WTYTIAAN Chapter 149

Chapter 149

That fleeting eye contact seemed like Yan Yunqing’s illusion. The person on the high platform still maintained her lofty, somewhat divine posture, looking down upon all living beings.

Behind her, the students, bound tightly, all wore expressions of terror. In their eyes, the people who had taken them away and tied them up like this were inexplicably crying their eyes out.

This didn’t make them feel any safer; instead, it intensified their unease.

The distance was a bit far. Yan Yunqing couldn’t check Rowena and the others’ personal panels from this distance, so he couldn’t know why these people, who were not weak, had fallen into such a predicament. However, Yan Yunqing was certain they were currently afflicted with several debuffs.

Should he try to get closer to check? Or should he be conservative and just wait for Penelope and the others to come?

Yan Yunqing hesitated.

After crying for perhaps a few minutes, Yan Yunqing saw the [Sorrow Resonance] disappear from his status bar, knowing that the next stage was about to begin. Before the person on the high platform made any further moves, he’d better not act rashly.

Sure enough, the surrounding hooded people gradually stopped their quiet sobbing. The entire underground space fell silent, once again giving Yan Yunqing a sense of eerie atmosphere.

Yan Yunqing frowned, only then noticing the surrounding environment. Previously, his attention had been completely drawn by the person on the high platform, and he hadn’t had time to examine the surroundings. Later, he was affected by the debuff, and trying to restrain the emotions surging in his heart had also consumed a lot of energy.

It was only now that he realized that the underground space he was in was very strange. The surrounding stone pillars were carved with bizarre patterns, and the ground was uneven. Although he couldn’t see the whole picture, Yan Yunqing vaguely felt that the land seemed to be carved with some kind of formation.

The circular high platform, surrounded by the hooded people, had a base made of black stone blocks, also engraved with complex patterns. Several small fire towers were cleverly erected on all sides for lighting.

More than a high platform specifically used for chanting, this felt more like some kind of ancient altar.

Especially behind the person holding the scepter, there was also a ritual object that looked very much like it was used for sacrifices, a full two meters tall. The distance was a bit far, and Yan Yunqing could only see that the exterior of the object was carved with evil dragons. The fangs and fleshy wings were too conspicuous.

However, Yan Yunqing still wanted to say that the dragon race really didn’t look this ugly. Could they please respect this race, which often produced handsome men and beautiful women!

Compared to the elf race, where most were beautiful and delicate young men and women, the dragon race, whether in dragon form or human form, was full of power. They really weren’t as ugly as the carvings made them out to be.

Divick and Isabel were the most obvious examples.

The person on the high platform tapped the scepter. After admiring the ugly performances of the people below to her heart’s content, she finally felt satisfied. The flames in the nearest fire tower flickered, the light falling on her black robe, lengthening her shadow.

She raised her hand slightly, and the hooded people below became even quieter, preparing to listen to the teachings of the gods.

“Our master, the great will that guides us, has been silent for far too long.”

“Eternal master! We urgently need His return, to awaken from the abyss of time and descend upon the world once more, to protect His devout believers!”

The person on the high platform’s voice was full of piety. Every word, every syllable, carried a bewitching quality, like the abyss extending an invitation to those who gazed upon it.

Let us fall together.

“Only sacrifice can make Him see our pain.”

“Only blood can make Him feel our devotion.”

The hooded people below began to numbly repeat these two sentences, sending chills down Yan Yunqing’s spine.

He seemed to know what these people were going to do next!

As if to prove that Yan Yunqing’s guess was correct, one of the hooded people beside him took out a dagger from somewhere and slashed open his arm with a swift movement.

In an instant, blood splattered everywhere. A warm, scarlet droplet landed on Yan Yunqing’s cheek. The overpowering smell of blood made his stomach churn, almost causing him to gag.

The cut was very deep, the exposed flesh and the faintly visible white stung Yan Yunqing’s eyes, making the expression hidden beneath his mask turn ugly.

Most of these hooded people were yellow names, with only a few being red names. This meant that most of the people here listening to the teachings and being bewitched into self-harm were originally of the neutral alignment.

In this world, neutral didn’t necessarily mean that they could become bad people; it simply meant that they didn’t belong to the same faction as Yan Yunqing.

Not that they were bad people.

The game’s judgment of neutral alignment units was that killing them didn’t increase experience.

In a sense, it could be seen as the game not encouraging Yan Yunqing to attack neutral NPCs, which also showed that neutral alignment didn’t mean they would become bad people.

But to see such a group of yellow names being bewitched by a cult in the name of the Demon King, right under his nose, making them inflict self-harm, made Yan Yunqing’s scalp tingle and filled him with displeasure.

This cut seemed to be the starting signal. More and more hooded people, chanting “Only sacrifice can make Him see our pain,” “Only blood can make Him feel our devotion,” cut open their flesh, letting blood splatter everywhere. For a time, the entire underground altar was filled with a thick, bloody smell.

Yan Yunqing finally knew where the faint, bloody smell he had sensed on the ground came from.

The hooded people who made this move were indifferent to the blood flowing from their bodies, still numbly repeating those two sentences, allowing the blood to fall to the ground and merge with the magic circle on the ground.

Eerie, terrifying.

This was Yan Yunqing’s most honest assessment of this scene.

The person on the high platform was very satisfied with this. She tilted her head slightly, glancing at the increasingly terrified Sigrit students. Seeing the expressions of fear and despair on their faces, she was extremely pleased.

She raised the scepter in her hand again and slammed it hard on the ground, making a “dong” sound.

“The sleeping Eternal Lord has no response,” she said with great regret. “Why is this?”

This sentence was like a drop of water falling into a pot of hot oil, immediately causing the hooded people who were harming themselves to panic. The two sentences they had been chanting finally stopped, and they began to repeat, “Why?”

“Why?”

“Why!”

“Why…”

Whispers of low murmurs were like thunder, exploding in Yan Yunqing’s ears, making him feel dizzy for a moment. He covered his ears, enduring the dizziness, and rummaged through his backpack, finding the mental refreshment potion that Robin had prepared. He gulped it down in one go.

A cool sensation swept over him, and Yan Yunqing’s somewhat confused brain instantly cleared up. It was like drinking a hundredfold concentrated mint juice, making him feel clear from the inside out, a complete and thorough coolness.

Yan Yunqing gritted his teeth, feeling the scalp-tingling coolness, and thought to himself: The effect of this mental refreshment potion prepared by Robin is too exaggerated.

However, the feeling of dizziness was indeed dispelled by the side effects of this mental refreshment potion.

…Wait, this is called a mental refreshment potion, so isn’t this cool feeling the positive effect of the potion itself?

The hooded people repeated the word “why” as if they were possessed, as if they were collectively cursed.

The person on the high platform didn’t hesitate to give them the truth about “why”: “Because you are too weak. Your sacrifices, your blood, are completely unworthy of our noble master.”

“Our sacrifices, our blood, cannot summon our master!”

Yan Yunqing, enduring the thorough coolness, couldn’t help grinding his teeth after hearing this PUA.

This is completely slander!

Hearing this, the hooded people became even more panicked, and even showed expressions of despair.

“Impossible…”

“I can offer more devotion and blood…”

“Eternal master, please have mercy on us…”

“What should we do…”

“Please save us…”

Fear, panic, unease, despair.

The entire underground altar was filled with all kinds of negative emotions. There seemed to be items or magic circles here that could amplify emotions. With just a few words, a group of crazed people began to feel fear.

This time, even the person on the high platform striking the scepter again was to no avail, because people were completely immersed in panic.

“Quiet—”

“Our great Eternal Lord does not like followers who are too noisy.”

This sentence really hit the hooded people’s weak spot, directly causing all the hooded people to shut their mouths, all looking at the person on the high platform with pleading eyes.

“The great master does not like your blood, is unwilling to protect you, and ultimately it is because you are too weak, your sacrifices are meaningless.”

“But—”

“You can find more powerful sacrifices to offer to the Eternal Lord. The more powerful the sacrifice, the more our great master will have mercy on you, and will protect you!”

As her voice fell, Yan Yunqing could clearly feel the hooded people around him rekindling hope…

Saying the word “hope” was really mocking, but it was indeed so.

The hooded people who had originally fallen into “despair” all rekindled new “hope”, not even glancing at the torn flesh and the constantly gushing blood on their bodies.

Yan Yunqing really suspected that if they continued to bleed like this, they would die directly from blood loss.

“And one of you, Agana, has done very well!”

“She has found so many powerful and fat sacrifices for the great master.”

“The Eternal Lord will certainly not be stingy with merciful glances for such excellent believers, watching over you who offer loyalty.”

The person on the high platform pointed the scepter in a certain direction. In the area pointed to by the scepter, a hooded person proudly and proudly straightened their chest, receiving envious and jealous glances from the surrounding people.

And on the high platform, the Sigrit students who were also tightly bound and gagged all showed expressions of hatred, and some even had a look of bewilderment on their faces.

Yan Yunqing also followed and looked in that direction. Although the person named Agana was also shrouded in a black robe, Yan Yunqing still gleaned the truth from the other person’s personal panel.

This was actually—also a Sigrit student!

This discovery shocked Yan Yunqing. He didn’t know whether this Agana had been bewitched by the Eternal God Sect after becoming a Sigrit student, or was originally a member of the Eternal God Sect, lying dormant in the Sigrit Academy, just waiting for the field training to deceive all the fellow students.

Whichever possibility it was, it sounded too appalling.

Disturbing.

At this time, Yan Yunqing had to admit that one of the brainwashing words was very correct: this world is full of lies and deceptions.

“Now, let us offer delicious sacrifices to the great Eternal Lord together!”

As the sound of the scepter hitting the ground resounded again, the hooded people began to cheer.

Yan Yunqing’s spirit was tense, watching several hooded people walk onto the high platform, picking up one of the tightly bound students. One of the hooded people took out a dagger and quickly stabbed the student several times.

The student’s mouth was stuffed with cloth, unable to cry out in pain, but his body clearly struggled a few times before falling limply.

Yan Yunqing:!!!

From Yan Yunqing’s distance, he could see the student’s health bar decreasing at a relatively fast rate.

Seeing the hooded people hanging the student who had been stabbed a few times on the ritual object in the center of the altar, and preparing to stab the second student in the same way, Yan Yunqing knew he couldn’t wait any longer.

He didn’t know how long it would take for Penelope and the others to arrive, but the person who had already been stabbed would definitely not be able to wait for Penelope and the others to arrive.

Yan Yunqing knew that even if he didn’t take action, it wouldn’t matter, because his mission was just to find and rescue his companions, and those recognized by the system as his companions were only Rowena and William.

No one would blame him for this, because this Eternal God Sect didn’t look like something he could take on single-handedly.

But Yan Yunqing couldn’t get past his own conscience.

Because these hooded people were using the name of the Demon King.

Tsk, using the name of the Demon King to kill people, and blatantly using human lives to perform sacrifices, had they asked him, the Demon King?

Yan Yunqing turned his wrist, and several [Flame Emblems] appeared on his fingertips. He threw them with skill, and the passive skill [Phantom Fingering] lit up. All the [Flame Emblems] landed in the area where the red names were gathered.

With a snap of Yan Yunqing’s fingers, the [Flame Emblems] were instantly detonated.

“Boom—”

“Boom boom—”

Several explosions in succession, the violent sound accompanied by tragic wails, echoed in this underground altar.

The sudden explosion disrupted the actions on the high platform. The hooded people closest to the source of the explosion couldn’t help but scream in panic. The sound affected the people around them, and suddenly the hooded people below became somewhat restless.

But it didn’t turn into complete chaos, which also conformed to Yan Yunqing’s guess, because these people had already been brainwashed. Even their own lives could be offered to the “great master,” so what did a few explosions matter?

On the platform, an important sacrifice was being performed that concerned whether the “Eternal Lord” would have mercy on them.

On the contrary, on the high platform, the person holding the scepter was somewhat panicked. Compared to the calm hooded people below, that person’s lofty demeanor disappeared, and they almost stumbled and fell because of the explosion.

The scene was truly a bit comical.

“Who! Who dares to do such a heinous thing at such an important sacrifice!” Seeming to have forcibly calmed their mind, the person on the high platform shouted sharply, “Come out! The Eternal Lord will not forgive you.”

Mentioning that the Eternal Lord would not forgive them, the brainwashed hooded people felt a hint of fear, and began to look around, searching for the despicable guy who had destroyed the sacrifice.

Yan Yunqing grabbed the black robe on his body, tore it off and threw it into the air. At the same time, the dark red cloak with Joker characteristics hidden beneath the black robe fluttered, blown by the explosive airflow.

“Sorry”

This sound wasn’t loud, but it resonated throughout the entire underground altar, and exploded in the ears of the person on the high platform.

“Although I don’t know if this is really an important sacrifice—”

A patterned mask was raised high, and with a parabolic trajectory, fell with a “pa” sound on the high platform.

At that person’s feet.

She took a step back in panic, gripping the scepter in her hand, looking at the mask at her feet with suspicion, afraid that this mask would also produce such a terrible explosion.

Fortunately, it didn’t. Her gaze then rose, and she saw the culprit who had done these things at a glance—

Chestnut-colored long hair fluttered and moved along with the dark red cloak. A person wearing a black dress and a feather mask that nobles would use to attend a ball suddenly appeared among a group of hooded people, like a black swan that had strayed into a group of black rats.

Although they were all black, the swan’s natural noble aura could not be concealed, making it easy to distinguish at a glance who was the rat hiding in the stinking ditch and who was the swan dancing gracefully on the stage.

“But I know”

“You’re sacrifice, The Eternal Lord absolutely won’t like.”

Yan Yunqing’s mouth stiffly twitched, coldly and meanly spitting out a few syllables, his fingertips caressing the [Flame Emblem], “He will hate it!”

As soon as these words came out, the hooded people around him were immediately flustered. Hearing that their master might hate them because of this, each one showed a ‘how could this happen’ expression, and looked at the person on the high platform with begging eyes.

The person on the platform was shocked when they heard this, and then glared angrily: “Who are you? What nonsense are you talking about!”

Yan Yunqing raised his foot and walked towards the high platform. The hooded people around him made way for him like Moses parting the Red Sea. At this moment, everyone’s eyes were on him.

Some people were confused, some were terrified, some were flustered…

Only one person’s eyes widened.

That was William, who was also tied up and gagged on the high platform, about to become the next sacrifice.

He looked at the Joker wearing a red cape and mask, his eyes widening. Although his mouth was gagged, he shouted the person’s name in shock in his heart.

[Joker]!

William could forget anyone, but he could never forget this person.

This person who claimed to be the Joker had caused a riot at the birthday banquet of his twenty-third royal brother half a year ago, destroying countless palaces, shooting the fifth prince Fei Wu, and the Joker’s accomplices had also cut off his father, the king of Bato Vita…

These things shocked William. He had never imagined that one day his father would flee in such a disheveled state…

Nor had he ever seen such a wonderful expression on his second royal brother’s face.

This scene deeply stimulated William. He had been receiving his mother’s teachings since he was a child, and had never thought of resisting his father and brother’s orders. They were always high above, an existence he could not reach.

Even though he had lived a difficult life since he was a child, living a life that did not belong to a prince at all, William could not blame his father for this.

But on that day, in his heart, the image of his father and brother quietly collapsed because of Joker’s appearance.

To put it more seriously, this was as terrifying as the collapse of faith.

Alice, who had grown up with him since he was a child, admired such a terrifying person so much, making William completely unable to understand what Alice was thinking.

But, how could the Joker appear here?!

Could it be that he was going to do something shocking again here?

This thought flashed through William’s mind, but he quickly reacted. If it weren’t for the Joker’s appearance, he would probably be stabbed a few times immediately, and then hung on it to wait for the arrival of death.