stonecrandall Chapter 23 The Struggle
Chapter 23 The Struggle
Mo Jingxian waited until nightfall before the iron gate to the prison cell was opened again.
His guess was right. He didn't need to create much chaos; he just needed to be noticed by those eyes hidden in the shadows.
In Long Yunzhi's plan, he was probably not an important part.
It's even possible that they're using it as a pawn to draw enemy fire.
Therefore, both of them have their own ulterior motives, and it remains to be seen who will ultimately achieve their goal.
This escort was of a very high standard, consisting of two entire ninja combat squads.
Furthermore, the escorting ninjas breathed steadily, walked with firm steps, and each step was precisely placed on a unique rhythm.
Unlike the patrolling ninjas, these are the elite ninjas of the Grass Village.
After passing through two prison blocks, Mo Jingxian was led to an inconspicuous room.
One person walked to the wall and fiddled with it for a while.
The walls receded to the sides, revealing a section of downward-facing stairs.
"Get out of here."
Mo Jingxian didn't make any unnecessary movements and obediently went down the steps.
At the bottom, a passageway appeared before us.
Before I could take a closer look, someone shoved me hard from behind.
He staggered forward a step, regained his balance, and continued walking along the passageway.
The passageway is very long, and an oil lamp appears on the walls on both sides approximately every twenty meters.
The air was filled with the smell of dirt and mildew.
As Mo Jingxian passed the 102nd oil lamp and turned a corner, things finally changed ahead.
A double stone door came into view.
The stone gate is about three meters high and two meters wide, and is carved with a ghost head relief that occupies one-third of its area.
The two stone doors opened a crack, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
"Keep going."
A low command, or perhaps a threat, came from behind.
The handcuffs on his wrists were ineffective against him, which was one of the reasons he dared to put himself in danger.
No hesitation.
He passed through the stone gate and entered the hall that was buried deep underground.
The hall is over fifty meters long and wide, and about ten meters high, with walls paved with bluestone slabs extending all the way to the dome.
The entire ground was covered with huge, unidentified symbols that looked like some kind of mysterious runes.
Bronze torches stood at the five corners of the rune, their flickering flames occasionally scattering sparks with a crackling sound.
In short, the place is eerie and gives people a sense of mystery and gloom.
Mo Jingxian wasn't the first to arrive. There were already four prisoners squatting on the ground trembling in the iron cage in the corner, making a total of five including him.
He joined the prisoners and squatted down, fitting in perfectly.
No one spoke, as if making a sound would be taken away by an indescribable terror.
The ninja who escorted Mo Jingxian in seemed to be waiting for someone, looking towards the center of the arena with a fervent glint in his eyes.
There was clearly nothing there.
This wait lasted for two hours.
As time reached the boundary between the old and the new, the sound of mechanisms turning suddenly filled the hall.
The sound echoed in the enclosed space, and a pyramid-shaped platform gradually rose from the ground in the center of the space.
It rose to a height of five meters and stopped, landing there like a temple awaiting sacrifice.
The platform is divided into three levels, and on the topmost platform, which is about one foot square, a pure black box is placed.
The box was made of an unknown material, but its four sides were wide-open mouths, which was very strange.
"Marui!"
"Your subordinate is here."
If that person hadn't suddenly spoken, Mo Jingxian wouldn't have noticed that there was another person hiding in the shadows.
That person had an extremely low profile and was very easy to overlook.
Of course, Mo Jingxian did not activate the Active Mist to detect it, for fear of being exposed prematurely.
"Are the offerings all prepared?"
"Reporting to Lord Wuwei, preparations are complete."
Through the conversation, they learned that this person was none other than Wuwei, the lord of Ghost Lantern City.
Judging from Wuwei's mysterious behavior, there must be a big secret to be revealed next.
Mo Jingxian pondered silently, waiting for the show to begin.
"Bring the prisoners up."
"yes!"
Several elite members of the Grass Ninja clan brought Mo Jingxian and other prisoners to the altar, but those who resisted were immediately suppressed by force.
Wuwei finally emerged from the shadows. He was in his early twenties, with an ordinary appearance, and wore a set of Warring States period samurai armor.
There was no proper ceremony, no eulogy, just a simple wave of the hand.
The grass ninja named Marui skillfully subdued a prisoner and placed him near the mouth of the black box at the top.
The good news is that Mo Jingxian was not the first one selected.
Bad news... the chosen prisoner has gone missing.
It can't be said that it went missing; rather, it suddenly shrank and was swallowed whole by the mouth on the box.
The process was crystal clear, and perhaps it involved some principles of space-time ninjutsu, Mo Jingxian analyzed.
He now faces two choices: one is to wait to be swallowed up, and the other...
Without a doubt, Mo Jingxian had already secretly broken the sealing technique in the handcuffs, ready to make a desperate move at any moment.
Just then, something unexpected happened.
One of the prisoners, who was being held captive, suddenly began to resist.
Just as everyone's attention was drawn to him, Marui suddenly sprang into action.
The others were completely unprepared, and his movements were extremely swift.
As a result, Marui easily took the lives of two of his companions.
With the blade slicing across his throat, he even had time to attach an explosive tag to a prisoner's back, much to the disbelief of his teammates.
Wuwei was about thirty meters away from the altar, and it was too late for him to make a move.
"Boom boom boom!"
Marui threw down three explosive tags in one go, and the sound of the explosions echoed in the confined space for a long time.
The moment danger struck, Mo Jingxian immediately fled the area.
When the smoke cleared, the area beneath the altar was a mess, with several prisoners blown to pieces.
Of the remaining three elite grass ninja, only one survived, and he was severely injured.
Even though Wuwei arrived in an instant, it was too late; Marui had already escaped to the stone gate.
The Lord of Hozuki Castle was ashen-faced, his previous composure completely gone.
Looking at the traitor who had already fled to the door, he spoke angrily:
"Marui, how dare you betray me!"
Unexpectedly, no sooner had he finished speaking than a voice drifted from outside the stone gate:
"How could it be betrayal? Marui has always been one of my people."
As the last word settled, Long Yunzhi led two of his men into the hall.
He glanced at the altar first, then turned his gaze to Wuwei.
"Lord of the City, you have indeed secretly hidden the Box of Bliss."
Seeing that his scheme had been exposed, Wuwei no longer tried to hide it.
"What? You, who always spouts nonsense about benevolence, are also interested in this monster?"
The two were exchanging barbs from a distance.
No one noticed that the bloodstains beside the altar were slowly gathering into a stream, flowing down the altar into the Box of Elysium.
As a large amount of blood was absorbed, the mouth of the Box of Elysium became increasingly vivid.
Long Yunzhi didn't rush to deny it, but glanced at Mo Jingxian seemingly unintentionally.
"We can put the matter of the Box of Bliss on hold for now. Before that, shouldn't we get rid of the irrelevant people first, so that outsiders don't end up benefiting from it? That would be a joke."
Mo Jingxian was not surprised by Long Yunzhi's words, and at the same time prepared to break through.
He had originally planned to take advantage of the chaos, but he hadn't anticipated that Long Yunzhi would arrive so quickly.
"Dragon's Rhythm!" Wuwei suddenly interrupted.
"Stop your disgusting performance. We all know what kind of person you are. We never expected your ambitions to be even greater than mine."
"Hmph! You won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences."
Long Yunzhi stopped pretending; he was unwilling to cooperate and too lazy to continue acting.
"Bring the man up here."
Soon, Long Yunzhi's men brought in a child.
Upon seeing Wuwei, the child immediately cried out for help: "Father, please save me!"
"You!" Wuwei was so angry that he pointed at Long Yunzhi, his finger trembling slightly. He had never expected Long Yunzhi to be so despicable.
"Good, very good!"
Wuwei took two steps toward his son, then stopped.
Take a deep breath and force yourself to calm down.
"It seems you've made thorough preparations. Fine—I concede."
"Release my son, and you can have Hozuki Castle and this place from now on."
"Lord City Lord, don't be too naive."
Long Yunzhi was overjoyed. His longtime rival had bowed down and admitted defeat. What could be more gratifying than this?
He unconsciously took a step forward, a victor's smile on his face, and said:
"I can let you leave, but Wugou should stay in my residence. I will train him to be the new city lord in the future."
"You are utterly shameless..."
"Save your breath, you have no other choice, Lord City Lord."
Long Yunzhi emphasized the words "Lord of the City" with great force, making no attempt to conceal his threat.
Wuwei's expression changed several times in a short period of time, showing a mixture of resentment, hatred, and other emotions.
In the end, everything turned into a sigh, "Alas—"
Long Yunzhi's pleasure reached its peak.
As the sigh landed, Wuwei vanished from the spot, only to reappear an arm's length away from Long Yunzhi.
"you!"
This time it was his turn to be surprised.
Wuwei's movements were quite decisive; his fist, wreathed in flames, slammed towards Long Yunzhi's chest.
A figure was sent flying backward.
"Bang!"
His back slammed against the bluestone wall, and dust fell in a flurry.
After a breath, the figure slid down.
Long Yunzhi was in a terrible state at this moment, with half of her hair, which had been tied up, falling loose and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
The cuffs of that light blue robe were blasted to shreds by the fiery fist.
Long Yunzhi gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his hands covered in dark blue scales.
The taijutsu "Black Dragon Guard" saved his life once again.
He stared at Wuwei, who stood on the altar, with the same gaze one would give a dead man.
After blasting away Long Yun, Wuwei immediately ascended the altar and placed his palm on the monster's mouth.
"Hahaha……"
"If they don't let my son and me live, neither of us will leave this place alive today!"
The stone gate suddenly closed, cutting off the only escape route.
Wuwei released his chakra, letting the Box of Bliss devour it, and a strong wind suddenly swept through the secret room.
The Chest of Bliss opened its maw, forming vortexes that sucked in all living things within the space.
Mo Jingxian never expected that watching a play could be so dangerous, and she couldn't help but wonder if this adventure was worth it.
One of Long Yunzhi's men couldn't withstand the suction and, like the prisoner before him, was swallowed whole.
Space seemed to be distorting, and people on the scene were being devoured one by one by the Box of Elysium.
Strangely, apart from living things, other objects were not affected by the suction.
When the last person disappeared, the hall returned to calm.