Chapter 182: Priest in the Shadows, Shock in the Rift Valley
The next day, the eternally dim yellow sky of the Ancient Sunken Continent remained unchanged despite the so-called "noon." Only the pervasive Nirvana mist seemed several degrees thicker than usual.
At the edge of the Soul Burial Rift Valley, atop the massive bone altar, a grim and fanatical atmosphere had gathered to its peak.
Tens of thousands of Ruins Clan Warriors stood solemnly around the altar like a tide of dark crimson. Their icy bone armor reflected the dark red pillar of energy shooting into the sky from the altar's center, radiating a suffocating pressure.
The four Supreme Elders stood like four Giant Pillars supporting the heavens, each guarding one of the eastern, southern, western, and northern array nodes. Vast Nirvana Power circulated around them, merging with the grand array beneath their feet.
The Bone King floated directly above the altar. Its dark golden battle armor glimmered with a sinister light beneath the energy pillar, like a demonic god descending into the world as it looked down upon the entire ritual.
At the altar's edge, beside the boiling pools of dark red energy, several hundred priests in rune-inscribed robes bustled about like worker ants, quietly chanting ancient, obscure incantations.
They guided the pure blood-sacrifice energy refined from the pools into the central pillar without end.
With every infusion of energy, the pillar became more solid, while the violent throbbing from the depths of the rift valley grew clearer.
Ming Xin was currently hidden among those priests.
He wore robes stripped from the old priest, his hood hanging low and concealing his face. Cold Nirvana fluctuations unique to an alchemist emanated from him, imitated with flawless precision.
He followed at the rear of the priestly ranks, his movements somewhat sluggish