Goblin Dependency-Chapter 677 - 340: The Ritual Is Over... Forever_2
Xia Nan observed the towering wooden gate ahead, pondering in his heart how he could get these two across to the other side.
And just as the scene fell into silence, suddenly, an unusual noise came from the other side of the heavy wooden door.
"Creak..."
It was the crisp sound of metal chains rubbing and colliding on the door bolt.
Xia Nan’s heart stirred, and the next second, he had Dong Shu and Lilia stand behind him.
Just as he had predicted.
The door, which should have been opened the day after the ritual concluded, slowly opened a crack amidst a creaking noise.
The not-so-blinding sunlight seeped into the canyon through the gradually widening door gap, allowing Xia Nan to glimpse the scene behind the door.
The villagers who had left here earlier were now quietly standing at the canyon entrance under the lead of the village chief and Aspen.
They might be ignorant, but not stupid.
Dong Shu, closely connected with Lilia and practically grew up with her, but suddenly disappeared on the day of the ritual;
The adventurer Xia Nan, who refused the banquet invitation, supposedly entering the canyon with the guidance of villagers to collect Fog Lamp Grass the next day, went missing after the ritual.
With all these factors combined, the whereabouts of the two were self-evident.
It was just unexpected that such a coincidence happened, and before they could search and confirm, the moment they opened the wooden door, the few silhouettes appeared in front of the crowd.
And when the gazes from outside the door, silently swept across Xia Nan and Dong Shu, landing on Lilia...
Panic and fear erupted among the crowd in an instant.
"Lilia, why is she still alive!?"
"That adventurer... should never have been allowed into the village!"
"Damn it, it must be that audacious Dong Shu who disrupted the ritual, punishment! We must punish him in the harshest way!"
"Oh, great and merciful Canyon Spirit... please forgive your humble servants’ disrespect..."
"There’s still time, quickly bind Lilia and send her in, before the sun sets!"
The villagers’ reactions were fully observed, and before Xia Nan could speak, Dong Shu, who had been suppressing his emotions upon learning the truth, suddenly jumped out. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
He vigorously waved his fists at the deluded villagers ahead, loudly revealing the truth:
"No! It’s not like that!"
"The sacrificial ritual is all the village chief’s lie, there is no such thing as the Canyon Spirit, inside is just a mindless Demon!"
"Now that Demon has been slain by Mr. Xia Nan, from now on, we never need to perform the ritual again!"
But bizarrely, despite Dong Shu’s explanation, the villagers quieted down once more, yet their gazes filled with suspicion and disbelief upon him.
Before Dong Shu could further explain his encounter in the canyon, the elderly village chief, full of folds on his face and standing at the forefront of the crowd, suddenly moved.
Seemingly unaffected, showing no regard for the doubts within Dong Shu’s words.
His gaze bypassed Dong Shu, directing towards Xia Nan behind him.
With a familiar humble smile on his face, he bowed, his clear voice spreading across the scene:
"Honored and mighty Mr. Xia Nan, you... are indeed exceptionally brave, but I’m afraid you misunderstand."
He opened his arms, turning to the villagers.
"The wrath of the Canyon Spirit cannot be appeased merely by slaying one of Her servants!"
"Have you forgotten the calamities that descended before?"
"The true ritual is only completed when the sacrifice steps into the Holy Land, offering themselves to the God... otherwise, the calamity will fall upon each of us in even more terrifying ways!"
"For the sake of the village, we must... complete the ritual!"
Evidently, the village chief’s long-established prestige and the villagers’ dependence on the ritual, drilled into them like brainwashing, couldn’t be overturned by just a few simple words from Dong Shu.
The suspicion in the villagers’ eyes vanished instantly after the village chief’s inflammatory speech, replaced by a fanatic and extremist fervor driven by the uncertainty of future calamities, and the survival instinct.
"Complete the ritual!"
"Complete the ritual!"
"Complete the ritual!"
The villagers became agitated, countless unfriendly and vicious gazes fell upon the girl Lilia behind Xia Nan, causing her to instinctively lower her head, her slender body trembling slightly.
In contrast, standing between both parties, Xia Nan appeared at ease.
His immense strength allowed him to completely disregard those beguiled villagers, with just a light swing of the longsword, he could determine the outcome of the scene.
Xia Nan didn’t even know what that village chief was thinking at the moment.
Did he perhaps think him overly kind, so much so that he would be swayed by the villagers’ will to make a choice against his own desire?
Or did he consider that since he had completed the collection of Fog Lamp Grass, Dong Shu and Lilia’s survival no longer mattered, allowing the innocents to suffer punishment not meant for them, even unto death?
The only somewhat sensible thing was, instead of directing the villagers’ hostility toward Xia Nan, he subtly deflected the blame, transferring the hatred onto Lilia and Dong Shu; of course, this didn’t alter the village chief’s fate in Xia Nan’s mind.
He gestured to the shivering Lilia behind him, indicating that she need not worry.
Xia Nan’s eyes shifted slightly, and with just a small release of killing intent, the previously agitated and growingly noisy villagers fell silent instantly.
