The Calamity Undead Sacrifice, one of the most evil rituals in the world, uses human lives as a catalyst and living souls as sustenance. Once activated, it will summon the undead, who can fulfill any wish of the one who initiated the ritual, but will slaughter living beings to draw power.
Unlike ordinary undead, which only take a living being’s soul painless and harmless, ending a life without the person even knowing these undead gather numerous spirits to condense into a powerful physical form, and their methods of killing are brutally savage.
The forbidden book recorded the conditions for activating the Calamity Undead Sacrifice:
1.
According to the records in the forbidden book, arrange the altar, use the sacrificer’s blood to draw the ritual array pattern, then chant the incantation to activate the ritual.
2.
Enter the undead secret realm, obtain the Netherflower, and place it at the center of the altar.
When the above conditions are met, it signifies that the Calamity Undead Sacrifice has already begun. Once activated, unless the sacrificer is killed, there is no way to stop it.
And the final step of the Calamity Undead Sacrifice is to offer a sufficiently powerful living soul. The forbidden book does not define what “sufficiently” means, but it is not hard to infer that ordinary people are not qualified to be the sacrifice, and relatively powerful witch-gu masters like the elder and the village chief might barely meet the conditions.
Qi Dengzui closed the forbidden book and said, “So, we now have two options. First, destroy the conditions for the sacrifice and prevent the Calamity Undead Sacrifice from beginning. Second, kill the sacrificer and solve the problem at its root.”
Joy surged across the elder’s face. “So, if we just find a way to kill the village chief, won’t that solve everything?”
He Zhu said, “But let’s first go destroy the sacrifice conditions. If that doesn’t work, killing the village chief won’t be too late.”
Lan Jie’er knocked on the door, her voice crisp: “Elder, the village chief wants the adults to go to his house.”
The elder’s expression turned grim and murderous. “This bastard, he can’t sit still already.”
Pei Su rubbed the whip in his hand, curling his lips into a cold smile. “The Calamity Undead Sacrifice hasn’t even started yet. He can’t touch us.”
Unless there were special circumstances, as members of the Weixue Team, the top of the supernatural academy, ordinary NPCs would find it very difficult to harm them.
Qi Dengzui said, “Guan Si and I will go check things out first. If anything seems off, you all handle the backup.”
He Zhu frowned deeply. “Captain Qi, it’s too dangerous. I’ll go with you. Let Guan Si stay here with Pei Su.”
Just as he was about to move, Pei Su called out from behind him, “Qi the beauty is going with little Guan. What are you butting in for?”
He grabbed He Zhu’s hand, and with a twist of his wrist, pulled He Zhu back. He Zhu stumbled, nearly falling into his arms. Pei Su leaned close to his ear and chuckled, “So repulsed by me? My fault, I shouldn’t have been so rough with you before.”
The voice wasn’t exactly quiet. Seeing the conversation start to veer off track, the elder’s old face flushed red. He simply couldn’t bear to watch. He turned his head away, covering his mouth with a cough.
In those two coughs, Pei Su said in a voice so low it was nearly inaudible, “The elder has a problem.”
He Zhu immediately understood and played along with his “act.” He slapped Pei Su on the chest, rose to his feet with a livid expression, and said coldly, “Shut up.”
Pei Su said, “My bad, my bad. Isn’t it just that I was a bit heavy-handed the night before last? Why are you this angry?”
“!” He Zhu choked on his own spit and nearly couldn’t catch his breath.
Even acting shouldn’t go this far.
Pei Su was way too damn shameless.
Unexpectedly, the elder actually fell for it. Sitting in his chair, he kept shifting his weight and coughing every now and then, as if sitting on pins and needles.
Finally, unable to listen any longer, he stood up and said, “Um… I have something to take care of. Adults, please continue your chat.”
He forced a stiff smile. “I’ll be going now.”
The elder took three steps as if they were two, walking with stiff, awkward movements a true retreat in panic.
Only after closing the door did he lean against it and let out a breath.
Sigh, these young men nowadays, they sure have a lot of energy.
Pei Su leaned against the door, confirming the elder was truly gone, before saying, “The elder isn’t right. We’ll stay here and keep an eye on him.”
He Zhu’s tone was stiff, still not recovered from Pei Su’s filthy talk moments ago. “If the village chief really has a problem, how can Captain Qi alone guarantee Guan Si gets out safely?”
Pei Su said, “Rest a hundred percent easy. Forget that Qi Dengzui is the academy’s strongest combat force even if we all died, he’d definitely protect Guan Si.”
He Zhu was silent for a moment, then said, “So you really think we’ll die here?”
“Not exactly,” Pei Su said. “I just have a feeling, as the tactical position.”
He Zhu pulled a puppet thread from his palm.
“Give me your hand.”
“What?”
Pei Su saw He Zhu lower his head, his expression suddenly softening a great deal. He Zhu tied the puppet thread around his wrist. The thread wasn’t very noticeable, like a single strand of white hair wrapped around it, a thin wisp resting against the blue veins.
He didn’t tell Pei Su what this puppet thread did.
Pei Su also had the tacit understanding not to ask him.
They maintained a mutual silence.
Pei Su watched him carefully tie a knot, no longer as carefree as before. He turned serious and said, “I wasn’t entirely acting just now either.”
“That night, even though we both enjoyed ourselves, the trouble started because of me. I still want to say sorry to you.”
He Zhu’s expression cracked again: “Who enjoyed themselves? Don’t you go accusing the innocent when you’re the guilty one.”
Pei Su’s expression froze: “You didn’t enjoy it?”
He Zhu: “…”
He turned aside, not even wanting to give Pei Su a glance.
Pei Su let out a sigh. “Alright, alright, let’s get to business. Let the elder come in first. I always felt his relationship with the village chief wasn’t simple. We need to keep him where we can see him.”
This time, the elder entered the room looking refreshed and spirited.
He looked around and suddenly asked, “Hey? Where did that girl Lan’er run off to?”
The village chief had originally sent people to escort Qi Dengzui and the others, so along the way, Qi Dengzui had no opportunity to communicate with Guan Si. When they arrived at the village chief’s house, the escorts said, “The village chief has matters to attend to and will come shortly.”
Qi Dengzui nodded, sat down on the wooden chair in the room. The window and door swayed back and forth, making creaking sounds.
“Milords!”
Lan’er climbed in through the window, her movements light and agile. With a gentle leap, she landed on the ground.
“The village chief will do you harm. It’s better if you come with me first, I can handle him.” Lan’er explained, “I am the Saintess of Shanyin Village. The village chief won’t touch me.”
“You’re the Saintess?” Guan Si asked in confusion. “Then your family.”
Lan’er said, “My family has been the guardians of Shanyin Village for generations. Shanyin Village has a unique terrain, situated at the crossroads between the yin and yang realms, the boundary between the living and the dead, where wandering souls are extremely numerous.”
“Because of this, our village is able to cultivate such powerful witchcraft and gu arts here. But precisely because of this special location, the people of our village are cursed and cannot live past eighteen.”
“To break the curse, a life must be exchanged for a life. The bloodline of my family is special, only one life is needed to exchange for the vitality of the entire village. Therefore, every eighteen years, our family must offer up one person in sacrifice. The younger the person sacrificed, the better the effect.”
“According to our family’s rules, the one designated for sacrifice each cycle becomes the Saint or Saintess of Shanyin Village. To thank them for their contribution to the village, if a Saint or Saintess commits a minor offense, they are directly exempted. Even for serious matters, the village chief cannot punish them arbitrarily it must go through a public hearing where the villagers vote to decide.”
Guan Si was deeply puzzled. “Your family is destined to suffer such a fate surely there must be resentment?”
“I don’t know.” Lan’er looked out the window, where the mountains and waters formed a beautiful scene on their own. Her gaze was distant, her voice solemn. “But my mother told me that since I was born in Shanyin Village, nurtured by its land and water, and raised with the care of my neighbors, it’s only natural that I give back.”
“Enough talk, milords. Come with me quickly.”
Qi Dengzui shook his head. “Saintess, you go back first. We’ll stay here and see how things play out.”
Lan’er’s delicate brows furrowed tightly, her expression changing. “Milords, you’ll be in danger!”
Qi Dengzui reassured her, “Don’t worry. You can wait in the shadows to support us. If something goes wrong, we’ll signal you.”
Lan’er couldn’t persuade them. Seeing that the village chief would arrive soon, she could only sigh and say, “Very well. Milords, you must be extremely careful. If anything happens to you, there will be no one left to stop the Calamity Soul Sacrifice.”
With a light leap, she slipped back out the way she came.
Half an incense stick’s time later, the village chief pushed open the door. Seeing only two people in the room, he said in surprise, “Where are the other two milords?”
Qi Dengzui said, “They’re still at the elder’s place.”
The village chief paused for a moment, then patted his chest and said, “Good, good that way the elder won’t know about our plan.”
He no longer had that blustering, outwardly fierce but inwardly weak demeanor he’d shown in the library. His attitude was very amiable.
The village chief got straight to the point: “Milords, did the elder tell you that I was going to initiate the Calamity Soul Sacrifice?”
Hearing this, both Qi Dengzui and Guan Si in the room felt a stir in their hearts and nodded.
Things were starting to get complicated.
The village chief said, “You must not believe him. He’s always wanted to become the village chief of Shanyin Village. That claim is a rumor he fabricated, just to trick you into killing me so he can take over as chief. Milords, you can’t be deceived by him!”
Seeing that Qi Dengzui’s expression remained unchanged, he said urgently, “Milords! I’m not lying to you. He deliberately framed me and led you to kill me clearly with ill intentions. In my view, the one truly initiating the Calamity Soul Sacrifice should be him!”
The elder had told them that the village chief had initiated the Calamity Soul Sacrifice.
But now the village chief was saying that the elder was the one who had initiated it.
The difficulty of this examination ground was beginning to show.
Qi Dengzui countered, “How can I trust you?”
The village chief said in a deep voice, “I know the location of the undead secret realm. I can take you there to destroy the Netherflower and stop the calamity undead sacrifice together with you.”
“Is that so?” Qi Dengzui said with great interest, a hint of amusement in his tone. “Then many thanks to the village chief. It’s noon now, so we’ll set out this afternoon. The sooner we resolve this, the faster we’ll be. What do you think?”
The village chief nodded repeatedly. “Good, good. However, sir, the secret realm requires the blood of a holy maiden to open. That girl Lan’er will need to come with us.”
“Of course I can!” Lan’er jumped down from the windowsill with practiced ease. “Uncle Village Chief, are you telling the truth? Did the elder really deceive me?”
The village chief: “…”
So all that he had said had been overheard by Lan’er.
But things had already come to this point. the elder had already harbored treacherous intentions, so at the very least, he needed to win over Lan’er’s family.
The village chief took Lan’er’s hand and spoke earnestly.
“Lan’er, our families have been on good terms for generations. How can you believe the elder’s words so easily and think that I would harm you?”
“But…”
“Lan’er, if you don’t trust your uncle, come with me to the secret realm this afternoon and see for yourself.”
Lan’er hesitated. “Well, alright then.”
The village chief nodded. “Good, then we’ll set out this afternoon. However… Lan’er, you must not tell anyone else about our plans. If something goes wrong, no one can bear the consequences.”
“Especially the elder.”