Ju Nanyi saw that several people in the dark had no intention to leave; clearly, these people were not brainless despite their stiff movents.
Or perhaps, their brains were stiff like their bodies, but not entirely useless.
After Ju Nanyi had thrown two stones in succession, he ca to the conclusion that he needed another way to draw these people away, or the group that had just left would return. By then, luring them away again would not be so easy.
Just as Ju Nanyi was growing anxious, a faint, tiny voice ca from the darkness on the other side of him—a sound so subtle that, had the people in the dark not suddenly moved, Ju Nanyi would not have noticed it.
The next mont, indeed there was a slight sound..., that of a very small animal.
"Squeak, squeak, squeak—" A very small mouse, having rarely ventured out of its hole since being born, had accidentally taken a wrong turn. Now, in the dungeon, it scurried about in panic, its cries calling for its mother.
Yet this feeble sound drew the intense focus of the Disciples of Ghoul Ravine standing guard in the middle, not only fixating on the noise but leaning forward in a great arc towards the source of the mouse’s sound.
This sight was inexplicably eerie. Ju Nanyi paused his anxiety to see what would happen next, and sure enough, one of the n couldn’t resist any longer and pounced quickly towards the mouse.
In the darkness, Ju Nanyi could not see where the mouse was, but the direction of the sound was very clear. Anyone quick enough could locate it by sound and easily capture it, and the next mont, a disciple of Ghoul Ravine had grabbed the little mouse.
If the n’s intense focus on the appearance of a small mouse had seed eerie and hair-raising to Ju Nanyi, what followed was enough to make one feel nauseated.
The disciple who caught the mouse stuffed it straight into his mouth, and a crisp crack was heard—the sound of teeth shattering the mouse’s spine. Blood sprayed inside the mouth, and in the dim light, the mouse’s black tail writhed at the corner of the man’s mouth for a mont before being stuffed in entirely.
Crunch, crunch—
Ju Nanyi almost vomited, while the other disciples of the Ghoul Ravine, watching their comrade eat the mouse, stared intently, almost drooling with envy.
But the disciple from Ghoul Ravine moved from pouncing to eating the mouse so fluidly, without giving others a chance. By the ti everyone ca to their senses, the mouse had already been swallowed.
Then, the other disciples of Ghoul Ravine turned back to the darkness, seemingly waiting for the sound of a mouse to continue.
Ju Nanyi suppressed the strong urge to retch, an idea forming in his mind. Without delay, he left the dungeon, and once outside, he took several deep breaths of fresh air to suppress the constant nausea.
Afterward, Ju Nanyi disappeared into the darkness.
Ju Nanyi knew where to find more mice, a knowledge based on his very impoverished youth. Bu Er Temple lay halfway up the mountain, where mice were even more plentiful, as long as he found the right place.
In no ti, Ju Nanyi, carrying a black cloth bag, imdiately returned to the dungeon. This ti, he had covered his nose and mouth beforehand, not for fear of being seen, but because the sll was too foul to bear.
The sa group of disciples from Ghoul Ravine was still standing far off, their figures as rigid as before, as if they were not even breathing. But the next mont, their ears perked up.
Ju Nanyi was able to catch the mice, but he couldn’t control them to keep quiet, so he acted very swiftly. The mont he saw those "people" turning their heads, he had already thrown the cloth bag in his hand, and the next mont, the mice imdiately scattered and ran everywhere, their squeaks and frantic escape capturing everyone’s attention.
The next mont, one after another, disciples of Ghoul Ravine charged out, pouncing at the mice.
Ju Nanyi swiftly passed through and went to the deepest layer of the dungeon. At this ti, the dungeon was filled with the noise of the mice, and indeed, there were still disciples guarding in the deepest dungeon.
Ju Nanyi threw another black cloth bag from his hand, and the remaining two mice imdiately bolted out. The disciples of Ghoul Ravine guarding the place imdiately had their eyes shining, just like the others outside.
Ju Nanyi finally saw Master Huo Yi, who had been missing for more than a month.
Under the light, Master Huo Yi’s white robes had beco stained in the dungeon, but the man still sat quietly on the ground, his eyes closed, as if he wasn’t aware of his current situation.
"Master Huo Yi—" Ju Nanyi couldn’t delay and directly opened the dungeon door, squeezing in. Upon entering, Ju Nanyi discovered the dungeon was never locked, yet the people brought into the dungeon could never leave.
Master Huo Yi seed to already know Ju Nanyi had arrived, glancing at him to show he had seen him.
"The Emperor sent to find the Mage, and I have finally fulfilled the task—" Ju Nanyi spoke outright.
"The Emperor?" Master Huo Yi responded, a bit surprised, and sowhat...
"So he beca The Emperor after all, he really didn’t heed my advice," said Master Huo Yi.
Ju Nanyi paused slightly, but being a highly intelligent man, he rembered the reaction of Qiandao Temple in his past life.
"Could it be, Mage, that you still believe destiny and celestial signs are immutable? What can those ancient predictions from many years ago really prove?" Ju Nanyi said coldly.
So matters had beco secret history, it was the sa in his past life, and when he received secret news of Qiandao Temple’s rebellion, he thought Qiandao Temple wanted to take advantage of the chaos. After all, Nanzheng was like a piece of ownerless fertile land at that ti.
Master Huo Yi glanced at Ju Nanyi, neither confirming nor denying.
"Fate is fate, even if Zheng Congyuan sits on the throne, he will not last long. It’s just lingering on in the last gasp," Master Huo Yi said, showing no intention of leaving nor any fighting spirit.
Ju Nanyi quietly observed Master Huo Yi, not believing that without Qiandao Temple or Ghoul Ravine, even if it was the blood of the Nanzheng Imperial Clan that ascended to that position, what difference would it make from the current Zheng Congyuan? Nanzheng State would still...
Or was it that even if his own descendants had ascended to that position in his past life, it still wouldn’t change the fate of Nanzheng State’s destruction?
Slowly, Ju Nanyi realized that over so many years, he wasn’t aware just once that Nanzheng State was going to perish, yet it kept struggling in the tumultuous waters, just barely clinging to survival, yes, just as Master Huo Yi had said.
A single sentence from Master Huo Yi easily shattered the confidence and self-deception that Ju Nanyi had built up.
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