The disciples of Gengchen Immortal Mansion waited at the foot of Three Sage Mountain for most of the day, their minds filled with confusion. By now, Liao Tingyan's initial terror had completely dissipated, leaving her back in her usual slacker state.
Even if the principal shouted from the stage, "Once these results come out, you're all dead!", a poor student like her would feel indifferent after the initial fear. After all, everyone was in the same boat, so there was nothing to be afraid of. She no longer thought about the impending doom in the distance, only about the pain in her legs at the moment, and she really wanted to sit down and rest.
Looking around, she was probably the only one with the lowest cultivation level. Earlier, an aftershock from the ancestor's power had even caused her to bleed from the nose—how could she possibly endure this? She shifted her weight from her left foot to her right, then back again, until finally, the sect leader, who had ventured alone into the lion's den, emerged from the principal's office.
He looked as if he had been beaten up, appearing exceptionally disheveled. The pretentious jade crown on his head was shattered, barely hanging on. His once refined and scholarly face was now a mix of red and white, a truly spectacular sight. Weak and breathless, he ordered, "The ancestor has emerged from seclusion and dislikes disturbances. Everyone, disperse."
"You, go inside and serve the ancestor well." This was directed at the hundred-woman team.
The leading female disciple, rumored to be a junior relative of the sect leader and the designated leader, now wore the expression of someone marching to their death. Exchanging a glance with the sect leader, she adopted the demeanor of a revolutionary martyr and resolutely led her sisters step by step into Three Sage Mountain.
Each step was heavy, devoid of the initial excitement and anticipation. During this time, they had calmed down and realized something was amiss, filling them with dread. Liao Tingyan's steps were heavy too, but that was purely because her legs hurt. Three Sage Mountain was enormous, and though the jade-paved ground was beautiful, it was also absurdly vast. Walking on it felt endless, like an ant crawling across an endless expanse.
As the saying goes, "The mountain looks close, but the horse dies trying to reach it." This place also had some strange pressure that made it even harder. By the time the hundred-woman suicide squad reached the massive central complex, not just Liao Tingyan but even the higher-cultivation sisters were on the verge of collapse.
"It seems we can't use spiritual power freely here. What's going on?" someone couldn't help but whisper.
Others looked uneasily at the towering black iron pillars and chains nearby. "And what are these chains for?"
"These flowers... they look like... like Moonlit Dusks. Why are there so many Moonlit Dusks here?" Passing the outermost blood-red high wall, another sister noticed something wrong. Before them stretched a flowerbed, seemingly encircling the entire round building.
Liao Tingyan studied the flowers. They resembled peonies, with snow-white petals, black stamens, and pitch-black stems and leaves—strangely beautiful. Not being native to this world and lacking knowledge, she didn't know the origins of these so-called Moonlit Dusks, nor why they made the other girls tremble as if they'd seen a ghost.
She wanted to ask, but everyone's faces were as pale as the flowers, looking downright terrifying, so she kept her mouth shut.
Once they arrived, the surroundings fell into complete silence, without even a breeze. They had no idea where to go next.
"Should... should we keep going?"
"Of course. We must pay our respects to the ancestor," the leader said, forcing composure.
"But... which way do we go?"Liao Tingyan heard a strange sound—a hissing, hissing noise, like the sound of a snake flicking its tongue. She felt a cold breeze above her head and looked up to see an enormous black snake coiled around a pillar, its crimson vertical pupils staring coldly at them.
The snake was absurdly large. How large? Liao Tingyan estimated that it could probably devour all of them in just ten bites—ten people per bite. And after finishing them all, it still wouldn’t be full, given how thick its body was.
Her legs went weak, and she grabbed the arm of some unknown senior sister beside her. The senior sister’s legs also gave way, and she clutched the arm of an elder uncle nearby.
Liao Tingyan: …So we weren’t brought here to be slaughtered for our ancestors’ amusement, but to serve as meat dishes for their pet snake.
While breaking out in goosebumps and trembling with fear, she still found time to wonder whether the snake could digest the jewelry and clothes they were wearing if it swallowed them.
Finally, the brave leader stepped forward and addressed the giant snake with utmost reverence, “Esteemed Elder, we disciples have come to pay our respects to the Patriarch. The Sect Leader has ordered us to serve the Patriarch’s daily needs.”
The massive black snake slithered down from the towering pillar, moving silently along the ground as its enormous body circled them once. Liao Tingyan, standing at the outer edge, felt the gleaming black scales brush almost against her hand, her heart nearly stopping in terror.
What misery—to encounter such a gigantic snake for the first time in her life and have to get this close to it.
Fortunately, the snake showed no intention of eating them. It merely scanned them with its searchlight-like eyes before moving past them.
Rustle—
The black snake slithered forward, passing through clusters of moonlit blossoms.
“Quick, follow the Elder,” the leader whispered urgently, and the group hastily complied.
The guiding snake led them through a labyrinth of palace halls until they arrived at the foot of the Central Tower. From afar, when they had looked up at Three Sage Mountain from below, it had shimmered with radiant light—bright and sacred. But now, standing beneath the Central Tower, they realized the sky here was entirely different from what they had seen outside. A gloomy overcast loomed over this place, casting a somber pallor over the vibrant golden tiles and vermilion walls. The black chains coiled around the Central Tower only added to the eerie atmosphere.
Upon reaching this point, the giant snake climbed up one of the tower’s massive pillars, while the group couldn’t follow that way—they had stairs before them.
“Let’s go up,” the leader declared, chest puffed out as she ascended. She had clearly taken on the role of captain, and the others obeyed, following her up. Liao Tingyan lagged at the back of the group, dragging her exhausted body up the steps.
Such a tall tower—did it really not have an elevator?
She had assumed they would have to climb all the way to the top, but after only about five or six floors, the group came to a halt—there were no more stairs leading upward.
This floor was vast. Upon reaching it, they saw a long corridor and a door. The walls on either side of the corridor were adorned with grand murals depicting celestial musicians, flying immortals, and other mystical scenes—ornate and enigmatic. Yet, these beautiful paintings were marred by streaks of fresh red blood, as though something bleeding had been dragged from one end to the other. Even more horrifying was the fact that the bloodstains looked alarmingly recent.Liao Tingyan began recalling whether the sect leader she saw before entering had any bleeding injuries. She probably wasn’t the only one thinking this, because she clearly felt the sister beside her trembling.
Their footsteps were unusually loud here, as were their heartbeats. When they reached the door, it suddenly cracked open slightly. After Liao Tingyan, the last in line, stepped inside, the door silently closed behind her.
Here, Liao Tingyan saw the enormous Black Snake again, coiled around a pillar in the room. Apart from the snake and their group, there was one other person in the vast, empty space.
That person sat on a chair directly ahead and said to them, "Come here."
For the first time, Liao Tingyan realized someone could make two simple words sound so gloomy and chilling.
The group leader led the others forward to bow to their ancestor. "Greetings, Grandmaster."
Liao Tingyan followed along, curiously stealing a glance ahead—only to see a terrifyingly pale foot.
The person was barefoot on the deep black floor, faint blue veins visible beneath the skin. The hem of a wide, black-patterned robe pooled beside the foot, and when it shifted slightly, another foot was revealed. Liao Tingyan noticed a thin red thread tied around the left ankle, strung with a wooden prayer bead.
Somehow, that slender red thread gave her a heart-stopping feeling. The longer she stared, the harder it became to breathe.
Suddenly, the ancestor above stood up. Liao Tingyan watched as he walked toward her—or rather, toward the sister beside her. Those feet flickered in and out of sight beneath the black robe before stopping right in front of the girl next to her.
"Such audacity."
After those words, Liao Tingyan felt something wet splatter onto her. Thick, crimson blood spread across the smooth black floor, soaking the white hem of her skirt.
Liao Tingyan, barely managing to stay kneeling: "..." Gag.
No.
I can't.
Someone died!
I’m so scared! Someone died! Ahhh!
She felt like throwing up, but her mind was sharp enough to realize that vomiting now might lead to something even worse. So she swallowed it back down.
...Damn it, now it’s even more disgusting!
The sister’s body slumped limply, landing right beside Liao Tingyan’s hand. She watched as the girl’s face slowly changed, transforming into someone else in the blink of an eye. Huh? A face swap??
Someone nearby gasped, "Th-this isn’t Wanling! Who is this?"
Others panicked. "How did this person sneak in? Why didn’t anyone notice?"
The ancestor, having just killed someone, moved again. Stepping over blood and corpse, he stopped in front of Liao Tingyan.
Liao Tingyan: "..." Is he looking at me? No, Grandmaster, don’t look at me!
"Such audacity."
Hearing this, half of Liao Tingyan’s body turned to ice. Before the unknown sister beside her had been killed, the ancestor had said the exact same thing.
But how was she audacious? She hadn’t done anything! This granddaughter is innocent!
Just like how, before an injection, the body tenses in anticipation of the needle, she was hyper-aware now, her focus razor-sharp, bracing for pain from somewhere.
A moment later, what came was a hand. That hand pinched her chin and lifted her face up.When that pale and icy hand touched her chin, Liao Tingyan felt all the hairs on her body stand on end, and cold sweat instantly broke out on her back—just like when that enormous Black Snake had slithered past her earlier.
Forced to stiffly raise her head, she finally got a clear look at the ancestor’s appearance.
She had guessed wrong earlier. He turned out to be a pretty boy.
Skin as white as snow, hair as black as ink, lips as red as blood—the description sounded like Snow White herself.
Liao Tingyan stared into his eyes. It might have been an instant, or it might have been an eternity, but suddenly, the ancestor released her and sat back in his original spot. He had seemed fine just moments ago, but now his face twisted with pain and irritation, a faint red tinge appearing at the corners of his eyes.
"Get out. All of you, get out!"
His sudden outburst startled everyone. The girls all paled in fright, hastily retreating, and even the enormous Black Snake seemed to cower, tucking its tail as it clamped onto the not-yet-cold corpse and slithered out with the rest of the group.
Going mad out of nowhere—was this ancestor some kind of lunatic? Liao Tingyan left in a daze, only snapping back to reality when she reached the bottom of the tower and stood at its base.
Huh? She was still alive?
She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, then glanced at her palm—red.
Blood. From when the girl beside her had died earlier, splattering onto her.
Speaking of which, she turned to look at the giant snake. The Black Snake had been chased out along with them by the ancestor and was now hesitantly gripping a corpse in its jaws. But it didn’t hesitate for long—soon, it opened its mouth and swallowed the body whole.
Liao Tingyan: "…!"
She now had a reasonable suspicion: the ancestor hadn’t killed her earlier because he was saving her to feed to the snake tomorrow. Fresh kills were better.
OpenNovel