Nightmare Light

Chapter 78 Cooking Magic
In the village, under dark clouds.

Lin Wang stood in May's courtyard.

His gaze stopped on the little girl, then passed through her, looked at the entire courtyard, and finally swept across the entire village.

He calmed his emotions and said to everyone, "Morning and dusk will eventually come... Those evil cultists, they hurt an entire village for their own experiments."

"They turned the people of this village into mechanical puppets."

"They are subjecting another child to endless, repetitive torture."

Lin Wang took a deep breath.

"I'm not a great man, nor am I a good person...but when I see something like this, I can't turn a blind eye."

"I'm going to burn down this vicious sandbox."

After hearing Lin Wang's words, Lao Qiao and Gou Ge looked at each other.

Qiao Zhiyuan saw a smile in the latter's eyes, as if saying: You see, what I said before was correct, right?
The fat man nodded, then turned to look at Lin Wang and asked a serious question: "Brother Lin, I support your solution, but the question is, can this save the villagers?"

Lin Wang was about to speak when a voice sounded behind him.

"Qiao Tuan, those villagers are beyond saving."

He turned his head and saw a Light Chaser soldier walking in behind him.

The latter had bronze Taotie patterns painted on his face, held a long jade tablet in his hand, and had a sacrificial knife hanging around his waist.

Before, when Lin Wang turned into a white fire giant, he had seen this soldier: he sprinkled a handful of incense ash in the direction of Lin Wang.

Sacrifice system...

After going through so much, he is no longer the rookie who knew nothing.

The moment he saw this soldier, he automatically recalled some knowledge about the "sacrifice system".

Sacrifice system: A relatively special type of secular master, whose main function is to hold various sacrificial ceremonies.

Because almost all secular activities require sacrificial rituals, it can be understood that secular masters of the sacrificial system can help almost all secular masters to hold sacrificial rituals and bless and assist them.

However, the lay masters of the sacrificial system are not lacking in survival ability. When performing tasks alone, they can also gain stronger combat effectiveness through prayer and sacrificial activities.

The sacrificial soldier walked into the yard with a serious expression, nodded and greeted everyone, and saluted Old Joe meticulously.

"Qiao Tuan, I made a discovery when I was investigating in the village just now."

He took out a cloth bag from his pocket, grabbed a handful of incense ash from it and sprinkled it on the ground.

The incense ash, as if alive, crawled across the ground, transforming into the outline of a village, complete with roads and walls, every detail visible. But soon, the village roads disappeared, the walls collapsed, and only the foundations of the buildings remained.

Looking down from directly above your head, it forms a pattern.

Lin Wang then understood that when the soldier was in giant form before, he was not throwing incense ashes at him, but was doing the action in front of him.

Dog brother's eyes widened: "This... this is!"

Old Qiao also came over, glanced at the ground, his face full of shock, and his voice suddenly raised: "Is this a magic circle?"

"To be more precise, this is a sacrificial formation." The sacrificial soldier took the jade token and drew two strokes on the ground. "It's much clearer now... I left it unfinished on purpose, otherwise it would take effect."

The soldier finished drawing with a few strokes and people understood.

The sand on the ground formed a hexagonal sacrificial formation commonly seen in sacrificial ceremonies - the gods were on the upper position, the worshippers crawled on the lower position, offerings were placed in the formation, incense was lit, and the worshippers danced, and a sacrificial activity was considered a success.

People shuddered: What was the purpose of such a huge sacrificial formation? More importantly—

What is the sacrifice?
Everyone had an answer in their minds.

Old Qiao looked up at the sacrificial soldier and said, "Zhou Yu, tell me your conclusion."

"Yes!" The sacrificial soldier named Zhou Yu nodded and pointed at the sacrificial formation on the ground. "I think that when this village passed through our world and descended into this dreamland..."

"The formation, including the sacrifice, was already effective at that time."

Gu Shuochuan's body trembled suddenly: "You mean, my people, at that time, had already...?"

"I'm sorry, but that's indeed my conclusion," Zhou Yu said solemnly. "The most important thing for us now is to destroy this sacrificial formation and interrupt its power over the cultists."

"Interruption?" asked Gou Ge. "Sacrificial arrays are different from magic arrays. While both involve prayers, sacrifices, and even the killing of certain creatures," the soldier said, "magic arrays are mostly one-time in nature, summoning something or achieving a certain effect."

"But sacrificial formations are usually used to pray for some lasting effect, such as the folk saying 'good weather and good harvest' or the secular masters' 'great blessing'." The soldier said, looking at everyone.

"So this thing is still working?!" Dog Brother yelled, pulled out his stilts, and jumped up. "What's its effect?"

"I'm not sure about the specific effects, but if possible, please, Brother Lin, destroy this sacrificial formation as soon as possible." Zhou Yu said sincerely, "What is certain is that the longer it lasts, the more dangerous it becomes."

Lin Wang nodded: "There is no time to lose."

Everyone turned around and walked out of the yard.

Suddenly, May's voice timidly sounded, "Are you guys... leaving?"

Old Joe was very serious and nodded: "Uncles have important things to do!"

"But I cooked for you..." May pointed at the big pot next to her, her expression almost crying, "It's not cooked yet..."

"How can we even have time to eat now?" Old Joe said anxiously, "This kid, we have to..."

Lin Wang waved his hand, interrupting Lao Qiao's urgency.

The former walked up to May and squatted down: "Did you cook for us?"

"Well, it'll take a while before we can eat..."

Lin Wang lifted the lid of the pot and took a look inside.

The pot is big, with more rice and less water.

If you don't cook it until it's cooked, it will become mushy.

Lin Wang smiled and said to the little girl, "Can I perform a magic trick for you?"

"What is magic?"

"Just watch." He scooped some water from the vat next to him and added it to the pot.

Afterwards, Lin Wang grabbed the pot with one hand, and the white flames on his hand instantly burned violently, enveloping the entire pot and even spreading to the rice in the pot.

"Wow..." The little girl opened her eyes wide in surprise.

After a few seconds, the white flame went out.

Lin Wang happily lifted the lid of the pot and took a look inside.

Damn, it’s still messed up.

Lin Wang turned around expressionlessly, holding the pot towards Lao Qiao and Gou Ge: "Come, let's share it."

Both of them had black lines on their faces.

Gou Ge was about to cry: "Brother Lin, I can say..."

"No." Lin Wang grabbed a handful and stuffed it into his mouth. "This is May's gift."

"Alright." He grabbed a handful of food as if he was going to the execution ground, stuffed it roughly into his mouth, chewing it with a crunching sound, and gave May a thumbs up, "Kid, well cooked! Delicious!"

The soldiers came forward one after another, each of them grabbed a handful from the pot and stuffed it into their mouths, and some soldiers even grabbed two handfuls.

In an instant, the whole room was filled with the sound of crunching, as if a dozen squirrels were biting walnuts.

May blinked her eyes, and a smile gradually appeared on her little face.

She felt that this time she could write something different in her diary.

Lin Wang looked at this scene and a smile appeared on his lips.

At this moment, a line of comments floated in front of him: "Husband, someone is coming."

Lin Wang turned his head to look outside the yard and was immediately shocked.

Outside the courtyard, a dark crowd of people, with stiff postures and unsteady steps, each of them shrouded in mist, slowly gathered towards the courtyard gate.

A Mist Tribe villager.

(End of this chapter)