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墨書 Inktalez
Human Sacrifice
Guo the Blind dragged the Big Red Coffin into the Side Room, and a vibrant Herb Flower by the flowerbed swayed, quickly withering at a visible pace, turning the entire branch into a charred black.
I continued to adjust the pointer on the Zhou Compass. As time shifted, I heard a chant resembling a Sutra in Sanskrit. Guo the Blind, aged and frail, walked in from outside, muttering incantations as if singing an ancient ballad.
Behind him followed two newlyweds dressed in bright red wedding attire.
Guo Huaiyi, clad in red, looked as handsome as a figure stepping out of a painting. He wore a radiant smile and held a Red Flower Hydrangea in his hand, while the other end was held by the bride.
The bride wore a Red Veil atop her head, obscuring her features, but as she passed by me, her graceful figure was so familiar and longed for.
It was Zhou Manman.
Guo the Blind led Guo Huaiyi and Zhou Manman into the Side Room. He pushed aside a pile of clutter and lifted a wooden plank from the floor, revealing a Cellar beneath.
No wonder Huang San'er’s black veil had not been lifted; he had been feeling the shadow of death all along. He must have hired someone skilled to calculate Zhou Manman's location, intending to seize her soul at its weakest moment.
Huang San'er would never have imagined that Guo the Blind's home concealed a Cellar. Given Futu Ridge's geological conditions, it was impossible to dig a Cellar; at just two or three meters deep, one could easily hit spring water, making any excavated Cellar unusable.
But what kind of person was Guo the Blind? He was a disciple of an Old Scholar and the most renowned Feng Shui Master in Futu Ridge. His expertise lay in altering Feng Shui and shifting earth veins. He must have used some special method to redirect all the moisture beneath his yard elsewhere, thus creating a useful Cellar.
Dim light emanated from within the Cellar, where a Big Red Coffin lay. The lid was placed beside it, and inside the coffin was lined with Golden Satin. A Dried Corpse dressed in groom's attire lay there, identical to what Guo Huaiyi wore.
Guo the Blind continued reciting an ancient and obscure Sutra. I couldn't hear what Guo Huaiyi said to Zhou Manman, but when he took her hand and stepped into the coffin, Zhou Manman struggled and recoiled.
Guo Huaiyi's expression turned angry as he forcefully pulled Zhou Manman into the coffin. She lay helplessly beside the Dried Corpse, her Red Veil fluttering, revealing her panicked face.
“Yang Hao, save me.”
Zhou Manman reached out her hand toward me through time and space.
The moment my hand intertwined with hers, my heart twinged with pain.
The coffin lid rose into the air as if it were a gavel pronouncing judgment, crashing down heavily onto the coffin.
Light Shadow vanished, plunging the room back into darkness.
I felt a surge of excitement in my heart, and despite my fear, I pressed on without hesitation.
I cleared away the clutter in front of me, revealing a hard wooden board beneath. A faint light shone through the cracks of the board.
I lifted the wooden board and descended the steps into the Cellar. There lay the Big Red Coffin, isolated in the center of the Cellar, with a piece of red bridal attire caught at one corner. Without a second thought, I threw open the coffin lid, revealing a bride with a Red Veil lying inside.
As the Red Veil was lifted, Zhou Manman appeared, her beauty striking and her smile enchanting.
"You finally came," Zhou Manman said.
I nodded and reached to pull Zhou Manman out of the coffin, but suddenly her expression changed. In her gaze, I saw someone standing behind me.
Before I could react, I was thrown out of the Cellar by that person behind me.
The one who tossed me out was none other than the Dried Corpse dressed in a groom's outfit. I concealed the Zhou Compass in my clothing as I stood up. The Dried Corpse dragged Zhou Manman out of the Cellar.
At that moment, lights in Guo the Blind's yard flickered on. Guo the Blind stood in the yard, looking at me with surprise. "I knew Yang Sanqian's son couldn't be an ordinary person; you even used Out-of-Body Experience to save someone. Luckily, I was prepared."
The Big Black Cat stood protectively by my side, issuing a warning growl toward Guo the Blind. Guo the Blind glanced at Big Black Cat and scoffed, "You treacherous beast! If it weren't for my mother bringing you along, you wouldn't have such fortune today!"
Big Black Cat turned to me and called out, urging me to leave quickly. I looked at the Dried Corpse and said, "Let Zhou Manman go; we can negotiate about anything else."
The Dried Corpse's hollow eyes stared at me without speaking. He seemed not to be Guo Huaiyi at all, while Zhou Manman struggled in his grasp; her spirit was weak, even less than that of an ordinary person.
Guo the Blind chuckled darkly. "Yang Hao, Yang Hao, I don't want to take your life for your father's sake, but you keep trying to ruin my plans. You're clever enough, but how can an ordinary person like you fight against me?"
"I never intended to fight you," I replied. "Just return Zhou Manman to me; I won't interfere with anyone else's fate. You can kill whoever has wronged you."
Guo the Blind squinted at me and asked, "You've activated Zhou Compass's ability and seen the past? It's simply unbelievable that an ordinary person can withstand the consumption of a Sacred Artifact. I'm curious what your father left you when he left Futu Ridge."
"I don't understand what you're talking about, Old Guo," I said. "I know you're a pitiful person; I'm not some righteous figure either. I sympathize with you, but debts must be repaid to their rightful owners. Many suffered persecution just like you did back then; not everyone is a villain. Zhou Manman is an innocent!"
"Innocent?" Guo the Blind laughed coldly. "Who in this world isn't innocent? My family fled here from afar during a famine; my mother was captured by Old Scholar and suffocated to death before being nailed into a coffin for seventy years—wasn't she innocent? The Old Man you respect was hanged for no reason; you want to find out who killed him because you believe he was an innocent victim. But he was also the one who suffocated my mother underwater and indirectly caused my son Guo Huaiyi's death! And this Zhou Manman—out of a moment's anger, she led many to their doom and subsequently took several young lives—how innocent can she truly be?"
Guo the Blind's accusations left me feeling unsettled. Seeing my silence, he continued: "Before the Ten-Year Catastrophe, my father and I escaped to this mountain. Along the way, due to war, we lost my mother. She wasn't an ordinary person; if it weren't for her protection all along, my father and I would have died on that desolate land long ago. Too many people in this world care only for their own desires without regard for others' lives. I've tasted life's bitter fruits yet remain broad-minded; however, when the Ten-Year Catastrophe struck, what did your so-called living immortal Old Scholar do? He lacked resolve and leaned toward darkness; when calamity came, he indiscriminately slaughtered innocents and caused great suffering among living beings. At that time, Daoist Sect would have been destroyed by my hands! He ruined my painstakingly cultivated Dao Body and then left without a word while leaving me in Futu Ridge Self-Destruction! In the end, I harmed no one yet was harmed by others; my wife and children were persecuted to death by those whom you call innocents—it's survival of the fittest! Do you think anyone is truly innocent?"
"You are indeed innocent—but that's something you've brought upon yourself." A cold voice came from above as Li Fugui stood on the rooftop clad in tight-fitting attire; his strong muscles glistened under the moonlight.
"Li Fugui!" Guo the Blind gritted his teeth. "Well, since we're all here, it's time to settle our old scores and new grudges!"
"The fox's tail is showing? I thought you would try to hide and circle around me. All these years, I've turned a blind eye to your secret dealings with ghosts; did you think I didn't know?" Li Fugui replied.
"What if you do know? I've tolerated you time and again. If it weren't for my Dao Body being destroyed, with your kind of skills, I could take you down one by one. How could you ever have the chance to flaunt your power?" Guo the Blind retorted.
Li Fugui said expressionlessly, "My master was right. Once a person possesses power that doesn't belong to them, their heart will swell with arrogance. If you hadn't been innocent back then, countless others would have become innocent victims. This world doesn't need someone like you. Those from the Daoist Sect learn skills but lose sight of themselves; they meddle with life and death, defy reincarnation, and create chaos in the world. If it weren't for that great purge back then, how could we have peace today?"
Li Fugui's words made Guo the Blind burst into laughter. "By your logic, everyone should be ignorant and consider themselves mediocre? Even if the Daoist Sect didn't exist, there would still be plenty of people like your father causing chaos. Li Fugui, you've spent so many years trying to uncover the truth behind your father Li Wuye's death, yet you still don't know who the murderer is. Let me tell you now: it was me."
"Li Wuye, whom ten men couldn't approach, was utterly defenseless in my hands."
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