Chapter 654: An Unexpected Turn
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
Wu Qi stomped his feet and agreed to the terms of Hei Mo's offer to free a person from the Black Celestial Forbidden Curse with the blood essence and souls of ten people. He would conduct a large-scale blood sacrifice ceremony to satisfy the latter's appetite, so that the emperor and ministers of Great Yan could get rid of the deadly curse completely.
The baby, who had been possessed by Hei Mo, laughed wickedly as he rubbed his palms and nodded satisfactorily. Although he had a contract with King Yang Shan, that the soul of a cursed person would be his once someone tried to undo the curse, as a matter of fact, these people's souls were his since the beginning. Therefore, he actually did not lose anything in this new deal.
But, he suddenly uttered a scream and quickly reminded Wu Qi that he had an additional term — if the person controlled by the curse was a mortal, he could be freed with the blood essence and souls of ten mortals, but if he was a cultivator, his curse could only be undone with ten cultivators of similar cultivation base. So logically, if the person was a Heaven Immortal, then Hei Mo would only free him from the curse with the blood essence and souls of ten Heaven Immortals.
While laughing, Hei Mo stared at Wu Qi and said, "This is a fair and reasonable term, don't you think so?"
Wu Qi gave him an angry glare, then clenched his jaws and agreed to the additional term. Fortunately, of all the people of Great Yan, only Yan Dan, Xun Kuang, Su Qin, Mo Di and a few other senior ministers had broken through the realm of Heaven Immortals, while the rest was still far away from making the breakthrough.
With wars raging across Pangu Continent now, Wu Qi had used the advantage of being a Great Yu's military officer to imprison hundreds of immortals in the cellars of Dong Hai City. They were more than enough to secure the freedom of Yan Dan and others. And, it was also very easy for him to get hold of a large number of mortals. Whenever Great Yu's army destroyed a base of itinerant cultivators, all the servants and maids of the itinerant cultivators would be degraded to slavery. If they were unfortunate enough to encounter a cruel military officer, they would be executed on the spot. In general, an accomplished itinerant cultivator would have over ten thousand servants and maids. With tens of thousands of itinerant cultivators being killed every day on Pangu Continent now, he could find himself hundreds of millions of mortals easily.
Hei Mo snorted with laughter at the sight of Wu Qi clenching his teeth and agreeing to the terms. While chuckling, faint dark ripples began to emanate out of his little body, and then he pointed a finger out. A Scouting Officer, standing at a corner in the great hall, suddenly shrieked as he floated up into the air. As Hei Mo's fingers changed between various incantation gestures and his mouth murmured some spell, a beam of black light rushed out from the top of the officer's head, inside of which hovered a vague soul. In the blink of an eye, countless fine strands of black light shot out of the soul; it became clear and transparent soon, without any impurity.
"Here's the sample!" Hei Mo said smilingly while clapping his hands. "The curse has been completely removed, and he is under no one's control now. Hehe, prepare the offerings and I'll do what is agreed!"
He paused and thought for a while, then nodded and said, "If you can offer enough sacrifices, I'll even teach the Black Celestial Mantra to you!"
Wu Qi looked at him with confusion. Noticing that, Hei Mo sighed deeply and said, "True enough, the Black Celestial Mantra is a powerful ancient technique, but it is based on a concept completely different from what I am practicing. It uses all kinds of ominous auras to refine one's soul, which is the most orthodox great Dao of Ancient Fiends. But, too bad that I am... Hehe, in any case, I am not from the same clan as its creator, so I can't cultivate this mantra."
Rubbing his fingers quickly, Hei Mo chuckled and said in a low voice, "Offer me enough sacrifices, and this Black Celestial Mantra might be yours! Think of the Black Celestial Forbidden Curse! It's such a powerful curse, and yet it's only a little technique found in the mantra! Hehe…If you can offer me enough sacrifices, I might teach you the entire Black Celestial Mantra!"
Looking at Hei Mo's mischievous and unreliable smile, Wu Qi somehow thought of the term 'devil's temptation' and found it strange. If all Hei Mo wanted was sacrifices, how could King Yang Shan and King Yang Qiu not satisfy his appetite? And, with all the sacrifices that they had offered to him, why did he only teach them the Black Celestial Forbidden Curse?
There was something weird going on here. As Wu Qi did not know Hei Mo's character and behavior, he did not dare to agree to this condition.
He changed the topic by quickly deciding with Hei Mo on the approximate time of the blood sacrifice ceremony. He needed a few months of time to bring Yan Dan and others to Pangu Continent, where he would have enough offerings for Hei Mo. And, in order to save himself and everyone from a devastating trouble, he had also decided to make Hei Mo swear during the ceremony that he would not leak anything about them to King Yang Qiu.
Nevertheless, it seemed Hei Mo was an outer domain being who sought nothing but profits. Given enough benefits, he should keep the secret for Wu Qi.
They agreed on various details with a few words, after which, Hei Mo laughed triumphantly and waved his hand, getting ready to leave. Since he could not harvest any offerings today, he had no interest in staying any longer. For outer domain beings like him, it cost a great effort to break through the void and come to this world. He had barely broken even by taking away the souls of the few maidservants and the baby. But, if he kept lingering here, he would soon suffer losses.
The eerie smile that hung on the baby's face faded away gradually, and his pitch-dark eyes slowly returned to normal.
Just then, a burst of roar rang out within the great hall. Xun Kuang, Han Fei, and Mo Di, who were immobilized by the bizarre aura emanated from Hei Mo's body, suddenly sprung to their feet. Immortal energies tumbled around them, and rays of spirit light were radiating out from the top of their heads. Like bolts of lightning, bright beams of light darted out of Xun Kuang's eyes and shot toward Hei Mo.
Hei Mo, who was slowly leaving this world and returning to the outer domain, was a little surprised. The black returned to the baby's eyes and the bizarre aura was emanated from his body again. He halted in mid-air, laughing in a deep voice. "What's the matter? Do they have anything against me? Or, do they think I'm asking too much? Hehe!"
He gave Wu Qi a hard look and sneered. "I must tell you bluntly that should you not provide me the amount of sacrifices we've agreed upon, I don't mind killing everyone here and reaping their souls."
He lifted a finger and said in a commanding voice, "No one dares to break the promise he or she has made with me! Never!"
Xun Kuang strode over to Wu Qi's side and snapped, "I'm not going to agree to the term that ten people must be killed to save me alone!" He glared at Hei Mo and then said to Wu Qi, "It's not negotiable. I'd rather be dead than do such a bad thing!"
Mo Di and Han Fei did not speak, but the fact that they jumped up at the same time as Xun Kuang proved that they thought the same. The bizarre aura emanated by Han Fei had immobilized them, so they could not express their opinions. But, they finally recovered some strength when he was leaving this world; hence, they sprung to their feet immediately to show their objections against the agreement between Wu Qi and Hei Mo.
Wu Qi's face darkened as he stared helplessly at Xun Kuang and the other two.
While grinning coldly, Hei Mo purposely said to himself in a voice that could be heard by everyone in the great hall, "You'd rather be dead than do such a bad thing? Do you really think it's that easy to be dead? Anyway, the terms have already been agreed upon. Ten lives for one's freedom… hehe… I don't care if you want to do it or not. I think you're more reasonable, little one!"
Then, Wu Qi turned to look helplessly at Yan Dan.
Hei Mo burst into laughter and pointed a finger at Yan Dan, who rose slowly to his feet, now able to move and speak. Yan Dan's face was unsightly. In his heart, he could totally accept the terms of exchanging their freedom with the lives of others. But Xun Kuang, Han Fei, and Mo Di were all very senior and important ministers of Great Yan. Their strong reactions had made him hesitate.
Wu Qi could not say anything either. He reckoned that it was because of their obsession for moral hygiene that they were so firmly opposed to using blood sacrifices in exchange for their own freedom. But... it seemed all the others in the great hall did not oppose the terms, which he could see from their indifferent expressions. Qin Wuyang's expression, in particular, was even odder. He looked as if he could not wait to kill ten cultivators as strong as himself so that he could be freed from the curse immediately.
The atmosphere in the great hall became extremely bizarre. At this moment, a tendency of division vaguely emerged between the emperor and ministers of Great Yan.
Yan Dan's face grew darker and darker. He looked at Wu Qi, hoping that he would come out with a suitable solution. Hei Mo just kept grinning coldly. The eerie black light in his eyes began to spin slowly like two black holes that could swallow everything.
After a long silence, Wu Qi turned to look at Xun Kuang and the other two, only to find them still standing firm there, their expressions unchanged. With a wry smile, he asked Hei Mo, "Is there anything else besides human life you are willing to accept?"
Shaking his head, he continued in a deep voice, "To me, killing a few immortals or killing a group of cultivators in exchange for freedom is not something difficult. But these three old misters are people I respect very much, and if they can't accept that, I'm afraid..."
Hei Mo's face darkened as he snorted coldly and said, "What if I kill everyone here? Are they still not willing to accept the terms after that?"
Wu Qi smiled as a faint trace of Lei Meng's aura emanated out of his body. "If you're really going to do that, I guess I'll have no choice but to drag you into a life-and-death struggle. I've heard that wars between Ghost Gods in the outer domain are possible if I am willing to pay a great price! And I believe... that such wars must happen frequently, don't they?"
Lei Meng's aura had startled Hei Mo. He gave Wu Qi a glance in astonishment, then bowed his head and considered for a long moment, only then nodding slowly.
"Huge amount of natural treasures! I want a huge amount of natural treasures from your world! Don't fool me with ordinary things. What I need are good materials that can be used to craft weapons!"
Hei Mo made a new offer and Wu Qi agreed to it at once.
Xun Kuang and the other two old misters' faces relaxed suddenly, and even Yan Dan smiled happily.