“It’s probably shaped like an ordinary rolling pin, wrapped in several layers of bandages. Please search carefully. I need to accurately determine if my staff is still there.”
Back at the Magic Workshop, he had Luofulei cast several layers of perception magic on the Little Bird Magic Staff.
So, the Little Bird Magic Staff looked just like a plain, ordinary rolling pin.
Hmm… that was it.
Ailundun thought about it.
The Secret Realm’s rules didn’t say you couldn’t use your own weapons, but they also didn’t specify whether weapons brought into the Secret Realm world would still exist.
Therefore… he wanted to gamble.
Since this was a world generated by a true replica, everything should follow existing logic.
He was able to bring his staff in, and the Secret Realm didn’t stop him.
That meant… what isn’t forbidden is permitted.
Time slowly passed.
The prison cell remained dim.
Only at the junction between Ailundun’s and Jia Nai’s cells was there always a faint glimmer of light and soft whispers.
No one in the prison knew what was happening there.
Jia Nai sat on the cold floor, letting her pure nun’s habit drape around her, hugging her knees.
Ailundun waited quietly beside her.
She began to cast the Locking Magic, targeting a specific corner of the warehouse beneath the prison cells, finally locking onto something very similar to what Ailundun had described.
“I did it… I think I found your weapon.”
Suddenly, a golden light shone in Jia Nai’s silver pupils, and a smile appeared on her face.
The golden light around her pupils grew brighter as she continued to cast the Space Transfer Magic.
Before long, an ordinary, long staff seemed to appear out of thin air, materializing in her hands.
“Excellent.”
Taking the rolling pin, Ailundun smiled like a child.
He hadn’t revealed anything to Jia Nai.
From start to finish, she didn’t know what his plan was.
However, as the Holy Maiden, Jia Nai could clearly sense the aura of the rolling pin… it didn’t seem pure.
Instead, it carried a hint of a cultist’s aura?
For a moment, Jia Nai thought she must have sensed it wrong.
‘Staying in the cultists’ prison for too long has infected me with this damned cultist aura.’
‘A good boy like Ailundun… probably has nothing to do with cultists.’
“By the way, Your Holiness, one last thing to trouble you with. May I ask… do you have any food left?”
Feeling the fatigue of this body, Ailundun asked softly.
‘Before starting work… I need to replenish my body first.’
Jia Nai was slightly taken aback, then quickly handed over the last bit of bread she had.
This was the minimal food the cultists gave to prevent them from starving before the sacrifice.
Being a boy, Ailundun naturally had a bigger appetite and finished it quickly, while Jia Nai had no appetite at all, which was why some remained.
Ailundun leaned back against the wall, eating the bread without any disdain, filling his stomach, and quietly waited.
Time continued to pass.
The already dim prison cell grew even darker.
The cultists’ ritual was nearly ready.
Priests had already come to the prison cells, leading the prisoners out one by one.
When it was Ailundun’s turn, a red-haired Shaman led him out.
Holy Maiden Jia Nai followed closely behind Ailundun.
Along the way, Jia Nai could intermittently hear the cries of others in the prison cells, including some children.
Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed, beating faster involuntarily.
Her silver eyes looked at Ailundun ahead, filled with worry.
‘Right now… I can only trust this young man.’
Soon, Ailundun saw the Sacrificial Array composed of dense, intricate magic circuits.
On the massive red altar, over a dozen believers knelt devoutly on the ground, occasionally whispering chants and making strange movements.
The first person to be sacrificed… was a child beside them.
“Bring him up.”
On the platform, the High Priest spoke coldly to the Shaman.
Over a dozen pairs of priests’ eyes from the surroundings simultaneously turned to this Shaman, causing the red-haired Shaman’s body to tremble slightly.
Not daring to be negligent, he quickly pushed the child forward.
Jia Nai stood below the platform.
Her face had already begun to pale, her palms rubbing together nervously.
The child was only about fifteen or sixteen, now scared pale and trembling uncontrollably, only able to crawl forward slowly, wasting a lot of time.
The High Priest was displeased and snorted coldly, but didn’t say anything.
Maintaining some autonomy of the sacrificial offerings was one of the important rules of the ritual, otherwise the Mother Goddess would be displeased.
As the child finally crawled to the center, the High Priest began to recite the sacrificial incantation.
“GREAT LIFE MOTHER GODDESS, YOU ARE THE EMBODIMENT OF LIFE AND FERTILITY, ALL LIFE IN THE MORTAL WORLD IS CONCEIVED BY YOU…”
“I AM YOUR LOYAL AND DEVOUT SERVANT, TO CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTH…”
As the High Priest chanted, almost all the priests similarly bowed their heads in celebration for the Mother Goddess.
No one noticed that on the other side, Ailundun secretly slipped a hand inside his robe, gripping the seemingly ordinary “rolling pin” hidden beneath his Grey Robe.
The rolling pin emitted a faint glow.
Mimicking the High Priest’s manner, he carefully memorized every word and also began to silently chant the incantation in a very soft voice.
“GREAT LIFE MOTHER GODDESS…”
Watching the struggling child, Jia Nai felt as if her heart were being cut by a knife.
She had already decided that if no miracle happened in a moment…
No matter what, she would sacrifice herself to save the remaining people!
Finally, the prayer reached the crucial stage.
At the same moment!
“PLEASE ALLOW ME TO OFFER YOU THIS PRECIOUS SACRIFICE!”
“PLEASE ALLOW ME TO OFFER YOU THIS PRECIOUS SACRIFICE!”
“…”
“This child!”
“All fifteen cultists present here!”
The prayer finished.
The Mother Goddess statue on the platform seemed to react, separating into a beautiful yet terrifying female spirit that shot straight towards the center of the altar.
The High Priest laughed heartily, a hint of pride on his face.
He hadn’t expected the Mother Goddess’s response to be so quick this time.
His prayer technique had improved again.
Probably before long, he could be promoted to Cult Leader.
But the next second, he couldn’t laugh anymore.
Because he saw that the Mother Goddess… why was she coming for him?
This… this isn’t right?
The sacrificial offering was still in the center of the altar.
The Mother Goddess, with a crazed, terrifying smile, arrived before him.
Like a treasure, she tightly grasped the top of his skull.
His body began to twist violently, his greasy flesh swelling up, expanding to its limit before exploding in a shower of blood that splattered everywhere.
This sudden change shocked everyone present.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
“How did the High Priest explode?”
“The Mother Goddess has betrayed us! Run!”
The priest who had been closest earlier saw it most clearly and was utterly terrified.
He clearly saw the Mother Goddess coming for him.
The Mother Goddess, like the God of Death, wielded a giant scythe, harvesting the fifteen cultists present.
This horrifying scene made everyone’s hearts race with fear.
The little boy in the center of the altar had long since fainted from terror.
Jia Nai’s eyes were wide with shock.
She seemed to realize something, looking at Ailundun in astonishment.
On the other side of the altar’s center.
Ailundun smiled brightly, letting the blood splatter onto him.