The sage was determined to die.

"What a pity."

The girl's regretful voice rang in Ji Bai's ears. The voice was light yet malicious, like some kind of impatient curse.

"Most people I've met suffer when they lose loved ones, but I don't think I can attack you on that point."

"So it seems you really are quite flawless." The girl asked herself and then laughed, making it sound like she'd encountered a madwoman.

"Why don't you just give up on using underhanded tactics?" Ji Bai suggested tentatively. "Try an open strategy instead, and I might be more willing to cooperate."

"don't want."

She coldly uttered those two words and disappeared like a shadow. Ji Bai, having lost her cover, reverted to his examinee mode, his clothes changed again, and when he looked up at the scene before him, he realized that he had become one with the crowd.

Many eyes were turning to look at him. Those people were ashen-faced and all turned to look at him. At first glance, they looked just like paper figures with eyes painted on them. The malice in their eyes rushed towards him. Ji Bai looked down at his body and realized that he was wearing the same clothes as them.

Who are these people? Are they NPCs following a set routine?

"Xiao Xu, why aren't you saying anything?" the leader asked in a hoarse voice.

Ji Bai sized up the other person. The old man was standing at the head of the table, seemingly of a higher status than them. Ji Bai subconsciously asked, "Should I say something?"

The old man scoffed, "Absurd! Wasn't it you who suggested the offerings for this year's ceremony?"

Before Ji Bai could speak, the person beside him subtly suggested, "You mean, the River God is becoming increasingly picky, and ordinary livestock probably can no longer satisfy his demands. So, this time, we're proposing to use... a living person instead..."

Ji Bai pointed to himself: "Me?"

He concealed his shock and asked the person beside him, "Whom did I propose to replace them?"

The man looked at him with an indescribable expression and said bluntly, "Your wife and children."

Ji Bai: "..."

He paused for a moment, walked towards the man who looked like the village chief, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, "Village chief, I think we should let the river god eat vegetarian food this time?"

"My previous suggestion was incredibly foolish," Ji Bai said. "Murder and assault are such a terrible thing to do."

The next second, as if pressing the rewind button in a game, the village chief angrily grabbed the knife beside him and slashed at him, but unexpectedly, it was blocked perfectly by the Wenxin Armor on his body. The man's operation was so mechanical that Ji Bai didn't even bother to dodge.

After chopping for a while, the man seemed to have gotten tired.

Ji Bai opened his mouth, wanting to persuade the other party to cut his neck faster, but the other party withdrew his knife and walked back to his original position as if nothing had happened.

The wrinkles on his body and the surrounding atmosphere hadn't returned to normal at all, but the other person, like an actor rehearsing after a take, asked him again, "Xiao Xu, why aren't you saying anything?"

The shifty-eyed man beside him said again, "Didn't you say you wanted your wife and children to replace the sacrifice this time?"

Ji Bai: "..."

For some reason, he had a strong feeling of being perfunctory. The two people's actions made him feel no sense of horror at all. Instead, it felt like he was being thoroughly slapped on by a low-quality stage play.

However, if we can't get through this process smoothly, it seems we can't continue.

"I'm a civilized person," Ji Bai suddenly said, "so I hit people lightly, please forgive me."