Chapter 85 - 84: Betrayal and Early Awakening
Jinkang Pharmacy was the site for the climax of today’s "Medicine King Unveiling Ceremony."
Although the displays had been up all day, the dignitary invited by President Jin of Jinkang was arriving in the evening, so naturally, the ceremony had to be held at night.
Eight pillars of "Sinking Dragon Incense" were draped in red silk. A lectern had been set up at the pharmacy’s main entrance, along with small chairs and a ceremonial big red flower.
"Director Liu, your presence to guide our work truly honors us! Please forgive my failure to greet you sooner!"
The owner of Jinkang, dressed in a traditional jacket with knotted buttons, chuckled and clasped his hands in greeting.
An older official in a standard-issue administrative jacket walked in, beaming. "I wouldn’t presume to call it ’guidance,’ President Jin. I’m just here to witness the prestige of our Jinshui District’s star enterprise."
"You’re too kind. We owe our meager success entirely to your care, Director."
The older official immediately put on a serious face. "Hey! How can you call it ’care’! We are here to serve! To serve the enterprises!"
President Jin smoothly went along. "Ah, yes, yes, of course. A slip of the tongue."
They both burst out laughing.
Just as they were about to start a second round of mutual flattery, gasps and angry shouts from passersby sounded from nearby.
The two of them turned their heads in unison to see a man in black burst into the pharmacy and charge straight inside.
Director Liu pushed up his glasses. "Well... your company’s business certainly is booming. Such eager customers."
Then he heard someone shout from behind, "Watch out, he’s a wanted criminal!"
Yang Shen was right behind him. He didn’t know why the man had come here, but as long as the ashes were still in his possession, he couldn’t give up.
’What if he really is a lunatic who’s going to mix them with his rice?!’
’There’s no way I can let Zhou suffer such an indignity after he’s already gone!’
The man in black charged into the heart of the main hall, drawing the attention of the hundred-plus guests.
Cyan Blue Star was a Martial Arts Society, with Martial Artists making up as much as 30% of the population. Most of the people invited today were of considerable wealth.
Being rich didn’t necessarily mean you were powerful, but it definitely meant you were a "person with Yuan."
From the perspective of someone trying to escape, he had basically thrown himself into the lion’s den.
But the man in black breathed a sigh of relief.
He was a disposable pawn to begin with, which was why he had dared to try and retrieve the "Moon Gu" in such a reckless manner before his final mission.
’It seems... I won’t be able to return the Moon Gu to the organization. But as long as I’ve made it here, I can at least complete my primary mission...’
Before anyone could react, the man in black suddenly pulled an Elixir Pill from his robes and swallowed it without hesitation.
As the Martial Artists among the guests heard the words "wanted criminal" and decided it was better to be safe than sorry, gradually surrounding the man in black...
This man, Wu, who had once deceived Yang Shen with his [Sacrifice for Righteousness] Life Chart, suddenly whispered in a voice only he could hear:
"For the Si Realm... for the great cause..."
The next moment, in Yang Shen’s vision, a surge of Spiritual Qi—or "Yuan"—erupted from within the man’s body, as if his full potential had been drained dry.
That strange Spiritual Qi immediately coiled around the eight massive pillars of Sinking Dragon Incense.
The wooden texture on the surface of the Sinking Dragon Incense began to blur and thicken, before a large amount of black liquid started to flow out...
The black liquid was viscous and bizarre, its volume even exceeding that of the Sinking Dragon Incense itself. Fearing it was poison, the crowd quickly backed away, covering their mouths and noses.
However, it wasn’t poison...
It was people...
An astonishing scene unfolded.
More and more black liquid appeared, coalescing one by one into human figures, transforming into a total of sixteen strangely dressed individuals.
They clutched their heads, like people in a deep sleep who had been woken up prematurely.
Someone mumbled to themselves, but the language they spoke was not of Cyan Blue Star...
One of them, who was exceptionally tall, looked around at the crowd, overcome by a sense of utter absurdity!
[This is wrong... This isn’t the agreed-upon time to awaken!]
[Those bug-wielding bastards cheated us!]
.....
The sixteen strangers all wore similar, wide-sleeved garments, with broad shoulders and bindings on their legs and wrists.
Some of them were clearly male, yet their hair was tied into a bun at the back of their heads, while others were bald with thick, bushy beards.
Clearly, both their attire and appearance were vastly different from the styles of Cyan Blue Star.
Their most uniform feature was the black, strip-like markings on their necks, resembling large tattoos extending up from their torsos.
One of them, the tallest, also regained his senses the fastest. After assessing the situation, his expression turned ferocious!
Looking at the hundred or so people milling about inside the pharmacy, he knew there was a major problem, even if he was confident in his own strength and looked down on this world!
Because... they were scouts, sent here to lie in wait and gather intelligence on this world’s lands...
But now, they had been brazenly forced to awaken and were witnessed by over a hundred people.
’We’ve been set up!’
He spoke in a strange language completely unknown to the Cyan Blue Star People, one that couldn’t be found even after searching all known records of Exotic Realms:
[The situation has changed! Scatter and hide immediately! We’ll regroup using the family’s Secret Technique!]
The other strangers slowly got to their feet, but their long, peculiar slumber prevented them from recovering their wits quickly.
Only one, who was quicker on his feet, gave the tall stranger a reluctant glance before stumbling out of the building while everyone else was still in shock.
The leader, seeing that the others had not yet recovered, ignored the "Cyan Blue Star commoners" who were shouting questions all around him. Instead, he grabbed "Wu’s" head and lifted him up to his eye level.
By now, Wu’s face was withered and gaunt, as if he had aged fifty years in an instant.
[You betrayed me! You betrayed my family!]
He knew the other man could understand him.
Wu just gave a weak smile. He had crash-coursed this "bird language" for a month and could barely understand it, but he couldn’t speak it.
He simply said in the Yanhua language, "Who knows... In any case, you’re all going to die here. Die on Cyan Blue Star! Hahaha! For the great cause!"
If his only purpose was to awaken these people, he wouldn’t have been needed as a disposable pawn.
He still had one last mission... something only a user of Witchcraft could accomplish...
The next instant, Wu’s body trembled, and he suddenly began to bleed from all seven orifices while in the tall stranger’s grasp.
A strange smell filled the air... The stranger frowned slightly, but he gradually sensed that something was wrong...
A shade of blood-red began to spread across his eyes.
It wasn’t just bloodshot veins, but as if a drop of fresh blood had completely bloomed within his pupils! He immediately felt a splitting headache as an irrepressible madness surged from his mind.
More than ten meters away, many people, including Yang Shen, recognized what this was...
It was "Martial Arts Psychosis"!!
In reality, the stranger had still underestimated the ruthlessness of the "Rebel Species." Since they had decided to screw over these newcomers, why would they only use a single trick?
Everything was done for the sole purpose of making these people, who knew nothing of Cyan Blue Star and whose existence was completely unknown to it...
...go completely insane on this land!
Everything happened too quickly, too bizarrely.
Even Yang Shen had chosen to retreat temporarily when the black liquid poured out, to say nothing of the fact that it had turned into sixteen individuals of unknown allegiance and strength.
The tallest stranger went through an unknown thought process.
After seeing that only one of them had been quick enough to leave the pharmacy clear-headed, while all the others had their eyes turn red before even getting a chance to come to their senses... he finally despaired.
’These people, us, who came to infiltrate this world fully prepared to die... we’ll end up dying worthless deaths like clowns, turning into a dozen or so madmen...’
’I can’t hesitate any longer. Soon, I’ll go mad too, and then even this last hope will be gone!’
He reached out his hands and, amidst excruciating pain, gouged out his own bleeding eyes. Then, he pressed the eyeballs together between his palms, clenched his fists tightly, and crushed his own flesh and blood.
The black markings on his neck rapidly faded, flowing down his arms to merge with the crushed flesh and blood.
The next moment, the black markings seemed to gain volume and mass, then began to vaporize, spreading out in all directions.
[Black Luo Curse Realm]
Throughout Jinkang Pharmacy, everything began to rapidly lose its color. Everyone’s movements gradually slowed until they seemed to lose the ability to move altogether, their faces frozen with expressions of shock.
It was some kind of strange, large-scale imprisonment ability... and one that came at a great cost.
The tall stranger collapsed to his knees. As a powerhouse in his family, a renowned figure even in his own world, he had gambled his entire life on this one final act.
He sealed this place temporarily, hoping his kinsmen would regain their sanity... and then proceed with the original plan to infiltrate Cyan Blue Star.
They could die, but they could not die for nothing! They could not ruin their clan’s grand plan!
[The fate of our clan... rests on you now... Please... wake up...]