Chapter 293 : Unfathomable Human Hearts
The merperson spoke without the slightest hesitation, appearing to be telling the truth. But precisely because it wasn't a lie, it made everyone more uneasy—spirit beasts' bloodlines were insufficient, sacrificing the merperson wouldn't be enough either, so what would suffice? He had gone to great lengths to lure them to this island specifically for sacrifice. Did it mean that only these cultivators' sacrifices would be enough?!
Everyone had reached this conclusion, causing immediate unrest.
The merperson watched coldly, the mockery on his face deepening, until someone delivered a harsh slap to the back of his head. He turned around angrily, again facing Jiang Mo, his arrogant demeanor instantly faltering: "I'm not lying. Everything I said is true."
Perhaps, but this fish clearly intended to sow discord, and he wasn't even trying to hide it.
Jiang Mo lifted him up again, her gaze ice-cold: "Sacrificing you isn't enough, but this altar was originally meant for sacrificing the merperson race. Throwing you onto it certainly wouldn't hurt... Don't you agree?"
He did agree; otherwise, when Jiang Mo previously carried him toward the activated altar, he wouldn't have been so terrified.
The merperson's expression changed several times. Seeing Jiang Mo rise into the air again, appearing about to throw him onto the altar, he became somewhat frantic and shouted: "Everything I said is true! Even if you throw me onto the altar, it still won't save any of you!"
Seeing this, Jiang Mo paused her movement, recognizing that this time he wasn't lying.
Yun Qingyue, having heard a brief explanation of events, stepped forward and asked the merperson: "You said earlier that for the past nine hundred years, spirit beasts were sacrificed. Why won't that work now?"
In Jiang Mo's hands, the merperson was like a fish in a tiger's mouth, appearing as dejected as a dead fish: "It won't work. The spirit beasts on this island already have insufficient bloodlines and cultivation levels; they're only useful for activating the altar. As for before, the previous sacrifices were deep-sea spirit beasts, at least at the Fusion realm, and many were needed each time." His gaze swept across everyone: "Can you capture such beasts?"
With this final question, everyone fell silent—even if they hadn't lost all their spiritual power, even at their peak, they couldn't capture numerous Fusion realm spirit beasts. After all, Peak Master Qingyu's cultivation was only at the Fusion realm, and the rest of the disciples were far from reaching that level.
Hearing this, Yun Qingyue's expression remained unchanged, as if she had anticipated such an answer, and asked: "For nine hundred years, deep-sea spirit beasts were sacrificed. Why has it changed this time?"
Upon hearing this, the merperson couldn't help but retort: "Why shouldn't it change? Do you want to wait until deep-sea spirit beasts go extinct before doing something else?"
Seeing him speak so rudely to her Senior Sister, Jiang Mo immediately became irritated. She threw the merperson to the ground and forcefully stomped on his chest: "Answer properly and behave yourself."
Jiang Mo's stomp wasn't light. Although her strength was considerably reduced in human form compared to her White Tiger form, with her spiritual power restored, the force of her stomp was no less powerful than in her original form. The merperson was nearly made to spit blood from the impact, his chest tight for quite some time before he recovered. He glared at Jiang Mo with deep resentment, truly meeting her vigilant gaze.
The merperson was startled and quickly averted his eyes: "Because the deep-sea spirit beasts refused." He coughed twice, caught his breath, and continued: "Spirit beasts don't cultivate easily, yet sacrifices occur every hundred years. The previous nine sacrifices have already severely weakened the deep-sea spirit beasts. They're unwilling to sacrifice themselves for the seal anymore. I had no choice, so I sent out the ghost ship to bring people back."
Hearing this, Jiang Mo had a thought: "Were you captured by them? Or were you placed under some restriction?"
The merperson was visibly surprised by her question, clearly indicating she had guessed correctly—it was true that merpeople could move through water like fish, but what could be said? Despite being the last hope for his race, he was still young, while among the deep-sea spirit beasts were those with profound cultivation. When one fish was surrounded by a group of Fusion and Grand Achievement realm spirit beasts, what room did he have to resist?
If the seal wasn't so critical, if he wasn't needed to conduct the sacrifices, the merperson would likely have become dried fish long ago! Finally, after gathering to discuss, everyone felt that humans shouldn't be allowed to stand aside and benefit, which led to the ghost ship incident.
Actually, apart from the ship itself being prepared by the merperson, everything else—including spreading rumors to attract cultivators—was the work of deep-sea spirit beasts.
Now that everything had been exposed by Jiang Mo, the merperson had nothing to hide and recounted the entire story. However, after finishing, he was still beaten by Jiang Mo, who complained that he was like toothpaste, only revealing a little bit at a time... Although neither the merperson nor the cultivators knew what toothpaste was, seeing the merperson beaten, everyone was quite pleased.
Despite the beating, with the altar activated, they couldn't ignore the current situation.
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Human hearts are perhaps the most fragile things under heaven when tested.
Initially, traveling together on the ghost ship and sharing the experience of being captured by natives, even the normally opposed righteous and demonic path cultivators had managed to coexist peacefully, creating a reasonably good atmosphere. But once the matter of sacrifice arose, the previously harmonious facade was instantly shattered. The cultivators quickly divided into two factions—righteous and demonic—and everyone regarded those around them with wariness.
In this tense atmosphere, Yun Qingyue's position became awkward—she was a Xuanqing Sect disciple and also the daughter of the Crimson Blood Sect Leader. Straddling both the righteous and demonic paths, standing on either side seemed inappropriate.
Having anticipated this awkwardness, Jiang Mo remained motionless, accompanying Yun Qingyue as they stood between the two sides. Facing the gazes from both parties, she snorted derisively: "What exactly are you fighting over? Who dies first? When the ghost ship came to the shore to pick people up, the numbers were calculated precisely. Everyone on the ship is a sacrifice; none will be spared. What's the point of arguing over sequence now?"
There was actually some point—what if the sacrifice didn't require everyone? Wouldn't those remaining be the lucky ones?
Though they thought this, everyone understood it was merely wishful thinking. Someone finally lost patience and angrily said: "If we don't fight, are you suggesting we voluntarily climb onto the altar to die?"
Jiang Mo had no response, because the current situation was truly unsolvable.
At that moment, someone from the demonic path couldn't hold back and launched the first attack. This broke the tense atmosphere, and no one was willing to listen to Jiang Mo and the others anymore. The two sides immediately began fighting, and blood was quickly shed—the altar initially required blood for sacrifice, which everyone understood clearly, and they all wanted to push their opponents to their deaths.
Seeing this, Jiang Mo and the others were utterly helpless, unsure whether intervening was appropriate. In the midst of this indecision, Jiang Mo suddenly heard the merperson whispering beside her: "Divine beast bloodlines are precious. If you were to sacrifice yourself, at least half the people here could be saved."
Not only did Jiang Mo hear this, but Yun Qingyue, Tan Xin, Zhu Baiyi, and Qingyu beside her heard it too.
Jiang Mo was speechless. Without hiding her actions from those present, she clenched her fist and gave the fish a severe beating—she wasn't ready to die yet, nor did she possess such a selfless spirit. Besides, speaking of bloodlines, her Senior Sister also carried demonic race blood. If this fish had managed to trick her, would the next step be to deceive her Senior Sister into death as well?!
The merperson's thoughts were quite transparent, at least in front of such experienced individuals, and his intentions were immediately obvious. Therefore, Qingyu and the others didn't intervene. If they hadn't needed to bring him back to explain about the seal, they might have already sacrificed him.
While Jiang Mo was mercilessly beating the merperson, and everyone else was fighting fiercely, someone was suddenly sent flying directly toward Jiang Mo.
It was a righteous path cultivator, more specifically a Xuanqing Sect disciple, who had earlier been exchanging pleasantries around Yun Qingyue. Normally, considering her identity or that slight acquaintance, Jiang Mo should have caught him. But as she turned and reached out, instead of catching him, she delivered a direct punch to his dantian.
The dantian gathers qi and serves as the central hub for spiritual energy circulation—an absolute foundation and vital point for cultivators.
In an instant, the cultivator whose dantian had been struck deflated like a punctured balloon, visibly weakening. He tightly grabbed Jiang Mo's arm and struggled to speak: "Why..."
Those nearby were stunned by this unexpected turn of events. As Jiang Mo coldly threw the person aside, he fell to the ground, and suddenly there was a "clang" of metal hitting the floor. Jiang Mo and the others looked toward the sound and saw a dagger falling from the person's sleeve—cultivators often engaged in battle, and they were fighting even now, so carrying weapons wasn't unusual. What was unusual was the faint green glow emanating from the dagger's blade.
Poisoning weapons was not the way of the righteous path, not to mention that Jiang Mo had sensed deeply hidden malice earlier!
Peak Master Qingyu immediately realized something was wrong. As an elder and protector of Xuanqing Sect disciples, she naturally stepped forward to inquire about the situation. However, just as she took a step, an unexpected change occurred...
This conflict was over the matter of sacrifice, but true sacrifice couldn't possibly use just blood. In fact, blood, flesh, and even souls were the best offerings during sacrifice. Because of this, people had been somewhat careful when fighting, mostly aiming to subdue their opponents rather than kill them outside the altar. But this tacit understanding couldn't be maintained. At the moment of unexpected change, many people suddenly launched lethal attacks against those beside them.
Some attacked enemies, while others attacked their own companions. The former was understandable, but the latter caught people completely off guard. Within moments, several corpses lay on the ground.
"Something's wrong! Stop everyone first!" Zhu Baiyi was the first to react and shouted.
Jiang Mo, with her Fusion realm cultivation and spiritual power restored through the Formation-Breaking Pearl, was among the most powerful present. Previously unsure of the strategy, upon hearing Zhu Baiyi's words, she instinctively took action.
Whether cultivators had spiritual power was crucial. With hundreds of people fighting chaotically, it might be difficult for someone else to stop them one by one, but for cultivators, it was essentially a matter of a single hand seal—as Jiang Mo formed a seal with her hands, a transparent barrier immediately appeared between the righteous and demonic factions. People could see through to the other side, but neither side could touch the other.
Qingyu saw this and breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could fully relax, there was suddenly a "pop" sound, and the barrier Jiang Mo had just erected was broken... even a slap to the face wouldn't come this quickly!