God Slayer: Make Up for the Past

The air in the cave was so heavy it seemed frozen. Chu Feng, Pan Yue, and Elder Sun leaned against the cold rock wall, watching the night watchmen pouring in. The light from the torches danced on their faces, reflecting indifference and suspicion.

"What are you doing?" Pan Yue stepped forward, trying to break the suffocating silence.

"What for?" A burly night watchman sneered, his tone full of disdain. "Of course, we're arresting you criminals for disturbing the order!"

"Disrupting order?" Chu Feng felt a surge of anger in his heart. He pointed at the still unconscious spirit boy and said, "We are saving him, saving an innocent child!"

"Save?" another night watchman scoffed. "Who do you think you are? A savior? This child has been completely corrupted by the evil spirit. There's no hope!"

"No, not yet!" Chu Feng's voice was firm and powerful. "I have seen with my own eyes the remaining clarity in the spirit boy's eyes. He still has hope!" He tried to approach the spirit boy again, but was rudely stopped by several night watchmen.

"Don't waste your energy, Chu Feng." The burly Night Watchman said in a cold tone, "Your willful behavior will only bring disaster to us. The Elders' Council has decided that for the safety of the Night Watchmen, all individuals contaminated by evil spirits must be eliminated, including this child."

The surrounding night watchmen echoed, their gazes piercing Chu Feng like knives, sending a chill through his bones. He looked around, only to see indifference and hostility, as if he were the alien, tainted by evil spirits. The feeling of isolation and helplessness was like an icy hand, tightly gripping his throat.

"You... just don't understand!" Chu Feng's voice trembled. He felt extremely powerless and hopeless. He had once thought that he joined the Night's Watch to protect the light and fight against evil, but now he found himself standing on the opposite side of his companions, being regarded as an enemy by them.

"That's enough, Chu Feng!" Pan Yue held him back and whispered, "Now is not the time to argue. We must first find a way to leave here."

"Leave?" The burly Night Watchman sneered again, "Do you think you can escape? Surrender obediently, and perhaps you can suffer less!"

Chu Feng gritted his teeth, knowing that today's incident would likely not end peacefully. He clenched his fists, feeling a sharp pain in his palms, scars left by the previous battle. But he didn't retreat, his eyes still burning with an unyielding fire.

At this moment, Elder Sun, who had been silent all this time, slowly spoke: "I think you may have misunderstood Chu Feng..."

Elder Sun's cloudy eyes swept over the crowd. He spoke slowly, his voice low but carrying an undeniable authority: "I think you may have misunderstood Chu Feng." These words were like a stone dropped into a calm lake, stirring up ripples. The surrounding night watchmen looked at each other in surprise. Chu Feng's previously tense body relaxed slightly. Elder Sun's support was like a warm current flowing through his cold heart.

"Chu Feng's previous judgments have always been accurate," Elder Sun continued, his gaze falling on the unconscious spirit child. "His insistence that this child can still be saved is not groundless." He paused, his tone becoming more serious. "Our duty as Night Watchmen is to protect, not to kill. Without solid evidence that this child is beyond saving, we cannot give up on any life lightly."

Elder Sun's words caused some of the Night Watchmen to waver, their previously firm faith beginning to falter. Chu Feng looked at Elder Sun with gratitude, a glimmer of hope igniting in his heart. Perhaps, there was still hope.

However, at this moment, a thin night watchman squeezed out of the crowd, holding a scroll in his hand and a smug look on his face. "Elder Sun, I have evidence that proves that a spirit child controlled by an evil spirit can cause great harm."

He unrolled the scroll, which was densely packed with case histories. Each case described how individuals possessed by evil spirits lost their minds, murdered innocent people, and ultimately caused tragedy. "These are the lessons learned from our predecessors," the thin night watchman said firmly, pointing to the text on the scroll. "We must not repeat the same mistakes!"

The contents of the scroll were shocking, and the originally wavering Night's Watchmen reaffirmed their stance. They looked at Chu Feng with hostility and vigilance, as if he were a dangerous time bomb.

The atmosphere in the cave froze once again, as if an invisible net had bound everyone tightly within it. Chu Feng's flame of hope was extinguished once again, and he felt an indescribable sense of oppression that made it almost impossible to breathe. He stared at the scroll intently, his eyes filled with resentment and anger.

"These so-called evidences," Chu Feng took a deep breath and tried to control his emotions, "can they really prove that Ling Tong is beyond redemption?" Although his voice was not loud, it carried a power that could not be ignored.

"What do you mean?" The thin night watchman narrowed his eyes, with a hint of displeasure in his tone.

"I've personally seen people controlled by evil spirits," Chu Feng's voice became firm. "Although they were influenced by evil spirits, they didn't completely lose their sanity. They still retained their humanity and still longed to be saved." He paused, staring intently at the thin night watchman. "And the spiritual child, the clarity in his eyes is still fresh in my memory. The cases in this scroll may be true, but that doesn't mean that all people controlled by evil spirits will become like that."

He pointed at the scroll, "Have these cases investigated the extent of the evil spirit's control? Have they considered individual differences? It would be too hasty to determine the fate of a spirit child based solely on these general descriptions!"

The thin night watchman's face changed. He didn't expect Chu Feng to refute him like this. He opened his mouth, wanting to argue, but was speechless.

"You..." He pointed at Chu Feng, his fingers trembling slightly, "You are questioning the wisdom of our predecessors!"

Chu Feng met his gaze fearlessly. "I'm not questioning the wisdom of our ancestors, but your rigid understanding of that wisdom!" He spoke word by word. "A Night Watchman's duty is to protect, not blindly obey!"

"You..." The skinny night watchman was furious. He slammed the scroll shut. "You are so stubborn!"

Chu Feng took a step forward and stared at the other person, "It's you..."

"It's you," Chu Feng stepped closer, his eyes blazing, "Your eyes have been bound by dogma and you can't see the truth!" He pointed at the unconscious spirit boy, "He's still a child! On what basis, on what basis did you sentence him to death!" Chu Feng's tone was passionate and trembling. This was not only a concern for the fate of the spirit boy, but also an accusation against the Night Watch's rigid dogma.

The skinny night watchman, named Zhao Qian, was intimidated by Chu Feng's aura and took a half step back, but quickly regained his composure, suppressing his rage. He sneered, "You're so sharp-tongued! Without evidence, all you say is just empty talk!" He raised the scroll in his hand and said, "This is the experience summed up by countless predecessors with their lives. What qualifications do you have to question it?"

"Experience? Can experience kill a child?" Chu Feng laughed in anger. "I personally saw a girl controlled by an evil spirit. She was tortured to the point of being neither human nor beast, but deep down, she still had some humanity left in her heart! We tried our best and finally rescued her from the evil spirit's control! She's now living a normal life, happily with her family!"

Chu Feng's voice echoed in the cave, every word resounding. He recalled the girl's desperate eyes and the bright smile she showed after being saved, and his belief was strengthened.

"That's just an exception!" Zhao Qian retorted, "You can't deny all the experience of our predecessors just because of one special case!"

"One exception? Two exceptions? Three?" Pan Yue, who had been silent the whole time, stood up and looked at Zhao Qian calmly. "Chu Feng and I have experienced many similar incidents together. We have witnessed with our own eyes that those who were controlled by evil spirits were not completely devoured by the evil spirits. They still have the possibility of being saved!"

Pan Yue recalled the scene of fighting side by side with Chu Feng. They fought against evil spirits together and saved innocent victims together. Their success again and again made them more convinced that evil spirits are not invincible and those who are controlled by them are not hopeless.

"You..." Zhao Qian's face turned pale. He looked around and found that some of the Night Watchmen's eyes were beginning to waver. He realized that he had to turn the situation around as soon as possible. "You are challenging the authority of the Night Watchmen! You are playing with everyone's lives!"

"We are protecting lives!" Chu Feng stared at him without backing down. "The duty of the Night Watch is to protect, not to kill! If we can't even save a child, how can we talk about protecting the people!"

The two sides were on edge, the atmosphere tense to the extreme. The surrounding night watchmen split into two factions, each supporting Chu Feng and Zhao Qian, and whispered to each other, making the cave noisy.

At this moment, a sudden change occurred!

The barrier surrounding the spirit child suddenly flickered, its pale blue light flickering like a candle flickering in the wind, poised to go out at any moment. The surrounding air also began to distort, emitting an unsettling aura.

"Not good!" Elder Sun's face changed drastically, "The barrier is about to collapse!"

Chu Feng and Pan Yue exchanged a glance, a sense of foreboding rising in their hearts. They rushed towards the barrier recklessly, and Zhao Qian, realizing the seriousness of the situation, followed closely behind.

"Be careful!" Elder Sun's voice sounded behind him, with a hint of anxiety.

Chu Feng and the others held their breath and cautiously approached the barrier. The flickering light reflected on their faces, making them look particularly strange. The air around the barrier became increasingly distorted, as if something was about to break out...

"It...it's coming out..." a night watchman shouted in horror, his voice trembling and then stopped abruptly.