Wayfarer

Chapter 686: Sacrificing the People

Chapter 686: Sacrificing the People

The moment Xiao Nanfeng and his party stepped through the barrier surrounding Taixu, they could hear frenzied shouts coming from within the black fog.

"Save me! Don't kill me! No!"

"I can't defend against these cursed soldiers anymore! Save me!"

Countless shouts could be heard from all over. Xiao Nanfeng and his party rushed forward to find a group of cultivators covered in blood, trying to batter down the barrier of black fog with the last of their strength. They seemed to have been forced into desperate circumstances. Behind them were wisps of blue, ghostly fire. Spectral soldiers phased in and out of existence from around those flames as they chased after the cultivators.

"Save them!" Xiao Nanfeng commanded.

"Die!" Ye Dafu and the others charged forward.

The golden cultivators were incredibly strong. They easily took down the spectral soldiers one after another, but the soldiers didn't die. Rather, they scattered into shards of ghostly blue fire and vanished deep into the fog.

"We can't kill them? What's going on?" Ye Dafu and the others exclaimed.

"Thank you, benefactors!" The cultivators bowed down in gratitude, simultaneously relieved at having been saved and fearful about what had just happened.

"What was that?" Ye Dafu demanded.

"Spectral soldiers," a cultivator replied. This morning, the city lord sent word stating that a seal had broken open within the city. Countless spectral soldiers are emerging and killing all the citizens within. The city lord himself was screaming—I'm afraid he may have perished as well," one cultivator spat out bitterly.

"Spectral soldiers? They look more like puppets animated by spiritual power to me," Ye Dafu replied.

"Why is there a barrier trapping you in here?" Xiao Nanfeng asked.

"The city lord suddenly activated it yesterday saying that some demon was about to emerge. He said he was going to seal the city and slay the demon for the good of the world, and we had no choice but to wait within. This morning, the demon broke out of its seal and began to rampage. According to the city lord, these spectral soldiers are its doing."

"This is what Li Qianjun said?" Xiao Nanfeng scoffed. "What a farce. He must have released these spectral soldiers himself."

Xiao Nanfeng had witnessed Li Qianjun releasing such spectral soldiers with his black pagoda relic back at the Southeastern Aquatic Palace. It was clear that Li Qianjun was deliberately killing his citizens—and trying to trick them with an excuse while he was at it.

"Benefactor, the whole city is in a mess. Please save us!" the cultivator begged.

"Please save us!" All the cultivators in the vicinity dropped to their knees.

They had been chased around the city for half the day, and they had seen countless others killed by these spectral soldiers—and almost lost their lives themselves. They were naturally going to grasp at whatever hope they could find.

"You can follow us for the time being, but let me make this clear: if we can defend you, we will, but if we can't, we're going to focus on our own safety first. Do you understand?" Xiao Nanfeng said.

"Yes—thank you, benefactors!" the cultivators exclaimed.

Any hope was better than none. The fact that these cultivators were even willing to provide a modicum of support was better than they could hope for.

"Let's go have a look around," Xiao Nanfeng suggested.

"Got it!" everyone chorused.

Xiao Nanfeng brought the cultivators toward where the closest screams were coming from.

"I wasn't yet prepared, and there are some special citizens I wanted to evacuate from the city. Your sudden kidnapping of my son forced me into action. If people find out about what's going on here, you'll have ruined my reputation," Li Qianjun said coldly.

"So be it. These citizens might as well be livestock. Why do you care about them? They should be honored to be sacrifices to this altar. What's more, even if there are cultivators with avatars at large, aren't you blaming all this on a demonic outbreak? Let the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue help you suppress the news, and it'll all blow over." Sage Green Lotus smiled.

Li Qianjun snorted. "I shouldn't have worked with you in the first place."

"If you didn't, how would you have managed to produce the Demon Child in the first place? Without my seventh-grade lotus, you would never have unlocked the true power of your pagoda."

Li Qianjun glanced at Sage Green Lotus coldly. "Enough. None of this nonsense. Let's hurry up and activate the seal."

Sage Green Lotus eyed the Demon Child on the altar. He laughed. "We're almost ready. The altar has all but finished absorbing the fresh blood it needs. It'll be able to boost the power of my seventh-grade lotus and crack open the seal for you. We'll be done in no time."

Li Qianjun nodded grudgingly.

The Demon Child continued to bawl in pain. "Mother! Father! It hurts—please help me!"

Li Qianjun watched on stonily.

Just as everyone's attention was fixated on the altar, Xiao Nanfeng's voice could be heard in the distance.

"Xiao Nanfeng? What's he doing here?" Sage Green Lotus exclaimed.

"Did he follow you in?" Li Qianjun gave him a dour look.

"That's impossible. He's only a True Immortal. I would have easily discovered him if that were the case," Sage Green Lotus murmured.

"The formation around Taixu activated yesterday and has sealed the city since. That means he must have made it here yesterday—he must have followed you in."

"What a pest," Sage Green Lotus spat out.

"But isn't it good that he's here? We won't have to hunt him down, then." Li Qianjun's eyes flashed with frost.

He activated the pagoda in his hand. The doors on its third floor were suddenly flung open, causing wisps of ghostly fire to appear en masse. Rather than humanoid spectral soldiers, however, the wisps manifested as ferocious tigers.

Li Qianjun conjured up an image of Xiao Nanfeng. "This is Xiao Nanfeng. He's going to be where the fighting is most concentrated. Catch him or kill him, it doesn't matter."

The tigers roared, then vanished into the black fog.

"This pagoda of yours really is an incredible relic." Sage Green Lotus eyed the pagoda greedily.

Li Qianjun smirked. "Do you want it?"

Sage Green Lotus shook his head. "It's an amazing relic, but if you were to hand it to me, the Immortal Emperor of Hongyue would stop at nothing to hunt me down."

"You could exchange it for your seventh-grade lotus," Li Qianjun said, smirking.

"Dream on!"

The two cultivators continued to focus on the altar, readily having dismissed Xiao Nanfeng's sudden appearance, fully confident that the spectral tigers would be able to finish him off.