After Dean eliminated this group of Canaans, there were no more attacks for the next half hour.
The road ahead became more and more steeply sloped, and the temperature dropped from the initial ten degrees to five or six degrees. Everyone in the team was shivering from the cold and had runny noses.
Upon seeing this, Dean had to use his mind power to transfer the surrounding heat and bake their bodies, making the crowd feel better.
Further on, the monotonous tunnel experienced a slight change. The smooth frosted rock walls on both sides were gradually replaced by pieces of blue bricks. The low ceiling seemed to be rising infinitely, rising into the invisible darkness.
At the end of the tunnel ahead, a dark stone chamber appeared.
"Wait here, turn off the flashlight, I'll go over and take a look."
Dean lowered his voice to remind, and everyone turned off the lights obediently, and the surroundings became pitch black.
Then Dean soared half a meter off the ground, quietly flew forward like an owl to the entrance of the stone chamber, and peered inside with keen eyes.
Inside is a secret room with an area of only one hundred square meters, with an empty stone bed standing in the center, and the surface of the stone bed is covered with brown dried blood.
There are a group of snake monsters lying in the left corner of the secret room, with their limbs curled up like babies in amniotic fluid. The head of one head is next to the tail vertebra of the second head. In this cycle, there are a total of twenty-five snake monsters in a circle with their heads touching each other. Like a giant ouroboros crawling in the darkness.
They squirmed with the slight rise and fall of the chest, exuding a disgusting stale atmosphere.
The appearance is exactly the same as the Canaan we encountered before, with tattered cloth strips and red and black tattoos all over the surface, but it is thinner and almost skinny, no different from a mummy.
"These Canaans are hibernating?" Dean thought, "Because there is not enough food down there and the temperature is low, so they hibernate to slow down consumption?"
As for what the rare food was, Dean saw piles of white hills nearby including leg bones, skulls, and ribs. At a glance, they looked like grave mounds.
It turns out it’s not just about sucking blood.
He stretched out his hand and took out a poisonous arrow from the fantasy space.
The ghost armor wrapped the body to prevent the smell from leaking, and flew quietly to the left side of the green-faced and fanged snake demon who was sleeping soundly. The power of his mind turned into a tough bandage and wrapped around the snake demon's body, only seven inches of the soft scales on the back of the head were exposed.
Phew!
Poisonous arrows kept coming.
The hibernating snake demon widened its vertical pupils, spitting out snake letters and roaring, but the telepathy bandage tightly bound it, and the crushing force made it unable to move a finger. There was a desperate hiss in the throat and blood splattered. It was also blocked inside by the power of thought.
Half a second later, his tense body relaxed and his pupils dilated.
Proficiency +2, fighting level 4 (292→294/500).
During the whole process, the snake demons were completely unaware that their companions had gone to hell and were still sleeping soundly.
Dean grinned enjoying the pleasure of assassination, and then turned his attention to the snake demon on the left.
Mind power package.
The poison arrow stabbed seven inches.
Next, in this dead stone chamber, a ghostly black shadow walked in mid-air, waving the sharp blade in his hand like the god of death waving a sickle.
Proficiency +2
Proficiency +2…
Half a minute later.
Bang, Dean's feet landed lightly on the ground, he wiped off the blood on the arrows gracefully, and looked down at the ground.
The twenty-four snake demons died silently in their sleep, and the combat level increased to level 4 (340/500).
Enjoying the refreshing feeling of soaring proficiency, he waved his hand, and "Shadow" quickly and covertly took out the poison glands on their necks and pulled out the two fangs in their mouths.
A bag full of supernatural materials flew into Dean's hands and was stored in the fantasy space.
"Sure enough, this large-scale gathering of monsters is the most suitable for my development and growth at this stage."
Dean looked at the last snake man left behind, stringed up his bow, and aimed a magic-breaking arrow at its back.
At the same time, "perception suppression" is turned on.
Whoosh——
The arrow pierced the snake demon's back and burst out a cloud of blood.
Shocked by the severe pain, it stood up impatiently, pulled out the arrow from its flesh, and glared at Dean ferociously. But strangely, it did not launch an attack immediately. Instead, it blinked its slit-like vertical pupils and twitched its nose. , spit out the snake letter to sense the air, and stared at Dean in confusion for ten seconds before confirming that he was an enemy.
The monster screamed and rushed towards him.
Dean jumped to the side of it like an arrow, and shot a second arrow that hit the lower back.
This time, the snake demon wandered in place for a long time like a drunken man, with a panicked look on its scaly face. He stretched out his claws to grope the wall in front of him like a blind man, completely unaware of Dean standing next to him.
boom!
Dean used his telekinesis to create a sonic boom. The huge noise alerted the confused snake demon. It rushed over madly, but passed Dean's body and threw itself onto the side wall, clawing at the air.
Dean looked at its performance with a strange expression on his face, "Amblyopia and deafness?"
Whoosh——
The third arrow hit the snake demon in the shoulder.
It trembled, and fell to the ground as soft as its spine. The face that was originally distorted by pain and fear completely relaxed, its expression was peaceful, its pupils were dilated, but it was still breathing.
Dean tried to poke various parts of its body with poisonous arrows, making noises in its ears, creating a bloody smell in front of its nose, and dripping the blood it most desired into its mouth.
It didn't react at all.
"Perceptual suppression should be called sensory deprivation. With three arrows and three long-range attacks, I completely deprived the snake demon of vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and even the sixth sense... and turned it into a more miserable existence than a vegetative state, ready to be slaughtered by me. .”
Dean nodded with satisfaction.
I think that such an outstanding effect is possible because the senses of snakes are not sharp to begin with, and their perception attributes should be much worse than his.
If faced with a creature with powerful perception, it would be difficult to achieve the same effect.
But using it in battle is also a huge help. Using long-range attacks to make the enemy half-deaf, half-blind, and losing their sixth sense, the opponent is basically like a target standing still and moving slowly.
…
After the experiment, Dean looked at the quiet snake demon and thought, "Remove the suppression."
A black light flew out of its body.
The snake demon's pupils shrank and he regained consciousness. He suddenly sat up, and then an arrow penetrated seven inches of the back of his neck.
Proficiency +2, fighting level 4 (342/500).
…
"The crisis has been resolved, come in, everyone!" Dean blew a loud whistle towards the stone door, and Aiden led a group of people in. With a quick glance of his wise little eyes, they immediately surrounded him like a miser seeing a treasure. He started rubbing the stone bed in the center, looking so enthusiastic that he wanted to chew the stone bed off in one bite.
Brother Goko looked at the grave of bones on the ground with ugly expressions, and spat several times at the body of the snake demon.
The three members of Jacob's family checked and touched the surrounding walls and floors, and found that they were all sealed and there seemed to be no way out.
Katie said, "Did we go in the wrong direction and hit a dead end?"
"You're right. Dean's intuition is very accurate. This is the 'portal' to the depths of the temple." Aiden looked at everyone and explained, "Now we should find the key to the door."
"Come and take a look here." Dean brushed off the thick dust on the wall in front of him and shined the flashlight, immediately illuminating a scene on the wall: a naked man lying on a stone bed in the center, surrounded by dogs. The snake demon with exposed teeth raised a dagger with pupil-like patterns and aimed it at the abdomen.
Behind the mural are engraved characters as twisted as tadpoles.
"The runes say this is a blood sacrifice ceremony..." Aiden said as he identified the mural, "If you want to go through the portal and continue deeper into the temple, you have to make a blood sacrifice to this stone bed..."
Dean realized something was wrong, "Blood sacrifice?"
"That's the literal meaning," Aiden said in a subtle tone, "Lie on it, pierce your body with a sharp blade, and let the blood soak into the stone bed. In the system of the phantom snake, blood can open the door to secrets, so everyone, among us Is there anyone who volunteers to step forward as a sacrifice?”
Aiden smiled at everyone, but the faces of those he glanced at showed extremely ridiculous expressions, and then shook their heads.
No one in their right mind could agree to being sacrificed and slaughtered.
"Is there no other way?" Katie asked through gritted teeth, her sweet face full of tangles.
Aiden shook his head, "There is no other way at the moment."
"No one should be sacrificed." The muscular man in a shirt said loudly, "Forget this damn blood sacrifice, let's all go back the same way. I think the entrance to the bar on the ground has been unsealed."
"Didn't you feel a strange vibration just now? That was a sign that the entrance to the temple was closed." Aiden said solemnly, "The journey to the temple is a one-way ticket. Once you enter, you will either reach the end of the maze and the heart of the temple. , or die in the mouth of Canaan..."
Everyone clenched their fists and lowered their eyes without speaking.
"A blood sacrifice must involve death?" Dean looked at the corpse of the snake demon behind him, "Can the twelve of us share the blood equally to meet the requirements of the blood sacrifice, or use the blood of the dead snake demon?"
Aiden stared at the mural for a long time and shook his head, "Character Description Blood is the carrier of soul and vitality. The more single and pure it is, the more likely it is to fill the thirst of the stone bed and open up the subsequent path. Therefore, a single human being is required to volunteer. Become a sacrifice and provide a blood volume close to that of an adult."
After these words, the secret room suddenly fell into an uncomfortable silence, and everyone lowered their heads and turned away.
And Dean suddenly glanced sharply, which made everyone's scalp numb and tried their best to avoid his gaze.
Seth hurriedly asked, "Man, we are all companions who live and die together. You won't force us to make sacrifices, right?"
Dean had a noncommittal expression on his face.
"Why are you hesitating? The Goco brothers are the best sacrifices!" Gonzalez looked at the crowd for approval. "They committed murder and robbery. According to Texas law, they should be sentenced to death. Instead of going to prison and dying, It's better to take the initiative to become a sacrifice now and use the remaining heat."
As soon as this suggestion came out, the eyes of the five fitness men and women turned to the Goko brothers.
"What's wrong with you, you are always against us!" Ricky's eyes were as sharp as knives. "You should have killed you and Earl together in the first place, to avoid being so disgusting all the time!"
Gonzalez's eyes lit up when his partner's name was mentioned again.
"This is Mexico, not the United States, obey the damn Texas laws!" Seth continued to sarcastically say, "Why don't you, a noble Texas patrolman, lie down and give yourself? I swear I will give you a ride myself!" "
Dean watched quietly from the side, feeling a sense of expectation and a little unbearable.
"Stop, stop arguing, we are on the same side, no civil strife!" Jacob opened his hands to block the sight of the two pairs of enemies, and the expression on his old face changed. "If no one is willing, then I will do it." Well, I have been a pastor, and I have the obligation to guide the lost lambs, and I am also willing to return to the embrace of God."
The crowd was shocked by the pastor's statement. Is there really such a fool?
Seth quickly persuaded, "Jacob, there is no regret for this kind of decision. It's not a joke. Don't be impulsive."
"You're not allowed to do this!" Scott nervously grabbed the old man's left hand and yelled in his face, "You're leaving before we reach the end, leaving me and Katie?"
"Don't leave us, mom is gone, we can't lose you again!" The girl held her father's right hand, pleading, her eyes red and about to cry, "Help me, Dean, don't let Jacob die. !”
Dean rubbed his temples and was about to speak when Aiden suddenly crossed his arms over his chest and smiled inexplicably,
"Okay, everyone, based on my past experience, there may be another way. It doesn't require killing people, it just requires getting a little injured and becoming a little weaker."
"Fake Squid! You can't finish what you have to say at once!" Seth came over and grabbed the professor's shirt, looking up at his slender horse face and spitting, "If you delay any longer, I will pull out the revolver on your crotch and it will explode. Your blandness!”
Aiden clamped his legs stiffly and raised his hands in surrender.
"Many gods and devils have the same hobbies, they like pure souls and blood."
"If there is a pure person among us, let her give a small part of her blood to fill the thirst of the stone bed."
"Pure?" Dean looked at Aiden,
"That is, without human intervention."
Swish--
In an instant, all ten pairs of eyes looked at the youngest Katie sibling in the center of the team.
"I, I wasn't a virgin last year." Scott smiled bitterly and shrank his neck, "I tried it with another little transparent boy in the class who was always bullied, but unfortunately the result was not good, I only got a bad afternoon. .”
Jacob opened his mouth and looked at his son in disbelief. This attempt before marriage went against their beliefs.
Katie faced everyone's gaze, took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, walked straight to the stone bed, lay on it, and took off her thin shirt, revealing her smooth and delicate arms and bulging gray vest.
She closed her eyes and opened her arms,
"Come on, come and bleed me, I will pay for it voluntarily!"
"Katie, you are still young and should not bear this kind of responsibility." Jacob and Scott walked over and took her hands, trying to pull her up.
"I have the final say this time!" Katie had a rebellious look in her eyes.
Dean looked at the arguing family, then turned to Aiden, "Pure blood really works?"
The professor said, "I'm not sure, but it's better to give it a try than to sacrifice someone directly?"
…
"Jacob, let Katie come. If the blood loss starts to endanger her life, I will stop her bleeding immediately." Dean persuaded. After the pastor hesitated for a long time, out of trust in God's messenger and his daughter's firm determination Attitude, reluctantly agreed.
Dean sat on the stone bed and took out the sharp stone tablet, then grabbed Katie's wrist.
"Close your eyes and bear with it, it hurts a little."
"Uh-huh."
The board made a bloody opening, and blood flowed out from the slender white wrist, staining the mottled stone bed red.
The blood stains spread slowly like ink marks soaked into the paper. A red earthworm seemed to rise on the stone bed, crawling down the edge to the ground and towards the wall with the mural carved in front of it.
Dean held her other arm and slowly poured life energy into her body, slightly replenishing her damaged nutrition and blood.
Katie closed her eyes and felt half cold and half warm in her body. Her cheeks trembled and she smiled at everyone who looked guilty, "It doesn't matter, I'm happy to help you! By the way, Professor Eden, what's the place behind the door?" ?”
"Behind the door, I'm sorry, I can't lie to you without conscience." Aiden looked at the strange characters and murals on the stone wall, "It says that the temple of the Phantom Serpent is a spiral staircase. , behind the door is the bottom of the ladder. Once inside, everyone will experience the ultimate pain and terror, and be connected to the past and the future. Behind the door, foreign objects and outsiders can no longer protect us. What can allow us to pass safely Only a firm will and a peaceful heart.”
Strengthen your will and heart?
After Aiden said these words, people couldn't help but frown and think. It seemed that a dark wind blew in the secret room, and the banshee came riding on the wind and blew on everyone's necks.
"What does this mean?"
“You can’t understand until you go in.”
At this time, Dean noticed that the blood lines on the ground were flying and touching the stone wall in front, "The door is open, everyone!"
Boom boom——
The stone wall buzzed, scattering a large amount of gray dust, and slowly parted to both sides, revealing a dark corridor, and wisps of strange red light emitted around the square door frame at the entrance.
It is like a mysterious mirror, full of texture.
Dean looked along the door. Even with his excellent eyesight, he could only see a darkness like the void of the universe and his own blurred reflection.
At the same time, after seeing this door, the progress of the event jumped to 50%.
You must go in.
Dean turned to Katie and touched the wound on her wrist with his finger. Life energy poured in and the wound immediately stopped bleeding, leaving only a faint red mark. "Thank you for your hard work, Katie. Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"
"No, I'm fine." Katie shook her shawl hair, a smile appeared on her pale cheeks, and then, with the help of Jacob and Scott, she stood up unsteadily.
Dean faced everyone and said loudly,
"Okay everyone, as usual, I will take the lead and walk in front, Pastor, you follow me."
After Dean finished explaining, he recalled Ying into his body and walked to the dark door.
A hand reached in to confirm that it was correct.
Stepping in, Dean's eyes darkened, as if he had passed through a dark film of water. When he regained his vision, he was already in another simple tunnel.
The temperature dropped further to near freezing.
There are countless tiny particles floating in the air.
The ceiling, floor, and side walls are all made of pieces of weathered sandstone that can break into pieces with a gentle squeeze.
There was a vague figure standing faintly at the end in front.
As soon as Dean turned his head, the entrance behind him disappeared and turned into a cold wall.
The whereabouts of his companions are also unknown.
(End of chapter)
