The body was breathing, as if it had wandered around the edge of the realm of death and then returned to the living world. The black-robed cultists in the room stared blankly at this scene. Some of them didn’t even realize that the man in front of them had actually "died" just a moment ago. The moment of life and death was so brief that it was hard to tell unless you were paying close attention. They just felt that the dying "comrade" in front of them suddenly became calm and strong again, which was quite surprising.
In the next second, the man lying on the ground opened his eyes.
It seemed he had been in the dark for too long, as even the dim light from the oil lamp in the room felt blinding. He blinked to adjust to the light, and then his eyes slowly moved, as if he had just noticed the three black-robed figures gathered around him.
"Thank the Lord for His protection!" A younger cultist finally reacted, unable to contain his excitement as he praised, "You made it! I thought you would..."
"Wait! No! Back off!" The deep-voiced cultist suddenly realized something. He stopped the others' movements, glaring at the man who had just awakened with a wary gaze. He stepped back while speaking in a threatening tone, "His breathing had completely stopped just now. I definitely didn't see it wrong... Something's not right!"
Duncan finally adapted to his surroundings, and the ringing noise in his ears gradually faded away. He clearly saw the figures surrounding him and his first thought was—why am I still with these people? Why am I still in the sewer?
Walking through the spirit realm should be random. He had chosen his target based purely on instinct, but he didn't expect to end up among these cultists again after opening his eyes twice. What kind of twisted fate was this?
But soon, he noticed something was off from the reactions of those around him. The next moment, he realized he was wearing a black robe.
Duncan fell silent for two seconds, and then it dawned on him.
In the previous round, he had been the sacrifice of the cultists. Now, after closing and opening his eyes, he had become a "cultist" himself.
He truly had a connection with these people.
"…Something's not right!"
At that moment, a deep voice filled with hostility suddenly interrupted Duncan's confused thoughts after "waking up." He looked in the direction of the voice and immediately met a cold, vigilant gaze.
The owner of that gaze was staring at him coldly, and beside him, the other two black-robed cultists also reacted, stepping back into a defensive stance.
Duncan paused for a moment, suddenly realizing—he might be like last time, having taken over a corpse.
He had just faked his death in front of these cultists!
Once he understood the situation, the cultists' tense reactions made sense. Duncan's mind raced. He felt the lingering numbness in this body hadn’t fully faded, making movement quite difficult. It seemed challenging to act under the watchful eyes of several cultists. He needed to find a way to calm them down first. Just as he was thinking of a way out, fragmented memories suddenly surfaced in his mind!
In those broken, vague memories, he unexpectedly "remembered" many experiences that didn’t belong to him—hiding in the sewer, offering his family's wealth to the messenger of the sun, participating in dark, crazy, and bloody rituals to heal diseases, drinking the blood of the innocent in exchange for the "blessings of the sun"...
At the end of that chaotic memory, he "saw" the scene of a sacrificial ritual, with many others like him in black robes standing beside a high platform. A young sacrifice was pushed onto the platform, wearing a stiff and eerie expression, causing the entire ritual to descend into chaos...
He saw the "messenger of the sun" have his heart sacrificed, and everyone around the altar went mad, cultists turning on each other, flames surging from the sun totem, filled with angry roars and empty whispers that filled the gathering. The original owner of this body and the last few remaining cultists fled in panic...
Duncan didn’t know how long he had been dazed; perhaps it was just a moment. The surge of unfamiliar memories in his mind settled down again, and a sad yet hateful life turned into a series of pale fragments, lying in his heart as if for someone to read—like some kind of "nourishment."
These were the memories of the original owner of this body—though few remained, their source was undeniable.
Duncan blinked. This was a change that hadn’t happened during his last "spirit realm walk."
Last time, he hadn’t gained any memories from the corpse he possessed; that "sacrifice" had a completely blank mind... Why was there a change this time?
Was it because the body he occupied was still "fresh"? Or was it because the pigeon "Ai Yi" had strengthened the power of the brass compass?
Duncan slowly sat up from the ground. He knew that no matter what the reason for this change was, now was not the time to be dazed. The tense cultists had clearly realized that his "resurrection" process was not right.
As Duncan stood up, the three cultists immediately took half a step back. Then, the deep-voiced black-robed man broke the silence, saying, "Don't move—tell me, what’s your name?"
"…Ron," Duncan recalled briefly and then naturally said the name he had just learned from the memories, "Ron Strain."
"His name is Ron." A young cultist on the opposite side immediately lowered his voice to the deep-voiced man, who was subtly becoming the leader of the three.
However, the deep-voiced cultist did not relax his guard at all. He continued to stare at Duncan and then suddenly recited in a strange tone, "In the name of the sun, may the Lord's light shine upon us, in the name of the sun, may the Lord's blessings descend!"
Hearing the cultist's sudden outburst, Duncan was momentarily stunned. Then he felt a burning sensation in his chest. He instinctively reached under his clothes to pull out the source of the heat, only to see it was a golden sun amulet—strange heat radiated from its surface!
The next second, the amulet suddenly burst into flames, the fire seeming to be filled with malice, rushing towards Duncan's heart!
"The Lord's glory is backfiring on him!" Seeing this, the cultist who had just recited the prayer immediately reacted. He drew a short sword from his waist and shouted, "His soul has been replaced! Kill this heretic!"
The other two cultists were slightly slower to react, but they quickly followed suit. The people who had thought Duncan was a "comrade" just a moment ago unsheathed their short swords and daggers without hesitation, rushing at him with murderous intent while shouting, "Kill him!!"
Duncan held the now blazing sun amulet, watching the three figures charge at him. The next second, another shadow suddenly appeared in the corner of his vision!
A ghostly bird, engulfed in green flames, tore through the air, sweeping across the roof with a cold stream of fire. It let out a strange, shrill scream, scattering invisible ashes and feather fragments as it flapped its wings.
The three cultists naturally became distracted by this "ghostly bird." They instinctively looked up at "Ai Yi," who had transformed into a spirit form.
In the next moment, all their movements slowed down, as if their connection to the real world had suddenly become distant and sluggish. The three black-robed figures appeared to move in a choppy, frame-by-frame manner, slowly descending to the ground and ultimately coming to a complete stop less than two meters in front of Duncan.
Their eyes were filled with horror as they watched the ghostly bird circle around before landing on the black-robed "comrade." They saw the sun amulet in the man's hand still burning fiercely, but the next second, the flames turned a ghostly green, matching the flames on the "ghostly bird."
Duncan squeezed the sun amulet in his hand, the green spirit fire wrapping around its surface. The flames that surged from the amulet spiraled around him, settling down like a pet, obediently circling his arm.
Holding the completely transformed sun amulet, he slowly approached the three cultists. Looking into their shocked eyes, he couldn’t help but express regret, "It would have been better if you pretended not to know anything."
In the next second, the three cultists' figures suddenly flickered violently in mid-air before disappearing.
The ghostly bird, wrapped in green flames and resembling a skeleton, hopped twice on Duncan's shoulder. Amidst the crackling sounds of the burning flames, it let out a sharp, hoarse cry, "Oh no, the page is gone, let's refresh and try again?"
(End of Chapter)