novelraw Chapter 323 : What Kind of Strange Thing Is This
Chapter 323 : What Kind of Strange Thing Is This
Chu Sang opened the scroll map and looked at it. The areas where people had disappeared and the specific locations of disappearances were specially marked. She scanned it briefly, noting that the criminal group wasn't acting randomly; there was a pattern to follow.
The mastermind behind this was quite cautious, not operating in large cities but choosing small border towns that weren't easily discovered.
Underground black organizations are most wary of attracting trouble for themselves. After all, they were using forbidden techniques that had long been prohibited in the Upper Realm. Only a very few people had mastered the forbidden books. That group's power hadn't developed to the point of being able to challenge the entire Upper Realm, so they didn't dare to make a big show of it. They harmed people stealthily, not daring to massacre on a large scale to avoid attracting the attention of the entire Upper Realm. This fit the motive for the crimes.
She pondered for a while, pinpointing the approximate actions of the closest group of people and deducing the location and time of their next possible move. These people acted on a large scale about every four or five days. It had been exactly three days since their last crime, so probably tomorrow night or the night after, they would conduct activities in a nearby small village.
Ji Mo Shan immediately decided, "Let's go set up an ambush in advance!"
Others also agreed.
However, upon arriving at the location, the scene before them left everyone silent. The village was empty, without a single person in sight. There wasn't even a hint of life, but they seemed to smell a not-fully-dissipated scent of blood. This was clearly a dead city that had already been massacred.
Seeing this absurd scene before her, Ji Mo Shan was speechless for a long time.
"Did we... arrive a step too late?"
Chu Sang didn't speak. She summoned Primordial Soul-Chaser. The sword spirit, as black as night, slowly opened its crimson eyes. With a wave of her hand, countless strands of black qi slowly rose from the ground.
The others instinctively stepped back, having never seen a sword spirit with such heavy killing intent. If Chu Sang hadn't summoned it herself, they would have thought it was some sword of slaughter that was wreaking havoc in the world. It was precisely because Primordial Soul-Chaser was a pure sword of slaughter that it was extremely sensitive to the qi of death and killing.
"The entire village suffered a massacre two nights ago," Primordial Soul-Chaser said faintly.
Ji Bai Yu frowned, "But according to the information collected by our main family, there was no indication that this village had been harmed."
Chu Sang walked to the village square. A stone tablet stood there, but it didn't look like an ancient object that had weathered for a long time. Instead, it seemed like it had been placed there midway. She raised her hand to draw talisman characters and released them. With a "boom!" the stone tablet was instantly blasted to pieces. At the same time, there was a series of fine shattering sounds, as if the air was breaking like a mirror.
"The deities in the border towns have low cultivation. They could be massacred by that group in a short time. No one could survive to spread the news. This place was sealed off by a formation in advance. Under normal circumstances, outsiders wouldn't come to this place at all. Naturally, no one would know the true situation here in a short time."
"To specially set up a formation to isolate this small place from the outside world is, frankly, completely unnecessary for that group. It's also very risky to massacre an entire village of deities. I guess this place might be a new small base they've deployed. That group hasn't gone far and will come back," someone else speculated.
"Let's keep watch tonight."
Chu Sang waved her hand and drew several dozen god-level invisibility talismans, distributing them to the group. Everyone was stunned, secretly marveling at how wealthy talisman masters were!
After hiding and keeping watch until late at night, there was still no movement. Could it be that the group wasn't coming tonight, or had their deduction been wrong?
Someone was getting impatient and wanted to leave first. Suddenly, Chu Sang spoke,
"They're here."
Everyone immediately held their breath, not daring to say another word.
In the distance, a group of mysterious people in black robes had appeared at some unknown time. The black robes they wore covered their faces, concealing their true appearances. Most eerie was that on the back of each black robe was embroidered a dark golden single eye. The pattern of that single eye was extremely bizarre and creepy, as if constantly watching in their direction, making everyone's hearts tremble involuntarily, afraid of being discovered.
Chu Sang's face turned cold. She recognized the pattern on these black robes; it was the same group as the deities she had seen in the lower realm... Indeed, cockroaches are everywhere, causing trouble wherever they go.
Someone wanted to rush forward to capture these masterminds. Chu Sang quickly pulled the person back, shaking her head and using divine sense to transmit a message: Don't startle them yet.
She vaguely noticed that the group seemed to be performing some ancient ritual. Among them, a very tall mysterious person held a staff, chanting strange incantations. The others also murmured those strange, obscure incantations along with his actions, occasionally accompanied by strange ritual prayer gestures...
The scene was eerie no matter how one looked at it.
A huge formation gradually appeared beneath the group. Suddenly, blood-red light flared, and a fierce wind arose. The sharp wind mixed with the sobbing of ghostly howls, incredibly spine-chilling.
Ji Mo Shan rubbed her arms, exhaling a cold breath, and said uncertainly, "Do you... feel how cold it is?"
"Look at that—"
Someone in front almost let out a scream. Chu Sang hurried forward to cover their mouth. When she saw the scene before her clearly, she couldn't help but contract her pupils.
Countless black shadows emerged from underground.
Those black-robed people continued to chant their eerie incantations. More and more black shadows appeared on this empty land, their scarlet eyes like dancing ghost fires, shuttling and wandering between light and shadow, like ghosts lurking to hunt at night.
"What kind of strange thing is this?"
"Those people... have all been refined into evil spirits!" someone said in a low voice.
"...Evil spirits?" What were these? Chu Sang turned her head to look at the disciple who had just spoken. These summoned souls were somewhat like the vengeful ghosts and spirits of the lower realm, but also somewhat different. They weren't the same thing. These beings were even more evil, giving people an extremely ominous feeling.
"The legendary evil spirits have appeared again. How is this possible... How could they appear in the divine realm again... Weren't these things completely eliminated long ago..." That disciple seemed terrified, constantly muttering and shaking his head.
Ji Bai Yu explained in a low voice, "These are a kind of monster in the divine realm. It's said... they are transformed from deities."
"No one knows exactly how these evil spirits are produced, but logically, these evil spirits should have been completely eliminated tens of thousands of years ago. How could they reappear in the world after tens of thousands of years? I once heard family elders mention evil spirits occasionally. These evil spirits seem to be able to assimilate other deities. In any case... they're very strange. We need to be careful."