Sacred Sacrifice Core

The moment he stepped into the Netherworld Path, it was like crossing from the world of the living straight into the Netherworld.

The dimness of the outer corridor seemed almost bright compared to this place. The light here was sickly, a ghostly green emanating from some kind of phosphorescent moss on the rock walls, barely illuminating the path ahead while casting everything in a sinister, spectral hue.

The air was as thick as mercury, pressing down so heavily it was hard to breathe. A nauseating stench of blood, the foul odor of ancient decay, and the omnipresent, bone-chilling Netherworld Curse Power mingled together, forming a foul aura vile enough to drive the weak-willed instantly mad.

Li Yuan's invisible Burning Qi Field rippled faintly, scorching and purifying the foul aura that tried to erode him, emitting a faint sizzling sound and creating a relatively "clean" zone around him. But he could feel that the concentration of yin evil energy here was extremely high, draining his qi and blood far more than outside.

The passage was wide enough for several carriages to travel side by side. On both rock walls were carved even more, larger, and more sinister runes and eye patterns. The ghostly green light emanated from the grooves of these runes, like countless peering eyes.

The ground beneath his feet was no longer rock but a dark red soil, as if soaked in blood for countless years. It was sticky and soft underfoot, making a squelching sound with each step.

The deeper he went, the clearer the low, droning chant from deep within the earth became. It was no longer fragmented muttering but a unified, eerily uniform chorus of hundreds, converging into a powerful, twisted wave of thought that crashed against Li Yuan's mind like a tide.

If not for his Will Steadfast and the protection of his Crimson Sun Qi and Blood, he would have been contaminated by this thought long ago, reduced to a dazed stupor.

He quickened his pace, his figure blurring into a faint afterimage through the ghostly green passage.

After a moment, the path suddenly opened up!

A cavern of unimaginable scale appeared before Li Yuan's eyes.

This cavern was far larger than the ruin cavern he had fallen into earlier. The dome was high above, lost in thick darkness, its peak invisible. At the center of the cavern was a massive blood pool, as vast as a lake!

The liquid was viscous, a dark red verging on black, with bubbles constantly rolling on its surface, emitting a suffocating stench of blood and decay. Around the blood pool, hundreds of Netherworld Cult disciples knelt densely! They all wore dark green cloaks, heads bowed, following a figure on a central platform as they fervently chanted the sinister incantation.

Their voices merged into a visible gray-black sound wave, like a tangible force pouring into the central blood pool, causing it to churn even more violently.

And at the very center of the blood pool, something was suspended.

It was an eerie altar, about the height of a person, pieced together from countless pale white bones! The altar was shaped like an enormous skeletal palm, spread open and facing upward! At the center of the palm, a mass of thick, writhing darkness, like a living thing, slowly rotated, emitting a terrifying suction force that seemed capable of devouring even light and souls!

Was that the core of the Sacred Sacrifice? That mass of darkness felt to Li Yuan even more powerful and several times more evil than the Ancestral Spirit in the Li family ancestral hall!

Li Yuan's gaze swept past the blood pool and landed on the platform beside the White Bone Altar.

Two people stood on the platform.

On the left was a tall figure, wearing a dark green cloak trimmed with Dark Gold Patterns, holding a bone staff longer than the Deacon's, with a larger skull head. He was not chanting, just standing silently, exuding a cold pressure far stronger than the Deacon's—the master of this place: the Netherworld Cult Bishop.

And the man on the right...

Li Yuan's pupils contracted sharply!

It was an old man wearing the robes of a core elder of the Li family, his face sinister, his eyes sharp as an eagle's—none other than Li Yuanhong, the trusted confidant of Third Elder Li Qian Xiong and a powerful figure in the Li family!

He was actually here! Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Netherworld Cult Bishop!

At that moment, Li Yuanhong carefully took out a black box of unknown material from his bosom. He opened it, revealing three Talisman Fragments similar to the ones Li Yuan carried, along with several black fragments, but in greater numbers and seemingly more intact!

"The time has come. Use the talismans as guides, the artifacts as foundations, and welcome the descent of the Holy Spirit!" Li Yuanhong's voice was solemn, with a barely restrained excitement, as he cast the Talisman Fragments and fragments one by one toward the mass of dark energy in the palm of the White Bone Altar!

The moment the Talisman Fragments and fragments touched the dark energy, they lit up with a ghostly glow, as if activated, slowly merging into it. As they merged, the rotation of the dark energy mass suddenly accelerated, its suction force growing stronger. The entire blood pool boiled, and the chanting of the kneeling disciples grew even more fervent and ecstatic!

"A vessel! We still need the final vessel!" The Netherworld Cult Bishop's low voice rang out with an unquestionable authority. His gray-white pupils swept over the crowd below. "Only a pure Yin Sha Body can bear the power of the Holy Spirit and complete the final descent!"

Hearing this, Li Yuanhong smiled, turned, and clapped his hands toward the shadows behind the platform. "Bring him out!"

Two Li Family Guards escorted a young girl bound in black chains out of the shadows. Her face was pale, her eyes vacant, her body trembling slightly. A pure and dense Yin Sha Qi was uncontrollably leaking from her body!

She had the same Yin Sha Body constitution as Li Yuan! She was the new "vessel" the Li family had found from somewhere!

Hidden in the shadows at the entrance of the passage, Li Yuan took in everything. Seeing that familiar Yin Sha Qi, seeing Li Yuanhong's collusion with the evil fiend, a cold, magma-hot killing intent erupted in his chest!

The key, the vessel, the Sacred Sacrifice... So that was it!

The Li family had been serving the Netherworld Cult all along! They cultivated and sought out Yin Sha Bodies for this very day!

And he himself had once been one of the "vessels" they had chosen!

Just then, perhaps because the killing intent Li Yuan had suddenly unleashed was too sharp, or perhaps by coincidence, the Netherworld Cult Bishop on the platform abruptly turned his head. His gray-white pupils, like two ghostly flames, instantly locked onto the passage entrance where Li Yuan was hiding!

"A rat has sneaked in!" The Bishop's icy voice swept through the entire cavern like a cold current!

The chanting stopped abruptly!

Hundreds of Netherworld Cult disciples, along with Li Yuanhong and the Li Family Guards—everyone's eyes turned in unison toward Li Yuan's direction!

Li Yuan knew he could no longer hide.

And he no longer needed to.

He stepped out of the shadows!

His Bronze Color body, under the ghostly green light, seemed covered in a layer of bronze battle armor. Ignoring the hundreds of malicious gazes, ignoring the overwhelming blood and evil qi, his Crimson Gold Pupils, like two red-hot swords, pierced directly toward Li Yuanhong and the Netherworld Cult Bishop on the platform.

His voice was not loud, but it clearly overpowered the boiling of the blood pool, spreading through the dead-silent cavern:

"Your Sacred Sacrifice ends here."