Slaughter (First Update)

First came the flicker of firelight. Then shadows of people darted across the walls.

As the Mind Fasting Sect cultists shouted over one another, countless pursuers wearing Nuo Masks crowded around the trapdoor above. Orange flames rippled from torch to torch like a red-banded serpent.

In the firelight, overlapping shadows fell into the dim underground chamber. Light and darkness danced across the mountain of corpses, making it look as though demons were writhing there.

Xia Lun glanced up. There were already more than twelve Mind Fasting Sect cultists above, and more footsteps and the roars of Skinned Corpses were drawing closer.

Strangely, despite their overwhelming numbers, not one cultist jumped down. Every one of them watched Xuan Yan, the blood-robed Daoist, with nervous eyes.

Then a commanding voice from above broke the standoff.

"Master Fleshbound has given the order! Whoever takes Xuan Yan's head first gets one hundred Yin Longevity Pills and qualifies for promotion. Anyone who helps surround her gets twenty!"

The crowd parted like water before an oar. A broad figure in ringed chain mail and a black Nuo Mask walked forward, towering over the others like a pagoda.

"But listen carefully! The master wants her head intact. No Skinned Corpses and no arrows yet. Get down there! Anyone who hangs back will be executed!"

"Yin Longevity Pills are addictive, and they'll turn you into Skinned Corpses! Don't take them!" Xuan Yan shouted up at them, waving her arms. "The more you take, the deeper you sink. It's a trap! Stop clinging to this delusion, or you'll be trapped in this nightmare forever!"

"You're the one clinging to a delusion!" the armored man snapped. "Master Fleshbound said your actions brought the Death Fog here. If you have any conscience left, kill yourself and atone!"

Confusion crossed Xuan Yan's