638: Chapter 628 Senichi (3)

Chi Li sat under the window, holding a broken dagger in his hand, slowly wiping away the rust on the blade.

He kept his head down, his movements steady, as if whether there was one more person or one less in the room had nothing to do with him.

"Have you seen enough?"

A Lie spoke first; his voice was not loud, but his words were aggressive.

He stood by the door, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade, clearly not welcoming Qin Yun's approach.

"The tribe has already let you in, don't take another step forward."

Chi Li did not look up, only turned the dagger half a circle and continued wiping the back of the blade.

"If you are afraid I will sully his eyes, then don't bring him here."

These words were soft, and the room instantly fell silent.

A Lie furrowed his brows.

Only then did Chi Li raise his eyes to look at him.

"Haven't you always thought I was ominous?"

"What are you afraid of now?"

A Lie's expression darkened.

"What I'm afraid of is you messing up the Sacrificial Mountain again."

"Have you forgotten how many people in the village died when things went wrong last time?"

Chi Li stared at him, his gaze very calm.

"Did you see with your own eyes that I did it?"

A Lie was momentarily stumped.

"The tribe says so."

Chi Li gave a small smile.

It was very faint.

"The tribe says I deserve to die, why don't you do it?"

"If you don't dare to kill me, then don't pretend like you saw it with your own eyes."

A Lie was choked up, the veins on the back of his hand bulging.

Sang He coughed from the side, leaning on a black wooden staff, and slowly walked into the room.

"Everyone, calm down."

"We aren't here to argue today."

He looked at Qin Yun, his eyes showing some fatigue.

"You were right; Chi Li's Life Pattern isn't ruined, it's being suppressed."

Qin Yun didn't respond, only watched Chi Li.

"Who is suppressing it?"

Chi Li placed the short dagger on his knees.

"I don't know."

"And I don't want to know."

A Lie couldn't help but say: "Of course you don't want to know."

"Because that was how your father harmed the entire tribe back then."

Once these words were spoken, the room instantly fell silent.

Chi Li looked up.

This time, the calmness in his eyes was finally broken.

"Say that again."

A Lie sneered.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"If it weren't for Sacrificial Elder Chi Heng making a mistake, would the Sacrificial Mountain have been sealed for so long?"

"If your father hadn't offended the Superior, would the village have become like this?"

Chi Li stood up; he didn't draw the short dagger, but he gripped it very tightly.

"Did you see it?"

"Or did you just hear a few words from others and pretend you saw it with your own eyes?"

A Lie wanted to retort, but the words stuck in his throat.

It wasn't that he didn't want to speak, but he knew in his heart that he hadn't seen it.

But all these years, everyone in the village had been spreading it this way.

After spreading it for so long, even the truth sounded like a lie.

The Sacrificial Elder hadn't spoken until now, then said in a deep voice: "Chi Heng would not make that kind of mistake."

A Lie turned his head abruptly.

"Sacrificial Elder?"

He looked as if he had heard something unbelievable.

The Sacrificial Elder did not look away.

He stood in the room, his back slightly hunched, the dim red-gold mark on his forehead faintly heating up.

"I know the person I raised."

"Chi Heng was cautious in his actions, his Life Pattern was pure, and he didn't have a single stray thought before walking the sacrificial steps."

"If he really had an accident, it wouldn't be the kind of thing you all imagine."

The room fell silent for a moment.

"The Chi Mountain Tribe has to select people to enter the mountain every so often."

"Those who enter the mountain bring back Life Pattern stabilization methods, sacrificial fire seeds, and black stone pattern diagrams."

"Those things have kept us alive until now."

Qin Yun listened without interrupting.

This was about the same as what he had guessed earlier.

It wasn't as simple as worship; it was more like an exchange.

That time they entered the mountain, Chi Heng shouldn't have brought Chi Li in.

"According to the rules, Chi Li was only accompanying to observe the ceremony; he shouldn't have stepped onto the core sacrificial steps."

"But as it happened, something went wrong in the mountain."

Chi Li finally spoke.

"I didn't wander off."

His voice was very flat, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.

"My father made me follow him."

A Lie sneered.

"And then?"

Chi Li raised his eyes.

"Then we entered the mountain."

"And after that, only I came back."

After these words fell, no one in the room made a sound.

Sang He looked at Chi Li, his expression heavy.

"When he returned, his Life Pattern had already dimmed to how it is now."

"He didn't cry, didn't shout, didn't say a word."

"It was as if he didn't remember anything."

"Some people in the tribe said he was sent back by the mountain to give a warning."

A Lie took over, his voice stiff.

"His father offended the Superior, which is why he was implicated."

"Otherwise, why did everyone else die, and only he survived?"

Chi Li suddenly laughed.

This time the laugh was even lighter.

"You really know how to choose what to listen to."

A Lie felt a fire rise in his heart from being looked at by him.

"What are you laughing at?"

Chi Li pressed the dagger onto the table, his gaze turning cold.

"Laughing that you've lived so long, yet your brains only have what others feed you."

"The tribe says my father harmed the whole clan, so you believe it."

"The tribe says I'm ominous, so you hide."

"The tribe says I deserve to die, yet you don't dare to do it."

"So, do you believe in fate, or do you believe in people?"

A Lie's face turned livid, his hand already pressing on his blade.

"Try saying that again."

The Sacrificial Elder raised his hand, holding him down.

"Don't move."

A Lie still wanted to struggle, but the Sacrificial Elder just looked at him once.

A Lie gritted his teeth, but in the end, he didn't draw his blade.

Qin Yun had remained silent, only watching Chi Li.

Qin Yun suddenly spoke.

"Give me your hand."

Chi Li looked at him, his gaze instantly cooling a few degrees.

"Why should I?"

"You look at me no differently than you look at the beasts at the foot of the mountain."

"What else do you want to check?"

Qin Yun said: "I can see what your father actually encountered."

Chi Li fell silent.

He stared at Qin Yun, as if judging whether these words were true or false.

After a long while, he slowly retracted his dagger.

"Suit yourself."

"But if you can't see anything, then hurry up and get out."

Chi Li didn't say anything more, only raised his right hand onto the table.

His wrist was very thin, and under the skin was a very faint red-black line, as if it had been burned, or as if it had been constricted by something.

Qin Yun raised his hand and pressed it onto it.

At that moment, his palm felt slightly warm.

It wasn't the Life Pattern responding.

It was the azure pagoda moving.

The Life Method, Dao Method, and Body Method within the Nine Methods also began to fluctuate simultaneously.

Qin Yun's expression shifted slightly.

What he saw was not an ordinary line.

It was a deep red-gold chain.

One end of the chain was wrapped around Chi Li's Life Pattern.

The other end passed through the nine great mountains and pierced deep into the Sacrificial Mountain.

Above the sacrificial steps, Chi Heng stood in front, his back to the crowd.

He did not kneel.

Nor did he bow.

He only looked up, toward the red-gold light deeper inside.

A figure sat in the light, whose face could not be seen clearly.

Chi Heng seemed to have said something.

The next moment, all the Life Patterns on the sacrificial steps flowed backward simultaneously.

Someone fell.

Someone looked up.

Someone wanted to retreat, but was as if nailed in place by something.

Chi Heng turned around, raised his hand, and pressed a wisp of something into Chi Li's body.

Then, he was as if forcibly sent out of the Sacrificial Mountain by a force.

The vision cut off.

Qin Yun withdrew his hand, his fingertips still carrying a trace of lingering warmth.

Chi Li's face turned pale.

"What did you see?"

Qin Yun didn't answer immediately, only looking toward the direction of the Sacrificial Mountain.

He saw one thing clearly.

Chi Heng did not make a mistake.

It seemed he had sensed that something in the mountain was wrong, and was forced to make a choice.

The Sacrificial Elder's voice was very low.

"What did you see?"

Before Qin Yun could speak, the dark pattern on Chi Li's wrist suddenly jumped.

From deep within that tiny crack, a bit of blue-gold light actually shone through.

From the Ancestral Wall, a soft sound followed.

Very light.

But it caused everyone in the room's heart to sink.

A Lie looked up immediately.

"The Sacrificial Mountain has moved again."

Sang He's expression also changed.

"No, it's moving too fast."

Outside the house, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded in the village.

A tribal elder rushed over, his face covered in sweat.

"Sacrificial Elder!"

"The Ancestral Wall has lit up!"

"The Life Patterns are all heating up!"

Just after he finished speaking, in the Chi Mountain Tribe village, the wrists of almost everyone began to burn.

Children were crying.

Elders knelt down.

The young men looked toward the Nine Mountains one after another, their expressions all changing.

The tribal elder rushed into the room and the first thing he saw was Qin Yun pressing on Chi Li's wrist.

"Outsider!"

His voice changed.

"What are you doing!"

A Lie immediately blocked him, his expression also not looking good.

"It was him touching Chi Li just now that caused the Sacrificial Mountain to move!"

"We shouldn't have let him in earlier!"

Chi Li looked up at the tribal elder, his expression cold and hard.

"Then come and kill me."

"Anyway, you've long thought that me being alive is an eyesore."

The tribal elder's face flushed red, his hands trembling with anger.

"You ominous thing!"

"Your father harmed the whole clan, and you still dare to talk back!"

Once these words were spoken, Chi Li's eyes sank completely.

He didn't pounce, nor did he throw a tantrum.

He only asked calmly: "Did you see it with your own eyes?"

The tribal elder was stunned.

Chi Li continued: "If you haven't seen it, don't learn from others to pass judgment on my father."

The tribal elder was choked speechless, his face turning from blue to white.

More and more tribespeople gathered around.

Some had fear on their faces.

Some had anger in their eyes.

Others were just bewildered.

"Is something going to happen again?"

"As soon as Chi Li came back, the mountain moved."

"He really is ominous."

"If the Sacrificial Mountain shakes again, we will all die."

The voices grew increasingly chaotic.

Chi Li stood in the room, as if trapped in place by these words.

He didn't explain.

Nor did he care to explain.

It was just that his hand slowly clenched tight.

The Sacrificial Elder stepped forward and shouted in a deep voice to stop everyone.

"Enough."

Outside and inside the room, it immediately became much quieter.

The Sacrificial Elder stared at the tribal elder, speaking with such weight for the first time.

"Chi Heng would not make that kind of mistake."

"I'll say it again, he wouldn't."

The tribal elder was stunned.

"Sacrificial Elder, what do you mean by this?"

"I know Chi Heng wouldn't act recklessly."

"He is the disciple I raised with my own hands."

Qin Yun didn't pay attention to what these people in the room were thinking.

He looked down at his own wrist.

There, a very faint pattern slowly emerged.

Blue-gold intertwined.

It wasn't the red-gold of the Chi Mountain Tribe.

Nor was it the dim darkness of an ordinary Life Pattern.

It was more like some kind of illuminated identification.

The pattern started from his wrist and slowly spread toward his palm.

The room instantly became silent.

The tribal elder first rubbed his eyes, then his expression changed drastically.

"How can an outsider grow a Life Pattern?"

"Impossible!"

"The Sacrificial Mountain only bestows Life Patterns upon the living beings of this realm!"

A Lie was also stunned.

"What is going on?"

Sang He stared at Qin Yun's wrist, his throat moved, and his voice lowered.

"A blue-gold Life Pattern..."

"I've never seen one."

The Sacrificial Elder's expression sank abruptly.

He knew better than anyone else that this was not an ordinary Life Pattern.

From the Ancestral Wall, a light suddenly shone again.

That red-gold light did not shine on anyone in the village.

It flickered gently toward Qin Yun's direction.

As if it had recognized him.

Or as if it were confirming something.

Within Qin Yun, the azure pagoda vibrated even more violently.

The Life Method and Dao Method within the Nine Methods rotated once simultaneously.

He knew clearly in his heart.

This wasn't bestowing a pattern.

It was identification.

Something deep within the Sacrificial Mountain had seen him.

Outside, between the distant Nine Mountains, a low bell toll suddenly rang out.

It wasn't rung by a person.

But it was as if the mountain were speaking.

All the tribespeople of the Chi Mountain Tribe knelt down in the same instant.

Even A Lie couldn't stand steady; his knees went soft, and he knelt straight down.

Only Qin Yun and Chi Li remained standing.

Qin Yun looked up toward the depths of the Nine Mountains.

The blue-gold Life Pattern shone quietly in his palm.

The bell toll from the mountain didn't ring a second time.

But everyone understood that something in the Sacrificial Mountain had awakened.