothes and struggled to make a living, the nobles' lives could only be called extravagant.
They possessed wealth and power, as well as cultivation resources beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Zhong Tian himself had once rejoiced at escaping poverty and joining their ranks.
After all, for a Soul Master of ordinary birth, becoming a noble meant having more opportunities to change his fate.
But as his status continued to rise, Zhong Tian saw more and more.
He saw people use their status to oppress commoners.
He saw people wantonly destroy ordinary lives in the pursuit of profit.
He even saw those who were supposed to maintain order instead use the power in their hands to cover up wrongdoing.
At first, Zhong Tian was unwilling to believe it.
He thought it was only a problem with a few individuals.
As long as he stepped forward and acted according to the rules, he could surely win justice for the victims.
And so Zhong Tian began to pass judgment.
Using the knowledge he had acquired and his noble status, he gathered evidence, investigated crimes, and brought villains who bullied others with their influence and treated human lives like grass to the judgment seat.
At first, he did indeed achieve results.
Some who had committed all manner of evil were punished, and their victims finally received long-overdue justice.
But Zhong Tian soon discovered that matters were far from as simple as he had imagined.
For the crimes he judged gradually began to implicate his own superior.
It was a deeply entangled web of interests.
From low-ranking henchmen to powerful nobles and then to the higher-ups responsible for maintaining order, they had long since formed unbreakable connections with one another.
They shielded one another and covered for each other.
When one person committed a crime, another would erase the traces.
The moment a case surfaced, someone would rush to destroy the evidence.
And the ordinary people who truly suffered did not even have a chance to make their voices heard.
Zhong Tian refused to compromise.
He continued his investigation, pointing the spearhead directly at his own superior.
But what awaited him was not a fair trial.
It was a meticulously laid conspiracy!
When Zhong Tian tried to peel back the final layer of concealment, he finally realized that he had touched secrets certain people would never allow to be exposed.
He had once believed that as long as he had evidence, sin would have nowhere to hide.
But reality gave him a hard slap in the face.
When the judge himself became prey to those in power, and the rules became tools in the hands of the strong, everything he had stood for seemed so fragile.
He wanted to judge sin.
But those high-ranking nobles intended to judge him first!
[For Zhong Tian back then, it was the first time he truly understood that determination alone was far from enough to judge sin.] [He also needed power!]
As those two statements rang through the sky, the image on the heavenly screen suddenly grew heavy.
Zhong Tian stood among a crowd, looking at the nobles high above him, his gaze gradually turning cold.
This scene also plunged countless people beyond the heavenly screen into silence.
Especially the ordinary people.
Had they not experienced similar things?
When they were oppressed, they too had hoped someone would step forward and see justice done.
But if the people oppressing them possessed power themselves, and could even control the rules, where could they seek this so-called justice?
For a time, countless people were filled with mixed emotions.
They finally understood why Zhong Tian had embarked on the path of judging sin.
They also finally understood why the Hell Judge held such steadfast convictions.
Because he had personally experienced the despair of seeing sin before his eyes, yet being powerless to punish it!
But while everyone was still immersed in Zhong Tian's past, the image on the heavenly screen changed again.
The figure who had once stood among the nobility once again gripped the power in his hands.
The Taotie Martial Soul slowly emerged!
The Ferocious Beast opened its cavernous maw, and devouring power swept out in every direction.
The sin that had once left Zhong Tian helpless could now finally be judged.
Under Zhong Tian's judgment, sin had nowhere to hide!
And he would face his true test.
For the nobles who had once stood high above everyone would never sit by and watch Zhong Tian continue to pass judgment.
When the sharp blade of judgment finally turned on them, the curtain rose on an even crueler war.
For Zhong Tian back then, it was a moment of war against numerous nobles!
They would make the judge who dared to judge the powerful pay the price he deserved!