Temptation
Translator: Cinder Translations
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Combining elements like the deep forest at night, worship, the stone disk, and the pouring of fresh blood, it's not hard to guess that the former residents of Blackstone Town are performing some kind of ritual at this moment. Or perhaps, a sacrifice.
The woman clearly plays the role of a priestess in this scene.
The next painting changes abruptly in style, showing a huge, ferocious monster emerging from the stone disk. It has sharp, twisted horns, a stout body, fins stronger and more muscular than those of fish, and two pairs of bat-like wings sticking out from its back, covered in fine scales. Even more terrifying is its monstrous jaw, large enough to sever a person in half.
Seeing this creature, both Chen Ran and Jiang Cheng fell into an unusual silence.
They were not unfamiliar with it. They had seen it before, on the first stone door, the same dark patterns were carved.
"Brother Hao," Chen Ran looked at Jiang Cheng, as if reading his mind, and gently reminded him, "There were 35 people in the team that entered the forest."
Jiang Cheng stared at the old woman for a moment, then replied, "It was 36, you didn't count the dead person."
"Ah," Chen Ran squinted and smiled.
When they entered the forest, there were 35 living people carrying one dead body. After leaving the forest, the dead body was gone, and the plank they had carried was empty, but the number of people had increased to 36.
Considering what they had witnessed near the stone disk, it was clear that the power of the stone disk—or more accurately, the power of this ritual—was unmistakable.
Resurrection.
It could bring the dead back to life.
Such a strange phenomenon was happening before their eyes.
Jiang Cheng could imagine the shock those outsiders must have felt when they first witnessed this scene, especially since they had some basic modern medical knowledge.
No, it was more than shock; it was awe!
This completely shattered their understanding of life and death.
And soon after, the seed of greed in their hearts began to take root.
Very few people can resist the temptation of immortality, and they were no exception.
The following scenes further confirmed this.
They began interacting more frequently with the town's residents, subtly probing for any secrets regarding the ritual. They no longer cared about repairing their ship but invested all their efforts into uncovering the secrets of the ritual and using it—and the locals—to serve them.
As time passed, the townspeople began to realize that the outsiders' interest in leaving the island was waning, while their interest in the forest grew.
And so—
The conflict was inevitable.
The catalyst was a child.
It was the outsider's child.
The child appeared to have contracted a rare, strange illness and was in the arms of his mother, on the verge of death.
A group of outsiders surrounded the woman and child and arrived at the largest and most opulent building in the town. An elder walked out from within.
The elder's clothing was much more elaborate than that of the other townsfolk. Jiang Cheng assumed he must be the town leader or tribal chief.
In a previous painting showing the night-time ritual in the forest, it was the elder who led the group.
At first, both sides were relatively polite, but soon, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, with both sides' expressions growing increasingly hostile. Eventually, a heated argument erupted.
More and more townspeople rushed over, and the outsiders' allies gathered as well. They began to arm themselves with weapons, and spears glinted ominously in the dim light.
What was colder than the gleam of weapons were the gazes of these outsiders.
It wasn't hard to guess—they hoped the elder would use the power of the altar to help save the child.
In their minds, if the ritual could revive the dead, saving someone on the brink of death should be a piece of cake—assuming the townspeople were willing to help.
But the reality was, the elder firmly refused their request.
Later in the painting, the elder appeared furious, shaking his finger at the repaired ship docked on the shore. His meaning was clear: he wanted them to leave immediately.
In the end, both sides parted on bad terms.
But that very night, the pent-up desires and greed finally exploded.
While the outsiders were slightly fewer in number than the townspeople, their weapons were far superior. They formed small groups of about ten people, armed with weapons. They first disarmed the town's guards, then dragged the sleeping townsfolk from their homes, herding them into the central square of the town.
Yes, it was the same square where Jiang Cheng and the others had eaten earlier.
Soon, the elder was brought forward, hands bound behind his back, and forced to kneel in front of the leader of the outsiders.
The unarmed townsfolk were made to kneel, with the armed outsiders standing guard beside them. The roles of the rescuers and the rescued were instantly reversed.
Everyone knew that the request to save the child was just an excuse. Whether the child lived or died didn't matter to them. The child was merely a test subject.
The important thing was that they needed a noble reason to justify their actions.
Exactly what was said in the dialogue remains unknown, but based on the information in the painting, after the gruesome deaths of several townsfolk, the elder finally relented.
Under his leadership, they began marching the townspeople toward the forest.
The outsiders cruelly used ropes to string the townspeople together by their necks, leading them in a long line. The outsiders themselves, armed with weapons and torches, walked alongside, guarding them.
Unlike the townsfolk, whose faces were filled with terror, the outsiders' faces were filled with fervor and desire. Since ancient times, the desire for life has reached a pathological level.
No one can escape death, but countless people try their best to cheat it.
And now, the opportunity lay right before them.
How could they remain calm?
Enlightened by science, they worshipped the miracles of the ritual, just as theologians and scientists once clashed in the darkest ages of history.
The women, bound to stone pillars and vilified as heretics, gazed at the Catholic Church with defiant eyes as the flames rose.
The men with jade rings on their little fingers commanded ignorant followers to pile up firewood beneath their feet.
They feared not hell, for they were already in it.
Soon, under the elder's lead, they reached the eerie white stone platform, and the crowd began to stir. What they had spent their entire lives seeking was now within their reach.
Before the ritual began, the elder had warned them more than once.
But now, no one was willing to listen to his advice. As a fierce-looking man held a weapon to the trembling little girl's neck, the elder reluctantly fell silent.
Soon after, the elder personally took the dying child from the woman's arms, approached the stone disk, and with great reverence, laid the child down, carefully placing the child's hands on their chest.
(End of the Chapter)
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