Chapter 577: Divine Demon Heavenly Sound

The group traveled along the main road; with the harassment of Evil Spirits gone, their moods were much more relaxed, and as they walked, they began to gather Divine Medicine along the way.

Early the next morning, having traveled through the night, the group had just extinguished their torches when they saw a pool of water not far off in the morning light.

The shimmering surface of the water reflected a soft luster in the distant morning light.

They had long been parched, so they immediately rushed over, and upon arriving, they urged Xu Hui to test the water source.

Xu Hui took out a Silver Needle and slowly tested several spots around the pool, making everyone so anxious they began to curse. Xu Hui had already tested three spots, but when Lu Chu and Du Wan asked him, he kept his head down without a word and ran to the next testing point.

Du Wan couldn't help but curse: "This stubborn mule!"

Only after checking five spots in total did Xu Hui raise his head and say: "Alright, no problem. Drink."

Only then did the group scoop up water, gulping it down first, before scooping a second cup and sitting on the loose stones by the pool, taking out the dried meat from their backpacks. They drank water while eating the dried meat.

As they ate, they began to chat.

Lu Chu looked at the map and said: "We have already covered half the distance to get here. Although the road ahead has been arduous, fortunately, we have already encountered two Evil Spirits, so the journey ahead should finally be a bit easier."

"Let's hope so." Du Wan swallowed the chewed-up dried meat and muttered a sentence.

Hearing this, Lu Chu glanced at him and said: "What? You don't seem very confident!"

Du Wan smiled and said: "Don't forget..."

Before Du Wan could finish his words, a sound of Buddhist chanting, like a great bell or chime, suddenly echoed across the pale yellow sky.

The expressions of everyone changed!

"The Divine Demon Heavenly Sound!?"

The sounding of the Divine Demon Heavenly Sound is the sign that the God-Demon Relic is opening!

What Du Wan had just wanted to say was the God-Demon Relic; although they had already encountered two Evil Spirits and should not encounter any more to harass them before reaching the Central Altar, the God-Demon Relic had not yet opened!

The two main focuses of the ten-day training were the Evil Spirits and the God-Demon Relic. This God-Demon Relic is also the most dangerous existence within the ruins.

Because, in the God-Demon Relic, the deaths they encounter are real deaths!

If they die within the God-Demon Relic, then their real lives within these ruins will also be erased!

During training, Lin Youjian and Liu Su had already told them that the Divine Demon Heavenly Sound can penetrate the soul and cause the Divine Soul to tremble.

Although they already knew this, when that sound of Buddhist chanting, like a great bell or chime, echoed across the entire horizon, a strange sense of holiness still pierced through their bodies and minds.

Almost everyone's gaze instantly became clear and pious; they all stared blankly upward, looking at the pale yellow sky, and it was at this moment that a transparent face suddenly appeared on that pale yellow sky.

Although the face was transparent, it was like glaze, appearing substantial; rather than calling it a face, it was more like a mask.

More importantly, this face almost filled the entire sky. That is to say, at this moment, the entire sky covering this world had transformed into a face.

Everyone gasped.

The features of that face were no different from a human's, only the eyes were tightly closed. The face floated there, motionless, and after a few breaths, the two eyes slowly opened; the glazed pupils looked down, gazing at Duan Rong and the others.

The moment those eyes opened, everyone felt as if their bodies and minds had been pierced by something, and they couldn't help but tremble.

That was the will of the God-Demon piercing through their bodies; they instantly became like stone, their Divine Souls no longer able to control their own bodies!

Because of that tremble, the Silver Cup in Du Wan's hand slipped and fell downward!

Just at this moment, a giant hand like a mountain suddenly appeared in the void; that transparent hand pointed in mid-air, and ripples of space, like ripples in water, spread out around them.

And at the center of those ripples was none other than Jiang Hanyan. At this moment, Jiang Hanyan's eyes were also like glaze, flashing with a strange light.

The God-Demon Relic did not appear out of thin air. Instead, it used the will of the God-Demon to pull their Divine Souls into a deep memory or nightmare of one of the eight people. And this deep memory or nightmare must contain this person's obsession.

They must break this obsession within the God-Demon Relic to walk out of the illusion!

It seems the will of the God-Demon has chosen Jiang Hanyan!

During training, Lin Youjian and Liu Su told them that for the first God-Demon Relic, the will of the God-Demon would choose the person with the deepest obsession!

As for the second time, it is highly random and usually related to everyone's performance in the first God-Demon Relic.

The number of times the God-Demon Relic appears is uncertain, but it is between one and three times; people from the Sect who have entered the God-Demon Relic have historically encountered the God-Demon Relic at most three times and at least once, and teams that have encountered it twice are over half in the records!

Following those space ripples, with Jiang Hanyan as the center, they spread out around like ripples...

A flash of astonishment crossed everyone's eyes, because as soon as the space ripples passed, the scenery before them became blurred and changed.

In fact, everyone was curious about what kind of obsession Jiang Hanyan had in her heart to be the one with the deepest obsession among the eight of them!

After a few breaths, the swaying and blurred scenery before them stabilized.

In that instant, they all felt a dry wind full of dust blowing in gusts. In the air, besides the scent of soil and wild grass, there was also a pungent smell of blood.

Several of them looked panicked, raising their eyes to look; they saw that amidst the flying dust was a not-so-small village. Only at this time, inside the village, horses were neighing in chaos, and screams could be heard from time to time!

What was truly terrifying was that at the entrance of the village where they were, a large tree was covered in human heads tied to its branches! And under the tree were headless corpses, staining the yellow earth blood-red!

"This is... horse bandits slaughtering the village!?"

Duan Rong and the others were all panicked in their hearts; they hadn't expected that upon entering the God-Demon Relic, it would be such a scene. What was even more speechless was that they had all turned into seven or eight-year-old children, each one skinny and wearing tattered clothes.

About a dozen children were surrounded by three horse bandits holding knives; they were all about the same size, all sallow and thin.

Duan Rong and the others scanned with their eyes and quickly recognized each other; although they had turned into seven or eight-year-old children, their features hadn't changed much, and they recognized each other at a glance.

At this time, all eight of them were among the group of children surrounded at the village entrance; except for them, the other children were all crying...

Not far from them were five women guarded by three other horse bandits with knives. Duan Rong glanced at them; although these five were dressed as village women, their looks were quite good, and their skin was fair, but their faces were deathly pale and their eyes were dull, clearly having experienced something extremely terrifying not long ago.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered; this village entrance had clearly just undergone a massacre.

A large number of villagers had been driven here and slaughtered under that large tree; only these dozen or so children and those five good-looking women had survived.

And inside the village, smoke and dust rose everywhere, and screams continued; clearly, there were still villagers hiding in the village being discovered by the horse bandits and tortured to death!

At this time, under the large tree hung with human heads, a person was sitting on a horse standing there!

That date-red horse seemed accustomed to slaughter; despite such a thick smell of blood, it was not panicked at all, only lowering its head to eat a cluster of wild grass soaked in blood.

The person on the horse had a knife tied to their waist with a black leather scabbard; they sat on the horse, seemingly looking toward the village. Only because they had a cloth wrapped around their head, covering their face, their face was plunged into deep shadow, making it even harder to see their eyes.

This person was the leader of this horse gang, Meng Zongqiu. Their cultivation was actually at the Second Layer of Internal Breath.

And at this moment, the sounds of slaughter and screaming inside the village had ceased, and only the chaotic sound of horse hooves could be heard running about everywhere...

Duan Rong and the others had already gathered beside Jiang Hanyan; they needed to figure out what Jiang Hanyan's obsession was first, before they could think of a way to walk out of this God-Demon Illusion Realm.

Their current situation could be described as extremely dire; they had turned into seven or eight-year-old children, their cultivation bases were gone, leaving only the memories of martial arts in their minds. Even worse, they were trapped in a horse bandit village massacre! In truth, all they were thinking about was finding some way to leave this place first.

However, before that, they had to ask Jiang Hanyan.

Because they were currently in Jiang Hanyan's memory or nightmare, Jiang Hanyan understood the situation better than any of them.

At this moment, a horse suddenly galloped out from the village, kicking up a trail of dust.

"Whoa!"

The person on the horse reined in the galloping steed not far from the blood-reeking tree, jumped off, lowered their head, cupped their fists, and knelt: "Report to the First Chief! The Second Chief and Third Chief are fighting in the village over a woman. The Third Chief has had an arm chopped off and is about to die. I beg the First Chief to hurry over and save him."

Meng Zongqiu sat on that date-red horse without any reaction; his face was buried in a scarf, making it impossible to see his expression.

The person with their head lowered and fists cupped, seeing Meng Zongqiu say nothing, felt a sudden panic in their heart, and a layer of sweat beaded on their forehead, but they could only remain in a stiff posture with their fists cupped and head lowered.

Meng Zongqiu suddenly said: "Are your shoes a bit ill-fitting?!"

That person kept their head lowered, and the muscles on their face couldn't help but twitch. Although they were wearing horse bandit shoes, their heels were exposed; the shoes were clearly a bit small.

The person's face suddenly twisted with malice; they suddenly jumped up, flicked their hand, and two throwing darts shot out. They then turned and leaped, intending to jump back onto the horse, but they were still a step too slow. The moment they threw the darts, Meng Zongqiu had already leaped from the horse like a giant bird, not only dodging the two darts but also flashing over the person's head in mid-air. In the instant they crossed paths, only a *swish* sound was heard, a cold light flashed, and Meng Zongqiu had already drawn his blade and beheaded them.

The head flew up and rolled to the side of the tree, while a fountain of blood sprayed from the headless corpse. Right beside that spray of blood, Meng Zongqiu landed gracefully and sheathed his blade.

He glanced at the corpse that had only just fallen to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust, and said: "Forgot to tell you, Second Brother doesn't like women at all."

This person was clearly a martial artist hiding in the village; they wanted to trick Meng Zongqiu into leaving so they could whip the horse and escape to the Official Road. But they didn't know that the lie they told had a huge flaw.

The moment Meng Zongqiu beheaded the person, Duan Rong's pupils shrank slightly. Although he had lost his cultivation, his insight remained; he saw at a glance that Meng Zongqiu was at the Inner Breath Realm Second Layer.

The others naturally saw it too.

At this time, a large group of horses suddenly sounded like rolling thunder from the village; in the billowing dust, the horse troop could be seen exiting the village.

Several ox carts were piled high with grain, and two of the carts also had a few goats tied to them, bleating *baa, baa, baa*...

These horse bandits had already looted the village and were coming out fully loaded.

The horse troop stopped when they reached close range, and two people rode out from the ranks.

One of these two was burly and tall, holding a blood-stained broad-bladed saber. Their cheekbones were high, and a cold, viper-like light flashed in their eyes. This person was named Wu Mingfu, the Second Chief of this horse gang.

The other had a gloomy, fair complexion and wore dreadlocks. Their lips were bright red, and bloodstains remained at the corners of their mouth. This person was named Li Tang, the Third Chief of this horse gang.

At this moment, a person was laid horizontally across Li Tang's horse; it was clearly a woman, screaming as the horse jolted.

Li Tang rode past the five women being guarded by the horse bandits near Duan Rong and the others, grabbed the woman on the horse, and threw her over as well.

Li Tang used a clever force; the woman was thrown over and stood steady after a slight stagger. She looked sorrowful, her eyes panicked, and her face was covered in tear tracks.

But as soon as this woman stood beside the other five, there was an immediate sense of her standing out from the crowd, because she was truly quite beautiful.

Li Tang, sitting on his horse, couldn't help but look at the woman again, but as he turned his head to ride off, he suddenly discovered that the First Chief, Meng Zongqiu, was standing not far away. Although his face was buried in a headscarf, Li Tang's heart still skipped a beat; he knew Meng Zongqiu was looking at the woman he had just abducted.

If Meng Zongqiu took a fancy to that woman, it would be none of his business. Because every woman who entered Meng Zongqiu's bunker would be carried out as a corpse the next day.

Wu Mingfu and Li Tang had already ridden to the vicinity of Meng Zongqiu.

Li Tang said: "Counting the sweet potatoes and corn, it's only three hundred catties of grain in total. Seven cows, fifteen goats. That's all there is!"

Wu Mingfu said: "These villages are getting poorer and poorer."

Only then did Meng Zongqiu move his gaze away from the woman and say in a hoarse voice: "The harvest is bad! It's not bad already! Second Brother, Third Brother, count your respective men and return to the mountain stronghold!"

Amidst the flying dust, Du Wan stood beside Jiang Hanyan. Seven or eight-year-old Du Wan was as thin as a monkey, nothing but skin and bones. He looked at Jiang Hanyan and asked: "Hanyan, what is your obsession here?"

Jiang Hanyan heard this, and her gaze swept toward the back of Li Tang, who was closest to them.

Guo Tian's expression shifted, and he quietly asked: "Your obsession wouldn't be to kill the Third Chief, would it?"

That First Chief was at the Inner Breath Realm Second Layer; even if the Third Chief was incompetent, being a leader of a horse gang, he would at least be at the Inner Breath Realm First Layer.

Such a realm, in the eyes of these Sect direct disciples, was naturally nothing but dirt and dogs; they wouldn't even bother to kill them in normal times. But now, in this God-Demon Illusion Realm, they had lost all their cultivation and were merely seven or eight-year-old children starved to skin and bones—what combat power did they have?

How could they kill a horse gang leader who had achieved cultivation and killed without blinking?

Jiang Hanyan pursed her lips, her eyes fierce: "Not one! It's three!"

"Three?!" Duan Rong looked in surprise toward the tree where the three chiefs of the horse gang were talking about something.

"Mm." There was a naturally flowing firmness in Jiang Hanyan's voice. "The Second Chief is named Wu Mingfu; he killed my Papa. And that Li Tang, my Mama was killed by him! He must die!"

When Jiang Hanyan said this, she seemed to recall some scene; her eyes became terrifying, and her lips were bitten until a smear of blood flowed.

Duan Rong asked: "What about the First Chief?!"

Jiang Hanyan said: "He is their leader, he must die too!" As Jiang Hanyan spoke, she suddenly looked up, her eyes fixed on a certain spot on that tree.

That blood-stained tree was covered in human heads, and where Jiang Hanyan was looking, perhaps she had suddenly recognized her Papa's head...

Everyone looked at Jiang Hanyan's expression, all of them stunned!

Village massacre! Killing father and abusing mother!

A blood feud!

Jiang Hanyan actually had such an experience! No wonder she had the deepest obsession among the eight of them!

This hatred was too great!

(End of this chapter)