Big Guy's body swayed, and he dropped to one knee, looking as though he had also been affected.
But only he knew that the impact inside his body had weakened by seventy percent in less than two breaths. The remaining strength was just enough for him to put on a convincing show of being affected.
The 5th-Rank peak demon was the only one who hadn't succumbed.
His dark red shield had blocked most of the golden points of light, with only a few stray specks brushing against the outside of his arm.
But that level of contact was not enough to produce any noticeable effect.
He glanced back at his collapsed companions, then turned his gaze back to Jiang Lin, a trace of gravity flashing in his dark red eyes.
“Where... did you learn that move?”
Jiang Lin did not answer.
He took a step forward, his figure vanishing from beside the altar. In the next instant, he appeared right beside the demon.
Instant Light Flash, single use.
“It doesn't matter what the move is called. What matters is that you won't have another chance to ask.”
The moment he finished speaking, the 5th-Rank peak demon stopped trying to understand what was happening.
He had seen plenty of people making a living within the secret cult—vicious ones, insidious ones, crazy ones.
But this guy before him, clearly only at the early stage of the 3rd-Rank, possessed speed and precision that far exceeded the boundaries of his rank. This prompted the demon to make a swift decision.
He abandoned his twitching, writhing companions behind him and focused all his attention on Jiang Lin. Gathering power in his right arm, dark red magic essence condensed into a dense, keratinous layer over his fist as he punched straight toward Jiang Lin's face.
Jiang Lin did not retreat.
He didn't even turn his body, merely tilting his head slightly to let the fist graze past his ear. The wind of the punch scraped a shallow groove into the stone wall behind him.
At this distance, Jiang Lin could clearly see the lingering shock and doubt in the demon's pupils.
He naturally raised his left hand, spreading his fingers, and pressed them against the inside of the demon's right elbow joint, which had not yet been fully retracted after the punch.
The force was not great, but the angle was incredibly tricky.
The demon's arm was swept aside by half an inch, shifting his center of gravity slightly forward and exposing a gap under his ribs.
Jiang Lin's right knee was already driving in.
He struck right at the junction of the ribs and abdomen, controlling his strength with extreme precision.
It was enough to cause hairline fractures and excruciating pain in the demon's ribs, but not enough to be fatal.
The demon let out a muffled groan, his body arching as he stumbled.
He wanted to retreat and open up some distance, but Jiang Lin didn't give him the time.
Clamping his left hand onto the demon's wrist, Jiang Lin's right palm slammed into the side of his neck.
As the palm struck, a dark red shield briefly flickered in that area before being forcefully crushed.
The demon's pupils dilated instantly. His body swayed, his knees buckled, and he knelt heavily on the ground.
He still tried to struggle, dark red magic essence surging across his skin, but Jiang Lin had already gripped several key acupoints on the back of his neck.
Applying pressure with his fingertips, a sliver of ice soul power seeped in. The flow of magic essence inside the demon's body instantly ground to a halt like a dammed river.
Those dark red eyes slowly lost focus. His body slumped forward, collapsing onto the gravel floor. He was still breathing, but he had completely lost the ability to resist.
Standing beside the barely conscious body, Jiang Lin looked down to confirm his breathing and heartbeat.
Alive, but he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon.
He turned around and scanned the sunken area.
The dark red glow of the altar was still pulsing steadily.
The figures strewn across the ground had stopped twitching. Most were in a semi-conscious state, with only a few letting out incoherent groans.
The 6th-Rank early stage demon was among them. Having taken the brunt of the light points, he was currently curled up against the base of the wall. His face was flushed purple, his hands clutching his stomach tightly. His body shuddered occasionally, and raspy, disjointed gasps escaped his throat.
Selene was kneeling not far away, completely drained of the strength to stand.
Her shortsword lay discarded beside her hand. Her fingertips twitched slightly as she gasped for air like a fish out of water, her breathing rapid and shallow.
The other two Holy Son candidates slumped against the rock wall. One lay motionless on his side, while the other was still mumbling something in a low voice, like a man talking in his sleep.
Big Guy knelt on one knee beside the altar, his hands resting on his knees, head lowered as he breathed heavily.
However, he sneaked a glance at Jiang Lin before quickly casting his eyes down again.
Jiang Lin didn't pay him much attention. He walked over and squatted in front of Selene, reaching out to grasp her wrist as if to help her up.
“Drake... you...”
Her voice was hoarse, trembling with a mix of anger and terror.
“It's over.”
Jiang Lin's voice was calm, as if he were truly comforting a frightened teammate.
“Everything is taken care of. Rest for a bit...”
As he spoke, his left hand pressed against the back of Selene's neck, and a thread-thin trace of ice soul power silently seeped in.
Selene's body stiffened slightly. Her heavy eyelids closed, and she lost consciousness.
Jiang Lin gently laid her flat on the ground, then walked toward the other two Holy Son candidates.
Using the same method, he struck each of them once, sending them into a deep coma from which they wouldn't wake anytime soon.
He walked back to the altar, squatted down, and pressed his right hand into the indentation at the top.
The dark red crystals warmed slightly under his palm. The brightness of the rune lines was stable and uniform. The entire altar was in excellent condition, more than enough to support a high-intensity sacrificial ritual.
He flipped open the thin sacrificial manual once more, verifying the prayer he needed to chant to ensure every syllable was precise. Then he looked up at Big Guy.
Big Guy had already stood up. Brushing the dust off his knees, he walked over and lowered his voice:
“You plan to sacrifice them all?”
“Yes. Living sacrifices yield the best results. Sacrificing all of these people and demons together will bring in far greater rewards than dealing with them individually.”
Big Guy's gaze swept over the unconscious and semi-conscious figures on the ground. He remained silent for a moment.
“And how do we explain this afterward?”
“Five Holy Son candidates went out on a mission and were ambushed by demons deep in the mine. Selene and the other two didn't survive the chaotic battle, leaving only you and me. We also managed to kill all the demons in retaliation. This story will hold up under scrutiny.”
Big Guy thought it over for a moment, asked no further questions, and retreated to the edge of the altar.
He couldn't help much with the ritual, but he would ensure no unexpected disruptions occurred while it was underway.
Jiang Lin refocused his attention on the altar.
Following the steps in the manual, he activated the seven nodes along the edge of the altar one by one.
Dark red light spread along the patterns on the ground, enveloping the entire sunken area in a shifting shroud of luminescence.
The figures curled on the ground began to twitch unconsciously. Dark red threads were drawn from their bodies, rising like wisps of wind-blown smoke to slowly merge into the vortex at the top of the altar.
The ritual lasted for about the time it took to drink a cup of tea.
When the final ray of dark red light vanished into the top of the altar, nothing remained on the ground.
Their bodies left behind not a single trace, having been entirely sacrificed and converted into pure energy that flowed into the core of the altar.
Jiang Lin felt a warm current surge from the base of the altar into his body, traveling along his meridians before finally settling into the Demon Lord Seed in his heart.
This power was far more concentrated than the one in Anvil Town. After all, the sacrifices included 5th-Rank and 6th-Rank individuals, which were of vastly superior quality.
His total magic essence surged once more, pushing his rank a small step forward from the 5th-Rank early stage toward the 5th-Rank mid-stage.
He stood up, withdrawing his hand from the altar.
The dark red light faded layer by layer, the runes dimmed, and the temperature of the altar's surface rapidly cooled.
“Is it over?”
Big Guy's voice came from behind him.
“It's over.”
Big Guy walked over to the altar, looking down at the ring of dimmed runes on the ground, then glanced around at the empty stone walls.
The sunken area, which had been littered with over a dozen bodies just moments ago, was now completely clean, leaving not even a scrap of cloth behind.
“This whole process... how long did you practice it?”
“Not long. Just followed the manual.”
Jiang Lin squatted down and began to deal with the altar itself.
He retrieved a purification reagent from his spatial ring and dripped a few drops onto the base of the altar. Fine white bubbles immediately began to fizz on the stone surface, which corroded, cracked, and crumbled at a visible rate.
Within moments, the altar had turned into a pile of grayish-white stone powder.
He walked another lap around the sunken area, using the same method to erase the remaining rune lines on the ground.
With all traces thoroughly expunged, the place looked like an ordinary cavern that had never hosted an altar.
He returned to Big Guy's side.
“Let's go. It's time to head back.”
The two of them walked out along the side path, one after the other.
The journey back was much quieter than their entry. Their footsteps echoed between the narrow rock walls, with the occasional pebble rolling from beneath their feet, clattering down the slope into the depths.
Walking half a step behind Jiang Lin, Big Guy remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“What do you plan to do after we return?”
“First, we report back to the Candidate Hall. We'll say we ran into a demon ambush and couldn't save our three teammates.” Jiang Lin paused. “As for what happens after that, we'll see how the Bishop decides to handle it.”
Big Guy asked nothing more.
They traversed the main channel, retracing their steps toward the mine entrance.
By the time the dim, gray light gave way to actual sunshine, the sky outside the entrance indicated it was late afternoon.
The north wind swept over the barren slope, carrying the scent of dry grass and soil.
The two stepped out of the entrance, standing in the sunlight for a moment as they looked back at the deep, dark opening of the mine.
“Let's go.”
Jiang Lin took the lead, heading back along the path they had come.
The moment the sunlight hit his face, Jiang Lin squinted slightly, taking a moment to adjust to the brightness. Then, he slowed his pace and deliberately made his breathing a bit heavier.
While dismantling the altar, he had already dirtied and creased his robes in several places, making it look as though he had been through a fierce battle.
Big Guy made similar adjustments, intentionally tearing a gash in his left sleeve and rubbing a streak of dirt onto the back of his hand to mimic a scrape.
Side by side, they walked away from the mine entrance and back down the dirt road. Their pace was slightly faster than before, carrying the tense urgency of survivors who had narrowly escaped death.
After walking for about half an hour, a patrol appeared around a bend in the dirt road ahead.
Three secret cult patrol riders dressed in dark gray short robes reined in their horses upon seeing the two walking from the direction of the mine. One of them dismounted and blocked their path.
“What happened?”
Jiang Lin stopped and looked up, his face painted with exhaustion and a suppressed, heavy gloom.
He remained silent for two breaths before speaking in a hoarse voice.
“We were ambushed in the mine. Demons. Selene and the other two Holy Son candidates didn't make it out.”
The patrol rider's expression shifted. Rather than immediately pressing for details, he turned to exchange a look with the other two riders before turning his gaze back to Jiang Lin and Big Guy.
“Come with me to Shadow City. The Bishop wants to question you personally.”
The two followed the patrol riders' horses, walking along the dirt road toward Shadow City.
Jiang Lin walked in the middle of the group, his steps slightly heavy and his head lowered, playing the part of a survivor who had just witnessed the deaths of his comrades.
Big Guy walked slightly behind and to his side, maintaining a similarly somber silence.
In a room on the third floor of the Shadow City Cathedral, the Bishop leaned back in his chair. His dark gold eyes swept back and forth across the two of them, his fingers resting still on the armrests.
His voice was even:
“You say you ran into a demon ambush in the mine.”
“Yes.” Jiang Lin stood in the center of the room, his head slightly lowered. “When the five of us reached the end of the main channel, we discovered a group. Eleven cultists and four demons making a private deal. We didn't want to alert them, so we retreated first, intending to return and report. But we were spotted when we tried to take a detour.”
“And then?”
“Then a fight broke out. The tunnels in the mine were too narrow, and they outnumbered us. They also had two 5th-Rank demons. Selene was blindsided by a demon from the flank and went down immediately. The other two Holy Son candidates were separated from us in the chaos. We checked later, and we could no longer sense their presence in the mine.”
He paused, his voice dropping slightly.
“Hawke and I managed to retreat in the confusion, and we didn't stop running until we reached the entrance.”
The Bishop did not speak.
His gaze lingered on Jiang Lin for a long moment, as if searching for any inconsistencies in his words.
Ultimately, he didn't press further, only giving a slight nod.
“I will send men to investigate the mine. Go back and rest first. Do not wander around for the next couple of days.”
Jiang Lin and Big Guy acknowledged his words in unison, then turned and walked out of the room.
Over the next two days, Jiang Lin complied with the Bishop's orders and did not leave the vicinity of the Candidate Hall.
He and Big Guy maintained a careful distance—neither too close nor too distant.
They sat in the same row during daily lectures, and during practice matches, they were occasionally paired up, pulling their strikes after exchanging a few casual blows.
Their unspoken understanding required no extra communication; a single look or a barely perceptible nod was enough to convey everything.
On the afternoon of the third day, the men the Bishop had sent to investigate the mine returned.
Jiang Lin was currently squatting in a corner of the courtyard, wiping down a dagger he had drawn from the storeroom.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a figure in a dark gray short robe entering through the side gate. The man walked straight across the courtyard and headed up the stairs to the third floor of the cathedral.
...
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