Fuxi found the black flag the child had spoken of three hundred li away.
The flag was not flying in the air, but moving slowly along the back of a mountain.
Every time its fabric rose and fell, faint, scattered sounds of collisions came from within.
It sounded as though many people were trapped in cramped darkness, searching in vain for a way out.
Fuxi settled the child in a hidden cave, protected its entrance with trigram light, and continued north, following the yin energy left by the black flag.
The mountains grew ever steeper. No demon army banners appeared along the way, and he could only occasionally make out wheel ruts erased by magic.
Only after crossing two mountain ridges did a military formation hidden at the bottom of a valley appear in his divination.
The abducted members of the Human Race had been divided among several locations, all with black cords binding their wrists.
A few innate members of the race who possessed cultivation tried to break free, only for the demon markings on the chains to light up and force the spiritual energy within them back into their meridians.
The more numerous younger generations without cultivation were sheltered in the middle.
Some quietly soothed the children in their arms, while others looked up at the blood furnace in the center of the valley, which had yet to be lit.
The black flag had already been planted beside the furnace.
An unsharpened sword blank hung over the furnace mouth. Its blade was rough, yet shadows of souls were already swimming within it.
The one responsible for this trial was a Great Luo Demon God, who was currently adjusting the formation markings.
Ji Meng stood on the cliff above, a stone bowl containing the remnant blood of a Great