“I see. So Sister Jinyue was originally with that He family guy, but you got separated during a sudden snowstorm. You waited until the snowstorm ended and found us…” Chen Jianxin said sympathetically looking at the red-dressed girl crouching by the roadside halfway down the snowy village slope.
Chen Jianxin had wanted to ask Jinyue how they’d meet up in Snow Village back on the immortal ship. But he never got the chance – Jinyue and Yunjin were constantly arguing with Yino until Chen Jianxin and the other disciples boarded the small boat.
He figured they’d meet again if fate allowed. Lo and behold, they stumbled upon Jinyue alone right at the village entrance!
Talk about perfect timing!
“That guy is so irresponsible. How could he not notice a girl went missing from his group and come back to look for her?” Chen Jianxin grumbled.
“Sister Jinyue, it’s lucky you ran into us. It’s freezing out here in the middle of nowhere. It would’ve been dangerous for a girl like you to be alone in the wild!”
Chen Jianxin’s eyes flashed with disgust at the mention of his peer Yino. He despised that rich, entitled playboy who hogged all the girls’ attention. First Yunjin, and now even Jinyue fell for his charms.
With those two helpful senior sisters gone, Chen Jianxin and the other clueless new disciples had been stumbling around lost on the mountain paths. But now, Jinyue falling behind was a blessing in disguise for Chen Jianxin!
Unlike that flirt Yino, Chen Jianxin would show Jinyue real respect as a senior.
“Sister Jinyue, you’re our senior. You must know Snow Village better than we do,” Chen Jianxin said with a warm smile. “We’ve just been blindly following signposts. Since we happened to run into you, why don’t you lead the way for us?”
The other disciples’ eyes lit up at his suggestion. After all, they only had one map of Northern Snow Village from the Immortal Alliance branch. In the dark snowy night, they’d been wandering the mountain paths for hours without finding any of the marked locations. They had no clue where they even were in the village anymore.
Now with the experienced Senour Sister joining them, hope was rekindled!
“It’s getting late,” Jinyue said, her alluring eyes narrowed as she clasped her hands behind her back. “Why don’t you give me the map? I’ll lead everyone to a spot in Snow Village with natural hot springs and a supply of firewood. We can camp there for the night and rest up!”
Chen Jianxin nodded and handed over their only map without hesitation.
But then he remembered his hunting experiences and voiced his concern: “Sister Jinyue, my father taught me never to light fires when camping in unfamiliar wilderness. The smoke and light might attract wild animals…”
“Don’t worry, the mountains are covered in deep snow. If humans can barely survive out here, the wild animals must all be hibernating in their dens by now,” Jinyue said matter-of-factly.
“That’s true. Father said most animals hibernate in winter,” Chen Jianxin agreed, convinced by her.
Jinyue wasn’t lying this time. The recent heavy snows had indeed sent the local wildlife into hibernation. A campfire wouldn’t attract any beasts tonight – though she didn’t mention it might draw the attention of Full Moon Sect assassins.
“Let’s go! Everyone stay close to me. The snow is deep up the mountain, so don’t get separated!” Jinyue instructed seriously, taking the lead with the map in hand.
She meant it too. After all, if someone wandered off, the Full Moon Sect killers would waste hours searching the mountains for them tonight.
The young disciples obediently lined up in a long queue, following Jinyue higher up the winding mountain path.
Along the way, they spotted trails of blood staining the village roads. The young disciples trembled in fear at the gruesome sight, huddling closer together.
Jinyue paid no mind to the bloodstains. Her bright eyes darted around in the darkness while her little upturned nose sniffed, searching for traces of Yino’s scent.
The hot spring spot she mentioned did exist, but it wasn’t nearly as far as she was leading them. Jinyue was taking the long way around, hoping to find Yino.
But who could blame these fools? They’d handed over their only map to Jinyue. Now in the pitch dark, no one but her had any sense of direction. They could only follow her like lost chicks, not daring to stray an inch.
“Ah! Brother Chen, look! There’s a strange footprint here!” a girl’s voice suddenly called out from the front of the line.
The young disciples looked to where a red-dressed girl was crouching by the roadside, pointing at some bloody marks in the thin snow.
Chen Jianxin went over to investigate, he wore a serious expression as he assessed the sight.
“You’re right. Unlike the bloodstains we saw earlier in the village, these footprints form straight lines. And there are clear signs of dragging and struggling…”
“I bet this is where those cultists went on a rampage in the village. They must have dragged off all their captives to slaughter them in one go!”
The more Chen Jianxin described it, the more serious his expression became.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that this brutal method seemed oddly familiar…
Chen Jianxin still vividly remembered that night. He had just returned from hunting wild rabbits in the mountains when he stumbled upon a horrifying sight at the village entrance: rivers of blood and piles of villagers’ corpses.
He was so terrified that he fell into the bushes, not daring to make a sound. Hidden there, he watched as numerous masked men in black, led by a tall figure with a black mask and a sword, carried the villagers’ bodies deep into the forest outside the village.
Only after they left did Chen Jianxin muster the courage to follow the trail of blood. A few miles outside the village, he found a cave. Inside the cave, at its end, he discovered a sinister altar surrounded by blood-red vines and countless dried human skulls.
That night, Chen Jianxin fainted from sheer terror.
When he woke up the next day, he found himself being carried up Wuji Peak by a handsome man in a robe, with a sword at his waist.
“Brother Gu, I think I’ve found a clue about the culprits who massacred my village!” Chen Jianxin said, his eyes ablaze with the fire of vengeance as he looked at the familiar crime scene.
Beside him, Jinyue narrowed her seductive eyes, silently observing the changes in the young man as her cherry lips curving slightly.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, one of Chen Jianxin’s followers exclaimed in surprise. Everyone turned to look and saw the follower squatting by some bushes not far away, as if he had discovered a new continent.
“Brother Chen, look here! There’s a footprint, and it’s very clear. It looks like it was just made!”
“This print is indeed fresh; it hasn’t been covered by the snow yet. Could it be that Sister Yunjin left it?”
“No way, Sister Yunjin is with that guy. But there’s only one set of prints here…”
“You don’t think it could be the cultists, do you?”
The crowd gathered around, discussing animatedly but cluelessly.
From the back of the group, Jinyue stepped forward, and everyone quickly made way for her.
“Let me see.”
Jinyue looked curious as she crouched by the hidden footprint. She first touched the dirt from the print and brought it to her nose to smell, then looked towards the pine forest at the back of Snow Village.
Suddenly, Jinyue’s eyes widened, and a drop of cold sweat slid down her cheek.
After a moment of silence, Jinyue clapped her hands and stood up, her tense cherry lips curved into a smile of nonchalance.
“It’s so dark, and we can’t see the footprint clearly. Let’s go rest at the outpost first!”
“We can come back tomorrow when there’s more light to follow these prints.”
…
…
…
“Achoo!”
In a deep cave within the Northen Luo Snow Mountains, a black-clad youth standing before an altar suddenly shivered.
“Damn, Jinyue must be cursing me again,” he muttered, rubbing his nose. He was used to it by now.
He crouched down and looked at the sleeping blood-red vines at his feet, his cold eyes gleaming with excitement. Taking a dagger from his sleeve, he lightly cut his thumb.
Gurgle… Gurgle…
As a drop of blood fell onto the altar, the surrounding blood-red vines squirmed slightly, making hungry sounds in response.
But because the amount of blood was too little, the altar didn’t react at all.
“Just as described in the game, the life sacrifice altar of the Full Moon Sect can be reused!” the boy muttered coldly as his mind racing with thoughts.
Just then, the golden holy mark on his hand began to flicker rapidly. The small creature residing within seemed to instinctively fear something.
“Wangxue, you’re underestimating the bond between friends!” the boy said with a sincere expression. “We’re the best of friends in the whole world!”
“Besides, over the years, I’ve managed to collect plenty of materials for the sacrifice through various channels…” Experience tales with freewebnovel
“Don’t worry, even though I am currently doing okay, I won’t be stingy with my friends. After the sacrifice, I’ll definitely share a portion with you!”
The boy’s face reflected honesty, with a trace of kindness hidden beneath his icy, hungry gaze.
However, the golden holy mark on his hand only seemed to grow more terrified. There was a possibility that the Nine-Colored Deer wasn’t interested in sharing the spoils but was afraid that the boy might use it as a sacrifice instead.
“Merciful and bountiful Mother of the abyss…”
Standing at the center of the altar, the boy softly recited the opening prayer from memory with a voice gentle like a lullaby.
“Eternal Mother Goddess of Life, reigning from the Full Moon above…”
As he chanted, he casually retrieved various items from his storage ring and scattered them around the altar. Among these were strange herbs and the primary offering: the blood-soaked Scales of Life.
Gurgle… Gurgle…
As the youth’s chanting continued in a long, melodic prelude, the sleeping blood-red vines around the altar began to awaken. They writhed excitedly around the sacrificial offerings.
A few minutes later, a large oval frame made of countless blood-red vines formed above the altar. Then, a blood-red eye emerged from its center, staring down like a malevolent gaze from the abyss, reflecting an eerie red light in the youth’s cold eyes.
Yino raised his head, bowed slightly, and performed a formal knight’s salute in the Western Region style.
“I, He Yino, have been a faithful devotee of yours even before I was born into this world…”
His words were shocking, yet he spoke them with utmost sincerity, his cold eyes never wavering. If reincarnation truly existed, he must have been a devoted follower of the Full Moon Sect in a past life.
At the same time, the blood-red eye looked into Yino heart, its pupil dilating and contracting several times, but it found no trace of deception within him.
The atmosphere in the cave grew strangely quiet.
“I offer these humble gifts to the Mother Goddess…”
“May your merciful love protect my devoted soul in this life!”
As his chanting neared its end, footsteps echoed from outside the cave.
Yino stood amidst the boundless life energy, feeling his entire body strengthened by the refined blood and bones. Meanwhile, he kept a wary eye on the entrance of the cave, where the footsteps were coming from.
Finally, he saw several black-robed figures of the Full Moon Sect approaching.
Yino’s lips twitched slightly, and he silently donned his own black robe and hood. His right hand, hidden in his pocket, tightened around a dagger.
“Brother, you’re here too early!” one of the figures said.
“This place is filled with the love of our Mother Goddess’s. You didn’t come here alone to secretly sacrifice something good, did you?”
Yino: ?