Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Blood began seeping from Xu Er’s eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Xu Da panicked completely.

Yi Jingchen had no idea what to do either, and Ba Wuyue seemed to have seen something that scared her half to death.

Ren Meng and his girlfriend stayed huddled in the corner the whole time. The way they looked at Xu Er was filled with disgust, and they clearly wanted nothing to do with this.

Zuo Hao had only just woken up. Seeing Xu Er like that, he was utterly dumbfounded.

I knew we couldn’t delay any longer. Xu Er was already coughing blood from his throat.

I made a split-second decision, drew the Soul-Whip, and lashed Xu Er with it as hard as I could!

Xu Da tried to stop me, but he was too late. The whip struck Xu Er across the arm, leaving behind a deep, bloody welt.

The next instant, Xu Er shuddered from head to toe, then passed out stiff as a board.

Xu Da lunged over to him. Xu Er’s breathing was still relatively steady, and his features had stopped bleeding.

“Holy crap, that’s amazing!”

Zuo Hao stared at the whip in my hand. “Brother Long, did you come down from Mount Longhu or something? Should I be calling you Master?”

“What Master? I’m just a long-haul trucker.”

I wound the whip back around my waist.

Xu Da held Xu Er in his arms. As if he understood that I had helped him, he nodded at me.

The wooden cabin finally fell quiet again. No one dared turn off the lights anymore. Everyone leaned their heads against the wall and closed their eyes to rest.

But I still couldn’t stop thinking about the breathing I had heard at the very beginning-the breathing that had sounded almost exactly like Xu Er’s.

That sound seemed to have vanished after we turned on the lights.

At long last, dawn arrived. When sunlight spilled into the cabin, everyone seemed to let out a breath of relief.

Xu Er woke up as well, but he was completely dazed. No matter what Xu Da said to him, he didn’t make a sound.

Xu Da clenched his teeth and kept comforting himself. “It’ll be fine. We’ll go to the altar today. Once the ritual is finished, everything will be okay.”

To be honest, I didn’t believe this bizarre sacrifice would actually do any good.

But at that moment, the goat outside the door had become the brothers’ last and only hope.

We walked out of the cabin. The goat from last night was still tied securely to the wooden stake.

Xu Da couldn’t wait any longer. With one hand, he dragged his younger brother along; with the other, he went to untie the rope around the goat.

Ren Meng and Shi Yuhan stood nearby, the jealousy on their faces impossible to hide.

Zuo Hao and Ba Wuyue were doing all right, but Yi Jingchen kept his brows tightly furrowed.

Xu Da hauled the goat upright, forcing it to stand shakily from the ground.

Maybe Xu Da had pulled the rope too tight and hurt it. The goat suddenly opened its mouth-but what came out wasn’t a bleat.

It was one clear, distinct word:

“Brother-“