Chapter 462: Chapter 398: Take Care
"Huh?" Yang Xiao was startled.
It didn’t hurt.
It wasn’t just painless, it was actually comfortable, cool, as if he had applied an essence-infused hydrating facial mask, though Yang Xiao had never used one; it was merely his imagination.
The sensation was the complete opposite of the one brought by the Guillotine Knife. Yang Xiao now felt extremely comfortable, so comfortable that he wanted to sleep.
If this was a game, he would suspect this to be some sort of reward stage, but this was the Nightmare World, and these ghosts weren’t so kind-hearted.
With this mask... no, this piece of yellow paper attached, Yang Xiao felt his whole body become much clearer. At the same time, he suddenly thought of the origin of this flying yellow paper—it should be called Face Covering Paper.
After a person died, the body would be straightened out, lying face-up, and a thin Yellow Ritual Paper would be used to cover the face, also known as "Face Covering Paper." This custom had many particularities, such as not folding or wetting the paper. If even a piece was missing, it was considered a major taboo. In some regions that valued customs dearly, this was also called Next-life Face, representing the face of the deceased in the next life.
Once the Face Covering Paper was damaged, it meant that the deceased would be without a face in the next life, or would suffer disfigurement or other misfortunes.
In a brief moment, numerous images flooded Yang Xiao’s mind—the Blood Coffin, the Soul Summoning Banner, the Bronze Bell, Face Covering Paper, Wooden Plaque, Black Gauze Cap... There seemed to be a connection between this series of items. They were all things used for the dead!
Yang Xiao was unclear about what this meant, but it was obvious that it was no coincidence. These things seemed like an indispensable part of a complete ritual.
There was no time for Yang Xiao to think further; the dissolving blood red congealed once more, the cage opened, and in an instant, Yang Xiao was back in his original position.
In Yang Xiao’s perception, this lasted for several minutes, but to Cheng Cha Tong Han, it was just a blink of an eye.
Yang Xiao turned to look at Cheng Cha, but a part of the world in his eyes was missing. At the same time, Cheng Cha’s face went white as she blurted out, "Your face, your face!!"
Yang Xiao also sensed something was wrong. Reaching to touch, he discovered his right eye was gone, along with the eyebrow, leaving the skin in its place very smooth.
The Face Covering Paper had actually stolen his eye.
Turning to look behind him, the scene before him took him by surprise. This time it was the little girl with the Human Bone Staff standing behind him. Like him, her right eye was also taken, but there were no scars on her smooth skin, as if she had never had a right eye to begin with.
Apart from that, there were no signs of injury on the girl, and she looked the same as ever in her red clothes, appearing very well-behaved. But only Yang Xiao knew that once the girl turned around and lifted the clothes on her back, one could directly see the hanging viscera. The skin on her back, along with her spine, had been brutally peeled and removed.
"How are you?" Tong Han looked at Yang Xiao from a distance, equally shocked by the scene. The methods of these ghosts were beyond comprehension.
Yang Xiao shook his head, indicating he was fine, and stopped Cheng Cha, who was about to continue climbing. He intended to go on alone.
"Do you have another scapegoat?" Cheng Cha asked, full of hope, but this time his hopes were bound to be dashed. The Ghost Lantern, the Ghost Mirror, the horsetail whisk, and the Human Bone Staff had all been used up. Apart from the last Underworld Robe, Yang Xiao had nothing left to squeeze out.
"Do you still have a way to dodge the attack?" Yang Xiao didn’t turn his head, ready to climb the eighth step alone, with death looming before his eyes.
Now, except for trusting Cheng Cha, he didn’t know what else to do. To be honest, this young man from the Confucian Forest’s Yang Family had performed quite well, but the current situation was no longer within his control. They needed a bit of luck now more than ever.
At this moment, Cheng Cha took a deep breath, also ready to stake everything on one cast of the dice, "I only have a fifty percent chance of success. Win or lose, let’s gamble."
"Then let’s do it," Yang Xiao nodded in agreement, "What should I do?"
"Climb up there, and after you get to the top, don’t move. When the Blood Moon starts to disperse, turn around and walk backward. Only stop when I tell you to."
Yang Xiao, unable to recover his strength, took a full minute to climb up the eighth step, even falling once along the way. It could be said that what he was fighting for now was the determination to survive; he carried the lives of three people on his shoulders.
Looking up at the sky and using his only remaining left eye, Yang Xiao turned around as Cheng Cha reminded him when the Blood Moon was dispersing: one step, two steps, slowly walking backwards. As he turned, he distinctly felt something awakening, looking in his direction as if searching for his location. Yang Xiao immediately understood that turning his back caused those ghostly things to lose their target.
The next second, before Cheng Cha could tell him to stop, Yang Xiao’s back hit a stone wall—it wasn’t a wall, but the final step. However, there was no joy on Yang Xiao’s face because he saw Cheng Cha’s face filled with bitterness, along with a halo of light caging his entire body.
The ghosts indeed hadn’t found him; they had found Cheng Cha instead.
Yang Xiao couldn’t save him this time; he was down to his last life, and at this moment, he had also turned around.
"Yang..."
Before Yang Xiao could speak, he was interrupted. Cheng Cha smiled, summoning the energy to stand straighter, "Life and death are my fate, it has nothing to do with you, Chu Xi. You need to listen carefully to what I’m about to say."
"A loophole won’t let you through a second time. When you reach the ninth step, remember not to walk backward. According to the circle of rebirth, the person holding the Bronze Bell should be the next to strike. This marks the beginning of a new cycle."
"We heard the bell ringing as we stepped onto the first stair, but no one was attacked. This is no coincidence. I suspect the bell’s ability is related to restarting, or retracing a cause and effect."
"If that’s the case, then you’re in big trouble. In an extreme scenario, it could reset all of your previous efforts and restart the Formation. You’ll have to start all over, and if that happens, I’m powerless to help, and you’ll both undoubtedly die."
"Now, I’ll tell you the second possibility. This ability may selectively reset one of you, sending one back to the first step. If Tong Han is chosen, there’s no problem; Chu Xi, you can break the cycle alone and save Tong Han to everyone’s joy. But if you, Chu Xi, are chosen, unfortunately, you will undoubtedly die, though Tong Han may have a chance to live."
"Both of you need to turn around before the Blood Moon disperses. Because, Chu Xi, you’ve already turned and walked backward once on the eighth floor, breaking the rule. Turning again to switch places, you will surely be punished by the rules. I think it will be one of the other seven punishments, but no matter which one, the outcome will be the same; you will die."
The halo grew increasingly blinding, and Cheng Cha didn’t have much time left. He looked at Tong Han with hopeful eyes, "Tong Han, you will be switched to above the ninth step, and Chu Xi will bear the cost of the curse. What you need to do next is climb up the altar and end it all."
"The two of you, we met in this world, take care."
