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Chapter 463 - 460: "You guys are painting too slowly.

Chapter 463: Chapter 460: "You guys are painting too slowly.

"Wait." Hearing Xiber speak, Su Ming’an’s first reaction was, "You can understand these words?"

The row of blood characters above the Raven’s head had not been translated by the system, signifying that it was a clue that needed decrypting and could not simply be read aloud.

"This is an ancient fantasy language. I’ve learned a bit... I know what you’re thinking, but the Raven, as a messenger of the deity, adheres to certain rules and only conveys certain information unidirectionally. It won’t answer the questions we ask," Xiber casually glossed over the topic.

She then shared some more important information with him.

"After the death of Bai Shen, His three major Authorities—’Protection’ represented by Black Lamb, ’Curse’ represented by Black Raven, and ’Destruction’ represented by Black Python—were dispersed and descended onto those whose abilities had affinity with Bai Shen’s."

For example, her brother Fengchang, had an affinity with one of the authorities, the Black Python, and controlled the "Destruction" power. If he succeeded in becoming the next Clan Leader, he would be able to fully control this power.

As for whom in this land of Qiongdi had affinity with the Black Lamb, and who with the Black Raven, she did not say, only that her brother was the representative of the Black Python.

"...this Sacrifice Field might be related to the power of the Black Lamb," she said. "These black altars could be manifestations of the ’Protection’ power."

Xiber explained briefly, but Su Ming’an had already deduced the background of this Sacrifice Field.

Since the altar was a manifestation of "Protection", a player who represents "Black Lamb" trying to repair the altar would be aligned with Bai Shen’s party.

Meanwhile, a "Cursed Ghost of Jiu Shen" aiming to kill the Black Lamb would belong to the Jiu Shen faction. Therefore, before the altars are repaired, the Cursed Ghost is favored by Jiu Shen, possessing a 500% boost in strength while all Black Lamb players suffer a 50% suppression in their strength.

After the eight altars are repaired, the power of the Black Lamb would be awakened, and this disparity in strength would be eliminated.

But with the Raven following him, Su Ming’an had acquired the aura of Bai Shen. Unlike being favored by Jiu Shen, he, just like the Black Lamb, suffered a 50% suppression in strength.

"However, think about it from the reverse. After they have painted all eight altars, as one favored by the Raven, you would temporarily be able to harness all the power of the repaired altars—meaning, after they repair the altars, you will gain a 500% boost in strength," Xiber said.

"So, my prime time to act would be after the eight altars are repaired and before the gate opens," Su Ming’an said.

"Yes," Xiber nodded in agreement.

Su Ming’an felt somewhat troubled.

His game objective remained the same, to prevent the twelve players from escaping. Therefore, he absolutely could not let the gate be successfully opened for them.

Before the altars were repaired, his strength was suppressed by 50%, after the altars were repaired, he enjoyed a 500% boost in strength.

Between the complete repair of the eight altars and the opening of the escape gate, there was a period of time. That was going to be his real opportunity to catch and kill.

"Ding-dong!"

As he thought this, he suddenly heard a system notification.

"Player detected at a critical location..."

"You have automatically accepted the Main Quest ’Day of Blossoming’ (2/3)"

"’Day of Blossoming · One’: Proceed to the First Tribe, retrieve the ’Black Python’ from the three major Authorities."

"’Day of Blossoming · Two (Part 1)’: Achieve victory in the current Sacrifice Field, retrieve the ’Black Lamb (Fragmented)’ from the three major Authorities."

"Mission description: Becoming a deity requires ’Energy, Faith, Authority’, and the Authorities of Bai Shen are divided into ’Black Lamb, Black Raven, Black Python’. Please begin by reclaiming the ’Black Python’ and ’Black Lamb’ Authorities belonging to Bai Shen."

[Task Reward: Skill Promotion Stone*2, 200 Points]

...

Su Ming’an had previously accepted a task to retrieve the "Black Python Authority" from the First Tribe. After learning that the Black Python Authority was with Fengchang, he had some hints about the task.

Now, he had taken on another task to retrieve the "Black Lamb Authority," and coincidentally, he had entered the sacrificial area of the Black Lamb Authority.

"Clang——!"

A sudden, ancient bell rang out.

"...Has it begun?" Xiber looked up.

At that moment, Su Ming’an’s view suddenly darkened.

The sky, previously swarming with bizarre creatures, now bore a bloody hue, as if a layer of blood-red paint had been smeared over it. The swaying wheat, green corn leaves, and the earthen houses sleeping under the night sky all seemed to have taken on a somber red tint.

This shade of red was familiar to him; it was the uncomfortable, blood-red he saw when he was in a low Sanity value state in White Sand Paradise.

He even smelled a mixture of earth and blood.

["Black Lamb and the Night of Dawn" Sacrifice Field, now initiating.]

A ghostly prompt sounded in his ear, as if something was breathing out the words.

He abruptly turned around, only to see Xiber standing not far away, holding a Soul Stone, her expression serene.

"Hmm?" She looked at him as he suddenly turned around, "What do you plan to do? The other twelve should have already begun their search for the pens and blood for the sacrificial altar drawings."

Su Ming’an thought it over.

...Because of the ongoing "Cursed Ghost and Hunter" instance, his strength had been boosted by 100%, but now this suppression of 50% had brought him back to square one. His current strength was still at its original level.

In a normal situation, even without the 500% after the altar drawings, he could wreak havoc. But this instance was different... Each player had a Guide by their side.

Those Guides had not had their strength reduced by 50%; they were still at their original levels. If the other players discovered that his strength hadn’t progressed, he couldn’t possibly withstand the onslaught of twelve unabated Guides.

Then, it wouldn’t be called a ghost hunting people. It would be people scouring the land for ghosts, and he could even be hung up, making the situation rather comical.

"Su Ming’an, are you thinking of... hiding until they finish drawing the eight altars before coming out?" Xiber said.

"No," Su Ming’an said, "Those players are very smart; if I don’t show up at all, they will surely sense something is wrong. Even if they listen to all the rules, they will consider the possibility of unusual circumstances."

...Moreover, considering the existence of special Props like "Map" on-site or some Abilities that might track the trace of ghosts from the Jiu Shen, he couldn’t afford to stand still.

"Hmm, I think so too, then what do you want to do?" Xiber said.

"...I’m thinking," Su Ming’an suddenly displayed a slight smile.

"...Bluffing," he said, "just like what Kael Nashe did before."

On hearing the name "Kael Nashe," Xiber suddenly remembered that Su Ming’an had never commented on her act of killing Kael Nashe.

She had thought he would feel pity for Kael Nashe, after all, in the aesthetic of these outsiders, a woman like Kael Nashe was very popular.

In fact, when Su Ming’an had seen Xiber kill Kael Nashe, the barrage in his streaming room indeed exploded.

The audience had just started to find Kael Nashe quite cute and quite endearing, even flaunting excessively as the first Guide, which really hit their cute spot. Xiber, who had just returned, shot her dead with a gun. They didn’t care who had struck first; as soon as they saw the girl they liked die, Xiber, whose personality kept changing and whom they already disliked, became extremely detestable to them.

Comments like "Poor Miss Kael Nashe, I actually liked her...", "Why won’t Xiber just die like bubblegum sticks?", "When will the next Guide change?" filled the streaming room.

Even now, there were people blasting Xiber, urging her to give her life in compensation for the one they liked, Kael Nashe.

While indeed some people felt "It was Kael Nashe who attacked first, and Xiber’s passive counterattack was justified", those who blasted her were the passionate audience, who only Cared about what they liked, disregarding what they didn’t accept, and as long as they didn’t accept, blasting became the only thing they could do.

In the global forums, someone said, "There are millions of fools in the world, and Su Ming’an’s streaming room holds half of them." Due to survivorship bias and the spotlight effect, these negative comments were particularly abundant in the streaming room. The atmosphere was several times more chaotic than in Lu’s streaming room.

"First, let’s target...the weakest player and make a statement," Su Ming’an replied to Xiber.

What he was thinking at this moment was to first demonstrate his strength.

At this stage, he could probably instantly kill those players who were ranked in the eighties or nineties.

So, he would start by killing one or two to intimidate others.

He looked up, his vision filled with many bloody red lights, those red lights represented the twelve altars distributed within the Sacrifice Field, being the Ghost of Jiu Shen, he could see through all the altars’ locations.

He started walking, heading towards the nearest altar, under Shadow State he had 10 points of agility, almost the same as a sprinting athlete’s full-speed running, but still on the level of an ordinary person. Even with a pair of shoes that increased movement speed, it was far from a 500% enhancement.

He could only pretend not to run at full strength, actually, under Shadow State, his physical condition was alarming.

"Trouble..." he thought, looking at the Raven on his shoulder still preening its feathers. It seemed unaware of the annoying thing it had done.

...This Raven, really adding trouble. Hopefully, it has some other use.

...

Majin was a player ranked around ninety-fifth. This ranking might seem like the peak to ordinary people, but for this competition, she was just bottom-tier.

Her Guide was ranked ninety-sixth, "Musician" Luo Yi, whose ability was to influence others with music. It didn’t have any decisive effect.

After the start, twelve players were randomly transported to various corners of this farm. She was currently near a small cabin, which had colorful underpants and jackets hanging outside, along with some greenish cloth napkins, but there was no one inside, only a window was open.

She had estimated that the farm stretched out over three thousand meters, and under normal circumstances, it would be hard for her to encounter other people.

"There’s an altar just inside the cabin, so close, I’m really lucky." Majin pushed the cabin’s door open, asking her Guide to keep watch outside.

Entering the cabin, she saw a strangely shaped black altar placed in the middle of the cabin. The altar’s weathered condition was still decent, needing about half of its patterns redrawn.

She took out the carving pen she found at the door, approached the altar, and decided to try using animal blood first.

Carving the altar required a pen and blood, some high-level pens could speed up the carving process, but she did not plan to spend extra time looking for a pen now. As for blood, coincidentally, she brought some herself due to her professional reasons, needing some blood to enhance her strength, so her backpack already contained packs of blood from animals like chickens and dogs.

She took out a blood pack, approached the carving pen, which then automatically absorbed the blood from the pack, turning bright red; she began tracing the dim traces on the altar.

[You are carving the altar, current progress: 53％]

[The props you used are (Ordinary Sketching Pen), (Ordinary Animal Blood); Carving efficiency: Extremely low.]

...

Majin painstakingly traced the blurred marks, finding it incredibly slow. Her hand felt as if it was glued in place, barely able to move, requiring a long time to make just one stroke.

"This is way too slow..." Watching as five minutes had already passed and the altar’s progress was still stuck at 53%, she realized that the pen and blood she was using weren’t suitable, and she needed to find better props.

Just as she was about to get up, she suddenly noticed a hand reaching over her right shoulder, grasping the hand with which she held the pen, and guiding her to resume the carving.

"Whoosh—"

A long crimson trace emerged above the altar, but this stroke didn’t follow the altar’s markings at all and instead shot out directly, leaving behind a discordant splash of blood red.

"Bang!"

The altar in front of her exploded with a sound, and the progress directly reverted to 50%. The discordant mark also slowly faded away.

"What are you doing!" Majin frowned. Since the guide Luo Yi hadn’t alarmed her, the one who had come must be a teammate. But this teammate was really acting bizarrely, not using their own pen and instead mishandling hers to draw on the altar, and even going off track.

She suddenly turned around and saw a somewhat unfamiliar face.

Through the blood-red vision, the person was extremely close to her, their pale eyes watching her as if observing an ant, resembling a deity looking down on all creatures.

White hair fluttered in front of her eyes, sweeping across her eyebrows.

A shotgun was now pressed against her head.

The guide Luo Yi, who should have emitted a warning, was leaning against the door of the cabin, seemingly frozen, unable to even move his eyeballs. The scene looked bizarre to the extreme.

Seeing Xiber suddenly approaching, Majin’s face turned pale instantly.

...

"Ah—!"

All the players who were active in the blood-drenched sacrificial field heard a scream at the same time.

The sound rang in their minds, not emanating from any specific direction, and it was impossible to tell whether it came from a man, woman, young or old, as if it was an intentional warning for them.

At the same time, in the upper right corner of their vision, the blood-red numbers slowly shifted once.

...

...

[Current count of altars carved: 0]

[Current surviving "Black Sheep": 11/12]

[Time until dawn arrives: 7 hours 48 mins]