"This is the temple of R'lyeh." Saint Qin Fu smiled awkwardly for coping the guardian's words. He looked around at all the criminals who were cheering him in awe and he did something that he always do in front of the criminals every year.
Rip!
Saint Qin Fu ripped his cloak into pieces which revealed his well defined muscles that were like a perfectly curved sculpture. Of course, Saint Qin Fu didn't rip the part of the cloth that covered his lower body. He was white haired and a middle-aged man. However, Qin Fu's action didn't have a purpose to impress the crowd by showing them his perfect body. Instead, Qin Fu turned around and faced where he had come from and when he did so, his back was shown to all the criminals.
On Qin Fu's back, nothing was etched or drawn on it. It was as clean as the baby's bottom. Clearly, Qin Fu was clean and he was not a criminal, he was just like any other mundane being who chose not to engage in crime so that they could live their peaceful life without the worry of going to the purgatory to face their castigation.
Whoooah!
The criminals could not help but be even more shocked and awed.
This was the dream of all criminals in this hall. They all wanted to break a few sigils before they chose to living a life of purity like saint Qin Fu.
After all, when one broke a sigil, they became powerful and with power, one could enjoy fame, riches, respect, reverence, wealth and an added longevity.
The eyes of all the criminals glowed red when their eyes saw Qin Fu's clean back. They all wanted nothing but to go to the purgatory right away and face their castigation. They all couldn't wait. They were agitated.
"Wow! He has a great body. Just look at those abs. What about his back? I can't imagine that saint Qin Fu has managed to live a life of purity for a whole fifty years. This is insane and unbelievable! Crime is a part of us. When I hear people saying that saint Qin Fu is the perfect example of purity, I always say that they are all stupid but what am I seeing? Qin Fu's back is clean? This can't be possible! Please pinch me! I am dreaming!" Li Yi patted Shi Chang's shoulder several times but Shi Chang was still silent. He didn't utter a word or even raise his head to stare at who was at the sanctuary. He was not even listening, it was as if Shi Chang was in a world of his own. After all, Shi Chang couldn't believe what the guardian and saint Qin Fu were telling the criminals. The two: the guardian and saint Qin Fu were here for one purpose and that was to raise the hopes of the criminals and make their blood to boil while telling them that it was not bad to do crime, as crime was an opportunity to greatness. But to Shi Chang, he knew that something was wrong somewhere. Ascension was not as easy as it was being talked about by saint Qin Fu and the guardian.
Clearly, there was something that both the guardian and saint Qin Fu had not mentioned to the criminals. In their entire speech, they made the purgatory look like a joke that could easily be stepped upon and conquered.
"You all can manage to live a life of purity after your castigation. If I can do it for more than fifty years, what about you? We didn't build this temple but we found it here and build a city around it. This temple holds all the secrets of this world and how we should lead a life of purity in order to escape the castigation. I have been looking around for a disciple for many years but even until now, I haven't found one. Maybe, the person that I am looking for is you. Break the sigil of death and impress me so that you could be eligible to become the next saint."
"Yeeeaaah!" The criminals screamed like they had gone insane. They were all agitated as they muled over what saint Qin Fu had just said. Everyone knew very well what being a disciple of saint Qin Fu meant. What about one day becoming the next saint? All of them couldn't believe it and this mere prospect was making them restless.
'He is definitely lying to them! Ironically, what has come out of his mouth is not a crime because it's the truth.' Shi Chang who had already developed a negative attitude towards the guardian and the saint could not help but say this internally after he heard what saint Qin Fu had just said. After all, Shi Chang's crime was connected to the guardian. Shi Chang wanted to live like a mundane person but what the guardian did at one point in his life was what made him to do the act that brought him here. He was so bitter with the guardian and thought that the guardian was the one who was intentionally making the mundane humans to misbehave so that R'lyeh could continue to have an inflow of warriors but this would come at the expense of countless deaths.
Clearly, Shi Chang's fellow criminals had forgotten that for one to be a saint and be accepted by the temple. One needed to break the fourth sigil. Many greedy individuals had desired the position of sainthood but they all ended up not returning back from the purgatory. Greed was a trap that ripped many lives but all these criminals were ignorant of that, they had stopped seeing the dangers of how the purgatory was and instead, they were seeing themselves as wealthy individuals, powerful, and famous after breaking the sigil of death.
Anyway, the temple of R'lyeh was a colossal building with an ancient Chinese architecture. This temple stood on an area of about 10, 000km². It was extremely tall and its peak was so tall that it reached to the clouds. The hall where the criminals had congregated was merely a part of the temple. No human in R'lyeh knew who built this temple because the first people to arrive in R'lyeh found this temple here and they used the temple as their home. It was a mystery in itself but most of the people had come to believe that this temple was connected to the sigils because when one was needed to ascend to the purgatory, they first had to be in the temple. No criminal could refuse to be in the temple because there was usually a calling that had a great feeling which urged a criminal to head to the temple. However there were always a few criminals who refused this call which turned them to berserkers and idiots. The berserkers were called rogue criminals in this world and the warriors under the guardian would be forced to take out the rogue criminals in case they appeared.
Definitely, the temple of R'lyeh was not the only temple in this world. Each city had its own temple where their criminals could congregate.
A hall where the criminals had congregated was not the only part of the temple, it had many halls and chambers that had different functions.
"Finally. I can see that most of you are already restless but worry not because it's about time." Saint Qin Fu smiled. He raised his hands together and with a little bit of resistance, he dragged them down and in its wake, It left behind a transparent book that had weird glyphs and symbols.
Finally, Qin Fu waved his hands towards the criminals and spread his arms outwards with his eyes closed. The remaining part of his ripped cloak swayed around and he said.
"The full moon is here. All the criminals have humbled themselves to be castigated. No crime will be left unpunished and the people must maintain a life of purity for a better world. Now we rise." The words of saint Qin Fu reverberated in the whole of R'lyeh city and all could hear him. All the mundane persons humbled themselves and stopped what they were doing for this was a special moment in every year because it was a time that all the criminals would be taken to the purgatory to be castigated and only the pure will remain.
The entire city turned dark as all the technology ceased to function. The full moon stood at the peak of R'lyeh temple and its light shone upon the temple making it to glow in the dark. All the mundane beings that saw this humbled themselves in awe at this sight. They all wished that their cameras were working so that they could capture this moment which usually cane once in a year, but they didn't have that opportunity even if they knew at what time this moment would happen.
"Cleanse us of evil!" All the mundane humans chanted.
However, the criminals were not sharing the great mood of the mundane humans, the criminals were agitated and tense, they wanted nothing but to see all this coming to an end.
Shi Chang felt himself calming down and he felt a warm hand on his head and when he finally raised his head and stared beside him, he saw saint Qin Fu but this saint Qin Fu was conjured from white mist. All the criminals had their own saint Qin Fu who was comforting them at their 'last moments.'
When Shi Chang stared at the sanctuary, he saw saint Qin Fu who was still closing his eyes with his arms spread out.
"...and now, we rise." Saint Qin Fu said this and criminals felt the pain that they had never felt before. Hell fire came down and started eating each one of them slowly by slowly. The criminals could only thank saint Qin Fu for being there for them at their last moment.
On the other hand, the guardian watched what was unfolding with a smile on his face. He didn't feel sorry for anyone. Instead, he was taking glances at saint Qin Fu from time to time. In his eyes only greed could be seen as he wished that he had power like saint Qin Fu.
Anyway, hell fire ate the body of the criminals which made their beautiful and handsome faces to look horrific as their skin dissolved and their bones dissolved.
There was screams, shouts, laughs, curses and everything as the criminals tried everything to push away the pain.
However, among all these criminals, Shi Chang was calm and he gritted his teeth as he saw his fatty body being grilled and fried slowly by slowly.
His skin dissolved, his bones dissolved and just like the other criminals, he dissipated. One by one, the criminals disappeared. The hall that was previously crowded was now empty and clean. There wasn't even burnt marks on the benches because hell fire was not a normal fire.
Only the guardian, saint Qin Fu and a few clergymen in white cloaks were left behind.
The full moon disappeared into the clouds and R'lyeh city lit up as the technology was once again back. The people could only scramble to record the last moment of what happened as videos of such kind would usually get many views even if nothing important was caught up.
"He didn't scream or shake. He was calm and... and, I can't find the right words for him. But what I can say is that even if I was there with him, my presence wasn't helping at all. I felt that he was still alone even when he was surrounded by thousands of people. Who is this guy? Interesting... Very interesting. I hope you won't disappoint me." Saint Qin Fu said out loud when he thought about Shi Chang. He opened his eyes and saw the guardian's questioning look.