Chapter 358: Chapter 253: What’s this doing here for me
"Ten thousand horsepower! Sea Tiger Explosion Fist!"
Zhang Ze punched the stone wall in front of him, but nothing happened.
Forcibly renaming the move didn’t increase its power, and the stone wall didn’t even crack.
Shaking his hand, Zhang Ze picked up the hammer from the ground, along with various swords and magical artifacts, then sat down cross-legged, waiting for rescue.
After being sucked into the secret realm, he was trapped in this place.
This stone chamber is tricky, not made of ordinary stone; it’s as hard as can be and might be related to that elusive Ghost City. To break it open, probably the Sect Leader needs to act.
Before coming in, Zhang Ze had already felt the power of the Sect Leader’s strike, but he was unsure whether that strike was for him or the secret realm...
Rubbing the back of his head, Zhang Ze took out his largest white Golden Core, feeling the faint connection and thinking that he really had some dog luck.
A few days ago, he lent a Golden Core to his junior sister to use as a bouncy ball; unexpectedly, it came in handy now.
The faint connection between the two Golden Cores became his only means of communicating with the outside world.
As long as the connection remained, they could find him.
Probably.
After figuring out his situation, Zhang Ze calmed down, intending to enter the system’s trial space to continue recklessly studying the heart method to pass the time.
However, at that moment, something poked him in the back.
[Why is there no signal again?]
It was the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
"We’re out of service area; you’ll have to endure it for now." Zhang Ze picked up the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, flipped it to the back, and looked at the swirling words "Profound Identification" with mixed feelings.
How did the once simple, cute Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, which could be summoned with a simple "come-here," turn into this?
From a top-tier magical artifact, it became an internet addict.
If it wasn’t online, it practiced knocking people’s heads with the mirror’s corners.
Though he should take 80% of the blame for these behaviors, isn’t anyone else responsible?
Like the fellow group members of the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
It must be the Celestial Calculation Disc, constantly chatting online with Profound Identification, that led it astray.
The group members are entirely responsible.
Suddenly caught in an Old Ascender mindset, Zhang Ze somewhat understood the Sect Leader’s feelings.
Why did the mirror he raised so obediently suddenly change?
[No signal, let’s go somewhere with a signal.]
The Profound Identification Treasure Mirror flew around Zhang Ze in a circle.
"Where? This place is walled on all six sides; can you knock these walls open?"
[I can.]
Zhang Ze stared blankly at the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, then slapped his forehead, "I forgot, why didn’t you say so earlier."
[You didn’t ask.]
The Profound Identification Treasure Mirror can perform three major spells and seven minor spells.
Among the major ones, Zhang Ze had only used [Void Illusion Realm] and [Profound Identification Heart Inquiry]; there was another one he hadn’t had the chance to use.
It was only when the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror reminded him that he remembered it.
[Realm-Breaking Hammer]
Don’t ask why a mirror can wield the power of a hammer, because even the Profound Identification doesn’t know. It’s probably just how it was designed.
This spell can find the weak points in a magical treasure secret realm and then deliver a fatal blow.
Provided there is a weak point.
Though seemingly invincible, it’s somewhat troublesome to use.
Because the preparatory time is too long.
Zhang Ze needs to assist the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror to use this spell, and both must remain still while searching for flaws; any movement will nullify the effort.
It’s somewhat cumbersome.
[Hurry up, I need to play a game of Old Ascender with Jade Book Tower and Celestial Calculation Disc later.]
The Profound Identification Treasure Mirror urged.
Tired of bickering with his mirror, Zhang Ze stood up, held the treasure mirror, and steadied his mind like still water, looking straight ahead.
Zhang Ze felt his Divine Sense blend with the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, then it scattered like fine dust, with faint sounds of ocean waves in his ears.
As his Divine Sense expanded, Zhang Ze sensed the vague surroundings beyond the stone wall, with a downward corridor in front of him and the other walls connected to the entire secret realm.
Destroying those walls is no different from destroying the entire secret realm. The Sect Leader might be able to handle it, but for now, he couldn’t, not even with the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror.
There were no weak points there.
Zhang Ze no longer paid attention to those dead ends and focused on the stone wall in front of him.
After some time, so long that Zhang Ze’s eyes began to hurt, he finally found a small crack.
More precisely, another force was working on the other side of the stone wall.
Before his Divine Sense ran out, Zhang Ze raised the mirror and smashed it against the stone wall in front of him.
There was no dazzling light nor the sound of breaking through the air; just a simple tap, and the previously indestructible stone wall developed cracks centering on that point, eventually shattering.
A stream of water rushed into the stone chamber; it wasn’t turbulent but was irresistible, like a water park slide carrying Zhang Ze out.
[Do you think we were wasting time earlier? We could’ve gotten out without doing anything.]
Profound Identification commented.
"True."
Zhang Ze put away the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, letting the water stream carry him out through the exit.
...
"King Zhe is missing, fierce doves screech, Phoenix Witch begs for feathers, Taiyi returns not..."
In a much larger sacrificial arena, a long-browed priest stood on a high platform, chanting eerily.
Li Yu knelt below, gazing at the high altar and the priest upon it, his expression seemingly identical to that of the other slaves around him.
At least on the surface.
A numb and vacant expression carried a semblance of indifference, as if he wasn’t interested in anything around him.
Including the brutal sacrificial ceremony.
At the command of the main priest, the assistant priests dragged the vacant-eyed slaves from the crowd onto the high platform, then smashed them with rods inlaid with black lenses.
As the wooden stick descended, the living person was smashed into pieces like mud.
No blood, only soil.
The fragments were carefully collected by several Assistant Priests and placed into a large basket woven of blood-red vines.
Then they were carried into the roaring furnace behind the Main Priest.
What’s followed was an indistinct prayer.
Every time they reached the thirteenth sentence, a clay figure would rise from the pool in front of the Main Priest.
When the Main Priest reached the thirty-sixth sentence, the chaotic human form of the clay figure would be painted with eyebrows and eyes, clothed, and turned into the likeness of the person who was just shattered.
Then, the Assistant Priests of the ceremony would raise their vine whips, letting the newly reborn person kneel at the end of the line, as the others queued up and crawled forward.
Once the positions were adjusted, the ceremony cycled again.
Ten people each day.
Li Yu counted the number of people in front of him and swallowed nervously. He was very anxious, although he was positioned quite far back, in a few days, it would be his turn.
He didn’t know if those things crawling out of the pool were still human, nor did he know if those people were still human before being smashed and thrown into the furnace.
Because it seemed that, except for himself, no one else cared; those people obediently ascended to the high platform and were smashed into pieces without any resistance.
As if they were made of soil to begin with.
Moreover, Li Yu couldn’t remember when he had come here, as if he was born into this.
It’s not just the fear brought by all these atrocities and unknowns that made Li Yu uncomfortable.
But also, the incompetent Main Priest never recited a single word correctly, except for the first sentence, every subsequent sentence had at least three grammatical errors, and occasionally there were unclear articulations.
Although he didn’t know why he knew the correct invocations, he very much wanted to go up and correct that incompetent Main Priest.
After enduring it for several days, Li Yu finally couldn’t bear it anymore and was about to go up to correct the Main Priest’s grammatical errors when the ceremony finally changed.
The sound of water.
Above the Main Priest’s furnace was a huge statue of a deity.
The statue was bare, possessing the geometric beauty of a primordial tribe, primarily highlighting the primordial ancestors’ hopeful expectations for reproduction and offspring.
Just as the tenth sacrifice of the day climbed out of the pool in front of the Main Priest, the gigantic Mother Goddess statue began to tremble.
The water level in the pool in front of the Main Priest began to drop until it dried up.
After the pool bottomed out, water gushed out of the outlet of the statue.
A person was carried out by the flow, steadily standing in front of the Main Priest.
The Main Priest was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting such a change to occur.
Looking up at the Holy Son in front of him, he started to mumble that set of invocations again.
"The Holy Son descends, the Holy Son descends! King Zhe..."
The Holy Son born from the Mother Goddess statue, namely Zhang Ze, frowned as he listened to the prayers of the old man in front of him, suddenly feeling that things were not simple.
This incompetent Main Priest never recited a word correctly; besides the first sentence, every subsequent sentence had at least three grammatical errors, with occasional instances of unclear articulation.
Zhang Ze, who knew a bit about the Western Barbarians’ Witch Path, equivalent to elementary school literacy, thought this person’s pronunciation was extremely unstandard, where was the tongue roll?
Yet moving on, Zhang Ze turned his head to look around, then glanced at the crowd kneeling below the altar.
Where have I ended up?
From the Ghost City of Wind Chime City to the West Continent all at once?
No, wait.
Zhang Ze lowered his head to look at the kneeling Main Priest in front of him, feeling that the person seemed familiar, although he wore a reddish-brown robe, and his hair was braided...
He bore seven to eight parts resemblance to the Sect Leader of the Wooden Fish Sect.
Zhang Ze recalled the portrait he got from Lin Wei, then stared at the old man in front for a moment, confirming this person was Wooden Fish Taoist.
Why was he here playing these antics?
Did he think the Hundred Demons Sect’s salary was too low? The benefits lacking, so he switched careers to the Western Barbarians?
But that can’t be right, the Western Barbarians don’t believe in this?
As Zhang Ze deliberated on how to proceed, he suddenly saw the newly-transferred Wooden Fish Taoist lift his head.
"The Holy Son descends, does the Great Mother Goddess have a divine revelation."
As the newly born Holy Son of the Great Mother Goddess, Zhang Ze’s expression remained unchanged, calmly speaking.
"The Great Mother Goddess entrusted me to tell you something as long as you can... cough, I mean, you’re wrong, very wrong!"
Zhang Ze’s expression changed faster than flipping a book, "Wrong! All wrong! Who taught you to recite the invocations this way! The Great Mother Goddess sent me here to scold you, stand aside!"
The somewhat bewildered Wooden Fish Taoist obediently moved to the side, standing like a student who made a mistake.
Zhang Ze grabbed a Redwood Vine from one of the Assistant Priests, went to the once-again filled pool, dipped it in water, and started writing on the ground.
Teaching him pronunciation.
Conducting Western Barbarians’ elementary first-grade general education on the Wooden Fish Taoist.
The old man wanted to retort but felt the Holy Son was right, opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing, obediently standing aside listening.
"Do you understand!" Zhang Ze raised the Redwood Vine, pointing at Wooden Fish Taoist.
"Understood."
"Recite!"
"King Zhe..."
"Wrong! Hands out!"
"Oh."
Slam, slam, a few hits with the Redwood Vine.
"If you don’t understand, don’t say you do, go back and memorize it, let me catch you making a mistake again, and you’ll have to copy the invocation fifty times!"
"Okay..." Wooden Fish Taoist nodded submissively.
"Class dismissed, I mean the ceremony is over!"
Saying that, Zhang Ze turned and gave a stern look, causing the Assistant Priest who was glared at to be baffled, but he quickly understood and immediately led Zhang Ze down the altar, leaving the ceremonial site.
This Holy Son was accommodated in a large stone house, and Zhang Ze promptly dismissed all accompanying Assistant Priests.
After confirming everyone had left, Zhang Ze immediately took out the Profound Identification Treasure Mirror, then also retrieved the underpants of the Night Demon Emperor Armor, wrapping the Profound Identification tightly.
"Quick, quick, quick, go check what this place is, and what’s up with that Great Mother Goddess!"
[Ah, you don’t know?]
"I know nothing."