[Nether God Sacrifice] Returned

Ever since she was little, Xu Jiaojiao had always been somewhat afraid of fish. She remembered a biology class when their teacher had asked them to observe little goldfish under a microscope.

The goldfish Xu Jiaojiao had been given was particularly unruly, flapping its tail and bouncing all over the lab bench. It drew the attention of the entire class, so Xu Jiaojiao had no choice but to chase after it. She gripped the little goldfish tightly in her hand, trying to stop it from jumping.

But when she opened her hand, the fish was already dead.

The dead fish still had its eyes wide open, staring at Xu Jiaojiao.

After that, even seeing wide-open fish eyes in a textbook gave Xu Jiaojiao nightmares.

The thought that Zhang Fang would turn into the Giant Blind Fish that had killed Xu Nan that day... sent waves of revulsion and chills through Xu Jiaojiao.

She wanted to turn and leave, but the Village Chief stopped her.

"Don't rush off, Jiaojiao," the Village Chief said. "As the person who presented the offering, you need to complete the ritual with the Elders."

Xu Jiaojiao had no choice but to stop.

She followed behind the two old people and copied them, kneeling toward the Sea.

The Elder began leading the villagers in that song: "Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming. Thank you for granting us flowers in bloom. Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming. Only through you do we have our home."

If outsiders heard this song, they would hallucinate, but the people of Xu Family Village were unaffected.

Xu Jiaojiao finished singing along with them, and the villagers pushed a wooden board over and moved Zhang Fang onto it.

Standing high above the Seashore, they pushed the board down.

The board would carry the offering out into the deep sea and present him to Mother Ming.

One villager burst into tears of excitement. His child had been waiting a long time for eyes, and now there was finally hope.

Several other villagers exchanged resentful looks. They, too, had children at home waiting for eyes. There was no telling whom the Village Chief would give this offering's eyes to.

One of the more shrewd villagers had already slipped forward, ready to put in a word ahead of time. "Village Chief, I..."

But before that villager could say anything more, the old woman suddenly let out a piercing cry. "Something's wrong! The offering has been sent back!"

Everyone's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

The waves churned, carrying Zhang Fang's body all the way back to the Seashore.

"How... how could this happen..."

"Mother Ming didn't accept our offering..."

The old woman shrieked, "There must be something wrong with the offering!"

The Village Chief's face was livid.

He ordered someone to fetch two children immediately, then had the children drag Zhang Fang's body back.

The old woman shakily crouched down and examined Zhang Fang's body.

Suddenly, she opened her gap-toothed mouth and screamed, "There really is something wrong with this offering!"

Her twiglike finger pointed at Xu Jiaojiao, and she trembled with rage. "You... are you trying to get our entire village killed?!"

At her shout, the crows in the distance took flight with a flurry of wings, and a sudden chill ran down Xu Jiaojiao's spine.

"You... don't make things up! How could there be anything wrong with the offering?" Xu Jiaojiao said anxiously. "Maybe the ocean current just pushed him back. Can't we try again...?"

The old woman stared silently at Xu Jiaojiao, her gaze utterly cold. "Come and see for yourself."

Xu Jiaojiao didn't want to take a close look at Zhang Fang's face, which was already covered in scales... but the old man grabbed her by the collar and dragged her over.

The old man looked frail and shaky, but he was surprisingly strong. Xu Jiaojiao stumbled and fell in front of Zhang Fang.

Zhang Fang's eyes were half-closed and his mouth hung open, without any sign of awareness. He looked no different from before.

Except for the two trails of blood on his cheeks, left by Qin Ning's attack just now.

But that shouldn't have been a problem. There was no rule saying an offering couldn't have wounds.

Suddenly, Xu Jiaojiao froze.

Then her entire body began trembling uncontrollably!

The old woman pointed at her and shouted, "His eyes are ruined! How can someone with ruined eyes be an offering?!"

Xu Jiaojiao shook all over.

Only now did she understand that Qin Ning hadn't retreated immediately because she was wary of her and Xu Zijian.

It was because she had already completed her task.

Qin Ning walked swiftly along the pitch-black mountain path.

There was blood on her knife. Zhang Fang's blood.

This was the deal she had made with Shao Lan-he would tell her everything he knew, and she would help him kill Zhang Fang.

But at the last moment, just as she turned to leave, Shao Lan suddenly called her back.

After thinking for a moment, Shao Lan said, "Can I change the terms of our deal?"

"To what?"

"Destroy Zhang Fang's eyes without anyone from the Xu family noticing," Shao Lan said. "The important part is not getting caught."

"I know it's difficult. If you can't manage it, just kill Zhang Fang instead."

Qin Ning fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "Understood. I'll do my best."

Now, Xu Jiaojiao stared at Zhang Fang, trembling all over.

Qin Ning's precision with her knife could only be described as terrifying. In that lightning-fast instant of attack, she had made two tiny incisions in Zhang Fang's face as though performing surgery.

The cuts were so narrow that they were difficult to notice even when they bled, but they were deep enough to destroy Zhang Fang's eyeballs.

Compared to a dead Zhang Fang, this Zhang Fang-who looked perfectly fine but could no longer be used as an offering-was what had truly driven her and Xu Zijian into a dead end.

The old woman pointed furiously at Xu Jiaojiao. "Aren't you afraid of angering Mother Ming by presenting an offering like this?!"

As though responding to the old woman's words, the waves grew fierce, crashing against Reef Rock and throwing up foam like towering white walls.

The villagers grew frightened.

"Is Mother Ming angry?"

"If Mother Ming is angry, won't our village be doomed?!"

"Don't panic! There's a way!" the old woman barked.

She pressed her palms together, faced the Sea Area, and murmured, "Mother Ming, oh Mother Ming, please forgive us. We will offer you the one who has sinned right away. Please punish her for her wrongdoing and spare the innocent."

The villagers hurriedly echoed her. "Yes, it's all her fault! It's her sin!"

"We'll send her to you for punishment right away. Please don't take it out on us!"

The villagers roughly bound Xu Jiaojiao to the wooden board as she struggled desperately.

"Wait... wait..." Xu Jiaojiao screamed. The Elders and villagers acted as though they couldn't hear her, so she could only turn to the Village Chief for help. "Village Chief, save me! I didn't know..."

The Village Chief shook his head. "Jiaojiao, if you ruin an offering, you must become the offering yourself. Those are the rules."

Xu Jiaojiao screamed and pleaded in despair, but a moment later, the villagers pushed her off Reef Rock.

The board landed on the sea, and the waves carried it toward the deep water.

Xu Jiaojiao clutched her arms tightly. Her eyes widened as she saw the most terrifying sight of her life-

Countless Blind Fish swam toward her, surrounding her board in ring after ring.

She had seen these Blind Fish before, but she had been on the Seashore then, far away from them.

Now they were only a few meters away, and every fish bore a blurred human face.

Suddenly, Xu Jiaojiao spotted a familiar figure among the Blind Fish.

It was Song Liru.