I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"Drizzt said with a worried expression."

"However, the people in this town, as my predecessors who guided me later, have probably said, that the alien land is not an illusion, and the people in the alien land are not lifeless imitations. We should save as many as we can within our power. Now it seems that no matter what, tomorrow will be the end of everything."

He glanced at Lu Ban.

The man covered in grass had fallen asleep sometime earlier, and the flower buds on his head were slowly blooming.

The air was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, and lanterns and decorations were everywhere.

When Trist woke up, he smelled a strong gunpowder odor.

He heard the sound of firecrackers and festive music.

He sat up and found himself in bed with a blanket covering him.

Stepping out of the house, I saw Lu Ban standing in the yard, facing the sunlight, with his arms outstretched as if to embrace the sun.

"Praise the sun."

Lu Ban sighed, then turned around and flipped the container over to continue drying it.

What is going on?

Tristana yawned.

"In photosynthesis."

Lu Ban answered in a serious tone.

"Photosynthesis what? Never mind, hasn't the wedding already started?"

Trist asked a question.

"More or less, probably patrolling the town."

Lu Ban said casually.

Drizzt dressed and cautiously crossed the empty yard to the front yard.

He arrived at the Hai family's gate and saw the wedding procession.

This was the first time Drizzt had ever seen so many living people in this world.

No, that's not right.

Drizzt saw that the people carrying the sedan chair were dark-skinned locals, while the escorts were maids dressed in red, with pale faces and bright red lips.

These maids, like Master Hai and Madam Hai yesterday, exuded a deathly aura.

The seemingly bustling crowds on the street, however, seemed even more eerie.

These people were waving at the wedding procession, their movements stiff, repetitive, almost mechanical, utterly lifeless, and their actions were inconsistent, giving off a strange, scattered feeling.

It's like a puppet on a stage, only able to move according to the original setting.

"This town is doomed. From the moment it encountered the Black Queen Mother, it was destined for destruction."

A sudden voice came from behind Trist. He glanced over and saw Lu Ban, who was no longer covered in flowers and plants.

He was holding a compressed biscuit in his hand, eating it with water.

Noticing Twisted Fate's gaze, Lu Ban hesitated for a moment, then broke off a small half of the compressed biscuit and handed it to Twisted Fate.

"That's all I have left. Once I finish eating, it'll be time to hit the road."

Chapter 076 Praying for Waves Dance

Logically, a wedding should be filled with joy, auspiciousness, and happiness.

However, the wedding at the Hai family mansion seemed rather strange.

The musicians playing joyful tunes had unnaturally pale faces, with only their cheeks painted with comical blush and equally crimson lips. Combined with their excessively red paper clothes, the lively melodies almost turned into mournful dirges.

The onlookers were indifferent, mechanically repeating their waving motions, their smiles appearing fake, as if they were painted on.

Despite the noisy, bustling, and lively wedding scene, there was a certain cold, silent, and somber atmosphere.

Lu Ban saw that in the lobby, the Hai family patriarch and madam were sitting in chairs, waiting for the newlyweds.

Beside them stood a person dressed in black and wearing a mask.

That must be the groom from the Hai family.

Even without anyone explaining it, Lu Ban knew about it.

Because the mask was simply too conspicuous.

It was a fish mask, with a plain, common fish head shape, and a bluish-black color. Paired with the black clothes worn by the person, it looked just like a walking fish.

When the bridal sedan chair arrived at the front yard, the men carrying it slowly put it down and mechanically stepped back to make way for it.

"This is a bit strange. In a normal wedding, the bride should be taken directly to the ceremony hall, but this place is quite far from the main hall..."

Tristana caught a glimpse of the black tower.

Yes, the bride's sedan chair landed right in front of the lake tower in the middle of that mansion.

A road is connecting the shore to the tower.

The curtain of the bridal sedan chair was lifted, and a woman dressed in a red wedding gown and wearing a red veil slowly walked out.

Her movements were stiff, each step trembling violently, as if she were struggling against some kind of entity controlling her body.

This caused the bride to move unsteadily and extremely slowly.

But nobody cared.

The music continued to play, passersby continued to swagger, and the groom of the Hai family waited in the same spot, gazing at the tower.

A thought crossed Tristana's mind. He knew that the bride still retained a certain degree of rationality, and that the process of the bride and groom uniting was probably the process of erasing that last vestige of rationality.

It must be some kind of nightmarish scene that, just by looking at it, would erode reason.

He and Lu Ban stood at the entrance of the hall, watching the bride walk step by step toward the black tower bound by chains.

The bride finally stopped when she stood in front of the tower, standing in an unnatural posture, like a puppet on a string.

All the music stopped abruptly, and then a melody from ancient times began to play.

Surrounding the bride were people wearing the same masks as the groom, dressed in black robes and fish-head masks, dancing beside her.

It was a dance that Lu Ban had never seen before.

In folklore, song and dance are closely related to sacrificial rites. Many dances originated from imitation, imitating animals and natural landscapes that humans have seen.

But what kind of prototype could give birth to such a dance?

Those people's bodies were twisted into shapes that completely violated physiological structure; just looking at them, you could almost hear the bones breaking.

One of them twisted his body more than 360 degrees, clasped his hands together, and stretched them upwards, as if praying to some unknown deity.

One of them leaned backward, his back pressed directly against his buttocks, his hands and feet overlapping, forming an unusual symbol.

One of them clasped his hands behind his back, his body bent over as if he were a giant ball of flesh.

The bones and internal organs seemed to have been temporarily removed from these people's bodies, leaving them like mud, subject to arbitrary shaping.

The accompanying music had no melody whatsoever; it was like the scratching noise of fingernails on a smooth blackboard, or the howl of some monster from millions of years ago.

It is unimaginable what kind of scene the creator of this dance must have witnessed to generate such inspiration and weave a dance that inspires fear, awe, and dread.

"This Qilang Dance doesn't seem to be anything legitimate."

Lu Ban sighed. Even without the Black Queen Mother's corruption, the Hai family would probably have been destined to be corrupted long ago.

No matter how much they struggled or resisted, the fate of their entire family had already been decided millions of years ago.

Perhaps it originated from a chance worship, perhaps from a dangerous exploration, or perhaps from some ancient books. The ancestors of the Hai family mastered the extraordinary power brought by this dance. They traveled the earth and came to the town of Kushui, where they lived for decades. Perhaps this was the starting point for their ancestors to obtain power.

Just as the dancers were tormenting the spectators' minds, an even more unbelievable situation arose.

That solid, dark, cold tower began to undulate.

The bricks, tiles, stone pillars, and pavilions seemed to have been given life, becoming soft and supple. The tower was like a colossal creature that had just awakened, regaining its vitality.

Lu Ban finally understood why the tower was locked with chains.

Because it is a living thing.

Like a giant worm spinning a cocoon, the tower bound by chains trembled constantly, causing the chains to clang and jingle, echoing in the air.

The bride stood motionless before the gradually reviving tower, raising her hand in a sacrificial gesture.

Trist immediately recognized that this was the same movement of the gray-white fish-headed stone statue he had seen in the fog the night before.

Is this the very tower that those fish-headed people are worshipping?

Tristan's revolver was poised to fire.

Because of the current situation, he felt that even if he and Lu Ban were to successfully witness the union of the bride and groom, they would probably not survive until the wedding was completely over.

Gaa gaa gaa—

The top of the tower slowly cracked open.

From the top of the tower, which has split into four lobes, countless black tentacles can be seen slowly spreading out.

Like a flower stamen, countless thick tentacles trembled and stretched towards the bride.

In the center of the flower's heart lies filthy mud.

In an instant, the entire Hai family mansion was filled with the stench of metal, but no one expressed any dissatisfaction. Everyone's eyes were filled with fervor as they raised their hands to welcome this scene.

Lu Ban recognized that the silt was the liquid from the lungs of that terrifying fishman.

"This means..."

He had already guessed the final secret of the Hai family and the Black Queen Mother.

Lu Ban glanced at his side, and Trist actually narrowed his eyes, trying to delay the drop in his sanity caused by seeing this ugly and blasphemous creature devour the bride.

The mud poured onto Xin Nian's body, staining her pure red wedding dress, and the red veil had long been swept away by the mud.

The bride's face was revealed, pale and bloodless, her eyes pitch black, and countless, seemingly living mudslides instantly seeped into her mouth, nose, ears, and every inch of her body.

The entire pond had turned into a sea of ​​black silt, the metallic stench of which bloomed like evil flowers under the pale midday sun.