By now, the battle near the altar had grown utterly brutal.
"Ah!" "Help me!"
Screams rose one after another. Suppressed by the blood mist and besieged by the natives' frenzied attacks, the Duwe disciples suffered widespread casualties.
Figure after figure fell. As though drawn by an invisible force, their blood streamed toward the central altar, making the bloody glow around it ever more sinister.
The cultivators fought desperately. Pale-faced, Ying Le huddled at the rear, constantly stuffing Qi-Restoring Pills into his mouth. Each sweep of his Spirit Umbrella barely managed to take down a single Totem Warrior.
Relying on her array of Dharmic Instruments and numerous Spirit Talismans, Qi Luoshuang cleared a small safe area around herself. Yet the group's numbers were still dwindling rapidly.
Every surviving disciple hoped that help would arrive soon. Yet five or six double-hours had passed without even a glimpse of a Foundation Establishment High Person.
"Why aren't the Foundation Establishment High Persons here yet?!" someone cried, finally breaking down.
Hadn't they been told that if they encountered priest-rank natives, they could request help through their Identity Tokens and reinforcements would come?
They looked around. Blood stained the earth, and only a dozen or so companions remained, struggling to hold on.
At that moment of despair-
"Thump... thump... thump..."
A drumlike pulse sounded from deep within the altar. It seemed to strike directly at everyone's heart, churning their blood until they nearly vomited.
The bloody radiance at the altar's center condensed to its utmost limit, then suddenly erupted upward. A phantom formed of viscous blood slowly emerged, its shape shifting ceaselessly before finally solidifying into a beating "heart."
"The Blood Ancestor! The Blood Ancestor has awakened!" Several tribal chiefs trembled with excitement, falling to their knees and kowtowing.
Before they could proclaim their fervent devotion, the blood-red heart phantom shuddered violently, sending countless bloody tendrils shooting in every direction.
Their targets were not the remaining Duwe disciples, but every person of the Savage Realm present. Anyone pierced by a tendril, warrior or chief alike, was instantly drained of their vital blood and reduced to a desiccated corpse.
"No! Blood Ancestor! We've taken you as our master! We are your most faithful subjects!" one tribal chief screamed in terror. A moment later, a tendril pierced his chest.
"Hh... hh..." Pain sank deep into his marrow. As the chief stared at that sinister "heart," memories buried beneath his fanaticism resurfaced. Only then did he remember that the records described the Blood Ancestor as an "evil totem."
Before Fuli Heaven's invasion, the Royal Court had worshipped many totems, dividing them into righteous totems and evil totems.
Totems accepted offerings and bestowed extraordinary power upon their followers. Evil totems bore the name "evil" because the sacrifices they craved most were precisely the followers who worshipped them.
The Blood Ancestor was a particularly infamous evil totem. In ancient times, the tribes that worshipped him had been exterminated by the combined forces of the Black Ape, Rock, and other tribes. His totem had also been utterly shattered, and he had vanished without a trace ever since.
"How could I have forgotten?" Just before his consciousness scattered, the chief caught the mockery in Bone Vulture's eyes out of the corner of his own. "It... was you...!"
With boundless regret and bitterness, the light faded completely from his eyes, and his body slowly toppled.
The dozen or so surviving disciples watched the people of the Savage Realm slaughter their own, and an even deeper chill settled in their hearts.
Although all the natives surrounding them had become sacrifices, the priest on the platform was even further beyond their ability to handle.
After devouring every follower's flesh and blood, the "heart" beat faster and faster. Then it condensed a beam of red light that shone directly onto Bone Vulture.
Bone Vulture neither dodged nor evaded. He spread his arms and let the red light envelop him, his aura changing drastically along with it. Before, he had possessed the rank of a priest without the strength to match; now, he had power equal to his rank.
"Senior Priest," Ying Le forced himself to his feet and called to Bone Vulture on the high platform, "even if you kill us all, once our sect's Foundation Establishment High Persons arrive, you won't escape their pursuit.
Since you've already achieved your goal, why not leave now? We certainly won't reveal anything."
A trace of mockery appeared on Bone Vulture's face.
"Heh... fools." He looked down at them, his voice hoarse and icy. "Did you think I poured my blood and sweat into awakening the Blood Ancestor just to take revenge on Fuli Heaven?"
His gaze slowly swept over the group before finally settling on Ying Le, carrying the satisfaction of someone appraising an object.
The next instant, bloody light surged around Bone Vulture. His body became a streak of blood that shot straight toward Ying Le at an inconceivable speed!
"No-!" Ying Le managed only a brief cry before the viscous blood-shadow swallowed him. When the bloody light dispersed, only "Ying Le" remained standing there.
At the altar's edge, Chu Mo, who had been searching all along for a chance to escape, looked toward "Ying Le." His pupils involuntarily contracted.
[Level 10 · Rogue Cultivator Bone Vulture (red name)]
Ying Le-or rather, Bone Vulture-flexed his brand-new hands and feet slightly. Feeling the strange power called "true qi" within his dantian, he was filled with satisfaction:
"From now on... I am a Duwe disciple. I shall return to Fuli and pursue the true Great Dao!"
This was his real goal: to use the Blood Ancestor's power to merge into the body of a cultivation disciple, steal his identity, and infiltrate Fuli Heaven to cultivate the Great Dao.
The Savage Realm's survival? The Royal Court's glory? Neither had anything to do with him.
The great "Spirit of Heaven" had guided him to the Blood Ancestor's remains, then led him to restore the Blood Ancestor's totem. Surely it supported his choice as well.
"Junior Brother Ying, are you... all right?" a Duwe disciple asked tentatively, gripping his Dharmic Instrument tightly.
"I'm perfectly fine," Bone Vulture replied with a smile. Before he had finished speaking, his expression changed dramatically.
As he abandoned his priest rank to complete the fusion, the heart phantom seemed to lose its central support. It flickered violently, its pulse growing erratic and weak. Its aura plunged off a cliff, and it seemed about to lapse into dormancy once more.
"What's going on?! The Blood Ancestor's power..." Feeling the power inside him begin to destabilize, Bone Vulture stared at the fading heart in shock and fury.
"That must be it. The Blood Ancestor hasn't fully revived yet. His power isn't enough to sustain my fused state."
A vicious gleam flared in his eyes. He had to eliminate every witness immediately, then find a way to awaken the Blood Ancestor completely.
Just as he was about to act, Chu Mo suddenly sneered. "'Brother Ying,' I suggest you don't move."
Bone Vulture froze, his expression turning extremely ugly.
At some point, a lifeless, corpse-like figure had drawn close beneath the blood-red heart! In its hand, it clutched a large handful of long paper strips.
Naturally, Bone Vulture recognized them. They were the Duwe disciples' usual means of killing-Spirit Talismans.
Watching the changes in his opponent's expression, Chu Mo's heart tightened. The Corpse Puppet held every offensive talisman he possessed-not only his own stock, but also those he had scavenged from his fellow disciples' corpses during the melee.
Flame Explosion Talismans, Flowing Flame Arrow Talismans, Great Wind Blade Talismans... he had stuffed the whole assortment into the Corpse Puppet's hands.
He did not know whether the talismans, combined with the Corpse Puppet's self-detonation, could truly harm the blood-red heart. But he had to gamble!
Damn it, what the hell are those Foundation Establishment cultivators doing? Taking this long-do they want to attend my funeral feast? Chu Mo frantically urged them on in his heart, praying that rescue would arrive. Otherwise, he could only die once and try to fool his opponent.
Bone Vulture's expression was so dark it could have dripped water. The Blood Ancestor was in an extremely unstable state. If he suffered any further damage, he might fall dormant again.
Unforeseen flaws might also emerge in the fusion Bone Vulture had just completed. And who knew how many years he would have to wait before he could gather enough power to awaken the Blood Ancestor again?
He dared not gamble.