With Zanxing’s explanation, the following murals became much easier to understand.

The next few paintings seemed to confirm Zanxing’s theory. After the Serpent Witch saintess settled in this place, more and more people came to trade various things with her. For example, someone offered a calf born to their family’s cow in exchange for a bountiful harvest the following year. Young women also gave the Serpent Witch their precious bracelets, praying to marry a suitable husband in the coming year.

The Serpent Witch seemed to accept all comers, trading everything from poor families’ eggs to wealthy children’s gold and silver. Everything was a fair exchange, and both sides were happy.

Tian Fangfang stroked her chin: “This Serpent Witch Clan’s saintess seems quite capable.”

Zanxing said, “Not necessarily a good thing.”

“What do you mean?” Mendong asked.

Gu Baiying stared at the murals on the wall and spoke indifferently: “Human hearts are greedy. Acting this way will likely invite disaster.”

Mu Cengxiao pointed at the painting before them: “Look at what comes after.”

After several such various trading scenes, the paintings changed again. A merchant-like figure stood before the Serpent Witch, with a box of precious jewels in front of him. He pointed at another person in the distance, looking extremely angry, holding a knife in his hand.

“This is…” Meng Ying hesitantly spoke: “Asking the Serpent Witch to take someone’s life for him?”

Zanxing’s heart sank.

Sure enough, equal exchange would eventually give some evil people opportunities to exploit. It was inevitable that it would be used by those with ulterior motives. At first, it was just wanting family members to recover from illness, wanting crops to grow better, wanting to marry a suitable husband, but later, it might become wanting someone’s life, wanting his whole family to suffer misfortune, wanting all those better than him to disappear…

Human nature has both good and evil, and greedy hearts can never withstand temptation.

“The Serpent Witch seems to have refused.” Tian Fangfang said.

Zanxing continued looking at the murals. Indeed, in this painting, the Serpent Witch seemed to have declined this person’s request. The man returned reluctantly with his gold and silver.

The Serpent Witch didn’t agree to just any trade. She agreed to some and refused others. It seemed that those who could trade with her could only make transactions about themselves, such as “I want to…” But requests that used others’ changes as the price of the trade, such as “I hope he will…”, she would ignore.

“This Serpent Witch has quite a clear conscience.” Tian Fangfang praised.

Zanxing shook her head: “It’s already too late.”

The following murals were painted very roughly, as if hastily completed under extremely urgent circumstances. The Serpent Witch seemed to have become very weak, sitting on her high seat, with someone holding gold and silver coming to find her. When the Serpent Witch turned around, that person pounced from behind and stabbed a knife into her back.

Zanxing’s eyes widened.

The Serpent Witch fell, and many people rushed in. They took the snake staff from the Serpent Witch’s hands. The painting became so chaotic at this point that it was almost impossible to see clearly, and then there was nothing more.

All the murals were finished, and everyone fell silent.

This story wasn’t hard to guess. The Serpent Witch Clan’s saintess protected the common people of Wufan City. The people offered fruits as tribute, while the Serpent Witch protected their safety and helped them drive away evil demon beasts. The Serpent Witch had a snake staff that seemed to contain spiritual power and could help people achieve their heart’s desires. The Serpent Witch and the common people used this snake staff to make trades, but human hearts are greedy. The people were no longer satisfied with small wishes and wanted more and more. In the end, those whose desires couldn’t be satisfied killed the Serpent Witch together and stole her snake staff.

“Could this be what happened here before?” Meng Ying pondered for a moment: “But according to the murals’ records, the Serpent Witch died long ago at the hands of Wufan City’s common people. Then what about the saintess we saw earlier?”

“There are two possibilities,” Gu Baiying’s fingers brushed over the murals as he lowered his eyes: “Wufan City had more than one saintess, or the Serpent Witch from back then has already become a Mo Sha.”

“That’s right!” Tian Fangfang clapped her hands: “Dying at the hands of the people she protected – if I were this Serpent Witch, I wouldn’t be willing to accept it either. She might have left a curse, turning the entire Wufan City into demons condensed from demonic energy. That’s why the Wufan City we saw during the day was different from the one we saw at night.”

“Demons condensed from demonic energy?” Mu Cengxiao was puzzled.

Tian Fangfang looked at Zanxing: “Wasn’t the Mo Tomb that junior sister encountered in the Xumi Jiezi Map just like this?”

Zanxing couldn’t help but shiver: “Why do you make it sound so frightening?”

Tian Fangfang was about to continue speaking when she suddenly heard Mimi let out a sharp shriek from the corner. Zanxing was startled and looked toward Mimi, who immediately jumped onto her shoulder. Now that the Qiankun Bag couldn’t be opened, this fat cat couldn’t go back inside to slack off either.

Mu Cengxiao’s expression tensed: “Why is there so much sand on the ground?”

The floor of the hall was originally paved with exceptionally smooth, polished stones, with intricate flower patterns carved on top. Now, somehow, it was covered with a layer of fine yellow sand.

“There wasn’t any when we came in,” Mendong clutched Gu Baiying’s sleeve. “This sand couldn’t be rising by itself, could it?”

Gu Baiying was stunned for a moment, then his face suddenly changed as he said: “No, it’s not the sand rising – this altar is sinking!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire hall suddenly tilted to the left, as if the hall had become a square stone thrown into a dry swamp, slowly sinking with an irresistible momentum.

Meng Ying ran to the main door of the hall, pushed hard, then turned back: “Master Uncle, the door is locked and won’t open!”

After they entered the hall, they hadn’t sensed anyone’s presence, nor had they noticed anyone approaching, yet the main door had been quietly closed.

“There’s something wrong with this altar.” Gu Baiying said coldly, “The ground is sinking faster and faster. Run upstairs!”

The entire hall seemed about to completely overturn, sinking bit by bit into the depths of the desert. The hall had stairs leading upward – if they didn’t want to die here inexplicably, this was their only way to survive. Zanxing followed behind Gu Baiying, but after just two steps, she suddenly felt violent shaking beneath her feet. With a thunderous “boom,” the tall stone pillar in the middle of the hall crashed down from the center, breaking the entire hundred-jade staircase into two sections.

Meng Ying, Tian Fangfang, Mu Cengxiao, and Mendong were at the top of the stairs. Seeing this scene, they quickly jumped into the upper corridor. Zanxing ran slowly, and Gu Baiying brought up the rear, so the two of them were cut off on the other side of the stairs. Climbing up was now impossible.

“Master Uncle!” Mendong called out.

“Keep going up, don’t worry about me.” Gu Baiying said coldly, then turned around and grabbed Zanxing’s arm: “This way!”