Chapter 8
Chapter 8
I climbed out of the bottom of the pit with the Yushou in hand. The villagers took one look and immediately surrounded us.
“What happened? Where did the spring water go?”
“Weren’t you supposed to be sacrifices? Where’s the Spring Spirit? It didn’t want you? Did you make the Spring Spirit angry, and it took the spring water back?”
I nodded.
“That’s right. You all had it wrong before. The Spring Spirit likes old men best, not young women. It also said the sacrifices can’t be outsiders; they have to be from this village. That’s why it got angry and took the spring water away.”
The villagers fell silent.
Wu Genshui stared at me, half believing and half doubting.
“The Spring Spirit told you all that? You’re not lying?”
“Why would I lie? Do I look like I have the ability to make an entire pool of spring water vanish?”
The villagers fell silent again.
By the time the three of us left, the old men had already started fighting up a storm around the empty pit.
The Yushou in my hand confessed that the lake in the village and the pool behind the village had originally been connected. Later, the water source dried up, and the village lake went dry.
Without enough energy to draw from, it could only create illusions and make the villagers sacrifice young girls to fuel its own cultivation.
A monster that had committed so much evil, and could create illusions on top of that, was hardly trustworthy.
But after searching for more than half a month, we had found no trace of Ji Kang aside from this Yu. We could only try anything at this point and take things one step at a time.
Following the Yu’s directions, we left Skyfire Bay and headed northwest into the mountains.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but barren Gobi. In this kind of visual environment, it was especially easy to lose your sense of direction.
I bound the Yu with a spell cord and even stuffed a talisman into its mouth.
All along the way, the Yu racked its brains trying to drive a wedge between us.
“Illusions draw out the darkest, most terrifying secrets buried in a person’s heart.”
“Jiang Haoyan, in your illusion, you were searching everywhere for Qiao Moyu, ready to climb a mountain of blades or plunge into a sea of fire for her. But in Qiao Moyu’s illusion, you were gravely injured and on the verge of death. Do you know what the first thing Qiao Moyu asked was?”
Jiang Haoyan pricked up his ears.
“What?”
“She asked if she could inherit your estate.”
Jiang Haoyan looked up at me in shock.
“Inherit-my estate? Qiao Moyu, you-”
I glared at him.
“What?”
“Inheriting an estate… what kind of relationship would you have to have to inherit-”
After muttering to himself for a few seconds, Jiang Haoyan’s handsome face suddenly flushed bright red.
As if he’d been shocked by electricity, he dodged my gaze.
“It’s so hot here. I’ll go take a look up ahead.”
Then he shyly turned and ran off, his steps all over the place. He even hopped a few times, looking positively delighted.
The Yushou said, “No, seriously, is he sick or something?”