booktalesy Chapter 4169 Arrival
Chapter 4169 Arrival
Chapter 4169 Arrival
As the high priest finished speaking, he looked up at the mysterious woman whose expression still held a hint of daze.
"I've even told you such a big secret as the 'descendants of the Creator' coming into the world,' you shouldn't refuse me, right?"
The mysterious woman gave him a deep look: "Didn't you say you'd figured out how our faction works? Why don't you guess whether I'll refuse you?"
The high priest did not answer, but pointed to the box in the corner: "There are general offerings inside. If anything is missing, you can tell me and I will have someone find it."
After speaking, the chief priest turned around, picked up the ritual pen, and began to draw sacrificial patterns around the wine cup.
Judging from his demeanor, he seemed certain that the mysterious woman would not refuse.
And indeed, she glared at the high priest for five or six seconds before finally walking toward the box in the corner and resignedly searching for suitable offerings.
For the next period of time, the two remained silent, one drawing up the sacrificial ritual diagrams and the other preparing the ritual for the Wuwang Jingshen ceremony.
A small sacrificial ritual was quickly drawn up by the chief priest.
Just as he stood up, the mysterious woman walked over carrying a box: "I'll use everything inside. Besides that, I'm missing some sacrificial offerings..."
After she finished speaking, she tossed a small note to the high priest.
The note contained the offerings needed to set up the "Wu Wang Jing Shen Ritual".
The high priest glanced at the note and immediately laughed: "This is the first time I've ever heard of a ritual to conceal one's presence using a heat-expanding agent and a screaming rat's throat strap. Are you sure you're concealing your presence, or just trying to make sure others don't notice you?"
"And also, the Eye of Bloodwind, the marrow of Earthfire Rock... are you sure you're not trying to build up an elemental bomb?"
She heard the sarcasm in the high priest's words, but didn't even lift her eyelids: "Just prepare when I tell you to. Why all the nonsense?"
"The Wuwang Jingshen Ritual is a secret of our department. Do you think I wouldn't know what offerings are needed?" She glanced at him, her tone carrying a hint of forced composure. "Even if... I mean even if some of these things aren't needed, it wouldn't hurt to have extra."
"After all, we can't just let you take the list and copy the sacrificial offerings required for our company's rituals exactly as they are, can we?" She scoffed. "By mixing in a few unimportant things, you won't be able to figure out the real purpose. This is called deception and protecting copyright, understand?"
They spoke with such confidence, as if asking for those extra things wasn't for personal gain, but to protect copyright.
"Besides, if I help you set up the ritual and conceal your presence, and we happen to disturb that descendant of the creator, I'll be the first to suffer. Asking for a few more things as a risk fee isn't unreasonable, is it?" She raised an eyebrow at the high priest, her tone carrying a hint of roguish candor.
The high priest was silent for a moment, then took a deep breath and reluctantly agreed, "Fine, I'll give it to you."
After saying that, he turned and walked out the door.
However, he paused at the doorway, turned his head, and said, "By the way, while I'm going to find the offering, could you check this cup for me? I feel that her continued unconsciousness is a bit abnormal. If there's something wrong with her soul, there's no point in sacrificing her to the secret place."
The mysterious woman weighed her options.
Compared to the value of those extra sacrificial offerings, checking the integrity of a soul was hardly a hassle, so he nodded and replied, "Okay."
The high priest said nothing more, turned around and stepped into the dark corridor outside the door, his figure quickly swallowed up by the thick darkness.
The mysterious woman slowly walked to the bedside of the wine glass, and extended her right index finger—her nail was painted a matte pea green, like a tender bud just sprouting in early spring.
Her fingertips lightly touched the center of her brow in the wine glass, and she quickly withdrew her hand as soon as they touched her skin.
As the fingertip withdrew, a wisp of shimmering white light was drawn out, swaying gently in the air before gradually condensing into a perfectly round bubble of light. The surface of the bubble gleamed with a delicate sheen, without the slightest crack or imperfection.
She raised an eyebrow and said in a low voice, "The soul is complete and whole."
If the soul is unharmed, why is it taking so long to wake up?
Next, she bent down and examined the glass for a moment, running her fingertips along the wrist and neck of the glass, and even parting the almost flat pupil on the rim of the glass, but found nothing unusual.
Finally, she simply held the crystal ball back in her palm and gently pressed it against the center of her forehead.
A moment later, the halo inside the crystal ball flashed and disappeared.
The outline of something faintly appeared inside the sphere.
Upon closer inspection, it looks somewhat like a wine bottle.
Looking at the silhouette, her eyes flickered slightly, and she glanced down at the unconscious wine glass: "Could it be..."
"I think I understand now. Is it a characteristic of the group? That's interesting."
Although she said it was interesting, she didn't delve into it further. Instead, she put away the crystal ball and began to set up the Wuwang Jingshen Ritual.
Clearly, she already knew the situation with the wine glass.
A quarter of an hour later, footsteps were heard outside the door. The mysterious woman didn't pay any attention, guessing that the high priest had returned.
But when the footsteps reached the door, her ears suddenly twitched.
It was indeed the high priest's footsteps, but in addition, there were two shallow, rapid breaths, with suppressed, weak fluctuations, clearly not the breaths of someone in a conscious state.
Did the chief priest bring others with him?
She frowned slightly, her fingertips hovering in mid-air.
She only had a cooperative relationship with the priest, never interfered in the internal affairs of the religious sect, and had no intention of meeting other believers.
Just as he was pondering this, the door was pushed open, and the priest walked in from outside.
However, two unconscious people were floating behind the priest, and they "floated" into the room with him.
With a gentle wave of his hand, the two people floating in mid-air fell directly to the ground with two loud "bangs," but even so, they remained unconscious and showed no signs of waking up.
The mysterious woman looked at the two unconscious people lying on the ground with a puzzled expression: "Who are they...?"
"When I came back from retrieving the offerings, I encountered two sneaky little mice near the corridor. I knocked them out and brought them back." The high priest sneered, "They're probably 'investigators' lured here by those boring rumors. Anyway, the sacrificial ceremony has already been arranged, so we'll sacrifice them all together later."
"A rumor?" The mysterious woman seemed to have thought of something. "I think I vaguely heard others talking about it? It was something like a 'blood prison' rumor?"
The high priest nodded.
“In recent months, there have been rumors in town that the largest leech offering manufacturing company has a secret blood dungeon inside, which is used to capture people and let leeches suck their blood; these people captured in the blood dungeon are also known as ‘blood bags’.”
At this point, as if he had heard a joke, he curled his lip and said, "We can't do something so stupid. If we really need to collect blood, wouldn't it be easier to just give out money and let people donate voluntarily? That would provide a richer and more vibrant source of blood."
"On the other hand, the so-called 'blood prison and blood bag' mentioned in the rumors, people who are imprisoned for a long time will have stagnant blood and qi, and their blood will be monotonous and lifeless, so leeches will not even bother to touch them."
"It's a waste of effort to tie people up and keep them healthy, and in the end, nobody wants the blood we collect. It's a complete loss." He scoffed. "Anyone who believes this kind of rumor is either stupid or has nothing better to do."
After making a complaint, the high priest continued, "These days, quite a few 'investigators' have infiltrated. They're called investigators, but most of them are actually spies sent by competing companies."
"I even suspect that the rumors were spread by a competitor."
At this point, he pointed to the two unconscious people at his feet: "They were probably in the same condition, but I glanced at them just now and one of them seemed to have earth-type talent, so he sacrificed himself along with that cup-headed one."
Earth-type talent?
The mysterious woman raised an eyebrow in surprise, squatted down, and turned the two people who were lying face up. She wanted to see which race possessed the earth-elemental talent.
But when she saw the two unconscious people, her expression suddenly froze.
The high priest also caught her unusual behavior.
"What's wrong?" the high priest's voice came softly. "Do you know them?"
The mysterious woman silently stood up and pointed to one of the young men: "I've seen him before. His teacher is a senior figure in the company. You should know him... Lei Dong."
"Lei Dong?" The high priest looked somewhat surprised. "Is it that high-ranking noble known as the 'Walking Thunderstorm'?"
She nodded.
The high priest was somewhat puzzled: "Lei Dong's student? I've never heard of Lei Dong taking on students?"
Mysterious woman: "No one else in the department knows about this, and Lei Dong himself doesn't admit it... However, I do know about it."
High Priest: "?"
She pointed to the boy on the ground: "His name is Kaiya."
"About a few years ago, Lei Dong brought Kaiya to my mentor, wanting to change Kaiya's luck. — Because Kaiya's family suffered a great calamity, and he was the only one who survived."
“My mentor agreed and even asked me to make a lucky charm for Kaeya. I remember it was a crystallized four-leaf clover.”
"In short, I am 100% certain that Kaiya is Lei Dong's student. But I don't know why, after Lei Dong returned to the company, he denied it."
The mysterious woman shook her head: "But that's not important."
She paused, then pointed at Kaiya: "Let's not sacrifice this guy. Give him to me. Our faction is in need of a decisive and ruthless leader. Perhaps we can use this to win over Lei Dong."
The high priest thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
He's just a little mouse I caught off guard; whether he's sacrificed or not doesn't matter. Although this little mouse has a decent background, he's just a high-ranking nobleman. If a fight really breaks out, he's not afraid of Lei Dong.
However, he is still happy to do his partner a favor.
"What about the other one? Do you want to take this one with you?" The high priest pointed to another unconscious person. "He and the Kaya you mentioned infiltrated the company together."
"Is this the earth-elemental talent?" She glanced down and could clearly see that his skin was covered in mud, but surprisingly, it didn't feel dirty; instead, it had a kind of elegance.
"I don't know him, so I don't need to bother with him." She was willing to save Kaiya because there was something to gain from it, but she didn't even know this person, so there was no need to waste her time saving him.
but……
The mysterious woman gave the "mud figure" on the ground a deep look, especially at the area between his eyebrows.
"Speaking of which, didn't you notice anything special about this guy?"
The high priest was taken aback: "What's special about it?"
The high priest hadn't paid much attention to the little clay figure at first, thinking it was just something to offer as a sacrifice, but after hearing her words, he couldn't help but examine it more closely...
……
In the live broadcast area of the heart space, the air seemed to freeze at this moment.
Luigi and his water clone slowly turned their heads, their gazes falling directly on Angel.
A moment of silence fell between the three of them. Finally, Luigi let out a heavy sigh, his voice tinged with helplessness: "You were right..."
Perhaps the priest of the Fengshen faction and the mysterious woman did not know the so-called "little clay figure," but the people in the live broadcast area recognized their identities at a glance.
That's right, it's Kaiya and Nij!
From the high priest's words, they managed to piece together some of the cause and effect: Kaya and Mud Lord had arrived in Vampire Town, and something had happened in between that led them to infiltrate the Leech Offering Manufacturing Company.
What no one expected was that this giant company, renowned throughout the world of rituals, a company highly revered by the nobles for pioneering leech sacrifices and saving countless lives of human sacrifices, actually harbored members of the Shintoist faction within its ranks.
Although it's unclear what role the Divine Faction plays in this company, one can glean clues from the high priest's attitude when he talked about the "Blood Prison Rumors": the familiarity and naturalness in his tone when mentioning the company made it seem as if he were talking about his own territory.
That undisguised emphasis is something that ordinary collaborators would never have.
It's even possible that the company has been completely taken over by the religious faction!
In this situation, Kaiya and Nijue's infiltration of the company was tantamount to walking into a trap.
As a result, he was caught by the priest of the religious sect.
"Speaking of which, it's a good thing that Mud Lord was captured..." the water clone said at this moment. "At first I was worried about Kaiya, but now that Kaiya has been protected by this woman from the God Destroyer, only Mud Lord is left. This can be considered as achieving our goal."
"but……"
The water clone looked at Angell: "Your theory can now be basically confirmed to be correct."
"When the world's will wants to kill you, it will try every means to take you to the most dangerous place."
As Angor had predicted, Mud Lord and Kaia, aboard their doomed ship of no return, were swept by the strong winds of "predestined fate" to their promised land—the center stage of the sacrificial ceremony.
Luigi's eyes were still dazed: "Suddenly I received so many secrets: the God-Slaying Division that destroys evil gods and the God-Devouring Faction that worships evil gods are cooperating; the leech sacrifices that save countless people in the present and future are very likely related to the God-Devouring Faction; and there's also Kaia's teacher, Lei Dong..."
I have a feeling that the secrets I've gleaned in these few short hours are far more numerous and profound than what Edward has learned during his eight hundred years in the world of the dead...
However, the secrets of the Yi World were not of much practical significance to them.
More than these, Luigi was concerned about something else: according to Ingres's theory of "predestined fate," were Na and the Milk Dragon also on their way to the "center stage"?