Chapter 654: Section 441: The Accidental Rescue
Seeing that all the captives kept silent, Zhou Zhang no longer spoke. Instead, he signaled with his eyes to Gold Level octopus-man Meizhu, standing by his side.
Meizhu immediately understood Zhou Zhang’s intention. With a raise of his hand, he directed the others to escort the sea beast herd onto the altar.
Thus, under the watchful eyes of the captives, a blood sacrifice began.
The Fishman youth, hidden in the Ocean Nest, had seen such sacrifices many times before, but for the captives, it was their first time.
They watched, speechless, as the entire process of the blood sacrifice unfolded before them, feeling the immense power of the magic and Divine Text combined in the grand array.
The captives also fully understood why such a formidable power lay hidden in the depths of the White Hair Sea Trench.
“As an Archbishop of Charming Blue Sect at Holy Domain Level, she intends to hunt sea beasts on a large scale here, offering them as sacrifices to her Main God.”
“With the Beast Tide originating from the White Hair Sea Trench, this is the perfect opportunity for them to obtain numerous sacrifices for the blood ritual.”
“We’re really unlucky. Captured by this group, they’re forcing us to convert. If we refuse to believe, we’ll probably be used for the blood sacrifice!”
“To live or to die?”
“To convert or not to convert?”
The captives faced a dilemma.
At that moment, one of the captives spoke up first, “I’ll convert!”
Suddenly, many eyes focused on him.
People quickly realized that the one claiming to convert was the highest-Level among the Undead Mages—the Golden Level ship ghost.
Zhou Zhang’s expression remained the same, and with a slight tilt of his chin, the octopus-men behind the ship ghost immediately acted, helping him to stand.
The ship ghost was finally no longer kneeling.
He looked up at Zhou Zhang on the altar, slowly bowed, and introduced himself, “Great Archbishop of the Charming Blue Sect, powerful Holy Domain Level Zhou Zhang, my name is Ship Ghost, and I am a direct descendant of the Undead Orthodoxy…”
Ship Ghost revealed his identity, as well as the fact that his teacher was one of the Twelve Saints. He even brought up You Can, who for being the founder of the Undead Faction was a renowned legendary figure worldwide!
Ship Ghost earnestly expressed his viewpoint: the Undead Orthodoxy and the Charming Blue Sect were not enemies, and it was entirely possible for both sides to cooperate.
However, his words did not soften the enemy’s expressions. If anything, many showed an even greater mix of disgust and suspicion.
Zhang Yuwan let out a cold snort, staring intently at Ship Ghost, “Undead Orthodoxy? Does that mean you are a Desecration Priest?”
With this question, a surge of murderous intent rolled in from all directions toward Ship Ghost.
The hatred between Desecration Priests and sects and Believers ran deep, completely irreconcilable, an outright enmity!
Ship Ghost hurriedly stated that although he was of the Orthodoxy, he was not a Desecration Priest.
He also emphasized that while there were indeed many Desecration Priests within the Undead Orthodoxy, none had ever offended the Goddess Mei Lan.
He was not mistaken.
At least, as far as Zhou Zhang knew, no Undead Mage had ever desecrated her exalted faith.
Ship Ghost then swore that even if he had the ability, he would never offend the Goddess Mei Lan. To prove his sincerity, he said he would convert on the spot, joining the Charming Blue Sect and becoming the world’s first Golden Level Undead Mage to worship the Goddess! And if given a chance, he would also evangelize to other Undead Mages.
His words moved many of the believers.
Zhou Zhang stared at Ship Ghost for a while before speaking in Universal Language, “All things should worship my Lord, and that includes Undead Mages. Ship Ghost, if you truly can spread the Goddess’ faith among the Undead Mages, I will reward you according to your deeds.”
“I’ll trust you for now, Ship Ghost. But you must later prove that you’re a lamb of my Lord, not a cunning fox or a jackal.”
“I hope you truly believe in my Lord. If we find you deceiving us, even with You Can behind you, the price you pay will be unimaginably severe.”
Ship Ghost quickly reassured that he would keep his promise, fully believing in the God Mei Lan. He was already eager to learn the relevant prayers and perform his first prayer.
Deep inside, however, Ship Ghost sneered, “If Master You Can were truly behind me, would you dare say that again? Zhou Zhang!”
Outmatched by the situation, Ship Ghost chose outward submission, all the while secretly looking for an opportunity to seek help.
In the previous battle, his main focus had been drawn by the Ba Qi, leaving him unprepared for the Concurrent Deception Skill. As a result, he hadn’t even managed to send a signal for help.
But then again, even if he had, the chances of receiving rescue from someone at the Twelve Saints Level were not high.
The battle at the Nether River had actually been lucky for Ship Ghost. One of the Twelve Saints, the Corpse Doctor, had been nearby and could receive his distress signal.
With Ship Ghost setting an example, the Little Prince and others immediately understood what they had to do.
It must be said that Undead Mages possessed quite flexible religious baselines.
The whimpering Little Prince, afraid of death, was especially worried about never seeing his parents again.
However, just as the Little Prince was about to speak up, someone shouted ahead of him, “I too convert to the great Goddess Mei Lan!”
Eyes turned to locate the speaker, and to their surprise, it was Ba Qi.
Although Ba Qi had his own faith, his level of devotion was shallow, at most a General Believer.
After becoming a prisoner, Ba Qi swiftly accepted the reality before him and decided to bow his head. This might have had something to do with his past experience of being imprisoned in the Abyss Inverted Tower.
The two most powerful Golden Level captives made their stance and set an example one after another, with the remaining captives continuously indicating that they were all willing to convert.
Thus, they were all helped to their feet, yet the shackles on their wrists and ankles remained in place.
Zhou Zhang issued the subsequent orders. She had some Priests from the Charming Blue Sect lead these captives, teaching them the prayers and a series of ceremonial norms of the Charming Blue Sect. They were also to guide them to settle in, overseeing and taking care of their daily routines.
To be spared like this, free from the threat of death, Cang Xu and the others found it somewhat incredible.
“Are they really letting us go just like this?”
“She says conversion, does she really believe us?”
“The looks we’re getting from the Charming Blue Sect believers around us are very odd, there must be something fishy going on!”
If they could have a face-to-face conversation, the Fishman youth would tell them: You’re really thinking too simply! Next, you’ll be transported to the Ocean Nest. The Holy Domain sea beasts in the nest will be the strictest means of faith testing. The moment your faith is slightly off the mark, you will be mercilessly killed by it and reduced to one of the blood sacrifice offerings.
However, for the time being, the Fishman youth breathed a sigh of relief.
If Zhou Zhang were to publicly execute these captives in front of everyone, the Fishman youth would have no choice but to destroy the Ocean Nest, take control of the Deep Sea Monster Fish, launch a forced attack, and try to rescue Cang Xu.
The Fishman youth couldn’t bear to watch his companion die a tragic death.
He was absolutely unable to accomplish this.
The way things had developed to this point was undoubtedly the best-case scenario for the Fishman youth!
Thanks to the intelligence he had gathered previously, the Fishman youth had already guessed Zhou Zhang’s next moves.
“When Cang Xu is transported in, I can rescue him.”
“When he is brought aboard the Deep Sea Monster Fish and sees me, he will definitely get a shock!” The Fishman youth smiled slightly, somewhat looking forward to this moment.
“I set off from the Snowbird Port wharf originally to rescue Lan Zao. I didn’t save Lan Zao and ended up in the Ocean Nest myself. Now, due to some twist of fate, I have to rescue Cang Xu.”
The Fishman youth felt the fickleness of fate at this moment.
“Ah, I wonder how Lan Zao is doing now?”
Lan Zao was doing well.
He was swimming through the sea.
Through the days of training, he had become quite familiar with his new life form.
He continued to breathe through his gills, striving to turn the action into an instinct.
Before this, he had an “accidental” encounter with Ba Qi and suffered an ordeal. After falling into the water, Lan Zao passed out, and the action of breathing through his gills ceased.
This was a weakness. After being reminded by Shuang Tu, he was now actively improving it.
Ba Qi’s infusion of Fighting energy allowed Lan Zao to transform his own Fighting energy thoroughly in a very short time.
Now, Lan Zao was cultivating the Pressure Fighting Technique.
Combat Skill — Air Bomb!
Lan Zao slowed his swimming speed and secretly used his muscles to compress his fish bladder. The stored compressed air was immediately forced out in a ball and delivered to his mouth through his airway.
From the outside, Lan Zao’s Adam’s apple moved, followed by his cheeks puffing out sharply.
With momentum, Lan Zao opened his mouth and shot out an Air Bomb.
After traveling tens of meters, the bomb exploded with a boom.
In Lan Zao’s self-assessment, such power could match the might of a Black Iron Level bomb.
However, because it was a test launch deep under the sea, the surface remained calm and tranquil.
After a complete transformation of Fighting energy, the injuries all over Lan Zao had fully healed.
Currently, he was focusing on mastering the Combat Skill Air Bomb.
It had to be said, the learning materials Shuang Tu gave him were immensely beneficial. Coupled with his compatible Bloodline and Fighting Technique, Lan Zao was efficiently cultivating this Combat Skill and had now fully mastered it.
He immersed himself in training, gradually losing track of time, until Shuang Tu teleported to find him.
Shuang Tu said to Lan Zao, “Your training time is up, Hen Fa.”
“Lunch has been prepared for you.”
Lan Zao nodded in thanks to Shuang Tu.
He understood very well: the rapid progress he had made these past few days was partly due to his own Bloodline and efforts and partly due to the comprehensive assistance provided by Shuang Tu. This included the daily nutritive feasts, the magical culinary dishes. Not only delicious, but they were also perfectly suited for his current needs, bringing him abundant nutrition.
Lan Zao planned to continue training after lunch, but he then heard Shuang Tu continue, “You’d better rest for a while after lunch. Don’t train for the whole afternoon. You need to maintain your condition.”
“I’ll introduce someone to you. He will lead you down to an underground cave for a barbaric duel.”