Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!

Chapter 1481 - 214: Xu Shu’s Funhouse

As everyone knows, the center of Baishi Town lies right in the middle of this ring of mountains—exactly in that little gap in the middle of the character for "shit."

The city walls are rounded, the buildings look plump and full, water surrounds them on all sides, and the snow-covered ridges of the fields around reflect the light of the sky.

From a distance, the tall tower belonging to the Town Guard Mansion stands there like a one-legged golden rooster, eye-catchingly bright.

The flag at the top of the tower, emblazoned with a white lotus pattern, flutters proudly in the wind.

Like a white candle-flame, wavering as if about to go out in a torrential downpour.

When you get a bit closer, you can hear the sound of music drifting through every street and alley of the town.

The residents of the town have all thrown their doors wide open; there are hanging curtains all over doors and windows. The common folk kneel and sit in front of the simple offering tables set up at their thresholds, laying out all kinds of sacrificial tribute, heads bowed as they ceaselessly sing the glory and grace of the Mother of Non-Birth.

And you can see squad after squad of Holy Envoy Team members in white robes, swaggering through the streets and alleys, parading about, singing as they go:

"The red dust is a prison, all beings suffer!"

"Reincarnation never ends, worries never cease."

"Pity us mortals, a god descends from Heaven."

"Mother of Non-Birth, the True Void Homeland!"

They shake bronze bells, blow suona horns, scatter paper money, dancing and capering about like lunatics.

The townsfolk’s praises had originally been very quiet, voices thin as if almost silent.

But when the Holy Envoy Team passes by their doors, their voices grow much louder.

Some people have prepared to a rather impressive degree; when they praise, they can rattle things off in detail—for example, in such-and-such year of such-and-such era, when the town was plagued by evil spirits, corpses rose in bizarre fashion and bit anyone they saw, spreading "madman’s disease" and almost causing a catastrophe—only thanks to the Mother manifesting her power were the calamities subdued.

Others are more barebones, knowing only a few anecdotes, and can only say bland stuff like "Mother is good, Mother is wonderful," that kind of boiled-water praise which comes off hollow and empty—of course, that might not mean they’re ignorant; maybe they’re just not good at bullshitting.

Fortunately the Holy Envoy Team doesn’t seem to really care whether they can make up stories or not; they just take the offerings and move on, chanting as they go, converging from all over the town toward the tall tower at its center.

All of this fell completely within Xu Shu’s field of view.

He looked at the wailing and howling filling the town below, a slightly dazed expression on his face, clicking his tongue and marveling, "Damn, the shit-fence vibe in this town is really intense!"

It should be about a quarter past noon right now. Xu Shu had just collected the "Qiantian" Lotus Platform from the village to the south and rushed straight to Baishi Town.

He was standing there swaggeringly at one corner of the city wall, yet no one noticed him at all.

There were even a few White Lotus Sect patrolmen keeping watch not far away; Xu Shu was less than twenty meters from them, and still not a single one spotted him.

This was the peculiarity of the Yang God·Blood Dome.

Xu Shu, reduced to a small puddle, tiny hands, tiny feet, tiny movements—he moved in utter silence.

Hearing Xu Shu’s sigh, Xiao Ya nodded calmly, a faint dimple at the corner of her mouth as she said, "Looks like we made it just in time, caught the town in the middle of a sacrificial ceremony."

"Enough nonsense, I’m going to see just how capable this White Lotus Sect sub-altar actually is! But Little Ya, this time you can’t just sit back and watch the show while I do all the work, right?" Xu Shu said.

"What are you talking about, Brother Xu Shu? Since when does watching the battle through puppets make me some ’effortless win dog’? Don’t worry, this time I’ll let you see my true strength!" Xiao Ya said, solemn as an oath yet perfectly shameless, holding up the "Optical Prism" and activating a special "optical invisibility."

She then swaggered straight in through the city gate, ignoring the few soldiers diligently and responsibly guarding it.

"Then let’s do it."

Xu Shu didn’t waste any time.

The two of them—one turning into a bizarre person made of blood, the other directly optically invisible—began sprinting wildly through the town.

Their destination was very clear: that fortress-like compound under the White Lotus Sect banner at the town center.

Inside the compound bearing the plaque "Town Guard Mansion," the bustle was even more intense.

The place had been dressed up like an opera stage, festooned with lanterns and decorations, drums and gongs thundering—of course, the lanterns were white, and the "festooning" was all hanging curtains, very much in line with the usual style of the White Lotus Sect.

Many futons had been laid out below the stage; kneeling and sitting on them were people whose clothing was clearly more luxurious—at a glance you could tell they were wealthy merchants and local gentry, the movers and shakers of the town, people with power, status, and a name.

Atop the sacrificial platform stood a huge bronze cauldron four or five meters tall, its surface carved all over with patterns of ferocious beasts and wrathful gods. Inside the cauldron a gigantic lotus rose straight up toward the sky like a "wick," burning fiercely; the flames roared, the heat was so intense that it warped the air, twisting the light.

All around the cauldron was a ring of freshly slaughtered livestock, blood still dripping, and many small, pallid or skinny, childish limbs.

On the stage, many dancer girls wearing white masks and dressed in so little that they were basically down to a few strips of cloth—just enough to cover the key parts—were twisting their graceful bodies, performing the sacrificial "Spirit Dance."

Their movements were exaggerated to the point of absurdity; a normal person wouldn’t just be unable to do them, they wouldn’t even dare imagine the human body could twist like that.

Their dance moves faintly synced with the rhythm of the flames leaping inside the bronze cauldron; their shadows projected onto the curtain, jumping and spinning along, as if they’d come alive, yet also like puppets being manipulated at will.

Under the huge shadows, the light in the entire compound seemed noticeably dimmer than elsewhere.

For a moment, the entire fortress courtyard was filled with a miasma of sinister, bizarre, bloody, frenzied, primitive aura, all blended together, rushing right at you—shocking to behold!

——

On the rooftop of a tall building a little ways off.

Pointing at the Fire Lotus burning inside that cauldron, Xu Shu said eagerly, "Look, Seven Treasures Lotus!"