Illusions, Lies, Truth-Volume 3, Chapter 5: Ceremony of the Devil, Part 3—Fallen

Translated by lucathia (proofread by Taffygirl13, Minthe, & Trespasserby) 𝒇𝑟𝐞𝐞w𝐞𝑏𝙣𝑜vℯl.co𝑚

Jian Zhi—

The angel’s lower half had already turned into a lump of mud, and its upper body was slowly sinking into the mud. The angel struggled to use both hands to grab onto the tragic Jian Zhi but was unable to touch anything, screams resounding endlessly.

Lu Yang had Slay hover horizontally before him, but he hesitated a bit about what to do. He felt that this guardian spirit was about to wink out of existence even without his interference. This wasn’t strange; there were plenty of cases where a guardian spirit would vanish along with the target that they guarded when the target passed away. It was just that this situation was particularly devastating.

Under the assault of the shrieking, Jiang Ziya asked with difficulty, “Lu Yang, c-can you stop the angel?”

“What do you mean by stop?” Lu Yang asked in confusion, “The angel isn’t attacking at all and will probably disappear once completely submerged.”

“Can you help the angel transcend?” Jiang Ziya really couldn’t bear to watch the angel get torn apart by Slay.

“You want me to help an angel transcend?” Lu Yang nearly choked. “Don’t you feel that these are two different religious notions? Besides, the angel is about to sink. I won’t make it in time no matter what I do!”

Jiang Ziya braced himself and said, “Would you make it in time to slay the angel? As long as you can make it so that the angel won’t continue to scream like this.”

Right after he said that, he saw Lu Yang look at him with a strange expression. Jiang Ziya asked in confusion, “What?”

“Nothing, this is just the first time you’ve told me to slay a familiar.”

“If you don’t, the angel will die an even worse death! Hurry already!”

Jiang Ziya couldn’t bear to listen any longer. This screaming was way too agonizing. He also remembered how the angel had held a cupid bow to cheer Jian Zhi on when he had still been alive and unwilling to give up on liking Lin Zhixiang. Now, in contrast, one of them had died tragically while the other was soon about to fall into mud. He felt as if his head was about to explode from the shrieking.

“Okay.” Lu Yang was about to command Slay to pierce through the angel’s head when there was a sudden “bang.” It wasn’t particularly conspicuous amidst the shrieking but paired with the accompanying image, it was very shocking.

The two of them stared at the angel, who had actually grabbed Jian Zhi’s feet. With a wobble, the corpse smashed into the muddy floor. The angel hugged Jian Zhi, an entire body of mud enveloping the corpse. The upper body of the angel was above the mud, its screams no longer sounding. The angel had a gentle expression, like that of a mother who was firmly hugging her child in her embrace, but whose face was splattered with the child’s blood…

Jiang Ziya blankly tugged on the jacket of the person next to him and asked, “Lu Yang, do you see what I’m seeing?”

This question was phrased poorly and very idiotically, but he was so shocked that he wasn’t able to describe it better.

Lu Yang nodded stiffly, but he didn’t really understand what was happening before him. A guardian spirit can actually touch something and swallow someone up? No, swallow a corpse? I’ve never heard of something like this!

Should I still slay it? Or should I wait for the angel to disappear on its own? He couldn’t decide.

“Angel, you should spit Jian Zhi out.” Jiang Ziya couldn’t help but say, “He might have parents. We should at least give an intact corpse to them…”

The angel looked up at Jiang Ziya, eyes suddenly widening. After a sharp wail, golden strands of hair seemed to spring to life as they actually shot out and wrapped around Jiang Ziya’s neck.

Before Jiang Ziya could react, he was dragged over, one foot stepping into the mud. The black mud actually crept up his lower leg, and he immediately felt a chill spreading from his foot, nearly freezing him to the point that he couldn’t speak.

Fortunately, Lu Yang hacked forward just in time, slicing apart the angel’s hair. Then, he pulled Jiang Ziya and wrenched him out of the mud. After that, he pushed him back to the wall.

At this time, the angel slowly stood up. The mud that had originally been about to drown the angel was now the angel’s support. Not only had it enveloped Jian Zhi, completely obscuring him from view, it had also taken the place of the angel’s originally translucent legs.

The angel looked up, hair dancing like snakes, eyes blood red, mouth opening in an even more desolate shriek. The pure image of the angel completely vanished without a trace.

“Slay!” After Lu Yang shouted, the spiritual sword blocked them from the other party, the tip pointing straight at the angel.

The angel seemed to understand that this sword was not to be trifled with. Looking at Slay, the angel was wary and did not dare to attack rashly.

When Lu Yang was ready, Slay rushed straight at the angel, who dodged. Just as the angel wanted to retaliate, the corpse that had been wrapped up by the mud fell partway out because of the angel’s quick movements. A hand without skin on it smacked onto the floor, leaving a smear of blood.

Seeing that, the corners of the angel’s eyes nearly split open. The angel immediately turned around, using the mud to bury the body again. At this time, Slay took the chance to strike at the chest of the angel but was unfortunately hindered momentarily by those snake-like strands of hair. The angel flitted to the side and Slay only managed to inflict a long slash across the angel’s arm. Black smoke escaped from it, like a corrosive injury instead of one inflicted by a sharp sword.

The angel touched the mud-covered corpse and no longer wished to fight. Giant black wings unfurled. The angel turned, smashed the window, and flew out.

Slay immediately rushed out, chasing after the angel, but the spiritual sword was unable to travel too far from its master. Lu Yang could already feel the distance straining the limit and was about to jump out of the window to follow them so that Slay could continue to give chase, but he heard a “thump” behind him.

He turned to look. Jiang Ziya had fallen to his knees and was gripping his left foot, doing his utmost to keep the pain from showing on his face and his screams from escaping.

“Ziya!” Lu Yang jumped in shock and no longer cared about giving chase. He immediately returned to his companion’s side, worriedly asking, “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Ziya lifted his head and with chattering teeth said, “I-It’s so cold. My foot…”

Lu Yang knelt down to take a look. He directly pulled the pant leg up, only to see a large black splotch on Jiang Ziya’s calf. The black energy was even slowly spreading.

“Shit! Dark energy got in your body.”

He summoned Slay back to him to stand guard. Lu Yang lifted Jiang Ziya up and headed straight outside.

“We’ll head directly to the abandoned campus to find my dad. He’s an exorcist. No matter whether it’s an angel or dark energy entering your body, he’s much more of an expert at it than I am.”

Jiang Ziya was in so much pain that sweat dripped down his face. Seeing Lu Yang appear so somber, he forced a smile and said, “You’re only responsible for ‘slaying.’ Everything else is out of your expertise. I get it.”

From his voice, Lu Yang could tell that Jiang Ziya was trying to endure the pain. Just as he wanted to say something to divert his attention, he stepped out of the medical building and saw the situation outside. He stopped in his tracks, his words dying.

What in the world happened?

Jiang Ziya barely managed to turn his head to look. A bunch of people were sprawled across the ground outside the entrance. They looked to be students, their expressions pained. Just like Jiang Ziya’s foot, parts of their bodies had turned black.

Some the students had areas on the head or the neck that had turned black. Or, they were gaping with their mouths open but couldn’t breathe, or they were hugging their head, eyes about to fall out. They were in an even more critical condition than Jiang Ziya, nearly about to perish…

Lu Yang looked at this frightening sight, momentarily struggling to breathe.

Jiang Ziya pushed him and angrily said, “Put me down. Rush straight to the abandoned campus and find your dad. Hurry!”

Hearing that, Lu Yang braced himself and placed Jiang Ziya on the steps. Then, he shot out, just as fast as an arrow.

Jiang Ziya looked at the ground full of students. Some of them were about to suffocate. Just as he was about to drag his leg over to see if he could help them, someone suddenly covered his mouth from behind, dragging him backward at a startling speed…