As Zhong Tian formally began the trial, the reckoning for the Douluo Continent's noble class finally entered its most crucial stage.
High above the City of Wrongful Death, the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token hung in the sky, its black and white divine light weaving together into a vast screen.
Countless souls were drawn into it, and memories hidden in the depths of time appeared one after another.
The crimes once concealed by power and the bullying the nobles had taken for granted now became clear images, laid bare before all living beings under heaven!
The nobles inside the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token had long since lost all their former grandeur.
Some collapsed to the ground, their legs weak.
Others trembled all over, without even the strength to stand.
Some had gone so far as to abandon their so-called noble dignity, dropping to their knees and kowtowing frantically in Zhong Tian's direction.
They were afraid!
True fear had spread from the depths of their souls.
In the past, they had thrown their weight around under the protection of their families and used their strength as Soul Masters to oppress commoners. No matter how outrageous their deeds, they could always find excuses for themselves.
Some people cleaned up after them, others covered up their crimes, and still others stepped forward of their own accord to portray their victims as deserving what they got.
Over time, they had even forgotten what it meant to be afraid.
As they saw it, power was reason, and strength was truth.
As long as they had a powerful enough backing, they could trample on the dignity of the weak at will.
But now, the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token in Zhong Tian's hand had torn open everything in their past!
No matter how they twisted their arguments, they could not erase what had happened.
More frightening still, Zhong Tian had no need to rely on anyone else's testimony. He could use the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token to examine their pasts.
The victims they had forgotten and the crimes they had deliberately buried had all become evidence they could not escape!
"Lord Judge! Lord Judge, spare us!"
A nobleman in a brocade robe suddenly fell to his knees, tears and snot streaming down his face.
"I know I was wrong! I really know I was wrong!"
"As long as you let me go, I promise I'll turn over a new leaf from now on. I'll never dare oppress the people again!"
"I'm willing to give up my entire fortune to atone! Please, give me another chance!"
As this nobleman spoke, the others seized on his words like a last straw and begged Zhong Tian for mercy.
"Lord Judge, I was confused for a moment too!"
"Those things all happened in the past. Please, be lenient!"
"I'll do good deeds and accumulate virtue from now on. I'll never dare do anything bad again!"
"My lord, please spare my life! I have elders and children to care for. I really can't die!"
Plea after plea rose and fell.
The nobles who had once stood high above everyone else now seemed to have had their spines pulled out, desperate to deny every crime in their past.
Some wept themselves hoarse, some kowtowed desperately, and others kept promising that they would pay any price if only they could leave the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token alive.
Yet Zhong Tian only looked coldly at the wailing crowd.
There was not a trace of pity on that face, which had once endured injustice and death.
There was only a chill that ran to the bone.
"Now you know to beg for mercy?"
Zhong Tian spoke slowly, his voice seeming to come from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds.
"Haven't you always called yourselves noble, believing your status so exalted that ordinary people could never compare to you?"
"How is it that today, you don't even have the courage to stand?"
At his words, the inside of the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token fell somewhat quieter.
The nobles looked at one another, but not one dared to answer.
They knew very well that everything Zhong Tian had said was true.
In the past, they had never paid any heed to ordinary people's pleas.
When those they had driven into a dead end knelt before them, had they shown the slightest pity?
When people who had lost loved ones wept and demanded their lives in recompense, had they felt the slightest guilt?
No!
In the eyes of those nobles, ordinary people's tears were nothing more than a sign of the weak's impotence.
Their so-called pleas were even more worthless.
If that was so, now that it was their own turn to face judgment, what right did they have to ask Zhong Tian to let them off?
At this thought, Zhong Tian's gaze grew colder still.
"Only today have you learned fear?"
"As I see it, you haven't truly come to your senses. You've finally discovered that a day would come when even you could not fight back!"
"You keep saying you know you were wrong, but what were you doing back then, when the people you oppressed begged you for mercy in their despair?"
"When you drove an ordinary family to ruin and death, did you ever think of giving them a way to live?"
"When innocent people knelt before you, begging you to stop, did you ever listen to their voices?"
"Now that retribution is upon you, each of you has a smoother tongue than the last!"
Zhong Tian's voice grew louder and louder until it became rolling thunder that shook the entire Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token.
Every word was like a heavy hammer, striking the nobles hard in the heart.
Their faces were deathly pale, and their bodies trembled.
Some wanted to keep defending themselves, only to find they had nothing to say.
Everything that had happened had been laid out in full by the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token.
Their so-called repentance looked especially pale before the ironclad evidence of their crimes.
Besides, Zhong Tian had long since seen through their thoughts.
How could they truly know they were wrong?
They had merely discovered at last that the power and strength that had once let them act without restraint could not save their lives in the face of true judgment!
"Lord Judge, I really won't dare do it again!"
"Please, give me another chance!"
Even under Zhong Tian's questioning, some still refused to give up their last hope.
But Zhong Tian slowly raised the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token in his hand.
"A chance?"
"The people you oppressed once asked you for a chance too."
"But did you give them one?"
"Since you did not, there is nothing more to say today!"
With those words, Zhong Tian paid no further attention to the nobles' cries and pleas.
The black and white divine light on the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token suddenly blazed.
Memories of crimes appeared one after another inside the token, finally converging into countless distinct marks of judgment.
Those marks fell upon different souls, as though recording each crime they had committed in life.
Some crimes had sprung from greed, others from cruelty, and still others from people relying on their power and treating innocent lives as a price to be sacrificed at will.
Zhong Tian looked at the marks of sin without the slightest wavering in his eyes.
The judgment was finally about to enter its last stage!
Meanwhile, the entire Douluo Continent was watching the images in the sky.
The nobles whose souls had not yet been taken by the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token were already scared out of their wits.
Some did not even stop to pack their valuables, ordering their clansmen to prepare to flee their territory at once.
Others hurriedly summoned the Soul Masters in their families, trying to discuss a countermeasure.
But when they saw that Zhong Tian remained unmoved by the pleas of so many nobles, their last shred of hope was utterly destroyed.
"It's over!"
An elderly nobleman stared at the sky, his face deathly pale.
"It's really over this time!"
He had originally thought that since Zhong Tian had already exposed the crimes of so many nobles, perhaps he could escape disaster by admitting his own wrongdoing and offering up a portion of his wealth.
But now it seemed that this Hell Judge would not change his decision because of their status or wealth.
More importantly, Zhong Tian was clearly not merely trying to make them lose face.
He truly intended to hold them accountable for their crimes!
That meant what awaited them next would very likely be an end more terrifying than death.
Just as countless nobles fell into a panic, a change suddenly occurred in the sky above the City of Wrongful Death.
Zhong Tian slowly raised his right hand, divine power surging in his palm.
Immediately afterward, a cold and ancient presence erupted from within the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token!
Rumble!
Heaven and earth shook.
The black and white screen of light suspended in the sky suddenly parted to either side.
A portal of unimaginable size slowly appeared before everyone's eyes.
The portal was pitch-black from top to bottom, as though formed from countless strands of Yin Qi.
Ancient, mysterious patterns were carved into it, and within them, countless wronged souls seemed to wail.
Before the doors had even opened fully, gusts of cold wind swept out.
Within the sound of the wind seemed to mingle weeping, pleas, and cries of despair.
A single glance was enough to make one's heart tremble!
"Wh... what is that?"
Countless people on the Douluo Continent widened their eyes.
They had never seen such a bizarre and terrifying sight.
Even the powerful Soul Masters involuntarily held their breath when they felt the presence emanating from the portal.
Just as everyone was filled with shock and uncertainty, Zhong Tian's voice rang out again.
"Good and evil have been distinguished; rewards and punishments must be made clear."
"Now that your crimes have been established, today I shall pronounce the final judgment in the name of the Hell Judge!"
"Eighteen Levels of Hell-open!"
Boom!!!
As Zhong Tian spoke the final word, the portal leading to the depths of the netherworld finally opened completely!
The Eighteen Levels of Hell had reappeared on the Douluo Continent!
The Divine Realm.
When that terrifying portal appeared in the sky, the faces of the many gods, already grave, grew even more troubled.
The Eighteen Levels of Hell!
To the ordinary people of the Douluo Continent, it might have been nothing more than a name shrouded in mystery.
But to the gods of the Divine Realm witnessing it all with their own eyes, the meaning of this hell was far from that simple.
It meant that Zhong Tian was no longer satisfied with merely exposing crimes.
He was going to begin the actual punishment!
Before this, the Good and Evil Reward and Punishment Token taking souls and revealing memories of crimes had certainly been enough to throw the noble class into a panic.
But as long as no punishment had actually been handed down, some would still cling to hope.
They would believe that as long as they were willing to pay a price, they might still have a chance to escape disaster.
But the appearance of the Eighteen Levels of Hell had utterly shattered their fantasies!
Once judgment was complete and their guilt established, what awaited them would no longer be a simple reprimand.
It would be punishment in the truest sense!
"The Underworld... really has brought the Eighteen Levels of Hell to the mortal world!"
One god could not help speaking in a low voice, unmistakable shock in his voice.
The other gods did not answer, but their expressions said it all.
At this moment, anyone could see that the Underworld was displaying its power to the entire Douluo Continent with an almost overbearing bearing.
And everything Zhong Tian had done was telling everyone:
The Underworld's judgment would never stop at a verbal warning!