Poisson coulé

Chapitre 10

Another hallucination? Could it be that Kui Ji was truly her past life? Judging from the current situation, it was Kui Ji who destroyed Saka City. This city is so eerie, wouldn't she be in great danger here?

Kui Ji, what exactly did you do back then?

Another hallucination? Could it be that Kui Ji was truly her past life? Judging from the current situation, it was Kui Ji who destroyed Saka City. This city is so eerie, wouldn't she be in great danger here?

Kui Ji, what exactly did you do back then?

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Caesar pulled her in front of him. "You look terrible."

Qin Wen pushed him away, walked to the Tai Chi diagram, and touched it carefully. It was empty between Yin and Yang: "To open this door, you need two jade discs, one black and one white."

Manra looked at her coldly, turned around and brushed his hand on the wall next to him, revealing a square pattern of a large bird about to take flight. He gently pressed on the bird's eyes, and the square pattern opened like a door, revealing a square wooden box.

“Young Master, please retrieve the box.” Manra bowed and said. Caesar narrowed his eyes slightly. There were some kind of powerful traps around the box. It was Manra’s first time in this city, yet she knew where the box was hidden. That was one thing, but she actually asked Caesar to retrieve the box. Did she expect her master to deal with the trap?

Manla seemed to see through his thoughts and quickly knelt down: "Young master, please believe me, I would never harm you."

Caesar smiled and helped him up: "Uncle Manra, what are you saying? Why would I doubt you?" After saying that, he reached out and took out the wooden box, but nothing happened.

At that moment, Qin Wen suddenly realized that if someone else were to retrieve the box, it would trigger the mechanism.

The box was carved with an ancient and exquisite black bird pattern and was not locked. Caesar opened the box, and two beams of black and white light shot out. He instinctively threw the box away. Manra was shocked and rushed over to catch it. The light dimmed instantly, and two black and white jade discs lay quietly inside, glowing with a faint fluorescence.

"Young Master, how could you throw them away?" Manra held the box up to him in anguish. "These two keys are treasures that open the ancestral temple, second only to the national treasure. How could you be so careless!"

Caesar looked at his retainer, who had followed him for over twenty years, with a puzzled expression. He felt that the retainer had changed since they entered this Devil's City; he had become a stranger, like a completely different person.

Qin Wen hesitated for a moment, then picked up the two jade discs, turned around, rushed to the stone gate, and set the jade discs in. Manra was furious and roared, "What are you? How dare you touch the treasures of my Saka Kingdom!"

Turning around, Qin Wen's cold gaze pierced his face. He was stunned for a moment, then heard her say, "Uncle Manla, didn't you say that only I could get that thing?"

The door opened slowly, making a rumbling sound. Manra, her face grim, remained silent. Light streamed in from behind the door. Qin Wen raised her hand to shield her eyes, stepped outside, and found herself standing on a terrace hundreds of meters high, somewhat like the altar Zhuge Liang built to pray for the east wind, only many times higher.

The terrace features an altar used for sacrifices, displaying various bronze ritual vessels, creating a magnificent sight. From the terrace, one can enjoy a panoramic view of the entire city of Saka.

Caesar, his face beaming with excitement, suddenly embraced her and said, "We actually managed to find the legendary Heavenly Terrace of Saka City! Qin Wen, you truly are my Garuda."

Qin Wen looked at him strangely: "You know about Saka City?"

“I read about it in my father’s notes when I was young.” Caesar smiled broadly, a smile unlike his previous cold, sinister grins. Instead, it was like that of a child, innocent and heartbreaking. “Saka in the Serb language originally meant the Shang Dynasty. The notes contained very little information, only mentioning it briefly when discussing the Sacred Buddha Cemetery. The journey to the Mano Kingdom, established by the Volgilites, inevitably involved passing through Saka. This city also suddenly perished overnight, even at the same time as the Mano Kingdom. The only difference was that this largest city in the Western Regions vanished without a trace after its destruction, leaving not even a single remnant. I never imagined it would be encased in rock. The terrace we stand on now is a testament to the blood and sweat of generations of Shang Dynasty descendants; it’s a structure even taller than the Tower of Babel in Babylon.”

Qin Wen's heart began to pound. It seemed that they had indeed discovered an amazing ruin. She wondered what her grandfather and mother's expressions would be when they found out.

Wait! She tried her best to calm her agitated mind. Caesar had just said that Mano and Saka fell in the same era. Was there some connection between their demise?

At that moment, she suddenly remembered that Manra had said she was Garuda, a deity in Buddhism and one of the Eight Legions of Devas and Asuras. There is a legend that the Black Bird, the ancestor of the Shang Dynasty, was an incarnation of Garuda.

It's getting more and more chaotic! She patted her head, walked to the edge of the terrace, and looked down. Hundreds of meters below was the great city of Saka, which used to be lush with water and grass, but now it was just a stretch of yellow sand.

Suddenly, the world turned a blinding red. Startled, she looked up and saw blood-red clouds overhead. Below the terrace, agonizing screams echoed as countless civilians fled in panic, some already rotting, the air thick with a nauseating stench. Outside the city walls, swarms of thumb-sized black man-eating ants swarmed.

Romodo!

Suddenly, a name popped into her mind. Then, the sound of bells rang behind her. She turned around abruptly and saw a beautiful dancer in red laughing up at the sky, her red shawl fluttering wildly behind her.

"Zhenyan! I can finally avenge you!"

The door burst open, and Ziyin stormed in, brandishing a bronze sword, his face contorted with rage: "Kuiji, did you summon these man-eating ants? Are you truly the harbinger of destruction that will annihilate my city of Saka? Why did you do this?"

The dancer in red stared at him coldly, a sneer playing on her lips: "What else could it be? Of course, it's to avenge Zhenyan. The Volgili killed her and condemned her to eternal damnation. I will make them pay the same price!"

"Didn't I already order an attack on the Volgili tribe?" Ziyin rushed over, grasping her shoulders, his eyes filled with undisguised pain. "Why did you still destroy Saka City? My people have done nothing to wrong you..."

“Ziyin,” Kui Ji said quietly, looking at him. “I was born to destroy everything.”

"Hey, what are you daydreaming about again?" Caesar placed his hand on Qin Wen's shoulder. She gasped, and all the illusions vanished in an instant. The Devil City was still the Devil City. There were no man-eating ants, no weeping people, and no Prince Yin coming to interrogate her. There was only endless yellow sand.

A gaze filled with anger and hatred shot over her. She no longer intended to remain silent and coldly looked at Manra: "Caesar, you've been deceived. This Uncle Manra has no intention of taking you to the Holy Buddha Kingdom Cemetery. The destination of this desert journey is this city of Saka."

Caesar frowned. It wasn't that he hadn't noticed, but Manra had been with them for so many years that he didn't want to suspect anything.

"I'm just curious, why didn't you just say you were looking for Saka City?" Qin Wen asked, somewhat puzzled. "This lost Shang Dynasty city is probably just as attractive to tomb raiders as the Sacred Buddhist Kingdom's cemetery, isn't it?"

“Because finding the sacred Buddhist cemetery was my father’s lifelong dream,” Caesar said, a cold glint in his eyes. “Uncle Manra, tell me, what exactly is going on?”

Manra's face was gloomy, and she remained silent.

The atmosphere on the terrace suddenly became a little strange. Qin Wen had a bad feeling, and her premonitions were almost never wrong.

Sure enough, a series of slow footsteps approached, chaotic and weak, yet numerous. Two words flashed through her mind, sending a chill down her spine.

Zombies!

Caesar had clearly heard the surging footsteps as well, and his pupils dilated instantly when he looked down from the terrace.

The terrace was shaped like a Mayan pyramid, with steps leading to the altar on one side. Rows of rotting, desiccated corpses slowly made their way up to the altar. Qin Wen felt a chill run down her spine and unconsciously moved closer to Caesar. Weren't these the same rotting corpses who had called her a witch before? She had always wondered why the desiccated corpses were rotting; it turned out they had been poisoned by Romodo before they died, causing them to decompose.

Caesar gritted his teeth and pulled Qin Wen toward the stone gate, only to see several other corpses walking out of the gate, most of them women dressed in gorgeous clothes.

His brows furrowed deeply as he pulled Qin Wen into his arms and angrily said to Manla, "Uncle Manla, did you bring us here just to feed us to the zombies?"

"Quick! Go back to the main hall downstairs!" Miller shouted, parrying the oncoming dagger. He and Hughes helped Matthew run down the tower. Situ Xiang protected Yin Li, drew a Mongolian knife he carried with him, and knocked the dagger of a dark figure to the ground. Yin Li frowned, bent down to pick it up, but did not notice that there was a shadow under her.

A cold glint swept from behind, but Yin Li was completely unaware. Situ Xiang's face darkened, and he hurriedly turned around to block, but a dagger slashed across his back. He shouted in pain and thrust his Mongolian knife across his shoulder, striking the dagger in the shadowy figure's hand. The dagger fell to the ground with a thud.

"Situ!" Yin Li exclaimed in shock. Situ Xiang grabbed her hand, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "Quick, let's go!"

She had only run a few steps when three dark figures blocked her way. Yin Li felt that they resembled something, but she couldn't remember what they were. Had she seen these monsters before?

Situ Xiang stood in front of Yin Li, gripping the knife tightly. Only then did Yin Li see that a long gash had been torn in his back, and bright red blood was flowing down, staining his camouflage uniform bright red.

A sudden pain shot through her heart, as if someone had pinched her hard. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see Min Enjun blocking her way. Yin Li was taken aback when she saw the two other dark figures surrounding her: "You know martial arts?"

"No." Min Eun-joon held a Miller Swiss Army knife in his hand. "But how can I lose to Situ Xiang?"

Yin Li was speechless. It's one thing for you to be competitive, but don't add to our burden at this time. Now Situ will probably have to protect you.

The shadowy figures approached slowly, seemingly trying to put psychological pressure on them, without rushing to attack. Yin Li carefully examined the dagger in her hand; it looked familiar, she was sure she had seen it somewhere before.

No, I have to remember it; maybe I can find their weaknesses.

Just as things were about to turn around, the sun gradually disappeared into the clouds, and the shadows suddenly faded considerably, as if they had lost their color in an instant. The three of them were startled, and Situ Xiang shouted, "Now!"

He swung his Mongolian knife, slashing through the air, and the daggers in the hands of the three dark figures in front of him fell to the ground. The three quickly passed through the figures' bodies and rushed down the tower. Yin Li was dragged along by him, moving so fast that she couldn't think at all. She could only hear the whistling wind in her ears. When they stopped, she was too exhausted to speak and was panting heavily.

The group returned to the main hall, where the enormous bronze cauldron lay on the ground, its silence chilling to the bone.

Situ Xiang sat down on a straw mat, his clothes already soaked with cold sweat. Yin Li quickly checked his wound. Fortunately, the cut wasn't very deep. She took out a needle and thread from her small bag and said, "Situ, let me stitch up your wound. Do you need anesthesia?"

"You have it?" Situ Xiang exclaimed in surprise. That's a nationally controlled drug.

“Only Ma Fu San is available.” Yin Li took out a small celadon bottle and applied a red powder to his wound. Situ Xiang only felt a slight itch, like ants biting him, but he didn’t feel any pain. In less than three minutes, Yin Li put the needle and thread back into her bag and breathed a sigh of relief: “All done. A little more medicine and it will be fine.”

Marcie looked at her strangely, wondering how such a long wound could be stitched up so quickly: "Are you a nurse?"

“No,” Yin Li smiled, “I often embroider at home.”

embroidery……

Situ Xiang started sweating again. She used embroidery techniques to sew up her wounds.

"Don't worry, the needles and thread have been sterilized," Yin Li reassured him. Noticing a wound on Hughes' arm, she quickly said, "Do you need me to embroider for you... no, sew it up for you?"

"Thank you, but no need," Hughes quickly declined. "I'll do it myself."

Yin Li rolled her eyes; she really had taken her kindness for granted. She picked up the dagger she had found, and it looked so familiar, like she had seen it in a book before, but she couldn't remember where.

She slapped her head hard and thought it over carefully!

“It looks like the Indian style,” Min Eun-joon suddenly said, still looking calm and composed, as if nothing could frighten him.

“Not India.” Yin Li shook her head, gently pressing her temples. The shadows looked strange; their hands and feet were stiff, unlike real people's shadows, more like…

That's right! Shadow puppetry!

Yin Li suddenly opened her eyes: "That's right, it's a shadow puppet!"

A flicker of surprise and sudden realization crossed Situ Xiang's and Min Enjun's eyes. Yin Li exclaimed excitedly, "I remember now! This is a human skin shadow puppet!"

"Human skin shadow puppet?" Everyone was shocked. The words "human skin" spread like dark clouds in the huge ancient hall, casting a shadow over the place.

“This is a type of black magic from Southeast Asia,” Yin Li said. “I once read a book about black magic in my grandfather’s study. Legend has it that there are some evil black magicians in Southeast Asia who like to use black magic to harm people. The human skin shadow puppet is a very evil black magic. It requires getting a living person drunk, then peeling off their skin while they are still alive, and then dyeing the skin pure black with a special black potion. After chanting incantations for forty-nine days, the human skin shadow puppet is considered successfully made. Each human skin shadow puppet will generate a black shadow, which the black magician will manipulate to harm people for him. Because this kind of black magic is too evil, it has been explicitly banned by the Southeast Asian Black Magic Alliance for a long time. How could it appear in this Devil City?”

"Southeast Asian black magic..." Everyone looked at each other, and they all thought of one person. Yin Li also seemed to suddenly think of something and gasped.

Manla!

That sorcerer named Manra wants to kill them!

"The human skin puppets have reappeared." Miller suddenly stood up. Yin Li turned around and saw many black shadows on the wall. He sneered, "Don't panic, everyone. Now that we know they are human skin puppets, they are easy to deal with. We just put oil in the special medicine that dyes human skin black!"

"Fire!" Situ Xiang flicked his finger, and a lit match flew out, landing right on one of the dark figures. The figure burst into flames, struggling desperately and rolling on the ground a few times until the fire subsided, leaving only ashes on the ground.

Marshall was as excited as if he had taken a stimulant. He had suffered a lot at the hands of these shadowy figures, and now he was going to get his revenge!

The three quickly lit torches, and the shadowy figures huddled against the wall, not daring to move. Ma Xie chuckled evilly, took out a wine bottle, poured it on the wall, and then lit it. The shadow puppets let out sharp screams, and after the flames subsided, ash drifted down.

"Damn it, I finally got my revenge!" Marcel threw the torch on the ground. "It was worth dying for!"

Yin Li sensed the desolation in his words and sighed, "Xiao Wen, how are you now? Please don't let anything happen to you. If you die, living will be torture for me too."

XII. The Death of Qin Wen

Caesar, with Qin Wen in his arms, stared in astonishment at the countless zombies who had all knelt down, prostrating themselves on the ground and bowing to him. Manra performed the grandest of three kneelings and nine kowtows to him, saying, "King of Saka, you have finally returned."

Caesar glanced at Qin Wen in his arms. Qin Wen looked at him in surprise. Manra said he was the king of Saka? So, he is...

Ziyin?

"My king," Manra said bitterly, staring at Qin Wen, "why, after more than two thousand five hundred years, are you still bewitched by this woman?"

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Caesar said coldly, pulling Qin Wen behind him. “Mara, you’re insane.”

“This old servant is very clear-headed.” Manra said with grief and indignation, “This old servant has wandered the mortal world for many years, just to find you after your reincarnation. More than twenty years ago, this old servant finally found you. In order to bring you back, I have spared no effort all these years, following my master. After my master passed away, I raised you, just so that you could awaken our homeland—Saka!”

Reincarnation? Caesar sneered, "Mara, you're insane. I'm not a Buddhist and don't believe in reincarnation. I don't care what your purpose is, tell your ghost servants to get out of the way immediately, or don't blame me for being ruthless!"

“Ghost slaves?” Manra’s bark-like face seemed to twist in disbelief. “Do you think these are ghost slaves for me to practice black magic? They are your people! More than 2,500 years ago, because of this woman, they were all poisoned by man-eating ants. After death, they could not be reincarnated and were bound to this city of death! Have you forgotten all of this?”

Caesar frowned slightly. He had no memory of his past life. He was a devout Christian and believed that people should go to heaven after death, and there was no such thing as reincarnation.

"My king, have you forgotten us?" The rotting female corpses crawled towards him, whimpering like ghosts. "We were your concubines, the concubines you once favored, but you abandoned us all for this woman. We hate you—"

The piercing howl, filled with deep hatred, stared at Qin Wen with eyes like knives, ready to be drawn at any moment.

Her heart began to tremble. Was she responsible for all this tragedy? Why did she do it? And who was Zhenyan in her hallucination?

She clutched her hair in anguish, wondering why she couldn't remember anything.