Chapter 623: Going Out

"Toot—"

A somber horn sounded in the air, drawing back the curtain on the sacrifice; the sound traveled extremely far, continuing for a long time without pause.

"The auspicious hour has arrived, bring out the offerings!"

Following a loud shout, the offerings, covered in colorful silk, were lifted down from the massive wooden platforms. There were eighteen large platforms in total, each carried by eight people, moving in a grand procession toward the Altar.

This is really...

"So noisy."

Weise watched the offerings depart, listening to the somber, long-drawn-out horn in his ears, feeling deeply disapproving in his heart:

The ceremonial music for this sacrifice is truly awful.

Besides, couldn't they wait until they reached the Altar to blow it?

Starting to blow from the moment the offerings leave—what difference is there between this and a funeral procession?

Speaking of funeral processions... that Changfazhuangyuanzhuren hasn't even had a funeral yet...

And that Sunset Master, who died in the dungeon yesterday, didn't have time for a funeral either. In the current state of things, a Manor Master isn't worth much while alive, let alone when dead.

Thinking of Wu Shayu's sudden death, he felt restless again. It clearly wasn't a major problem, yet it left him with a vague sense of unease, like seeing a hole in his own wall; although it might just be a child poking at it, it could also be a spy hole for a thief, and the next moment, bandits could break in and slaughter his whole family.

While he was troubled, he heard the Tiger-Subduing Master, who was wearing formal robes and serving as the sacrificial official as he did every year, suddenly let out a long sigh, his voice filled with sorrow.

Weise glanced at him, put away his worries, and said, "Tiger-Subduing Master, pull yourself together."

The Tiger-Subduing Master sighed, "Carrying the offerings out like this, my Master will not be satisfied. In the past, when carrying the offerings, a Sword Slave had to sit on each platform to ascend the Altar together. During a Grand Sacrifice or when the manor was feeling generous, they would even press a Sword Guest into service, dressed in the finest Shadow Silk, even bringing their swords along to be cast into the Yingze together. Today, it's a disaster; not only is the quantity of offerings insufficient, but there isn't a single living sacrifice. How could my Master be satisfied?"

Weise sneered inwardly: Who is he pointing at? Yesterday, his move of advancing by retreating prevented this old man from bringing up the matter of finding living sacrifices—anyway, he didn't have the guts to make other Manor Masters volunteer for the sacrifice, so he couldn't blame anyone else.

Now it seems this old man hasn't given up; he's still obsessed with this?

Weise said, "Don't think like that. Although there are no living sacrifices this year, the specifications have been greatly improved. In previous years, those carrying the offerings were just Sword Slaves, but this year they are all Manor Masters. These slave owners lowering themselves to do manual labor shows their filial piety toward Wangliang Zhuren."

The Tiger-Subduing Master felt a complex mix of emotions; he deeply felt that having dozens of Manor Masters follow along to carry the offerings was truly demeaning. This was all a mess caused by Huanri Manor taking advantage of the confusion and fear of the other Manor Masters. That grandson Jian Chenglong is truly despicable. Who knows what he will do once he seizes the right to speak on the mountain in the future.

Perhaps he will drive them just as they used to drive the Sword Slaves?

At this moment, he heard the YoungMaster say, "If a living sacrifice is truly needed, I have another plan. We can trick those few Manor Masters into going onto the Altar to place the offerings. Once the sacrifice begins, we wait for an opportunity to push them into the You Water together and offer them up. Wouldn't the offerings then be both plentiful and impressive?"

The Tiger-Subduing Master's hair stood on end, and he blurted out, "Absurd! How could that be done?"

Weise let out an ambiguous laugh and said, "Tiger-Subduing Master, if you aren't even willing to take such a small risk, you might as well just stay put. If you cherish your life while trying to accomplish great things, you will never succeed in anything." Having said that, he headed to the front of the procession, leaving the Tiger-Subduing Master with an ugly expression, staring at Weise's back as if looking at a deranged madman.

But he could not see that once Weise left this hypocrite of great ambition but little talent, he had already suppressed his smile, his brows faintly containing a look of worry.

Leading this group of Manor Masters to the Altar was actually the end of his mission. It could be said that it was completed quite smoothly. But this was nothing to be proud of; even without the incident with Wu Shayu, he was the simplest link among everyone. It was precisely because his strength was low that he was assigned to this task, and he knew his own uselessness well.

Yet, he also bore the position of intelligence relay; messages passed through his hands, giving him an understanding of the overall situation. He knew that as the endgame approached, accidents were frequent, and the situation was far from excellent, hence his inner worry.

For example, last night, Manying, who was guarding the Turtle Bandit lair, sent back a message:

The Turtle Bandits received "strong reinforcements" on the final night.

A Sword Hero figure arrived from afar, known as "Autumn Pillar of State." Weise pondered, it should be the Autumn Pillar of State among the "Four Seasons" Pillars of State.

If it were just one Pillar of State, that would be fine; after all, the Turtle Bandits have one Pillar of State after another, and everyone is used to it. A Pillar of State, it's not like they haven't killed one before. Even counting them up, the Turtle Bandits have already concentrated three Pillars of State on the mere Wangliang Mountain, so there is nothing to fear. Even though these Pillars of State are all strong among Sword Heroes, they are not afraid of them even if they face two against one.

The key is, Manying also said that the Autumn Pillar of State brought a big shot.

That big shot was wearing a magnificent cloak, face hidden, and as soon as they arrived, they entered that large tent. Manying was inconvenient to move and did not dare to act rashly, so they could not provide any intelligence on that person, only sensing from intuition that the person seemed to be a woman, and one more thing was certain:

This person is incomparably strong, incomparably noble!

Saying she is incomparably noble is because that so-called "An Wang," his mother Wang Taifei, and that very proud Pillar of State were all extremely respectful upon seeing this person, using honorifics; one would think this person's status is even above that of a King. Saying she is incomparably strong...

There is no reason, just Manying's intuition.

Manying is also a strong individual, yet at the first glance of that blurred figure, they felt terrified, not daring to look even once more. They could only pretend to be a broken pipa, not attracting the attention of the strong.

According to Manying, if they were not an inanimate Abyss Envoy, they probably wouldn't have been able to hide at all.

Finally, they added an evaluation that was almost nonsense: "If I were still Mange, encountering such a strong person, I would never dare to look up at her, let alone think of opposing her."

Weise heard this intelligence and could not help but be worried, but with his knowledge, he had no way to analyze such intelligence. Let alone guessing the other party's identity, even if someone shouted the identity to him, he might not recognize it, so he could only dutifully relay this information to the base at the foot of the mountain, hoping that the big shots on his side would see it and devise a countermeasure.

Who knows who is in charge at the base now, and whether they can make the right decision?

Let them not ruin the great situation that Tang Xiansheng created.

Mentioning Tang Xiansheng, Weise was even more worried. For these past few days, Tang Zhao has been characterized by one thing: complete silence.

Clearly, three days ago, he was still in charge of the overall situation on Wangliang Mountain, with everything under control, arranging those enemies clearly, yet over the past few days, he has been like a kite with a broken string, with no news coming through at all. He pushed such a large burden onto others and went off to do something mysterious and unpredictable himself.

Even though Weise could be considered the person in the world who trusts Tang Zhao the most, he couldn't help but ask Tang Zhao in his heart: Tang Xiansheng, oh Tang Xiansheng, can you really be sure that what you are doing now is more important than the situation everyone has spent months planning and working together to earn?

Thinking again of the White Fox who disappeared before Tang Zhao, Xiangyangzi who went missing with her, Zheng Yun and Wei Zhangle who went to the Qianxian and whose progress is still unknown, and the suddenly deceased Wu Shayu...

One by one, these uncertainties, intertwined with the uncertainties in the enemy camp, formed the fog before his eyes, leaving Weise's heart constantly like fifteen buckets drawing water—all topsy-turvy. Only by mocking and teasing those slave owners could he slightly soothe his mood.

"Lord Wangliang!"

"Lord Wangliang, we have come to sacrifice to you!"

"Lord Wangliang, we have missed you so much!"

At this moment, wailing cries came to his ears. Weise looked up and saw that the Altar could be seen in the distance.

But they were still some distance from the Altar, and the Manor Masters at the very front, who were carrying the offerings, stopped here for some reason, instead wailing and crying in front.

Weise was unhappy, quickened his pace to the front of the line, and shouted, "Can you all please move forward first? If you want to cry, cry after the sacrifice begins; don't delay the hour..."

His voice stopped abruptly.

Because he saw the Altar.

The Altar was still towering, tier by tier like a pyramid reaching to the sky, no different from before.

But now, the Altar was covered with a thin layer of fluid that looked like thick fog or mucus.

That thick liquid was pitch-black, somber, and obscure, gurgling down the high steps. It was as if a massacre had just taken place on the Altar, blood flowing like a river, the semi-dried plasma turning into the color of a Shadow, seeping out from the stone cracks.

That color looked like simple black at first glance, but the more one looked, the more somber it felt; this black water seeped through the cracks of the bones and straight into the Soul.

Weise took one look and felt a chill from the bottom of his heart, almost screaming out. He hurriedly brought his hand to his mouth and bit his backhand with his teeth, barely swallowing the exclamation, but leaving two rows of tooth marks on his hand.

"This... this is..."

"Lord Wangliang!"

A sob came from behind; Master Fuhu stumbled up from the rear, fell to the ground after only a few steps, and began to crawl forward, bumping his head against the ground after crawling a few more paces.

This was what one would call wailing and beating one's chest.

"Lord Wangliang, you have come? You knew we were in trouble and came to save us? Hehe... it is all our fault for being useless, unable to show you filial piety, and even having to trouble you to descend to save us..."

What?

Is that liquid Wangliang?

Amidst Wei Se's shock and suspicion, someone said, "It is merely water from Yingze, why must you make such a fuss and claim it is the descent of Wangliang?"

The speaker was Master Chongmi, though not the real Master Chongmi; he was a fake arranged by Tang Zhao, swapped with the original owner on the Shadow Gallery Bridge to act as an Inner mole among the manor masters. He was a Sword Guest of the Jing'an Division with extensive undercover experience, and his knowledge was even greater than Wei Se's.

Master Fuhu shook his head and said, "Open your eyes and look, how could this be water from Yingze? Could water from Yingze be this viscous? Could it be this heavy? I tell you, if water from Yingze is the sweat of Lord Wangliang, then this is the blood flowing from Lord Wangliang's body! My Lord is here right now; it has descended!"

Wei Se raised an eyebrow and said, "Bleeding... do you mean to say that Lord Wangliang is injured?"