Chapter 41: Evil Sacrifice

“什么江湖中人？”李豪先是一愣，随后丢下手中的中年人，结果这家伙刚一落地，立马对着李豪跪在地上。
“我求求少侠帮我家兄弟沉冤昭雪啊！”中年人对着李豪连着磕了好几个响头，弄得李豪都不好意思了，好在这个时候李雪反应过来上去扶起中年人。
"We do have some martial arts skills, but we are not really 'jianghu' people. However, we are here to punish evil and promote justice. Please tell us your troubles." Li Xue seamlessly blended back into her character, and seeing the situation, Li Hao knew he would just be a bystander again.
"My two brothers were mysteriously killed at the entrance of our village this morning, and no one else can figure out why. But everyone in our village knows it was the work of that devil Tang Xiansheng!" The middle-aged man clenched his teeth as he finished speaking.
"Why did he hurt your brother? Do you have any grudges with this Tang Xiansheng?"
"No, it was Tang Xiansheng who provoked the spirits and ghosts. Every year, they demand two sacrifices, or else the Tang family will perish. As a result, there have been inexplicable deaths in our village every year, and everyone is scared to speak up. I never expected that it would be our Zhang family's turn today." Zhang Niu wiped away his tears while begging Li Hao and the other person to avenge him.
Originally, Li Hao was planning to leave directly, but Li Xue suddenly grabbed Li Hao and gave him a look, then continued to ask, "Offerings, are you talking about rituals?"
"Exactly! I think soon the bodies of my two brothers will be dragged away for rituals, I can't accept it!" Zhang Niu said angrily, pounding his chest.
Ding, trigger the side quest "Destroying the Sacrificial Ritual", with a time limit of 24 hours. Completing this quest will increase the personal dungeon rating and restore 30% of overall strength.
Li Xue and Li Hao exchanged glances. They had found a breakthrough. Even though they didn't know where the main quest to find the Luban ruler was located, it was definitely a good idea to complete the side quest first.
Side quests have lower difficulty and resource requirements than main quests, but the most important thing is that they can restore 30% of the strength of Li Hao and Li Xue.
We don't know what will happen to Li Xue when she recovers one-third of her strength, but Li Hao has already recovered some of his strength. Restoring it again would not be an easy task to complete that main quest, whatever it is.
Once Li Hao thought about it, he immediately became excited. Since being forcibly weakened, his days have been incredibly frustrating. Now, he won't let go of any chance to regain his strength, so he immediately slapped Zhang Niu's shoulder with a palm as big as a fan, causing Zhang Niu to tremble.
"What kind of sacrifice is this? Explain it clearly, and maybe we can help you seek revenge," Li Hao said with a self-proclaimed amiable smile.
Zhang Niu looked up at Li Hao's strange smile, shivered again, and whispered, "Every time the sacrifice is held by Tang Xiansheng at 7 pm in the evening. He will have people come in advance to take away the corpses. Please, gentlemen, make sure to protect my brother's body."
“晚上七点？那现在是什么时辰了？”进入这副本，李豪没有任何办法确认具体时间，只能问向李雪。
“现在是下午五点了。”好在李雪在进入副本前就准备好了，随手看了一眼时间。
"Here they come!" Zhang Niu suddenly pointed behind Li Hao and exclaimed, his emotions suddenly becoming very excited. It seemed that Tang Xiansheng had sent someone to carry the corpse.
Li Hao turned around and indeed saw five people carrying bamboo poles coming over. However, it was indeed a problem whether to let them take away the corpse. He didn't know how to disrupt the ritual.
Should we let them transport the bodies first and then follow them to find the sacrificial site to destroy it, or should we directly stop them from transporting the bodies?
In this situation, it is obvious that the experienced Li Xue has a lot of experience. Li Xue made eye contact with Li Hao again and then stepped aside, which means they intend to let them transport the bodies.
Seeing that Li Xue had already stepped back, Li Hao quickly made way. The current situation is still better to listen to Li Xue's command.
Watching the two step aside, Zhang Niu suddenly became anxious, tugging at Li Xue's trouser legs and crying out, "You can't go back on your word, you guys..."
"Zhang Niu, you even found two helpers? Don't waste your efforts, you won't be able to keep this corpse. It's better to quickly go home, out of sight, out of mind. Life still needs to go on, right?" Looking at Zhang Niu dragging Li Xue, the five people who were carrying the body mocked. They always looked down on Zhang Niu, who was weak and honest.
"You bunch of animals aiding evil! How can you face our ancestors in the future, the residents of Shaoyao Village!" Zhang Niu was provoked by the five individuals and suddenly stood up from the ground, shouting loudly.
"Ah, another stubborn person." The leader of the funeral procession shook his head. They were used to Zhang Niu's resistance and didn't care that he was blocking the way. They went around Zhang Niu and walked toward the two bodies on the ground.
Zhang Niu glared angrily at Li Hao and the two of them before shouting in anger and charging towards the five corpse carriers, saying, "I'll fight you all!"
The five corpse carriers did not expect Zhang Niu to actually make a move. One of them was immediately kicked down, and the bamboo pole fell onto the ground.
"You Zhang Niu! Offering a drink and you don't take it, you will be punished with drinking! Looks like I need to teach you a lesson before you know who's in charge here!" The person in charge was randomly punched by Zhang Niu, and with anger boiling up, he called a few people to surround and beat Zhang Niu.
This cow, still struggling with old wounds, suffered new injuries. Despite fighting hard, it was overpowered by sheer numbers and eventually fell unconscious on the ground.
The leader among them yelled at the others to stop, spat in contempt, and started moving the two dead bodies.
As they passed by Li Hao, these people looked shocked at his height of over two meters. It is extremely rare to see someone that tall in this era. The leader, who originally wanted to make a mocking comment, immediately changed his mind and hurriedly carried the body with the four others and left.
"Why is this person so tall?" After distancing himself from Li Hao, one henchman couldn't help but sigh.
"It's a good thing he didn't attack just now, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to handle him. That little girl looks pretty good though." Another henchman chimed in, his face showing interest when mentioning Li Xue.
"They need to behave themselves. I don't know where Zhang Niu found those two, but they don't seem like good people, especially that tall one. You can't acquire such a murderous aura without taking a few lives." The leader cursed. He had been with Tang Xiansheng for a few years and had never seen anyone like Li Hao.
"Boss, you always talk about killing intent. But we don't feel anything. What exactly is killing intent?" The little henchman trembled at being scolded, appearing fearful of the boss. However, curiosity got the better of him, and he asked softly.
"This killing intent is hard to explain in a short time, but it's the kind of heavy killing intent that makes you afraid from the depths of your heart when a person with it looks at you. That's what killing intent is," the boss explained briefly, although somewhat impatiently.
Hmm? The boss suddenly paused in his footsteps, and his follower instinctively stopped while carrying the corpse. Then, the boss slapped his follower's head with a big palm: "Why did you stop? Move faster! If we don't make it by seven o'clock, you're as good as dead."
Seeing that the leader seemed to be truly angry, the four of them hastened their pace. The so-called leader intentionally stayed behind in the queue, with his narrow eyes occasionally glancing behind. His gaze was filled with suspicion. He noticed that Li Hao and his companion were following them from behind. Although he couldn't be certain, he could sense that these two individuals were tailing them.