RAD Chapter 77

The 7-day National Day holiday officially began. Luo Xiao and Ye Lan discussed it and decided to go out and play during this vacation. Of course, they wouldn’t go to those famous scenic spots, they didn’t want to be squeezed into human meat sandwiches.

So, under the leadership of Ye Lan, a native of B city, they came to an ancient temple with beautiful scenery but not yet developed.

Speaking of this ancient temple, Ye Lan said that he accidentally discovered it, and he didn’t expect the surrounding scenery to be so good. At this time of the year, it was the season of osmanthus fragrance and crabapple blossoms. Fresh flowers bloom were all over the mountains and fields. The scene was extremely beautiful.

Walking on the small path in the forest, Luo Xiao and Ye Lan were immersed in this beautiful scenery. But unexpectedly, at this moment, Luo Xiao stepped on something unknown, and there was a cracking sound, and he fell down uncontrollably. Ye Lan reacted quickly, but due to inertia, the two of them fell down together. Fortunately, the height was not very high. The two of them fell to the ground without serious injuries, but there were still many bruises.

Under the dim light coming from the hole above, Luo Xiao and Ye Lan squinted their eyes and carefully examined the place. This was obviously a man-made tunnel. Judging from the traces on the tunnel, it seemed to have been built for quite some time now. It’s just that they didn’t know who built this tunnel.

The two looked at each other, looking at the long tunnel in front of them, both had a curious desire to try. After discussing it, they decided to carefully explore the tunnel.

Ye Lan protected Luo Xiao behind him, holding his hand and carefully walking forward along the wall. As they went deeper, the light in the tunnel became dimmer and dimmer until it was completely dark.

In this dark tunnel, vision was no longer of any use. They could only rely on hearing and touch. But even so, Luo Xiao and Ye Lan were not very afraid, because the person they loved the most was by their side, so what was there to be afraid of?

After walking for about ten minutes, Luo Xiao relied on his keen hearing and vaguely heard a faint sound in the distance. He grabbed Ye Lan’s hand and used his spiritual power on his ears. The weak sound gradually became clearer.

“Hurry up, move faster. If the master comes and sees that we haven’t finished, she definitely won’t let us go.”

“I know, I know, I’m already speeding up the process.”

Luo Xiao adhered to the principle of caution did not openly tell Ye Lan what he had heard, but silently told him by writing in his palm. Ye Lan immediately understood that this was not a simple matter. It seemed that they had accidentally stumbled into someone else’s lair.

Since they had come this far, they felt a little regretful to turn back without knowing what was going on. Luo Xiao organized the various things his master had given him and put them into the peach tree space using his mind. After knowing what was going on, the two of them decided to continue forward after some discussion.

However, before leaving, Luo Xiao still quietly took out two of his master’s prized creations from his space–the Concealment Talisman. The so-called Concealment Talisman can conceal the user’s aura, sound, and make them appear invisible. But the Concealment Talisman is complicated and time-consuming to make, and consumes a lot of energy, so Mr. Huo only made eight of them in total. He gave Luo Xiao three, kept two for himself, and the remaining three were divided among Old Man Ouyang and the others.

Moreover, the duration of the Concealment Talisman is limited. It can only last for four hours at a time. If the time is too long, after the effect wears off, they can only rely on their own luck.

Luo Xiao used the two Concealment Talisman on the two of them, and then followed the sound and walked with Ye Lan. They found that the end of the tunnel was a cave about 100 square meters in area. In the center was a circular sacrificial altar built of stones. Several black-robed figures with totem-patterned masks were placing two young girls side by side on it. Based on the calm and peaceful expressions of the two girls and the rise and fall of their chests, Luo Xiao could tell that they had been drugged and were not in immediate danger.

Then those few men in black robes respectfully walked down from the altar, lowered their heads, and stood motionless, as if waiting for someone’s arrival.

It wasn’t long before footsteps were heard approaching from afar. Luo Xiao and Ye Lan tensed up and immediately found a place to hide. They knew that the so-called master had arrived.

After seeing the master’s true appearance, Luo Xiao and Ye Lan couldn’t help but widen their eyes in disbelief. They exchanged a glance. Well, it seems that they were not hallucinating.

Seeing those burly men in black robes respectfully bowing before a three-headed pink doll was quite a visual shock.

“How is the matter progressing?” The pink doll asked indifferently with a slight raise of her eyelids. If Zhang Meng had not died and were still here, she would have been surprised to find that this voice was the same as that adult’s voice from before. But it was obviously a woman at the beginning, how come it was now a child doll?

Let’s leave this matter for later and focus on what Luo Xiao and Ye Lan are facing now. A man in a black robe stepped forward and respectfully replied, “Master, everything is developing according to your plan.”

“Mm.” The pink doll nodded and then waved her hand, “Then let’s begin.”

“Yes, master.” The man in the black robe waved his hand, and the men in black took their positions around the altar. He then stepped onto the altar, took out a shiny small knife, and made a cut on the wrists of the two women, allowing their blood to slowly flow along the dark grooves on the altar surface.

After stepping down from the altar, all the people in black robes began to chant spells in an unknown language. As time passed, the two women on the altar became paler and paler. Luo Xiao could clearly feel their life force diminishing.

However, with just the two of them against more than ten people, they were clearly at a disadvantage. Moreover, judging from the situation, these people in black robes were cultivators, making their disadvantage even more obvious. Not only could they not go rescue the two women, but their own safety was also in question. After all, the ritual had been going on for nearly two hours.

“Xiao Xiao, what should we do now?” Ye Lan frowned as he looked at the situation in front of him. Although he felt sorry for the two innocent women, he would not play the role of a saint, especially when it would endanger their own lives. Even if someone called him cold-blooded, he would accept it.

Luo Xiao sensed the distance between their hiding place and the entrance to the tunnel. Yes, that’s right. Since there was no place to hide in the tunnel, for safety’s sake, the of them had hidden there even though they were using a concealment talisman. After all, who could guarantee that there were no special formations in this cave that could render their concealment talisman ineffective?

Fortunately, their hiding place was less than 10 meters from the tunnel entrance, but it would still be a bit challenging to leave without alerting anyone. Of course, they had another choice, which was to wait for everyone to leave and then depart. However, the prerequisite was that these people in black robes could leave within the next hour, or their concealment talisman would become ineffective.

Luo Xiao pondered carefully and then looked at the items in his space again. The concealment talisman had only one left, which definitely wouldn’t be enough for the two of them. There were some defensive and offensive magical tools, but the problem was that the quantity was limited and the quality wasn’t high, so they wouldn’t last long. Moreover, once these magical tools were used, they would definitely be detected, exposing their location. There was no way around it. These magical tools required spiritual power to use, and cultivators were extremely sensitive to spiritual power.

Just as Luo Xiao and Ye Lan were about to take the risk of trying to leave, they found that the movements of those black-robed people had stopped. The two women on the sacrificial altar had been carried away. A short black-robed man soon came over and skillfully bandaged their wounds and fed them medicine. It seemed they could still be saved.

At this moment, a red glow started emanating from the sacrificial altar, accompanied by a sound. The altar surface began slowly sinking down until a hole appeared on the ground. Based on the sound, something seemed to be slowly rising up. Sure enough, before long, a crystal coffin slowly appeared before their eyes.

Luo Xiao and Ye Lan watched as the pink doll rushed over with an affectionate look at the person lying inside. Due to the angle, they couldn’t clearly see the face of the person inside. But based on the child doll’s address, it seemed to be her mother.

“Master, the time has come.” The black-robed person beside her suddenly spoke up to remind her.

The pink doll reluctantly took one more look at the person lying on the coffin, then closed her eyes and nodded. Soon, the crystal coffin slowly sank back down, and the sacrificial altar reappeared.

“Master, this is your medicine.” The short black-robed man carefully handed her a bowl of bright red liquid.

What happened next left Luo Xiao and Ye Lan utterly shocked. After drinking the medicine, the doll-like figure began rapidly growing and developing. In the blink of an eye, the doll disappeared and was replaced by a beautiful young woman in her twenties–the adult form that Zhang Meng had previously seen.

After instructing the black-robed people to continue as planned, the woman turned and left. The black-robed people also left soon after she departed, leaving the cave silent and empty.

Luo Xiao and Ye Lan looked at the cave that suddenly became empty and quiet. They didn’t bother to examine anything and followed the same path to leave the cave. Fortunately, the entrance had not yet closed, and they were able to quickly climb out with their agility. At the cave entrance, Luo Xiao crouched down and felt the ground carefully. Just as he expected, he found an inconspicuous sunken rock. He pressed on it and saw that the entrance of the cave closed up again. If they hadn’t fallen in earlier, it would have been impossible to notice the mechanism.

After memorizing this location, the two left the place. Their relaxing vacation came to an end. They had to inform Mr. Huo and the others, as it was clear that the people they just encountered were not from any upright sects!