Malik remembers the last time Liched laughed at him.

He had just turned ten years old when he was forced by his father, the previous patriarch of the bloodline, to perform the Tomb Keeper Rite.

It's an unusually cruel ritual.

The person who undergoes the ritual needs to strip off his shirt and be cut into the back with a red blade roasted by a candle flame, carving out the carved pattern that they have passed down from generation to generation, because the carrier is a texture, in order to prevent the wound from healing and scarring and losing the trace, the "strokes" of this ritual are two knives, and each line is outlined at the cost of removing all the muscles there, the ancient law stipulates that the male who undergoes this ritual must be ten years old, one can imagine how painful it was for the young Malik.

Malik was not without resistance.

Before he was born, the couple's expectations of biological blood became less and less as they grew older, and although they had adopted a son (Lihid) before that, the obsession with blood was still deeply ingrained in backward Egypt, and in their view, only biological offspring could continue to reproduce pure blood.

Maybe it was providence, but the couple finally gave birth to a daughter...... Then, more than two years passed, and the couple became more and more disappointed day by day.

Malik was born in the fourth year of their almost despair, his birth was an unexpected surprise for the Ishorda couple, the old Ishulda was strict with his words and deeds, hoping to train him to be an excellent grave keeper, this kind of oppressive education caused Malik's heart to be bored, it is hard to imagine that living in the dark underground under the dry well can raise his stubborn character, but because of this, he has a strong curiosity about the outside world, and wants to know everything thoroughly, because of the lockdown, His father's library became his favorite place, and through guò reading, he learned about his fate when he was ten years old.

"Lihid, do you know the Gravekeeper ritual?"

"I don't know." A young man stood beside him, and his task was to accompany Malik in his studies and relieve his boredom.

"Also, you haven't seen your father's back...... Malik lamented with his forehead, "it's a ritual for the Ishurda family to pass down only one son, and in a week's time, I'll have a pattern carved into my back that represents the so-called 'King's Memory,' and swear to protect it with my life." ”

"Do you know how much it hurts? I've heard that it will make people lie on the bed and wail for a whole month!! ”

"Lihid, why don't you perform the ritual in my place?"

"Although it is adopted, after all, it can be regarded as a tomb keeper, and if you perform the ceremony, my father will definitely truly recognize you as a member of my clan!"

Liched smiled and nodded.

What he had never hoped for was the status of the eldest son, but the real recognition of old Isulda.

He was adopted by the couple nine years ago, and during the time when Malik was not born, he was treated as his own, but after Malik's birth, his status plummeted, and when he took off the hat of "adopted son", he was required to do no different from a miscellaneous servant. But he never hated the couple, because for him, these two people were his saviors, and he always secretly remembered this kindness, hoping that in the future he would have the opportunity to repay his "parents", and to have the opportunity to speak and call old Isholda a father.

But old Isholda refused to give him this opportunity.

"What do you say? You're going to perform the ritual in Malik's place? "In the dark underground, old Isholda burst into a rage when she heard his request.

"No kidding, you're just a subordinate! The blood in your body has nothing to do with me! ”

"If you dare to reveal the secrets of my clan, I will cut off your tongue and ask for your life!"

"Get out!"

A week passed quickly.

On his tenth birthday, Malik staggered out of the main hall with his bandages on his body.

"Profit...... Sid ......"

"Sue sù I ......"

Each of Old Isholda's knives seemed to be carved into his heart, and the pain was numb to the end, and all he thought about was the hatred that erupted from his repression.

Did my father endure the same pain when he was ten years old......

Why, our people have to bear the mark of this generation?

Almost all his life, he has lived in the dark underground, and he can only see the palm-sized sky from the well.

"Sue me! Who should I hate!? ”

He opened his eyes as wide as he could, gasping hoarsely, and the monstrous anger that could not be vented gathered on his face, and with his emotions jumped and twisted, it actually tore another face.

A face that only has hatred and slander in his heart.

"Why don't you answer me! Lichd! He looked up to see why the other party hadn't moved for a long time.

Lihid knelt in front of him, blood dripping from his face.

Through the dim candlelight, Malik could see that his face had a wound similar to his own on his back—and at the same time as Malik was undergoing the ceremony, he had carved this inscription on his face with a knife that had been burned by the candlelight.

"I can't share the physical pain for you."

"So, at least...... In this way, to express allegiance to you and your family......"

Malik will never forget this scene.

His restless mood gradually calmed down, and the distorted face of the other one slowly disappeared.

From then on, whenever he saw this face and the tattoo on it, he would think of this scene and force himself to think of it...... There are many more beautiful things in life.

However, he never thought about how fragile this deception-like anesthesia was.

……

―Aquarium in the center of Toshino-cho―

"Uh...... Ahhhhh......h

Skylight raised an eyebrow coldly, and lifted his foot to lean on Lihid, pulling Dusk out of his body.

"I really didn't expect that someone like you could get such loyal subordinates." Using the giant sword in her hand to gently push the sturdy body aside, she looked at the other party a few more times in surprise.

"But you're still going to die."

"Wait!" Isis rushed over quickly, and hit her shoulder without retraction, and Skylight Flame was caught off guard, and she hit her two steps back.

The little time that Lihid had bought for Malik was enough for the others to react, and Shady quietly stood behind her to the right, and behind the left was the figure of Tapir, plus Isis who was facing her, and the girl regained her footing and found that she was actually surrounded.

"It's a surprise." Xia Di looked at the white-haired boy not far away, "I never thought that I would need your help one day. ”

"I don't think so." Tapir Liang looked greedily at the millennium scale in his hand, "This is easy to explain, as long as you obediently hand over the two artifacts you hold to me, I don't have to kill you...... What about your other artifact, why did you only take out one? ”

He stared at Shady's chest suspiciously, it was empty, and if he hadn't met it five years ago, he would have even thought he was hallucinating.

"You don't think this is an easy opponent to solve."

He was telling the truth, he wouldn't mind being merciful if he could get all seven artifacts. However, he can't control what kind of consequences these artifacts will cause when they are gathered together.

“…… Is it possible. Xia Di's face was solemn, the situation in front of him was indeed very bad, he didn't know when he was going to be bitten back when he cooperated with such a viper-like opponent, coupled with the source of trouble Tianguang Flame, he began to wonder for the first time if he was in too much of a hurry.

"Another artifact is also here, you can look for it yourself!" After speaking, he turned his face away, not wanting to look at Tapir Liang's face again.

After checking on Lihid's condition, Isis stood up with a tired face and involuntarily set her eyes on the greatsword in the girl's hand.

The shape of this sword is too brutal...... The protruding parts of those sections are almost devastating to the secondary destruction of the wound, and it is unceremonious to evaluate that even a lion is stabbed head-on by it It is difficult to survive.

Lihid's luck was good, the sword was pierced in the right chest, and she forcibly sealed the wound to prevent heavy bleeding...... But it's only a hint of it.

"Why, why are you doing this?" She looked at the white-haired girl in front of her in a daze, as if she had finally reacquainted with her.

"You've already won, why do you want to make such a dead hand!"

Tianguang Flame listened to her accusations seemingly calmly, and the hand holding the hilt of the sword trembled with too much force.

"So you were there before......" She took a deep breath and slashed at herself without a sword.

She's not a fool, the other party didn't show up when Bai was attacked before, and she didn't show up when she was attacked by the fake Sun God manipulated by Malik, but she ran out at this time...... That was enough to say a lot, and in an instant she felt like she was being tricked.

Isis froze for a moment, the anger on her face quickly ossifying and disappearing.

With her appearance here, the alliance between the Tomb Guardian Clan and the Seahorse Group also broke down at the same time, obviously...... The other party has understood that she has been watching the play here for a long time, which means that she has acquiesced to a series of actions of Gurus to hurt the girl...... It is tantamount to betrayal, and no one in power can continue to maintain the relationship between the two sides after knowing this, let alone Seahorse is not on the right path with her in the first place.

She couldn't explain it, because it was true.

"Looks like it's going to be fruitless today." Skylight Flame looked around and dispersed the greatsword in his hand.

The furious dark power did not overwhelm her reason, and she did not dare to fight against three thousand-year-old artifacts at the same time, but this body ...... This image represents not only herself, she must consider the environment after Li Bai wakes up.

Although she was very reluctant to leave it at that, she was seriously injured at the end of the day, and her anger disappeared a lot, and her attitude eased somewhat.

"As far as I know, quite a few of you are contestants." She brushed her loose hair and looked sarcastically at the people surrounding her, "...... Then I sincerely hope that you can all make it to the quarterfinals. ”

After saying that, she took two steps forward, picked up the unconscious Joker horizontally, and then turned around and walked straight in the direction of Tapir.

"It's just interest today." When passing by Tapir, she gently spat out such a sentence.

"If I were you, I wouldn't do this kind of useless work." Tapir squinted at her and smiled meaningfully, "You'd better go out and find a place where no one is there and throw her away." ”

Skylight ignored him and called Nate to leave.

Seeing her and another black-haired girl disappear into the dark passage, Xia Di finally breathed a sigh of relief.

I don't know if I'm the most conflicted here, he doesn't want to let the other party go like this, but it's not so easy to keep her...... He roughly estimated that the dark energy released by the girl before needed at least four artifacts to contend with, which was very amazing, counting tapir and the thousand-year key as the sealing carrier could barely be gathered, but he still couldn't let down his guard against the former so he didn't mention it, fortunately she still had sense, fortunately, at least it wasn't the worst case.

"I'm sorry, Shady...... But I'm afraid it's hard to meet your expectations. Isis untied her thousand-year-old jewelry and stared at it sadly, "The thousand-year-old treasure can only manipulate people's hearts at most, and it doesn't understand it after all...... Perhaps, we shouldn't have tried to do that in the first place. ”

She knew Malik's alter personality, and she had witnessed that terrible scene with Lihid a long time ago, so she understood what Lichd's fall meant.

"Elsie, ...... you" Shady glared at her in surprise, and he heard bad omens in his words.

"This time, I quit." Isis shook her head, even if the future was chaotic, something could not be stopped, she had decided not to participate in it herself, but to witness the development as a bystander.

Xia Di was taken aback, and was about to persuade her to dispel this terrible thought, when she saw a person slowly standing up from behind the other party.

"It was a wise decision."

Malik slowly raised his head, revealing a face full of hatred and ruinous desire.

This negative personality who created several killings in the original book has finally awakened.

"Right? My dear sister? ”