698: Sneak attack from the dead

On the cliff face of the valley.

Hearing Night Feather's words, Night Ning couldn't help but fall silent.

The Dead Spirit Race's coming-of-age ceremony is an incredibly important event for every Dead Spirit.

Hunting prey to please the Mother Goddess, proving one's martial prowess, and thereby receiving the Mother Goddess's blessing.

The better one performs in the coming-of-age ceremony, and the more precious the sacrificed prey, the better the blessing received. One might even directly attract the Mother Goddess's attention, become a favored one of the Mother Goddess, ascend to the sequence in one step, and gain the qualification to enter the Royal City.

Among the prey sacrificed in this coming-of-age ceremony, humans are at the Advanced level. The stronger they are, the more favored they are by the Mother Goddess.

The three Dead Spirits were brothers, and Night Ning was soon to participate in this year's coming-of-age ceremony.

For this, the three brothers left the town to search for suitable prey.

However, their initial target was not humans, as there have been very few Dead Spirits capable of sacrificing humans in the coming-of-age ceremony in recent centuries.

This is because the wilderness at night is a forbidden zone for humans; almost no humans would leave the area protected by the magic dispelling array at night.

And those who dare to act at night are, without exception, powerful human experts, whom underage Dead Spirits cannot deal with at all.

Night Feather's initial plan was to help his brother hunt a sixth-tier Demonic Beast.

Such prey, among the offerings for the coming-of-age ceremony, could already be considered the highest tier, excluding humans.

However, last night, he took a chance and went outside Green Field Town to cause a commotion, trying to see if he could attract a human.

Initially, Night Feather didn't have much hope.

Unexpectedly, a human actually left the protected area of the magic dispelling array.

At that time, Night Feather had intended to act, but that human's strength was somewhat formidable. The Demonic Beasts he lured caused no damage to the opponent, and the human only stayed for less than an hour before returning to the protected area of the magic dispelling array.

This result left Night Feather feeling very unwilling.

Tonight, he called upon his brothers and once again blocked the outside of Green Field Village, wanting to see if that human would come out again tonight.

The result need not be mentioned.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be standing here now.

One can only say that everything is blessed by the Mother Goddess.

"Night Ning, you don't have to worry about anything next; just follow my instructions."

"I will take the opportunity to sneak attack this human and severely injure him, and then you will deliver the killing blow."

Night Feather glanced at his somewhat timid brother and said without a doubt:

"Don't think about anything; this is our only chance to leave the town."

Class solidification among Dead Spirits is extremely severe, countless times stricter than among humans.

From the beginning of the coming-of-age ceremony, based on the Mother Goddess's blessing, each Dead Spirit's identity and status are basically solidified.

Those who perform well become favored ones of the Mother Goddess, gaining the qualification to enter cities. Even higher up, those who receive the highest level of blessing can even enter the Royal City and directly become nobles in the Dead Spirit sequence.

However, if one performs poorly, they can only live in villages and towns their entire lives, or become servants, with no hope of rising again.

This has nothing to do with strength; everything depends on the Mother Goddess's blessing.

Even though Night Feather is now a sixth-tier, his status in Dead Spirit society is still among the lowest tier.

Now, his brother Night Ning's strength is only third-tier, but if he uses a human as a sacrifice in the coming-of-age ceremony to gain the Mother Goddess's favor, his status will directly rise significantly. Even powerful seventh- and eighth-tier Dead Spirits will have to bow and salute upon seeing him.

"Understood, brother."

Seeing Night Feather's serious expression, the tentacles on Night Ning's head swayed, and he responded with some trepidation.

...

In the valley.

The battle had already reached its end.

Wang Chen was in an extremely disheveled state at this moment, his clothes almost soaked with blood.

After initially killing several wolf Demonic Beasts and their leader with a thunderous strike, he fell into a "bitter battle."

He counterattacked with great effort amidst the encirclement of the wolf Demonic Beasts.

All the blood on his body was "damage" caused by the wolf Demonic Beasts.

Of course, none of this blood was his.

He actually wanted the wolf Demonic Beasts to cause a few wounds on him to make the act more realistic.

But unfortunately, these guys were simply not strong enough. With the passive skill of the Celestial Metal Body, the attacks unleashed by the wolf Demonic Beasts couldn't even break his defense.

Finally, in desperation, Wang Chen could only deliberately let the blood sprayed by the wolf Demonic Beasts fall on him, making himself look more disheveled.

Bang!

Casually blocking a wolf Demonic Beast's incoming claw, Wang Chen feigned weakness and took a step back, then "with difficulty" counter-killed this wolf Demonic Beast.

"Hoo hoo hoo!!"

After doing all this, he gasped violently, looking extremely exhausted.

"I wonder if this will fool those Dead Spirits secretly peeping?"

Wang Chen looked around and found that there were no wolf Demonic Beasts still standing, and he couldn't help but feel a little worried.

However, since things had come to this, he could only temporarily continue according to the plan.

"Hoo!"

Exhaling heavily, Wang Chen sat on a rock and waited quietly.

...

In the distance.

On the valley's rock wall.

The three Dead Spirit brothers carefully restrained their Qi, their gazes fixed on the figure below.

Upon seeing him swaying and sitting on the ground, looking exhausted, Night Feather's face couldn't help but show a hint of excitement.

"Hahahaha!"

"He can't even stand steadily; this human must have consumed a lot of Qi."

"Night Ning, Night Feather, let's act."

Calling out to his brothers beside him, Night Feather flipped his hand and took out two black daggers. Then, like a worm, his lower body touched the ground, and his body silently descended.

Night Ning and Night Feather followed quickly upon seeing this.

Soon, the three Dead Spirits entered the valley and silently arrived behind Wang Chen.

"Hahahaha, this guy's consumption is indeed enormous. I'm already this close, and he still hasn't noticed anything unusual."

Hearing the human's hurried gasping, Night Feather couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

Dead Spirits have a unique advantage at night. As long as they don't actively attack, even experts several tiers higher in strength cannot discover the Dead Spirits' tracks.

This is the blessing granted to Dead Spirits by the Mother Goddess and the night.

"Human!"

"Become the sacrifice for my brother to please the Mother Goddess!"

Night Feather sneered in his heart, then without the slightest hesitation, his body suddenly leaped out from behind Wang Chen, and the dagger, like a venomous snake, stabbed towards Wang Chen's heart.

This strike was extremely fast, yet eerily silent.

Bang!

The next second, the dagger landed heavily on Wang Chen's body.

"Success!"

Night Feather, whose figure had materialized from his hidden state, was overjoyed and immediately called out to his brother to deliver the finishing blow.

However, at this moment, he suddenly realized something was wrong.