Chapter 654: Entering the Forbidden Area
“Haodong, I’m so touched!”
Li Jiumei put her white arms around Qin Haodong’s neck and said seductively, “But you’ve just hit me and it hurts. You have to make it up to me now...”
It was a busy night and when they got up the next day, the sun was already high in the sky. The entire Hmong Village was covered by the golden sunlight, which gave it a solemn and sacred air.
After breakfast, everyone was busy preparing for the ceremony tonight.
Qin Haodong had nothing to do. So he walked around and enjoyed the scenery of Hmong Village. It was beautiful and he liked this wild place very much.
In the late afternoon, Li Wanquan, chief of the Hmong Village, selected 100 villagers and they went to the back mountain with all kinds of sacrificial supplies.
As the Holy Virgin and the Divine Son of the Hmong Village, Qin Haodong and Li Jiumei were key to this process. In addition to them, the other people from the Li family would also be participating in this sacrificial ceremony, including the three brothers.
The Holy Mountain was right behind the village. There was a simple temple at the top of the mountain, in which the statue of Chiyou was worshipped. This was where the Hmong Villagers practiced their religion.
Li Wanquan led all his clansmen to perform a complicated sacrificial ceremony at the front of the temple. It was already sunset when they finished and the divine mountain was slowly swallowed up by the darkness.
The villagers lit the torches that they had prepared before and then they walked to the back mountain. This was the most crucial part, opening the Forbidden Area of the Chiyou Tribe.
There were no walls or guards here, but no one dared to step into the Forbidden Area during ordinary days. If anyone entered this place, he would be burned at the stake, which was the maximum punishment.
The terrain here was also strange. Qin suddenly saw a piece of flat ground which was close to a hundred square meters in the rocky mountain and at the center of it stood a statue of a monster.
Qin Haodong took Jiumei’s hands and they came to the monster statue together. He had never seen it before and it looked extremely fierce. Although this was just a stone statue, the onlookers would feel overwhelmed as if they could be devoured by it at any time.
Li Wanquan kowtowed to the monster with his clansmen. Then he said to Qin Haodong and Li Jiumei, “Now, open the Forbidden Area with your blood!”
When he finished speaking, everyone fixed their eyes on them. At this moment, the Divine Son and the Holy Virgin were the last hope of the whole Jiuli Tribe.
Li Jiumei took out a silver knife that she had prepared before and made a cut on her index finger and also that of Qin Haodong. Then they dripped three drops of blood into the big mouth of the monster.
Strangely, the blood seeped slowly into the stone statue and then disappeared in a very short time.
Everyone present became nervous and their eyes were all fixed on the stone statue standing in front of them. The Li family also looked tense and stressed out.
The Jiuli Tribe had been waiting for thousands of years, but they still did not have the inheritance. Everyone wondered whether they could impress Chiyou and then open the Forbidden Area today.
One second, two seconds. Time passed slowly, but there was no change in the stone statue.
Disappointment flashed in Li Wanquan’s eyes and he thought maybe they failed again. They would then have to wait for another 20 years before trying to open the Forbidden Area again.
When everyone was getting upset, a dazzling light suddenly flashed in the monster statue’s eyes. Then it suddenly turned 180 degrees and emitted a loud roar.
As the stone statue spun, a five-meter-wide hole appeared in the mountain behind it.
“Chiyou, our great God! The Forbidden Area is finally open now!”
Li Wanquan was so excited that he even burst into tears at this sight. He knelt in front of the stone statue and kowtowed repeatedly in the direction of the Forbidden Area.
The clansmen standing behind him also knelt down, crying with joy and excitement. They had been waiting for thousands of years, and now they could finally get the inheritance of Chiyou.
Li Jiumei was also excited. She took Qin Haodong’s hands and said, “Let’s go in!”
Although she had no idea what would happen inside the Forbidden Area, she had to do something for her clansmen as the Holy Virgin.
But Qin Haodong’s expression suddenly changed and he turned around and stared at the dark place next to him.
“Someone is here!”
Li Wanquan and the others were surprised to hear what he said. They were at the Forbidden Area now and without the permission of the patriarch, no one was allowed to come here. How did someone enter here at this special moment?
But a group of men in black suddenly appeared in front of them. They were all covered up, with masks on their faces and long swords in their hands. They rushed toward the villagers without saying anything.
“Oh no, it’s an enemy attack! Everyone, guard the Forbidden Area!”
Li Wanquan immediately realized that they were invaders instead of members of their tribe.
But they were well prepared for the opening of the Forbidden Area. In order to resist the invasion of foreign enemies, all the villagers here were martial artists above the Covert Power Realm and they also had Miao Swords on their backs.
The team leader immediately gave an order and all the warriors pulled out their swords and rushed toward the men in black. A fight soon broke out.
There were about forty or fifty men in black here. Although they were only half the number of the Hmong Villagers, all of them were powerful and almost everyone had reached the ninth-level of Covert Power. They did not suffer any losses and had an absolute advantage.
The leader seemed to have reached the supreme power realm and his sword was extremely sharp. Any sword would be cut into pieces when it came into contact with his sword.
Nearly three or four Hmong Villagers were injured by him in a short time.
Li Jiumei’s face clouded and she said in anger, “They are Japanese, why are they here?”
Qin Haodong also frowned. Although all these people were dressed as ninjas, he could tell that they were not ninjas from Japan and they were trying to disguise their true identities.
At the same time, he had a strange feeling. These people were all excellent warriors and even the weakest one among them was at the level of Covert Power. But he could not sense their cultivation or even feel the flow of their warrior’s forces and Genuine Qi around them with his Spirit.
Seeing that his clansmen were injured, Li Wanquan shouted and rushed toward the leader with a sword in his hand.
Although he was at the ninth-level of the Covert Power, his enemy was a master. The leading man swung the sword and was about to cut off Li Wanquan’s head.
Li Wanquan realized that his enemy was strong, so he tried his best to block the weapon. His sword was not ordinary, so it was not cut off. But the huge force made his hands numb and he nearly dropped the sword on the ground.
But the man in black did not stop. He waved the sword once again and tried to stab Li Wanquan’s throat.
But Li Wanquan’s weapon was still in the air and his arms were numb. He had no time to defend himself and the sword was about to pierce his throat.
He thought he would definitely be killed this time. Li Wanquan closed his eyes, but there was no pain in his neck. Instead, he heard a shrill cry around him.
He opened his eyes and saw that the man in black had lost both his arms and his sword. His legs were also cut into two parts. Qin Haodong was standing beside him and Li Wanquan had no idea when he appeared.
“Leave this man alive.”
They did not know when the Forbidden Area would be closed, so Qin Haodong performed the Thief’s Leg move without any hesitation and raced ahead, killing all the men in black with his Xuan Yuan Sword, which looked like a deadly lightning bolt.
In less than two minutes, all those in black were dead or injured. And none of them could fight anymore.
Seeing that his clansmen were safe now, Li Wanquan shouted anxiously, “Qin, take Jiumei into the Forbidden Area now! Or it might be closed in a while!”
They had never opened the Forbidden Area before, so they did not know how long the opening would stay open. Once it was closed, they had to wait for another 20 years. Moreover, they were not sure whether the next Divine Son and Holy Virgin would even be recognized by the stone statue.
Qin Haodong also knew that it was urgent. So he pulled Li Jiumei and jumped into the gap in a second. The hole closed the moment they entered the place.
There was a cave below and there were stone steps under their feet. Although the hole was closed, it was not dark here.
They looked around and saw pearls embedded at the top of the cave. There was one pearl every few meters, giving off a soft light.
“Is this the luminous night pearl?”
Qin Haodong was shocked. Pearls were definitely rare treasures and even one of them could bring a man a large fortune. If he took all of them, he would become a super-rich person in the world.
He gently jumped to the top of the cave and tried to prise the pearl out. But it was tightly embedded in the roof as if it was sealed by some mysterious force. He could only use the Xuan Yuan Sword to break the force before taking the pearl.
But now at such a close distance, he was sure that the bead was a luminous pearl.
Li Jiumei immediately stopped him, “Haodong, don’t touch it! This is the holy land of Chiyou and it’s disrespectful for you to do this.”
“Well, let’s go inside and have a look.”
Qin Haodong was not a greedy guy, only curious and he wanted to learn more about the pearl. So he gave up and walked deeper into the cave with Jiumei.
They walked down the stone steps one by one and the cave was quite deep. After turning several corners, they suddenly saw a solemn and simple hall in front of them.
They suddenly felt a feeling of ancient desolation when they saw this magnificent hall.
They walked in and saw a tall statue in the middle of the hall. It was not alive but they were overwhelmed. The pressure it gave was hundreds of times stronger than that of the stone beast.
There were many statues on both sides of the stone statue. They were placed in various postures and were also holding different weapons.
“This is Chiyou!”
After saying that, Li Jiumei knelt on the ground and kowtowed.
But suddenly they heard the roar of a tiger and then a huge white tiger appeared in front of them.