Free Web NovelThe air was filled with the stench of decaying blood. Lu Yibei sat stunned in the completely dark ruined temple for a moment before getting up. She cast a Spell on Meng Raoze's corpse, which was already indistinguishable from a human form.
When Meng Raoze breathed his last, he had almost completely turned into a Strange Tale. The flames of Red Flame Flash licked over his corpse, immediately causing a violent reaction and erupting into a raging fire.
Lu Yibei stared at the flickering fire in front of her, her eyes slightly narrowed, thinking quietly.
The mountain sacrifice that Old Man Meng Rao mentioned should refer to the ritual held by the sinkhole. What about the river sacrifice?
He also said that It didn't want to be released. Does 'It' here refer to the Great Serpent God?
But if the Great Serpent God didn't want to be released, why did It ask me for help when I first entered the Bamboo Scroll Illusion?
Thinking of this, Lu Yibei slightly furrowed her brow. In her opinion, Meng Raoze's words seemed a bit more credible.
Before his death, he had already regarded Lu Yibei as a deity. Generally speaking, a person would not lie to a deity.
Not everyone is Lu Yibei.
A few minutes later, the fire gradually died down, and darkness returned from the gloomy corners, enveloping the ruined temple. Lu Yibei bent down, scooped up the black ash from the ground, wrapped it in the coarse cloth she had prepared beforehand, left the main hall, picked up her guitar case, and headed towards the center of the village.
He probably didn't want to be buried under this land of decay, depravity, and despair. Lu Yibei thought.
...
The sky sprinkled fine rain, and a cool wind swept through the dilapidated and crumbling village, making the lanterns hanging in front of the low stone houses sway precariously. The night, accompanied by the fine rain, seemed to pour down like mercury, making it hard to breathe.
Unlike the first time Lu Yibei came here, the sacrificial ceremony was approaching, and sounds of musical instruments being played came from the depths of the village.
Amidst the mournful music, the originally lifeless village seemed to awaken. Doors were pushed open one by one, and footsteps echoed in the streets.
Villagers with varying degrees of physical deformities, wearing snake-shaped masks made of black wood, walked out of the gloomy houses.
They carried blood-colored lanterns, not a single one speaking, maintaining that strange posture as if they were hanging, moving forward through the winding alleys stained red by the crimson light, as if flowing along crimson rivers.
Arriving at the outskirts of the village and seeing such a scene, Lu Yibei was startled for a moment. She didn't rush into the village but flashed her body and hid behind the wall of a stone house.
Her body pressed against the cold wall, she poked out half her head, observed the villagers, and whispered, "Coat, can you transform into that kind of mask?"
The Coat gently wriggled twice, without making any changes. It paused for a few seconds, then wriggled a few more times at a faster frequency, as if eagerly wanting to explain something.
Vaguely sensing an idea that felt wronged to the point of almost crying entering her mind, Lu Yibei was startled for a moment. She quickly touched the Coat and comforted it, "It's okay, it's okay. If you can't change into that, just change into one of their clothes. As for the mask, I'll figure something else out."
Coat, "..."
Yay! Devil Woman is the best!
✧*｡٩(ˊωˋ*)و✧*｡
The Coat gently wriggled, inevitably rubbing against sensitive areas, sending a tingling sensation. Lu Yibei couldn't help but let out a nasal sound.
"Mmm~!"
At the same time, the door of the stone house she was hiding in was suddenly pushed open by someone. A physically deformed one-armed man walked out of the pitch-black house. Hearing the unusual sound coming from behind the house, he called out suspiciously, "Who's there?!"
Lu Yibei inwardly cried out that something was wrong, feeling a surge of panic. Then, as if a wicked idea had struck her, her eyes darted around. She glanced at the Coat, which had already transformed into a coarse cloth dress, and discreetly lifted the hem of her skirt.
The deformed villager was wondering what was hidden behind the house. Carrying the blood-colored lantern, he cautiously approached, poking his head out little by little. Suddenly, he saw a well-proportioned, smooth, and fair leg, like jade, extending from behind the wall. He immediately froze on the spot, his mouth dry.
This... Is there any Miss in our village who has such a beautiful pair of legs? How come I don't know about it? The deformed villager thought.
Before he could recover, he saw a small, tender hand reach out from behind the wall and beckon to him. Immediately, he heard a soft, bone-melting call, "Hey there, come over~!"
"Gulp—!" The deformed villager swallowed hard, his head heated up, and he couldn't care about anything else. He pulled up his pants and ran towards the back of his house.
However.
As soon as he reached the corner of the house, a low whistle sounded in his ears. In the second before losing consciousness, he saw a golden face with wide, angry eyes burst into his vision.
"Thud——!"
After a muffled thud, Lu Yibei looked at the deformed villager lying on the ground and shrugged, "Facts prove that using suggestive images as bait works everywhere."
As for integrity...
At a time like this, who needs integrity?
Doing this doesn't cost me a piece of flesh!
Thinking this, Lu Yibei silently squatted down, took off his mask, snatched his lantern, stripped off his clothes, tore off a piece, kneaded it, twisted it into a rope, tied him up, and threw him into the pitch-black house.
"Sorry, fellow! Society is just this wicked!" Lu Yibei said.
Before leaving, she carefully searched the stone house, smashing all the clay pots and boxes, but didn't find anything useful.
...
When Lu Yibei mingled with the flow of people composed of deformed villagers and urban legend and reached the center of the village, she saw from a distance that a long table had been set up in the open space in the center of the village at some point. About ten Hui婆 were gathered behind the table.
A group of Priests wearing black robes stood silently behind them, standing together in fours, carrying pitch-black wooden boxes.
The physically deformed villagers, like soulless puppets, lowered their heads, carrying lanterns. Not a single person spoke. They were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, and the scene was deathly silent.
Among the many Hui婆, one was particularly special. It was hunched over, like a coiled Great Serpent. Although it wore a wedding dress like the other Hui婆, its face was not covered with red cloth like theirs. A terrifying face was exposed.
It was a human face with a twisted skull and covered in disgusting scales. On this face were pairs of morbid, malicious golden vertical pupils. The black scales shimmered with vibrant colors. Although it was clearly ugly, it gave people a feeling of being drawn in, unable to look away.
Is this the legendary iridescent black? Lu Yibei thought to herself, subtly approaching the open space in the center of the village.
So many Hui婆 made her decide to wait and see, biding her time.
As she passed the shed that looked like a noodle stall, an enticing aroma of meat entered her nostrils. She subconsciously glanced in the direction the scent was coming from, and immediately her stomach cramped.
Under that shed, a tall Priest was holding a long knife and lowering his head, chopping something. After Lu Yibei looked closely, she found it was a large piece of meat.
From its spine-like shape, it was clearly a part of a human body. She didn't know if it came from an unfortunate villager or a humanoid Strange Tale.
On the other side, a Priest who was so thin he was no longer human-shaped heated the pot in front of him, then put the chopped meat into the hot pot.
The meat sizzled when it touched the hot pot. The meat tumbled in the pot, and the fat layer released abundant oil, followed by the smell of cooked meat.
In a larger pot further away, steam was rising. In the murky, yellowish broth, something round was bobbing and rolling...
Although Lu Yibei already knew beforehand what the villagers here ate to survive, imagination was ultimately just imagination. But she had to admit that seeing such a scene with her own eyes brought a strong impact to her nerves every single second. freewebnøvel.coɱ
Lu Yibei withdrew her gaze, trying hard to suppress the urge to vomit, and warned herself in her heart, "Hold it in, hold it in. If I vomit here, I'll have to pretend it's morning sickness!"
Although one's moral bottom line can be low, it can't be that low, right?
Just as Lu Yibei was secretly pondering where her moral bottom line should be placed, a mournful suona sound suddenly rang out. Its lingering tail sounded like a woman emitting painful wails.
What the heck? What's going on? Are we entering the next phase?
Lu Yibei looked around blankly, then noticed the Priests under the noodle stall sheds filling stone basins with the cooked "delicacies" and carrying them to the Hui婆's dining table.
The Hui婆 seemed completely unconcerned about what the ingredients for dinner were. Each of them picked up a stone basin, brought it to their mouths, and began to feast heartily. Crisp crunching sounds arose, and the enticing aroma immediately grew thicker.
Vaguely, Lu Yibei also heard them communicating with each other in snake language.
"Perfect, the strong hallucinogenic toxins are concentrated in the broth, bringing a dizzying sense of depravity. A perfect work!"
"This feeling... this feeling is quite pure rage and killing intent..."
"It's a brand new texture! Why... wait! It's corpse poison, corpse poison was added to this dish!"
...
Good heavens, you can eat this kind of hellish dark cuisine with such relish? Lu Yibei's face under her mask turned pale.
The Hui婆 were communicating in low voices. If it weren't for their bizarre appearance and the negative words occasionally popping up in their conversation, Lu Yibei would have thought she was attending some high-society banquet full of noble ladies.
Soon, the leading Hui婆 finished the dishes in front of it, stood up, opened its terrifying large mouth, and let out a roar. Immediately after, sounds of musical instruments being played came from an unseen location.
At its signal, the feast celebrating the blessings of the fallen deity thus began, with a strange thing having ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) infiltrated.
The long-silent scene finally became somewhat noisy with human voices.
"Hey, brother, the dishes this year look a bit dark, but they should... be very delicious, right?"
"Older sister, your clothes are very beautiful! Is it an heirloom fabric?"
"Haven't seen me? How is that possible? I've been living in the ruined temple outside the village! Meng Raoze is my granduncle..."
"Huh? Is he that unpopular? That's great, uh, I mean, I don't like him either!"
Lu Yibei stood among this group of deformed villagers, being scrutinized by a group of Hui婆, and watching the Priests cook urban legend. At first, she was quite panicked, but after the scene became lively, she wasn't panicked at all.
She even wanted to get acquainted and infiltrate the enemy before finding a chance to do something!
Just then, on the outskirts of the open space, a figure stealthily mingled into the crowd.
"System, when should we make our move?"
"Hmm... no rush, observe! Wait for my signal!"
"Understood!"
Why is there a feeling of palpitations and unease? What's going on? The system thought, silently observing its surroundings.
