Sacrifice

"Erased history, a lost martial civilization?" Chen Xu's interest was piqued. Just as he was about to listen further, the driver abruptly hung up.

Cursing the driver under his breath, Chen Xu became quite interested in the information the person on the other end had mentioned.

If he got the chance, Chen Xu really wanted to have a "chat" with him.

His aura erupted, instantly knocking the silver-patterned black-robed cultists unconscious.

"Martial Artist!" The driver's final thought flashed through his mind before his consciousness sank into eternal silence.

Before the cultists below the vehicle could react, a figure shot out through the door like a gale, killing everyone present with a few punches and kicks.

Chen Xu had never shown mercy to enemies who wanted his life.

After placing the unconscious Nie Mengyin and Ling Youyou somewhere safe, Chen Xu donned a matching silver-patterned black robe and strode into the cave at the foot of the mountain.

Following the cave's only path, Chen Xu went nearly five minutes without encountering a single cultist.

Had they all gone out to fetch people, only to be slaughtered by him?

After walking another three or four minutes, Chen Xu spotted several similarly dressed men guarding the way ahead.

"Stop. Without the High Priest's permission, outer cultists are forbidden from entering the inner cave." A cultist with gold patterns embroidered on his black robe stretched out a hand to block Chen Xu's path.

Too lazy to waste words on them, Chen Xu simply used his aura to knock all five of them down.

He pulled the short blades from their bodies and killed them one by one.

Numbers meant nothing to a Martial Artist. Even without personally making a move, the [Form] they possessed could crush any being below the Martial Artist level.

Only those with unwavering will could barely endure it.

The altar was covered in blood, and the thick stench of it filled the entire area.

A diamond-shaped crystal was embedded in the stone slab at the center of the altar, fitting perfectly without the slightest gap.

"The Holy Stone said to preserve souls truly is incomparably magnificent."

The High Priest gently stroked it with his wrinkled, aged hand and sighed from the bottom of his heart.

His wooden cane struck the ground heavily, making the ornaments hanging from it clatter endlessly against one another.

Every one of those ornaments was made from the skull of a baby less than a year old!

"Why haven't the new sacrifices been brought in yet?" The High Priest's voice was tinged with dissatisfaction. He was already getting impatient.

"I'll have someone urge them along immediately." The cultist in the gold-patterned black robe answered respectfully. Though his status was higher than the High Priest's, he did not dare let his gaze rise above the old man's waist.

"Tell them to hurry." Leaning on his cane, the High Priest slowly walked down from the altar. "If the auspicious hour arrives and the sacrifices still aren't here, then you will become today's sacrifices."

"Yes." The male cultist withdrew. Before the High Priest, he did not dare act rashly in the slightest.

The High Priest's gaze swept across the devotees praying devoutly nearby, and a few traces of satisfaction appeared on his face.

Everything was prepared. Today would be the day he leaped over the dragon gate and defied fate.

What Martial Artists? What bloodline armament resonators? They were not even worthy of carrying his shoes.

For this day, he had prepared for an entire lifetime.

Ever since the once-ordinary young man had found the incomplete Sacrificial Ritual at the age of twenty-two, the course of his life had changed drastically.

If asked whether he regretted becoming what he was today, he could answer clearly: not at all. He would not regret it even if he had been given anything else in exchange.

"High Priest, we can't contact anyone in the outer area. Could it be..." The subordinate looked awful. He even suspected that the driver had been captured and spilled everything.

Their cult did not even have a single Martial Artist. If they faced the Great Abyss Military Headquarters' pursuit and blockade, whether they could continue to exist would be a problem.

"Don't panic." The High Priest rebuked him. "Take several men and check the inner part of the cave. Find out what happened."

The subordinate reluctantly accepted the order, deliberately selecting several large-framed devotees before leaving the altar area.

"Twenty minutes remain." The High Priest roughly estimated the time, his eyes wandering over the dozens of cultists.

Every one of these fanatics had cost him considerable effort to cultivate. All were at least fifth-stage Martial Artists and formed the backbone of the cult.

Normally, the death of even one would have pained him. Now, however, more than twenty might die at once. His feelings were understandably complicated.

"For the great cause, what does it matter if a few more are sacrificed?" The High Priest quickly adjusted his state of mind and waited for the auspicious hour of the ritual.

Time passed second by second, but the sacrifices that should have arrived never appeared.

"The time has come to offer ourselves to the Holy Lord. Devotees, step onto the altar. We are with the Holy Lord." The High Priest raised his wooden cane high and began performing a bizarre dance, occasionally uttering one or two syllables.

At the same time, the prayers grew dozens of times louder. Rather than praying, they seemed to be screaming with all their strength.

Without saying a word, the cultists in gold-patterned black robes stepped onto the altar and knelt one after another around the central stone slab, beginning to pray as well.

The content of their prayers was obscure and incomprehensible, far removed from Great Abyss's official language.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the Holy Stone atop the slab seemed to be growing increasingly dark and profound in color.

"The blood sacrifice begins!" The High Priest suddenly swung his wooden cane. More than a dozen dangling infant skulls collided, their tinkling clatter spreading throughout the altar area.

"My blood and the holy blood, my body and the holy body, my soul and the holy soul..."

The cultists on the altar used the short blades they carried to carve wounds deep enough to expose bone into their own bodies. As blood poured from them in great quantities, their faces visibly turned pale.

Even so, they continued praying, as though they knew neither pain nor fear.

Blood dripped into the grooves on the altar and flowed toward the stone slab.

The High Priest stared fixedly at the slab. Their previous attempts had all failed at this step. Sometimes the two sides had not coordinated properly, causing one to be too fast and the other too slow; other times, there simply had not been enough blood.

The two previous attempts had both been preparations for today's success.

The blood flowed along the grooves into the edge of the stone slab, and then an astonishing scene unfolded.

It flowed back upward against the current along the slab's patterns and was absorbed by the Holy Stone at the slab's center.

As it continuously absorbed blood, the black crystal gradually took on a trace of crimson, beginning to transform from its base.

If someone standing outside the cave looked up at the sky, they would find dark clouds gathering within a radius of a thousand meters, with low rumbles of thunder sounding from time to time.

At another location less than two hundred kilometers away, vortex-shaped thunderclouds looked exactly the same, as though foretelling something.

None of the devoutly praying cultists noticed that there was one more person in a gold-patterned black robe.

Chen Xu stood among the praying crowd, silently observing the changes in the altar.

Ever since the crystal began drawing in blood and emitting an indescribable scent, his spiritual energy, which had not stirred for a long time, began to increase slowly.

Though each increase was small, the frequency was high enough that it pulsed once every two or three seconds on average.

That was precisely why he had not suddenly started killing people.

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