Sacrificial Arts

"Cut!"

In the cold, dark underground space, an altar was erected.

Shen Peigong stood before the altar.

He brandished a sword, panting as he brought it down; at the same time, the short sword offered on the altar would also slash at the puppet.

The Sword-Drawing-to-Slaying Technique cuts away at the passage of time; each strike reduces the opponent's lifespan.

This technique is unlike ordinary Incantation Technique games, where Incantation Technique can be used to harm people, but this technique is difficult to trace.

Shen Peigong recruited a group of students as protectors, with the sole purpose of having them prevent any accidents from disturbing his spellcasting or to carry him away after he finished.

From the day the Daoist Ran Deng entered Yangling to perform his ritual, Shen Peigong had also made targeted arrangements. He had even gone hungry for seven consecutive days in order to ensure that his sword-drawing and life-severing technique would accurately strike the Empress Dowager.

His technique was executed very successfully, but his physical strength was indeed insufficient, so he could only swing his sword one strike at a time.

With each sword strike, Shen Peigong could sense that the Empress Dowager's body was missing a certain part.

He has already wielded over a thousand swords; even if each sword strike cuts through a day's time, he has at least taken away three years of the Empress Dowager's lifespan.

With a soft shout, Shen Peigong, panting heavily, swung his longsword once more.

Although the distance was now extremely close, and he had adjusted his condition for seven days to maximize the power of the Sword-Drawing-to-Slaying Technique, the power of his spell was still limited.

Shen Peigong could only lament his own lack of Technique Method; a true master of destiny arts would not need to perform rituals like he did.

The longer it went on, the more variables there were, so Shen Peigong had no choice but to keep performing rituals at all costs.

Either shorten the Empress Dowager's lifespan, or exhaust yourself to death.

For Shen Peigong, he had no third choice.

From the moment he made his move, Shen Peigong knew very well that he would inevitably be a prime suspect, and if he couldn't get rid of the Empress Dowager, the other side would definitely investigate.

Regardless of whether there is any real evidence, the Empress Dowager is the kind of person who would rather kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

Before things escalated to a breakdown, everyone was just wary of each other, but once things broke down, there was no buffer period, and things wouldn't end until it escalated to a point of no return.

He shouted, and his body trembled involuntarily.

With his physical strength constantly dwindling and the underground space frosty, he won't be able to use his sword-drawing technique for much longer.

Shen Peigong bit down hard, and the pain of biting his tongue instantly spread throughout his body.

He spat a mouthful of blood onto his longsword, and a surge of potential welled up within him, making him swing the sword even faster and more swiftly.

Will we die?

"Why should Zhou Ba require us to protect him?!"

"It was clearly Zhou Ba and Xia Kuan who were supposed to be protecting them, so why is it our turn now!"

"I heard they had diarrhea, and it was a collective problem; they all went to the outhouse!"

"These people dodge the issue as soon as they arrive. Oh dear, my stomach hurts too!"

"Your pain is fake, but their pain is real. Why don't you squat down and poop a big poop right now and see?"

"What, are they so casual about it?"

"They said they put a ginseng root in the broth while cooking the meat. I guess they misjudged and dug up some kind of poisonous ginseng. Now I can't stop the urge to urinate, it's completely uncontrollable. The outhouse is packed inside and out, and there's filth everywhere. We can't learn from this!"

"That's outrageous?"

Shen Peigong slashed the sword, while Kong Zhong, Kong Anguo, and others stood not far away as 'protectors'.

The crowd murmured amongst themselves, occasionally discussing Shen Peigong and then occasionally talking about Zhou Kuan and the others.

"Actually..."

Looking at his father and several uncles, Kong Anguo felt it necessary to remind them.

"Our teacher is currently engaged in a magical battle and has no time to attend to us. Furthermore, the great scholars Zhou and Xia are suffering from severe diarrhea. If we want to leave, no one will stop us," Kong Anguo reminded them.

"That's true," Kong Zhong belatedly realized, and exclaimed happily, "I knew my son was smart!"

"So, shall we pack up and leave?" Du Wencai asked.

"Hey Shen Peigong, we've finished our work, it's time for us to leave," Ye Siqian called out. "If you don't have anything else, we're leaving now!"

"Yes, just let me know if you need anything!"

"It's terribly cold here. If you're not going to say anything, we'll be leaving now!"

Zhu Jiusi and Li Mingrui also joined in the commotion.

Shen Peigong was engaged in a magical duel and clearly couldn't do anything else.

If the crowd wanted to flee, Shen Peigong couldn't stop them.

After discussing it together, everyone felt that things would be easier to handle.

Everyone quickly packed up their belongings, putting away the Law Artifact they had used to dig the tunnel, and prepared to leave.

"Cut!"

Shen Peigong, who was unleashing his sword-drawing and life-slaying technique, could only respond with a loud shout.

But his shout had no deterrent effect whatsoever, and no one paid him any attention.

Shen Peigong felt a sense of desolation and loss, but that was just the nature of the Kong family.

These people are destined to prioritize survival.

"It is said that the Kong family has an exceptional talent for self-preservation. Could it be that they sensed something amiss? But there's absolutely no way my place could have been discovered. This village is occupied by my Confucian students; it's just an inconspicuous spot among countless territories..."

As Shen Peigong swung his sword to strike again, he couldn't help but ponder the matter.

But he quickly became engrossed in his spellcasting, and no matter what the Kong family noticed, he had to continue casting the spell.

With another slash, Shen Peigong felt both exhausted and satisfied.

Compared to the previous sword strike, the power of this strike was several times greater.

Although it's far from the legendary cases of some cultivators who could cut off a year or even ten years of lifespan with a single sword strike, his mediocre magical Technique Method were already quite remarkable for him.

"If we use this standard to execute another thousand swords, the Empress Dowager should be nearing her end!"

As he pondered this, he suddenly felt a chill, an intense cold several times greater than before, assail him instantly.

A faint, foul stench wafted over.

"Could it be that Zhou Ba and his gang all suffered from diarrhea so badly that the stench could be smelled for miles around?"

The stench was so unique and intense that even Shen Peigong noticed he felt unwell.

As he pondered the stench as utterly outrageous, he suddenly remembered something.

"The palace eunuchs say the Empress Dowager has a foul odor. Could it be that she's come looking for me?"

Shen Peigong swung his sword with all his might, but felt it was weak and feeble when he swung it. It didn't unleash the full power of his life-saving technique at all, and he even felt an unbelievable pain.

"Something's not right, this sword strike shouldn't feel like this!"

Amidst the peculiar stench that was almost unbearable for Shen Peigong, he swung his sword, feeling as if he had struck himself.

"The spell's location was clearly determined, the fate shouldn't be reversed... Oh no!"

Intending to act swiftly and decisively, Shen Peigong suddenly came to his senses when he thought of the eunuch's inside information about the Empress Dowager's foul odor, then of Yangling, and then of asking the Daoist priest Ran Deng to perform a ritual at Anle Palace.

"It's the corpse Sha Qi of a human!"

While the rotting of an ordinary corpse may produce a foul odor, the stench of a decomposing human body can have a powerful and Sha Qi influence on the living.

Once you're tainted by this Sha Qi, it's like a maggot clinging to your bone; it's incredibly difficult to shake off.

Shen Peigong was greatly alarmed, feeling that the corpse energy from Yangling had leaked into this cave.

He couldn't understand why this was happening, but now was not the time for him to use magic to harm others.

He dropped his longsword, no longer caring about his altar and offerings, and began to stagger and flee.

When his gaze occasionally swept over the exposed arm, Shen Peigong noticed a few more long hairs and lividity marks on it.

"Heaven has forsaken me!"

He cried out, momentarily at a loss for how to end the situation.