“I-I…”
Xian stuttered out incoherently.
“Tsk, it’s just a mortal, how annoying.”
The other young man said with a discontented expression.
“Well, that’s good, I was getting bored having to guard this door. This guy looks interesting.”
The female said as he looked at Xian up and down with a seductive look.
However, Xian’s skin crawled as she was gazing at him like one would look at a fat slab of meat.
The two males looked at each other, and as if they were putting their differences aside, turn back to Xian with killing intent.
“Handsome fellows like you deserve death.”
One of the young man who had a scar running from across his nose scowled as he approach Xian with the other.
Xian hearing this, couldn’t help but blurt out.
“It’s not my fault you have the face of a pig.”
That young man froze before he look at Xian with a dark expression.
“This fucking bastard! Let’s see how you look when I peel your face off.”
His face twisted into a malevolent expression as a small knife appeared in his hand.
“Eeek!! Save me!!”
Xian shrieked in terror and called out.
“Bastard, who’s going to save you?”
The other young man said, but a silver flash suddenly appear before disappearing as quickly as it came in the night.
With a thud his head landed a few feet away from his body, the cruel expression was still on his decapitated head.
As the blood of their headless companion splattered on them, the male and female had their expression change.
“INTRU…!!”
The young man went to yell but a silver flash appeared and disappeared detaching his head from his neck as well.
The female was smarter, she didn’t try to warn the hideout of intruders but instead used her fastest speed to draw distance between her and the entrance.
However, despite her quick thinking and movement, her head still flew off her neck before she could get far.
As her body fell, splashing up blood as it hit the ground, Lihua was revealed lowering her sword.
With blood dripping from its tip she approached the entrance where Li Shen and Li Wen had appeared some time ago.
“Their outer guards are only Sea Expansion Realm cultivators, despite being a mid-level secret base, they have the strength of a low-level one.”
Li Shen’s gaze moved from the rather powerful runic seal on the double doors that were now unsealed.
With a serious expression, he turn to look into the church which was pitch black.
“They haven’t detected our presence yet, let's go.”
With that, Li Shen stepped forward. He might not be the Faceless Hero at the moment, but the bloodshed tonight was far from over.
Li Shen led the group into the church, with Li Wen waving his hand to create runes to light up their path forward.
A typical church setting with chairs, that faced forward to the small podium at the end of the church greeted them.
A large statue of a woman holding a rose similar to the one outside was in a highlighted position on the podium.
Stopping in front of this statue, Li Shen examined it.
It was well carved, with intricate details showing the woman’s face and clothes. Only the rose looked rather poorly sculpted.
“Young Master, this is the church of the Red Rose religion. Why would the Poison Demonic Sect build their hideout inside this particular area?”
Li Wen was frowning as he asked.
“Not many people know this aspect about them, but the Demonic Cult itself is a religion, well, that's why their call a cut. They worship a God called the Demonic One Above Heaven.”
“The Demonic One Above Heaven? What a pretentious title to have.”
Li Wen immediately retorted with an accompanying snort.
Meanwhile, Li Shen narrowed his eye at the rose the statue was holding.
“It’s not unheard of that the various religions that pop up on the Maple Continent are a derivative of the Demonic Cult. It just means this Red Rose one is one of them.”
After saying that, Li Shen waved his hand at the statue. A green rune materialize in mid-air before flying out at the rose the woman was holding.
As it landed on the rose it seeped into it and then caused it to glow a blood-red color.
This red color shone throughout the entire church before calming down. The rose then disintegrated before a passage that led underground open up in front of the statue.
Li Shen stepped forward without saying a word.
As the rest followed behind him, Xian with an apprehensive look on his face, Li Wen looked at Li Shen's back eyes shining.
‘That was a Grade 6 Concealment Runic Formation, but he analyzed it in an instant and found the main node. What’s even more terrifying was that he created a rune to deactivate it without setting off the traps even quicker.’
Li Wen, as Rune Master had received pointers from Li Shen, but what he could do still impressed him sometimes.
As they moved further down, Li Shen in the front deactivated the runes on their path.
Soon, he held up his hand to stop the group behind him.
A few feet away from him was an entrance that open up to a cavern.
Li Shen released his Divine Will and like a rapid river, it spread out into the surroundings.
The large cavern came into view and he saw Demonic disciples. Except, it wasn’t like he suspected.
“Something’s wrong.”
Li Shen said before he hurriedly entered the cavern.
Lihua and Li Wen seeing this was caught off guard, but they quickly followed him.
Coming into the open cavern, Lihua and Li wen looked around at the scene confused.
Demonic disciples were everywhere, but they were all sprawled out across the cavern floor.
They both turned to Li Shen who had knelt to examine a dead disciple, who still had a face full of terror. But what was weird was that no injuries was visible on her body.
After a moment, Li Shen took his hand off the corpse and stood up.
Lihua and Li Wen watched as he moved to another corpse without saying a word.
Meanwhile, Xian who had his face blenching at the sight chose to turn away from the scene of dozens, or probably hundreds of dead bodies.
Though his footsteps suddenly paused as something on the cavern wall nearby caught his attention.
It was the mural of a spider.
For some reason, he was drawn to the carving of it.
As he approached for a closer look, he suddenly groan and clutched his head.
The pain from earlier had returned, but unlike before this was tenfold.
“URGHHH!!!”
Xian couldn’t handle it, it felt like his head was splitting open.
Hearing the sudden shout drew Li Shen’s and the others' attention.
Lihua was the one who moved towards him.
"Hey, Xian are you okay? What’s wrong with you?”
Xian was in a fealty position clutching his head.
Hearing Lihua’s voice, Xian raised his head and said with tears in his eyes.
“Goddess Lihua, this spider... ahh!”
Xian pointed at the mural of the spider and then said with struggle.
“Pl-Please get it out of my head, it-it hurts. I'm scared, Goddess Li… urghh!!”
Before Xian could finish, his eyes bulged as his body began trembling uncontrollably.
Lihua seeing this didn’t know what to do. She turned to Li Shen to ask him, but a sense of danger suddenly hit her, and she instinctively doge to the side.
A sword barely scraped past her head, missing it by only inches.
“Who?!”
Lihua yelled as she spun around to face the attacker, but froze at what she saw.
Sickly yellow skin, completely white eyes with blood dripping from them, and froth at the mouth.
A dead disciple she passed on the floor a moment ago was now in front of her, attacking her with a sword.
“ARGG!!!!”
Like a wild beast, the demonic disciple raised its head and roared out. A dark aura encapsulated the entire cavern. Then like a scene out of a horror story, multiple dead demonic disciples around her began to rise.
The scene sent a cold chill down Lihua's spine.
“LIHUA!!!”
Lihua heard a shout and recognized it as Li Shen’s voice. She quickly turned to see him and Li Wen approaching her.
Snapping out of her daze, she grabbed Xian who had gone silent, and began retreating towards the two.
However, another shout suddenly echoed out.
“No! Leave him!!”
Lihua was first taken aback by Li Shen’s words, but at that moment a once unconscious Xian snapped his eyes open.
Completely white with blood flowing out of them, they trained themselves on Lihua carrying him.
“ARGGHH!!”
A guttural shriek came from his throat as he lunge at her, mouth opened aiming for her neck.
**
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