1TWITF[C Chapter 129

Chapter 129

In the illusion, the images of Lan Zhiyu and others flickered indistinctly. Just as Lu Yanli entered again, he seemed to sense something, turning his head back—

In the main hall, all the red-robed believers raised their heads in unison, gazing in his direction. Beneath the shadows of their hoods, one could almost see the smiles playing on their lips.

This should be an illusion; why could they see him?

His head throbbed…dizziness, stinging pain, swelling…

The sound irritated him.

Where exactly…am I?

What are they saying?

A long, long time passed again, and then, silence.

Lu Yanli opened his eyes.

The stinging dizziness from before had vanished. He couldn’t care less about that, his heart filled with deep shock. Even having witnessed so many strange events, what lay before him exceeded his imagination.

He had arrived at a strange altar.

Snow fell heavily in the mountains, the cold wind fluttering the crimson banners at the four corners of the altar, causing the thick metal poles to tremble slightly. The four corners of the altar were carved with strange beasts and exotic birds, and the ground was covered with the fur of unknown animals, cold and soft.

Below the altar, countless red-robed believers gathered as well. Now, they stood quietly in place, arranged in bizarre patterns, heads bowed in pious devotion.

The priest stood beside him, head bowed piously as well, a low murmur of prayer emanating from beneath the shadow of the hood.

No one saw him. Just like before, everyone ignored him.

Lu Yanli saw that surrounding the altar in a circle were neatly stacked white bones.

They were human bones.

He also saw the priest, a familiar face – he had seen her near his residence in the park.

The persistent stench of blood, unyielding in the cold wind, drilled straight into his nostrils. Lu Yanli tentatively took a step forward, reaching out to touch a nearby banner. As expected, his hand passed right through, touching nothing.

Once again, he had arrived in a strange space-time.

After reciting strange incantations, the priest bowed her head and gave some instructions to those below the altar. The believers relayed the message one by one to the soldiers. The leading soldier waved his hand backward, and soon, they brought the sacrificial offerings over.

To be precise, they drove them over.

Lu Yanli stared in astonishment at the sacrifices.

A mother held her child, walking in the procession. The child opened its mouth, crying silently. Lu Yanli saw that every inch of skin in its mouth was covered with sharp teeth, and its thin, long tongue lolled out, dripping saliva.

“Wah…” the infant began to wail, seven arms reaching out from the swaddling clothes and flailing. The others paid it no mind, muttering a scolding under their breaths, and the mother had no choice but to cover the child’s mouth, preventing it from making any noise.

Two rows of soldiers surrounded them, the tips of their blades pointed at the chained sacrifices, preventing them from escaping.

Compared to these soldiers and believers, the “sacrifices” were simply aliens, resembling humans, yet not quite human.

The sacrifices were brought to the foot of the altar. Lu Yanli could see the cruel light in the eyes of the red-robed believers below.

Unexpectedly, there was no pain on their faces. Instead, many of their grotesque, twisted faces were filled with a sense of glory.

One after another, the deformed corpses fell, forming a complete circle. There were no screams, no wails, they quietly welcomed their deaths.

The priest remained in this position for a long time, waiting. But after a long while, she seemed somewhat disappointed.

There was no movement, only the wind becoming colder.

She said something again, and just as everyone was about to lower their arms, some movement could be faintly heard from the edge of the sky. The howling wind stopped instantly, and several snowflakes fell silently, mixed in the frozen cold air.

Cold, endless cold.

It was not the severe cold of winter, but rather like the cold from the deepest depths of the earth, wave after wave, coming from the high sky, coming from all directions, infiltrating the human body little by little.

Lu Yanli felt a long-lost chill.

A vortex of clouds slowly formed at the edge of the sky, not very clear through the blizzard. Lu Yanli saw… he saw a bit of a phantasmal red limb extending from within.

Like a hand, trying its best to extend several fingers from the edge of the sky, but it was too enormous, and it stopped in mid-air after only extending a little.

Seemingly… no one saw it?

They were all only amazed by the blizzard that suddenly covered all the sacrifices, taking it as a divine miracle. In their joy, the priest ignored the cold, leading the believers to dance in the snow with animal bones, while also sending down orders again.

The soldiers brought over more sacrifices.

Perhaps seeing that he couldn’t enter, an item fell from the vortex.

It was a small red statue.

It landed right on the altar, right at Lu Yanli’s feet.

Strange… He could suddenly touch solid objects again.

“That’s how it is, we succeeded!” In the main hall, the female priest couldn’t suppress the joy on her holy face as she carefully held the statue, presenting it to the Great King.

In recent years, war had been raging continuously, and the people were suffering. Although the Great King was wholeheartedly for the people and originally thought the war was about to end, who knew that the enemy country would invite a great shaman from who knows where, and place a curse on the entire country of Erdai, turning nearly half of the people into mentally deficient half-human, half-beasts.

Then, the enemy country, on the grounds that the Erdai country had angered the heavens and incurred divine punishment, called on all countries to jointly attack the country. Although the people desperately resisted, there were too many enemies, and… they had indeed not received the will of heaven for a long time, so long that they almost thought heaven was going to abandon his people.

The people’s hearts were scattered, and they could only retreat again and again. Even the ruler of the country could only live in the mountains and forests.

She didn’t believe it, their ancestral god would definitely bless them!

Those things that had turned into half-human, half-beasts were no longer their brothers and sisters! They were the best sacrifices to awaken the ancestors.

As expected, they still succeeded!

After nearly a hundred years of silence, the great god responded to his devout believers again at the time of national ruin.

He put the distorted, strange statue from the sky on the throne, making it look down on everyone from above.

Lu Yanli couldn’t understand what they were saying. He realized that thing was looking at him again, and took a few steps back, leaving the hall.

He had already guessed that the thing’s main body couldn’t pass through, so it used the statue to collect the blood, flesh, and faith it needed.

Now he was a little sorry that he hadn’t brought the green spores, otherwise, he could have destroyed one.

Leaving the hall, Lu Yanli walked among two rows of palace people wearing simple robes, along the long black road, the pillars of the corridor carved with exquisite patterns.

He saw two children.

A boy and a girl, their finely carved faces remarkably similar. The reason he could recognize the boy and girl was entirely because of their clothing; the boy wore a black robe with red trim, while the girl wore a red dress, laughing as they spun in circles in the snow.

Both of them had a familiar-looking jade pendant hanging from their waists.

Lu Yanli subconsciously reached for his inner pocket, then relaxed.

The jade pendant was still there, still lying securely in his pocket.

The two children laughed and played in the snow, throwing snow at each other. They didn’t yet realize what defeat meant.

Not just frequent moving.

They let those alien beings participate in the war.

Half-human, half-beast, retaining the power of beasts and the consciousness of humans, mentally deficient, meaning they wouldn’t resist, they were the best soldiers – no need to feel sorry for their deaths.

And the number of alien species in the country… also increased.

Everyone tacitly agreed that once someone became an alien species, they would lose their original status and be dragged to join the army. The lucky ones could retire home in old age, and the unlucky ones would die on the battlefield, their corpses never to be found.

Finally, one morning, after the Great King woke up, he discovered in horror that his arm had grown fur that didn’t belong to humans.

He was also turning into an alien species!!

The Great King’s eyes were about to split, unable to believe this fact. He hurriedly covered his arm with his long sleeve, pretended to be sick in bed, and asked the servants to bring water.

He saw his face in the basin of water.

Fortunately, there was no mutation yet, but… he stroked his face with the hand that had grown fur.

The general returned in great triumph, but the Great King was unwilling to see anyone, locking himself in his bedroom. He was even unwilling to see his most beloved pair of children.

Lu Yanli sat opposite him, watching strange-colored animal fur grow on his face, his ears slowly becoming pointed, feeling it was very interesting.

“God” couldn’t stop this curse, and it was useless for the Great King to beg bitterly.

A Great King who didn’t leave his room gradually lost power. Finally, one day, turmoil broke out in the country, and the general usurped the throne.

The war wouldn’t involve Lu Yanli himself. He was in a mysterious state, not sleepy, not hungry, as if watching a movie, and now, he had a feeling – this movie was about to end.

The Great King, who had completely fallen into madness, wanted to sacrifice his son – the next king – to the god. He wanted his son to replace him, to transfer the mutation on his body to his son.

Anyway, he would have other sons in the future.

At night, Lu Yanli heard the boy’s desperate cries.

No one went to help him, no one dared to touch the anger of a king who had gone mad.

Lu Yanli walked over.

For some reason, the boy seemed to see him, and his crying gradually stopped.

After observing for so many years, he had long since learned the language of this country. He stepped forward and squatted in front of the boy, “What do you want to do?”

“I… I’m going to die soon, I’m going to die tomorrow, I want to see her…” The boy burst into tears, reluctantly raising his head to beg him.

“Okay.” Lu Yanli accepted the jade pendant.

“You must give it to her! I beg you.”

The androgynous boy was trapped in the cage, and from afar, you could still hear his begging.

Lu Yanli didn’t break his promise. The others couldn’t see him, but for some reason the brother and sister could suddenly see him. When he walked into the palace, he saw a beautiful girl who looked extremely similar to her brother, holding a lantern and walking in the dark courtyard.

Lu Yanli knew what she was doing.

She liked flowers. There was a type of flower that only bloomed at night. She planted a lot of them, and she came to see them with a lantern every day.

Lu Yanli stood beside her, watching the pure white flower make a slight rustling sound, quickly blooming and then withering. The girl sighed and turned her head to ask, “Who are you?”

Lu Yanli handed her the jade pendant, “Your brother wants to see you.”

“See me?” The girl wondered, “Hasn’t he become an alien species?”

Legend had it that people who turned into alien species were mentally unsound and didn’t recognize their relatives. Ever since the Great King identified the prince as an alien species who had offended the gods, she had never seen her brother again.

“He wants to see you.” Lu Yanli didn’t say much, just put the jade pendant in her palm.

He was originally going to leave the palace tonight, and just happened to pass by the girl’s palace. After seeing her accept the jade pendant, he continued walking forward, climbed over the wall and went out the gate, heading towards the temple with familiarity.

The Great King of Erdai had not been able to sleep peacefully recently, so he simply moved into the temple. After Lu Yanli went in, he even saw him holding the priest’s hand, asking her to express his loyalty to the god so that he could turn back into a human.

Lu Yanli could see the impatience in the priest’s eyes. Although she agreed, she turned around and told the general.

The Great King who had become an alien species could no longer be the Great King.

The next day, the Great King sent his confidants to secretly send the “Prince” into the temple.

The leading guard said that in order to prevent leakage, the prince was given a mute medicine and covered with a cloth, so no one saw the prince’s true face along the way.

Lu Yanli felt a little off, he followed the Great King, watching him reach out his hand, which had become a claw, and uncover the cloth.

In appearance, it was indeed the prince, with no traces of forgery.

“Begin!”

The prince couldn’t make a call for help, only fresh blood kept overflowing, flowing into the temple, the flesh and blood gradually being absorbed, leaving only stark white bones.

After everything was over, Lu Yanli reached out and touched the slender white bones in the cage.

They were the bones of the girl.

But the Great King was obviously relieved, he thought this matter was over. When he woke up tomorrow, he could return to his normal appearance and show his face again.

That night, the general kidnapped the prince and attacked the city.

The Great King had become an alien species and was no longer worthy to be the Great King.

All the killings and chaos couldn’t affect Lu Yanli, he followed closely behind the Great King, he had a premonition that his chance to leave was on the other party.

In a panic, the Great King led the last group of confidants to escape to the temple.

Until the last moment, he still believed in the power of “God.”

“I… I’ll give you the entire kingdom! You can do whatever you want with the people of this country. I want to live forever, I want to go to the real kingdom of God…”

Lu Yanli heard the Great King’s wish.

His wish came true.

Having gained the power of the entire kingdom, it could finally go to other worlds again. Of course, it didn’t mind taking the wisher with it.

Because, this was the wisher’s wish.

Lu Yanli followed him, and in the second before falling into darkness, he vaguely saw a red ghost seemed to float over as well.

Lu Yanli was still unnoticed, but he was confined to this village. He watched the two sides clash, and finally, this group of people stayed in the village.

A ghost appeared in front of the tomb, she wanted to prevent the Great King’s resurrection, and wanted to smash the coffin, but the terracotta warriors set up in front of the Great King were guarding the tomb, preventing her from entering. In the chaos, the ghost lost two jade pendants and fled into the back mountain.

Lu Yanli picked up the two jade pendants and walked into the tomb. He put the jade pendants in a pile of burial goods.

That way, he would have a chance to get the jade pendants decades later.

As expected… he touched his pocket.

The jade pendant in his pocket was back.

Bizarre reliefs reappeared in the tomb. This time, Lu Yanli walked forward without hesitation and gently touched the relief…

He touched a cold void.

Slowly walking forward until his whole body fell into it.

“Lu Yanli, you’re back?”

He heard Lin Chu’s voice.

Having spent what seemed like lonely decades, with no one to talk to him, no one able to see him, hearing Lin Chu’s voice suddenly felt strange. Shaking his head, Lu Yanli finally remembered everything.

He was still in the ancient tomb.

“Yeah, I’m out.”

When Lu Yanli asked again, only half an hour had passed.

The others finally discovered the return of the missing person, and a group of people excitedly gathered around, showing concern.

“Little Lu, where did you go? You scared us to death.”

Lu Yanli shook his head, “I’m fine.” Only, no matter what the others asked, he kept his mouth shut.

He just had another question in his heart.

Since this “god” didn’t seem to want to kill him, then… who was maliciously creating tasks to get rid of him?

Could there be other existences behind the scenes?

Seeing that Lu Yanli was okay, the archaeologists dispersed again after asking a few questions, preparing to do their respective jobs.

Lu Yanli looked around at the familiar furnishings in the tomb. Unlike half an hour ago, he now completely understood how to identify these characters, so he focused on looking at them in the tomb.

“Now, the last question.” Lin Chu pointed to the outside of the door, “How are we going to get out with so many spores later?”

Although they had prepared for defense, Lin Chu didn’t want to bring this stuff into the outside world, even though she knew the chaos outside probably wasn’t much better. She hoped to collect these things and use them to deal with that thing.

Lu Yanli wanted to try to destroy these things.

The mutation was caused by it. If they were all destroyed, could the world return to what it was before?

“After going out, we should ask for the tomb to be sealed up and never enter it again, otherwise…” Before she finished speaking, Lin Chu shook her head and smiled wryly.

What was the use of sealing off the village? Decades later, they would still enter.

Lu Yanli was already wrapping his head and face.

He intended to collect more, after all, when he returned to his original world, there were statues of gods everywhere.

After waiting for a long time, the main tomb was finally completely collected.

“Now prepare to return, everyone be careful.” Captain Yang put his hand on the door.