Blood Wine Offered to the High Altar

"Clank~ clank~"

Meanwhile, Ye Qianfan had picked up a massive iron chain from somewhere.

Not only had he secured the wooden doors' bar in place, but he had also locked the doors tight with the chain, preventing anyone who knew how to lift a wooden bar from accidentally getting them open!

"Brother Ye, what are you doing?"

Shen Lang asked in confusion, "Why aren't you running? If we stay in this temple, they'll find us sooner or later, won't they?"

Rich Merchant nodded repeatedly as well. "Brother Ye, let's run! Those lanterns can tell who's going to die anyway. When a lantern turns into one of us three, just give that person the red handkerchief. We'll definitely hold out until the end!"

"It's no use!" Ye Qianfan shook his head. "Even if we can hide until the end, what then?"

"What then..."

Ye Qianfan's question left both Shen Lang and Rich Merchant stunned.

Yes, what happened after they hid until the end?

Before Ye Qianfan asked, that thought had never even occurred to them!

That evil entity had never said what counted as winning. If this game continued until all the Human-Skin Lanterns went out, did that mean only one person could survive?

If that was the case, hiding seemed pointless, no matter how they did it.

And besides...

The closer they got to the end, the fiercer the slaughter would naturally become!

Nobody wanted to die, so everyone would surely join forces to find them and snatch the red headscarf!

Then those allies would fight one another to survive, until blood flowed in rivers. Even if someone won, the winner would inevitably be a murderous monster. This...

Hiss!

It was too terrifying!

"Then... what do we do?"

At that thought, Rich Merchant could not help shuddering.

Only after locking the doors did Ye Qianfan continue, "Because I was the first person to enter Fog City's Passage Gate, I received a clue for this stage!"

"A clue?!"

Shen Lang's and Rich Merchant's eyes instantly lit up!

They remembered Eunuch He mentioning that the first person to clear a stage would receive a reward!

But because they had both left a step later than Ye Qianfan, neither knew anything about the reward. Only now that Ye Qianfan mentioned it did they remember!

But neither had expected...

The reward would actually be a clue for clearing the stage!

"That's right. Take a look yourselves!"

Ye Qianfan handed the clue to the two of them. After taking it, Rich Merchant could not help reading aloud, "Withered Wood Conceals a God, Blood Wine offered to the high altar. With no veil upon the Joy God, who would dare come worship? One person enters the temple, to send the god home to the Yin Residence."

"'Withered Wood Conceals a God' must mean that golden statue Brother Ye dug out of the tree trunk just now!"

"But what does 'Blood Wine offered to the high altar' mean?"

"And this... 'With no veil upon the Joy God, who would dare come worship?'"

"What is all this nonsense? It looks like a nursery rhyme cobbled together at random!"

"No!"

Shen Lang slapped the bone flute in his hand. "If the line 'Withered Wood Conceals a God' is correct!"

"Then that means every following line corresponds to a different challenge!"

"If we don't just read the literal wording, but try to understand the meaning behind this nursery rhyme, couldn't we interpret it as..."

"'Withered Wood Conceals a God' means finding the evil god!"

"The next line, 'Blood Wine offered to the high altar,' means worshipping the god!"

"And the offering for worshipping the god requires Blood Wine. My guess is that finding the Blood Wine is the challenge in this stage!"

"As for 'With no veil upon the Joy God,' could it be..."

Shen Lang looked at the red headscarf in Ye Qianfan's hand and sucked in a sharp breath. "Hiss! Don't tell me it wants you to put it on..."

"I suspect that's the real challenge in this stage. The Blood Wine should be a prelude, or rather, a prerequisite for putting the red veil on the Joy God." Ye Qianfan nodded as well. "Otherwise, the Blood Wine wouldn't come before the veil. In any case, let's find the Blood Wine first!"

After hearing their analysis, the fat on Rich Merchant's face trembled. "Without Brother Ye's clue, how many people would have to die in this stage? It's too hard! Far too hard!!"

"If we go by the rules, every city should have a clue for clearing the stage."

Ye Qianfan explained, "Think about it! Every city must have someone who enters the Passage Gate first, right? So the people from each city must have at least one clue sheet!"

"It's just that..."

"The number of people coming from each city varies. If there are lots of people and lots of teams, they probably won't share their clues with anyone else. That creates an automatic elimination process."

"The Demon-Quelling Office really played a clever hand!"

"Exactly." Shen Lang tapped the bone flute in his hand. "If that group from before had all followed us here, I might not have shared the clue with them either. So the Demon-Quelling Office is using this to limit how many people clear the stage, while also testing their ability to work as a team!"

Ye Qianfan nodded. "Brother Shen Lang, Boss Qian! I need to go find some wine now. Sorry for the trouble, but I'll need you two to hold these people off!"

"Understood!" Shen Lang nodded. "Go without worry, Brother Ye. We'll keep the doors blocked!"

"Besides blocking the doors, I have another presumptuous request!"

Ye Qianfan added.

"Please, tell us, Brother Ye!" Shen Lang said. "We're grasshoppers tied to the same boat now. There's no need to worry about whether it's presumptuous. We're all just trying to survive!"

"All right, then I won't stand on ceremony!"

With that, Ye Qianfan leaned close to Shen Lang's ear and whispered a string of instructions.

Rich Merchant took the opportunity to lean over and eavesdrop too!

But as he heard what they were whispering about, his expression changed again and again. His mouth hung open for a long while before he finally stammered, "This... isn't this a little too cruel?"

"The rules are cruel, not Brother Ye," Shen Lang sighed. "Go find the wine without worry, Brother Ye. I'll take care of this for you!"

"All right. Sorry for the trouble, Brother Shen Lang!"

However...

Before their voices had faded, someone rammed the small temple's wooden doors, making them rattle and crash.

Ye Qianfan turned and ran toward the small temple's side hall. He had noticed earlier that there was a side hall near the main hall, but instead of statues, it contained assorted odds and ends!

If Ye Qianfan's guess was right, the wine should be stored in the side hall!

"Spirits of heaven, spirits of earth, I beg the Patriarch to show this humble disciple a path to survival. If the wine is in the side hall, please grant me a Holy Cup. If it isn't, please grant me a Crying Cup!"

Clack!

Ye Qianfan tossed the Divination Blocks onto the ground!

But the result was...

A Laughing Cup?!

A Laughing Cup was neither a Holy Cup nor a Crying Cup. In divination with the blocks, it meant uncertainty, that nothing could be confirmed.

"This..." Ye Qianfan froze. "What's going on? What does it mean that it's there and yet it isn't?"