CH 64.1

Chapter 64.1: Good and dedicated leader of the evil sect

Dark red lights shrouded the deep corridor, and the sound of messy and panicked footsteps echoed. The anchors were gasping for breath, turning their heads to look behind from time to time.

“How is it? Shake… Shake it off?”

One of the anchors lowered his voice and asked unsteadily.

After all, they were all level C anchors who have experienced at least five instances. Whether it was their points reserve or their experience, both were very rich. So even if they encounter an unexpected situation like just now, they could react quickly and use props skillfully, change their path, and hide their breath, so as to avoid the pursuit of monsters.

All the anchors cautiously observed the corridor behind them.

The corridor behind was empty, and there was no sound except for the gasping sound of everyone.

Looks like they got rid of it.

The crisis has been lifted temporarily.

After confirming that no monsters were chasing after them, they finally breathed a long sigh of relief and relaxed a little.

However, this short-lived relaxed atmosphere was quickly broken by a question from one of the anchors:

“So, what shall we do next?”

The expressions of all the anchors involuntarily became slightly gloomy.

Although this question had just been asked, they already had the answer in their hearts.

Since the faction battle was not over yet, it meant that the anchor on the black side was still alive, but the only anchor who might have known his whereabouts should be dead by now.

The upgraded map was at least double the size of the previous one. Aimlessly searching would not be effective; after all, there was only one person on the other side, not a team. The target was too small compared to them.

That being the case, in order to ensure the victory of the non-confrontational faction battle, they could only take the most traditional way, that was—

To complete the main line task.

【Refine the tenth soul-locking altar and completely suppress the evil spirit.】

Wen Jianyan stared at the main line task of the red team on Su Cheng’s mobile phone, revealing a thoughtful expression.

“What do you think?” Su Cheng took back his phone and asked.

“The red side should have given up looking for my trace now and gone on to complete the main task instead.” Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes and subconsciously rubbed the lines of the spell on the back of his hand with his fingertips. While sorting out his thoughts, he slowly said:

“So, they should contact Granny Wen next.”

“So what?”

Ji Guan turned his head to look at the crimson wall that was creeping behind him and took half a step forward with some fear. But he still subconsciously straightened his chest, raised his voice, and said:

“With your current status, do you still need to be afraid of them?”

You have so many ghosts under your command!

Isn’t that sufficient to ensure your victory?!

Unexpectedly, Wen Jianyan shook his head and said solemnly: “No, on the contrary, this time the winning rate of the red side and the black side is 50-50, and the red side even has the upper hand.”

Su Cheng was Startled: “How?”

Wen Jianyan: “The strongest in this instance are not the spirits sealed in 1316, but Granny Wen. Don’t forget, she is the one who started all this. As long as she contacts the anchor, then it is not far from the tenth soul-locking altar being made. Not only are there more people on the red side, but there are also Granny Wen’s paper figurines and various magic weapons. Unless I want to sacrifice my followers, I am no match for her in a head-to-head battle.”

In the “Integrity First” live broadcast room:

[Good guy, he just directly called them “my followers”…his acceptance of his current identity is too good!]

[Lol, he is really a good and dedicated cult leader!]

[But what the dog liar said is indeed true. The faction battle in this instance is really difficult to fight, and it’s indeed hard to tell who is more powerful between both forces. That’s why it’s a faction-based battle rather than hunting.]

[And I remember that the anchor can’t take the initiative to change the faction, right? Even if the black side really wins, his two teammates will die in this instance… ah, this is too uncomfortable.]

[This faction battle is too difficult!! It’s impossible to say who will win!]

[? Why are you all analyzing the situation so seriously? Am I the only one who is seriously appreciating my wife’s war-damaged appearance?]

[Aaahhhhhh, me too! Tattoos, battle damage, tattered clothes, what kind of fragrant setting is this; this child has already passed out!]

[It doesn’t matter which side has the best chance of winning; anyway, I have no brains to push my wife to win! (100 reward points)]

Wen Jianyan narrowed his eyes slightly and slowly concluded:

“Actually, the main task of this faction battle is to seize the soul-locking altar.”

After all, only nine altars had been produced in this instance, so this sealing formation against evil spirits was actually a semi-finished product.

Previously, in 1316, Wen Jianyan actually only temporarily broke the seals of those alters. Unless the person who made the seals was killed, these souls could not be truly free.

If the red side created the tenth soul-locking altar before the black side, the magic array would be completed automatically, and the soul-locking altars that Wen Jianyan broke the seal on would take effect again, and all the evil spirits would be directly sealed.

And if the black side snatched the ninth soul-locking altar from the red side and smashed it before the tenth soul-locking altar was created, then the magic array would be broken directly, and all the evil spirits would also be released.

Therefore, in fact, the focus of victory in this faction battle was which side could win the next soul-locking altar.

But besides that, there were two other points that Wen Jianyan could not ignore.

First, although he was on the black side, he didn’t want to complete the main task of the black faction… because the main task was to liberate that evil spirit! That evil spirit who was stabbed in the heart by him in the previous instance!

And the second one was that Su Cheng and Ji Guan were on the red side.

If he really snatched and shattered the ninth soul-locking altar, it might end up being the worst outcome.

—the entire team would be wiped out.

That’s why Wen Jianyan was saying that the red side even faintly had the upper hand.

After all, the other side does not need to face such a difficult choice.

But… not necessarily.

Wen Jianyan lowered his eyes thoughtfully, his white and slender knuckles curled up slightly, and he tapped his knees one after another.

Su Cheng knew that this meant that the other party was thinking.

For some reason, he had an almost blind sense of trust in this liar, who seemed to have no bottom line and was full of lies. For no reason, he just believed that the other party would not obey the rules so easily and sacrificed his teammates in order to survive.

However, looking at the other party’s pensive look, Su Cheng felt a little shiver run down his spine.

His hunches were almost never wrong.

So… this guy must have had some bad ideas!!!

Time passed by, and the walls on both sides of the corridor were completely covered in scarlet and slippery flesh, beating slightly with the rhythm of the heartbeat and looking creepy.

Wen Jianyan raised his eyelids slightly, and a pair of amber, clear, and harmless eyes looked over from under his eyelashes:

“Wait a minute.”

He stood up, turned around, and walked into 1316 while limping.

The low voices of the conversation could be heard from the room.

The young man seemed to be talking to another vague and intermittent voice. Their conversation was covered by the wet and sticky wriggling sound and was almost impossible to hear from the outside.

Outside the room, Su Cheng and Ji Guan looked at each other, completely confused about what this guy was up to.

The online audience in the live broadcast room of the two of them decreased rapidly, and they all went to the “Integrity First” live broadcast room to watch the excitement.

A minute later, the number of people in their live broadcast room finally picked up again.

[…Fuck, fuck! Fuck!!]

I’m speechless… I’m completely speechless… How could anyone think of such a solution!!]

[I can only say one word to these two cuties: Run! (Shouting desperately)]

Soon, Wen Jianyan poked his head out of the room.

“About the faction…” 

The young man’s face was still a little pale due to excessive blood loss; his eyebrows and eyes were curved, and his lips were raised harmlessly. His light-colored pupils rippled with light, looking very amiable and pleasant.

“I want to do an experiment; are you willing to help?”

Wen Jianyan asked with a smile.

Su Cheng: “……”

Ji Guan: “……”

This time, even Ji Guan couldn’t help but shudder, and an ominous premonition slowly surged in his heart.

This… what does this guy want to do?

***

In Granny Wen’s room. 

There were many anchors squeezed into the small room, and the already narrow space became more and more difficult to breathe.

The smell of incense ash wafted in the air, and the electronic candles flickered red in the dark light. All kinds of strange and evil weapons were placed everywhere, making people shudder.

The brass statue of the evil Bodhisattva was placed on the base with a compassionate expression, silently watching the people in the darkness.

From time to time, there were always anchors who cast doubtful glances at the Bodhisattva statue—was there such a big hole in the Bodhisattva statue before?

And also…

Is this arm a bit crooked?

Granny Wen coughed twice and finally attracted the attention of all the anchors.

Seeing that everyone was focusing on her body, Granny Wen raised her cloudy eyes covered by white clouds and said slowly, “You guessed it right, the evil spirit has not been completely suppressed by the Bodhisattva yet. Once the evil spirit reappears, the whole world will surely suffer catastrophe.”

“If the Bodhisattva wants to completely suppress the evil spirit, the tenth soul-locking altar is necessary, but if you want to complete the soul-locking altar, you must offer a sacrifice.”

The whole room fell silent; only the sound of the shallow breathing of the anchors could be heard, and everyone focused on listening to Granny Wen’s words.

She stared at the anchors in front of her with those terrifying eyes and continued slowly:

“Since you have come here, you should be mentally prepared to pay the price, right?”

Sacrifice.

This word sounded a little disturbing.

Wang Hanyu and Gao Chengxin looked at each other secretly and exchanged glances: “Of course.”

While speaking, Granny Wen tremblingly bent down, opened the side cabinet, and took out a pitch-black pottery jar from it.

“Only souls that have been dyed black by desire and killing can become the raw materials for the soul-locking altar.”

She stretched out her old and shriveled hand and grabbed a handful of off-white incense ash from the incense altar enshrined in front of the Bodhisattva statue. Then she sprinkled it into the depths of the jar, and placed a small Bagua mirror on the bottom of the jar:

“The locked soul in the altar will never enter reincarnation, and you will not leave the square cun*.” 

[*T/N: Chinese unit of area. 1 cun2 = 0.001024 meter2 ]

Granny Wen took out a stack of yellow paper and cinnabar and placed them on the table.

She slowly said: “The sacrifices of the soul-locking altar can only enter actively and cannot be dragged by spells. But if the tenth soul-locking altar cannot be produced tonight, the evil spirit will break through the seal. At that time, everything will be irreparable, so I can only take the risk and drag the sacrifice into the altar with the help of my living soul.”

Saying that, Granny Wen took out a few small paper figurines from her pocket, pricked her finger with a long needle, and the moment blood dripped on the paper figurines, they began to burn on their own.

The scraps of paper mixed with Granny Wen’s blood were finely stirred into the cinnabar.

Granny Wen put the pen on the table and looked up at the anchor in front of her:

“Come on, write the real names of the three sacrifices on the yellow paper with the cinnabar.”

One of the anchors was stunned and asked with some uncertainty : “Wait …Could it be that the name written on the paper will be thrown into the altar and become a sacrifice?”

“Naturally.” Granny Wen slowly nodded and said:

“If you want to refine a soul-locking altar, there is no other way except this.” 

In an instant, the entire narrow room fell into dead silence.

The anchors realized what the test of the red side was—they would never take the initiative to write their names on the yellow paper. In this type of instance, all the anchors call each other by the name on their identity cards, and only people who came here as a team would know each other’s real names.

If you want to refine a soul-locking altar, just send three people into the altar to refine it.

In other words, if you don’t want yourself to be thrown into the altar by your teammates, you must take the initiative to write the name of your teammate on it and let him become the sacrifice for refining the altar.

There were twenty-three people on the red side. It was impossible for so many people to act together, so after confirming their camp, they began to split up. After the group of monsters disappeared, the paper figurines reappeared, and the original fairly neat team was driven by the paper figurines to disperse again, and many anchors lost contact with their teammates.

At that moment, Granny Wen appeared in front of them. She led them into this room and told them the refining method of the tenth soul-locking altar.

But this method was a bit too cruel.

All the anchors had extremely ugly expressions.

Gao Chengxin opened his mouth to break the dead silence. He asked Granny Wen, “Did anyone find your room before us?”

Granny Wen didn’t answer directly.

Holding the black pottery jar in her hand, she said slowly, “Our world is at the junction of illusion and reality. This room you are in does not really exist. As long as a person wants to come to this room, they can find me; I will help them.”

In other words, they might not be the first to find this room, nor might they be the last.

Maybe even somewhere else in this instance, a similar conversation was taking place.

The audience in the red side’s live broadcast room was enthusiastically discussing the current battle situation.

[That is to say, other anchors can also meet Granny Wen in other places, and they can also get the method of making the soul-locking altar from her, right?]

[!! I understand; I was thinking about how these paper figurines came out and started chasing the anchors out of nowhere. These paper figurines were all made by Granny Wen, and they went after the red side anchors under the order of Granny Wen!]

[Damn, that is to say, Granny Wen deliberately separated most of the red team’s anchors from their teammates, and then told them how to make the soul-locking altar, so that they can betray each other!]

[Isn’t this the prisoner’s dilemma?! This old woman is so poisonous!]

[This instance can be renamed backstabbing. If the red side doesn’t sell their teammates, they can’t make the soul-locking altar. If the black side wants to win, they have to let their two teammates die… If you compare it carefully, this instance mechanism is even more poisonous!]

[Speaking of which, what exactly is the black side doing? Why hasn’t there been any movement for a long time?]

[I just came from there, to be honest, I don’t understand.]

[???]

[What do you mean that you don’t understand?]

[I just… can’t tell, you just go and see for yourself.]

In the corridor, the dark red, ominous lights flickered slightly. The walls on both sides were turning into scarlet, sticky flesh at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Drip, drip.

The corrosive liquid dripped down, making a hissing sound on the ground.

The sound of hurried and frantic footsteps echoed in the corridor, and the two figures ran wildly under the pursuit of the ghost.

Cluck, cluck, cluck—

The pale limbs loomed in the dark shadows, followed closely by the rustling sound of climbing behind.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!”

Ji Guan kept moving his two sore legs, running wildly with a collapsed expression: “Aaahhhh! How did things become like this!”

“I don’t fucking know!!!!”

Su Cheng’s expression also collapsed, as he avoided the pale arm protruding from the side corridor.

About five minutes ago, Wen Jianyan put forward the so-called “experiment request” with a smile, but before they could even agree, a familiar system prompt sounded:

【Congratulations to the anchor for triggering the scene: Chase battle

Countdown: 10:00】

【If the health value reaches zero, the anchor will die, and the live broadcast will end.

If the sanity value became zero, the anchor will become part of the instance, and the live broadcast will end.】

【In order to bring a better viewing experience to the audience, please ensure that the live broadcast is smooth and doesn’t disconnect!】

? ? ?

Wait???

What?????

Chase battle?!

Su Cheng and Ji Guan were completely dumbfounded and could hardly believe their ears.

What’s going on?!

The young man standing at the intersection of light and dark leaned sideways on the door frame; his white and firm body was covered by a pitch-black spell. Under the dark red light, it was like a living creature, spreading its bare fangs and brandishing its claws.

With a smile on his lips, he looked innocent:

“I suggest you start running now.”

“Cluck.”

“Cluck.”

Behind him, a pale monster figure appeared.

Wen Jianyan smiled and reminded: “They don’t know how to go easy.”

Su Cheng: “……”

Ji Guan: “……”

Then, the two broke down and started running for their lives.

These monsters really didn’t know how to go easy on them, they really wanted to kill them!!!!!!

Damn it!

…..This damn dog liar!!!