241: Chapter 241 Ashi

The last trace of the setting sun, like thick blood, slowly flowed along the jagged ridge line of the Ten Thousand Mountains, and was finally completely swallowed by the bottomless abyss.

As night fell, the mortal hustle and bustle in Hulu Ancient Village was gradually replaced by an unspeakable heaviness.

Following Ayugu, Lin Ye and his party passed through the silent village and walked towards the forbidden area in the back mountain.

"Why are your hands so cold?"

Lin Ye walked beside Ayugu and touched her hand.

Ever since this girl stepped onto this stone staircase leading to the back mountain...

She looked as if she had lost her soul, and the cold sweat in her palms soaked Lin Ye's palm.

"Boss..."

Ayugu swallowed her dry saliva and lowered her voice:

"I'm a little scared."

"I've walked that road since I was a child. Every time I walk it, I feel like countless eyes are staring at me from underground, like they are looking at a piece of fatty meat about to go into the pot."

Lin Ye didn't speak; he just held her hand and gently channeled the gentle Pure Yang True Qi through her meridians.

The warm breath dispelled the chill in Ayugu's body and slightly steadied her wildly beating heart.

"With me here, even if the Ten Courts of Yama are buried underground, they're going to have to stay put honestly down there today."

Lin Ye's tone was calm.

Following behind, Leng Yue looked at the backs of the two people ahead, a hint of gentleness flashing in her dark golden eyes.

She knew very well that tonight's setup concerned the life-and-death destiny of this Miao girl.

Frost Star was unusually quiet. Her intuition far exceeded ordinary people's, and now she could feel that the further forward they went, the stronger the massive resentment deep underground became—a resentment that even made her feel somewhat palpitated.

She tightly grasped the dark blue bone knife, her small face tense.

Helena walked at the very end, her hand resting on the tactical short blade at her waist as she vigilantly scanned the surrounding darkness.

...

Following the moss-grown stone steps, the group walked for a full incense stick's time.

A huge natural karst cave appeared ahead.

At the entrance of the cave stood two ferocious Gu god stone statues, ten meters tall and carved from a single piece of obsidian.

The surface of the stone statues was covered with dark red dried blood, exuding a strong sense of desolate killing intent and malevolent weirdness.

The High Priestess and her two brothers had been waiting at the entrance of the cave for a long time.

Tonight, the High Priestess had changed into a grand shamanic ritual costume embroidered with totem patterns of ten thousand poisons.

The silver crown on her head emitted a pale luster in the dim light.

"Manager Lin, you're here."

Leaning on her skull staff, the High Priestess took a deep look at Ayugu.

A trace of unmaskable heartache flashed in her eyes.

"Go in. The answer is at the very bottom."

Following the High Priestess, the group stepped into the cave.

The interior space of the cave was extremely large, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur and the earthy stench of rot.

Numerous sharp stalactites hung from the cave ceiling, and cold water droplets occasionally smashed onto everyone's shoulders.

Following the winding downward stone steps, they penetrated hundreds of meters underground.

The view ahead suddenly broadened.

That was a massive underground altar.

Right in the center of the altar was a bottomless "Black Well" with a diameter of over thirty meters.

Around the Black Well, eight tall bronze beast heads were tightly bound with arm-thick dark iron chains.

Every chain was densely covered with suppression talismans.

However, at this moment, most of those talismans had turned charred black, and faint dark purple mist was overflowing from the cracks of the Black Well.

"This is the "Yin Pole Earth Eye" that our Wangu Ancient Tribe has suppressed for generations."

"And it's also the source of the curse I mentioned to you last night."

The High Priestess walked to the edge of the Black Well, her staff heavily striking the blue stone slab.

She turned around, her weathered face appearing aged and exhausted under the flickering torchlight.

"Last night, this old woman told you two stories."

"The first story is about that piece of 'Fairy Meat' capable of bringing the dead back to life and growing flesh on bones. The ancestors of Baishui Village killed each other out of boundless greed, and finally hatched the first Gu from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood."

"The second story is about the 'Night Fiend' that eats people every winter solstice. Due to extreme cowardice, the ancestors of the Heiya Tribe betrayed the hero who stood up for them, and ultimately hid underground to survive, degenerating into ugly monsters that lost the light."

The High Priestess's gaze swept across the faces of Lin Ye and the others.

"Manager Lin is a perceptive man. You guessed last night that these two stories are the 'cause'."

"The greedy Gu and the cowardly shadow. These two forces, representing the most extreme malicious thoughts of human nature, have not completely perished over the long years."

The High Priestess took a deep breath, her voice echoing in the empty underground altar.

"Hundreds of years later, a geological upheaval occurred in the Ten Thousand Mountains. The Heiya Tribe, which had degraded into monsters, met the descendants of the Baishui Village survivors who had mastered evil Gu arts in this vast primeval jungle."

"They didn't start a war."

"Instead, they smoothly integrated together. The Heiya Tribe brought the eerie power hidden in the shadows, while the descendants of Baishui Village mastered the evil Gu capable of devouring everything."

"The combination of these two forces created a formidable and massive tribe—which is the earliest prototype of our Wangu Ancient Tribe."

Hearing this, Helena couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Lord High Priestess, since they became so powerful after merging, why did it turn into a curse?"

"Because of the price."

Lin Ye leaned against a bronze beast head and expertly pierced through the logic behind it.

"There is no free lunch in this world."

"Whether it is the Gu that feeds on the vital energy and blood of living people, or the shadow powers that mutate in the dark, they are all malicious and evil objects."

"Once they borrowed this power, they were bound to be backlashed by the negative emotions of this power. Over time, everyone in the entire tribe would turn into monsters that only knew how to kill."

The High Priestess gave Lin Ye an appreciative look and nodded.

"That's right."

"Powerful strength brought prosperity, but it also brought the shadow of destruction."

"Thus, the disaster repeated itself. The upper echelons of the tribe began to frequently fall into madness. They grew suspicious of each other and began to lose control of their bodies at night, devouring their own clansmen."

"Just as the entire tribe was heading towards complete collapse and self-destruction..."

"The protagonist of the third story appeared."

The High Priestess's voice became extremely gentle, as if she were afraid of disturbing some sacred existence.

"That was a girl."

"Her name is Axi, the 'Xi' of hope."