153: Chapter 153 The Sacrifice Begins

Chapter 153: The Ritual Begins

Late at night.

Silver streaks of lightning slashed across the sky, tearing open a gash in the heavy dark clouds.

Downpour arrived suddenly, and rolling waves churned across the sea.

The surging ocean waves crashed against the rocks beneath the cliff, spraying huge plumes of foam with thunderous roars.

At the peak of a towering headland stretching into the ocean...

...a group of people dressed in white had gathered despite the harsh environment.

Simple rain canopies and a high platform had been set up around them.

They seemed to be preparing to hold a special sacrificial ritual.

Instructor Chen Jiandong stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing down at the sea.

It was as though a bottomless abyss stretched beneath his feet alongside the rolling waves, forming a breathtaking tapestry.

Such a grand and rare natural phenomenon was truly the perfect alignment of weather and terrain.

It would enhance the spiritual energy of the ritual participants to an even greater effect.

Thinking of this, Instructor Chen Jiandong steeled his mind and turned to look at several assistants in charge of the ritual:

"It will be midnight shortly. Everyone, get ready."

Upon receiving the command, the assistants immediately began making preparations.

Beneath the rain canopy, a red carpet was laid out, upon which nearly a hundred formal members of the Zhenxiang Society sat cross-legged.

Before each person was a cup of slightly cloudy, milky-white liquid.

Without the slightest hesitation, they threw their heads back and gulped it down.

After consuming the unknown liquid, faint green light glowed in everyone's eyes, and their skin showed subtle signs of hardening and turning green.

The contents of the cups were a decoction brewed by the Zhenxiang Society using the remaining "special seafood."

It could significantly boost spiritual capacity and Physique strength within a short period.

This allowed the members to withstand the various negative effects and massive mental shocks that might occur during the upcoming prayer process.

Especially for the new members with weaker physical constitutions.

Instructor Chen Jiandong scanned the crowd, then looked out towards a few fishing boats faintly visible on the sea.

He thought to himself, *I hope the harvesting team gets a good enough yield tonight.*

Indeed.

The purpose of holding this grand ritual was not simply to worship gods as rumors outside suggested.

Rather, it was to gather the spiritual power and willpower of all Zhenxiang Society members to build a bridge across space and time, connecting with a sleeping higher-dimensional consciousness.

Aside from hoping to receive divine blessings that would allow members the opportunity to undergo Awakening and gain special powers...

...it was also for the objects possessing strange powers that spewed from the undersea rift.

Among them were many deep-sea creatures with extremely high nutritional value, as well as antique jewelry from ancient shipwrecks.

Occasionally, priceless treasures like "ancient remains" would also appear.

Today was the great tide that occurred once every two hundred years.

According to historical experience and predictions from the truth stele, more ancient remains would undoubtedly emerge into the world.

Therefore, for the Zhenxiang Society, success in this operation was an absolute imperative.

The president had arranged two prayer locations in total.

One was here, mostly consisting of newly joined members.

Apart from assisting with the prayer, it also served to confuse external enemies.

The other was in a secret underground cave, mainly consisting of high-ranking priests led by the president.

They bore the most arduous task of constructing the spatiotemporal circuit.

Meanwhile, several high-ranking executives took Driving duty on five fishing boats, leading the harvesting teams out to sea in separate directions.

Their primary harvesting area was in the deepest, darkest abyss right in front of the headland.

Seeing everyone sitting up straight with their eyes fixed on him,

Instructor Chen Jiandong composed himself and took his place on the high platform.

He prepared to lead his companions in establishing their Meditation targets and beginning the prayer ritual amid the tempest.

...

*Crack—*

The training camp base building.

A middle-aged man stood by the window with a cigarette butt dangling from his mouth, gazing absently at the thunderous, rain-drenched night outside.

"Hey, close the window quickly! The rain's blowing in!"

Another young guy walked over and reminded him.

"Oh, sorry about that."

The middle-aged man quickly stubbed out his cigarette butt and reached out to shut the window tightly.

Turning around, one could see a group of people inside the room gathered around a table, casually playing cards.

They were all backpackers who had come to Yongan Island for sightseeing.

Because accommodations in town were tight, they had walked around without finding a suitable place to stay.

So they agreed to return to the training camp base, intending to pay a bit extra to stay one more night.

However, when they returned in the evening, they found the place completely deserted, with even the staff gone.

The entire building was empty, looking somewhat eerie and creepy.

Everyone gathered in the duty room on the first floor, planning to make do for the night and see how things went tomorrow.

Strangely enough, while they had slept soundly here over the past few days, tonight they didn't feel sleepy at all.

Since they couldn't sleep and had nothing else to do, they set up a card game to pass the time.

"Hey, have you guys heard about the Water Demons? A lot of tourists have gone missing on Yongan Island over the years, and word is they were all snatched by Water Demons!"

While playing cards, one of them suddenly lowered his voice and spoke with feigned mystery.

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"Snatched by Water Demons?"

A young woman couldn't help sneering, "Making up stories like that just to scare people—you guys are really bored out of your minds."

The others chuckled along. In an era where science flourished, how could there be any monsters or ghosts?

But once the topic was opened, everyone's mood for chatting picked up.

Outside the window, the wind and rain remained bleak and heavy, amid flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder.

*Crack!*

A bolt of lightning crackled fiercely.

Suddenly, with a clack, the overhead lights went out.

The room was instantly plunged into darkness.

"Hey, what's going on? We were just getting into the game—why did the lights suddenly go out?"

"Damn it, what bad luck! I was just about to play my double bomb!"

"Strange, it couldn't really be haunted, could it?"

In the darkened duty room, everyone burst into a noisy commotion, howling in surprise.

"What are you making a fuss about? Thunder just blew a fuse, that's all."

The middle-aged man who had been smoking spoke calmly, then waved to another person:

"A-Qiang, come on. Let's go check the main breaker together."

Outside the building amid the thunder and rain, lightning flashed from time to time,

briefly illuminating the darkened first-floor lobby for half a second.

Standing at the open doorway of the duty room, A-Qiang widened his eyes, seemingly trying hard to make something out.

"A-Qiang, what do you see?"

The middle-aged man crept up to him alertly and asked in a low voice.

Staring intently into the dark lobby, A-Qiang said hesitantly,

"I... I think I just saw a water ghost..."

"No way, right?"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man instantly grew tense.

The others also squeezed over, craning their necks to look out the doorway.

"Maybe it's another guest from upstairs and you saw wrong?"

Someone suggested in confusion.

"When we got here, we checked upstairs. Except for the top floor being locked off, we didn't find anyone else..."

Someone couldn't help gulping down a mouthful of saliva.

As another streak of lightning flashed outside the window, light illuminated the area once more.

An extremely bizarre silhouette emerged.

At the same time, a squelching patter of footsteps sounded.

Amid the howling storm, this sound possessed an exceptionally heavy impact, thumping against everyone's hearts.

It was as though someone wearing water-logged rubber boots was slowly walking toward them.

As the silhouette drew closer, the figure's appearance gradually became visible to everyone.

The skin was bare and a murky dark green, seemingly covered in a sparse scattering of scales.

Its head was oversized, its eyes protruded like those of a fish, and its hands and feet had webbing like a frog's.

It looked like a hybrid creature of human and fish.

And as it neared the duty room where everyone was, an extraordinarily foul, fishy stench surged forward like seawater.