Chapter 385: I Will Take You Home
This novel is translated and hosted on Bcatranslation
“Chao Chao, it’s still moving over there, look…”
Xie Yu Zhou trembled as he raised his hand. His chubby face had turned deathly pale, completely devoid of blood. He pointed towards the pile of white bones in the corner, tears streaming down his cheeks.
The heap of skeletal remains was stacked high with countless rotting, tiny corpses.
At the very top, a grotesquely twisted body seemed to still be writhing.
The body was already drenched in blood, dried to a dark hue.
Lu Chao Chao’s expression turned cold. Without a word, she strode toward the corner.
“Save my sister… please, save my sister…” The hoarse voice of a little boy hung midair, his frail body suspended as fresh blood dripped down.
Xie Yu Zhou carefully lifted a small girl from the corpse pile. She was skin and bones, light as a feather.
The moment he moved her, she shivered in pain.
“Don’t be afraid. We’ve come to rescue you.”
“The Su Clan… these demons… They dare call themselves divine attendants? They think themselves worthy of the people’s worship? Do they deserve incense offerings from the masses?!” Xie Yu Zhou’s eyes burned red with fury.
He removed his outer robe and spread it on the ground before gently laying the girl upon it.
She was about four or five years old but looked even frailer than Lu Chao Chao.
Her face was caked in blood, the dried scabs obscuring her features.
“Beasts! They are all beasts!” Xie Yu Zhou felt a raging fire in his chest, suffocating him.
Who would have thought? The Su Clan, claiming to be the incarnations of deities, were secretly committing human sacrifices and bloodletting rituals. Upon the altar, they basked in divine reverence and the people’s faith. Beneath it, they turned the place into a living hell.
Lu Chao Chao pursed her lips, unusually silent.
The little girl on the ground had swollen cheeks, her eyes too puffy to open. Deep gashes marred her small wrists.
Lu Chao Chao knelt beside her. A cold, tiny hand suddenly clasped onto her chubby, warm fingers.
The little girl, her face covered in blood, had lost most of her baby teeth.
“Zu…”
“Run…” She could barely open her eyes, only faintly making out Lu Chao Chao’s fair little face.
This was a den of devils, a realm of nightmares.
Sister, run away.
“Chao Chao, she’s afraid the Su Clan will catch us. She’s telling us to run,” Xie Yu Zhou sobbed.
Lu Chao Chao softly hummed in acknowledgment.
The usually playful girl was eerily quiet.
She pulled a small porcelain bottle from her robes and murmured, “Yu Zhou, lift her upper body.”
Tilting the bottle, she let drops of spiritual spring water trickle into the girl’s cracked lips.
“Save your strength. Don’t speak. I’ll take you all home,” Lu Chao Chao’s voice was muffled.
She moved toward the ancient patterns etched into the ground, where fresh and dried blood intermingled.
Countless children were bound to crosses, the thick stench of blood so overpowering it made one faint.
“Little one, you should run.”
“We can’t escape. There’s no way out…”
“Before the Su Clan notices you, hurry and leave… they’re all monsters, controlling everything with an iron grip. You must flee…”
The captives were only around fifteen or sixteen years old, some as young as seven or eight.
Among them, a few bore an air of nobility, their backgrounds evident despite their dire state.
Each of them was handpicked by the Su Clan.
Without exception, they were all deathly pale.
Although desperation flickered in their eyes, their hearts weighed heavy. They knew they were burdens. Their only hope was for the delicate little girl before them to make it out alive.
“The Empress is of the Su Clan. The Eldest Princess is set to inherit their power. The Su Clan’s Old Ancestor is a bloodthirsty fiend. We have no chance of escape. You must go…”
Lu Chao Chao said nothing. She merely lifted a hand, and a soft surge of spiritual energy sliced through the ropes.
An invisible force gently lowered the captives to the ground.
For a moment, they were stunned.
“Can you still walk?” Lu Chao Chao asked softly.
The moment they landed, the teenagers clutched their mouths, tears of joy spilling from their eyes. Yet, they stifled their cries, not daring to make a sound.
“My name is Chao Chao. You can all call me Chao Chao.”
They exchanged glances before helping one another stand, enduring the pain as they bowed deeply to Lu Chao Chao.
“Thank you, Lady Chao Chao, for saving our lives. If we escape the Su Clan, we will repay this debt with our very lives.”
The older ones gritted their teeth, tearing strips of fabric to bandage their wounds.
“My sister… my little sister…” Jiang Lin stumbled to the ground, cradling the barely breathing Jiang Yu on his back.
“We must leave quickly. The Su Clan visits the altar every day to perform their rituals.”
“They act with impunity, ignoring the law. They will do anything for their so-called cultivation. They even seek out children with innate spiritual affinity for their sacrifices.”
“Among the divine attendant families, many have had their children abducted.”
“Once, an older sister managed to cut her bindings with spiritual energy and escaped. But the Su Clan caught her… That day, Princess Nan Feng Yu was visiting. She watched without lifting a finger as the sister was dragged away. They are all in league with the Su Clan!”
“To make an example of her, the Su Clan hacked off her limbs and left her to bleed to death.”
Fear clutched at their hearts.
Even if they escaped, would anyone truly stand up for them?
“We deal with that later. Move!” Supporting one another, they made their way toward the exit.
Lu Chao Chao glanced towards Heavenly Dao, who had vanished into the darkness.
As they reached the foot of the stairs, they gazed upon the long, winding ascent. A flicker of hope lit their faces.
“We can make it. The gods will protect us. We will escape.”
One of the smaller children murmured prayers, their expression filled with fear.
Bound by their shared suffering, a sense of camaraderie formed among them.
Supporting one another, they climbed.
Joy spread across their faces.
“As long as we leave the Su Clan’s gates, we’ll be free.”
“I will expose the Su Clan’s crimes! The Emperor must punish them!”
“Yes! We must present our case to His Majesty! The Su Clan, basking in the people’s reverence, dares to offer living sacrifices!”
Before the words fully settled—
The grand doors of the altar creaked open.
The color drained from their faces. They recoiled into the shadows.
At the forefront stood Old Master Su, his expression dark. Behind him, the Su Clan’s many members followed, their faces etched with cruel amusement, like cats playing with mice.
“Princess Sunshine, the path to paradise was open, yet you chose to walk into hell.”
“How dare you trespass into the Su Clan’s forbidden ground? Kill them all!”
“Even if the Emperor of North Zhao comes, he won’t be able to save you!”
Old Master Su’s gaze locked onto Lu Chao Chao, eyes filled with malice.
She had consumed their clan’s Old Ancestor, thrown his remains back at them, disrupting their disciples’ cultivation.
She had to die.
Now, after setting the sacrifices free, there was no doubt—
She was doomed.
Behind Lu Chao Chao, the others turned deathly pale.
They were as good as dead.