Rules-related weird stories: 4016.

Chapter 649 The Sacrificial Rites of the Ancestors, the First Songs
As the principal relayed these words, the swirling black mist surrounding him suddenly seemed to come alive, transforming into countless miniature mouths that gnawed at the edges of his body…

The principal's body, amidst wave after wave of fluctuations, transformed into a figure that resembled countless bubbles—a mosaic-like shape at first glance, resembling the principal, yet upon closer inspection, it appeared fragmented, as if assembled from various parts…

Lin Yi was certain that the person in front of him was indeed the principal, but he didn't know why the principal had become like this.

As the principal spoke, his golden eyes suddenly began to move, the pupils splitting into two, then into four, and continuing to divide until the whites of his eyes were filled with countless pupils, like frog eggs.

"I can no longer go back..."

"But...I found the answer..."

“You’re right…you’re all right…”

“They are no longer who they are… I must stay here… to leave this mark on me forever…”

"I have coordinates on me..."

"Only by leaving behind... can this coordinate be annihilated..."

"Perhaps it will take a very long time, perhaps... it will never be erased..."

"So... I can no longer go back..."

“Go back and tell them… no, you too…”

"You don't need to trust anything I say now... but... I will always stand on the side of humanity..."

"Forever standing on...the side of the original adults...on the side of their former glory..."

"Let's go... let's go..."

"If you don't leave now... then... then..."

"I'll stay here!!!"

The principal's body suddenly convulsed, and countless broken fragments began to lose their boundaries, spreading like ink stains and staining the principal's body. At the same time, an aura that did not belong to the principal suddenly awakened within his body!

"Oh no!" Tian Bufan suddenly realized and quickly warned, "One of the 'First Apostles' has awakened from his slumber! Run! Old Lin, run!!"

Tian Bufan's words clearly resonated in Lin Yi's mind, but when his voice appeared, it seemed to come from an extremely distant place, and it took a long time before he could fully recall them.

Nevertheless, Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine the moment he caught the sound, and instantly averted his gaze, fleeing back the way he came!
But at that very moment, endless black mist poured out of the "Ruins of Return" like a flood bursting its banks, crashing fiercely towards Lin Yi's will!

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

The terrifying shockwave, like the shockwave from the little boy's explosion, swept in all directions in an instant, giving Lin Yi no chance to escape, and directly engulfed his will.

The moment the black mist engulfed Lin Yi's will, he was shocked to find that the black mist did not have the impact he had imagined. On the contrary, the black mist actually enveloped him and then kept pulling him into the "Return to the Void"!
"Oh no! This is going to pull me in!!" Lin Yi was shocked, but he was like a beam of light caught at the edge of a black hole. All the power he possessed was more than enough to give him the speed and ability to escape!

"Don't panic, I'm here to help you!" Tian Bufan shouted, as if a co-pilot of a mecha had entered the cockpit, making Lin Yi feel the arrival of some kind of power!

He raised his hand uncontrollably—this was Tian Bufan controlling his will. The next moment, the golden runes imprinted by the little girl suddenly transformed into a hacksaw. Tian Bufan grabbed the hacksaw and slashed it down fiercely in front of him!

"Sizzle—!"

The black mist looked like a cake that had been cut open, but it quickly began to heal.

"No way! This thing isn't like a 'High-Rank Alien Angel.' Mist has no form, so it can't be cut through at all!" Lin Yi said anxiously.

"Stop yelling!" Tian Bufan interrupted Lin Yi's shouting, and hissed, "Come on—!!"

"Come? What's coming?" Lin Yi was stunned. Just as he was about to speak, he heard the sound of endless waves crashing in the black mist. But before he could react, countless pieces of paper flew out of the opening in the black mist that Tian Bufan had cut open!
"This is...?" A strange sense of familiarity instantly washed over Lin Yi, and his eyes widened. "This is my notebook?"

"It's time to put our troops to use for a single day!" Tian Bufan guided the pages of the notebook to transform into a ball, which enveloped Lin Yi's will and caused him to continuously escape the attraction of the "Return to the Void" black mist in the opposite direction.

One sheet of paper after another tore apart at this moment. The distorted handwriting, washed by the rain, continuously absorbed the power of the black mist, just like a group of green caterpillars gnawing on the inner wall of a gourd, feeding on the mist and clearing a path for Lin Yi's escape.

As it continued to be gnawed at, the writing wriggled and took on the shape of a human sculpture...

"Continue! Continue!!" Tian Bufan kept urging, like an evil farm owner whipping his black slaves, constantly driving the human-shaped sculptures to clear the way for Lin Yi.

The humanoid sculptures continued to devour the black mist, their bodies swelling like balloons without stopping, until finally they shattered into countless fragments...

However, even after all the papers were destroyed, the black mist showed no signs of tearing apart, and the escape route remained completely untraceable.

Lin Yi realized something was wrong and anxiously called out, "Young Master Tian, ​​something's wrong! This fog seems to be alive!"

“You realized it too…” Tian Bufan said in a low voice, “I noticed something was wrong from the beginning…this black mist is being deliberately manipulated…”

"Manipulating black mist? Is he an apostle?" Lin Yi had just asked this question when Tian Bufan spoke through his voice, "Long time no see—Little Black."

"'Little Black'?!" Lin Yi's heart trembled. However, before he could react, a deep voice echoed from all directions within the black mist, like a sound wave formed by countless strange syllables mixed together.

These sound waves were originally incomprehensible to him, but when they entered Lin Yi's will, he immediately understood them.

[Hehehe... You inferior hybrid, cobbled together from nothing, merely touched by a wisp of the "Holy Sun's" grace, dare you even address me by my name?]

There will always be an insurmountable chasm between us!

Leave everything you have behind!

【Hey hey hey...】

"You want me to stay?" Tian Bufan sneered. "Or... does the 'Supreme Heaven' want me to stay?" [Shut up! For the Venerable One's name to be uttered by you is an insult!!]

"So many years have passed, and your temper is still so..." Tian Bufan said slowly through Lin Yi's mouth, but before he could finish saying the last "so" in "your temper is still so strong," a terrifying force suddenly appeared in the black mist, directly penetrating the defensive barrier formed by the broken humanoid sculpture and violently overturning Lin Yi's will!

"Bang--!!"

The black mist was almost tangible, and Lin Yi's will bounced around inside it like a rubber block. When he finally stopped moving, his form had become much dimmer.

"Cough cough..."

Lin Yi coughed a few times. He was so dizzy from those blows that he felt like he was about to die.

[How many times have I told you, you inferior scum! Don't talk to me with that "holy sun" tone!]

"Alright, alright... calm down, calm down..." Tian Bufan shook his head helplessly, of course, through Lin Yi's will. "Your real body isn't here, so it's not that easy to wipe out our will. In that case, don't you want to catch up?"

"If you don't want to hear what Xiao Hei has to say, then let me put it another way... My dear and respected... Mist Whisperer?"

【Tch, even though I can't kill you with just this wisp of thought floating here, you can forget about escaping the boundaries of "Return to the Ruins".】

[A mere wisp of will—you are far more fragile than I imagined. I'll confine you for a hundred years, until your will becomes blurred and hazy, then I'll have plenty of time to torture you.]

Upon hearing this, Tian Bufan narrowed his eyes, remained silent, and continued to manipulate the humanoid sculpture to devour the black mist.

However, once the will of the "Mist Whisperer" emerged, the tug-of-war began as if the outcome was already decided. The suction force of the black mist did not diminish at all, continuously destroying the humanoid sculpture, wrapping around Lin Yi's will like countless threads, and then cutting him down like being slowly sliced ​​to death.

As the power of the black mist permeated, Lin Yi's will seemed to be corrupted, and he began to hear intermittent singing.

Such singing is the sound of ancient rituals that once echoed from the depths of the sea.

In a daze, Lin Yi seemed to see countless ancient people dancing a strange dance around a blazing bonfire in a basin beneath the Black Mountain, deep within the black mist of the "Return to the Ruins".

The leader, a high priest-like figure, had long, flowing hair, held a twisted snake staff, and wore a strange mask.

The mask was adorned with several long, brightly colored feathers, and its jawline was covered with grotesque, tentacle-like whiskers. On the surface of the mask was a writhing, twisting figure, sometimes faceless, sometimes revealing the outline of facial features.

When Lin Yi's will body vaguely "observed" its existence, countless bumps suddenly bulged out on the twisted and writhing faceless mask. Then, one after another, the bumps opened up slits, revealing large eyes that looked like bunches of grapes crowding the face.

"I...AvgruNnen...av tKe og...mrke jaGer...forTapte Sjeler fanTome——!!"

"I——AvgruNnen av tKe og—— mrke jaGer forTapte—— Sjeler fanTome——!!"

"De som——jager lyset i tke blir til——slutt fantomer——!!"

"De som jager lyset——i tke blir til slutt fantomer——!!"

Countless large eyes turned to Lin Yi, and at that moment, the sense of division emanating from the black mist reached its peak.

Did you hear that?

[The divine pronouncements of "Sacrifice to the Rong" and the prayers of our ancestors! You know perfectly well what we are doing! But you have abandoned us!! You have banished us!!]

[As it turns out, His Majesty's decision was the most correct. Indecisiveness, like a persistent boil, only leads to a slow death!]

You can't save them! Neither can we!

Whether they are called "Mist Hunters" or "Watchers"... it turns out that no force can truly protect them...

What we can do is sacrifice the vast majority to save a few exceptional individuals...

"Like Noah's Ark?" Lin Yi sneered. It was Tian Bufan speaking. "Your beliefs are not firm at all. On the other hand, Yu the Great did a good job."

"Just lucky." The black mist rolled in, and the voice of the "Mist Whisperer" echoed from all directions: "Faced with absolute end, perhaps even Noah's Ark is a humble act."

"Impeccable effort, and you call it just 'luck'?" Tian Bufan shook his head. "Then it seems there's nothing more to say."

I have nothing to say to 'you' anyway!

"I understand. Those few words you just said were what you wanted to say to 'Holy Sun,' right? It must have been tough for you to unleash a pent-up grievance after so many years." Tian Bufan scoffed. "Is all the humanity you retain negative?"

A sneer echoed from within the black mist.

Immediately afterwards, calls, ancient sacrificial chants, and waves of painful cries began to seep into Lin Yi's will from within the black mist.

Lin Yi's will began to bubble up like the principal he had seen before. After the bubbles appeared, they swelled up on his will like tumors. Within those bubbles, one twisted and hideous face after another emerged, as if countless living beings wanted to seep out of his will.

Although Lin Yi had already experienced near-annihilation pain in the depths of the Black Sea under the boss's training, the pain he felt now—this intense tearing sensation emanating from the depths of his soul—was completely different from the annihilation-like pain he had felt before.

The two kinds of suffering manifest themselves differently. The suffering he is experiencing now is not only his own, but also the malice and malice of countless other beings. Therefore, the suffering he is enduring is more complex and painful.

"I...AvgruNnen...av tKe og...mrke jaGer...forTapte Sjeler fanTome——!!"

"I——AvgruNnen av tKe og—— mrke jaGer forTapte—— Sjeler fanTome——!!"

"De som——jager lyset i tke blir til——slutt fantomer——!!"

"De som jager lyset——i tke blir til slutt fantomer——!!"

The sound waves grew larger and larger, completely engulfing him. It was as if they had pierced his will with countless holes and then thrown in a piece of coal that had just been extinguished. The soot came out of those countless holes, carrying layers upon layers of sound waves, almost tearing his soul apart.

(End of this chapter)