https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-195-Is-This-Thing-an-Animal-or-a-Plant-/12850323/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-197-Relic-a-Fragment-of-Time-from-Thousands-of-Years-Ago/12850330/
Chapter 196: Deceased Villagers, Living Skeletons
Chapter 196: Deceased Villagers, Living Skeletons
"Transformation ritual, so it's like this." Qin Muye looked at the numerous villagers' testimonies.
What was known as the Citrus Feast or the Ancient God Sacrifice actually had another layer of meaning—it was a transformation ritual. Each time, one villager would be transformed into an Ancient God's minion, taking on a form similar to that of the village chief, a citrus ape.
Moreover, as the ritual was held more times and more villagers were transformed, these Ancient God minions would become increasingly powerful.
More importantly, time within the entire ruin was constant, always on the day of the Citrus Feast. Once the feast was held, it would repeat the next day, and so on, in a cycle until all the villagers had been transformed into citrus apes.
When that time came, the Ancient God ruin would be fully activated, turning into an armory. At that point, it wouldn't just be a few citrus apes, but a vast number of powerful Ancient God minions, at least starting from the 5th tier. However, currently, they were quite weak, only at the 1st tier, with the strongest being the village chief, who had just been transformed into an Ancient God minion and was at the 2nd tier. This was because the process had only just begun, and their strength was still low.
"Doesn't this feel like a unit-building mechanism?"
He had thought the sacrificial ritual was tonight's Citrus Feast, but in reality, it was the ongoing process of transforming all the villagers, and this was just the first day.
Therefore, no matter which day he came, he would encounter the Citrus Feast, as it only occurred on this one day. The only difference was the number of Ancient God minions he faced. From the looks of it, the Citrus Feast had already been held once, and the first to be transformed was naturally the village chief.
The longer it took to deal with the Ancient God ruin, the greater the subsequent difficulty would be, as the ruin itself absorbed energy from the world. Even though the citrus apes seemed absurd, once fully developed, their strength could not be underestimated.
"I need to find the core of the Ancient God ruin; I really want to see how this transformation process works." Qin Muye immediately gave the order.
All the spirits began to act, digging up the ground to find something, even if it meant digging through the earth.
Qin Muye also activated his crimson pupils to survey the entire Citrus Village.
As for the villagers' testimonies, they knew very little, or rather, they had very few memories. They only remembered the events of the previous day, the Citrus Feast, and some basic facts. Anything before that was gone.
It was as if they had just been created, and Qin Muye had reason to suspect that this technology was somehow related to a unit-building mechanism. However, this also meant that the villagers knew very little.
After circling the area and digging the ground to a depth of nearly ten meters, turning the entire village into a wasteland, they still found nothing.
"No problems? Then it seems the issue lies with the Ancient God ruin itself. This brings us back to the question of what the Ancient God ruin actually is."
Qin Muye muttered to himself. Everything seemed normal, but that was precisely what made it abnormal. A living person was transformed into a citrus ape, changing from a human to a plant-like being, a drastic transformation.
He had only seen such a transformation once before, in the case of the Great God of the Three Altars, specifically the lotus man among the vegetable people and the citrus ape among the fruit people.
After some thought, Qin Muye decided to forego the mission reward and choose the Ancient God minions instead. He was quite envious of this technology.
There would be other opportunities for rewards, but such unique Ancient God minions were a first.
Moreover, he wanted not only the Ancient God minions but also the villagers.
"Stop searching; take everyone back. It seems we won't find anything valuable here."
Qin Muye realized that the transformation was likely an inherent feature of the Ancient God ruin, and the sacrificial ritual was probably more like a key or password.
In other words, he couldn't use it. The Ancient God ruin was like a safe, and the sacrificial ritual was the password. Although Qin Muye had the safe and the password, he lacked the corresponding ability to open it, leaving him powerless.
"Master, they can't be moved. Once these villagers leave the Ancient God ruin, they turn into a puddle of citrus juice and pulp," the white dove said urgently, and the plan to move the remaining villagers was temporarily halted.
"Can't leave? Interesting, is it due to environmental incompatibility?" Qin Muye immediately thought of environmental factors.
Otherwise, it wouldn't make sense.
(End of_Chapter)
"Master, we’ve discovered something. The number of skeletons dug up from the square matches the number of deceased villagers from Citrus Village. We are currently verifying if they are the same people," Tian Qi reported as he approached.
"Your meaning is that the villagers of Citrus Village have actually been dead for a long time?" Qin Muye frowned.
"That's correct, the likelihood is high. Otherwise, such a coincidence would be impossible. However, we need to wait for the verification to be certain," Tian Qi explained.
Verification wasn't difficult, given the large number of spirits available.
Qin Muye felt relieved. Matters like this were indeed better left to his subordinates.
"Try taking this flesh orange out of the Ancient God ruin," Qin Muye handed the village chief's core, the flesh orange, to Tian Qi.
Tian Qi's strength was only slightly weaker than Qin Muye's, so handling this shouldn't be a problem.
The flesh orange, which had shrunk after being manipulated by Qin Muye, began to try to invade Tian Qi's body upon sensing the change. However, Tian Qi wasn't someone to be trifled with. He held it firmly in his hand, applying considerable force, nearly deforming it.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a normal orange, or it would have burst by now.
Tian Qi took the flesh orange through the trans-dimensional teleportation channel and returned after about a minute.
"Master, the flesh orange is intact and hasn’t turned into orange juice," Tian Qi reported.
With this as evidence, Qin Muye understood. This seemed to be a passive transformation, designed to adapt to the outside world.
Meanwhile, Tian Qi hurried over again, "Master, it has been confirmed. These villagers have been dead for a long time, and the skeletons buried under the square belong to them."
Qin Muye narrowed his eyes, seemingly piecing together a puzzle.
"I’ve found the source; this is indeed a challenge."
Under normal circumstances, killing the village chief, who had already been transformed into an Ancient God minion, would stop the ritual. All other Ancient God minions were replicated from the village chief’s citrus ape form.
The others were all dead, and he had initially thought today was the second day, but it was actually the first.
"Drive all the villagers out of the Ancient God ruin and dispose of all the skeletons," Qin Muye ordered.
The spirits didn't ask why; they immediately went to work.
Efficiency was high, and as the villagers and skeletons were dealt with, the entire Citrus Village underwent a mysterious change.
It seemed to wither instantly.
Even the flesh orange in Qin Muye’s hand showed signs of decay, though it quickly recovered.
After everything was handled, Qin Muye dismissed all the spirits and prepared to return to the side of the Ancient God ruin through the trans-dimensional teleportation channel.
Please note: The copy task has not been completed. If you leave the copy now, it will result in failure and no rewards will be granted.
Qin Muye ignored the reminder from Lord Era and stepped out, leaving the Ancient God ruin.
[Deputy Task: Prevent Citrus Village from performing the Ancient God Sacrifice and kill all Ancient God minions. Failed]
The task had failed, but the flesh orange in his hand remained intact. On the contrary, the Ancient God ruin was in trouble.
The vast, hollow Ancient God ruin, as if it had lost its support, began to collapse and dissipated in an instant.
Under normal circumstances, even a one-time copy would remain if the task wasn't completed, but it disappeared this time.
The reason was simple: he had solved the problem by cutting off the root.
By disposing of all the villagers and skeletons, he had removed the load-bearing walls and pillars of the Ancient God ruin, even taking away the source. It naturally collapsed.
The true core was the flesh orange in his hand, not the Ancient God ruin itself.
Their relationship was like that of a snail and its shell. Without the snail, the shell was just an outer covering, posing no threat.
Looking at the completely dissipated Citrus Village Ancient God ruin, Qin Muye reflected that this problem was indeed easy to solve. Killing the Ancient God minions would have resolved it, but if it had dragged on until all the villagers had transformed into Ancient God minions, it would have been a massive disaster.
Killing a newborn tiger cub that hasn't opened its eyes is easy, but killing a fully grown, peak-condition tiger is far more difficult.
(End of Chapter)
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