I Slay Gods and Demons in the Deceit Night
Chapter 79 - 77 Life is fragile as grass, having waited for a long time.

Chapter 79: Chapter 77 Life is fragile as grass, having waited for a long time.

Under the cover of night, three people moved stealthily.

However, the Great Commander Zhao Zhou, with one hand on his lower back, occasionally glanced at Lin Yan with extremely complex emotions in his eyes.

He had always refused to admit old age and never admitted defeat, but today he couldn’t help feeling deeply frustrated.

He had long heard that this young Flag Commander was a young prodigy with heaven-gifted talent.

When he first heard the name "Wu Chang," outsiders speculated that he was at the second level of martial cultivation, perhaps at the Refining Blood phase, at most at the Purifying Marrow phase.

As of today, people outside have guessed that the Flag Commander of Linjiang Station had reached the peak of the Inner Strength Realm.

"At the same peak of Inner Strength Realm, yet when he grabbed hold of me and smashed down, he almost shattered my old bones..."

Great Commander Zhao Zhou felt pain all over his body and thought to himself, "Are the young people of today all this fierce?"

Despite his advanced age and retreating Qi-Blood, which was not as robust as in his prime,

he was flipped to the ground after one encounter, and he was left utterly disoriented from the blow.

When he looked up again, a blade was pointing directly at his face.

Without the slightest power to fight back.

Even in his prime youth, he feared he would still be slightly inferior by three... um, by half a measure!

"I saw with my own eyes that the old craftsman surnamed Lu went into the warehouse after entering this courtyard and has not come out till now."

Meng Lu said solemnly, "I approached quietly, and there was no movement inside, the person is gone..."

"I will go in and investigate."

Great Commander Zhao Zhou was about to climb over the wall and jump in immediately.

Lin Yan reached out to stop him from climbing over, "You should rest first, my lord."

He knew that the blow he had delivered just now must have hurt Great Commander Zhao Zhou’s old bones somewhat.

But a martial artist at the peak of the Inner Strength Realm, despite being advanced in age, can recover fairly quickly.

Nobody knew exactly what the situation was inside, so it was best that everyone returned to their peak condition first.

"..."

Then Great Commander Zhao Zhou saw Lin Yan flip over the wall.

He looked at Meng Lu, and they exchanged glances of silent communication.

Meng Lu couldn’t help but think to himself, "Logically, as the one with the lowest rank and the weakest cultivation here, I am the most suitable for scouting."

With that in mind, he felt somewhat speechless in his heart.

One is the Great Commander, and the other is the Flag Commander.

Why do they both prefer to take the lead?

——

The night was silent and still.

Even the sound of Lin Yan’s footsteps seemed to dissolve into the night, indiscernible to the ear.

Lin Yan, with his Refining Essence Realm cultivation, had nearly surpassed the scope of what ordinary martial artists should be capable of.

Sensing the changes around him, indeed there were no traces of other people.

He went inside to investigate, scanning the place which was furnished in a most simplistic manner.

There were no traps as he had expected, and after scanning once, nothing felt amiss.

Then Lin Yan closed his eyes for a moment to sense his surroundings.

He quickly opened his eyes, a sharp light shining within them.

"It’s underground!"

Lin Yan uttered in a low voice, looking towards the outside.

Great Commander Zhao Zhou and Colonel Meng Lu simultaneously climbed over the wall and hurried towards this location.

"There indeed is something fishy hidden here."

Great Commander Zhao Zhou, with a stern expression, said, "It seems that there is a hidden passage below; let’s search thoroughly for the location of the mechanism."

Meng Lu had already begun his search.

But, after a short while, he shook his head.

"There are only a few things here, with simple furnishings; they are not where the mechanism lies."

"It might be on the wall, or perhaps beneath the floor," Great Commander Zhao Zhou mused, "I’ve participated in wall repairs before and have a wealth of construction experience. You both step aside, I’ll personally find it..."

"No need."

Just then, Lin Yan slowly spoke up.

He drew his sword from its sheath and suddenly struck the ground with it.

There was a deafening boom!

The floor tiles instantly shattered!

As gravel flew outward, they revealed a pair of iron doors forming a secret entrance below.

Then they saw Lin Yan swung his sword along the seam between the two iron doors, slicing them open.

All mechanisms intended as barriers crumbled to pieces under this one strike.

With a thunderous clamor!

The two iron secret doors fell downwards, revealing an open passage.

"..."

Meng Lu suddenly felt his mouth dry up, his eyes filled with shock.

Great Commander Zhao Zhou paused for a moment before saying to Meng Lu, "In fact, I could have done it myself, but I hadn’t found the exact location of the ’secret door’ and feared making too much noise might startle the enemy..."

As he said this, he couldn’t help but glance at Lin Yan.

But Lin Yan didn’t seem to be listening and headed straight toward the secret door, jumping down without hesitation.

"Colonel Meng, you stay here and guard," Great Commander Zhao Zhou said, following Lin Yan’s lead.

Inside the secret passageway, it was dim and silent.

Lin Yan, with night vision, looked ahead.

Great Commander Zhao Zhou, on the other hand, took out a fire torch, lifted the cover, and blew a flame to life.

The passage was lit with a dim yellow glow.

The scene ahead was illuminated.

This secret passageway was about ten feet high and eight feet wide.

There were stone steps winding forward, descending gradually as if leading to an endless abyss.

The stench of blood was particularly strong, along with the smell of decay.

A cold and gloomy wind swept through, causing one to shiver involuntarily.

"Is there wind at the end of the passage?"

The Great Commander Zhao Zhou showed a look of surprise.

But he noticed that Lin Yan was looking down at his feet.

The stone steps beneath their feet seemed to be stained red.

"It’s bloodstains, both old and fresh, but they have never cleaned them up," said Lin Yan as he continued forward along the steps.

After about thirty steps, on both sides of the corridor, two distorted figures appeared, embedded in the walls.

"They were live people molded into the walls."

In the eyes of Great Commander Zhao Zhou, anger flashed as he suppressed his voice and said, "A man and a woman, seems like some kind of sacrificial ritual?"

Lin Yan didn’t reply, but just gripped the knife in his hand more tightly and kept walking forward.

Thirty-three steps later, there were another man and woman molded on both sides of the walls.

But this couple had smaller bones; they were younger.

Another thirty-three steps forward, there was yet another couple, even younger this time.

After another thirty-three steps, it was recognizable that they were boys and girls under ten years old.

"Every thirty-three steps, there is a man and a woman, the further forward, the younger they are," said Lin Yan as he took a deep breath and continued forward with Zhao Zhou.

At the end of the passage, they found infants newly born cast into the walls on both sides.

Outside the passage was an extremely spacious underground chamber, with nine tower-like sacrificial altars built within.

The edge of each altar had burning flames, illuminating this otherwise very dim chamber.

Between the nine altars, there were wide trenches connecting to each other, flowing with crimson blood.

The extent of the space here made it seem as if half of a slaughterhouse underground had been hollowed out.

In all four directions of the chamber, there was a passage leading here.

Lin Yan and Zhao Zhou had entered the chamber from the passage to the south.

"Quite the grand scheme," Lin Yan said gravely, "Their power is much greater than we anticipated."

"In my life, I fear not powerful demons or dying on the front lines," declared the Great Commander Zhao Zhou, his gaze becoming extremely complicated, "But what I truly fear is an enemy hidden within the city..."

"They are more ferocious than demons, more malicious than evil spirits, hidden among the common folk, constantly instilling fear and suspicion in us, preventing unity of hearts."

"They are not only difficult to distinguish but could very likely be making you and me serve ’him’ with a single command!"

"I dare not forget the chaos in High Willow City to this day."

Great Commander Zhao Zhou had experienced the turmoil of those days, so he knew the horrors of ’Tribulation Ash’ far better than Lin Yan!

He clenched the knife in his hand, took a deep breath, and suddenly asked, "How many steps did we walk through the passage we just came from?"

"Three hundred and thirty steps," Lin Yan said in a deep voice.

"Men and women, old and young, twenty lives lost."

With a low tone, Zhao Zhou looked towards the other three passages, suppressing the anger in his heart and coldly said, "Four passages, eighty lives, what exactly do they want to do?"

"To be precise, this place has been built for forty-six years, and a total of three hundred and sixty-five people have been buried here."

Just then, a figure emerged above one of the sacrificial towers in front, looking down from afar.

He appeared middle-aged, his tone calm as he eerily said, "Each person was carefully selected material, not necessarily from High Willow City, some were also personally delivered by me..."

"The shopkeeper of the Liyang business?"

Great Commander Zhao Zhou clearly recognized the other party and said with a firm voice, "Your forces from outside High Willow City are also involved here?"

"Although I am not from High Willow City, my grandfather was buried within this city, and now that someone is willing to help me take revenge, how can I not offer them my full support?"

The shopkeeper of the Liyang business wore a smile, saying, "What’s more important is that they possess many secret techniques and have the altars here, which can help me break through the limits of human capability! Just for this kindness alone, I deem it worth my while to pluck your heads for them..."

With these words, he threw back his head and suddenly let out a roar.

The roar was no longer human, but instead a bestial howl.

His hands lifted, his skin peeled away, and his muscles distorted.

Blood-red flesh grew wildly in an instant.

In a blink, his form twisted, limbs grew robust, and claws and teeth sprouted.

In the blink of an eye, he had transformed into a beast with a body bloodied red and muscles writhing.

With a tiger’s build and a bear’s waist, he was as solid as a tower.

His face was fierce with sharp fangs and teeth.

In an instant, his eyes turned cold and cruel.

The creature bared its teeth in a grin, black saliva seeping between the sharp fangs, dripping down.

The ground emitted white smoke where it fell, the earth and rocks corroding instantly.

"I’ve been waiting for you both for quite some time now," it said.

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