I’ve Led the Villain Astray, How Do I Fix It?
Chapter 399
“Hehe…” Tianle chuckled insincerely, secretly deriding in his heart. Never mind the existence of Nüwa. Even in legends, she created humans from clay, while the Great Ghost Deity was using other people’s bodies. There was no basis for comparison!
Besides——
——Tianle’s gaze subtly scanned the woman in yellow clothes. The reshaping of the bodies she mentioned just now made him pondered. Could the townspeople in the small town all have been transformed by the so-called Great Ghost Deity? If so, were their bodies still considered human bodies?
Tianle’s doubts were also Xu Ziyan’s doubt.
Standing by Tianle’s side the whole time, he naturally heard the woman in yellow’s words. It was a pity that he did not have any spiritual power throughout his body currently, so he could not tell whether there was anything wrong with the woman’s body. Judging from her appearance, there seemed to be nothing unusual, but if there were any deeper changes, it would not be possible for him to see it at his current state.
Just as Xu Ziyan was watching those young people tying the four people to the altar, Xu Zirong suddenly reached out and tugged at his sleeves.
He turned his head puzzledly, followed Xu Zirong’s line of sight, and suddenly found a young woman in white clothing at the edge of the square, looking at the four individuals with a face of shock.
Xu Ziyan squinted his eyes, naturally not recognizing the woman, but it was not difficult to see that the high-quality white gauze dress she was wearing was a decent-quality magical item. Even though its wearer had turned into an ordinary person without spiritual power, the milky white radiance emanating from the robe revealed its essence as a magical item.
Xu Ziyan could not help twitching the corner of his mouth. Fine, fine, he knew that female cultivators valued their beautiful appearance, but wearing a dress that emitted its own radiance all day long… Was she not afraid of becoming a target when she had to fight in the dark?
Even if they were not going to engage in combat, in that eerie and inexplicable small town, blatantly exposing one’s identity as a cultivator like that, was the female cultivator inexperienced? Or… just dumb?
“This person was the one spying on us before,” Xu Zirong said.
Xu Ziyan nodded. He had suspected before whether there were other cultivators who had also entered the small town. Later, when the four individuals disguised as laborers came into sight, that doubt was easily resolved.
It was later after their arrival when Xu Zirong discovered that someone was watching them, which proved that other than them, there were indeed other cultivators who entered the small town. It seemed the other group had been divided into two groups as well. One group was unluckier, or perhaps more arrogant, and killed the townspeople as soon as they entered the town, so they were forced to be laborers by the town’s strange power, while the other group entered the same plane as Xu Ziyan and Xu Zirong.
However…
Xu Ziyan looked at the female cultivator who was trembling and on the verge of collapsing, sighing silently.
From the fact that the female cultivator was able to enter the Central City, he could tell that she was at least at the nascent soul stage, but nascent soul cultivators who could command wind and rain in Xuanyu Realm were probably only the default partner for some second-generation immortals in some larger realms.
It was evident from her attire that she had a significant background and her value was not insignificant. To possess such cultivation and status at her age, there was no one who would not believe she was not from a wealthy and influential family.
It was a pity… Cultivators who relied heavily on cultivation pills like that often had an irreversible disadvantage in terms of temperament. Just like the current situation, when they encountered severe defeat, their mental strength was insufficient to support their cultivation.
Xu Ziyan believed that even though the female cultivator had the early stage of nascent soul cultivation like Xu Zirong, if she were to face off against him, it would not take more than ten moves for her to be defeated.
Seeing that female cultivator on the verge of collapsing, Xu Ziyan gave up the idea of exchanging information with her. She was already useless. Even if he rescued her, her cultivation base would be likely be difficult to improve.
Silently withdrawing his gaze, Xu Ziyan no longer paid attention to the frightened bird. He noticed that those young men had tied the four to the large tree behind the altar. An elderly man with graying hair then walked shakily up to the altar, took out a hen from a basket, and firmly fastened it to the edge of the altar.
After the old man secured the hen, he respectfully bowed to the altar, and then stepped down.
Immediately afterwards, the rest of the townspeople began to place the offerings they brought on the altar one after another. Various kinds of livestock and fruits were neatly arranged upon the altar.
Xu Ziyan watched silently. All the townspeople looked solemn. Even the young children were very serious in offering their sacrifices, even if the offering was just a pear or an egg.
It was in that solemn atmosphere that the town’s Ghost Deity Festival gradually progressed to the second half.
Initially, Xu Ziyan thought that after all the townspeople had finished offering sacrifices, the Great Ghost Deity would appear, but who knew that the proceedings dragged on till nightfall. Only when darkness had settled did the final townspeople finished their prayers.
Xu Ziyan tensed all his muscles, watching nervously as the last townsman slowly walked down from the altar.
Unexpectedly, until the townspeople returned to their original positions, nothing seemed to happen in the entire square.
“It seems…” Before the word “wrong” was said, the town was once again enveloped in the grayish-white world that appeared at night.
The townspeople of the small town took off their daytime disguises one by one, and transformed into various bizarre forms. For a moment, the square was filled with the ghostly creatures. If he had not known that those skeletons and zombies had frightening appearances, but lacked corresponding strength, Xu Ziyan’s immediate impulse would have been to flee upon seeing such a scene.
“Haha, you really are here!” The innkeeper, who was standing not far from Xu Ziyan, spotted the two brothers at a glance.
He patted Xu Ziyan on the shoulder very enthusiastically, and introduced him to the two fox spirits beside him—— The real fox spirits—— The ones with actual fox heads…
The two fox spirits opposite them were a little shy, Xu Ziyan recalled that before their transformation, the duo seemed to be an attractive pair of twin siblings.
Comparing the two versions… He sweated silently. No wonder those spirits wanted to appear human. Being human was much better, at least they looked pleasing to the eye.
After chatting casually with the innkeeper, Xu Ziyan’s gazes remained fixed on the altar.
At that moment, the altar was already piled high with various fruits, while several chickens, ducks, geese and goats were tied to both sides of the altar.
The four individuals bound to the big tree were still yelling and cursing loudly, but it seemed their voices were growing weaker, as if they were running out of energy…
After a while, Xu Ziyan began noticing that something was wrong. He stared at the offerings piled up on the altar, and soon realized that it was not his imagination. The offerings were reducing!
At first, the reduction was not noticeable, but as time passed, the height of the offering pile was visibly decreasing. It seemed that someone had stolen those sacrifices from below without a trace.
Xu Ziyan looked around, and found that the people around him seemed to turn a blind eye to that situation. After some thought, he did not act initiatively. Instead, he waited until nearly half of the sacrifices had disappeared before telling the innkeeper about his doubts.
The innkeeper laughed, “It’s quite normal. This is the Great Ghost Deity accepting the offerings. After a while, the Great Ghost Deity will bestow gifts upon us.”
Xu Ziyan nodded, but his nerves were extremely tense. Now without a shred of spiritual power, he was no different from an ordinary person except for his few limited magical items.
Although he deduced that the Great Ghost Deity should be the opportunity for them to leave, he did not have any particularly good ideas on how to deal with the deity.
After all, his strength was limited. Even if Zirong had spiritual stones and array disks, Xu Ziyan really had no confidence at all, because the other party was able to create such a weird town.
As he watched the offerings disappear faster, Xu Ziyan felt his palms growing sweaty with anxiety.
Xu Zirong silently took his brother’s hand, and gently scratched his palm with his fingertips.
“Don’t mess around!” Xu Ziyan could not help but rolled his eyes at him with a wry smile. It was already such a critical moment, and he still had the energy to play tricks.
Xu Zirong gave him a faint smile and whispered, “No matter what happens, I’ll be by your side, Brother.”
Xu Ziyan inexplicably felt relieved, and tightly held Xu Zirong’s hand.
After so many years of companionship, even Xu Ziyan himself did not know what kind of feelings he truly had for Xu Zirong.
All he knew was that his feelings were very strong, so intense that if there was a chance for him to return to modern times, he would even give that up because of Xu Zirong.
He had to admit that even though Xu Zirong was a maniac, as a lover, he definitely given a lot for Xu Ziyan.
Looking Xu Zirong’s exquisite eyes, Xu Ziyan took a deep breath. It seemed that as long as Xu Zirong was with him, what happened next might not be so terrifying.
“Be careful later,” Xu Ziyan gently squeezed Xu Zirong’s hand.
Xu Zirong smiled and nodded, “Don’t worry, Brother. We’ll definitely make it out alive.”
“Yes!” Xu Ziyan’s eyes sparkled, and he spoke with absolute determination, “We will definitely make it out alive!”
“I mean… Are you two really not afraid of being burned to death by showing so much affection…” A faint voice came from the side.
Xu Ziyan had just recovered from being emotional and was about to sneer back, but suddenly realized that something was off. He abruptly turned around——
There was Tian Le, squatting beside them with an expression of distress. His left cheek wrote “Show Love” and his right cheek was “Quick Death.”
“Why did you show up all of a sudden?” Xu Ziyan asked in surprise.
Tian Le, with a melancholic look, tilted his head 45 degrees, looking at the sky, “I have no idea either…”
Xu Ziyan: =.= If you have no idea, just say you have no idea. Why pretend to be melancholic?! What’s with that pose!
“Quick, look!” Xu Zirong called out.
Xu Ziyan turned his head to look, but found that all the sacrifices on the altar had disappeared. Instead, there was a black crack on the exposed altar.
“A spatial crack? Something… something’s not right…” Xu Ziyan looked at the black crack with a grave expression. All the offerings on the altar had been completely sucked into that crack.
