novelraw Chapter 244 - 112: The Secret Chamber (First Update)
Chapter 244 - 112: The Secret Chamber (First Update)
Yue Zhao had never seen people from the Dark Swamp battle before; he had only read about it in books or heard others talk about it. He didn’t stop the opponent from playing the flute but instead dealt with the guards trying to approach while waiting for the opponent to come over.The fragmented sounds were getting closer and closer. Because the courtyard was lit, although not very bright, it was enough for Yue Zhao and his companions to see what was coming.
In the sky appeared a flock of Black Feather Crows flying toward Yue Zhao and his group, while on the ground, a multitude of colorful poisonous snakes, venomous spiders, and scorpions were approaching them densely.
Zhuo Tingqiu’s face changed slightly as he leaned beside Yue Zhao.
"Brother Yue, what should we do?" He dared not even look down at the ground, feeling a tingling scalp. It was the first time he realized he was afraid of such dense things.
"These demon beasts are of relatively low level, nothing to worry about." Yue Zhao’s expression remained unchanged, the smile at the corner of his lips was constant. He looked at the cloaked person opposite, even though he couldn’t see the other’s expression, "If this is all you have, I’m a little disappointed."
After saying that, his hand gestures changed. What was just an inadvertent vibration now turned into a complete tune, a very powerful melody.
Under the cloaked man’s control, the orderly array of Black Feather Crows and venomous creatures suddenly became chaotic. Especially the snakes, they started dancing in place, and the Black Feather Crows were like headless flies, spinning in circles.
The poisonous creatures did the same, spinning in circles, with only a few still under the cloaked man’s control coming toward Yue Zhao and his group.
Seeing this scene, the cloaked man paused, forgetting to play the flute. At that moment, even those poisonous creatures approaching Yue Zhao and his companions fell under Yue Zhao’s Piano Sound control, spinning in place.
The cloaked man immediately focused and resumed playing the Bone Flute, but this time he clearly exerted more force, and the poisonous creatures under Yue Zhao’s control returned to his control.
Yue Zhao raised an eyebrow, his smile deepening.
His hands moved a bit faster, and the poisonous creatures that the cloaked man had just regained control over immediately resumed spinning as before.
The cloaked man once again exerted force, and the control over the poisonous creatures was snatched back. Easily, Yue Zhao accelerated, regaining control over the poisonous creatures.
The two battled back and forth, with the poisonous creatures sometimes approaching Yue Zhao and his companions and sometimes spinning in circles, making Zhuo Tingqiu beside them feel a bit of neck pain.
"Zheng!"
With a high-pitched sound, the poisonous creatures under Yue Zhao’s control suddenly exploded, chunks of flesh appearing on the ground, saturating the air with a thick scent of blood. This scent further agitated the poisonous creatures, accelerating their rate of explosion.
The Black Feather Crows in the sky were the same, falling from above, lifeless.
Just like that, more than half of the poisonous creatures exploded to death. The remaining ones lost their minds and were completely out of the cloaked man’s control. Instead, driven by Yue Zhao’s music, they exploded one by one.
Yue Zhao took just one song to deal with the creatures and Black Feather Crows summoned by the cloaked man.
The cloaked man was clearly not expecting Yue Zhao to be so formidable. He had already put down the Bone Flute, watching helplessly as his creatures were eliminated, his breathing noticeably heavier.
"You are not a disciple of the White Tiger Sacred Land; you are Young Master Le, Yue Zhao!" The cloaked man clearly knew of Yue Zhao’s feats and recognized him right away, his voice carrying a mix of betrayal and grievance.
Yue Zhao instead seemed a little surprised, "You could guess my identity? It seems you’ve been here quite some time."
The cloaked man paused, suddenly calming down. He looked up at the sky, and upon seeing the blood moon, he suddenly became agitated.
"Haha, you can’t stop me. My ritual is about to succeed, Ah Mei, I can finally see you again!" The cloaked man seemed to have forgotten about Yue Zhao and his companions, lost in his own world. After speaking, he suddenly turned and rushed towards the study room.
Yue Zhao’s figure flashed, quickly following the cloaked man into the study.
...
During the confrontation between Yue Zhao and the cloaked man, Mu Chen, who was concealed by the Concealing Talisman, carefully avoided both the cloaked man and those under his control. He cautiously made his way to the study, found the mechanism inside, and entered the secret chamber.
As soon as he entered, he smelled a strong scent of blood, which made him frown uncomfortably as he walked along the corridor.
After passing through a rather long corridor, he finally arrived at the secret chamber.
This secret chamber was larger than he had imagined. Opposite him was an altar table, on which stood a half-human tall stone statue. The statue looked very bizarre, like a human, but its features were very ugly, with a large head and bony wings on its back. It was entwined by two pythons, whose heads were raised high, flicking their tongues. Its lower body was not two legs but four, both ugly and eerie.
In front of the statue was an incense burner with three burning incense sticks slowly burning. On either side was a pair of candles as thick as human arms, also burning at the moment.
In front of the altar, there was a large vat. The pungent smell of blood came from there, and Mu Chen didn’t need to guess to know that it must contain the innards of those who were killed.
He walked over, glanced inside, and then looked away, his gaze passing through the statue and onto what was behind the altar table.
There lay an ice coffin, and from Mu Chen’s angle, he could vaguely see a woman lying inside.
He walked around the altar table and approached the ice coffin. Sure enough, there was a woman lying inside, or rather, the woman’s corpse. Preserved with special methods, the corpse was very well preserved, so much so that at first glance, Mu Chen did not even realize it was a body.
Underneath the ice coffin was a huge array drawn. Although Mu Chen and the others were not well-versed in arrays, they had some knowledge. He carefully identified it for a while and found that the array had two functions: sacrifice and resurrection!
Recalling their previous guesses, he already understood the opponent’s intentions.
Whether there is a method in this world to resurrect the dead had always been a mystery, but Mu Chen thought that even if it existed, it certainly wouldn’t be this method. Because whether it was the array on the ground or the stone statue, these were all evil methods. Even if the woman in the ice coffin were resurrected this way, she would certainly no longer be human.
Moreover, he came here to prevent this ritual from succeeding!
Thinking for a moment, he went to the large vat containing those innards, took out a Fire Talisman, activated it, and threw it inside. The flames ignited instantly, and within a dozen breaths, the innards inside were burned to ashes.
At that moment, the statue’s eyes suddenly turned red, and a red light shot toward Mu Chen. Fortunately, Mu Chen had been keeping an eye on the statue, noticed something was off, and dodged in time.
When he looked again, the statue had returned to normal, but the array on the ground suddenly lit up. A circle of red light surrounded the ice coffin, and Mu Chen immediately realized something was wrong and took out the Red Flame Spear to attack the array.
The red light surrounding the ice coffin flickered under his attack, then returned to normal, albeit with slightly dimmed colors. Clearly, they intended to protect the ice coffin inside. Mu Chen’s face darkened; how could he allow them to resurrect it?
So he increased his efforts, attacking the array with one strike after another. Although the array seemed powerful, it lacked the energy to sustain it and was soon broken, revealing the ice coffin inside.
Mu Chen quickly entered the array, thought for a moment, then took out the ice coffin and placed it aside, taking out an Array Plate to trap the ice coffin inside.
Just as he finished doing all this, he suddenly heard footsteps coming from the passage. His actions paused for a moment, then he took out a Concealing Talisman, attached it to himself, and stood in the corner farthest from the passage.
Before long, a cloaked person walked in from outside.
The cloaked person was full of joy, wanting to see his resurrected lover, only to find that the simple altar he had set up had been destroyed. Uncaring about anything else, he first looked to where the array was and found the ice coffin gone. His expression hidden under the cloak immediately changed, and he quickly looked around the secret chamber, then found the ice coffin placed aside by Mu Chen and rushed over.
He was just about to approach when he was bounced away by an invisible barrier. He was stunned, looked at his hand, then at the ice coffin in front of him, unable to understand what had happened.
At this moment, Yue Zhao walked in from behind.
Seeing the scene before him, Yue Zhao understood that Mu Chen must have succeeded. His gaze swept around and saw Mu Chen’s figure appear in the corner.
Mu Chen, taking advantage of the cloaked person’s dazed moment, went straight to Yue Zhao’s side, nodded at Yue Zhao, indicating that he had completed the task entrusted to him. Yue Zhao slightly raised the corners of his lips.
The cloaked person, at this point, couldn’t pay attention to Yue Zhao and Mu Chen. He tried once more to get close to the ice coffin. Unfortunately, the array laid by Mu Chen blocked it. There was no way he could get in, no matter how much he battered it. He also dared not fight against the array, so he could only go crazy looking at the ice coffin inside.
During the collision, the cloak on his head had already fallen off, revealing his appearance. He looked fairly decent, albeit with a pale complexion and heavy dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in a long time. Furthermore, he was so thin that he appeared slightly deformed, giving off an extremely eerie feeling.
He suddenly turned his head, his eyes bloodshot, glaring at Yue Zhao and Mu Chen. When he saw Mu Chen, he immediately understood what was going on, his eyes wide open, his expression extremely horrifying.