Sensing a Presence, the Death Curse Deepens!

Heaven-Crying Mountain.

Xia Xuanyan looked at the Heaven-Crying Saintess, who seemed cast from almost the same mold as the Heaven-Crying Cult Leader, and surprise flickered in his eyes.

"Is this your daughter?"

"Yes, and no!" the Heaven-Crying Cult Leader said lightly. "Xiyan is a daughter I conceived and brought into being through a secret art. She is also our cult's saintess."

"I see!" Xia Xuanyan nodded. "I was wondering how someone who has devoted her entire life to the Dao, remained true to it, and pursued it to its utmost could have married and borne a child."

"Mother!" the Heaven-Crying Saintess greeted the Heaven-Crying Cult Leader respectfully.

The Heaven-Crying Cult Leader nodded.

"Patriarch Xia, come with me!"

Xia Xuanyan nodded as well.

A short while later.

The three of them entered the familiar cavern once more.

They passed through its dim, winding passages.

The view before them suddenly opened up.

Ahead, the cavern's ceiling soared overhead, while ghostly blue runes slowly writhed along the stone walls like living creatures.

At the very center of the cavern stood an altar.

It was built from black stones as dark as blood.

The altar rose in nine stepped tiers, its flat summit inscribed with an intricate formation diagram.

The center of the diagram rose into a platform.

On the raised center of that platform sat a palm-sized doll.

"Greetings, Cult Leader!" As the three appeared, an aging, middle-aged woman immediately approached.

"Greetings, Saintess Xiyan!" The woman then bowed to the girl following behind the Heaven-Crying Cult Leader.

"Greetings, Patriarch Xia!" Only then did she greet Xia Xuanyan.

"How is the death curse progressing?" the Heaven-Crying Cult Leader asked.

"Cult Leader, it remains in the first stage. The time is not yet ripe, and we cannot initiate the second stage," the woman replied.

"How