Chapter 191-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Ye Zheng spent two hours in the Back Garden Enclosure, repeatedly practicing with plants to familiarize herself with her new ability.

The usage was quite simple. Her right hand only needed to touch a living being to freely manipulate the other party's life energy and exert control over them.

She could absorb the other party's life force to enrich her own power. For example, her right hand grasped a wild grass, and the next moment the grass turned to ash, its energy absorbed by her.

She could also manipulate life force to modify any living being. For instance, making all of a tree's energy surge toward one branch. Eventually, this branch became thicker than the trunk, and the tree was pulled down by the excessively heavy branch, crashing to the ground with a thunderous sound.

If this operation were extended to the human body... Ye Zheng raised her right hand. It didn't seem much different from Sykes's [Destruction].

But compared to Sykes's [Destruction], she was now subject to considerable limitations. The more complex the life form, the longer her right hand needed to maintain contact. She couldn't achieve Sykes's level of raising a hand for extremely strong attack power. However, the advantage was that her ability had far more uses than Sykes's [Destruction].

In terms of healing, [Mother of All Things] didn't show direct effects, but Ye Zheng discovered that since acquiring it, her own healing ability had become extremely strong, and [Stream]'s healing power seemed to have become even more powerful.

Ye Zheng was delighted by the surprises [Mother of All Things] brought. Her only worry was that if she wanted to fully master it, she would need to spend a great deal of time practicing.

Not just time—if she wanted to use [Mother of All Things] against powerful enemies, she needed to accumulate extensive experience. Experience dealing with people.

—This meant she needed living people to practice on.

At this thought, Ye Zheng's heart skipped a beat, as if someone had heavily drummed on her heart. Once one possessed excessively powerful force and authority, certain bottom lines seemed to become blurred.

As a child, Ye Zheng had heard her grandmother tell stories of seafaring adventurers. It was said that before the Demonic Domains descended, many people raised their sails to explore the mysterious seas. An experienced captain with precise judgment was the most important presence on a ship. The slightest deviation from the course, the smallest misjudgment, could lead to total annihilation at sea.

Ye Zheng felt she was like a captain on a large ship, advancing along a predetermined route. But there were always unexpected storms along the way. She couldn't possibly stay on the initial course forever.

The sky darkened. The clock pointed to nine in the evening. Ye Zheng returned to the Papal Palace office.

She searched through the bookshelf for a while and found the list of death row inmates reported by the Sei Curia court. There were those who had stolen important holy relics, those who had committed murder in territories under Sei Curia rule, and even someone sentenced to death for opposing her...

Ye Zheng had a strong impression of that person. He spread the word everywhere that letting an ignorant woman become Pope was the beginning of the apocalypse, that Ye Zheng was definitely a heretic who had defied the god's true will. This claim even gathered some people and gained some traction.

She temporarily held back and let it go on for a while. After the man's developed influence just reached the standard for the death penalty, her knights quickly apprehended them at a secret gathering. The instigator was sentenced to death by the Sei Curia court.

Ye Zheng carefully read the materials in her hand over and over. Some people were undoubtedly deserving of death, such as the priest who had used his position to molest children. They would be executed anyway. Dying on the gallows or dying in her hands seemed to make no difference.

For them, there was no difference, but for her, once she put them into her practice experiments, she would no longer be killing them purely for the sake of just judgment, but more to serve her desire to become stronger.

She had disregarded the procedures of Imperial and Sei Curia law many times before, privately imposing deserved punishments on criminals. That was her only means of rebellion as a subordinate.

But now she had become a symbol of authority. Bypassing judicial justice could easily turn into abuse of power if she wasn't careful.

Ye Zheng finally put down the materials. She picked up a pen and quickly drafted a proposal on a blank sheet of paper—

Regardless of whether the death penalty is imposed, sex offenders must undergo castration. Non-death penalty offenders must have their little finger severed before release as a warning.

Because the five-hundred-year apocalypse prophecy was approaching, the Empire was in constant turmoil, and crime rates kept rising. Ye Zheng had always planned to increase certain punishments. Although Sei Curia law could only govern Sei Curia territories and matters related to the divine, many policies began implementation on a small scale and eventually became accepted regulations.

[So you've decided not to use death row inmates for experiments?]

The System suddenly popped up.

"I think drafting such a bill is what I should be doing most in this position."

[Drafting this bill doesn't conflict with you using those criminals, and you already detest them anyway, right?]

"My bottom line isn't high. I can use [Mother of All Things]'s ability to threaten and control those cardinals to pass my proposals. Although the methods aren't honorable, I have a clear conscience. This is the necessary path toward light."

"But when justice already has a reasonable execution path, if I then exercise violence in the name of justice, it seems to become hypocritical."

The System had always thought that when Ye Zheng became Pope and inherited [Mother of All Things], with her deep scheming and decisive ruthless methods, her style would only become more thunderous. It hadn't expected Ye Zheng to be surprisingly restrained at certain moments.

This restraint wasn't directed at enemies, but at herself.

"System, although I occasionally joke that I'm the villain of the story," Ye Zheng's dark eyes narrowed slightly with a hint of a smile, "I've always believed I'll be the protagonist who brings a beautiful future to the world."

Walking the line between black and white, maintaining a just-right balance point was very difficult. Ye Zheng couldn't even judge whether she was deviating at this moment.

Perhaps long in the future, wise successors would look back on her life's path. They would provide a definitive answer.

[Without practicing on human bodies, in less than a month, killing Sykes won't be easy for you.]

The more complex the life form, the harder it was to control their life force. Although Sykes's brain structure was relatively simple, his physical strength was very complex.

"Human body practice..."

Ye Zheng suddenly pointed at herself. Perhaps she herself was the best test subject.

Besides Sykes, who else was a 3S-rank powerhouse with Dragon Bone?

Only herself.

"Hm? You said less than a month?"

Ye Zheng was thinking about the experiment when she suddenly realized the meaning in the System's words. She took out her phone and opened the manga app.

*

Late at night, the Imperial Palace.

"Sykes, I've already had people arrange everything for you. Go stay there temporarily. I had them prepare everything according to your preferences. You..."

Sykes looked at the Emperor behind the desk. His golden eyes had become even more crimson with agitated emotions. He rudely interrupted, "I'm not going. I detest that filthy place in the lower district."

The middle-aged man with a dignified face darkened slightly, but his tone remained tolerant.

"Only the shelter in the lower district can isolate the Demonic Domain. Sykes, if it weren't necessary, how could I bear to send you to such a place? This isn't your fault. I'm not punishing you—I'm protecting you!"

Sykes stared at the Emperor's concerned and pained expression. He couldn't help but laugh mockingly.

"I was born from the demon dragon's remnant bones, bearing the ability of destruction. Now I've awakened the special ability to summon Demonic Domains. Of course this isn't my fault—no matter how you think about it, it's your fault, isn't it? Havel."

Faced with his son's disrespectful and mocking tone, Emperor Havel didn't get angry. He buried his face in his hands, his shoulders trembling faintly. When he raised his head, sadness had reddened his eyes.

"You're right. This is all my mistake. I sacrificed the person I loved most, yet failed to forge my child with her into a world-saving hero, that I failed her and failed you."

"Sykes, you resent me, don't you? I'm a terrible father."

"But please allow me today, in my capacity as Emperor of the Empire, to ask you—please go there temporarily. As long as you learn to control your new ability and won't harm innocent people, this matter will be over."

Sykes's clenched fists trembled, but he forced an awkward smile on his face.

"Since you're begging me like this, let me prepare for a while. I'll follow your arrangement and get out of the upper district."

Sykes turned and left, slamming the door with a deafening sound.

Utterly hypocritical! Saying he was afraid of harming innocent people—wasn't he just worried that Sykes would bring Demonic Domains to the upper district? Once even the most peaceful and tranquil upper district had Demonic Domains appear, those fragile citizens would probably collapse again and refuse to obediently follow the upper district's commands.

More likely, Havel just wanted to use this opportunity to expel him from the palace so he could put his truly favored heir in the Crown Prince's position!

Sykes pressed both hands against the platinum-colored wall, his eyes glaring at the floor nearly bursting with rage. In those people's eyes, what exactly was he?

An unpopular Crown Prince, a casually discarded tool, a demon dragon bringing disaster.

Soon, even his Crown Prince status would be stripped away. Once his relationship with Dragon Bone was exposed, he would be the demon dragon reborn that everyone detested, the calamity bringing Demonic Domains!

"Your Highness, Your Highness? Are you feeling unwell somewhere—" An anxious male voice rang in his ear.

"Get lost!"

Sykes, with blood-red eyes, swatted away the servant who was asking after him with concern, as if venting all his resentment. The male servant's head slammed hard into the wall, blood immediately staining the platinum-colored wall.

He glanced and found it was a servant who had attended to his daily needs since he was very young. But he felt no emotion. This male servant was also one of the people Havel had sent to monitor him.

Sykes left the corridor.

He held his head high, his blood-stained hand combing his golden hair back, revealing crazed red eyes.

Very well, let him fulfill their wishes and bring utter disaster to this world!

*

"Zhengzheng, Mom came to ask you—there's only half a month left until your coming-of-age ceremony. Where would you like to hold it?"

Shu Wan had been waiting in the reception room for her daughter. She hadn't expected that Ye Zheng, now Pope, would be busy until so late. Helpless heartache surfaced in her eyes.

Originally, she had carefully "prepared" for Ye Zheng's coming-of-age ceremony, but too many things had happened in between, and her plans were completely useless now.

This was a good thing. Ye Zheng had become Pope, so the Royal Family certainly couldn't capture her to be the Crown Prince's consort. Now the Crown Prince had to bow and greet when he saw her daughter.

However, Shu Wan still hoped to hold a grand coming-of-age ceremony for Ye Zheng.

"Coming-of-age ceremony? I remember that over a month ago, the Royal Family sent an invitation, granting me the privilege of holding my coming-of-age ceremony at the Imperial Palace."

Shu Wan nodded, her expression becoming puzzled. "That's right, but now..."

At that time, Ye Zheng hadn't become Pope yet, and the Royal Family had ulterior motives. By common sense, both sides now tacitly considered that invitation void, right? After all, the Pope celebrating her birthday at the palace sounded very strange.

"Mother, please respond to that invitation for me. I accept this 'privilege.'"

Shu Wan looked at her incredulously. Ye Zheng just smiled and glossed over it.

She couldn't tell Shu Wan the reason.

Because she had seen it—in the original plot, Ye Zheng was killed by Sykes at the coming-of-age ceremony the palace held for her.

What bizarre plotting. But now she had the advantage of foresight. Not easily changing the plot was more advantageous for her.

*

Outside the manga world.

Li Yixin accidentally dozed off at her desk until she was bombarded awake by a friend's phone call.

She groggily answered the phone, then drowsily clicked on the link Tang Mingxi sent, thinking Tang Mingxi was reminding her to check the manga update. Had some explosive plot happened again?

The page jumped. After Li Yixin saw the blog post content clearly, she instantly woke up with wide eyes.

[@Extraordinary_Ordinary_Manga_Worker_v: Has everyone finished this week's update? An important character will die in the upcoming plot. Everyone can mentally prepare in advance.]

[@Extraordinary_Ordinary_Manga_Worker_v: You can also guess who it is in the comments haha]

"No way, is this guy crazy?"

Li Yixin couldn't help but want to curse. She hurriedly clicked into this week's update first.

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