Beneath the towering castle, the iron door of the Dungeon groaned open.
The Dungeon Warden unlocked the gate with a steel key, and a wave of chilling air drifted out, weaving with the stagnant air of the surroundings into an invisible net.
The Guards, clad in sturdy wooden armor, wore expressionless faces and held torches in their hands. The firelight cast long, wavering shadows across their stern faces, but failed to reach the depths of their eyes.
“Let them out.”
At the Dungeon Warden’s command, the Guards, who had been standing as still as statues, began to move. The sacrificial offerings were each shackled with iron chains around their necks and wrists, like husks from which the Soul had been drawn, left only to submit to their fates.
After binding all the sacrificial offerings, the Guards marched them through the dim corridor. Each step echoed with the heavy clank of chains scraping against the stone, reverberating through the vast castle halls, lending an extra layer of gloom.
Those sacrificial offerings wore tattered clothes and stumbled with every step. Their empty eyes held no hope, nor did they show any sadness.
At the very end of the procession walked the Red-haired Man and Ashan, the iron shackles on their wrists clinking crisply.
“Hey, Red-head, do you really want to go through with this?” Ashan craned his neck, glancing warily at the Guards before asking the Red-haired Man.
The Red-haired Man replied resolutely, “Of course! To offer my life to the Supreme Goddess and gain eternal existence!”
Ashan let out a heavy sigh. “I knew you’d say that. Those damned Blood Clan folk have sucked the Souls out of you.”
“It’s not like that, Ashan.”
“Then what is it? I really can’t understand you people.”
“Because only the Blood Clan Lords can restore our blessings, let me return to the days when I was with my family,” the Red-haired Man said, following the line up the stairs toward the altar. His face was radiant, as if that was the direction of his true home.
“The Divine Lord once said, death is not the end of life, but the cycle of Reincarnation.
If your faith is pure enough, your Soul will be released from suffering, crossing from one world to another, taking on a new body and finding its true resting place.
My life, you could say, is already beyond hope. So… Ashan—”
The Red-haired Man turned his head, only to find that the Silver-haired Youth had vanished without a trace, leaving only a single shackle lying on the ground.
“What… Ashan? Ashan!”
He was utterly shocked and couldn’t help but cry out. Because the hall was so vast, his shout immediately caught the attention of the Dungeon Warden who was maintaining order ahead.
At once, all the Guards turned their gazes in unison. The Dungeon Warden strode over to the Red-haired Man, eyes fixed on the iron chain lying on the ground—untouched, with not a single mark or sign of damage. Its pale color was like chalk.
He escaped? That sacrificial offering managed to slip free from such sturdy chains?
“Where did he go! Speak!”
The Dungeon Warden roared at the Guard at the very end of the procession, his voice booming like thunder and making the Guard tremble.
“R-report, Sir! I—I was watching them the whole time! I swear I didn’t look away! That youth, he—he just disappeared, all of a sudden—”
“Still making excuses?! Clearly you were negligent and let the sacrificial offering escape!”
Crash!
The Dungeon Warden bellowed, raising the iron chain and whipping it down hard on the Guard’s body.
Even as he punished the Guard, the Dungeon Warden felt uneasy. In all the years at Hailuosen Castle, such a thing had never happened—a sacrificial offering escaping on their own. This year, to have such a blunder… if the Blood Clan Lords found out, he couldn’t imagine what consequences awaited him.
“Sir! I really didn’t…”
The Guard was already scared out of his wits, falling to his knees with a thud.
“What is it? Why have you stopped?”
As tension filled the air, a dignified figure appeared.
The Butler, dressed in impeccable formal attire, walked sternly to the front of the group, hands on his hips.
“Butler Duli…”
The Dungeon Warden, as if grasping at a lifeline, hurriedly rushed over and knelt before the Butler.
“S-sir, a sacrificial offering has escaped!”
The Butler’s face sank as he immediately realized the severity of the situation. But as the longtime chief steward of the castle, he was accustomed to storms and chaos, so he did not panic like the others.
“Useless fools, can’t even keep track of a handful of people!”
He cursed as he paced back and forth among the remaining sacrificial offerings. Suddenly, he sharply turned his head and stared at the Guard at the end of the line.
“Hmph, we can’t report to the Blood Clan Lords with one less offering. If one is missing, then another must take its place.”
As he spoke, the Butler pointed at the trembling Guard.
“Take this fellow. Tie him up!”
Tonight, the wind was especially cold.
Above the Mountains, clouds drifted across the horizon. A pale Round Moon hung in the sky, already missing a corner, as if gnawed away by black fangs and swallowed into a strange shadow.
Hailuosen Castle stood silently atop the mountain ridge, its sharp outlines particularly grim in the moonlight. The towers, wrapped in ivy, rose unevenly into the sky. The tallest spire loomed like a slumbering behemoth, quietly blending with the earth below.
Su Ling and the others walked out through the side gate, stepping onto the winding path, moving with the other sacrificial offerings down toward the base of the mountain.
Their bodies had been thoroughly cleansed, as required for the rite. Their garments were fresh and spotless, and to show respect for the Gods, the Maids wore black veils that draped down to their shoulders.
A gust of wind blew, making the veils flutter in the air, their dark wings beating restlessly.
The day of the Moon Eclipse Rite was nearly here. After the ceremony, the exhausting days would finally come to an end, and there would at last be a chance to rest.
By all rights, this should have been a joyous day. Yet for some reason, Su Ling felt a vague unease in her heart.
A ceremony that used living people as sacrificial offerings…
Just hearing such a name was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine.
In the past, Su Ling had only encountered sanitized versions of such rites in books or movies. To experience it herself like this—she had never even imagined such a thing.
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably as she glanced fearfully at the other Maids around her, only to see that they all remained composed, showing none of her panic or distress.
Of course, those Maids belonged to this world. This was not their first time at such a ceremony—they must have been long accustomed to it.
At this thought, her fear deepened even further.
The procession kept moving forward, giving Su Ling no chance to rest.
The general procedure had already been explained by Duli earlier. As a personal Maid, she not only had to participate in the ceremony, but also assist when the Blood Clan drew their power—collecting the blood from the sacrificial offerings into the Golden Cup, and then pouring it into the central Blood Pool.
There could not be the slightest mistake in the entire process, nor could there be any expression other than solemnity. Any lapse would be considered disrespect to the Goddess and punished by the Blood Clan.
All the people around her were unfamiliar servants. Bang Xiu was not by her side, nor could she see Xirui— even the usually present Duli, Bowen, and Kakyo were absent.
There was no one she could rely on. Su Ling felt as though she was walking alone, her footsteps heavy, step by step, toward that Moon God Altar, soaked with the scent of blood.