120: Chapter 12 Sacrifices

Chen Zilong swept his sharp gaze across the entire hall.

Only one female disciple from the Hehuan Sect remained.

It was Jin Mei, whom he had briefly met before. Her face was now drained of color, and she stared blankly at the ground.

Only one male disciple from the Tiansha Sect remained as well, named Wei Guodong.

He sat in a corner, hugging his head, his body trembling slightly.

Not a single disciple from the Moyan Valley was present.

There were still three disciples from the Qingyun Sect: two women and one man.

The two female disciples were beautiful, with upright postures and a distinct heroic air.

Yet, their faces were also etched with panic. They were Lin Yue and Long Tianjiao.

The male disciple bore some resemblance to Long Tianjiao and was named Long Xiang. He was currently rubbing his hands together uneasily.

Disciples from the Haoran Academy and the Jinguang Temple were similarly nowhere to be found.

And as for their Xuantian Sect...

Apart from the four of them who had luckily returned, the other disciples were likely in grave danger, if not already dead.

Suppressing the unease in his heart, Chen Zilong quickly walked over to Lin Yue, who seemed relatively calmer, and asked in a low voice:

"Junior Sister Lin, what happened? Why are only a few of you left? Where are the others?"

Lin Yue slowly raised her head. Her face was pale, her eyes rimmed red, and traces of lingering fear remained in her gaze.

She took a deep breath before speaking in a trembling tone:

"Senior Brother Chen... It's so good that you all made it back..."

She paused, as if organizing her thoughts or trying to calm her emotions:

"Earlier, as per the plan, I arranged for disciples from each sect to go separately to the various Formation Eyes around the village to channel their spiritual power, attempting to maintain that so-called 'Demon Suppression Grand Array'... But they... most of them didn't listen to the arrangement. Especially the people from the Haoran Academy and the Jinguang Temple, and a few senior brothers from the Moyan Valley. They insisted on going directly to find the Village Chief, Su Yue Niang, to demand an explanation..."

"The result..."

Lin Yue's voice choked. An expression of extreme horror and disgust appeared on her face. She even retched dryly, quickly covering her mouth with her hand.

After taking several deep breaths, she forced herself to continue despite the discomfort:

"The result... after they went, none of them ever came back... Not a single one..."

"However,"

she added, as if remembering something, "the disciples from your Xuantian Sect, Senior Brother Chen, were willing to help."

"So I sent them to the ancestral hall in the back mountains. That area required the most spiritual power."

"Jin Mei, Wei Guodong, and I went to the more distant Dragon King Temple."

"After we finished channeling power at the Dragon King Temple, worried that there might not be enough hands at the back mountain ancestral hall, we hurried over to help. But... but when we arrived there, we found..."

The color drained completely from Lin Yue's face, and her body began to tremble slightly. "We found... the several senior brothers from the Xuantian Sect... they... they were all dead there..."

"Their manner of death... was extremely horrific..."

She closed her eyes, as if unwilling to recall the terrible scene. "They... they had been... had their heads... torn off... while still alive..."

Her voice grew softer and softer, finally becoming almost a whisper, yet in the silent hall, it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Ugh—"

Jin Mei, sitting nearby, seemed unable to bear it any longer and let out a dry retch, her face turning even more ghastly.

Wei Guodong buried his head even lower, his shoulders shaking.

Long Xiang also turned pale and subconsciously touched his own neck.

Hearing Lin Yue's account, Chen Zilong, Ye Xishui, and Lu Bingyun felt a chill shoot from the soles of their feet straight to the top of their heads. Every hair on their bodies stood on end!

Although they had already suspected as much, having the deaths of their fellow disciples confirmed firsthand, and in such a cruel manner, still filled their hearts with an indescribable mix of grief, anger, and...

Fear!

Tu Shan Xiaoxiao whimpered once more, burying her face again in the crook of Chen Zilong's arm, her small body trembling like a leaf.

Although they were cultivators who had seen conflict and experienced danger, when had they ever encountered such a concentrated, bizarre, bloody, and terrifying situation?

This had already exceeded their conventional understanding of "danger."

Just then, Long Tianjiao of the Qingyun Sect stepped forward.

She was tall and slender, with long legs. Even in this environment, she still tried to straighten her back, attempting to boost morale.

She spoke clearly, though a careful listener could detect a barely perceptible tightness in her voice:

"Enough! Everyone, stop being despondent! Now is not the time for despair!"

She looked around, deliberately making her gaze appear firm:

"We must pull ourselves together! Only by uncovering the truth and finding the mastermind behind this can we avenge our fallen senior and junior brothers!"

Long Xiang immediately chimed in:

"Sister is right! We need to pull ourselves together!"

Although he tried to make his voice sound forceful, the faint tremor at the end betrayed the fear in his heart.

Long Tianjiao continued her analysis, her tone grave:

"This Village Chief, Su Yue Niang, is definitely not a good person! So many disciples went to find her, and they all disappeared without a trace. This woman must be a deeply hidden cultivator, and her cultivation... is definitely not low!"

She paused, her gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on Chen Zilong. "I estimate she is at least at the Nascent Soul Realm, or even... higher."

Her eyes held a scrutinizing and calculating look:

"Fellow Daoist Chen, you are the only one here whose cultivation has reached the Nascent Soul Stage. The rest of us are mostly at the Golden Core Realm, and there are even junior brothers and sisters at the Foundation Establishment Realm."

She pointed at Jin Mei and Wei Guodong. "We need high-level combat power. Therefore, I hope you can come with me this afternoon to another Formation Eye that hasn't been activated yet, to channel spiritual power."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zilong frowned slightly, thinking rapidly.

He did not agree immediately but instead asked in return:

"Fellow Daoist Long, forgive my bluntness. Under the current circumstances, what is the point of us channeling spiritual power to maintain this 'Demon Suppression Grand Array'?"

He pointed outside, his tone heavy:

"As you just said, that Su Yue Niang is likely the mastermind behind all of this."

"These atrocities, these bizarre events, are probably all her doing!"

"My Xuantian Sect disciples have been almost completely wiped out here. This is a vendetta of the highest order!"

"Shouldn't the primary task now be for all of us to join forces, find this female fraudster disguised as a mortal, and work together to kill her?"

"Why should we bother with that damned array?"

Long Tianjiao seemed to have anticipated this question from Chen Zilong. Her face showed no expression, but inwardly, she grew wary. This Chen Zilong was indeed not easy to fool.

She explained:

"How could I not know what you're saying, Fellow Daoist Chen? But please, think calmly."

Her gaze turned sharp:

"That Su Yue Niang has been pretending to be a mortal. Even you, a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, couldn't sense her depth. What does that tell us?"

She answered her own question. "It means her true strength might far exceed our imagination! She might have already reached the terrifying peak of the late Nascent Soul Stage, or even... become a Deity Transformation cultivator!"

"Deity Transformation?"

That term made all the disciples present gasp in shock!

That was the level of a great expert capable of founding a sect and becoming a revered ancestor in a region!

Even within a sect like the Xuantian Sect, which had Heavenly Human Five Decays Elders presiding, such an individual would be a major figure.

If Su Yue Niang was truly at the Soul Transformation Stage, then all of them combined probably wouldn't be enough to withstand a single slap from her.

"Fellow Daoist Chen,"

Long Tianjiao stared intently into Chen Zilong's eyes, "do you think that with your Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivation, plus the rest of us at Golden Core and Foundation Establishment, we can contend with an existence that might be at the Soul Transformation Stage?"

Chen Zilong fell silent for a moment, having to admit that Long Tianjiao's analysis made sense.

In the face of an absolute disparity in strength, numerical advantage was sometimes meaningless.

He asked in a deep voice:

"So, what are you suggesting? That we sit and wait for death, or rely on that array of unknown authenticity?"

"Of course not sit and wait for death."

A subtle, elusive curve appeared at the corner of Long Tianjiao's mouth. "Our combined strength is indeed insufficient to confront her. But what about the sects behind us?"

"Within our sects, there are numerous experts, including Deity Transformation, and even Integration Stage great experts!"

She raised her voice slightly, with a hint of incitement:

"Right now, the village perimeter is sealed by strange fog. We simply cannot leave."

"But, as long as we complete this 'Demon Suppression Grand Array,' according to the information I've obtained, we might be able to break through the blockade and leave this damned place!"

"Once we leave,"

a glint flashed in her eyes, "we can immediately report the situation here to our sects!"

"By then, forget one Su Yue Niang, even if this entire village hides some earth-shattering secret, when the experts from our sects descend, they can overturn it with a wave of their hand and completely annihilate it!"

"Revenge would merely be a side task!"

Hearing this, a flicker of doubt appeared in the eyes of Chen Zilong, Ye Xishui, and Lu Bingyun.

Tu Shan Xiaoxiao also quietly lifted her tear-filled eyes, looking at Long Tianjiao uneasily.

Ye Xishui stepped forward. Her figure was graceful, and even when questioning, she carried a natural elegance, though her cool voice now held full alertness:

"From what you're saying, Fellow Daoist Long, you seem quite certain that once we complete this 'Demon Suppression Grand Array,' we will definitely be able to leave?"

She tilted her head slightly, her gaze piercing as she stared at Long Tianjiao:

"May I ask, Fellow Daoist Long, how can you guarantee that this array isn't another trap?"

"That after we channel our spiritual power, what awaits us isn't death, but a path to survival?"

"Why are you so certain?"

Long Tianjiao remained outwardly calm, but inwardly, she was startled, cursing silently:

"This Ye Xishui, meticulous in thought, is indeed not easy to fool either."

Her previous impassioned speech had indeed contained deliberate guidance and omissions.

Faced with Ye Xishui's pointed question that struck at the core, Long Tianjiao knew that continuing to conceal everything would likely arouse greater suspicion.

She pondered for a moment, then revealed a hint of "helplessness" and "candor" on her face, saying:

"Fellow Daoist Ye is indeed sharp. To be frank, on the very first day I arrived in this village, I felt something was off. I carefully probed and questioned that Su Yue Niang."

She paused, as if recalling:

"At the time, to coax some useful information from her, I spent quite a few spirit stones on bribes."

Her tone became grave. "That Su Yue Niang never had good intentions from the start! She... she seems to have regarded us outsider cultivators as some kind of... 'Sacrifice'!"

"Sacrifice?!"

Those two words exploded like thunder in the hall!

All the disciples, including Chen Zilong and his three companions, were stunned, their faces filled with shock and disbelief.

Sacrifice?

What did that mean?

Were they to be used in a Sacrifice to some existence?

Or to complete some evil ritual?

Could all this death and strangeness be for this ultimate purpose?

A deeper, more despairing chill instantly swept through the entire main hall of the Yingxian Pavilion.

The air seemed to solidify. Even the dim yellow lamplight appeared to flicker unsteadily...