Zu An thrashed about with his Tai’e Sword. Unfortunately, these malicious spirits weren’t material creatures, and the sword passed right through their bodies.

The evil spirits let out sinister laughs as they bore down on him, showing no fear at all.

Fortunately, Zu An had his Sunflower Phantasm, so he was able to just barely evade their attacks, and wasn’t subjected to the giant taotie’s horrifying experience.

Even so, the malicious spirits still managed to claw at his arm and legs, immediately sending a fiery pain shooting through the areas they made contact with.

He couldn’t see anything on his legs, but when he pulled back his sleeves, there were dark handprints on his arms.

“What the hell is this!” Zu An was less than thrilled. He couldn’t hit them, yet their spiritual bodies could hurt him. How the hell was he supposed to fight something like this?

The malicious spirits realized they had missed their target. Screaming, they whirled around and charged at him again.

Zu An’s heart sank. He was trying to figure out just how he was supposed to face them when a torrent of black flame swept over.

The malicious spirits let out terrified wails and backed up several meters. They were clearly afraid of these flames.

Pei Mianman had already rushed to his side. She held Zu An’s hands in her own. “Are you all right?”

“I’m all right. I didn’t expect your black flames to be so effective in such a situation!” Zu An remarked, clearly astonished.

“These malicious spirits are sinister yin-type creatures, while my black flames produce a dominant yang force. It is a natural counter to them,” Pei Mianman replied.

The giant taotie’s miserable screams echoed from below. The two of them subconsciously glanced downwards. The malicious spirits were gradually stripping the flesh from its body, turning it into nothing but a pile of white bones.

Zu An gulped. The things in this strange palace were all ridiculously strong… That skeleton warrior earlier on had killed five ordinary taoties on its own, only to end up being done in by this giant taotie. He thought that this giant taotie would be the final boss, but it had met such a tragic end!

As the flesh of that giant Taotie was picked clean, many malicious spirits began to fly back up, approaching the two humans.

Pei Mianman made her black flames burn even more powerfully. Only then did the malicious spirits finally keep their distance.

“Should we get out of this place first?” Pei Mianman said. The giant taotie that had threatened them earlier was already dead, and would pose them no danger if they chose to head back down.

Zu An frowned. “We’ve already spent quite some time in this secret dungeon,” he said, “We need to find a way out before we die. Besides, now that we’ve made it all the way up here, I fear that leaving might not be that easy.”

Pei Mianman couldn’t shake her worry. “But I can’t maintain these black flames forever! Once they go out, we’ll have our flesh stripped off, just like that taotie.”

“We’ll head down temporarily and come up with a plan first,” Zu An said.

The two of them made their way slowly down the stairs.

Countless malicious spirits continued to linger around them. Just as they were about to reach the first step, the spirits moved to block their way, wailing and howling.

Whenever Pei Mianman used her black flames to chase away a portion of them, more would quickly take their place. There was no way to break through this barricade.

That wasn’t the end of their troubles. It seemed as though the malicious spirits could communicate with each other. They quickly changed their plan. A large group of them moved to surround the duo, then began to spin.

As they spun, they generated large gusts of sinister winds, blowing Pei Mianman’s black flames about.

Her face paled. “I won’t be able to hold out for much longer like this!”

These sinister winds made it more taxing than usual to maintain her black flames.

Zu An’s voice grew serious. “Let’s go back up to that elevated pavilion.”

“Won’t it be even more dangerous up there?” Pei Mianman asked, extremely worried.

Zu An shook his head. “Often, only a fine line separates life and death. Who knows, the way out of this dungeon might be hidden up there.”

They hadn’t passed any other possible paths on the way here, and they had yet to find any other way out. They had no choice but to press forward. The only path left open to them was up those stairs.

Pei Mianman was at her wits end as well. She followed him up the stairs to the pavilion.

The pavilion was circular in shape. Aside from a large bronze cauldron at the very center, it was utterly bare

Zu An rushed over to check if there were any hidden exits, but found nothing.

The screaming and wailing was getting louder and louder. The malicious spirits seemed to have realized that the two of them had no way out. Their strange and terrible laughter filled the air.

“Ah Zu, what do we do now? I won’t be able to hold out for much longer!” Pei Mianman cried, her voice on the edge of full panic. The sinister winds had caused her to reduce the range of her flames as much as possible, just so she could hold on for a little longer.

Zu An frowned. He was just about to reply when Mi Li’s voice came to him. “Why are there so many spirits?”

Zu An was overjoyed. “Big sis empress, you’ve finally come out!”

Mi Li snorted coldly. “You’re always provoking trouble. Look at how many vengeful spirits there are. All your flesh would have been devoured if I’d come out even a second later.”

“I knew that big sis empress still cared about me,” Zu An said, giggling. “By the way, you’re a soul as well. Can you talk to them and tell them that we’re all on the same side?”

Mi Li was momentarily speechless.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 233 Rage points!

“What do you think I am?!”

“Um… I thought that you guys seemed kind of similar in terms of your state of existence, so you might have some things in common…”

“Hmph! These things only have their instincts left. They can’t even be considered intelligent. How could they possibly compare to me?”

Hearing the bare anger in her voice, Zu An also recognized that he had messed up, and he quickly changed the topic. “Ahem, ahem… Big sis empress, do you have any suggestions for what we should do?”

“But of course I do,” Mi Li said proudly. “I presume that this is Yinshang’s sacrificial altar.”

“Sacrificial altar?” Zu An looked around him. It wasn’t quite what he expected, but that wasn’t important right now. “What does a sacrificial altar have to do with our current situation?

Mi Li replied, “In Yinshang, the offering of sacrifices was considered a big deal. From birth to death, battles, agriculture… a sacrifice would be held for all sorts of important occasions. Once the sacrifice was made, the people would ask the heavens for guidance. Whenever a sacrifice was held, the most important thing was the offering. Since this is the sacrificial altar, making an offering should be able to get you out of this disaster.”

“An offering?” The people of the modern world were rather far removed from things like sacrificial ritual. Burning incense and ritual money was pretty much the limit of what they did. Who bothered with things like sacrificial offerings?

Mi Li said, “Usually, these were animal sacrifices, but in the case of Yinshang, the highest quality offerings would be human lives. The people of Yinshang believed that an offering of flesh and blood was appreciated by the heavens the most, and would elicit the best response.”

Zu An recalled the contents of that documentary. No wonder there were so many white bones out there earlier. They were probably all used as sacrifices.

“Why can’t I use that taotie as a sacrifice?” Zu An asked in confusion. “It died here, and its flesh was stripped clean as well.”

“The people of Yinshang always cooked their offerings in the bronze cauldron. For them, the purpose of this bronze cauldron was to cook things. Since that taotie wasn't cooked inside this cauldron, it cannot be considered an offering.”

“I should’ve seized its corpse if I’d known things would turn out like this!” Zu An’s heart filled with regret. “Where would I find an offering now?”

“What’s so difficult about that?” Mi Li’s voice became ice-cold. “Isn’t that big-boobed sis of yours a perfect offering? It’s a human sacrifice of the highest quality. She’s pretty, and her chest is large. I believe the heavens will be extremely pleased with this sacrifice.

“Given your relationship with her, there’s no reason why she would be on guard. It would be easy enough for you to kill her..”

Zu An couldn’t believe what he’d just heard.

Does she really hate her that much? She actually suggested using Big Manman as a sacrifice, and she even figured out the details! Are you just jealous that her chest is bigger than yours?

Mi Li gave an impatient huff. “You should think things through, or else you’ll end up dying with her. If you want to die, go ahead, but don’t drag me down with you. If you can’t do the deed, then I’ll help you.”

“No way!” Zu An refused her right away. His mind raced, perhaps worried that Mi Li might actually try something. A thought struck him like a bolt of lightning. “I have an offering!”