Chapter 280 Human Sacrifice
"Giving up so quickly?" Gu Qiongyi lowered her body and looked down at the girl sitting on the lotus stone sculpture. "I thought you would struggle angrily first and ignore us completely."
As expected, no answer was given.
Mu Jianjian frowned. She recalled Bian Yi's tone of voice earlier and found it hard not to think that these cultivators from the Longevity Pavilion all had eccentric personalities and strange emphasis in their words.
She had reason to suspect that the mastermind behind the Longevity Pavilion was a yandere!
"Then you're mistaken." She looked away.
“Hahaha,” Gu Qiongyi chuckled, leaning close to the girl’s ear, “We have a lot of people here. Guess how many of your friends can beat him, and how many can escape the ‘Master’s’ mental control?”
The woman's long eyelashes followed the corner of her pupils, and Mu Jianjian followed her gaze to her back—
Inside a "flower bud" attached to the wall and wrapped in layers of black petals, countless long and thick things twisted and turned, creating small gaps in the already misaligned petals. Rolling white mist rose up, and a palm-sized eye suddenly opened, meeting the stunned Mu Jianjian's gaze.
"bite--"
In that instant, Mu Jianjian's mind was filled with murmurs, as if countless people were chanting sutras close to her ear, and her memories flashed back, the fragmented recollections instantly turning into blank.
In less than a second of eye contact, all her memories and emotions seemed to be drained away, until a powerful inner energy protected her Dao heart in her mind. With a "boom," Mu Jianjian collapsed to the ground, her face pale.
Her face was as white as paper, and she was dry heaving with her hands on the ground in front of her.
What is this...?
“Her consciousness was protected,” Gu Qiongyi stood up straight and shrugged. “As expected.”
“Then we’ll just throw her in during the ‘sacrifice’,” the boy said nonchalantly, shaking the silver iron shackles on his hands. “It’s just a matter of time. Anyway, the important people haven’t arrived yet.”
From beginning to end, the man whose body was shrouded in black robes did not utter a single word.
Mu Jianjian lowered her eyes, which meant that she still had a chance.
Someone protected her consciousness... Was it her senior brother who did it?
"Where did the cultivators you pulled down earlier go?"
"That person?" Gu Qiongyi's expression turned strange for a moment. "He's long dead. Why are you still thinking about him?"
"Hahaha." The boy let out a strange laugh upon hearing this, his eyes crinkling as he expressed his current joy.
These two are already a bit neurotic, so their reaction is strange, yet it fits their personalities perfectly.
Mu Jianjian temporarily suppressed her doubts.
——
"No, no! It's impossible to cut it. It's tougher than any black iron I've ever seen."
From inside the cave, a man's scream rang out. He was covered in blood after a fierce battle, and his hands, which were holding the magic weapon, were trembling slightly. When he swung it at the attacking tentacles, he no longer had the speed he had before.
A pang of regret welled up in his heart.
If he hadn't come, he might have already left with the monster pills he'd been allocated earlier...
Even though it's only one, it's much better than dying here and getting nothing.
"If you want to leave, I won't stop you." Sang Wanyue's expression was cold as she struck down, severing the tentacle by the roots.
At this moment, having triggered the Blood Reversal Technique, her entire body was filled with killing intent, and her eyes were stained with red blood, which merged with her murderous aura.
Upon hearing this, the man, who had initially intended to back down, felt extremely ashamed.
A female cultivator younger than him was blocking his way, how could he, a man, not step forward!
He roared, gripped his magical weapon tightly, and continued fighting.
In a corner where no one was watching, a small, bluish-red ball of fur was slowly moved by a palm. The fluffy ball rolled over with difficulty, revealing two black bean-like eyes.
Huo Huo chirped softly, staring at the writhing half-tentacle in front of it. It shook its head curiously, and after a moment, it tentatively walked forward and carefully nibbled on a small piece.
Seemingly finding the taste appealing, Huo Huo spread its little wings, fluttered to the tentacles, and began to bury its head in the food.
——
"Fellow Daoist, you can sense the presence of aura through plants?"
Hearing the exclamations of surprise from the side, Wan Xing felt both proud and embarrassed. "I know a little," he replied.
The middle-aged man nodded. "In that case, I'll trouble you to lead the way, young lady."
"It's no trouble at all." Wan Xing waved his hand, releasing the natural energy from his secret technique, letting it seep into the soil and spread in all directions until a disturbance was heard not far away.
"Watch out for the ground!" She had barely uttered the words when she felt the soil beneath her feet begin to move, gradually forming a small whirlpool that sucked them in!
——
Tick-tock—tick-tock—tick-tock
Inside the underground palace, water droplets seeped from the soil and slowly fell into the water, making the environment even more silent. The crowd standing below the platform continued to chant scriptures numbly as usual, but their voices were barely audible.
The girl on the lotus platform was immobilized with her ankles shackled, while the three people on the side of the platform remained silent until the jade slip on the tall woman's waist flashed with light.
Gu Qiongyi picked up the jade slip and tapped it on his head before saying, "Bing, go and follow the smell to help Nuanfeng. He said he was beaten up badly."
She yawned, and seeing the burly man about to take a step, she suddenly reached out and grabbed him. "Never mind, just in case, I'll handle it. You stay here and keep an eye on these people."
The burly man's footsteps returned to their original position, making a loud "boom" due to his enormous size, but he remained silent throughout.
Gu Qiongyi finally fixed her gaze on the black-robed youth, "Put away your frivolous attitude and watch carefully."
"Yi Yi, I understand." The boy was completely immune to this kind of advice. Seeing the woman walk away, his posture became noticeably more relaxed.
“Hey,” he turned to look at the girl on the lotus stone platform, “I’m so curious about how you escaped Yi Yi’s ‘boundary’ back then.”
Senior Sister Yi Yi is the most ruthless person under Master's command. Even he couldn't think of a way to escape from the "boundary" she created.
Hearing the other person's rising tone, Mu Jianjian slowly conjured a phantom butterfly from her fingertips. "I can tell you, but you also need to answer my questions."
“Okay, one question for another,” the boy nodded. “You go first.”
"Answer my question first," Mu Jianjian turned her head to meet his gaze, "How many people came this time?"
"You're asking about this?" The boy raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought you'd ask about the rules of our building."
This question was too easy to deceive or fake, and for a moment he began to doubt the other party's motives.
"yes,"
"Seven people," the boy answered truthfully, his eyes shimmering and reflecting light, making him appear quite eerie at first glance.
Seven people...
Mu Jianjian began to recall the people she had met, and slowly closed her eyes, "They just used 'other world' as a threat."
Before the boy could even ponder the meaning of those words, a figure suddenly appeared at the crossroads across from the palace. The figure raised his hand and swiftly dropped someone off.
"Knock knock—"
With two thuds, the figure that had been thrown out rolled twice on the ground before finally crashing into the feet of the person still chanting scriptures, and then stopped. Despite the commotion at the crossroads, the crowd below remained numb, not even sparing a glance.
Mu Jianjian looked up and her pupils contracted slightly when she saw the figure on the ground.
The girl was covered in blood, and her skin was no longer intact. One eyelid drooped slightly, while the other eyelid was closed, with streams of blood flowing below. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of her chest, she would have looked like a corpse at first glance.
The ground behind her suddenly sank, and a hooded man slowly rose from it.
The man's feet were wrapped in cloth that shimmered with light patterns. He stepped into the ground with one foot, and blood was slowly flowing from his right arm. He was clearly seriously injured. He grabbed the woman's hair with his left hand and walked towards the front of the palace. A long, thin trail of blood was imprinted into the ground as he was pulled.
Mu Jianjian clenched her right fist, digging her nails into her flesh, but she felt no pain at all. She just stared intently at the woman's empty right arm.
As if sensing something, the woman laboriously raised her chin and looked ahead, meeting the gaze of the girl on the lotus stone platform. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
It was only then that Mu Jianjian realized that Wan Xing's right eye had also been gouged out.
"Jianjian... I've leveled up! I cut off this person's arm, even though I'm a higher level..." A faint voice appeared in my mind. "Wasn't I amazing?"
Mu Jianjian's nose stung with tears. She suppressed the urge to cry and whispered, "I'm sorry. You could have gone straight back to the Wood Spirit Clan and not gotten involved in all this... I dragged you into this, and I'm the one who's made you like this..."
She vaguely recalled the first time she met Wan Xing. She was so arrogant and haughty, with full makeup on her face, and she cared a lot about her appearance. Now, she was covered in blood and looked miserable, with one arm and one eye missing. Such pain was so lightly mentioned.
“But Jianjian, I don’t regret it…” Wan Xing’s voice was firm, “and you don’t need to regret it because of me!”
She almost won against this man, even though she was two ranks higher!
As long as the other party spares her life because of her identity, she will always have a chance to survive!
Mu Jianjian took a deep breath, looked up at the man who was striding towards her, who had taken off his coat to reveal a black robe underneath, and tried hard to hide the hatred in her heart.
The man cursed as he walked, "Damn it, if this bitch wasn't a member of the Wood Spirit Clan whom I could use, I would have twisted her brains off and crushed them. Using sound to search is just utterly despicable..."
"Desert Eagle, your arm is broken?" The boy pointed his index finger at his right arm in disbelief, a strange smile spreading across his face. "Hahaha, you're so weak. This terrain is perfect for you, how could she cut off your arm?"
Speaking of this makes me angry. Desert Eagle glared at the boy fiercely. "My secret technique is suitable for this place, and it is also suitable for the Wood Spirit Clan. I gave you the easiest task, using a magic weapon to subdue people, and you're still pointing fingers here. If I were a fairy, I would have kicked you out of the valley long ago."
“What’s wrong with me using a magical artifact?” The boy slowly raised a smile. “I made this magical artifact myself, and you’re using one of my magical artifacts on your foot, aren’t you?”
"Enough." The burly man between the two finally spoke, his voice thick, dry, and sneer-like, quite unlike his appearance.
Upon hearing this, a long-lost, oppressive silence returned to the palace.
Mu Jianjian's thoughts of how to escape were interrupted once again. After all, she couldn't leave Wan Xing, who had lost his arm, here. Just as she was trying to think of a way to break the deadlock, a female voice appeared in her mind.
"Pointy, pointy."
The voice of Yueyue!
Mu Jianjian remained expressionless, but her pupils trembled slightly.
“Sharp, I’m on the rock face above you now, but you don’t need to look up.”
"Are you... hurt, Yueyue?" She bit her lip, her words full of worry and concern.
"No."
In a corner of the palace, hidden by a stone wall, a woman tore her robe and wrapped the strips around her right hand. Her fingers were bruised and swollen, clearly showing signs of being dislocated and recently set. On her right shoulder was a wound that had corroded all the way to her abdomen, the blood on it already black and still slowly flowing out.
"You're lying to me, aren't you...?"
"I encountered a monster and killed it," Sang Wanyue paused, her hand still bandaging her wound. After a moment's hesitation, she asked softly, "Jianjian, what's wrong?"
Mu Jianjian opened her mouth, but still didn't say what she wanted to say. "It's nothing, Yueyue. I'm listening to what you want to say. It's just that their 'ritual' is about to begin, and we don't have much time left."
She's feeling down right now, and there's no reason for her to burden others with her negative emotions.
“I learned from the woman who was parasitized by the demon beast that at midnight, they will sacrifice a living person to their so-called ‘master’. What I need you to do is to use the Pupil Transformation Technique to escape immediately after I ambush the boy with the iron chain, and escape as far away as possible.”
"And what about you?" Mu Jianjian's heart sank. "But... but if we seize the opportunity, I can use my pupil-changing technique to get all three of us out of here!"
If the three of them are close enough, then they have a chance!
“No, I can’t leave,” Sang Wanyue said, glancing at the various cultivators who were being controlled below the stage. “These people can all become ‘living sacrifices.’ As long as even one of them is devoured by that ‘flower bud,’ everything here will end.”
Finish?
What does "end" mean?
Before Mu Jianjian could react, she heard her continue, "The various sects and factions had already heard rumors about these things. If we stay here for a day without returning, they will send people to investigate. As long as we can hold out until they arrive, we still have a chance. And you are their best 'human sacrifice' candidate; the farther you escape—"
“No, you’re lying. My arrival here was purely by chance. They’ve only been bewitching sects and cults from beginning to end, while also attracting caravans,” Mu Jianjian suddenly interrupted her. “You’re the perfect ‘human sacrifice’ in their minds, aren’t you?”
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