Chapter 79: The Statue

"Great, another Bronze 3? Maybe he can find a way to break this." The only woman in the group lit up with surprise, constantly stealing glances at Su Mu.

"You say you're a Bronze 3?" Tie Feng looked skeptical. "Boy, this isn't the time to lie. I don't believe Bronze Coffin could recruit a Bronze Stage 3 Transcendent. What is your Bronze Law?"

Su Mu pushed up his Tinted Glasses and said flatly, "What? You want to try me?"

His flat tone carried an unquestionable, overwhelming confidence, like a superior looking down from on high.

"Hmph." Tie Feng scoffed. "Boy, I'm not afraid of you. The top priority right now is lifting the curse. There's no need for extra trouble."

Despite his words, he couldn't hide the wariness in his eyes.

"Would anyone care to explain the curse?" Su Mu asked politely. The woman in the crowd opened her mouth to speak, but a Daoist priest beat her to it.

Earlier, Tie Feng had intimidated him into silence, but now he seemed to have found his backbone, straightening his posture. "Brother Su, my name is Jun Wushang. We're on the same side! I'll explain. We all came in here to hide from The Unrememberable.

"Everyone who enters the Land of Sacrifice is targeted by this Statue, and no one can leave. This Angel Demon Statue hands down curses based on good and evil. Good people will see the Statue turn completely into an angel, and then they'll be burned by fire. Evil people will see the Statue turn into a demon, and then their bodies will rot.

"People have tried attacking the Statue, but it's completely useless. Even Mr. Tie Feng, a Bronze 3, couldn't leave the slightest mark on it. We can only watch helplessly as we slowly burn to death or rot away."

As Jun Wushang spoke, he lifted his Daoist robe, revealing that more than half of his body was rotting away.

Su Mu raised an eyebrow. "How does the Statue distinguish between good and evil?"

Cursing people based on good and evil? He found it baffling. The standard for good and evil was difficult to judge. In the eyes of ants, humans were all villains who trampled their brethren to death for no reason every day.

"The Statue will ask questions, and then judge good and evil based on your answers. Remember, you absolutely must not lie! Lying will get you killed by the Statue!"

"When does it ask?"

"Whenever you get near the Statue, it comes alive and asks."

Yang Dongqing's eyes lit up, thinking he had found a way out. "Then if I just don't go over there, won't I avoid the curse?"

Tie Feng sneered. "You think you're the only smart one here and the rest of us are idiots? Like I said, anyone who enters the Land of Sacrifice is already targeted by the Statue. If you avoid going near it to answer its questions for too long, you offend both the angel and the demon simultaneously. Then your body will be both burned by fire and rotted away."

Yang Dongqing's expression stiffened. He felt a surge of anger, but unfortunately, he couldn't beat the man in a fight or an argument.

Su Mu didn't head straight for the Statue, but instead asked, "Do all of you belong to companies founded by the Murong Family?"

Tie Feng pointed to the two people beside him. "We are from Spiritual Pivot Company. Those few over there are from Lingyao Company, founded by the Fourth Young Miss of the Murong Family. I shouldn't need to explain your group—Bronze Coffin, the Murong Family's nominal Third Young Miss."

He didn't utter the words "illegitimate daughter," clearly still somewhat wary of Su Mu's Bronze Stage 3 strength.

"So you all came here looking for the Eye of Gold?"

The crowd nodded, their expressions varying.

"If not for the Eye of Gold, who would have nothing better to do than come to a hellhole like the Abandoned District?" Tie Feng curled his lip.

Suddenly, Su Mu smiled. "It seems the Eye of Gold isn't here."

Everyone was taken aback. Tie Feng demanded anxiously, "What do you mean by that? How do you know it's not here?"

"Where did you get the news about the Eye of Gold?"

"Why should I tell you?" Tie Feng asked warily.

Su Mu smiled faintly. "Then let me guess—your companies all obtained a Gold Leaf from scavengers, didn't they?"

At those words, the expressions of the people from Spiritual Pivot Company and Lingyao Company changed simultaneously. The two groups exchanged glances, clearly realizing something was wrong.

Tie Feng was still stubborn. "So what? The Gold Tree definitely dropped more than one leaf. Isn't it perfectly normal for multiple scavengers to pick them up? That just proves even more that the Eye of Gold is here!"

Su Mu sighed. From behind his Tinted Glasses, his gaze looked like he was staring at an idiot. "If that were true, more companies should have heard about the Eye of Gold, not just the Murong Family. Haven't you ever wondered why every company here belongs to the Murong Family?

"And why, with all the others present, only the eldest son's company is missing?"

"This..."

"Could it be..."

The few of them exchanged glances, seeing the shock on each other's faces. They weren't idiots; it was just hard to think calmly while under a curse. Their minds had been completely consumed by it. Now, with Su Mu pointing it out, they instantly realized something was wrong.

"You mean this is a trap set by the Murong Family's Eldest Young Master?" Tie Feng sprang to his feet. He suddenly grunted in pain, tightly clutching his rotting left arm, having clearly aggravated his wound.

"Perhaps, though it doesn't really matter." Su Mu shrugged indifferently. In truth, he was more inclined to believe that Murong Mengli's fiancé was also involved, because Han Yu had not appeared from start to finish.

It didn't matter to him who the mastermind was anyway. He never cared about evidence when taking revenge; if he just killed everyone under suspicion, his true enemies would inevitably be among them.

Moreover, he quite liked the surprise they had sent him, and he decided to return the favor later.

Everyone's expressions turned incredibly ugly. Being schemed against and reduced to such a state would inevitably breed hatred in anyone's heart.

"Next question: after you entered the Land of Sacrifice, did The Unrememberable appear again?"

Perhaps acknowledging Su Mu's strength and intellect, even Tie Feng didn't make a fuss this time. He answered directly, "No. The Unrememberable is probably wary of the Statue and doesn't dare enter its range at all."

Su Mu nodded thoughtfully. It seemed this Statue was even more bizarre than The Unrememberable. It was just... why would the mastermind put two mutually countering things in the Abandoned District?

The Statue was so eerie that it could trap a group of Transcendents here and leave them merely waiting to die. Logically speaking, the mastermind only needed to deploy the Statue; there was absolutely no need to throw in The Unrememberable as well.

Unless... the Statue wasn't placed here by the mastermind, but had been here all along.