Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Qi Xiao moved his lips, wanting to say something, but was abruptly pulled back by Lu Mingyuan, who, with a weary breath, whispered a single word.
"Junior Brother."
Qi Xiao paused for a moment, then slowly clenched his fists and bowed his head in silence.
Seeing him so obedient, Elder Wang stroked his beard, a glimmer of satisfaction appearing in his eyes. However, one still needed to be taught a lesson or two to learn properly.
He strode ahead confidently, completely oblivious to the murderous intent in the young man's gaze.
Elder Wang led Qi Xiao through multiple tunnels and corners, venturing further and further away.
With each step, Qi Xiao grew increasingly astonished; he had not expected that beneath the grand and opulent Bai residence lay so many hidden secrets.
After about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Elder Wang brought him into a secret chamber.
In the center of the chamber was a massive blood pool, filled with remnants of severed limbs and stark white bones.
At the very center of the blood pool stood a three-tiered stone platform, upon which rested an ice coffin.
At that moment, fresh blood was continuously oozing from the ice coffin.
Qi Xiao squinted slightly, suddenly sensing something amiss; there was only a thin layer of blood within the coffin—how could it possibly flow out?
It wasn’t that the ice coffin was leaking blood; rather, the blood from below was being drawn into the coffin continuously. More precisely, it was being absorbed into the corpse inside!
Was it still alive?
Elder Wang laughed heartily. "Silly child, if it lies in the coffin, then naturally it is dead! However, once this body has had its fill, who knows? It might just come back to life."
Looking at the pool filled with blood and remains, Qi Xiao wisely refrained from asking what that corpse needed to consume.
To be resurrected after death would defy the natural order; to do so through such bloody means was even more ominous.
Moreover, upon closer inspection of the remains in the blood pool, he noticed what appeared to be a young girl and a robust young man. Qi Xiao even discovered a family crest from a small cultivation clan on one of the arms among them.
These people in the pool were all cultivators!
Recalling the turmoil in the city, Qi Xiao couldn't help but sneer; it was said that Tongling had suddenly faced an epidemic and many cultivators had fled. It seemed that among those who vanished, quite a few hadn’t left at all but had instead ended up in this pool!
Elder Wang stroked his beard and admitted without any hint of remorse.
"Survival of the fittest is only natural. They were weak; they have no one to blame but themselves for ending up here to nourish Lord Zeyuan. It’s only right for these ants to fulfill their duty."
He looked at Qi Xiao with a grin. "But you need not worry; you are different from those expendables—your role is far more significant! All you need to do is stand in that blood pool and wait for a moment."
"And what will happen to me?"
"Naturally, you will receive Lord Zeyuan's supreme grace!"
"Supreme Gift, my foot!"
At a glance, this blood pool was clearly not something good; perhaps the moment he stepped in, he would be swallowed whole. This old man had no intention of letting him off easy. While he spoke sweetly, he was actually trying to coax him into a death trap.
Seeing that he still stood there, Elder Wang urged, "Why aren't you going in? If you don't step inside, don't blame me for using some methods!"
"You'd better go in willingly; it's much better than me having to take action myself."
Noticing Qi Xiao staring at the ice coffin without moving, Elder Wang's brows furrowed, his previously pleasant demeanor vanished. His face turned cold as he slowly raised his hand. "I don't want to resort to force, but you're forcing my hand."
Just as he was about to act, he suddenly saw Qi Xiao clap his hands and burst into laughter.
"Wonderful, wonderful! This formation is truly remarkable; I didn't expect Elder Wang to be so bold!"
He shot a meaningful glance at Elder Wang, filled with surprise and admiration that sent chills down the elder's spine.
Elder Wang's hand froze mid-air; his expression darkened. "What do you mean by that?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt as if a young brat had him in a bind, and it was somewhat embarrassing. He quickly added, "Hmph! Now that things have come to this point, even if you want to back out, it's impossible!"
"I advise you to go in obediently and not struggle too much; otherwise, you'll only suffer."
Qi Xiao wore a half-smile and even placed one foot on the edge of the blood pool. With just half a step forward, he would fall in. He stood at the brink of the blood pool.
"Elder Wang is highly skilled; if you want to force me in, what can I do as just a mere Golden Core cultivator?"
"What I said earlier was merely a kind reminder. Since Elder Wang is unwilling to listen, if something unexpected happens later, don't blame me."
Just as he was about to lift his foot again, Elder Wang called out to him just in time.
The elder's face shifted from blue to white and back again; after a long pause, he finally spat out a harsh question. "What exactly do you want to say?"
Qi Xiao pointed at the ground beneath him with an indifferent expression. "Just now, I noticed that the blood was flowing backward; it was truly strange. So I took a closer look—Elder Wang, can you guess what I saw?"
"Speak quickly!"
Elder Wang seemed unwilling to engage with him further.
He couldn't possibly say that after coming here so many times, he hadn't figured anything out, could he?
Qi Xiao shrugged, not particularly concerned. Just a moment ago, while observing the patterns on the ice coffin, he finally understood something. The designs on the ice coffin were actually a Spirit Devouring Array, albeit a modified version.
The designer of the array had split it into two parts, each complementing the other—one part on the ice coffin and the other at the bottom of this blood pool—resulting in the appearance of blood flowing backward.
So what? After draining this blood pool, there would indeed be strange patterns, but Elder Wang had never considered this to be anything unusual.
"Don't rush me; I haven't finished speaking. This Spirit Devouring Array has indeed been modified, but that's not the only change!"
For a cultivator to survive, both spirit and body are essential. The Bai family had established themselves in Tongling and had been ruthlessly exploiting cultivators to refine and sustain this corpse.
Logically speaking, even with severe injuries, after so much nurturing, it should have healed by now; yet this body showed no signs of life whatsoever. This indicated that the soul of this body was lost.
That's right—it was lost, not dispersed. The physical body is easy to form, but gathering the spirit is difficult! If a cultivator's spirit is shattered, no matter how powerful others may be, it would be nearly impossible to find a way to reverse it.
The Bai family had been sustaining this corpse for a long time, firmly believing that it could come back to life, which meant that the soul was still present; it just couldn't return due to certain circumstances.
Following this line of thought while examining the altered strange runes on the ice coffin, he suddenly realized everything. No wonder a Spirit Devouring Array combined both spatial transmission and soul communication arrays.
The designer of this array intended to establish a connection between this body and its soul on the day it fully formed, thereby summoning the soul back. However, since this physical body showed no signs of life, merely relying on their connection would make success difficult.
Thus, the designer had prepared a backup plan within the array. As long as they could sacrifice some soul fluctuations and the souls of similar individuals for this body to devour and refine, once it possessed some soul power, it could activate the array and forcibly summon the arriving souls!
Comment 0 Comment Count