Chapter 597: Collapse of Faith

"We... we have been separated for two years, I, I miss him." Under Ye Qingning's pressing interrogation, the villager's psychological defenses finally collapsed.

Even if it was faith, it could not withstand the longing for one's own flesh and blood.

"If you miss him, come with me now, I will take you to see him," Ye Qingning said. "It's just, will you still recognize him now?"

"I recognize him, my ancestral bracelet is worn on his left hand, he has never taken it off, I recognize him," the villager roared angrily. "How could I not recognize my own child?"

"Then let's go, those who have children, come with me, I will take you to see your children." Ye Qingning turned around and left resolutely.

These villagers looked hesitant, but watching Ye Qingning's back, a portion of them finally could not help but stand up and follow her.

The mountain demon's cave; there were still severed limbs and arms of several mountain demons here, left behind after Chen Yu's bitter battle with these mountain demons last night.

In the deepest part of the cave, there was a huge pit, and within this pit, there were piles of white bones.

These white bones were not large in size; it was clear they were children. The Witch Clan's inheritance had been carried out for nearly twenty years since Wuming took power.

He used the slogan of revitalizing the Witch Clan, so the villagers supported him very much. Every year, about twenty to thirty children were sent into the Witch Clan, and the fate of most of them was to sleep here forever.

Some of these skeletons had become white bones due to the passage of time, while others had just rotted, with a corpse gnawed into an incomplete state.

"Erbao, my Erbao." Suddenly, a woman screamed hysterically and jumped violently into the pit.

She stumbled in the pit toward a skeleton; the owner of this skeleton should have been a child of about six years old.

He should have been sent to the Sacred Land during this Ancestral Sacrifice Ceremony; only a week had passed.

But now, this child had been gnawed by the mountain demons until he was incomplete, and could only be barely identified by his clothing.

"Ah, treasure, my treasure, why did it become like this, why?" The woman wailed in pain, and because of her agitation, the tears flowing from her eyes were two lines of blood.

She hugged the child tightly, holding the child's broken head, crying hysterically.

She could recognize that the new clothes the child was wearing were the ones she had specially prepared for the Ancestral Sacrifice Ceremony.

She thought that by dressing beautifully, he would be chosen by the Insect Ancestor, and then he would learn heaven-defying skills and stand out from the crowd.

But who would have thought that when they met again after a few days, mother and son would already be separated by life and death.

"Huahua, this is my Huahua." The villager who had been grabbed and questioned by Ye Qingning suddenly saw a bracelet tied with a red string among a pile of white bones.

He lunged over and grabbed the bracelet, screaming: "Huahua, where are you Huahua, I am your father, where are you?"

The bracelet had fallen into the pit. His child had been sent away for two years; now he could not even distinguish which skeleton was his child's. He knelt in the pit, roaring hoarsely.

The villagers finally believed. A burst of crying suddenly erupted at the scene. Everyone rushed into the pit, trying to find their children among these piles of white bones.

Hell is empty, the demons are in the human world.

It has been twenty years since Wuming took power and proposed revitalizing the Witch Clan by selecting intelligent children to go to the Sacred Land to practice Witchcraft, and there are hundreds of white bones in this pit.

How many children left their homes, separated from their loved ones, and finally slept forever in this pit?

Ye Qingning sighed. Faith collapsed, loved ones separated by life and death; for others, this was already the greatest punishment, right?

She stood up silently, bowed slightly toward the pit in front of her, and then led the people away resolutely.

Chen Yu was brought to a cave dwelling in the Sacred Land, which was located halfway up the mountain.

He had been blindfolded the whole way here, and it was not until he was brought into the deepest part of the Witch Tribe Sacred Land that the black cloth on his head was removed.

Chen Yu looked around; this place was a stone room, and by feeling, he knew he should be inside a cave.

In front of him was an Altar. In front of the Altar was a huge tripod, inside which a ball of fire was leaping, and on the Altar stood a tall statue.

The statue was carved from stone, with wings, a hooked eagle beak, and cold eyes.

The stone room was chiseled out by hand, and the surroundings were murals similar to hieroglyphs.

The murals depicted the origins and inheritance of the Witch Clan, from the defeat of the Nine Li Clan and their exile to this bitter, cold land, to the suffering of all living beings here, until a person with wings and an eagle beak appeared.

Chen Yu roughly understood the meaning of the murals. Just at this moment, footsteps sounded in the room. He looked back and saw the village chief walking over cautiously.

"It's you?" Chen Yu did not feel surprised to see the village chief.

The reason why Wuming and these people could successfully brainwash the villagers into willingly sending their children to the Witch Tribe Sacred Land to die, of course, included the credit of this village chief.

"Mr. Chen, I'm sorry." The village chief bowed slightly to Chen Yu and sighed: "I had no choice either."

"You have always known about what Wuming and the others are doing, you know that most children who go to participate in the sacrifice selection are actually going to their deaths?" Chen Yu asked.

"Practicing the Witch-Insect Art is not that simple; one must endure pain that ordinary people cannot bear, so we can only use the method of raising insects to eliminate them. This is also to ensure that our Insect Clan remains prosperous and evergreen," the village chief straightened his body.

"Don't be so righteous. There is no profit without effort. If Wuming didn't give you some benefits, would you support him?" Chen Yu smiled.

"You are Chen Yu?" Just at this moment, a man dressed in a bright red witch robe appeared in front of the Altar.

This man held a Scepter and wore a Golden Mask, with only a pair of sharp eyes exposed.

Behind him stood the three San Daming, their faces covered with silver-gray, black, and white metal masks respectively.

The Golden Mask was Wuming. He walked slowly down the Altar, looking at Chen Yu with a pair of interested eyes.

"You are Wuming?" Chen Yu also raised his head and looked directly at Wuming.

"That's right, I am Venerable Wuming." Wuming nodded.

"That name is long enough, but you really know how to gild your own face, Venerable Wuming?" Chen Yu smiled: "Are you worthy of having this name?"

"Why not?" Wuming smiled.

He turned around and raised his hands: "Our clan inherited from the Nine Li, the Witch Ancestor was the Demon God Chiyou. After that ancient divine war, our clan was exiled to this bitter, cold land."

"This place is infested with poisonous insects, the people cannot live, and eight or nine out of ten of our clansmen died here. Fortunately, the Insect Ancestor appeared in later generations, combined with Witchcraft, and founded the Gu Technique lineage, which preserved the fire of our clan, passing on from generation to generation."