Offering Salted Fish to Master - C5
Chapter 5
Meeting the Ancestor Master
This fucking snake is too big. How big is it? Liao Tingyan took a visual inspection and felt that this snake would only take ten mouthfuls to eat them, and he could swallow ten in one mouthful. After eating them all, they probably wouldn't be able to hold on, since the waist is so thick.
Liao Tingyan had a weak leg and grabbed the arm of an unknown senior sister nearby, and the older sister also had a weak leg and grabbed the arm of the next uncle.
It turns out we didn't come to serve the ancestor; we are fresh meat to his snake.
She suddenly got goosebumps, and she took the time to think: if the snake swallowed them, could it digest the jewelry and clothes they were wearing?
I have a vivid imagination, so go ahead and sue me!
In the end, a girl who seemed to have taken on the role of leader stepped forward and respectfully addressed the black snake: "Senior, I am waiting for the other girls to arrive. We are here to meet the ancestor, and the head of the palace has instructed us to wait and serve him."
The snake slithered down from the tall pillars, approaching silently. It lifted half its body, then circled them. Standing at the edge, Liao Tingyan felt the dark, shimmering scales of the snake brush almost against her hand, and her heart nearly stopped.
Dang! I like tiny snakes —they are cute —but being face-to-face with such a fucking huge snake is a tiny bit too much! I never imagined that I would have to become so intimately close to a creature that could eat me. Liao Tingyan shivered.
Fortunately, the enormous fucking serpent did not intend to eat them. Instead, its mesmerizing eyes, gleaming like searchlights, scanned the surroundings before it glided past them without a second thought.
A rustle echoed in the air as the imposing snake advanced, moving gracefully through the interplay of faint sunlight and silvery moonlight above.
“Hurry, stay together,” whispered the head girl, urgency lacing her voice. Instinctively, the group quickened their pace, senses heightened and hearts racing.
The leading black serpent slithered through an intricate maze of opulent palaces, each adorned with intricate carvings and vibrant mosaics, until it reached the heart of the tower. From a distance beneath the mountain, the Three Sacred Mountains had appeared radiant and divine, but upon arrival at the foot of the central tower, an unsettling transformation unfolded. The once-cerulean sky now loomed ominously, draped in a heavy shroud of darkness that stifled the vibrant colors of the surroundings. The palatial structures, adorned with golden tiles that once gleamed in sunlight and walls painted striking red, were now engulfed in a menacing gloom, a stark contrast to their earlier brilliance.
Dark chains, cold and rusted, hung ominously from the central tower, adding an eerie weight to the atmosphere, as if the very structure bore the burden of long-forgotten secrets.
Upon reaching this foreboding place, the great serpent coiled around the colossal pillar of the tower, its scaled body glistening in the dim light. However, the others found themselves unable to scale the pillar alongside it. Instead, a winding staircase loomed ahead, offering the only path forward into the depths of this unsettling stronghold.
"Come on, let’s go!" shouted a girl who had appointed herself the squad leader of the group. She raised her head confidently and began walking up the stairs, with everyone else following her.
Liao Tingyan, the last girl in line, lagged behind the team, dragging her tired body up the steps. Is there no elevator for such a high tower?
She thought she was going to climb all the way to the top of the tower, but she had climbed about five or six floors and stopped. In front of her, there was no staircase leading to the upper floor, just a very large corridor.
On both sides of the corridor were painted fairy music and dancing pictures, as well as huge, colourful paintings, such as flying fairy pictures, gorgeous and mysterious. However, there were red blood stains on these beautiful paintings, as if someone had dragged something bleeding from one end to the other. Even more frightening is that those blood stains looked very fresh.
Liao Tingyan began to think back to the big boss she had seen before she came in, wondering whether he was bleeding and injured. She should not be the only one thinking about it, because she clearly saw the body of the girl in front of her was shaking.
Their footsteps were loud, and so were their heartbeats. When they walked to the door, a gap suddenly opened. Liao Tingyan, the last of the team, walked in, and the door closed quietly behind her.
Here, Liao Tingyan saw the fucking black snake again. It was coiled on a pillar in the vast room. Besides the snake and them, there was another person in this space. The man sat on the massive throne on a platform directly in front of them and said, "Come here."
For the first time, Liao Tingyan discovered that someone could say two simple words so gloomily.
The group walked ahead, and she found herself at the front on one side. The squad leader, followed by the girls, saluted the ancestor, kneeling with their heads to the floor, "Greetings, Ancestor."
Liao Tingyan experienced a slight adjustment to the time difference because she was unaccustomed to it. Don't misunderstand her! She showed great respect for elders, but not as much in a synchronized group setting.
Everyone maintained their position for what felt like several long minutes. However, her curiosity got the better of her, and she glanced forward, only to see a very pale bare foot on the dark ground, with cyan blood vessels faintly visible under its skin. Next to his bare foot was the hem of a black, patterned overcoat. When the hem flicked slightly, she noticed his other foot was also exposed. Liao Tingyan spotted a red thread tied around his left ankle, with a wooden Buddhist bead attached.
Somehow, the thin red thread gave her a thrilling feeling, and she was almost out of breath. What a beautiful foot! Uh. What the heck?! I am not a foot fetish!
The ancestor above suddenly stood up, and Liao Tingyan saw him coming towards her, his feet looming in the black clothes, and finally stopped in front of the squad girl next to her.
"So bold!"
After this sentence, Liao Tingyan felt that some liquid splashed on her body, and the bright red, thick blood spread on the black, smooth marble ground, soaking the white robe spread by Liao Tingyan next to it.
Liao Tingyan was shocked. She had never witnessed someone kill another person, and she was just a few centimetres away. So far, she had followed the flow of events and was curiously detached, as if she were not truly part of them. Not anymore! No, oh hell no! I cannot stay here! She is dead, dammit! I'm so scared to watch. Will her head roll towards me?
She felt nauseous and wanted to throw up, but she quickly realized that if she vomited now, it might lead to terrible consequences, so she unconsciously swallowed it back down. Fuck! It feels more disgusting!
The squad girl fell beside Liao Tingyan. She watched as the girl's face slowly changed, transforming into another person in the blink of an eye. Okay, good. Her head is still attached to her body. Huh? Is this a world with chameleon-like humans?
Someone nearby was exclaiming: "This, this is not Senior Sister Wan Ling, who is this?"
The others were very panicked, "How did this person get in, and why did no one find out?"
The ancestor who had just killed the individual moved again. He stepped on the blood and corpse and stopped in front of Liao Tingyan.
Liao Tingyan: "..." Why is he looking at me now? No, ancestor, don't look at me!
"Brave."
Upon hearing this, Liao Tingyan felt a chill run through her entire body. What does he mean by that? But why was she brave? I didn't do anything at all!
It was like before the injection, because she knew the needle was about to pierce her, and her whole body would tense up. She was in that state now, her focus was very sharp, and she was waiting for the pain to arrive.
She did not dare to raise her head anymore. She was staring at the hem of his black coat, his toes only on display.
After a while, his hand held her chin and raised her face.
When the pale and cold hand touched her chin, Liao Tingyan felt that her entire body was standing upright, and the cold sweat from her back instantly came down, just like when the fucking snake crawled past her.
She was forced to look up stiffly and finally saw the ancestor. I guessed wrong before; it turned out to be a young man. Whoa! A very, very handsome man. Eek! A very, very scary man.
His skin was white like snow, his hair was black like ink, and his lips were red like blood. This description sounds like Snow White, uh?
Liao Tingyan looked into his eyes. She felt like a tiny mouse in front of a big, hungry cat. After a long time, the ancestor suddenly let go of his hand and sat back where he was. He appeared fine now, but his face revealed pain and irritability, and there was a red mark at the corner of his eye.
"Get out! Get out! All of you!" he suddenly shouted, startling everyone around him.
The girls turned pale and quickly stepped back. Even the fucking snake seemed frightened, hesitating to strike. It swallowed the corpse in one swift motion before it had fully cooled, then hurried away. Everyone followed the snake, and the troops moved out silently in a hurry, panic-stricken. It was as if they were flies scattering after a hand swatted at them.
If you notice someone behaving crazily, it's wise to keep your distance, isn’t it? Doesn’t this ancestor appear to be suffering from a mental illness? Liao Tingyan cleared her mind as she rushed down the corridor, descended the stairs, and finally came to a stop at the bottom of the tower. She bent forward, resting her hands on her knees, slightly out of breath. Ok? I am not dead? Good, good.
She raised herself up and wiped the sweat from her forehead. When she looked down her hand, she saw the red in her palm—blood splattered when the girl next to her died.
As she stared at her hand, she glanced at the large snake beside her. The fucking snake had been driven away by its master, too. A moment earlier, she noticed it hesitated, but as soon as it heard its master shout, it quickly overcame its hesitation and swallowed the corpse whole.
Liao Tingyan exclaimed, "Fuck!"
She now reasonably suspected that the ancestor hadn't killed herself just moments ago because he intended to keep her corpse for tomorrow, planning to feed it to the snake. It seemed that killing her on the spot would make it fresher.
Liao Tingyan made an ugly face.
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