Chapter 1: Sacrifice

"Giddyup!"

Inside the violently jolting carriage, Hua Changxi, her hands and feet bound, opened her eyes. After a moment of confusion, her expression turned to one of shock and fear.

She had been kidnapped!

Today was the day Old Madam Hua was taking the women of the Hua family to Guangji Temple in the southern suburbs of the capital to pray for blessings.

Impatient with the temple's dharma assembly, Hua Changxi had slipped away alone, intending to see the famous marriage tree on the back mountain of Guangji Temple. Who would have thought that as soon as she reached the back mountain, she felt a pain in her neck, and then she blacked out.

Had she known she would encounter such a disastrous event, she would have stayed by her family's side, no matter how bored she was.

Hua Changxi suppressed her panic, forced herself to calm down, and quickly surveyed the interior of the carriage.

There was nothing in the carriage but her. At this moment, her hands were tied behind her back, and her feet were bound tightly; even moving an inch was extremely difficult.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The carriage jolted violently due to its rapid speed, and the carriage window kept making clattering sounds.

Hua Changxi looked at the window that kept swinging open and shut, her eyes lighting up. She struggled to twist her body, laboriously lifting her bound legs to rest them against the carriage wall, lying on her back in an 'L' shape.

Afterward, Hua Changxi extended her feet toward the window, rubbing her right foot back and forth along the window frame until she managed to scrape her shoe out of the carriage.

Closing her eyes to rest for a while, estimating that the carriage had traveled another five kilometers, Hua Changxi rubbed her feet again and managed to scrape the other shoe out as well.

Her father was a constable at the Six Fan School; once the family discovered she was missing, they would definitely come looking for her. She hoped these two shoes would provide clues for her father.

Hua Changxi pondered for a moment, worried that two shoes might not be enough. She leaned her back against the carriage wall, struggled to bend her waist and stand up, used her bound hands to pull the pouch from her waist, and threw it out the window.

"Whoa!"

Feeling the carriage slowing down, Hua Changxi quickly lay back down, closed her eyes, and pretended she hadn't woken up yet.

Before long, with a "creak," the carriage door opened.

Next, Hua Changxi felt herself being dragged out by her arms by the kidnappers like a dead dog, and then hoisted onto a shoulder like a sack of sand.

"We wasted quite a bit of time just to catch this one. Today is the final deadline; I was worried we wouldn't be able to fulfill the order."

Listening to the dialogue between the two kidnappers, Hua Changxi's heart sank to the bottom.

She had originally thought she was a random kidnapping victim, but she never expected the kidnappers were targeting her specifically!

But why?

For money?

The capital was full of wealthy merchants; the Hua family couldn't even afford a servant. Kidnapping her wouldn't earn them any silver.

For lust?

She was only thirteen, her face hadn't fully matured, and her body hadn't developed yet. Even if sold to a brothel, she would need to be raised for another two years.

Could it be revenge from the Hua family's enemies?

As a constable at the Six Fan School, her father dealt with people from all walks of life daily. He surely had made enemies and harbored grudges; this was the most likely possibility.

Being carried on a shoulder, head down, Hua Changxi figured the two wouldn't notice her, so she quickly opened her eyes to look at the place the kidnappers had brought her.

A dilapidated temple that had mostly collapsed!

"Is the one we have in our hands the last one?"

"Yes."

While speaking, the two kidnappers had already carried Hua Changxi into the ruined temple.

"Crack!"

A friction sound rang out.

Hua Changxi opened her eyes quickly once more to look.

She saw the other kidnapper standing in front of the statue in the center of the ruined temple, which was broken down to just its base, holding a protrusion on the base with both hands and turning it.

The next moment, the statue slowly moved aside, revealing the entrance to a tunnel.

"Let's go!"

The kidnapper carried Hua Changxi and jumped into the tunnel.

Underground, the tunnels crisscrossed, and there were many stone chambers.

Hua Changxi tried hard to remember the route they took, but unfortunately, being carried with her head rushing with blood, not only was her thinking hindered, but her vision was also severely limited.

She had originally counted on remembering the route to prepare for a later escape, but now she couldn't even see the situation in the tunnels.

Her upper abdomen was being pressed uncomfortably. Hua Changxi suddenly had an idea and retched a few times.

"Damn it!"

Just as expected, Hua Changxi was dropped to the ground by the kidnapper with a "thud."

Hua Changxi's face twisted from the fall, but she couldn't care about the pain. She retched a few more times, pretending she had just woken up, and looked at the two kidnappers with a terrified expression.

"Good thing she didn't vomit on me."

"What now?"

"We're already underground; are you still afraid she'll run away? Untie the rope on her feet and let her walk herself."

The kidnapper hesitated for a moment, then drew his saber and cut the rope on Hua Changxi's feet with a clean "swish."

Hua Changxi looked at the kidnapper's swift movements, her heart sinking.

A martial artist!

The people who kidnapped her were actually martial artists!

"Get up quickly!"

The kidnapper pulled Hua Changxi up and shoved her forward forcefully.

Once she could see the situation in the tunnel, the further they went, the more shocked Hua Changxi became.

The underground area was extremely spacious, like an underground city.

Even though she was facing a life-or-death crisis, she was still stunned.

The two kidnappers would still exchange some words on the surface, but once underground, they didn't speak at all along the way, their expressions full of solemnity.

As they went deeper, the temperature in the air began to rise.

Slowly, sweat began to seep from the foreheads of the two kidnappers, and their clothes were gradually soaked through, while Hua Changxi remained dry.

One kidnapper saw that Hua Changxi was not afraid of the underground heat and muttered, "No wonder..."

As soon as the sound came out, it immediately drew a warning from the other kidnapper.

Hua Changxi's expression fluctuated. The two kidnappers were like they had entered a sauna once they were underground, yet she hadn't even broken a sweat.

Intuition told her that this kidnapping might not be the ordinary revenge she had imagined.

The kidnappers kidnapped her, most likely because of her constitution that was not afraid of heat.

For the rest of the journey, the two kidnappers were very silent.

After traveling underground for over half an hour, the two kidnappers, sweating like rain, opened a stone door and pushed Hua Changxi inside forcefully.

"Bang!"

A scorching heat wave rushed toward her. Hua Changxi was pushed and fell to the ground, struggling for a long time before she could sit up. When she saw the scene behind the stone door, her mouth dropped open in shock.

Behind the stone door was a wide stone platform. The stone platform was carved with complex patterns and surrounded on three sides by churning, boiling magma. Only the stone door behind her was the only exit.

Had she been brought to... a magma layer?

What made Hua Changxi's pupils dilate even more was that dozens of boys and girls about her age were lying scattered across the stone platform.

These people had their hands and feet bound, some lying down, some sitting, some sobbing, and some motionless in despair.

Seeing this scene, Hua Changxi's heart turned cold. She guessed who had captured them.

An evil monk!

Or an evil Daoist!

If she wasn't mistaken, this stone platform should be an altar!

Buddhism and Daoism were flourishing in the Great Jin Dynasty, and the number of Daoists and monks had increased sharply. Once the foundation was large, it was inevitable that scum would appear. Evil monks and evil Daoists emerged one after another. She often heard news of evil Daoists or monks causing trouble in this province or that prefecture.

Hua Changxi's father had once handled a case of an evil Daoist capturing young boys and girls to practice evil arts. The altar and the young boys and girls described in that case were 100% similar to her current situation.

Hua Changxi's heart sank to the bottom. As far as she knew, whenever evil monks or Daoists committed crimes, the people captured had almost no chance of survival.

Could her father discover the shoes and pouch she threw in time and come to save her?

She had only lived for thirteen years in this life; was she to be shorter-lived than in her previous life? Although she worked 996 in her past life, she had lived to be twenty-eight, hadn't she?

Hua Changxi suppressed the panic in her heart and began to look around, attempting to find an opportunity to escape.

Fortunately, her feet could move.

Hua Changxi looked around the stone platform and finally discovered a protrusion with edges on the stone wall next to the stone door. She immediately struggled to stand up, walked to the protrusion, placed her bound hands on it, and began to rub the rope forcefully.

After rubbing for a while, she found that this protrusion was not sharp, and the rope couldn't be broken in a short time.

Hua Changxi worried that someone would come soon, so she turned her gaze to the others on the stone platform.

"Little young master, the rope on my hands has already been rubbed loose. If you help me bite it open, once my hands can move, I will immediately untie you too."

Hua Changxi asked the nearest boy for help.

The boy pointed to the dozen or so people groaning in pain on the stone platform and said, "They were just like you, intending to escape, but unfortunately, they were discovered by the people patrolling, and their hands and feet were broken."

Hua Changxi saw the miserable state of those people, their hands and feet bent in unnatural ways. She was silent for a while, then said, "I'm not afraid of being discovered. You help me untie the rope first."

The boy: "But I am afraid." After speaking, he closed his eyes numbly.

Hua Changxi frowned, but didn't say anything, then asked the next person for help.

Unfortunately, she asked several people in a row, but no one paid any attention to her.

Hua Changxi was silent for a moment, scanning the expressions of the crowd. These captured people seemed to have lost their desire to survive, their faces full of despair and numbness.

Suddenly, Hua Changxi met a pair of calm eyes. There was no despair in those eyes.

That was a young lady about her age.

The young lady saw her looking over and immediately closed her eyes.

Hua Changxi didn't have time to think about why this young lady was so calm while in danger. She only felt that this young lady should still have a desire to survive, so she walked over quickly: "Young lady, can you help me?"

At first, the young lady didn't pay any attention to her, looking like she was asleep.

Seeing this, Hua Changxi could only keep touching and shaking the young lady, encouraging her over and over not to give up hope of survival, and begging her to help each other.

Under Hua Changxi's nagging, the young lady opened her eyes.

The young lady's eyes were a bit complex. Before Hua Changxi could see clearly, she heard the young lady tell her to turn around.

Hua Changxi's expression brightened, and she immediately cooperated.

The young lady was very capable; before long, she helped Hua Changxi bite open the rope.

As soon as her hands were free, Hua Changxi wanted to help the young lady untie her bonds.

Who would have thought that the young lady refused: "I don't need your help."

Hua Changxi was stunned. Before she could ask more, someone nearby spoke up and asked her to help untie their bonds.

The young lady took the opportunity to say: "Go help those who need it." After speaking, she closed her eyes and ignored Hua Changxi again.

Hua Changxi sensed the young lady's strangeness and didn't say much. She quickly went to the side of the person who asked for help, untying them while saying: "Later, you go help others untie their bonds, and I will find the mechanism to get out."

After Hua Changxi untied that person, she rushed to the stone door, feeling the stone wall around the stone door inch by inch, attempting to find the switch to open the stone door.

Unfortunately, she found nothing.

During this time, several people who had gained their freedom also ran over to help find the mechanism.

Hua Changxi felt around the stone door repeatedly several times. Seeing that there was no hope of finding the switch, she began to walk around the stone platform and even boldly stood at the edge of the stone platform to look down at the magma.

What kind of stone carving was that?

On the outer edge of the stone platform, some stone carvings were engraved, shaped like birds?

Hua Changxi couldn't see very clearly. She turned around a few times, and although she still didn't find anything, she figured out the structure of the stone platform.

Just as Hua Changxi became increasingly anxious, a sound came from the stone door.

Knowing someone was coming, Hua Changxi immediately lay down nearby.

At this moment, her position was exactly in the center of the stone platform.

The stone door opened wide, and an old man in a red robe walked in.

Those few people who had untied their bonds didn't react as quickly as Hua Changxi and didn't fall down to feign unconsciousness in time, so they were caught red-handed by the old man in the red robe.

"Ah~"

A scream rang out. Hua Changxi couldn't help but open a slit in her eyes and saw the old man in the red robe holding a dagger gleaming with cold light, cutting the wrists of the people one by one.

Those few people who had untied their bonds didn't have their hands and feet broken, but were knocked unconscious by the old man in the red robe.

"Ah~"

Screams rang out one after another, and a thick smell of blood began to disperse over the stone platform.

The blood flowed into the recessed patterns on the stone platform and was pushed by an invisible force, quickly gathering toward the center of the stone platform.

During this time, Hua Changxi saw that the old man in the red robe was cutting everyone's left wrist, so she secretly pressed a few acupoints on her own left arm.

Soon, the old man in the red robe arrived in front of Hua Changxi.

Hua Changxi originally thought she could muddle through, but who would have thought that after her wrist was cut, a sharp pain came from the back of her head, and then she fell into darkness. ===== CHAPTER 2 =====