Chapter 14: The Sacrificial Offerings: Our Mothers
The first youth with his bloodline awakened and successfully transformed was named Daqiang. Tang San shared a room with Woodie, and Daqiang's roommate was Floofy.
Wang Yanfeng assigned them straightforward names akin to Tang San's. The youths were given new names: Wang Da, Wang Er, and Wang San[1]. Wang Yanfeng also explained that once they became genuine vassals, they could choose new names. Official names were only granted to those who achieved vassal status. Wearing the vassal's name badge would distinguish them from slaves, preventing them from being killed by accident.
After dinner, Wang Yanfeng instructed them to go back to their assigned rooms. He would start their education the following day.
As he returned to his room, the day's ordeal, the warmth of this place, and the changes that had occurred quickly lulled Wang Er into a deep sleep.
Seeing that Wang Er was sound asleep, Tang San discreetly slipped out of his bed. The hallway was shrouded in darkness. He tiptoed through the corridor and reached the door of another room on the opposite side of the ground floor. Ling Muxue occupied this room, with the two spaces for the boys on either side of the hallway.
The door swung open, revealing Ling Muxue's face. Upon seeing Tang San, her already swollen eyes became damp once more. He swiftly entered and closed the door.
"What's the matter?" Tang San whispered.
He genuinely cared about this girl who had offered him a rare source of warmth in this nightmarish world for humans. In response to his query, Ling Muxue broke into tears.
"Mom, Mom..."
Tang San was taken aback, and all he could do was offer his shoulder to support her. A sudden sense of foreboding gripped him, and he felt his throat constricting.
"What happened to your mother?" he asked urgently, but Ling Muxue could only sob, unable to speak.
Tang San furrowed his brows, guiding her to sit on the edge of the bed. He gently placed his right hand on her back, using his Mysterious Heaven Technique to slowly pacify her emotions.
As Tang San directed the energy of his Mysterious Heaven Technique into Ling Muxue's body, he instantly detected a faint green energy within her. It appeared as if this green energy wanted to connect with him. Tang San promptly withdrew, concerned about accidentally extracting the Wind Wolf bloodline power from Ling Muxue's body. What if Ling Muxue couldn’t restore her bloodline energy? Tang San would be putting her in danger.
Nevertheless, even with just that infusion of the Mysterious Heaven Technique, Ling Muxue felt a comforting warmth, and her emotions slightly steadied. She gazed at Tang San with tear-filled eyes.
"I saw my mother on that altar," Ling Muxue confessed in a trembling voice..
Tang San felt his mind go blank immediately.
Altar? Mother?
No…
Could it be that those ten women were the mothers of the ten who inherited the Wind Wolf bloodline? If Ling Muxue's mother was there, then my birth mother must have been there as well!
Even though it was just a fleeting encounter, one that left no lasting memories in his mind, she was the one who had brought him into this world.
His birth mother had been sacrificed because he had chosen to pretend to be one of the awakened with the Wind Wolf bloodline.
Tang San was trembling as he thought about that harrowing possibility.
He had never anticipated the cruelty of the wolf demons. The other three boys hadn't noticed and were likely in the same situation as him—separated from their mothers at a young age and unable to recognize them. Only Ling Muxue, who had lived with her mother since birth, could remember her mother even when she was overcome by fear. Intense fear had prevented her from screaming aloud, which had ultimately saved her life. However, after her emotions had settled, she couldn't contain her sorrow.
"This world can be unbelievably cruel," Tang San murmured.
At that moment, the door swung open abruptly, and Wang Yanfeng and Qiu Jing stepped into the room. Qiu Jing's eyes also welled up with tears.
Tang San sprang to his feet, and in that heart-pounding moment, it was as though his very blood had reached a boiling point. His emotions surged beyond his control. He longed to unleash every last bit of his divine consciousness, to lay waste to everything in this place.
But then, Qiu Jing hurried forward, approaching them with quick steps. She embraced Ling Muxue, soothing her with gentle words.
Wang Yanfeng closed his eyes in pain. "Every one of us, every surviving vassal, has faced scenes like this. It's the way of the demons. In their eyes, human women who give birth to those with their bloodline are seen as blasphemous to their ancestors. The human birth mothers can only be offered as sacrificial offerings. Did you see those human skulls beneath the altar? Those are the victims they've killed for this exact reason."
"When I met both of you, I sensed that you were different from the others. You're both intelligent. Especially you. When the other children who failed the assessment were killed, I felt that you were not afraid…you were ready to kill. I believe your Wind Wolf Transformation awakened long ago. But you should know one thing: survival is the key here. Impulsiveness leads to death, not just for you but for all of us. According to the rules of the demons, if a vassal shows betrayal, all vassals are executed, even children. The safest path for me is to capture you and hand you over for questioning about your awakening. Both of you. Do you understand?"
Tang San's anger gradually turned into icy resolve. He looked at Wang Yanfeng. His gaze was calm, but chilling. "So…are you planning to hand us over?"
Wang Yanfeng suddenly felt a shiver run down his spine, startled by the unsettling intensity of Tang San's stare. Despite being just a child, he appeared far from weak in Wang Yanfeng's eyes.
He couldn't help but smile bitterly. "If I were to hand you over, would I have stood in your way earlier during the ceremony? Child, don't try anything, don't go anywhere. You will not see your mother's body again; they've already dealt with it. If you have the heart, live well and strive to become stronger."
The icy coldness in Tang San's eyes gradually faded, and his clenched fists slowly relaxed.
If he were to unleash even a fraction of his divine consciousness, he had an eighty percent chance of obliterating everything here. However, his chances of achieving godhood under this world's suppression would become exceedingly slim. The rules on this planet were overwhelmingly powerful.
In this world, on this vast continent of demons and nymphs, were these human tragedies limited to just Wind Wolf Town? No, they occurred in every corner of this world. Even if he were to wipe out Wind Wolf Town entirely, it wouldn't solve the fundamental problem for humanity.
What Wang Yanfeng had said was correct. Only by becoming stronger, by becoming truly powerful, could everything be resolved.
At that moment, a warm hand clasped Tang San's.
Tang San turned to look and saw the tear-filled, misty eyes of Qiu Jing.
"Child, we have no other choice. Please do what you can to live well; that would be the best comfort you can bring your mother. I had a child too, but he failed his awakening assessment. I would have gladly accepted it if he had succeeded, even if it meant my death." As she spoke, Qiu Jing pulled Tang San into her embrace, holding both him and Ling Muxue, tears streaming down her face.
Qiu Jing's embrace was warm; it warmed Tang San's heart that was filled with killing intent.
Ling Muxue cried herself to sleep in that warm embrace, while Wang Yanfeng escorted Tang San back to his room.
"Get a good night's sleep," Wang Yanfeng said as he gently patted Tang San’s head.
1. This is a common historical way of naming the boys in household: Da (big) or Yi (one) is the eldest, Er (two) is the second, San (three) is the third, etc. The MC’s name, Tang San, also means “third son of the Tang house,” and the author’s pen name is also somewhere along those lines. ☜
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