Chapter 20 If he dies here, what will happen to the campaign against King Zhou? ...
"Are you sure everything's okay?"
Watching the peddler's departing figure, Pingyu was somewhat worried: "What if he goes to complain to that monster? Or what if he reveals a flaw and the monster discovers something is wrong? We should have tied him up here then, and then picked someone to impersonate him."
“But that would give us away to Guhuoniao.” Jinzha looked at the obviously anxious girl and comforted her, “It’s okay, even if he does expose us, it doesn’t matter. Nezha and I working together can always defeat him.”
Nezha nodded silently and turned out his two magical weapons together.
The left hand holds the Qiankun Ring, the right hand...
Huh?
Ping Yu looked to his right at his palm, his pupils dilating in shock:
These are bricks made of gold!
She seemed to have heard of Nezha possessing such a magical weapon, used as a major weapon against the enemy during the conquest of King Zhou. He could use it to strike anyone with great strength, sending bricks flying and hitting them accurately with every blow. This was the first time Pingyu had seen the boy take it out; the brick was much larger than her palm, gleaming with golden light, and very sturdy.
How much would that cost...?
What are you doing?
Seeing the girl's lustful gaze towards his magical weapon, Nezha felt a chill run down his spine. He pressed a brick down on Pingyu's head and pushed her away. Pingyu coughed lightly, her face serious, and said, "Nezha, you absolutely mustn't use this weapon when we fight."
Nezha: ?
He asked, puzzled, "Why?"
"People die for wealth, birds die for food."
Ping Yu's tone was heavy and serious, as if he were recounting a matter of life and death:
"You absolutely mustn't reward him!"
.
Knock knock knock.
There was another knock on the door.
When Jinzha went to open the door, he found the peddler standing there, holding a candlestick. He glanced behind the man; night had fallen, and it was now deep into the night. The candlelight illuminated the peddler's face, and the shadow pulled his eyebrows down, making him look mournful.
"The time is almost up."
The man smiled ingratiatingly and stepped aside to let him pass.
Ping Yu had barely taken a step when he saw the scene outside and goosebumps rose all over his body. At midnight, the gates of death opened, and demons and ghosts poured out, running rampant in the human world. The peddler's house had no threshold, so it was shrouded in purple mist, and evil spirits were as numerous as pebbles by the roadside.
They turned around the moment Pingyu stepped out the door.
No matter where you are in this house, everyone is looking in the same direction.
It smells so good...
She smells so good...
You can't eat it...
The Heavenly Maiden wants to eat, wants to eat...
The whispers, as light as insects buzzing in my ears, echoed softly in my mind.
Ugh, it's so noisy.
Ping Yu, however, was used to it.
She calmly looked ahead, her gaze fixed on the peddler's ripped collar, using this as a distraction. Her eyes followed the man's collar down to the back of his neck, her gaze lingering on his skin. The collar bobbed up and down with his movements, and as it dipped slightly, Pingyu leaned forward.
What is that?
She noticed a ring of reddish-purple marks around the man's neck, the size of which seemed somewhat familiar. But before the girl could examine it closely, his collar rose again, and the man stopped in his tracks.
"arrive."
Pingyu looked up and saw that they had returned to the central hall they had passed through during the day.
The corridor led them to the altar, where the offerings remained unchanged. The fish had begun to spoil and stink, a pool of pus oozing from the plate, washing away several rotten scales.
The statue remained smiling on the platform, seemingly unperturbed by the neglect of the offerings, unchanged in the slightest. The peddler set down the candlestick and took six incense sticks from the side. One long and two short, he carefully prepared them and handed them to the two children. The candlelight flickered, and the peddler's face was glistening with tears or sweat, it was impossible to tell.
"Light the incense with a candlestick and then insert it into the incense burner. You must kowtow three times at the table, shouting 'Heaven and Earth Goddess, the power of God is boundless,' and then state your name."
Nezha and Pingyu did as instructed.
They carried the incense up, holding it three inches above their heads, and crouched down to immerse themselves in the flame.
The flame leaped up the moment it touched the top of the incense stick, and the orange-red flame flashed for a moment in front of the statue's lips before turning a dark blue.
Ping Yu's heart skipped a beat.
"Nezha!"
In a brief moment of distraction, Jinzha's startled shout rang out.
The change happened in the blink of an eye.
The next moment, a tremendous force struck from the side. Caught off guard, Pingyu was thrown back, spinning around, narrowly avoiding a thick, fleshy tongue. Pingyu watched as Nezha was engulfed in it, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Jinzha leaped up and tucked Pingyu into his arms.
Upon landing, the two saw that the statue had shattered on the ground.
The wall behind the desk is almost transparent.
The mud walls were covered with a thin film, like eggs, and as they bulged further, they were seeped with strands of blood, like cotton threads.
Pingyu recalled a dish he had heard of before called "Live Pearls." It was said to be made from eggs that had been incubated for too long but hadn't fully formed. Eleven-day-old "Live Pearls" were those where the egg white and yolk separated from the shell, containing the embryonic form, and were considered the most delicious. Eggs incubated for longer periods were of poor quality. After peeling off the shell, a thin membrane called the "phoenix coat" revealed the outline of a chick. Looking at this wall, Pingyu thought it resembled an overripe "Live Pearl."
You can see everything clearly, from bones and flesh to skin and even feathers.
"We've been discovered."
As Jinzha shielded him from behind, Pingyu suddenly spoke.
The young man turned around in surprise. He saw the girl biting her thumb and calmly saying, "When Nezha threatened him, he left a ring of marks on his neck. That's probably why it was exposed."
Pingyu used the pain to focus her mind; her whole body was covered in goosebumps, as if she were immersed in ice. She remembered the mark on the peddler's neck she had seen earlier. It was a wound left by Nezha, exposing their biggest weakness. It seemed this demon had been prepared all along; if Nezha hadn't thrown her away, she would probably be dead inside its belly.
Will Nezha die?
Unable to stop thinking, Pingyu pondered deeply: It was my suggestion that caused him to suffer for nothing... If he dies here, what will happen to the conquest of Zhou? I shouldn't have uttered that conjecture, Lin Pingyu, you jinx, every time the good news comes true but the bad news doesn't!
She was terrified that her butterfly, with just one flap of its wings, would stir up an irreversible storm here.
But the situation did not allow her to continue to panic, because the peddler had taken action.
Ping Yu was right; the bird demon had indeed noticed something amiss because of the red mark on the man's neck. The peddler hadn't said a word the entire time, but he had pulled down his collar before entering, giving the demon a heads-up.
The man was still looking at the fish on the table even as Nezha was being swallowed.
The fish used in the sacrifice looked at him with dead eyes and seized his soul.
A cornered beast will fight fiercely; a trapped bird will overturn its chariot.
Humans are like fish; they must leap over the gate to become dragons, or they will die.
He suddenly lowered his head, his sinister gaze fixed on Jinzha below, who was holding the Dragon-Binding Pillar high.
He said, "Kill them!"
His throat, hoarse from being strangled by Nezha, hissed and leaked air.
"Don't leave even a trace."
A note from the author:
I'm testing if posting at this time will attract some kind of superstition. If it doesn't, I'll post it at 3 PM tomorrow! [Starry eyes]
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