Chapter 1807: The Ritual

After passing through a long corridor and making a wide detour, Han Li and the others bypassed the main hall of the ancestral temple and entered directly into the rear hall.

In a hidden secret room within the hall, there was a white stone staircase slanting down into the depths of the earth.

At the entrance of the staircase, several more secret guards stood watch vigilantly.

Xu Jiao waved his hand, and these secret guards immediately bowed and retreated to both sides.

The group entered the somewhat dim staircase.

This passageway was somewhat dark, with gusts of cold air blowing out from below from time to time. On both sides, at regular intervals, fist-sized moonstones were embedded,

causing the spiritual light in the passage to flicker, casting heavy shadows, as if it were a ghost realm.

Fortunately, the stone steps were not long. After a short while, the group walked out and appeared in a meticulously designed giant underground hall.

Han Li swept his gaze around, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The entire hall was built with a pale black jade stone, covering an area of fully three to four hundred zhang. On the surrounding walls and ceiling, complex and mysterious white runes were inscribed.

These runes flickered with white spiritual light, making the entire hall as bright as day.

But the most eye-catching thing in the hall was an exceptionally exquisite pool-shaped high platform in the center.

The high platform was hexagonal in shape and surrounded by a giant magic array.

Inside the high platform, a circular pool was filled with a strange, bright red liquid, yet there was not the slightest scent of blood; instead, gusts of rich fragrance emanated from the pool.

Within this giant magic array, more than a dozen Xu family cultivators were sitting in meditation, forming a circle around the hexagonal high platform.

Among them were Xu Yan and Xu Huo, whom Han Li had seen before.

"Greetings, Senior Han. Many thanks to you for helping the Xu family." These two Void Refinement stage cultivators of the Xu family, seeing Han Li appear in the hall accompanied by Xu Yuan and Xu Jiao, immediately understood Han Li's intentions. They were overjoyed, stood up at once, and bowed to Han Li from afar.

"Let's not speak of gratitude yet. Whether I can truly be of any small help is still a matter of debate," Han Li said, shaking his head.

Xu Jiao, the patriarch of the Xu family, did not mind at all. Instead, he beckoned to the distance, having the other Xu family cultivators come to meet Han Li as well.

These cultivators were both men and women; some were no more than thirty or forty years old, while others were white-haired elders with lowered eyes.

But every single one of them possessed a Spirit Severing stage cultivation base; they were clearly the true core members of the Xu family.

These cultivators had long been stealing glances at Han Li with awe, clearly aware that he was a Body Integration stage cultivator. Now, hearing their patriarch's instruction, they all stood up at once and bowed deeply to Han Li in unison.

Han Li waved his hand and looked toward the blood pool on his own, a look of great interest appearing on his face.

"This was built according to the records in the Blood Soul Secret Art. The spiritual liquid in the pool is made by melting our Xu family members' essence blood together with numerous rare spiritual medicines and items. It is not only one of the essential things for awakening the blood soul, but can also use the blood energy in the pool to delay the dissipation of the blood soul for a while," Xu Yuan said in a low voice from the side.

"So that's how it is. However, the most important thing for the awakening ritual is still what lies beneath the spiritual liquid, right? Without this item, even if there were more spiritual liquid in the pool and the magic array laid down were more profound, the Blood Soul Secret Art would still be difficult to execute!" Han Li said indifferently, a faint blue light flashing in his pupils.

"Senior's eyes are like torches; you have already seen it. Beneath the spiritual liquid is our Xu family's ancestral treasure, the 'Blood Crystal Coffin'. Without this item, it is impossible to condense the blood body necessary for the blood soul, allowing the blood soul to attach itself to it," Xu Yuan's expression changed slightly, but he immediately explained as usual.

"Blood Crystal Coffin! Hehe, I think I understand what this awakening ritual is all about." Han Li swept his gaze over the giant magic array below several times. Seeming to recall something, he chuckled after pondering for a while.

"Is that true, Senior?" Xu Huo and Xu Yan at the side were stunned, clearly not fully believing Han Li's words.

For this awakening ritual, the Xu family had mobilized the entire clan just to prepare the layout, and it had taken them the better part of a day to barely get it ready.

Even though the other party was a Body Integration stage cultivator, they naturally found it hard to believe that he could see through the mysteries of it after only a few glances.

Xu Yuan and Xu Jiao, hearing this, also showed surprise.

"You fellow Daoists need not feel strange. It's just that this ritual of yours is quite similar to a secret art of a foreign race that I once witnessed; it has quite a similar effect," Han Li said, his smile fading.

But in his mind, he couldn't help but recall a secret art manual of a foreign race he had once seen while in Tianyun.

Although this foreign race was not well-known, the recorded secret art could split a soul into numerous parts; as long as one strand could enter a body carefully prepared in advance, one could immediately replicate an identical avatar for oneself.

This kind of secret art looked so peculiar, and the cultivation technique and the human race's secret arts were somewhat similar.

Han Li had once immediately made a copy of it, as if he had found a treasure.

But afterward, he discovered that the key to this secret art required possessing a certain hidden talent of that foreign race. Otherwise, after cultivating it, it would instead invite the backlash of the secret art.

As a result, he could only secretly sigh and give it up.

Of course, foreign races were inherently somewhat different from the human race, and the details of the two secret arts were also vastly different, but in terms of splitting souls and re-attaching them to new bodies, it could be greatly referenced.

Han Li, who originally only had three or four parts of confidence, asked himself that if he pondered the commonalities between the two well, he could have seven or eight parts of confidence.

Of course, Han Li would naturally not say these things on the spot now.

Amidst the varied expressions of the cultivators, he simply walked slowly around the blood pool and the entire magic array, his eyes never leaving the magic array and the blood pool in the center.

"Alright, when the time comes, I will naturally take action at the appropriate moment. You all should proceed with the ritual on time according to the original method."

After circling a few times, Han Li said a few words indifferently, then turned around and walked to a corner of the hall, sitting down cross-legged on his own and closing his eyes.

Xu Jiao's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. After waiting for a while, seeing that Han Li was truly sitting motionless in his original spot and had entered meditation, he finally couldn't help himself, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something.

But just at this moment, Xu Yuan's voice suddenly sounded in his ears.

Although it was only a few words, it made the Xu family patriarch feel a chill in his heart. After a moment of hesitation, he dismissed the thought of speaking.

Instead, after waiting for a moment, he, like the other Xu family cultivators, entered the magic array and sat down cross-legged around the high platform to regulate his breathing.

Time passed bit by bit, and the sky above the mountain range on the ground began to grow dim.

And with the arrival of night, the group of Xu family cultivators who had originally been sitting with eyes closed began to grow restless.

Many cultivators couldn't help but raise their heads to look at the high platform in the magic array, their expressions quite strange.

After waiting for a while longer, Xu Yuan, Xu Jiao, and the others also opened their eyes and stared over.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly, the top of the giant hall began to shine brightly. White runes began to flow incessantly on the high ceiling, and in a short moment, they formed several simple, small-scale magic arrays.

The next moment, a humming sound arose!

After these small magic arrays trembled, several milky white beams of light sprayed out from them, hitting the hexagonal high platform below, and disappeared into the blood pool in a flash.

Han Li's expression stirred, and he opened his eyes abruptly.

Almost at the same time, the blood pool, which had been abnormally quiet, suddenly began to boil.

A strange vortex appeared out of thin air in the center of the blood pool and began to spin rapidly. Within the blood-red waves, silver runes of varying sizes flickered in and out of existence, appearing exceptionally mysterious.

"The time has come, start the magic array!" Xu Yuan, who had been waiting quietly, shouted, causing the entire hall to hum.

After a chorus of agreement, the Xu family cultivators sitting at various parts of the magic array all felt their spirits lift, their hands forming seals, and their mouths chanting incessantly.

"Pu pu" muffled sounds rang out one after another. As soon as the spiritual light triggered by the magic array flashed, eighteen blood-red beams of light erupted from various locations.

Each one was as thick as a bowl, flashing with blood light, their tops disappearing directly into the ceiling of the giant hall, with no end in sight.

Xu Yuan, Xu Huo, and Xu Yan, as Void Refinement stage cultivators, naturally occupied the three most important array eyes in the magic array. While the others were chanting incantations to drive the magic array, each of them flipped their palms, and a fresh red banner a few inches long appeared in their hands.

After blowing on them, the three small banners immediately stood upright and began to spin incessantly.

The three Xu family Void Refinement cultivators were clearly already very familiar with this process. Upon seeing this, they immediately opened their mouths and each bit the tips of their tongues, spitting out a ball of essence blood.

As soon as the three balls of essence blood whistled out, they immediately went "peng" and turned into blood mist, completely shrouding the small banners within.

A sharp cry came from the small banners, followed by a burst of light from each, swallowing all the blood mist.

In an instant, the three small banners expanded wildly amidst a burst of intense blood-colored light.

After a few flickers, they turned into three giant blood banners, as thick as bowls, with evil energy soaring to the sky.

Waves of blood-colored light surged out from the blood banners, continuously pouring into the entire magic array, merging with the other blood light emanating from within, and shrouding the entire blood pool beneath it.

The scent of blood and the strange fragrance rolled out, intertwining wonderfully to form another strange aura that made one feel intoxicated upon smelling it.

Just then, as if attracted by this strange aura, a rumbling, bizarre sound erupted, followed by a massive ball of light resembling blood-colored flames that slowly emerged from the deepest part of the blood pool's vortex.

Within the blood-colored flames, a crystal-like coffin flashing with blood-red spiritual light floated quietly, motionless.

Seeing this coffin appear, whether it was the three Void Refinement stage cultivators or the others of the Xu family, all showed solemn expressions on their faces.

Spiritual light of various colors flowed incessantly on their bodies, and some even had pale faces, their bodies trembling slightly, clearly having pushed their internal magic power to the limit.

===== CHAPTER 1808 =====