The lotus fire in Jingheng's hand could purge all evil in this world, yet the moment its flames touched the specter, they evaporated as if doused with boiling water.
"You haven't done anything wrong!" he exclaimed, puzzled. His lotus fire could only eradicate evil; if it didn't harm the specter, it meant this entity wasn't a wrongdoer.
The specter sneered and asked mockingly, "Who defines good and evil?"
Jingheng was filled with doubts but remained calm. He summoned a blood-red lotus and struck at the specter's face as it attacked. Caught off guard, the specter summoned another long sword, and suddenly, a cold wind swept through the surroundings, draining the color from the world. Jingheng took a step back, a sense of caution growing within him.
How could a mere specter possess such power?
Jingheng retreated, recalling the ghost lord Chou Zhi, who once commanded thousands of specters. Was this specter drawing power from Chou Zhi?
As the specter unleashed a streak of green light that corroded anything it touched, Jingheng slashed his finger to draw a sigil in the air with his blood. The blood vanished as he completed the sigil, only to reappear when the green light struck, forming a net that trapped the specter.
Jingheng instinctively pursed his lips. In his past life, when Chou Zhi took him to the underworld, he had no means to protect himself. He had learned this blood sigil from Chou Zhi, and never expected to use it here in his new life.
He watched the specter struggle within the blood sigil, its tendrils burning like fire when they touched it. The specter couldn't hold its sword any longer; the more it struggled, the tighter the sigil's tendrils became. In just a moment, the specter was in unbearable pain and screamed, "Coward! Kill me, just kill me!"
"You come to harm me, and yet call me a coward? You tried to kill me, and you act like this?" Jingheng replied with a puzzled expression. The specter said, "You're just a Celestial lackey, a mere dog. How can you claim to be a golden lotus left by a true god?"
"You're describing me like this, but I don't even remember you," Jingheng said. "Why did you want to harm me?"
"Harm you? You were born as the Celestial Realm's golden lotus, meant to maintain balance. If things go wrong, you're supposed to correct them. But what did you do in your life? Raised in the lotus pond, untouched by the world. Shouldn't you be saving the masses from suffering, instead of the gods pampering you while ignoring justice?"
The specter curled up in pain, tears of blood streaming down its dark, hollow face. Jingheng, the victor, hesitated as he saw the specter's grief. His training taught him that good and evil were clear-cut, that the gods were righteous and the evil spirits were always guilty. But here, the specter's sword aimed at him, yet it spoke of fairness.
Jingheng frowned deeply. After a long pause, he said, "I ask you, did I ever kill your family, harm your loved ones, or break the rules between demons and humans? I haven't even harmed the dog you fear most. So, why blame me?"
The specter, even more infuriated, shouted, "If the underworld causes chaos, it should face divine retribution, but the Celestial Order is unjust! You, the golden lotus, are the cause!"
"Killing me won't stop the underworld's chaos." Jingheng felt perplexed. What did the divine order have to do with him? If he had the power to determine the celestial order, how could he have died unjustly in his past life?
He scoffed.
The lotus fire couldn't harm the specter, indicating it had never committed evil. If it held grudges and resentment, perhaps it was manipulated and used against him, making it all the more pitiable.
"Who told you I was the cause of your suffering? I'll avenge you," he offered.
"Spare me your nonsense!" spat the specter.
"Everyone in the Celestial Realm knows I only took human form a century ago. I haven't had time to harm you. The one who sent you here has evil intentions!"
The specter hesitated for a moment, conflicted, before a flash of cold light appeared, and the specter fell lifeless to the ground.
In his past life, the one who would have arrived at this point was the White Bell Celestial Lord. Jingheng frowned, but then he heard a cry of shock.