I’ve Led the Villain Astray, How Do I Fix It?
Chapter 400
As the crack opened, the offerings slowly dropped into it, presenting an appearance that gave the impression that the offerings had been completely taken by the Great Ghost Deity.
“What the hell is this?” Xu Ziyan frowned.
Due to his sensitivity to spatial matters, Xu Ziyan did not think he would mistake a spatial crack for something else.
Every spatial node would have a unique kind of energy. Xu Ziyan’s own personal space, Mr. Square, had evolved from a simple “wallet” to the miraculous space he had now thanks to that energy.
The unique energy came from a boundless void. Fundamentally speaking, every spatial crack, teleportation array, was the combination of space and the boundless void. Therefore, those places would have that energy present.
Xu Ziyan did not sense that energy from the crack, but judging from the characteristics of it, it was clearly a passage leading to a different dimension.
Xu Ziyan rubbed his chin, and for some reason, his mind brought up the situation where he and Tianle were in the same position, yet they could not communicate with each other.
“Could it really be a different plane?” Xu Ziyan boldly speculated.
“What?” Xu Zirong asked.
Before Xu Ziyan opened his mouth to explain his guess, he heard deafening cheers from the entire square, followed by all the townspeople rushing towards the altar. Meanwhile, all of a sudden, a dense black aura surged from the crack on the altar…
“Devil energy!” Xu Ziyan’s pupils abruptly contracted.
Tianle and Xu Zirong beside him were also shocked. Their expression filled with disbelief as they looked at the surging devilish aura.
“How can there be devil energy here?” Xu Ziyan only felt that his whole body unwell!
The ongoing battle between Xuanyu Realm and the devils was intense. He never knew he would accidentally stumble upon another location brimming with devilish energy…
Could there be any chance of survival left?
Was that a scheme to force them to their deaths?!
Xu Ziyan had an urge to flip a table.
He now understood why people in the small town could have immortality… That was basically the effect of ordinary people being infused with devilish energy!
Cultivators would turn into devils when they were infused with devilish energy, while ordinary people should not be able to endure that degree of devilish energy. He could not fathom what changes had occurred in the eerie town of Ghost Jiangnan, allowing even normal individuals to withstand the impact of the devilish energy.
It was like forcing a person without spiritual roots to absorb spiritual power. Death due to obliteration of the soul would be considered a fortunate outcome. The most likely result was complete annihilation, leaving no chance for reincarnation.
“Brother, look!”
While Xu Ziyan was still puzzled by how the people in the small town tolerated the devilish energy, Xu Zirong beside him had already noticed something else.
The black crack was expanded rapidly, quickly swallowing the animals around the altar. With the impact of the devilish energy, the animals began to struggle and howl desperately, but their fragile bodies could not bear that kind of pain at all. Soon, one by one, they collapsed to the ground, lifeless. Their crimson blood flowed around the altar, and to their astonishment, the blood reversed its course, following the blood grooves and streaming into the altar.
“Is there some kind of suction in that crack?” Xu Ziyan muttered to himself.
Spewing devilish energy, while drawing blood into the crack, the same crack could manifest two entirely opposite forces, which was a truly bewildering scene.
He glanced around, observing the ecstatic and manic state of the transformed townspeople. Enveloped in the alluring devilish energy, they absorbed the wisps of aura seeping out from the crack. The dark energy flowed into their bodies at a speed visible to the naked eye, gradually restoring their human forms.
“They’ve turned back into humans again?” Xu Ziyan looked up at the sky. It was still hazy white, and the world remained in only black and white. However, the townspeople who had transformed into humans had already begun to regain their colors.
As if being dyed, every townspeople who had fully transformed into human spread colorful hues around themselves, gradually bringing the entire town back to its normal state in the blink of an eye.
However, while observing, Xu Ziyan noticed that even though the townspeople were enjoying the infusion of devilish energy, no one dared to approach the altar. Perhaps even the townspeople themselves were wary of the strong energy, and only dared to absorb some of the scattered devilish energy. As for the devilish energy that had swarmed out and was wrapping around the ancient tree like a giant black python, they dared not go near it.
The only ones who were really exposed to the strong devilish energy were the unfortunate four, who were tied to the tree. If it was in the past, they might still have a chance of transforming into devils. After all, they were nascent soul cultivators, even though their cultivation base was artificially boosted by pills. Their weakness lay in their combat abilities, but their own strength was already enough to bear the impact of devilish energy.
However, their misfortune stemmed from the town’s suppression of their cultivation. With no trace of spiritual power in their bodies, how would an ordinary person endure the onslaught of devilish energy?
The answer is simple——
Their bodies would crack, blood would gush, and they would die in the most gruesome manner imaginable!
Under the impact of the devilish energy, the four former nascent soul cultivators quickly lost their last trace of vitality. Soon after, a force wrapped their corpses, and molded them as if kneading dough, crafting four brawny men out of the lifeless bodies.
The four strong men looked like they were born as laborers, scars from years of labor were left on their bodies. Their appearances unmistakably revealed their backgrounds as common laborers from humble families.
Xu Ziyan observed the scene in front of him, his eyebrows were already tightly furrowing. The same force that was “molding” those figures originated from the crack, but it distinctly differed from the devilish energy.
Feeling that force, Xu Ziyan’s astonishment was beyond words, because what he felt was undoubtedly spiritual power!
Spiritual power!
In a place so saturated with such powerful devilish energy, how could someone possibly cultivate spiritual power??
Devilish energy and spiritual energy were two completely opposing forces. Devilish energy was domineering and unparalleled. In an environment brimming with it, cultivating spiritual power would require ten times, even a hundred times more effort than cultivating devilish energy.
No one would undertake such a thankless and stupid task, unless—— the individual possessed the strength to absorb enough spiritual energy within an area full of devilish energy.
While Xu Ziyan was lost in thought, four stars drifted out from the opening, slowly descending into the bodies of the four men.
When the four big men slowly opened their eyes, Xu Ziyan knew that the four cultivators were truly dead. Currently, those standing before him were the resurrected laborers killed by those cultivators.
After the four laborers woke up, they immediately kowtowed to the altar with several loud knocks of their heads.
Xu Ziyan noticed that ever since the four individuals woke up, the surge of spiritual power had been protecting them from the corrosive effects of the devilish energy.
It was not until the four of them moved a safe distance away that the protective spiritual power released its hold on them. Then—— it extended towards Xu Ziyan’s direction.
Startled, Xu Ziyan instinctively attempted to escape, but that spiritual power was so powerful that it was capable of reshaping the bodies of the townspeople there, so how could it miss them in a place like that?
Undoubtedly, Xu Ziyan was captured, along with Tianle and Xu Zirong.
Being dragged by that spiritual energy, they were guided towards the crack, passing by the four laborers who had just been resurrected.
Feeling the vitality emanating from the four of them, Xu Ziyan’s face turned pale. Yet, no matter how hard he struggled, he still could not break free from the shackles of that spiritual power.
“Damn it!” Xu Ziyan cursed internally, attempting to find some weapons from his Qiankun bag, but the spiritual power seemed to sense his intent, and split into countless threads of spiritual energy, tightly binding him like a cocoon.
Xu Ziyan: …Motherfudger! I can’t even move my fingers now!
The ones who were similarly bound were naturally Xu Zirong and Tianle. At that time, the three of them were just like caterpillars, except that they were unable to make any extra movements.
Just when Xu Ziyan’s face turned gloomy and was resigning himself to follow in the footsteps of those four cultivators, he saw a sudden explosion of space beside him. Then, a sheep’s head popped out of it——
“Baa? (⊙_⊙)?” Snowball looked at Xu Ziyan innocently, as if not comprehending what was happening.
“Quick! Help us!” Xu Ziyan almost laughed foolishly, shouting at Snowball in surprise and relief. Snowball turned its head and fetched a piece pf red handkerchief from Mr. Square and threw it with force——
Snap!
The space exploded again, and Mr. Square that had just been activated was sealed off from their space again.
Xu Ziyan: …
Xu Zirong: …
Tianle: Hehe…
Xu Ziyan looked at the red bridal veil on his head, utterly at a loss for words…
What a letdown! Going through all this trouble just for you to appear once, you could’ve broken the restraint on my spiritual energy, yet you hand me a red veil? What’s the meaning of this? Do you want me to be a bride before my death? And then, do I have to become a ghost bride and come back to have a discussion about life with you??
Xu Ziyan was thoroughly exasperated. His mind was directly berating Snowball for being so unreliable.
However, who would have thought that when the spiritual power touched the red veil, it suddenly surged, then forcefully spun. In an instant, Xu Ziyan, Xu Zirong, and Tianle were sucked into the crack as if caught in a tornado.
Back on the square, the townspeople were still cheering. Everyone was thanking the Great Ghost Deity for their gifts, while threads of devilish energy strengthened their bodies, at the same time, imprisoned their souls forever within…
The woman in white, who was shattered emotionally, remained like a bystander throughout the process, neither daring to rescue her companions, nor engaging any interaction with Xu Ziyan and the others.
She just hid silently in a corner, trembling, crying, resenting the injustice of fate, lamenting her own plight.
Unknowingly, the people on the square gradually dispersed, leaving the weeping girl seemingly forgotten. She appeared to forget herself as well, lost in tears, unable to recall why she was crying.
The Ghost Deity Festival came to an end, and a new year began again.
The skeleton innkeeper and the skeleton attendant at the inn seemed to have forgotten the new townspeople they once welcomed. Those uncles and aunts who enthusiastically wanted to arrange Tianle a marriage could not remember his existence at all.
Just like many years before, the whole town once again fell into the cycle of time, repeating the actions they had done in the past. Every day, every night, they just… kept on… repeating…
