Sacrifice
Once Mu Yu exited the prison after an exhaustive search, Gui Han sneaked into the prison and smiled from ear to ear. “I’ve finally found where Lunar God is sealed. I can finally make up for my failure!”
***
“Twenty-fourth floor this time. Well, I suppose Gui Ximing wouldn’t be so lucky that he was taken straight to the eighty-first floor right off the bat,” suggested Xiaoshuai.
“And if he was?” asked the dragon vine.
“Lady luck only smiles on the handsome. You two are lucky to have me around.”
“Gee, talk about a resplendent and big palace. All the carvings on the walls and decoration are the definition of extravagance. I wonder if there’s a temperature control formation in here because it feels nice. Xiaoshuai, you recognise the flashing patterns on the ground?”
“Mm… They’re familiar, but I can’t recall what they are.”
“It’s ritual text,” explicated the dragon vine.
“The fiend race’s ritual text?” Mu Yu queried.
“I’m not sure about it, but I detect mysterious energy residing within. If I’m not wrong, they’re used to communicate.”
“Can you translate?”
The dragon vine levitated higher to see a bigger picture. “If I’m reading it from this direction, it reads, ‘Offer your blood to the gods for their benevolence. Having faith is the only path to immortality.’”
“I understood absolutely none of that,” commented Xiaoshuai.
“Means believe in the religion to attain immortality,” explained Mu Yu.
“The next part is, ‘Lunar God rules the world and blesses the world. If one’s soul is chosen, one can be reincarnated. Those who oppose lunar race shall be exterminated and not granted shelter. Lunar God rules all. Do not underestimate the rage of lunar gods.”
“And that means?” asked Xiaoshuai.
“It means the lunar race is an odious brain-washing cult,” answered Mu Yu. “Listen to the ridiculous script. Either obey the lunar race or die.”
As the dragon vine continued reciting the scripture, the text didn’t come out translated but as a difficult to pronounce language. The dragon vine didn’t notice its instinctive recital lit up the various coloured text on the ground, followed by violent spiritual qi swirling through the floor and rumbling from somewhere.
Purple lightning came as rips in the inky night sky outside the pagoda as if behind the dark canvas was a brilliant light waiting to flood through any crack no matter how small.
“Gui Yuzi, what did you tell your juniors to do in the pagoda? Why is there purple lightning in the sky?” Helian Kong pivoted around and questioned.
A grin came to Gui Yuzi’s lips. “How should I know what’s hidden in there? Didn’t Reverend Xuan Jizi trust you most? Didn’t he tell you what dangerous things lurk inside?”
Rumble! A green light rose into the firmament from the pagoda, demanding the grey clouds to step aside and lightning to cease.
The seven colours of light in the patterns on the ground of the twenty-fourth floor, apparently, were searching for something. Some of the lines on the ground began to rise, creating an uneven surface. Conversely, the patterns on the ceiling sunk into the sealing.
“Dragon Vine, stop reading. Something’s not right,” Mu Yu voiced.
The dragon vine’s pause returned the room back to its original state.
“Big Earthworm, why did you stop translating all of a sudden?”
“I can’t. It’s purely mumble jumble. I think it’s used to summon something. Strangely, I feel as though I enter some sort of mode when I read it. Had Mu Yu not called out to me, I wouldn’t have snapped out of it.”
Mu Yu did a lap around the patterns. “You triggered some ritual. I don’t know what it is, but I know for sure that it’s bad news.”
Mu Yu scanned the carvings on the wall. “Hmm… I almost thought that this was a carving of a flying cultivator, but it doesn’t seem to be on second look. The contour resembles a flying cultivator, but it’s actually a fiend and elemental demon. The second layer to it is a man and woman depicted similarly to gods watching the three races flying, and they appear to be joyous.”
“Eh?” Xiaoshuai gave the cultivator a gentle poke.
The carving started to spin. The three races brightly flew toward the gods, and the duo opened their arms warmly.
“They’re flesh-winged horny beasts in disguise!” declared Xiaoshuai, impaling the god-like pair with his claws.
The two in disguise returned to their monstrous forms to dodge Xiaoshuai’s thrust; however, Xiaoshuai still cut one in half. The monsters cackled away as they went off to devour the three races flying over.
The pair scowled at Xiaoshuai. Then, the carving returned to the state they first saw it after one rotation.
“Those freaks feed on us or something?” Mu Yu queried. “I’m starting to suspect this might be the place to summon those freaks. Be careful not to make the mistake we just made again. I highly doubt Reverend Xuan Jizi wants anyone to activate it.”
“Let’s get out of here fast, then,” proposed the dragon vine.
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
Mu Yu headed to the only exit, which was also the entrance, and turned back to cast an illusion formation on the palace in the end for safety’s sake.
***
“Lunar God’s Palace’s aura has finally surfaced, huh?” uttered Bai Jie, peering into the sky.
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