Yao Ge
Ling Ge sat atop Holy Sight Mountain, gazing at the distant scenery. A cool breeze blew by, but this usually lively and cheerful girl now seemed preoccupied.
Because Li Mo was often punished by Ke Su Li Mo, he spent a lot of time on the mountaintop. Ling Ge, who cared about Li Mo, was also a frequent visitor. She would bring Li Mo food, cheer Li Mo up, and relieve his anxiety.
Back then, no matter how strong the wind was or how cold the weather was, Ling Ge felt very happy. But now, sitting on the mountaintop, Ling Ge felt a chill from the bottom of her heart. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye.
Her senior brother, who was originally by her side, had his lungs destroyed and was then imprisoned in the dungeon. At that time, she was thinking about how to plead for him, but not long after, she heard that Li Mo had killed the jailer and escaped.
Those who went to pursue him said that Li Mo fled to a former rival cult at Holy Sight Mountain, and that the power he used was said to be an extremely evil power that could corrupt people.
"Junior Sister..." Zhang Qi walked up the steps, his feelings unexpectedly complex— Envy, resentment, relief, but mostly heartache. His lips moved a few times, and finally he softly comforted her, "Li Mo is still alive, isn't he?"
"He's still alive, so there's a chance he can come back. He was just bewitched by the power of shadow. As long as we remove the power that bewitched him, we can bring him back then." Zhang Qi looked at Ling Ge, whose face was streaked with tears, and suddenly felt a strange mix of Envy and Envy. Why did she have to cry?
"He was just bewitched, wasn't he?" Ling Ge turned to look at Zhang Qi, her beautiful face streaked with tears. Ling Ge held back her tears and asked softly, "We can bring Li Mo back, right?"
"Yes, it's definitely possible!" Zhang Qi said confidently, but for some reason, his hands behind his back were clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
Ling Ge wiped away her tears, suppressing her grief, and forced a smile as she said, "Li Mo will come back. We will definitely bring him back."
Seeing Ling Ge smile, Zhang Qi also smiled. Making Ling Ge happy made him happy too. However, the young man did not yet understand that those who make her laugh will eventually lose to those who make her cry.
Meanwhile, in the Shadow Cult's camp, the woman who had previously saved Li Mo was applying medicine to Li Mo body. Her smooth, jade-like fingers rubbed the medicine into the wound as she re-bandaged Li Mo, saying with a hint of reproach, "Serves you right for trying to be a hero, now you know you were wrong, my great leader."
"Ahem, those were merely necessary measures. The mark of the Black Day must be revealed for it to be effective." Li Mo turned his head away, refusing to look at the view revealed by the woman bending over as she applied the medicine. "Are you called Yao Ge?"
"Yes, my name is Yao Ge. Don't I look a lot like your junior sister?" Yao Ge said with a charming laugh, "You're even blushing."
"Alright, you'd better rest for a while and not do anything, otherwise the aftereffects might worsen." Yao Ge gently patted Li Mo's chest with her fingers, then stood up, washed the medicine in her hand, and put on black gauze gloves.
"I just don't take advantage of my subordinates," Li Mo to look at Yao Ge, who had straightened up.
"Don't worry, Miss Yao Ge won't let anyone take advantage of me," Yao Ge said with a delighted laugh.
"Then why? You chose to support me. Your influence in the Shadow Cult is considerable, second only to the High Priest. Why would you support me?" Li Mo, somewhat puzzled. Judging from Yao Ge's situation, she wasn't the type to heed prophecies.
"That's because..." Yao Ge placed the medicine bottle on the table not far away, turned around in her black dress, rested her gloved fingers on her chin, pretended to think, and then said with a charming smile, "That's because Chief Li Mo looks a lot like someone I used to like a lot. They're both so handsome."
"Then, Chief, please rest well. We'll be on our way starting tomorrow. We need to get back to the stronghold as soon as possible so your official status can be officially promoted." Yao Ge started off quite serious, but then smiled with an unusually charming smile, "Just don't forget about your sister, Chief."
"A troublesome woman, I can't tell if she's telling the truth." Li Mo thought to himself after Yao Ge left, pressing his chest to calm his breathing. Although he had temporarily secured his position as leader by virtue of his authority, there were still a few members who disagreed.
Finally, a solution was reached: Li Mo would temporarily assume the position of acting leader, without real power but with an extremely high status. As for truly inheriting the leadership, he would need to return to the Shadow Cult's stronghold and ask the high priest who issued the prophecy to acknowledge that Li Mo was the person foretold.
Within the Shadow Cult, the High Priest held immense prestige. He was one of the few ordinary cultists who escaped ten years ago, but he was fortunate enough to receive the final gift of information from the Shadow Gem, gaining a vast amount of knowledge about shadows and martial arts.
It was as if she had rebuilt the Shadow Cult from scratch. Several of the officers were trained by the High Priest, and she could occasionally converse with the Great Black Day. The original prophecy of the leader came from her mouth.
The high priest ordered them to rescue someone, but they never expected that the person to be rescued would be the so-called leader. In any case, if the high priest had said from the beginning that she wanted to be the leader, then she would definitely already be the leader.
"In other words, as long as I gain the High Priest's approval and become the prophesied one, most of the instructors will accept me." Li Mo wasn't worried about his identity; the mark on his chest was still slowly imparting some knowledge to him. What he was worried about was someone causing trouble on the way back.
Below the High Priest are eight officers. Three officers stayed behind at the stronghold. This time, a total of five officers came out: Yao Ge, the woman from before; Lie Riftbreaker, who was dissatisfied with himself; Yu Que, who used the Duckweed Crutch and Ling Piaoluo to fight the enemy; Lu Zhu, who had a kind-hearted and smiling appearance; and Nie Zuo, who had a sinister face and was someone you should keep away from.
Yao Ge clearly supports him regardless of the reason, Yu Que is certain of his identity but rather casual about it, Riftbreaker and Nie Zuo disagree, and the good-natured Lu Zhu abstains; it was also his suggestion to go back and have the High Priest confirm it.
"As expected, someone will make a move on the way. These agents say they have absolutely no interest in the position of leader of the Shadow Cult, but I don't believe it for a second. It seems that it's still necessary to quickly improve our combat capabilities."
Li Mo pondered these things with a headache. He wasn't good at intrigue and power struggles. After all, he had only ever been a second disciple of Holy Sight Mountain. The atmosphere of Holy Sight Mountain was completely different from that of a cult like the Shadow Cult. Although there were conflicts between disciples, at most they would have some verbal arguments. If they were really unhappy, they would just have a match. It was much simpler.