Chapter 327 The Five Elders' Decree and the Yearning for the Word "Recitation"!
At the Blood Worship Cult's headquarters, within the vast five-colored complex of buildings belonging to the Five Elders
' Courtyard, deep within the all-black complex, at the bottom of a courtyard marked by a black eye, beneath the gurgling black water—
a man slowly opened his eyes.
"Splash—"
The putrid black water gurgled, and in the center of the pool in the dead of night, the surging black waves coalesced into a human form, transforming into a middle-aged man with black eyes and a pointed chin.
His eyes were deep and dark, without any white, making his appearance extremely terrifying. His long, pointed chin looked harsh, and his black robe seemed to envelop him completely.
In appearance alone, he bore a resemblance to the eldest son of the Black-Eyed Clan, the two appearing almost like brothers.
For he was the eldest son's father, the representative of the Five Elders, and the current head of the Black-Eyed Clan.
This is none other than the contemporary Five-Colored Eyes, the [Black Eye] Messenger!
"Hoo—"
His chest rose and fell steadily as he slowly exhaled, his pale, cold skin opening every pore, spewing out a putrid black aura.
With this action, black mist swirled above the Blackwater Lake, and the man at the source of this mist, his aura rising steadily, climbing back from its slump, as if a terrifying beast was awakening deep within the black mist of the lake.
"Chief Instructor—that madwoman was truly frightening."
Recalling the chief instructor of the sword-wielding unit he had encountered not long ago, [Black Eye], who had just begun to heal his injuries using the Blackwater Lake, still felt lingering fear.
"Thump, thump, thump thump thump—"
The feeling of lingering fear grew stronger, so strong that [Black Eye]'s heart beat faster and faster. He frowned, realizing something was wrong.
This wasn't lingering fear; this was—a sudden impulse!
This was a precious "instinct" of his. Although he couldn't predict anything, or even whether things would be good or bad, his heart would pound if something important was about to happen to him.
To be specific, it was roughly equivalent to a weakened manifestation of the folk saying "left eye twitching means wealth, right eye twitching means disaster" in the mystical world.
"Did something happen at the main altar overnight? —" [Black Eyes] pondered, flicked his sleeves, and turned to walk towards the shore of Blackwater Lake.
At the same time, his lips moved, and a series of subtle sounds traveled through the air and courtyards, ringing in the ears of some, but to them like thunderclaps. "
Quickly, come see me!"
Not long after, [Black Eyes], draped in a black robe, sat at the head of the main hall, which resembled a shrine cast from black coral.
Here, he met several elders he had awakened from their sleep, as well as his eldest son, who had temporarily become the head of the Black Eyes family in his absence.
"Tonight—the eldest son—Tong—"
"That Sloth—"
Soon, [Black Eyes] learned from these people about the "major event" that had occurred at the Blood Worship Cult headquarters that night.
Understanding the ins and outs, to everyone's surprise, [Black Eyes]'s expression suddenly turned much uglier.
"—You troublemaking rebellious son!" He roared, his imposing aura seeming to overturn the heavens and earth, causing the eldest son of the Black Eyes family and the elders to feel dizzy and disoriented, as if the world were spinning around them.
Now, Black Eyes roughly understood the source of his sudden premonition.
Others might not know, but he certainly did.
By following the Five Elders' orders, Black Eyes and Blue Eyes had witnessed firsthand how the Holy Prince valued this rising star named Sloth, meticulously grooming him as a key general under his command.
Although the relationship between the Five Elders' lineage, the Seven Sins' lineage, and even the Holy Prince's lineage was far from amicable—
when Sloth was at the height of his power, the other five-colored-eyed families hadn't done anything yet. Instead, it was this ignorant, rebellious son who had made Black Eyes' family the first to act—how could this not infuriate Black Eyes?
It's just that he was seriously injured and rushed back to recuperate, without having time to instruct his family, which is why—
"You troublemaking rebellious son, you have no idea how much the Holy Son values that new Sloth, even I have to give him some respect—and you, you actually dared to go looking for trouble and make an enemy of him!"
As he spoke, [Black Eyes] coldly snorted, causing the eldest son, who resembled him, to immediately feel an invisible pressure, his face turning extremely pale, cold sweat pouring down his forehead, and his body swaying as if about to collapse.
"He—he—"
The eldest son wanted to say that Sloth had provoked him first, and that he had only extended a kind invitation; he also wanted to say that it was just the Seven Sins, who were not from the same faction as the Five Elders, so why boost the morale of others and diminish the prestige of his own family—
But faced with his cold-faced father's almost tangible imposing aura, the eldest son's black eyes met his father's deep, unfathomable, and sinister black eyes. Words caught in his throat, as if the whole world was preventing him from speaking.
The eldest son of the Black Eyes family, who was unrestrained in the Blood Worship Cult headquarters, held immense authority before the elders, and whose word was law, couldn't utter a coherent sentence before his truly stern father.
"Dare to talk back?" The cold-faced father glared, seemingly enraged.
"Whoosh!"
A black robe ripped through the air, like flowing black water. Without a visible movement, [Black Eyes] had already flashed to his son's side, raising his hand to deliver a slap.
"Second Brother!" At this moment, the eldest son's third uncle, an elder of the family, stepped forward and called out to [Black Eyes].
The dark, sinister eyes turned back, and [Black Eyes] awaited his reply.
"The eldest young master is currently the face of our family; his face is your face—if you continue to reprimand him casually and publicly humiliate him, it will not only hinder his future governance of the family but also damage his ambition to advance bravely and diligently on the extraordinary path."
"Actually, the eldest young master has already done very well—"
the elder continued, "Recently, the deputy director of the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, the Fate Forger [Blood Seal Judge] Zhong Mubai, who had been missing for over a month and was recruited by the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, was personally killed by the eldest young master—the eldest young master is truly no longer what he used to be."
"Oh?" Upon hearing this, [Black Eyes]'s expression showed a hint of surprise and doubt, and his movements slowed slightly.
"Third Uncle—" The eldest young master's gaze subtly carried a hint of gratitude.
His father was truly inhuman; unexpectedly, it was the elders of the family who made him feel the warmth of blood ties.
No wonder his father usually had an icy and domineering demeanor; in fact, this was a simple imitation of [Black Eyes] himself.
"Furthermore—"
Uncle San continued, "The Five Elders' Council and the Seven Sins' Council, nominally both belonging to the Blood Worship Cult, are actually locked in a bitter factional struggle. Even at the height of the Seven Sins' power, they never gave the Five Elders' lineage a chance to survive."
"Later, when the Blood Worship Cult fell into decline, the Five Elders emerged to save the day, yet neither the Seven Sins' lineage nor the Forbidden Scripture Holy Son's lineage made any contribution."
As he spoke, Uncle San shook his head, a cold smile on his face. "Now, that ambitious Holy Son wants to cultivate the Seven Sins' forces to act as henchmen, to steal the fruits of our cult's labor—
will the Supreme Five Elders really agree?"
He lowered his voice, "It depends on which side we're on, and on the opinions of the Five Elders!"
"The Five Elders—"
Hearing this, [Black Eyes] pondered, shifting his feet and pacing in the ancestral hall.
"I know, Second Brother is afraid our family will be the first to speak out—but the Five-Colored Eyes family has always been united in external affairs. This matter concerns the Seven Sins; they won't be oblivious."
"Besides, if the Five Elders' intention is actually—" Third Uncle added, "then wouldn't we be more favored by them if we took the lead?"
"Hmm, Third Brother, you're right!" [Black Eyes] suddenly turned around, his gaze sweeping over the crowd before him, finally nodding to his third brother.
"It's getting late; you should all go back now."
"Then, what about Father?" The eldest son seemed to realize what [Black Eyes] was about to do; his expression shifted slightly, his eyes flickering.
Black Eyes nodded, seemingly pleased with his eldest son's keen observation. "The Demon Assembly and the Seven Sins' Headmaster are just around the corner.
"So, I'm going to pay my respects to
the Five Elders now." "To pay my respects
to the Five Elders!" From the dark complex where the Black Eyes family resided, they traveled south, the path covered in damp, eerie moss, slippery underfoot. The walls on either side were piled high with layers of dried snake sloughs, human skin, and the shed skin of some unidentifiable entity.
Whenever a living person passed by, these skins would ripple, as if casting malevolent glances and whispering secrets at the passersby.
Finally, Black Eyes arrived at the gates of the Five Elders' Headquarters. This place was no less magnificent than the Seven Sins' Headquarters, yet it possessed far less of the arrogant and domineering demonic aura of the Seven Sins' Headquarters, exuding instead a sinister and decaying deathly aura.
He knelt before the amber-like door, which contained countless grotesque, faceless, and distorted figures, a sight to behold.
With a thud, the once-noble black-robed figure, now reverent and imposing, knelt reverently before the deathly silent door. His soft robes spread across the cold ground, and [Black Eyes]'s forehead struck the earth heavily.
Then, remaining kneeling, his limbs stretched out in strangely flexible postures, performing movements impossible for ordinary people, as if in the midst of a ritual.
As he moved, the strange figures within the amber door seemed to shift their positions.
With a creak, the eerie amber door slowly opened, revealing a crack that exposed an endless, deep darkness beyond.
"Buzz!"
Then, he saw—
though [Black Eyes] knelt respectfully, not daring to look up, his dark eyes sensed something, and fleeting images appeared before his eyes.
In the deepest, darkest part of the Five Elders' Abode, the core secret realm where the Five Elders resided, a projection pierced through the crack in the gate and fell upon the eyes of [Black Eyes].
[Black Eyes] was able to see five ancient, enormous stone coffins, linked by endless, intertwined chains, suspended motionless in the center of the endless darkness.
Each of the five coffins had its lid slightly ajar, as if the dead were not quite truly dead.
Ominous, multicolored lights overflowed from these cracks, within which strange light and shadow danced and shifted—
gurgling black water, swampy, decaying wood shrouded in poisonous mist, rows of decaying, rusty gold, blazing dark red flames, and a thick, spreading filth—the
five ominous lights merged and converged in the darkness, like a disgusting, sticky substance, transforming into a swirling, nebulous mist that slowly rotated in the darkness, resembling a nebula or a placenta.
"6
"
After a while, a voice came from the misty fog, an aged voice that seemed to overlap, as if several mouths were saying the same thing at the same time: "What you seek, I already know."
"Buzz"
In the next instant, wisps of eerie smoke of different colors poured out from the gaps between the five coffins. These wisps of smoke condensed in the air, transforming into a strange five-character scroll, which then passed through the endless darkness and the gaps in the door, and floated lightly into the hand of [Black Eyes].
"This is—!"
[Black Eyes] was stunned, looking at the scroll in his hand. The light five-character scroll seemed to have no substance, with ethereal and sinister smoke flowing around it, and at the center of the scroll, it gathered into a series of flamboyant characters:
—[Curse]!
"The decree of the Five Elders!"
[Black Eyes] took a deep breath, his heart trembling, and realized that his son had made the right decision.
The Five Elders really attached great importance to this, and even personally issued a decree.
It was imbued with the power of the Five Elders, a mysterious power that controlled the space between death and immortality, belonging to the level above even the Fate Forgers. It was like a vessel for the idea of immortality yet decay, extremely dangerous and terrifying!
"[Black Eyes]—I obey the decree!"
[Black Eyes]bowed in gratitude, and as the gate to the realm slammed shut, he understood the Five Elders' meaning.
Openly, they were obstructing the Seven Sins' selection of the headmaster, but out of respect for the Holy Son, a high-ranking official like himself couldn't intervene directly, refraining from bullying the weak.
If that didn't work, after the Seven Sins' headmaster was chosen, regardless of whether the headmaster was blind, they would secretly use the power of the decree against him!
No matter who he was, three days later, he would undoubtedly die, turning into a rotting corpse.
It would be as if he had been deeply affected by something like the pollution of the Void Realm, or perhaps directly corroded by death energy—irreversible, incurable, and no one could find out the specific cause of death!
At that time, no matter how lazy or diligent he was—from the highest heavens to the deepest hells—he could not escape the curse of the Five Elders' decree!
"Hoo—"
With a sense of relief, [Black Eyes] finally relaxed and exhaled with confidence.
He respectfully held the decree in his hands, slowly rose from the platform, and gradually retreated.
"Whoosh—"
At this moment, the sound of the wind howled from afar, and the cries of demons faintly echoed in the headquarters of the Blood Worship Cult—as if singing a grand elegy for a battle that had not yet taken place.
However.
At the same time.
Separated by more than half of the Blood Worship Cult headquarters, in the bedroom of the indolent.
"Buzz! Buzz buzz buzz!"
As the gate of the Five Elders' Courtyard opened, revealing a crack—especially the moment the Five Elders' decree took shape—
at this instant, within Bai Zhou's body, the character [Recitation], which had been quietly floating on the surface of the Sea of Ignorance—suddenly shone brightly, like a hungry shark that had been lurking in the depths of the sea for a long time, finally smelling the blood of its prey!
"What happened?!" Shirafune
,
who was learning the second-tier ritual "Winter's Chant," looked around, completely bewildered.
The sea of ignorance surged ceaselessly, the excited syllable "念" (nian) vibrating repeatedly in Bai Zhou's lower abdomen, almost numbing him.
"It's... smelling the resentment of the dead, and it's craving it?"
Remembering the peculiar effects of the syllable "念," Bai Zhou sensed the strange desire emanating from it and followed that desire.
Then, his expression gradually became strange.
"Isn't that—"
Isn't that the direction of the most terrifying forbidden place of the Blood Worship Cult, the Five Elders' Academy
?