I'm bound to the World-Destroying Witch

Chapter 125. The Garden of Gods and He Jianzhu
The clock ticks away.

Uncle Yun went back to the kitchen to work. Xia Feng looked at the withered jasmine flowers outside the window for a while, then turned back and blinked, saying:
"If we don't worship the gods, we will be punished by them. Tell me, should we worship the gods?"

Mu Qingtong shook her head: "In such a high-risk situation where there are many doubts about the information, we just need to follow the principle that 'superficial safety must be accompanied by greater danger.' There's nothing more to say."

"Ah, this." Xia Feng sighed, he thought Mu Qingtong would give a lot of reasoning, but he didn't expect it to be so simple and straightforward.

That makes sense. Although it's unclear whether the Sky God is a calamity or a neutral rule in this place, worshipping Him grants His protection and shields one from the wrath of the gods. If that's the case, then why bother with this challenge?

So there's nothing to worry about, just go for it.

"So, you've come here to find your mother, where do you plan to begin your search?"

Xia Feng asked the question telepathically, and the next moment he heard the words "Let it be" from Ping An.

"?" Xia Feng was speechless. With such a casual attitude, was this woman really here to investigate He Jianzhu's whereabouts?
Just as he was about to ask something else, Mu Qingtong's voice rang in his mind again.

“The old man and Xiaowen, who has been upstairs and hasn’t come down, are both ‘orphans.’ But this middle-aged man is not an orphan.”

Xia Feng understood her meaning halfway through her sentence: this witch wanted to kill Uncle Yun directly and then use a magical artifact to hypnotize his soul and ask him questions.

This is indeed a convenient and efficient method, since the rules only state that orphans cannot be attacked.
Just then, Uncle Yun came out of the kitchen carrying a steaming bowl of chicken soup.

He regained his enthusiasm and said with a smile, "My lords, please try the chicken soup my mother makes. It's absolutely delicious."

He scooped out two bowls and, with a beaming smile, handed out spoons and chopsticks to the two of them, saying, "Make yourselves at home, don't be shy, don't be shy."

"."

Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong both looked at the rich, golden chicken soup in front of them, a soup that looked incredibly appetizing.

"Oh right." Uncle Yun's wrinkled eyes were filled with laughter. "Gentlemen, you've been sitting for so long, aren't you going to worship the gods?"

Xia Feng smiled but didn't answer directly. Instead, he pointed to the dark red shrine next to the toilet and asked, "Uncle Yun, why is there an apple tree on the altar?"

There was no statue of a god in the center of the shrine, but there was a miniature tree about half a meter tall with two crisp red fruits hanging on it, which looked like apples.

"This is not an apple tree." Uncle Yun's expression turned serious. "This is the Tree of Grace. After you two worship the gods, the God of the Sky will infuse the fruits with grace. Then each of you can pick a fruit of grace. The person who eats the fruit of grace will be protected by the God of the Sky and will no longer be angered by the gods."

"Oh, I see," Xia Feng said with a smile. "That sounds pretty impressive!"

"So, my lords, it's almost twelve o'clock. I suggest you hurry up. After all, even the God of the Sky doesn't like lazy believers who worship at the last minute."

"Your reason for urging us is quite unique," Xia Feng grinned, staring intently at the middle-aged man. "But what if we just don't want to worship?"

The middle-aged man wore a kind and solicitous smile.

But as Xia Feng gazed at him, the corners of his lips slowly tightened. "Don't you want to bow?"

The ceiling lights above the dining table were dim.

After a two-second silence, the middle-aged man slowly lowered his head, a cold and sinister smile playing on his lips in the shadows. "Heh~ But my two respected lords, you have no choice but to bow now!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong felt as if their entire bodies had been paralyzed, and they slumped back in their chairs.

[You have been attacked by the D-grade artifact, Hand of the Dead Chicken]

[Replicable artifact detected: Hand of the Dead Chicken]

"You two are really asking for it." Uncle Yun said calmly as he stood up, cracked his neck, and looked indifferent. "Those two outsiders were easier to fool than you. You two are really making a fuss."

Xia Feng and Mu Qingtong slumped back in their chairs at the dining table, their gazes calm and without the slightest hint of panic.

[D. Deadly Chicken Hand: The smell of cooked chicken becomes your weapon; you can inflict paralysis or even sleep. The more fragrant the chicken, the better the effect. If the target smells the chicken for more than six hours, you can directly paralyze and damage the target's brain nerves, causing death.]

"."

What kind of bizarre magical artifacts are these? Xia Feng almost choked; the abilities of magical artifacts are truly bizarre and varied.

"Old woman, hurry up and come out to help." Uncle Yun shouted coldly into the kitchen, and the old woman walked out slowly with an expressionless face.

"Drag these two idiots to the altar. If they won't worship, then force them to." The middle-aged man sneered, about to walk towards Xia Feng, when his pupils suddenly dilated in astonishment, and he abruptly stopped. "What—"

He opened his mouth, then collapsed to the ground with a thud, his face filled with horror. This was... his own magical artifact ability?

"Tsk tsk, not bad. Your magical artifact may have a strange name, but it works quite well." Xia Feng leaned back in his chair and chuckled.

The elderly woman standing at the kitchen doorway saw her son suddenly collapse, and her expression changed as well. Fear flashed in her cloudy eyes, and she instinctively took a step back.

"Damn it~ old hag! Looks like I can't let you live." The middle-aged man's cold, low voice came from the ground. The old woman slowly closed her eyes, as if preparing to face death.

But after waiting for two seconds, no excruciating pain came. She opened her eyes in confusion and saw the middle-aged man lying motionless on the ground with a golden cross rolling in his eye sockets and a ferocious expression.

Her legs went weak, and she slumped down against the wall, her expression blank as she murmured hoarsely, "What a sin...what a sin."

Xia Feng watched this scene expressionlessly. Clearly, the old woman had been smelling the chicken for a long time, so the middle-aged man only needed a thought to kill her. With the old woman dead, the middle-aged man would become an orphan and would no longer be vulnerable to attacks from outsiders.

The middle-aged man wanted to use this to make Xia Feng violate the rule of 'not attacking orphans'.

Unfortunately, in the face of absolute power, any plan is futile.

Despite being paralyzed, Mu Qingtong used her magical artifact's power to control her body and stand up. She slowly walked to the middle-aged man and casually slashed down with her knife, separating his head from his neck.

The middle-aged man's spirit floated in the air, his eyes vacant.

Mu Qingtong did not question his spirit, but looked at the old woman sitting slumped on the ground, her gaze calm: "Tell me everything you know."

"."

The old woman stared at her son's body in silence for a long time, without revealing much emotion. Her gaze gradually dimmed, and she sighed, "You should all have guessed it. The idea that you can get protection by worshipping gods is indeed a lie."

"After worshipping the gods, you will not only fail to receive protection, but your souls will be scattered and absorbed by the Tree of Grace."

She looked at the small apple tree on the altar, her cloudy eyes filled with complex and unreadable emotions. "Little girl, do you see those two red fruits? Those are the two people my son tricked last year."

"The God of the Sky said that as long as the tree bears five fruits of grace, the one who has contributed the most will be allowed to leave this place and enter the Garden of the Gods, where all the happiness we desire is found."

Xia Feng looked at the Blessing Fruit, slightly startled. So this thing was actually transformed from a human? A Blessing Fruit? This is more like a human flesh fruit!
"The Garden of the Gods?" Mu Qingtong narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly. "So, has anyone been inside?"

“Of course there are,” the old woman said in a deep voice. “Although I came here ten years ago, I have known that this place has become a calamity for more than ten years. Every month, several people complete their quotas, so I estimate that there are hundreds or even thousands of people who have been promoted to the Divine Garden.”

"But to be honest, nobody knows whether the Divine Garden actually exists. After all, those who completed the quotas disappeared into thin air, and nobody knows where they went."

"That means he's probably dead, and even if he isn't, the outcome won't be much better," Xia Feng thought to himself.

"You came here ten years ago?" Mu Qingtong suddenly asked. "Do you know He Jianzhu?"

"He Jianzhu?" The old woman paused, her gaze slightly different. "I don't know He Jianzhu, but I do know a female doctor surnamed He."

(End of this chapter)