Chapter 428: Love Hurts the Most

The moment he entered, a reek of blood and despair washed over him.

Towering black stone walls stood all around, their surfaces carved with twisted, hideous faces like imprisoned souls.

A massive altar built from dark, blood-colored rock sat in the center. Its mottled surface exuded a nauseating stench of blood, and a gigantic statue of the God of Pain loomed above it.

The statue's face was contorted, its hollow eyes projecting endless agony, and its body was wrapped in countless sharp thorns.

The cultists surrounding it wore tattered, bloodstained black robes. Their faces were haggard, but their eyes burned with fanatical devotion. Every single one of them bore the scars of self-mutilation.

Some were missing arms, some had gouged out their own eyes, and others were covered in charred, blackened skin.

Su Mu noticed that the closer the cultists were to the statue, the more severe their mutilations. They seemed to use this to judge who was the most devout.

He ignored the lunatics and continued deeper, soon arriving at a building that resembled a church.

Upon entering, however, he found it was more of a prison than a church. Narrow, dim corridors crisscrossed the interior, their walls hollowed out into individual cells.

Most of the cells were occupied—or more accurately, filled with people with mangled limbs. They frantically mutilated themselves with the torture devices in their cells, their faces etched with agony mixed with a sliver of morbid pleasure.

Su Mu ventured deeper. The further he went, the stronger the auras emanating from the cells became. There were even quite a few Gold experts among them.

These Gold experts were visibly different from the ordinary self-mutilating cultists; their injuries were rather unique.

Some were rotting all over, hardly resembling humans anymore. Others had their eyes gouged out, their tongues, noses, and ears sliced off, or their skin entirely flayed.

Anyone with a slightly weaker mental fortitude would find it hard to bear the sight of such a hellish scene.

Following the guidance of Supreme Heaven, Su Mu soon arrived at a place resembling a treasury. Two massive, pitch-black iron doors were firmly locked, guarded by several Gold experts outside.

He ignored the group of Gold experts and walked straight into the treasury.

The scale of the Pain Divine Cult's treasury mildly surprised him. They had amassed a genuine wealth of treasures, even more abundant than the Blood Moon Empire's treasury.

He had just about used up the treasures from the Blood Moon Treasury, making this a perfectly timed delivery.

The Pain Divine Cult was based in the Nightmare World and had Saint Grade experts holding down the fort. Their overall strength far surpassed the Blood Moon Empire's, so it was only natural they had a multitude of treasures.

Su Mu strolled through the treasury. Wherever he passed, the surrounding treasures vanished instantly, as if wiped clean by a plague of locusts.

As he walked, he suddenly stopped. He had spotted someone deep inside the treasury.

It was a thin, middle-aged man with graying temples. Though his face bore the marks of time and hardship, it could not hide his handsome features.

Judging by the aura radiating from him, this was a Gold King.

But strangely, this Gold King had absolutely no signs of self-mutilation on his body.

A Gold King of the Pain Divine Cult with a perfectly intact body?

Su Mu soon got his answer. His gaze shifted to the middle-aged man's hands, which held a wood carving—a crude carving polished to a sheen from years of handling.

Judging by its carved long hair, the figure was a woman.

The middle-aged man was staring blankly at it, lost in a long trance, completely motionless.

Seeing this, Su Mu roughly understood why the middle-aged man had become a Gold King in the Pain Divine Cult without having to mutilate himself.

Of all the eighty thousand words in the world, the word "love" hurts the most.

The middle-aged man had not noticed Su Mu's arrival, his entire mind and soul poured into the wood carving.

Su Mu was in Dreamwalking Mode. The treasures in the treasury were silently absorbed into his dream without a sound. Ignoring this Gold King, he walked a full circle around the treasury and completely emptied it out.

Even so, the Gold King kept staring at the carving, as if he himself were an unmoving wooden statue.

Why wasn't Whisper here?

Su Mu frowned slightly. He had emptied the treasury but still hadn't found Whisper, yet the guidance from Supreme Heaven clearly indicated that Whisper was inside this treasury.

Right at this moment, the middle-aged man suddenly moved. A spatial fluctuation rippled from him, and a thin, slender longsword appeared in his hand. The blade was translucent, like a frozen pool of autumn water.

Its edge was as thin as a cicada's wing, exuding a sharpness that felt as though a light swipe could slice open the void itself.

On the hilt, two elegant little words were engraved—Whisper!

Holding Whisper, the middle-aged man gently carved the wood from memory, bringing clarity to the originally blurry lines.

A delicate, pretty woman gradually emerged, yet she blurred in his vision.

Tears clouded his sight. Looking at the wood carving, a flash of extreme agony crossed his eyes. "Why hasn't the Miracle of Pain descended yet? When will I finally be able to resurrect you? Is the pain not enough?"

"Wan'er, wait just a little longer. Once the Pain Divine Cult expands to become the largest religion and our believers multiply, the pain they provide will grow as well. When that time comes, the Miracle of Pain will definitely descend."

The wood carving did not reply.

He stayed silent for a long time, frequently glancing at Whisper. He seemed to harbor thoughts of ending his own life, but for the sake of the person in his memory, he refrained.

"Whisper. A good name." He traced his thumb over the engraving on the hilt. "You are the sharpest sword I have ever seen. Perhaps that is the meaning of your name. A heavy sword cannot pierce the armor of the heart, but a soft whisper by the ear strikes deepest."

Seeing this, Su Mu felt a bit helpless. He had originally intended to just grab Whisper and leave, then head back to open the Land of Origin, but looking at it now, avoiding a fight was impossible.

With that thought in mind, he revealed himself.

The middle-aged man was truly worthy of being a Gold King. The moment Su Mu appeared, he immediately sensed him and looked his way.

Upon getting a clear look at Su Mu, he frowned deeply. "An intruder? You..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he froze. Everywhere his gaze landed was completely empty. The once-dazzling treasury had nothing left but bare iron racks.

He slowly stood up. His terrifying aura gathered without releasing, freezing the surrounding air.

"Although I don't know how you did it, I advise you to hand over all the treasures." His calm voice echoed through the empty treasury.

Su Mu smiled gently. "Let me offer you some advice too. You'd better pretend you didn't see anything, and then hand Whisper over to me."

The middle-aged man remained calm, slowly tightening his grip on Whisper. "Are you from the Primal Divine Cult? You don't have the aura of those charlatans. On the contrary, you possess a Giant Demon's aura, and you've surprisingly reached the Half-Step Saint Grade. It seems fighting you won't be boring."

"It seems you aren't planning to take my advice." Su Mu shook his head slightly.

"Mhm," the middle-aged man responded softly. Then, without even raising his head, he added, "Please wait a moment."

As if cradling a peerless treasure, he carefully prepared to stow the wood carving away.

"There's no need for all that trouble," Su Mu's gentle voice rang out.