TANH Chapter 32.3: Seminary 08.3

18TH JUN 2023~SV

Slowly climbing upwards…

Wen Qing blinked. Although Li Jingjing’s words were very out of place, it was also inexplicably a little reasonable.

If Yu Xing wasn’t the one targeting Ji Junfeng, then only the High Priest was left.

Wen Qing curiously asked Ji Junfeng, “Do you know the High Priest?”

Ji Junfeng rested against the tree, pulling the corners of his lips as he said, “Someone like me, how could I know the High Priest?”

Wen Qing was even more uncertain. If he didn’t know him, it wasn’t necessary for the High Priest to target Ji Junfeng.

Could it be that he had offended the High Priest at some point?

While he was thinking, Teacher Chen’s voice suddenly sounded behind him.

“Wen Qing, what are you all still doing here?”

“Why don’t you go eat?”

Bai Tong looked at Teacher Chen and spoke, “We’re about to go.”

Teacher Chen nodded and walked up to stand beside them. He then said, “Let’s go.”

Wen Qing stood in place unmoving. Teacher Chen also didn’t move. It seemed like he wanted to go to the cafeteria together.

Wen Qing tried taking one step forward. Teacher Chen also took one step forward.

After walking a few steps, Wen Qing turned back to look at Ji Junfeng. He was still sitting on the lawn, resting tilted against the tree, his eyes closed.

Ji Junfeng seemed to be a transparent person. Many students and teachers clearly walked past, yet no one glanced at him.

Wen Qing’s footsteps paused. He whispered, “Sir, what about Ji Junfeng?”

Teacher Chen faintly smiled as he looked at him. “What did you say?”

Meeting Teacher Chen’s eyes, Wen Qing stammeringly said, “Is it fine if Ji- Ji Junfeng doesn’t go to the cafeteria?”

Teacher Chen kindly smiled. “Hm?”

Wen Qing’s eyelashes trembled. He understood.

It wasn’t that he didn’t speak clearly, it was that Teacher Chen was pretending not to hear properly.

Bai Tong spoke, “It’s nothing.”

Teacher Chen smiled, like a good teacher who cared about the students, warmly telling them, “The food this afternoon isn’t too bad.”

“Hurry along, then.”

After eating at noon, the students were not allowed to move freely, and they sat on the seats together. After everyone had finished eating, Teacher Sun, who was standing at the door, moved and told everyone, “Line up.”

As if they were robots who had received some sort of instruction, the students lined up in two rows spontaneously.

The eight players stood by the side and stared blankly.

The other students were not lined up according to height from short to tall. It seemed like there was another order.

A player took a step forward, wanting to be at the end of the row. Teacher Chen walked up to him and blocked him, saying to the players with a smile, “You should just line up in a row.”

Wen Qing nodded. When he turned his head, he found that the expressions of the old players weren’t very good.

His whole face was at a loss, and he couldn’t help but ask quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Bai Tong walked behind him. His eyes sunk. “It has separated the players from the original students.”

Wen Qing’s heart skipped a beat. Before, they ate and attended classes like the other students…

If they were being separated now, it meant that the players might be targeted during the choosing of the auspicious time later?

Wen Qing clenched his fists and anxiously followed the procession to walk onwards.

When they walked into the temple, the interior of the temple remained the same as the day of the entrance test, with no changes, but the round platform was covered with a layer of white cloth. At first glance, the idol and the high platform have a holy feeling.

Everyone stopped under the round platform. The players stood on the left, the aborigines stood on the right, and several teachers stood between them.

It was silent in the temple. Nobody spoke, nobody made a sound.

Wen Qing exhaled nervously. He could clearly hear his heart beating wildly.

Suddenly, two footsteps sounded from the side.

Wen Qing raised his head to look and was stunned.

Zhang Chengrun was brought inside by a female teacher. He was in a trance, his eyes unfocused, and he followed the female teacher in front of him superficially.

The female teacher led him directly to the back row of the line of aborigines, and told Teacher Chen and the others, “He has purified his mind and body.”

Wen Qing blinked. He couldn’t help but shift his gaze to three inches below Zhang Chengrun’s navel.

Purification of the body wasn’t the one he was imagining, was it?

He turned his head to ask Bai Tong, only to see Bai Tong looking solemn, scrutinising Zhang Chengrun.

Behind Bai Tong, Oz and Li Jingjing also had the same expressions. 

Before Wen Qing could express his confusion, there was the sound of another footsteps.

“Da, da, da……”

Everyone looked up. A man wearing a black robe with purple borders and a white mask slowly walked into the temple. The corners of his black robe fluttered. As he approached, the temple suddenly became chillier.

The teachers and students nodded and lowered their heads at the same time, not daring to look directly at him.

Three words jumped into Wen Qing’s mind —— the High Priest.

He looked at the High Priest’s smooth and fair neck, and thought, this High Priest doesn’t seem like an old man.

The High Priest seemed to be aware of his gaze. Behind the mask, the eyes shifted, and the pitch-dark eyes looked at Wen Qing.

Wen Qing hurriedly lowered his head.

The High Priest withdrew his gaze, walked directly onto the high platform and slowly said, “It is time to choose the auspicious day.”

“I need to choose two helpers.”

His voice was very ethereal, with a strange rhythm.

Wen Qing couldn’t resist quietly raising his eyes. He wanted to know if this voice was spoken out by himself (the High Priest).

The moment he raised his eyes, he met the High Priest’s eyes.

Before Wen Qing could look away, the voice of the High Priest sounded from the high platform. “The first one.”

“Wen Qing.”

All of the students turned their heads together and stared at Wen Qing enviously.

Wen Qing didn’t feel honoured at all. His heart skipped a beat out of fright, and he didn’t dare to step out of the line.

Soon, Teacher Chen walked up to him and amiably said, “Wen Qing, the High Priest is calling for you.”

Wen Qing responded and was grasped by Teacher Chen to the steps next to the high platform.

He took nervous steps and walked onto the high platform.

The High Priest slightly raised his chin, and motioned for him to look at the golden cup next to the stone tablet. “The chalice.”

Wen Qing walked over with small steps. He looked down at the trophy-like cup that was bigger than his face and stammeredly asked, “Do I t-take it and give it to You?”

The High Priest glanced at him. “Hold it.”

Wen Qing did as such. He carefully grasped the base of the chalice and hugged it to his chest.

He took a step to the side, his toes touching the stone tablet engraved with his name, and barely felt a little safe.

Wen Qing took a deep breath nervously. His nose and mouth were filled with the faint fragrance of grass and trees.

It smelled good, and somehow a little familiar.

Wen Qing sniffed. The High Priest tilted his head and glanced at him. He lightly said, “The second one.”

Wen Qing restlessly stared at the players below the platform. Suddenly, the tall male player at the end of the player line raised his hand.

Wen Qing was stunned. The next second, he heard the High Priest call, “Qian Gangfeng.”

Qian Gangfeng’s eyes shone. He took large steps and walked onto the high platform, before asking, “What do I have to do?”

The High Priest stared at his chest, and slowly said, “You don’t need to do anything.”

Qian Gangfeng stood by a side in confusion. His eyes slowly drifted to the chalice in Wen Qing’s hands.

The High Priest didn’t look at them again. He walked to the center of the high platform. Facing the people below, he slowly raised his hand.

This movement seemed to be a signal. In unison, the students prayed, “Dear God, my spirit is completely open to You. Please let Your essence shine on me, drive away the darkness, eliminate the filth, and wash us clean…”

The impassioned voices echoed in the temple, loud and booming.

Wen Qing had never memorised the prayers in the first place. He was worried that the High Priest would realise that he wasn’t praying, so he opened his mouth and whispered the previous sentences of his classmates, pretending that he couldn’t keep up with everyone’s rhythm.

“…eliminate the filth, and wash us clean—” 

He heard a strange sound. It was a rustling one, like some kind of friction sound.

Wen Qing quietly looked around, but didn’t find anything unusual. However, the expressions of the students below the platform became more and more fanatical.

The sound grew closer and closer, as if it was right below his feet.

Wen Qing’s eyelids jumped. Slowly, he lowered his head.

Only to see countless vines of different thicknesses climbing up from the stage from all directions, and all of them were crawling towards Qian Gangfeng who stood in the center.

The players in the audience looked terrified, while the students were going wild, as if they were watching some miracle.

Qian Gangfeng’s expression changed drastically. He was about to run away when a vine suddenly rushed to his feet like a snake, tightly entangling his feet.

Qian Gangfeng’s fell to the ground. He opened his mouth, but didn’t have time to utter a single word when a vine as thick as an arm tightly bound his mouth and nose. His face became distorted and hideous due to the force.

Immediately afterwards, countless vines crawled and gathered, coiled into an appearance of big hands, and lifted Qian Gangfeng into the air.

“Great God!”

“Glorious Lord!”

The temple rang out with the sounds of the students’ excited and resonant prayers.

Wen Qing was so terrified that his hands and feet weakened, but his thoughts suddenly became clear.

The seminary only enrolled 69 students every year.

Currently, there were 74 students, 10 of which were players.

Half of the players would die during the events in the next upcoming few days.

Wen Qing’s face turned white, and his back chilled.

Countless vines were still crawling upwards. He could even feel a slender and smooth vine crawling over his shoes, reaching into his pant legs, and slowly climbing upwards…