Empty Valley
It is certainly not An Rou's character to sit and wait for death.
Let Zhang Da expand the scope of "Fog City", one is to protect, the other is to paralyze the opponent.
In fact, the moment she landed, she connected with the consciousness of all the ghouls. It's no exaggeration to say that her eyes and ears were spread across the entire floating island.
Strangely, despite all her eyes and ears, she couldn't detect a single figure. She only heard the low, muffled music emanating from the celebration.
An Rou thought about it again and found it not strange at all.
She almost forgot a person, no, a dog.
Ink removal.
Maybe Chu Mo opened up a high-level martial arts space and solved the problem.
An Rou pursed her lips, wanting to scold him for being sentimental, but she held back. After all, triggering the ghoul tide prematurely would disrupt all subsequent plans.
She was a practical person. If she was really hungry, she would drink the porridge without hesitation and without even frowning even if there was a fly floating in it.
"Zhang Da, put it away." An Rou said.
The white smoke dissipated, and as far as the eye could see, the place was indeed empty, with no one in sight.
An Rou straightened her clothes, lowered her head to take a sniff, and said with a smile, "It smells like secondhand smoke. Who would have thought that your smoking habit could awaken ghost magic?"
Zhang Dagan enjoys the smell of cigarettes, which others hate.
This smell can help him suppress his instincts, stabilize his emotions, and give him a sense of security that even the ghost mother cannot bring.
"Blame him."
Zhang Da didn't show any expression when he said these two words, but An Rou was stunned for a moment.
It had been so long that she almost forgot that it was Wang Da who taught Zhang Da how to smoke. It wasn't just Paopao who was thinking about Wang Da, but also Zhang Da.
An Rou couldn't help but glance at Zhang Da, and this glance revealed the problem.
"careful!"
An Rou suddenly pulled Zhang Da up and threw herself to the side. She lost her balance, but Zhang Da did and supported her in return.
A beam of arrow light passed through the place where the two people were originally.
A familiar figure slowly walked out of the darkness.
An Rou narrowed her eyes: "Is it you?"
Mia didn't answer, but stood a few meters away, and three feather arrows appeared from the elemental card on her fingertips.
An Rou shook her head: "No, not you."
The clone who took her away was not Mia. Firstly, it had no ID, and secondly, the feeling it gave her was completely different from Mia.
Zhang Da stood in front of An Rou, but was gently pushed away by An Rou.
She suddenly laughed and looked Mia straight in the eye. "You're doing this behind your leader's back, aren't you afraid of being held accountable later? Or are you not as foolish as you look? You've already planned to pin the blame for killing the Divine Envoy on the Xiangyang Guild?"
Three feather arrows, each with a different color, and three colors of light appeared alternately in Mia's pupils.
The higher the level of the weapon, the stronger the spiritual connection with the player. An Rou couldn't clearly see the label on the light screen of Mia's longbow, but she was sure that it was at least a blue weapon.
The dilemma we faced not long ago is happening again.
But this time was different from the last time. The danger had stimulated An Rou's nerves and caused certain emotions in her body to surge.
She walked up to Mia without any fear.
"Of course you can put the blame on the Xiangyang Guild, but if you kill me, you will need to accept two consequences."
When An Rou laughed, her voice had a magical power that could guide others.
Mia asked unconsciously: "What's the result?"
"First, you, as a multi-player player, have come forward to accuse Xiang Yang. Xiang Yang will most likely push Bai Ge into the spotlight. Many people may think Bai Ge's love is unrequited, but I believe Ousi must be unaware that you two are in love. Bai Ge is the best bargaining chip to shake you."
"Secondly, you saw clearly my actions when I came into contact with the ghouls after arriving on the island. Killing me is possible..."
An Rou's pupils dilated for a moment.
At this moment, Mia inexplicably felt as if her whole body was enveloped by a biting cold.
She looked at An Rou, only to see that her friendly smile had turned visibly cold, and she spoke slowly and slowly -
"I will drag all the people on the island to be buried with me."
The arrow on the longbow, the arrowhead drooped.
However, the next moment, they raised up again and aimed at An Rou's eyebrows.
"No matter what the outcome is, I can bear it."
Mia's determination far exceeded An Rou's imagination. Because An Rou's actions and abilities far exceeded her imagination.
This is a scary NPC, Yongan Farm is a scary existence.
The disaster must be put to an end before it occurs.
Three-color skill light flows from the arrow feathers to the arrow head.
A black light was faster than them, so fast that An Rou didn't have time to blink before Mia disappeared before her eyes.
An Rou was stunned.
...to remove ink.
The white smoke enveloped her again, and when Zhang Da realized that Mia had disappeared, it gradually dissipated.
An Rou looked in the direction where the black light disappeared and frowned.
Forget it, I’m too lazy to think about it.
She didn't want to waste even one more brain cell on that person.
"Let's go back." An Rou said.
If I left the celebration for too long, Yin Tian would become suspicious. Besides, if I suddenly disappeared… No, if I suddenly disappeared, why did the music never stop?!
The Yanling Boots were too slow, so An Rou said to Zhang Dadao, "Take me back quickly, as fast as you can!"
There were ancient Greek courtyards scattered across the floating island. In less than a minute, An Rou crossed the roof of a courtyard and saw the altar.
At the top of the altar, within the square curtains, a graceful figure was dancing.
It’s her, the owner of the clone!
They used their clone to forcibly take me away, leaving my real body at the altar, subtly replacing the real one. So no one at the celebration site noticed that it wasn't their divine messenger inside at all!
"Hurry!" An Rou urged Zhang Da, "Don't alarm anyone."
She didn't think her guess was wrong.
Assuming that the Xiangyang Guild sent someone to assassinate her, the assassin was eliminated by Qimo at the last moment. Mia discovered the assassin in advance and wanted to take advantage of the situation, but the assassin did not show up, so she took action herself.
But among this set of inferences, there is still one most eye-catching mystery - who was the person who took her away from the altar?
She was very high-level, but he didn't kill her outright. He used his clone to take her away, but left her behind. Apparently, she was also proficient in the God's Dance...
The suspicious person once again points to the goddess of Duozhu, Mia.
It was just suspicious because this option was immediately crossed out by An Rou.
She didn't think that the Mia she saw a minute ago was a clone. Similarly, Mia was only third on the list. If the clone faced Chu Mo, how could the real body still stay on the stage and dance safely?
The Dance of the God's Birthday not only has music, but also a simple lighting setup.
The dance is divided into three stages. At each stage, part of the lights on the scene will be turned off. At this time, it is nearing the end and the celebration site has become dark.
Only the "Kongming Lantern" on the altar was lit, attracting everyone's attention.
As the dancer made the final prostration, the warm yellow light in the Kongming lantern dimmed inch by inch, and the scene fell into darkness.
[Now is the time.] An Rou told Wang Da with her consciousness.
The ghost art "Mist City" not only allows Wang Da to transform himself into mist, but also assimilate those wrapped in the mist. It can be said that within the fog city, there is a wide-open ghost art space.
The smoke disappeared into the darkness and drifted towards the curtain on the altar.
Just before entering the curtain, An Rou suddenly opened her eyes.
A woman and Zhang Da passed each other.
An Rou could sense Zhang Da pause, as if he was about to turn around and chase after her. At this moment, he turned around, revealing an extremely outstanding face and a smile so bright that it dimmed all other colors.
An Rou recognized those eyes; they belonged to the clone who kidnapped her.
But the other party was not a clone, but the real person, because there was a light screen above her head——
[Half Moon Princess Lv99 (Super God)]
-
In the darkness, cheers rang out and all the lights were turned on, shining on the tear-filled faces of the believers.
This was definitely the most shocking divine dance they had ever seen.
There are no words that can describe this dance or their mood.
Only the coming of God can explain the miracle before our eyes.
“Thank you, Lord!”
“Thank you, Lord!”
…
Wave after wave of sound brought An Rou back to the present moment. The curtain slowly rose, and she saw people crawling on the ground in all directions.
A dance that lasted less than ten minutes.
In ten minutes, she experienced one thrilling situation after another.
The Xiangyang Guild wanted to kill her, as did the Duozhu Goddess and Mia, who ranked third on the list. Even the legendary Princess Half Moon, who ranked second on the list, was part of the assassination.
However, what has happened has happened, and what needs to be solved is always the problem at hand.
It is undeniable that the Divine Birthday Dance performed by Princess Half Moon herself created an excellent opportunity for her.
An Rou quickly calmed her breathing, cleared her mind, looked at Yin Tian who was sitting in the main seat, and curled the corners of her lips.
Yin Tian, on the other hand, had a complicated expression. Ten instructions had been left on the long, pure gold table at some point, revealing a complex mix of emotions and uncontrollable anger.
He saw An Rou looking at him with an arrogant look and spoke in a loud voice.
"I have come to the empty valley carrying the will of the Lord God Duozhu. I am here, and God is here.
“Seeing the goddess of the sun is like seeing the Lord.”
Everyone lost their minds.
They cried out with loud voices, wept and cried out in agony, and exclaimed with ecstasy, "Seeing the goddess Sun is like seeing the Lord God!"
Sure enough, the shorter the "slogan", the more deeply it spreads to people's hearts.
Not to mention these lunatics.
An Rou met Yin Tian's angry gaze and said, "Yin Tian, why don't you kneel when you see the Lord God?"
Swish, tens of thousands of eyes focused on Yin Tian at the same time.
That is the pressure of faith, no matter what the object of faith is.
Yin Tian’s molars were almost broken.
It's not like he hasn't knelt before.
He knelt thousands of times, but every time he knelt down, the object was a pile of mud, a pile of stones, or a pile of metal!
Not once, was it a human.
His nails dug into the table, and as he stood up, they scratched the edge inch by inch, with blood oozing from every crack in his nails.
He cannot destroy his own foundation.
He knelt down.
In his heart, he only wanted to summon Mia, who was dead somewhere, and kill An Rou!
-
With Chu Mo around, Yin Tian couldn't call Mia back even if he wanted to.
Mia is dying.
Her health was less than 100 points, and her body was covered in blood. The long dress designed specifically for a goddess had also lost its ethereal aura.
However, no matter how serious the injury was, it could not shake her firm stance.
Because Chu Mo said to her: "If you want to kill An Rou, you have to get past me first."
She only fired two arrows from start to finish, and her active and passive defense systems were completely destroyed by the ink removal. Therefore, no matter how low her health was, her other three attributes were sufficient.
Mia took out four elemental cards again: water, fire, wind, and thunder. The four cards merged into the same arrow, and light flowed.
The arrowhead is aimed at the ink removal.
Chu Mo said calmly: "If you shoot this arrow, you will die."
"That's my destiny."
Throughout the entire fight, Chu Mo's emotions remained calm, but Mia's words of only six words made him suddenly explode.
Mia's eyes went dark, and before she could even loosen the bowstring, the arrow on the bow had already broken, and the elemental power scattered everywhere.
She was grabbed by the collar by Qimo and raised with one hand.
"Fate? You're talking about fate in front of me?!"
This wasn't the first time Mia had seen ink removal.
On the contrary, she had seen the ink removal process many times. She had always felt that this man, devoid of any life, was trapped in the same pain as herself. That was why he had wrapped himself in a thick cocoon of coldness and indifference, stubbornly and desperately resisting all external intrusions.
The first thing she saw was Chu Mo's uncontrolled emotions, emotions so intense that even she, a dying person, had never experienced them before.
The ink removal didn't allow him to lose control for too long.
The light in his eyes quickly dimmed and he threw Mia to the ground.
"You don't understand fate at all."
As he spoke, the sword flashed and the purple weapon longbow broke into two pieces.
Perhaps it was Chu Mo's inexplicably heavy tone, or perhaps it was the damage to her beloved weapon, but a hint of confusion finally appeared in Mia's determined eyes.
She looked at the ink removal.
Chu Mo turned around and the Youqi sword pierced under his feet.
"You are not worthy of the Sun-Peck." He said with his back to her, "Its owner once used it to kill a god."
Even though he had known that the only ending that awaited him was his bow breaking and his death.
-
The God’s Birthday Dance ended, and the God-given dinner followed.
The NPCs on the floating island served a sumptuous dinner, including stewed beef, roasted whole lamb, cheese, fruit... and a collection of red wine.
The hollow valley is well-lit, and it's said that many floating islands have vineyards. Even when they can't even eat enough, every NPC will prepare a bottle of red wine to keep for the moment.
Life and death are inevitable, and everyone will eventually die. However, the NPCs in the Valley have been preparing for their own death since their birth.
Faith has tampered with their concept of death and defeated the game's definition of death.
An Rou watched them quietly as they served the delicious food. Everyone's eyes met hers, tears welling up in their eyes. After putting down their food, they bowed respectfully and called out in a trembling voice, "Good day, goddess."
They didn't even notice Yin Tian's existence.
Yin Tian sneered: "Satisfied?"
An Rou came back to her senses from her thoughts and squinted at him: "Do you think I'm enjoying it?"
Yin Tian did not hide the jealousy in his eyes.
An Rou shook her head gently: "You were the one who wanted to embarrass me first. I just wanted to tell you that since you have chosen to be each other's partners, don't do anything behind my back. Don't you think it's childish?"
As I said, it's not time to fall out yet. At least before the celebration ends, we need to stabilize Yintian.
Yin Tian looked at her for a long moment, then suddenly laughed and raised his glass: "The farmer is right. The Lord God will not forgive betrayers."
It was indeed his negligence. There was no point in embarrassing An Rou, and doing these little tricks would not achieve anything.
Since you have chosen to hide the blade, you naturally have to wait until the critical moment to give the opponent a fatal blow.
An Rou clinked glasses with him.
According to the teachings of Duozhuism, God does not allow people to indulge in their selfish desires, and the God-given dinner can only last half an hour.
Half an hour passed quickly and the celebration entered its final stage, the divine sacrifice.
An Rou didn't know what the specific content of the divine sacrifice was. Judging from the players' gazes in the stands, the location was still the altar.
The drum beats sounded again, and the low piano music broke in. It was still the soul-calling song adapted by the Duozhu religion.
A light appeared outside the crowd.
A little boy stepped onto the path vacated by people, holding a white candle in his left hand and a small red-painted bucket in his right. He was wearing snow-white clothes, with a touch of bright red embellishing them, revealing the freshness of life.
He's not the only one.
Behind him was another child, and behind that other child was another child.
An Rou suddenly frowned. She recognized them. She had seen the previous children before.
Before the farm opens to the public in the morning to worship the statue, this team of a hundred people is the first to bring in offerings.
There were one hundred children, the oldest was in his early teens and the youngest was only five or six years old.
She had a bad feeling and couldn't help but look at Yin Tian: "What are they going to do?"
Yin Tian pretended not to hear anything, and focused on watching the children walk up to the altar from four directions. He waited until the people around him turned their eyes away before looking at An Rou.
The resentment in his eyes was gone, replaced by a playful sarcasm and implicit expectation.
Only naive people think that so-called faith is just prayer, music, dance and other forms.
True faith is born in blood, strengthened in sacrifice, and can only be passed down forever when the evil of human nature is fully exposed to the sun and is sincerely praised by people.
Today, he wanted to let this clueless NPC know what Duozhu meant.
The last child climbed onto the altar. Sparks flickered on the nine-tiered altar.
The boy who stepped onto the altar first was also the child who had a brief conversation with An Rou in the morning. He stood high at the top of the altar.
He began to pray, and as his voice fell, all the children began to pray.
The children's voices combined together gave An Rou a strange and terrifying feeling, as if she saw the most vivid life singing the praises of the darkest death.
An Rou frequently observed the small red buckets in their hands.
The distance is too far and there is no clue at all.
She opened her consciousness and asked, "What's in the bucket? Do you smell it?"
Zhang Da's answer made her heart skip a beat.
[Kerosene.]
Just then, the children's prayer came to an end. Everyone held up the candles and pressed them against their foreheads at the same time: "Thank you, Lord."
——This was the only word An Rou heard clearly in their prayer.
"Thank you, Lord!" Everyone at the celebration site shouted together.
Through her widened vision, An Rou could see clearly that everyone had an expression of emotion.
Why are you moved?
Could it be that the lives that have touched so many children are about to be destroyed?
No one could answer her question, and An Rou didn't have time to figure it out for herself because the children put down their candles, picked up buckets, and poured kerosene over their heads.
The candle in the other hand was raised again, and as the candle began to tilt, the flame began to flicker.
"Wait a moment!"
A voice broke the sacred silence.
Everyone looked towards the source of the sound.
An Rou then realized that she had stood up, and she caught a glimpse of Yin Tian's half-smile on his face out of the corner of her eye.
He seemed to have anticipated that he would stop it.
Why?
An Rou didn't have time to think. She took a deep breath and said loudly, "I have received the Lord God's will. The Lord God said that no human sacrifices are needed for this God's Birthday celebration. In addition, before this Heavenly God Competition begins, all residents of Floating Island No. 339 need to be relocated!"
When he said "no human sacrifice is needed", the believers in the audience had already opened their eyes wide in disbelief.
When An Rou announced the need to evacuate the floating island's inhabitants, many players stood up. Before they could voice their opinions, the NPCs serving the celebration, both inside and outside the crowd, burst into tears.
Some NPCs knelt down on the spot, while others rushed to the main seat and prostrated themselves before An Rou.
"Why? Why would the Sun Goddess say that?"
"Has the Lord God abandoned us? Are we not pious enough?"
"It must be that our hearts are not pure enough in serving the Lord God. Goddess Ri'an, we can purify our souls!"
"Yes, we can also purify our souls! Ask the Lord God to retract his will, and ask the Goddess Ri'an to retract his divine revelation!"
…
Purify the soul...what is that?
An Rou had just heard their requests, mixed with sobs, when she saw the NPCs turn around and rush towards the altar.
They squeezed in among the children, took their hands, and then held each other's hands.
"Let the fire from heaven purify our filthy souls!"
"Let us wander into the glory of the Lord God and regain our holy and pure hearts!"
In this situation, An Rou understood very well that the so-called purification of the soul meant being burned to death together with the children.
Bottles of kerosene were thrown onto the altar, and the skills of multiple players hit the oil tanks, causing the kerosene to pour down.
The fragments of the clay oil tank hit the NPCs' heads, and blood covered their faces.
They felt no pain, and everyone looked at An Rou with pleading eyes.
An Rou was speechless for a moment.
She saw many players lighting torches and walking towards the altar.
"Stop... Stop it right now! Are you going to disobey the Lord God's will?!"
This sentence caused the player's actions to pause for a moment.
An Rou had just performed a "miracle" at the God's Birthday Dance, so they didn't dare question the God's messenger. But they didn't listen to the God's messenger either, instead looking at Yin Tian for instructions.
In the absence of the goddess, the person with the highest status after the messenger of God is naturally Yintian, the president of the Duozhu Guild and one of the founding elders of the Duozhu religion.
An Rou also lowered her head to look at him, and happened to see the sneer on Yin Tian's face.
When a person breaks the bottom line of being a human being, he will naturally awaken an ability to seize the weaknesses of others.
Ever since Yin Tian set foot in An Rou's so-called "temple" and saw those NPCs disguised as servants of the gods, he knew that this farmer who stirred up the three major camps had weaknesses.
NPC is her biggest weakness.
Originally, he thought that even though An Rou was a special NPC, she would be divided into close and distant types in terms of personality, and would only care about the NPCs on the farm. Looking at the current situation, he greatly underestimated the fatality of this weakness.
She couldn't even stand the NPC suicide in the Valley.
An Rou said in a voice that only Yin Tian could hear clearly: "If you still want to cooperate..."
"Our cooperation has nothing to do with other people, right?"
Yin Tian interrupted An Rou, suddenly stood up and bowed to An Rou.
He shouted, "Even if the Lord God refuses his people's service, we, as his people, cannot stray from him! Goddess Sun, the heavenly fire is guiding our souls to the Lord God's palace. This is the Lord God's gift to us. Now that the Lord God has withdrawn his gift, we are willing to offer our souls to the outside of the Lord God's palace to protect him!"
"Yes, we are willing to protect the Lord! We are willing to sacrifice our souls!"
"Please Lord God, grant your people the gift again!"
The NPCs on the altar were easily moved by Yin Tian's words. They responded while crying bitterly, like children abandoned by their parents.
I don't know who started it, but many players began to say in unison: "Please, Goddess Ri'an, send down the fire from the sky to purify our souls!"
They said "we" but their eyes were looking at the NPCs of all sizes on the altar.
An Rou felt a strong urge to ask, "If that's the case, why don't you players come up and throw kerosene on your own heads?"
She held back.
She finally realized that penetrating people's hearts is not something that can be done overnight.
Even though she was praised as the "Goddess of Sun" by believers throughout the Konggu, and even though she had performed "miracles" many times, her weight was still not enough to counter the Duozhu doctrine that had eroded people's hearts for many years.
She needed to destroy their faith at its core.
An Rou is not religious and does not understand religion. To be honest, this is her first time to get close to so-called believers.
As an outsider, he wanted to destroy the foundation of a religion? If Yin Tian knew, he would definitely laugh at him and say, "You are overestimating your own abilities."
Unfortunately, An Rou, as a layman, just happens to have this ability.
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