The moment he stepped onto the Netherworld Path, it was as if he'd crossed from the world of the living into the underworld in a single stride.
Compared to this place, the dim passage outside was practically bright. The light here was sickly—a ghostly green glow from some kind of phosphorescent moss on the rock walls. It barely illuminated the path ahead, yet bathed everything in a sinister, ghost-ridden hue.
The air was as thick as mercury, pressing the breath from his lungs. The overpowering stench of blood, the reek of long-rotted corpses, and the ever-present, bone-chilling Netherworld Curse Power mingled together into a foul miasma potent enough to drive anyone with a weak will instantly mad.
The invisible Burning Qi Field around Li Yuan rippled faintly, scorching and purifying the filth that tried to seep toward him. It made a soft sizzling sound and formed a relatively "clean" zone around him. But he could feel how dense the baleful energy was here; it drained his qi and blood far more heavily than outside.
The passage was wide enough for several carriages to travel abreast. More runes and eye patterns, larger and more sinister than before, had been carved into the rock walls on either side. The ghostly green light emanated from the grooves of those runes, like countless eyes peering at him.
The ground beneath his feet was no longer rock, but dark red earth that seemed to have been soaked in blood for countless years. It was sticky and soft underfoot, making a squelching sound with every step.
The farther he went, the clearer the low chant became, as if it came from the depths of the earth. It was no longer a scattered muttering, but a strange, synchronized chorus of hundreds upon hundreds of voices. Their voices merged into a powerful, twisted wave of intent that crashed against Li Yuan's mind like a tide.
If not for his steadfast will and the protection of his Crimson Sun Qi and Blood, he would have long since been corrupted by that force of will and reduced to a dazed, senseless state.
He quickened his pace, his figure stretching into a blurred afterimage in the ghost-green passage.
A moment later, the passage suddenly opened up!
A cavern of unimaginable size appeared before Li Yuan.
It was far larger than the cavern ruins where he had fallen before. Its vaulted ceiling soared high, vanishing into the dense darkness above, beyond sight. At the center of the cavern lay an enormous Blood Pool, as vast as a lake!
The pool's water was viscous and dark red, almost black. Bubbles constantly roiled across its surface, releasing a blood stench so foul it was suffocating. Kneeling densely around the Blood Pool were at least several hundred Netherworld Cult disciples! All wore Dark Green Cloaks and bowed their heads, fervently chanting the sinister incantation along with a figure on the central platform.
Their voices gathered into visible gray-black sound waves, which poured into the Blood Pool at the center as if they were tangible, making its waters churn even more violently.
And at the very center of the Blood Pool, something was floating.
It was a bizarre Altar, about as tall as a person, pieced together from countless ghastly white bones! Its shape was strikingly like a gigantic skeletal hand, palm turned upward! In the center of its palm, a mass of darkness so dense it seemed almost solid writhed and churned like a living thing, slowly spinning. It radiated a terrifying, heart-stopping force of suction, as if it could devour light and even souls!
Was that the core of the Sacred Sacrifice? That mass of darkness felt several times more powerful and evil to Li Yuan than the Ancestral Spirit in the Li Family ancestral hall!
Li Yuan's gaze passed over the Blood Pool and settled on the platform beside the White Bone Altar.
Two people stood on the platform.
The figure on the left was tall, wearing a Dark Green Cloak embroidered with Dark Gold Patterns. He held a bone staff longer than the Deacon's, topped with a larger skull. He wasn't chanting; he simply stood there in silence, radiating a frigid pressure far stronger than the Deacon's. He was clearly the one in charge here—the Netherworld Cult Bishop.
And the person on the right...
Li Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted!
That was an old man dressed in the robes of a core Li Family elder. His face was sinister, his gaze sharp as an eagle's. He was the trusted confidant of Third Elder Li Qian Xiong, one of the Li Family's powerful figures—Li Yuanhong!
He really was here! Standing shoulder to shoulder with the Netherworld Cult Bishop!
At that moment, Li Yuanhong carefully took a black box of unknown material from his robes. He opened it, revealing three Talisman Fragments much like the ones Li Yuan carried, along with several black shards—only there were more of them, and they seemed to be in better condition!
"The hour has come. With the talismans as our guide and the vessel as our foundation, we welcome the descent of the Holy Spirit!" Li Yuanhong's voice was solemn, threaded with barely contained excitement. He tossed the Talisman Fragments and shards from the box, one by one, into the mass of darkness in the White Bone Altar's palm!
The moment the Talisman Fragments and shards touched the dark energy, they lit up with a ghostly glow, as if activated, and slowly merged into it. As they were absorbed, the mass of darkness spun much faster, its force of suction growing stronger. The entire Blood Pool boiled, and the kneeling disciples' chanting grew more fervent and frenzied!
"A vessel! We still need the final vessel!" The Netherworld Cult Bishop's deep voice rang out, his tone carrying unquestionable authority. His ashen-gray pupils swept over those below. "Only a pure Yin Sha Body can bear the power of the Holy Spirit and complete its final descent!"
At that, a smile appeared on Li Yuanhong's face. He turned and clapped his hands toward the shadows behind the platform. "Bring her out!"
Two Li Family Guards emerged from the shadows, dragging a girl bound in black chains. Her face was pale, her eyes vacant, and her body trembled faintly. A pure, concentrated Killing Intent leaked uncontrollably from within her!
She had the same constitution as Li Yuan—a Yin Sha Body! She was a new "vessel" the Li Family had somehow found!
Hidden in the shadows at the passage entrance, Li Yuan took it all in. Seeing that familiar aura of Killing Intent, seeing Li Yuanhong standing alongside fiends, a killing intent as cold as ice yet hot as lava 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 had cultivated and hunted down people with Yin Sha Bodies for this very day!
And he, too, had once been one of their chosen "vessels"!
Just then, perhaps because the killing intent Li Yuan had unleashed in that instant was too sharp, or perhaps by sheer coincidence, the Netherworld Cult Bishop on the platform abruptly turned his head. His ashen-gray pupils, like two will-o'-the-wisps, locked onto the passage entrance where Li Yuan was hiding!
"A rat has snuck in!" The Bishop's icy voice swept across the cavern like a Cold Current!
The chanting stopped dead!
Hundreds of Netherworld Cult disciples, Li Yuanhong, and the Li Family Guards—all their gazes turned in unison toward the place where Li Yuan stood!
Li Yuan knew there was no point hiding anymore.
He didn't need to hide.
He stepped out of the shadows.
His bronze-colored body, under the ghost-green light, looked as if it were clad in bronze armor. He ignored the hundreds of hostile gazes, ignored the overwhelming blood stench and baleful energy. His Crimson Gold Pupils, like two red-hot swords, pierced straight toward Li Yuanhong and the Netherworld Cult Bishop on the platform.
His voice wasn't loud, yet it drowned out the roiling Blood Pool and carried through the deathly silent cavern:
"Your Sacred Sacrifice ends here."
Before you continue