Nightmare Apostle

After a simple night's rest, Yang Cha came to Yang Xiao early the next morning and brought him a set of clothes for him to change into. The clothes were exquisitely styled and had a sapphire blue badge inlaid on the left chest. It was from the Confucian Academy of Sciences. logo.

This was an academy uniform. Yang Cha didn't explain too much. He just smiled mysteriously and said that he would take Yang Xiao to join in the fun.

After leaving their residence and walking along the tree-lined path, the two finally stopped in a wide square. In the center of the square stood a huge statue. The statue held a book in one hand and a sword in the other. It had a graceful posture and fluttering clothes.

Like an immortal.

Nowadays, the square is full of people, almost all students wearing the same school uniform as Yang Xiao, and everyone's eyes are focused on the sword-holding figure in the center of the square. To be precise, at the foot of the figure, there is a high platform built there. Now the high platform There are more than a dozen figures standing on it. Judging from their clothes, they should be the leading figures in the academy.

An altar was arranged on the high platform, with a half-human-high bronze tripod in front of it. A large flag was erected on both sides of the altar. On the left was a majestic black war flag with a smooth calligraphy of Confucianism, and on the right was A huge white flag with black characters on a white background. After Dingqing saw it clearly, Yang Xiao couldn't help but realized that this was actually a very high-standard seven-turn soul summoning flag, which was usually only used on battlefields with mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

At this time, an old man wearing gray plain clothes and white hair and beard stood up slowly on the high platform and walked straight to the altar. The turbulent crowd around him suddenly became quiet, and looked straight at the old man with indescribable respect in his eyes.

"It's begun...::..." Yang Cha, who was always lazy beside him, couldn't help but hold his breath and looked at the high platform with everyone.

Because the distance was too far, Yang Xiao could not clearly see the movements of the old man on the high platform. He could only vaguely see him walking to the three-legged bronze cauldron in front of the altar. He paused and looked at the bronze cauldron brought by the young female priest. After cleaning his hands in the basin, he rolled up his sleeves and slowly put his right hand into the cauldron. After a while, he retracted his arm and there seemed to be something crystal clear in his palm.

"Tian Yiyi" suddenly came out from the stage, a deep voice like a bell, shocking the soul, and the lingering sound lasted for a long time.

Wenyan's crowd of spectators in the square suddenly burst into exclamations. Yang Cha couldn't help but clench his fists and said excitedly: "Great, the start is amazing. It's such a good sign. It seems that this competition will definitely be successful." Good luck!”

"Who is the old man on the stage?" Yang Xiao asked curiously.

"He is the dean of our Confucian Academy and one of the three existing great Confucians of our Yang family. He is the one to preside over this heaven-sacrifice ceremony." Yang Cha's eyes were bright, "In the past, every competition would cause unrest in the world. A small sensation, fists and kicks are blind in the competition, death and injury are inevitable, and harm to the peace of heaven. Therefore, before every competition, incense is burned and prayed for. One of the three great Confucian priests will draw a word from the sixty-four-character Tianji card. Draw a total of four words, a total of four words, to divine God's will."

Yang Xiao nodded, and then he realized that the word "天" as a first character was naturally excellent, so the students in the audience burst out in exclamation.

Immediately afterwards, the second word was also extracted.

"road-

Accompanied by the loud and deep voice, the students in the audience once again burst into exclamation. The first character is Tian, ​​followed by Dao. The two characters of Tiandao are perfect. This coincides with the Confucian character on which the Confucian Academy is founded. .

Soon came the third word, which turned out to be the word "dragon". The whole place was excited with this word. The three words were all chosen. This meaning is very important to the academy, and it can greatly enhance the reputation of the academy in the world. ,

Excited shouts were heard all of a sudden, and the words "Xing", "Teng", "You" and "Ru" were mentioned the most.

The dragon of heaven rises, the dragon of heaven rises, the dragon of heaven wanders, the dragon of heaven is Confucian... ． Once you can form these four-character words, it will undoubtedly be a good luck, and it will also be extremely beneficial to the reputation of the college. As students studying in the college, they are all looking forward to it nervously.

Eyes were locked on the altar, including Yang Xiao. He watched the old man in gray take out another chess piece from the tripod. At this moment, the cheers of the audience reached a climax. Everyone was waiting for the announcement. The last word.

But a strange scene appeared. For more than ten seconds, the old man stared at the chess piece in his hand, motionless.

The voice responsible for reporting was also silent.

Yang Xiao's heart sank, knowing that something must have happened. All the students in the room became frightened, and the scene began to become chaotic.

The old man in gray clothes gently placed the chess piece in his hand on the altar, side by side with the other three chess pieces. Then he walked heavily towards the old man standing aside, moved the microphone in front of him, pointed it at himself, and said in a deep voice: "It's the word prison..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the whole place was in an uproar, destroying everything with one word. The four words "Heavenly Dragon Prisoner" were like a dagger that stung the hearts of everyone present, and even made the scene panic for a time. This meaning is too bad, Yang Xiao Several female students nearby turned pale.

Yang Cha also had a sad look on his face. He turned to look at Yang Xiao and said in a hurried tone: "Brother Yang, listen to my advice. The omen of this heaven-sacrifice ceremony is wrong. You should not participate in the competition. I'm afraid something will happen in this secret competition. It's your business. ..I’ll help you find a way.”

Hearing this, Yang Xiao smiled bitterly and shook his head, "I accept it with good intentions, but I don't have time. To tell you the truth, if I don't get the quota to enter the small library this time, my life will basically be sealed. "

"Is your resentful eye going out of control?" Yang Cha realized later,

Yang Xiao nodded lightly.

Taking a deep breath, Yang Cha no longer hesitated and took Yang Xiao away from the messy square. The heaven-sacrifice ceremony was over, and the next step was to wait.

Soon after, Yang Xiao's competition number came out, which was Dao No. 31. Each contestant followed the instructions of the Yang family to draw one of the four characters.

Yang Xiao also received a mask. The mask was similar to the Li character mask in his hand. They were both light and textured. There was an elegant Tao character written in the center, and the number 31 was written in small characters on the right cheek.

Rubbing the mask with his fingers, Yang Xiao suddenly raised his head and asked, "Do you know the numbers of the other three people from Rongcheng?"

"One is Tianzi No. 97, one is Dragon No. 243, and one is Prisoner No. 44." Yang Cha replied, obviously having found out for Yang Xiao in advance.

"One word per person?"

"Yes, this is to intentionally disperse people in the same area based on your registration location, and to ensure a fair competition." Yang Cha said.

"How many people are participating in the secret competition?" The dragon character was actually ranked 243. The number of participants in this competition was much higher than Yang Xiao expected.

"The numbers are all fictitious. In order to prevent outsiders from guessing how many people are participating, they have added many empty numbers. As for the specific number of participants, I don't know. Only a few senior officials of the Law Enforcement Hall know."

In the afternoon, Yang Xiao’s schedule also came out. Game 7 of Class E will be at 2 a.m. tonight.

point.

Yang Cha got the number plates of Yang Xiao's opponents in advance. They were both from the Taoist generation, numbers 9 and 24 respectively.

No. 40, No. 86, No. 127, No. 189, and No. 281. Counting Yang Xiao, No. 31, there are a total of 8

People, the rules of the game are eight to three.

This is just a qualifying battle. Only by getting one of the three places can you be qualified to enter the next level competition.

"As expected, it's a qualifying tournament, but the academy doesn't pay much attention to it. It doesn't even give them a day off. They worship the gods in the morning and start playing in the evening." Yang Xiao sighed inwardly.

In order to facilitate Yang Xiao's rest, Yang Cha used his connections to arrange Yang Xiao into a remote student apartment. People didn't come here often, and it was a kind of cover for Yang Xiao's identity.

After dinner, Yang Xiao rested alone in the apartment. He sat cross-legged on the bed and meditated. This was his habit. In the past, he would meditate for half an hour to calm down before writing a script. But now there was a opera robe placed in front of him.

"Good sister, this time it all depends on you. If I, Yang Xiao, can survive, I will help my sister fulfill her wish." Yang Xiao made a wish on the opera robe, and then put the opera robe on the innermost part of his clothes and wore it next to his body. This made him very proud. sense of security.

A bell chimed the time in the college. After the bell rang at 1 a.m., Yang Xiao put on his mask, stood up, and followed the path Yang Cha had taken him during the day to the depths of the college, where a secluded small square stood. There is a building made of dark stones. It is not very big, about 4 or 5 stories high. There are dozens of white lanterns hanging around the building. With the night wind, the lanterns are swaying left and right. There are no candles inside. , but a dim light bulb.

But when the lantern light shines on the dark building, it seems to be swallowed up by an inexplicable force. The building is darker than the night in the distance. Looking at it for a long time makes people shudder, as if their souls are being sucked away.

Slowly approaching the building, the order he received was to go to the entrance of Ding Academy. At this moment, several passages were isolated around the building. There was a wooden sign hanging outside each passage, with the words A, B, C, and D written on it. When he found the word D After the sign, Yang Xiao walked straight over. The passage door was closed, and a green rattle hung outside the door.

He stretched out his hand to ring the bell, and the sound it made was not clear and crisp, but had an oppressive dullness, "Creak -"

The passage door was halfway open, revealing a pale, seemingly bloodless face.

He was a middle-aged man with hollow eyes. He glanced at the mask on Yang Xiao's face, then turned around and walked in. Yang Xiao silently followed this man.

After walking dozens of steps, the two stopped in front of a cave built with black stones. In front of the cave stood an old-fashioned wooden door. Through the crack in the door, one could see the gray mist shrouding the inside, which reminded Yang Xiao of every day. The door that left the nightmare world for the first time had a similar scene behind it.

"You need to know a few things before entering. First, this place is just like the nightmare world. Without rules, anyone may die."

"Second, the world inside usually only lasts for two incense, which is about half an hour, but it is not absolute. It has also appeared in three or four hours. After the time is over, as long as you don't die, you will be teleported out and your injuries will recover."

"Third, if you want to surrender, you can find a piece of blue jade inside. No matter how the world changes, this piece of blue jade will always exist. As long as you get close to the jade, the words on the mask on your face will melt away. There will be no words on the mask. You It will be ruled out, even if there are less than three survivors.”

"Fourth, there is no so-called safe house inside. Even if you approach the jade and erase the words on your face and intend to surrender, you may still be attacked. There are no rules in Ansai. If you like and have the ability, you can kill everyone. No one will pursue it.”

The middle-aged man pointed to the ground at his feet and said solemnly: "This is the Scholars Academy, and you are a contestant.

We guarantee your personal safety. "

Then the man pointed to the old wooden door behind him, "This is another nightmare world. The only one you can rely on is yourself."

"Thank you." Yang Xiao nodded.

The man had an ugly smile on his face, and used his feet to pull out a bamboo basket from under the broken wooden table on the side.

After opening the lid, there were three masks inside. "These are all left by players who temporarily abstained, but I don't object to this kind of behavior, because people have to be self-aware. It's just a shame to run away from the battle. If you really enter, you may lose your life." ”

"Contestants in each game enter through different entrances, right?" Yang Xiao asked.

"Yes." The middle-aged man nodded, "You are in the seventh game. There are 6 players in front of me who entered the world behind through the door behind me."

There are 6 players, 3 masks in the basket, and a 50% abstention rate. This is really a bit high. Yang Xiao feels very sorry for their registration fees.

"Have you thought about it?" the middle-aged man asked.

"I've thought about it, I want to participate." After a pause, Yang Xiao handed over to the middle-aged man, "Thank you for your kindness, senior, but I have a reason to go."

"Everyone who comes here has a compelling reason." As he spoke, the middle-aged man clasped his hands behind his back and walked out without looking back, leaving behind a sentence, "Wait here. When you hear the bell ringing, you can push the door." The door is in,

There's more space inside than what you see from the outside, so good luck with that. "

A few minutes after the man left, Yang Xiao suddenly felt something happened behind the cave door. The gray mist became thicker and thicker, and a "whooshing" sound came from behind the door. Yang Xiao subconsciously stepped back. This feeling was like the door There is a wild beast hidden behind it.

"jingle--

"Ding bell - one by one" "Ding bell - one by one" A ringing sound came, Yang Xiao couldn't help but frown, because he couldn't judge the origin of the ringing sound.

From behind the door, or from the other end of the passage.

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Yang Xiao took a deep breath and opened the wooden door in front of him with great vigilance.

Sure enough, behind the wooden door was a world filled with mist. Faintly, an indescribable glare could be seen flashing behind the mist. As Yang Xiao stepped out, a strange feeling of weightlessness came, which was similar to leaving the nightmare world. Different, this time he was not unconscious, and the momentum of his fall only lasted less than 10 seconds before stopping. He landed on a flat piece of land, and a strange force helped him buffer most of the impact. , so that he only jumped twice after landing and was not injured.

After stabilizing his body, Yang Xiao looked around. The surroundings were relatively dark, with gray mist floating above his head. There was burnt black soil under his feet, with a few indistinguishable weeds mixed in the soil.

There is a dirt slope not far in front of you. I carefully climbed up the dirt slope and looked down. I saw a dark depression below, with many dilapidated wooden buildings standing there. It felt like... .Like an abandoned, uninhabited village.

Due to poor lighting and low visibility, Yang Xiao could only see vague outlines of most of these buildings.

Unknowingly, a layer of fog drifted over the entire village.

As the observation deepened, the shock in Yang Xiao's heart gradually turned into fear. Goosebumps appeared on his arms. He held his breath and stared at the uninhabited village below. A familiar cold feeling was slowly appearing.

"There...is a ghost in the village!" Yang Xiao determined based on his intuition.