Another Mountain God Temple!
Unexpected things always appeared when you least expected them. When you needed them, you couldn't find them; when you no longer did, they popped up again.
Zhu Jiusi grunted like a pig. He was just about to move closer for a look.
A streak of white light leaped up behind him. The next moment, the sun soared into the sky, and the world brightened all at once.
The Scroll unfurled.
The moon appeared again.
"Good morning, young Path Seekers! Awake yet? We meet again!"
Today, the moon had grown a whole size rounder than yesterday. He bounced around on the Scroll, looking unbearably smug.
"Although we met yesterday, please allow me to make a grand introduction! I am the moon of the 66th Dao-Seeking District of Journey Survival's Immortal Seeking Realm. My name is Fourth Day!"
A sea of ellipses appeared at once.
Sparrow: "...So it really is Fourth Day. Does that mean tomorrow's Fifth Day?"
The moon naturally didn't answer him. Instead, he shouted excitedly, "The new-player protection period is over!
"The rankings are being drawn up as we speak. Want to take this opportunity to compete fiercely in a Secret Realm Instance? You all do? As expected, my people fear nothing! Then let's go! Destination: Valley of the Dead!"
"A friendly reminder: everyone must take part in their first Secret Realm trial! You all have two choices: live or die! Either a crown goes on your head, or dirt goes on your grave. Charge!"
As soon as the moon finished speaking, he tilted himself into a crescent and shot off, vanishing in a flash.
Then the road ahead changed. A valley had appeared where the endless road had once stretched onward.
From the valley entrance came the repeated call of a cuckoo bird.
Zhu Jiusi grew three parts more cautious.
The two phrases Graveyard Riot and Valley of the Dead already revealed a great deal. It was just that the new players of Journey Survival didn't understand them.
A place this deserted could mean one of two things.
Either it was a remote mountain hollow with no powerful zombies—after all, there weren't many people around.
Or it had once been a battlefield, and the zombies were so powerful they could drive people to despair.
This was only the first instance at the beginning of the game. It should be the former.
Zhu Jiusi stopped hesitating. On guard against his surroundings, he jogged toward the valley.
The moment he plunged into the valley, the world spun around him. The scenery before his eyes seemed to twist into a vortex.
When everything settled, the roar of a crowd reached his ears, along with the crackle and pop of flames.
"Second Brother's wife, get that fire burning hotter. This pig looks like it's got thick, tough hide. We'll need to scald it in boiling water before we can scrape the hair off!"
"Third Brother's wife, keep an eye on that little bastard of yours. That fish is for the ancestors. If he damages even one scale, I'll skin him alive!"
"Eldest Brother's wife, send someone to the village entrance again. See when the priest is getting here!"
Zhu Jiusi shook his head, and his vision finally cleared. He saw that his four legs had been bound, and he was tied down on a low table.
A wave of heat rolled over him from the side. A huge pot was boiling, and from where Zhu Jiusi lay, he could even see oil floating on the surface.
A role-playing instance!
This kind of instance started you off with an assigned identity and placed severe restrictions on you.
Zhu Jiusi looked around. Not far ahead stood a water vat. A Big Red Carp inside stared around in bewilderment, with words floating above its head.
Rain Seeker!
A Path Seeker. And he hadn't even hidden his name in the instance. Young and reckless!
Farther to the side stood a pig cage. Someone inside was slapping the bars over and over.
"Let me out! Do you know who my woman is?"
Words floated above his head too: Monkey Has Iron Rod.
Outside the cage, a one-eyed man was sharpening a knife. He cast a glance at the man inside, his eyeball deathly pale.
"Bragging about your lover? What good would that do in this poor mountain village?"
As he spoke, he scraped the butcher's knife back and forth until it gleamed. He muttered under his breath, "Kill the pig, slaughter the fish, make offerings to Mountain Lord. That should hold back those filthy things. If it still doesn't work..."
His one eye flicked toward the man in the cage again. The meaning was clear: if all else failed, they'd kill a living person and offer him as a sacrifice!
Zhu Jiusi said nothing.
In this kind of role-playing instance, the instance wouldn't give you any prompts until you broke through the challenge of your assigned role.
But from the villagers' scattered remarks, Zhu Jiusi could already piece together most of the situation.
The village was plagued by zombies, and they planned to make sacrifices to put an end to the disaster.
Unfortunately, Zhu Jiusi was one of those sacrifices.
Besides the three of them, there was also a black dog hanging nearby. Judging by its shifty eyes, it was probably another Path Seeker.
But its name was hidden, so he didn't know who it was.
The black dog had probably entered before Zhu Jiusi. It looked like it had been awake for quite some time.
After observing its situation, it slowly lowered its head, as if it had resigned itself to its fate.
But in the instant the villagers looked away, it suddenly bit through its rope, sprang forward, and knocked a man down. It sent a brazier tumbling, throwing everything into chaos, then used the man's body as a foothold to leap over the courtyard wall and flee into the distance.
As it ran, it howled, "You think you can cage me? Sooner or later, I'll bite off every last one of your village's descendants' balls!"
The Demon Cultivator Path Seeker hadn't yet refined the crossbone in its throat. Its cries came out as animal howls, and only other Path Seekers could understand them.
The wild dog bolted for its life, but a bowstring suddenly twanged, followed by its anguished yelp.
An arrow pierced its chest and pinned it to the ground. The wild dog howled and struggled, but couldn't pull itself free from the arrow. It was about to die.
Just as expected!
Just as expected. How could a proper Secret Realm Instance let someone escape so easily?
Breaking the ropes wasn't the point. The real challenge was avoiding the villagers' pursuit.
There was definitely more than one hunter here. Even if every Path Seeker present fled at once, none of them would get away!
They could only use their wits!
Zhu Jiusi almost instinctively knew what to do. Three years in Journey Survival hadn't been for nothing.
He immediately opened private chats with Monkey Has Iron Rod and Rain Seeker, messaging them both.
Master of Cloud Stack Cave: "Want to live?"
Monkey Has Iron Rod: "Huh? The big shot Cave Master is the one about to get butchered?"
Rain Seeker: "I understand. What do you need me to do?"
The group chat hadn't been activated yet, so chatting with multiple people was inconvenient.
The Man in the Cage and the Fish in the Vat both lit up, looking toward the wild boar on the low table, waiting to be slaughtered.
"Act!" Zhu Jiusi replied.
The man and the fish listened in silence. Then, in the distance, firecrackers began popping, accompanied by the clamor of gongs and drums.
"Village Chief! Uncle Qiao! The priest's here!"
Someone shouted. The one-eyed butcher, who had been sharpening his knife, stuck it into the low table, wiped his hands on his apron, and bounded outside.
He was five feet tall, or maybe five and a half, and he limped. Yet he was as happy as a child.
Zhu Jiusi looked around. Everyone in the courtyard had been drawn away by the cries outside. No one was paying attention to him.
He bit down on the butcher's knife and rubbed it back and forth against the hemp rope binding his front legs.
Crack! The rope around his forelegs snapped.
The people who'd gone outside soon returned. When they'd rushed off, they'd been filled with excitement, but now their steps were heavy. Their sighs could be heard from far away.
"Village Chief, that priest's all show. He's been bitten by a zombie himself. There's no point bringing him into the village!"
The crowd drew closer and closer.
Zhu Jiusi arched his back as far as he could, sawing at the rope around his hind legs. He bit down so hard that drool spilled from his mouth. Just as the group reentered the courtyard, the rope snapped with a sharp crack.
Zhu Jiusi flipped over, rolled off the low table, and crashed to the ground. Then he sprang up and charged, bellowing as he barreled toward the villagers.
The villagers who had just entered the courtyard stared at the wild boar's sky-pointing tusks in terror.
"Wu the Third! Wu the Fourth! You Wu clan folks—shoot it dead!" the Village Chief shouted.
At once, seven or eight bowstrings twanged outside.
There really was more than one hunter!
One by one, they drew their bows, nocked their arrows, and aimed at Zhu Jiusi.
Before you continue