Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue moved quickly and silently in this deep and long cave. They had already bypassed several intersections and relatively spacious caverns. Judging by the direction and the distance they were moving in, Hao Ren believed that they had entered the depths of a mountain on the south side of Dragonspine Ridge.
There were obvious traces of man-made excavation on the stone walls on both sides of the cave. Every so often, there would be torches or light boxes embedded in the stone walls. However, these flickering lights did not bring much light to the entire cave. Instead, the atmosphere inside was gloomy and depressing. A cold wind blew from the depths of the cave, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, as if to warn the intruders not to come close. In the cavern that they had just passed, Hao Ren and Nangong Wuyue saw some stone benches and tables that were placed messily. These things looked quite old, and the style was different from what Hao Ren had seen in other places in Holletta. He did not know which era these things were left behind.
The further they went, the more Nangong Wuyue felt a gradually uneasy atmosphere. She could not help but grab Hao Ren's arm and cautiously followed behind. This siren had the look of a powerful female boss, but at the critical moment, she was as timid as Rollie at home...
At this time, Hao Ren suddenly saw a half-closed iron door in front of him. This iron door appeared abruptly in the cave, and he stopped subconsciously. Then he seemed to hear a faint voice coming from behind the door. "Wait a minute, there's movement in front!"
Nangong Wuyue lowered her body and followed behind Hao Ren. She approached the iron door and peeked through the gap.
What was surprising was that behind the iron door was a large and spacious stone chamber. This stone chamber was so spacious that it could even be described as a hall. It was a squarish room that was dozens of meters in length and width. The four stone walls were inlaid with crystals that emitted a faint red light. In addition to the large braziers that flickered in and out of the room, the entire stone room was filled with an unsettling dark red light. The four walls of the stone chamber were carved with grotesque reliefs and texts, depicting a variety of strange creatures crawling on the ground. In each of the four corners of the stone chamber stood an obsidian statue holding a sword. The statues had no faces. Instead, in place of the original facial features, large groups of twisted symbols were depicted. It looked terrifying and revealed a sense of madness. In the middle of the room, there was an altar. A group of people in red and black robes were worshipping the altar. In front of the altar stood a suspicious tall man with a black and red mask on his face. Apparently, he was presiding over this mysterious and strange ritual.
The shape of the altar was generally round, with a bowl-shaped depression in the middle. Around the altar, there were curved indentations all the way down to the ground. The ground was also painted with strange patterns. Hao Ren looked carefully and found that there was a dark red liquid seeping out of the patterns. It flowed against the gravity and finally gathered in the "bowl" in the middle of the altar.
Nangong Wuyue pulled his sleeve and gestured to the altar, indicating that the dark red liquid was the "signal" she was looking for.
Yes, it was the remains of the missing soldiers. Under some secret evil ritual, they had turned into pus and blood!
At this time, the ritual of the people in black was about to end. The masked man standing in front of the altar raised his hands and with a deep and magnetic voice, he said, "Brothers and sisters! The Goddess gazes at us. She has received our sincere prayers and is relieved by our respectful offerings. We gather here to listen to the true teachings, to open our dusty minds, to raise our heads from this filthy world, and to take another step closer to the mighty glory of the Goddess... "
The people in black robes worshipping in front of the altar raised their heads, but they still knelt on the ground respectfully. Hao Ren saw that there were men and women, young and old. Some of the black robes even revealed a little bit of clothing and ornaments, indicating that they were rich and soldiers. However, these people all knelt there with fanatical expressions, and it seemed that their eyes only had eyes for the masked man standing in front of the altar, surrounded by a strange magic.
"... What we hear, say, do, and believe, is the true will of the Goddess. We are the pioneers awakened from ignorance, the wise and brave men awakened from lies..." The masked man kept his hands open and began to recite a passage that could be either scripture or nonsense. "... We act according to the will of the Goddess, to save the mortals from the hypocritical cult of the Disciples of Glory...
"We will take back the power of God from the villains who have stolen the power of the Goddess, and offer it to the Goddess. We will punish the sinners who have deceived the Goddess, and expose their sins to the world. We will redeem the people who have been deceived by the illusion, and indirectly lead them from the filthy world to the kingdom of God...
"We will pay for everything, to atone for the sins of 10,000 years ago. We will pay for our flesh and blood, to prove our piety..."
The masked man said these crazy words in a strange tone. At this time, he suddenly took out a dagger from his arms!
Following his action, the other black-robed people kneeling on the ground also took out the same knives from their arms. A large group of people raised the daggers as if they were possessed, and shouted in unison, "We will pay for our flesh and blood, to prove our piety..."
There was a series of muffled sounds of knives stabbing into flesh. These cultists stabbed their own arms with the daggers, and blood immediately flowed out. But everyone seemed to feel no pain. After pulling out the daggers, they still shouted in unison, "We will pay for our flesh and blood, to prove our piety!"
A large group of people knelt down. Their blood flowed on the ground, and was immediately absorbed by the strange patterns on the floor. The blood flowed back to the altar and mixed with the thick blood. The latter began to emit a bright golden-red light as if it had really received the grace of God. When the believers saw this, they immediately fell into an even greater fanaticism. Some even began to hurt themselves even more seriously. "Pay for our flesh and blood! Prove our piety! "
"The Goddess has heard your voices! She will express her commendation to you! " The masked man shouted in an exciting tone. Then, he inserted a dark red long staff into the altar. The surging blood immediately made a hissing sound, and layers of red mist spread out from the altar, seeping into the bodies of all the black-robed people. They excitedly thanked the Goddess for her gift, and lifted their sleeves. The wounds left by the daggers had disappeared.
The black-robed man nodded in satisfaction. "The healing of your wounds proves that the goddess has approved of you. It also proves the falsehood and deceit of the Radiance cult. They stole the power of the goddess, and we are here to take it back. Now, let us offer tonight's sacrifice, return the purest flesh and blood to the Goddess, to purify the filth entrenched in this evil land. "
When the masked man finished speaking, two black-robed believers stood up from the crowd, ran to the corner of the room, and carried out a wooden box.
The moment the two believers opened the wooden box and took out the thing in the box, Hao Ren's eyes instantly became as sharp as a knife.
It was a child who was sleeping soundly!
This was the purest flesh and blood, the sacrifice they wanted to "return" to the Goddess — this bunch of lunatics wanted to perform a human sacrifice!
The masked man placed the child, who looked like he was only three or four years old, on the altar, raised the dagger and long staff in his hands high, and chanted in an almost crazy tone. "Supreme Goddess of Creation, you are the origin of life, the beginning of all things, the first blood and flesh of all spiritual beings! You are the purest origin of chaos! Your loyal and humble servant offers pure flesh and blood, so that this pure thing that has not been polluted by the mortal world can return to your embrace! In the name of return, please bestow … "
Just as the dagger was about to fall, a roar came from the side. "I'll bestow you a second uncle!"
After the roar, the iron door of the secret chamber flew out as if it had been bombarded by a heavy cannon. The twisted heavy iron plate instantly smashed a few cultists who had not reacted in time. Then, a strange object flashing with blue light flew towards the masked man with a whistling sound. The latter instinctively raised his dagger to block, but the blue light bypassed the dagger with incredible agility and smashed into the mask of the cult leader, instantly sending him flying at least a dozen meters away!
"Have you seen a brick with automatic navigation?" Hao Ren took out a giant alloy stick from his dimensional pocket (this thing was originally used as a building material) and walked towards the cultists with a murderous look. "So it was you guys who were behind this!"
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