CH 92.1

“The thirty-fifth annual religious painting contest has finally come to an end!”

“Let’s welcome our winner —— Zhou Yu!!!”

The background music reverberated loudly throughout the hall, jumping along with the dazzling stage lights.

What a humble awards ceremony.

Zhou Yu, standing backstage and looking at the audience, suddenly had this thought.

However, he —— someone who had always lived in that small town —— should have thought this ceremony was magnificently lavish.

After all, this was currently the most popular competition in the whole country —— it was organized by the National Religion Association. The government even allocated a special budget to fund it.

This competition was famous because any painter who won the award would gain a large group of high-quality believers for the gods they believed in, as well as a great amount of aid from the Religion Association. They might also receive an opportunity to enter the state religion election and compete with other denominations for the right to rule the country.

So, why did I think that this was a “humble ceremony”?

It’s as if I’ve experienced countless ceremonies that were far more grandiose than this.

Zhou Yu shook his head and threw away those strange thoughts, his emerald green eyes concealing a deep ambition.

Fighting for the right to rule of this country was still far from his end goal —— he wanted to give Morris all the best.

The black-suited host personally went backstage and welcomed Zhou Yu fanatically, “Oh my God! This must be our genius painter! There is no doubt that his religious painting,《The Nightmare Lord》[1] is the most outstanding piece in this entire era!”

Then, a painting was carried onto the stage. When the white cloth that was covering the painting fell, massive applause erupted beneath the stage.

No one questioned the host’s exaggerated praises because, for everyone in the audience, this painting was indeed the most outstanding religious painting from this era.

The main colour of this painting was murky black[2]. In one corner of the painting, an ancient castle engulfed in flames. Inside of it, faint silhouettes of sinners begged for mercy. On the barren hillside that filled most of the painting, a god in a black cloak was holding a scythe. His back to the crowd, only half of his face was revealed.

The god’s dark blue, painted eyes were filled with bloodthirst and brutality. Those strong emotions were all depicted by the painter with delicate brush strokes 一一 anyone who saw those eyes felt a chill rise from the depths of their soul.

Such a painting, which should have made the viewer feel uncomfortable, was adjusted and rendered by the painter with creative colouring. The painter used a starry night sky as a contrast, making it looked like a dreamy illusion. But when people saw the god who seemed detached from the whole painting, they would be freed from the dreamy illusion and crazily start believing in the god.

The painting was so magical that it could make anyone who originally knew nothing about this god instantly became a fanatic believer.

Since the painting was broadcast on the television and available for country-wide audiences, countless people claimed that they saw this bloodthirsty and brutal god in their dreams and felt the feeling of death.

However, those who had experienced death hopelessly became the most devoted believers of the Nightmare Lord. Everyone believed that this god was real and far more credible than other gods.

Just in one month, the whole country fell into the shadow of the Nightmare Lord.

People were scared of him, but they also worshipped him. Especially after the genius painter, Zhou Yu, who was considered as the spokesman told them the origin of the Nightmare Lord.

He was a god of vengeance born from the raging, never-ending fire of Hell. He was also the heir of the legendary Lord of Hell, Samael.

Zhou Yu held the trophy handed to him by the host, a smile blooming on his pale face.

Sure enough, just as Zhou Yu had envisioned, through this painting, the number of believers grew. Now, Morris was able to walk freely to any corner of the country, his face that had been burned beyond recognition becoming handsome once again.

Zhou Yu’s grin deepened when he thought of Morris who was desperately trying to seduce him to bed after becoming handsome again.

Seeing the smile of the extremely beautiful dark-haired boy, the ceremony audience rioted instantly. Everyone began to rush towards the stage, trying to kiss the god’s spokesman —— not as a blasphemy, but to express their fanatical worship.

It could be said that the fascinating beauty of this man played an undeniable role in why those people believed in this genius painter’s other identity as the god’s spokesman almost immediately.

This god’s spokesman’s beauty was as if it was gifted by the god himself. Every person had to admit that he was the best god’s spokesman in the world.

Zhou Yu, who was always living in a small town and used to act as a transparent person, frowned and felt a little troubled by the riot. But, suddenly an invisible force knocked those fanatics back.

As if someone was declaring his sovereignty, all the believers were knocked back by this power. Facing such supernatural power, the believers did not dare to make another attempt, they silently knelt and began to worship the Nightmare Lord.

Looking at the worshipping audience, Zhou Yu hid his smile and showed a helpless expression.

Ever since he started to become famous, Morris’ jealousy grew stronger, it was as if everyone was treating him (M) badly.

But in fact, they just had too much fanaticism for Morris, the Nightmare Lord, and wanted to express their longing for him.

Zhou Yu, who knew nothing about his beauty and charm at all, looked back at his paintings and shook his head helplessly.

But this was also good, at least this could prove that the Nightmare Lord really existed.

***

Clay[3] calendar, year 1996.

The god’s spokesman, Zhou Yu, showed the true face of the Nightmare Lord to the world for the first time. One year later, the Nightmare Sect became the national religion and Zhou Yu became the president of X Country.

At the same time, the Holy Sect was classified as a cult and banned nationwide.

***

Clay calendar, year 1998.

The Nightmare Sect was elected as the world’s most influential sect, with three billion registered believers which were three-tenths of Clay’s population.

***

Clay calendar, year 2003.

There was the Fifth World Religious War caused by the Holy Sect, the world fell into danger due to radiation. The Nightmare Lord appeared and saved the last 30% of humankind.

***

Clay calendar, year 2005.

The surviving humans formed a post-war alliance. The Holy Sect was marked as a shame in human history. The Nightmare Lord provided shelter for the surviving humans and Pope Zhou Yu served as the alliance leader.

In the same year, the alliance leader, Zhou Yu, became the partner of the Nightmare Lord. Since then he led mankind to a century-long glorious era and the Nightmare Sect became the most respected sect for thousands of years.

***

Clay calendar, year xxxx.

The greatest alliance leader, Zhou Yu, died, and the Nightmare Lord disappeared, but people would always remember their great contribution to history!

Tn

[1] : 《噩梦之主》, this is Zhou Yu’s painting name in Chinese, I translated it as “The Nightmare Lord”… Well, just in case because painting name has its own meaning for every painter.

[2] : “黑暗”, translated as murky black, but actually, it means darkness, gloominess, etc. which is definitely not a colour, so I just change it.

[3] : A little note for you guys~ This world name is not Earth, but Clay.

Staff corner

Baobei : Aaahhh QAQ this one is not really long, but Zhou Yu’s painting explanation is really hard to translate. For example, clever colour… wdym? In the text, I just interpreted it as creative colouring. You see clever colour is symbolized by blue (usually), but the author said it was contrasted by the starry night sky, so it’s definitely not blue. And, actually, I tried to draw this, but I failed miserably lol. I couldn’t make the god seem detached from the rest when its colour scheme was similar.

Okay, enough of my ramble tehee~ Happy holidays for you all and Merry Christmas! This is a small give from me, a mass update! I know it’s actually not that much, but hope you guys enjoy them~ (>ω<)