127 The Four Great Sacred Grounds

Lin Xiayue and Hu Xing'er remained vigilant of the other contractors, maintaining a deliberate distance between them. Upon arriving in Chuancheng, Hu Xing'er’s memories gradually returned, and she soon reconciled with Lin Xiayue. Tang Zifeng, the Three of Hearts, had approached them to propose an alliance, but was sternly rejected by Lin Xiayue. Left with no other choice, Tang Zifeng sought out others and eventually formed an alliance with Sun Cheng. The only remaining female, Chu Yuyan, allied with "Fatty" Qian Duoduo, while Zhang Yisheng and Wen Lingyu teamed up. The eight participants of the Hearts suit for the Awakening Trial had now divided into four pairs.

A massive ruin stood before the contractors, and their primary task was to find a way inside. Chu Yuyan, the Eight of Hearts, had a petite and frail appearance, hiding behind Qian Duoduo. The fatty naturally did not pass up this opportunity to take advantage, pulling her close and pressing her against himself. Although the girl pushed him away with a look of disgust, she realized that everyone else had already formed alliances and had no choice but to accept it. It was strange, however; Chu Yuyan had previously been a member of Lin Xiayue’s team, so why had she not sought to team up with the young lady this time?

Lin Xiayue pulled Hu Xing'er away from the ruins, and the two found a secluded spot to sit. Lin Xiayue got straight to the point: "Xing'er, is there something you want to tell me?"

Hu Xing'er shook her ponytail in confusion and asked, "Big Sister, what could I possibly have to say?"

"What do you think?" Lin Xiayue suppressed her anger and feigned a calm tone. "Have you forgotten how we got through these past few days?"

Hu Xing'er remained baffled, as if the memories of those days had vanished. "Big Sister, what’s wrong with you?"

"Xing'er, aren't you going to explain why you defected to that policewoman, Hu Qingqing?" Lin Xiayue threw out the question that had been weighing on her most heavily, but Hu Xing'er fell silent.

"Xing'er, do you not intend to explain?" Lin Xiayue pressed, unwilling to let the matter rest without a satisfactory answer. Hu Xing'er lowered her head, seemingly deep in thought, her lips moving without making a sound. Lin Xiayue frowned; this matter was clearly not simple. She would need to remain vigilant against Hu Qingqing, the Knight of Hearts.

Meanwhile, in the ancient city of Fenghuang in Xiangxi, Feng Qian, Chen Hao, and Sun Xiaoxiao faced the first test of the Inheritance Grounds. All the contractors of the Diamonds suit had been transported to this place, which reeked of the stench of corpses and was surrounded by towering mountains on all sides. They felt as if they had been dumped into a giant pit filled with the thick odor of death. Had the Diamonds contractors not been able to modify their bodies while utilizing their abilities, they would have long since succumbed to the corpse poison. Yet, even they could not be fully immune to it; they could only endure it for slightly longer than an ordinary person.

For Chen Hao and his companions, the urgent priority was to leave this low-lying area. As time passed, the complexions of he and Sun Xiaoxiao grew increasingly worse. Conversely, Feng Qian showed no signs of poisoning; if anything, his energy seemed to be gathering. Perhaps due to his unique ability, he possessed a natural resistance to this corpse toxin.

Chen Hao and the others picked a direction at random, hoping to escape as quickly as possible, but within ten minutes, they discovered one of the sources of the stench. It was a place where bodies were left to rot in the wilderness, with seven or eight corpses emitting a pungent odor. Sun Xiaoxiao couldn't help but pinch her nose, complaining in a strange tone, "Let's leave quickly. The chances of being poisoned here are much higher."

Chen Hao nodded and prepared to leave, but at that moment, the corpses on the ground began to twitch. As if reborn, they moved one by one; fragments of flesh fell to the ground as they stirred, but for bodies that had been dead for so long, this caused no real harm. "Fight!"

The corpses surrounded them, swaying as they approached. Chen Hao and Sun Xiaoxiao tried to flee, but a more concentrated wave of the stench flooded their nasal cavities. Sun Xiaoxiao turned blue and collapsed, while Chen Hao, relying on his slightly stronger physique, barely managed to hold on. He tucked the unconscious Sun Xiaoxiao under his arm. Seeing that his two allies were unable to fight, Feng Qian was forced to step up. A red light flashed from the playing cards in his hands. He began to draw endless blood from the corpses; since they lacked any sensation of pain, extracting their blood was incredibly convenient. Fortunately, they hadn't been dead for very long, and the blood had not yet dried.

Before long, Feng Qian had gathered two palm-sized spheres of blood. He hurled them at the two closest corpses; the spheres engulfed the bodies and then burst like popped balloons, leaving the consumed corpses reduced to nothing but pools of blood. Seeing such methods from Feng Qian, the corners of Chen Hao’s mouth trembled. He hadn't expected this giant pit, intended to be their graveyard, to become an excellent battlefield for Feng Qian. However, Feng Qian was still a high school student with limited experience in trials; it was too difficult for him to handle so many corpses alone.

Fortunately, before the corpses could close in, another man appeared and rescued them. The Diamond Seven in his hand quickly transformed into a totem branded onto his wrist, and with a mere thought, two long bone spears materialized from the void. They struck the remaining standing corpses, and soon, all of them lay on the ground.

The person who had accomplished all this was "Carbon Head," who had been with them all along. Chen Hao, unaware that there was something wrong with Carbon Head, managed to stammer a greeting with all his remaining strength before finally succumbing to the corpse toxin and fainting. "Carbon Head" walked over, scooped up Sun Xiaoxiao, and signaled for Feng Qian to support Chen Hao. The four of them hurried toward the edge of the pit.

In the dark and desolate Ghost City, Jiang Linlin wandered alone. Because the awakening of the Plum Blossom card could not be assisted by others, only by truly helping the Ghost card fulfill its wish could the contractor gain the power of awakening. The Nightmare card held by Jiang Linlin had a final wish: to find the husband who had once shared her bed. Normally, the souls of the dead would be reincarnated, but her husband's soul had been wandering their old home. In the Ghost City, finding a haunted house was easy; after a few inquiries, Jiang Linlin found the location. She knocked on the villa door with a heavy heart, and after an elderly woman with gray hair whispered a few words to her, she was allowed in.

Inside the Tianshan Mountains, at the Sacred Object Plaza, I did not rush to their side immediately. Instead, I found a shelter nearby and concealed myself.

"Li Yuan, do you remember me?" Zhong Ling seemed to recall something and fell into a deep memory, speaking affectionately with her back to Li Yuan. "I still remember you said that you would marry me when we grew up. I'm sixteen now, and I have my ID card." Zhong Ling told their story as if she were a little child. I finally understood that Li Yuan and Zhong Ling had known each other since childhood, living in the same apartment complex, one floor above the other.

However, Li Yuan did not say a single word from beginning to end. It was Zhong Ling who kept talking, but my sharp eyes noticed Li Yuan stepping closer to her, silver needles held in his hand. Since Li Yuan came from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, it was reasonable for him to carry needles for acupuncture. But that was not his goal. Slowly, his arm lifted, aiming for a lethal point on the back of Zhong Ling’s neck, and he plunged the needle in with a ruthless force.