Bloodstained Steps

　　It was already afternoon when they returned to the guesthouse.

　　The two ate a quick meal and found the three men with glasses also present. 

　　Their faces were grim, and they had some wounds on their bodies.

　　Fortunately, their injuries were not serious. 

　　Seeing Ning and Liu return without Bai, the bespectacled man's face immediately darkened.

　　After all, they took a huge risk this time to attract the Shaman and even almost paid the price with their lives, but in the end they got nothing, which inevitably made people feel a little frustrated.

　　"You... didn't find Bai?"

　　Fang, the timid girl, asked weakly.

　　Ning was silent for a moment.

　　"We found her, but she is in very bad shape right now... Besides, the Shaman is dead, which is good news for us."

　　Hearing that the Shaman was dead, everyone's faces finally softened a little.

　　After all, it was the Shaman who had always wanted to kill them in this village!

　　"That's great!"

　　The man with glasses waved his fist fiercely.

　　"Now that the Shaman is dead, we are safe!"

　　Liu, who was standing by the window of the room looking out, sneered.

　　"Safe? You wish!"

　　The bespectacled man froze when he heard his sarcasm, and then said with some puzzlement, "Isn't that right?"

　　"It was the Shaman and the villagers who wanted to kill us. Now that the Shaman is dead, and the villagers have no leader, we will naturally be much safer!"

　　Ning said, "Why don't you think about it again... why did the Shaman and the villagers want to sacrifice us to those dead people?"

　　Hearing Ning's words, the man with glasses was stunned for a moment, then seemed to react, and beads of sweat suddenly appeared on his forehead!

　　Yes indeed…

　　Although it was the Shaman and the villagers of Qiyu Village who had always wanted to kill them, how could they attack outsiders if they were not forced to?

　　Back to the most essential question, their real crisis still comes from those who have died in the village over the years!

　　"This book records a safe way to enter the back mountain of the village. Then we will be divided into two groups. You go to find the lost head of the monk, and we will go to find Bai's body..."

　　After Ning finished speaking, the third member beside the man with glasses spoke up.

　　"Is it really necessary to waste time and energy to save her... I mean, her head was chopped off, there is absolutely no reason for her to survive, right?"

　　"At least there's a possibility, isn't there? When the time comes, we'll take a huge risk to bring her body out, only to find out that she's still dead. Wouldn't we be doing something completely meaningless?"

　　This member was a man, usually taciturn and quiet in the team, and didn't speak much. 

　　Ning and the two had no impression of him, and didn't even know his name.

　　His questioning changed everyone's mentality a little.

　　Indeed, this is a very heartless thing to do.

　　Abandoning companions, and abandoning a companion who has contributed to the team.

　　Everyone will inevitably feel self-blame.

　　But it's not the beginning when they just entered this blood gate.

　　They have seen terrifying scenes several times, and almost lost their lives here. 

　　Under the pressure of such intense survival pressure, all they want to do now is to find a way out as soon as possible, and then get out of this blood gate alive!

　　"I hope that when you are in danger, you can only watch helplessly as your teammates leave without looking back!"

　　Liu sneered, but the man just replied lightly, "But I'm not the one in danger now, am I?"

　　Hearing this, Liu couldn't help it at the time. 

　　He stood up with a swoosh, looking eager to fight, but Ning stopped him.

　　"We've already told you how to go up the mountain. Next, we'll go our separate ways, and no one owes anyone anything."

　　The man with glasses nodded.

　　"Okay, thank you for giving us this book...we will try our best to find the head."

　　When they got up and left, the man whose name they didn't know looked back at Ning and the two, and sneered, "Two idiots!"

　　After speaking, they left without looking back.

　　Liu was furious, and slammed his fist on the table.

　　Bang!

　　"This bastard, we shouldn't share the contents of this book with them!"

　　Ning replied unhurriedly, "Whether they like it or not, they have to help us. After all, if they can't find the head, everyone will be in danger!"

　　"Let's get ready a little bit, it's just the right time to go to Houshan now!"

　　"We must go back before dark and return Bai's body to her."

　　Liu nodded.

　　They packed up their ropes and backpacks, and after confirming that nothing was missing, they walked through the woods and came to the foot of the back mountain.

　　This was their first time here.

　　It was basically the same as what was recorded in the book, the entire back mountain was shrouded in a faint red mist...

　　As soon as he arrived at the foot of the mountain, Liu couldn't help but shiver.

　　"Damn it, why did the temperature suddenly drop in this place?"

　　He muttered, his eyes glancing around uneasily.

　　This was not his illusion, because the moment they approached the back mountain, Ning also felt the temperature plummet!

　　This mountain is very quiet.

　　It was so quiet that it was even a little weird.

　　A long and neatly built stone step stretched all the way to the top of the mountain in a winding way.

　　The two raised their heads, but their eyes couldn't penetrate the faint red mist, and they couldn't see what was on the mountain.

　　They just felt vaguely uncomfortable.

　　It was as if behind the red mist, something was staring at them coldly!

　　But having come this far, neither of them had any intention of turning back.

　　As soon as they set foot on the stone steps, they were about to step up step by step.

　　It was also at this moment that the situation suddenly changed!

　　When their feet landed on the stone steps, a terrifying scene happened!

　　The two were horrified to see that blood was suddenly flowing down the originally clean and tidy stone steps!

　　The disgusting and strong smell of blood also entered the noses of the two of them.

　　They looked up again, only to see that the sky above their heads was dim and covered with thick fog, and the blood gushing down was flowing out from the depths of the indistinct, pale red thick fog at the end of the stone steps...

　　What's even more frightening is that when they came back to their senses, the stone steps covered in blood were lying horizontally and vertically, densely packed with corpses...