Chapter 219: Picking Red

The reason Lin Qingyue did not want to drink the holy water was that, even without knowing its ingredients, she knew it was nothing good, and she was not sure if her body could withstand it.

Should she just drink it and see?

Just then, Dongfang Qi suddenly stepped forward and said, "The deity has bestowed holy water upon us, and we have no way to repay this. This jade pendant was a gift from my husband's family; I hear it is very expensive. But how can these worldly possessions compare to the grace of the deity?"

As he spoke, he walked to the front, deliberately blocking the High Priest's line of sight: "I implore the High Priest to show mercy and allow me to offer this jade pendant to the deity as a token of my sincerity."

Lin Qingyue took this opportunity to quickly pour out the holy water in her bottle.

Although the High Priest was accustomed to the gold and silver treasures of the world, he still never turned away a gift.

He nodded with satisfaction: "I feel your piety toward the deity; I shall accept your offering on the deity's behalf!"

A subordinate immediately brought over a silver tray, and Dongfang Qi untied the jade pendant from his person and placed it on the tray.

The other brides, fearing they would be outdone, followed suit and took off their own valuables to offer to the deity.

Soon, the silver tray was piled high with jewelry and wealth.

The High Priest's gaze shifted away for only a moment before landing on Lin Qingyue again; seeing that she had already finished the holy water, he stopped staring at her.

Then he looked at Dongfang Qi, a meaningful smile appearing in the depths of his eyes.

Dongfang Qi inexplicably felt goosebumps rise all over his body, so he had to pretend to be shy and lowered his head.

Lin Qingyue had initially worried that Dongfang Qi's identity would be discovered. Fortunately, although Dongfang Qi was a bit tall, his features were refined; after putting on women's clothing and makeup, not only was the ruggedness of a man not apparent, but he even possessed a touch of alluring charm.

Looking at the High Priest's gaze again, it actually carried a hint of lust.

Lin Qingyue understood immediately.

With the holy water finished and the gold and silver treasures collected, the High Priest clasped his hands behind his back and left the main hall, surrounded by a crowd of attendants.

As for the brides, they followed the rules and knelt meekly on the Puhuan, praying to the solemn and towering statue of the deity.

Not long after, those praying brides collapsed one by one.

In the vast hall, only Lin Qingyue and Dongfang Qi remained conscious.

Just as expected, there was something wrong with the holy water.

However, in order to uncover the secrets of the Shendian, both of them tacitly agreed to faint.

About a quarter of an hour later, faint footsteps and voices reached their ears.

"This batch of brides is truly lucky today; the High Priest personally distributed the holy water to them. In the past, there hasn't been such good luck."

"It's probably because there are so many people getting married this time, and among them are a few with outstanding looks who caught the High Priest's eye."

"Stop the idle chatter, you two, and get to work. There are 62 brides in total tonight. Excluding the two the High Priest has taken a fancy to, the remaining 60 must be 'harvested' by us. We have only one night; there can be no mistakes."

"Sigh, why doesn't the High Priest find more harvesting envoys? It's truly exhausting for the three of us to 'harvest' 60 women in one night!"

"Haha, don't be ungrateful! A lucrative job like 'harvesting' isn't something just anyone can do."

"Be careful when you do it; don't leave any traces! When Anu was 'harvesting' last month, he left tooth marks on a bride and almost gave the game away. The High Priest was so furious that he had all of Anu's teeth pulled out."

At the mention of this, everyone felt a lingering fear. Even their movements while undressing became much gentler, for fear of leaving a mark.

Dongfang Qi had guessed before that the brides who spent the night in the Shendian must have been raped. He just didn't understand why, since those people had already attained such high status and wealth—making it easy to obtain women—they still needed to set up such a scheme.

Hearing those people's words now, he seemed to understand: it turned out they were doing it for 'harvesting'.

Watching those innocent young women about to be defiled, Dongfang Qi could not bear it and was preparing to use a technique to knock those men unconscious.

Lin Qingyue whispered: "Do not use techniques, or you will alert the 'deity' here."

Dongfang Qi said: "Does that mean there really is a deity? But are we just going to watch those women get humiliated?"

"No techniques, but we can use force!"

As Lin Qingyue's words fell, she had already leaped up, and with two "slap-slap" hand strikes, she knocked down the two nearby villains.

Another person heard the commotion and was about to call for help when Dongfang Qi also struck in time to knock him unconscious.

Dongfang Qi said: "Just knocking them out might not be safe; it would be troublesome if they woke up halfway. Didn't you get an extra bottle of holy water earlier? Why not let these few have a taste?"

Lin Qingyue nodded happily and fed the holy water to the three men respectively.

Although the amount divided by three was not large, once a jar of holy water went down, they fell into an even deeper stupor.

Lin Qingyue snorted coldly: "If I weren't afraid of the smell of blood spreading from here, I would never let you live for another quarter of an hour!"

Dongfang Qi found the three of them filthy and did not let Lin Qingyue touch them. He dragged the three of them behind the deity statue to hide them himself.

Just after hiding them, he heard faint footsteps approaching again.

Thus, Dongfang Qi and Lin Qingyue repeated their old trick, returning to their Puhuan to pretend to faint.

Soon, a few more men walked out.

"Huh, why haven't those harvesting envoys come tonight?"

"They might have already come; look, the skirts of those brides are all disheveled."

"Finished so quickly? Indulging in excess, and already useless at such a young age?"

The men laughed for a while and walked toward Lin Qingyue and Dongfang Qi.

"These two brides are indeed beautiful; no wonder they caught the High Priest's eye. You two, carry the shorter one to the High Priest's room. Send the taller one to the top floor."

"The... the top floor? Could it be that that person..."

"Shut up! Daring to discuss the deity—do you not want to live?"

"Yes!"

Lin Qingyue's eyes trembled slightly: Sure enough, this trick worked. But Dongfang Qi... he wasn't actually chosen by the High Priest, but rather...

Thinking that the "deity" who orchestrated all of this behind the scenes might come from the Immortal Cultivation World, Dongfang Qi might not be his match.

So, just as they were about to be carried away, Lin Qingyue risked using an illusion talisman to swap the appearances of herself and Dongfang Qi.