CHAPTER 333: REVISED: CHAPTER 122 [THE FINAL TRIAL!] (7200 WORDS)

Chapter 122: [The Final Trial!] (7200 words)

The corridor on the second floor, down the stairs, and then the hall on the first floor—all were shrouded in darkness along the way.

The lanterns that were originally lit inside the house were all extinguished, and as they walked along, only the lantern held by the waiter puppet illuminated the path.

It felt like walking through the underworld.

However, as Chen Yan followed the waiter puppet down the pathway, seeing everything engulfed in darkness, he felt a stir in his heart: the Secret Realm Master was guarding against him!

To construct the Mirror World, a light source is essential. Without it, the Mirror World cannot exist; jumping in would lead to a black void that devours people.

It must have been Chen Yan’s previous peeking into the Secret Realm’s building through the Mirror World that triggered the Secret Realm Master’s precautions.

Following the waiter puppet, they walked out of the hall on the first floor and into the outside yard, where the puppet surprisingly led Chen Yan towards the side of the building.

What surprised Chen Yan was that it actually led him all the way to the underground passage he had previously spied on!

The stairs were also engulfed in darkness; under the lantern’s light, the puppet descended the stairs with an eerie, mechanical movement, stopping in front of the underground passageway and glancing back at Chen Yan.

After opening the door, the corridor inside, which Chen Yan remembered being lined with puppets against the walls, had vanished. At the corridor’s end, however, the door of the slaughterhouse-like place was wide open.

Firelight, human shadows, and the sounds of clanging came from within.

"Why did you stop?" Chen Yan asked the waiter puppet.

"I only escort guests to this point, please proceed on your own."

Chen Yan pointed to the door at the corridor’s end that resembled a slaughterhouse: "There?"

"Yes, proceed inside, to that place, and continue walking further inside."

After saying this, the waiter puppet bowed to Chen Yan and handed him the lantern.

Chen Yan frowned as he took it, watching the waiter puppet turn and leave, heading back to the surface.

"Wait." Chen Yan suddenly called out.

"What else does the guest need?"

"Will other guests come here after the trial ends?"

"Yes, as long as the guest hasn’t died during the trial, they will be brought here by me afterward."

Chen Yan frowned: "Then, what is inside? What am I supposed to do once I enter?"

"There will be servants inside to assist you."

The waiter puppet said no more and took its leave.

Chen Yan squinted his eyes, glancing at the door at the corridor’s end. The flickering lights and sounds from within made him feel oppressed.

Nonetheless, he took a deep breath, patted a [Fortune-Telling Talisman] and a [Six Yang Righteous Qi Talisman] onto himself, and stepped inside.

Walking through the corridor, he entered the slaughterhouse-like large room.

Inside the room, it was no longer the quiet state he had seen in the Mirror World.

At the far end, the furnace’s door was open, flames roaring inside, casting dancing shadows on the walls.

The large table in the center had considerably fewer corpses. But with a mere glance, Chen Yan understood where those bodies had gone.

Several black skeleton puppets were busy around the large table, pushing small four-wheeled carts to transport corpses to the furnace entrance, tipping the carts to slide the bodies into the roaring flames...

The room’s air was stifling, filled with a strong nauseating odor!

Other skeleton puppets were busy around the large table.

They held various knives and hooks...

Blood flowed copiously on the table, dripping down its edges onto the floor, turning the ground into a slick, muddy mess from the blood.

The smell of blood was pungent!

What these puppets were doing reminded Chen Yan of scenes he saw as a child at the fish market:

At the fish stalls in the market, the sellers would use iron hooks to catch the fish, slam them on the counter, then use knives to scrape the scales, cut open the belly, gut them...

And these puppets were using similar methods to process the corpses on the table!

Chen Yan watched as a puppet peeled the skin off a corpse’s face, inserting a thin blade under the skin, and slowly separating the skin from the flesh and blood.

The corpse was already so damaged that an eyeball fell out, rolling onto the blood-soaked table. The puppet casually picked it up, glanced at it, then tossed it into the cart beside him.

The cart filled with corpses, all bodies were utterly mutilated, their skin flayed, and organs removed.

Once the cart was full, it would be wheeled to the furnace, the bodies tipped in for burning!

Other skeleton puppets were carefully handling the flayed human skin—on the table in front, there were large jars and brushes.

The puppets dipped the brushes into some unknown greasy substance from the jars, gently brushing it onto the human skin.

Finally, they would carefully pick up the human skin, hanging it on hooks around the room to dry like clothes...

The shadows of hanging skins swayed, the firelight flickered, puppets busied themselves, and the room reeked of blood...