Chapter 26

After watching for a while, Gui Bu Gui muttered to himself, "It seems that just spending money isn't enough to buy this fangshi's head."

After a while, the steward had already circled around the altar. The terracotta soldiers inside showed no signs of movement. Just as the steward was about to return, Gui Bu Gui, standing at the entrance of the passage, suddenly said, "Walk through it again, but this time, go horizontally."

The steward had no intention of ending after just one round, so he had no objections. Returning to the starting point, he walked down and entered the terracotta soldiers horizontally. After this trip, there was still no abnormality. Even Wu Mian thought they were just terracotta soldiers and that there would be no further issues. Suddenly, the bronze box around the steward's body paused, then, as if losing external force, it swayed a few times and slowly hung at his waist.

"Something's wrong!" the steward suddenly shouted loudly, "My body is stiff, I can't move!" As he spoke, his body tilted to one side and he fell to the ground. When he fell, the steward still maintained the posture he had before speaking, as if frozen, lying straight on the ground.

The moment the steward fell, a strong aura of evil emanated from the terracotta soldiers around him. This evil aura invaded the steward. If it weren't for the pale green smoke enveloping him, the steward would have already been covered by the evil aura. Even so, the pale green smoke was forced to shrink into a thin layer around the steward.

Finally, something unusual happened, and now they had a target. Wu Mian coldly snorted, took out the dagger he had obtained in Miaojiang, and was about to enter the altar. But he was suddenly stopped by Gui Bu Gui. The old man's smile disappeared, and he said with a serious face, "If I were you, I'd look carefully before entering."

Wu Mian rolled his eyes and looked at Gui Bu Gui, saying, "What else do you know?"

As he stared at Gui Bu Gui, the old man was looking at the spot where the steward had fallen, and said, "This place was originally where prisoners and slaves were sacrificed to the heavens. Where are those corpses now?"

After hearing Gui Bu Gui's words, Wu Mian raised his eyebrows and immediately understood the old man's meaning. His pupils constricted, and he said, word by word, "The corpses are sealed inside the terracotta soldiers." He paused, then turned his head to look at the spot where the steward had fallen, and continued, "After the sacrifice, the offerings were preserved inside the terracotta soldiers, and their resentment was sealed. Then the offerings were used to guard this place, to prevent anyone from intruding. One thing leads to another, who has the ability to set up such an array?"

"This array was created within the last hundred years; otherwise, I wouldn't have failed to recognize it. I thought it was the old man Xu Fu's doing, but it seems I wronged him," Gui Bu Gui said, then turned to look at Wu Mian, "If the Great Fangshi were to preside over the sacrifice, who would he bring?"

Without waiting for Wu Mian's answer, he turned his head back and, looking at the densely packed terracotta soldiers inside, said to himself, "Not bad, Guangren."

As he spoke, the bronze box in the steward's hand suddenly burst into flames. The pale green smoke that had been emanating from it instantly turned deep green, the color deepening until it was as dark as ink, and it actually dispersed the layers of evil aura surrounding it.

The steward, lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes. He scrambled to his feet, dragging his almost crippled injured leg, and ran towards Wu Mian and Gui Bu Gui.

Seeing the sudden new changes with the steward, Gui Bu Gui was more alarmed than pleased. His smile vanished completely, and he shouted at the steward, who had already run more than a dozen steps, "Don't move, just lie down! You're provoking these offerings! Damn it! It's too late..."

At this point, the steward was already panicked. He didn't hear Gui Bu Gui clearly; he only knew that he would be safe if he reached Wu Mian and Gui Bu Gui. However, the steward didn't notice that as he ran past the terracotta soldiers, their armor began to crack and fall off.

Just as the steward was about to reach the end of the terracotta soldiers' formation, and just a few more steps would bring him to Wu Mian and Gui Bu Gui, he saw the exit in front of him and relaxed a bit. Suddenly, his shoulder tightened as if grabbed by something. As he reflexively turned to look back, a blood-soaked, flesh-covered skeleton was already behind him.

This person's skin had been completely stripped away, leaving only a skeleton wrapped in blood and organs. He was the closest to the steward, and behind him were seven or eight more skinless people approaching. The sight terrified the steward to the extreme. His feet stumbled, and he fell to the ground again. He hit his head on a protruding rock, and then everything went black as he fainted.

After the steward fainted, the terracotta soldiers behind him stopped cracking. However, the few skinless people who had appeared just as the steward fainted suddenly lost consciousness and wandered aimlessly.

At this moment, Gui Bu Gui finally breathed a sigh of relief. The distance between the steward's fallen position and where they were was only a dozen or so yards. Some of the skinless people had already reached the entrance of the passage. They circled around outside the entrance in front of Wu Mian and Gui Bu Gui and then left.

Wu Mian had already prepared to fight these skinless people, but at the last moment, he was stopped by Gui Bu Gui. The old man said, "Their range of activity is limited to the altar. They can't come over here. Look at their faces. Without skin, they have lost their senses. As long as you don't go in, they can't do anything to you."

Wu Mian glanced at Gui Bu Gui and said in his characteristic tone, "If we don't go in, why are we here?"

Gui Bu Gui shaded his eyes and looked inside, saying, "First, we need to find the core of the array. Once we destroy the core, these skinless people will fall apart on their own."

While Gui Bu Gui was speaking, Wu Mian suddenly stepped out of the passage and entered the altar's range. As soon as he entered, the skinless people almost simultaneously turned around, their eyes fixed on Wu Mian, and they made a hissing sound.

Wu Mian ignored them and walked a few steps to the steward. He grabbed the steward's good leg and dragged him quickly towards the entrance of the passage.

Before Wu Mian could take another step, the skinless people suddenly attacked, rushing towards him at an unimaginable speed. In the blink of an eye, the first skinless person was already behind him, reaching out to grab Wu Mian's back.

Without even looking, Wu Mian's body emitted several electric arcs, one of which struck the skinless person. "Sizzle!" The electric arc illuminated the entire altar, and a pungent smell of burning filled the air.

Wu Mian thought this would solve the problem, but unexpectedly, the skinless person was only momentarily stunned and then continued to charge at Wu Mian.

Wu Mian frowned, released the steward, and dodged the skinless person's attack. He then drew his dagger and slashed at the skinless person's neck. "Thud!" The person's neck was severed, and his head fell off. The death of their companion did not affect the other skinless people, who all rushed towards Wu Mian.

Wu Mian snorted, grabbed the steward's good leg again, and threw him outside the passage. At this moment, the seven or eight skinless people had also arrived. Wu Mian's body twisted, and he disappeared from his original position, reappearing at the entrance of the passage. He then took a step forward and re-entered the passage.