Chapter 1050: The Huang Tian Blood Sacrifice

The Great Blood Sacrifice of Huang Tian is activated!

At once, blood gushed from the earth veins, and the ground trembled.

Around Qianxue Prefecture, strange phenomena suddenly appeared: the earth cracked, faint red hues emerged, and malevolent qi spread straight toward the heavens.

Beneath the crimson veil.

One by one, hidden altars began to receive the descent of demonic wills.

The statues enshrined there wept blood from their eyes, grinned wickedly at their corners, and emitted terrifying low murmurs of demonic deities.

Hidden in the shadows, countless demonic cultists, summoned by malevolent power, twisted into grotesque forms, went mad with frenzy, and launched indiscriminate bloodbaths across the land…

Deep within the secluded mountains, an ordinary cliff face suddenly split open into a demonic nest; black winds howled as a flood of demonic cultivators poured out, howling with savage laughter as they swept through the mountains, slaughtering every cultivator they encountered…

In several mid- and small-sized Immortal Cities, demonic cultivators gathered in mobs, stormed the cities, and slaughtered their inhabitants, turning streets into rivers of blood.

In villages where lone cultivators dwelled, demonic cultivators emerged, devouring flesh and gnawing bones.

Even on city streets, under the bright daylight, perfectly ordinary cultivators suddenly tore off their human skins, shed their disguises, sprouted fangs, and began biting passersby…

Meanwhile, the Dao Prisons across various prefectures began to erupt in chaos.

The demonic and criminal cultivators imprisoned within suddenly had blood-red eyes, bolstered by malevolent power, broke free in violent uprisings, and fought to the death with Dao Ting Si cultivators…

Bloodshed continued relentlessly across Qianxue; cruel chaos never ceased.

Blood flowed across the earth.

Flesh and bone began to be stacked into walls.

On altars everywhere, the terrified heads of those brutally slain were placed atop them as offerings to the demonic deities…

Blood and slaughter gradually stained the sky red.

Cultivators of Qianxue Prefecture all looked up at the sky, their expressions filled with horror.

They had witnessed the extraordinary sight of five Void-Exploration Dharma Phases emerging together, filling the heavens with golden light.

They had also witnessed the grand spectacle of the Fifth-Grade Dao Discourse Mountain Array activating, with the Milky Way inverted overhead.

Now, in the blink of an eye, what they saw was this demonic rampage, this sea of crimson evil omen.

In a short span, one shock followed another, strange phenomena appeared constantly; everyone felt only terror, as if trapped in a nightmare.

The Dao Ting Si of Qianxue immediately activated to full capacity.

From top to bottom, every Diansi, Zhisi, and non-standard cultivator within the Dao Ting Si obeyed orders without hesitation, surging like a tidal wave toward every location to suppress the demonic plague.

Every Zhou Zhangsi of the Dao Ting Si across the land personally took command on the front lines, trembling with dread, daring not to slacken for a moment.

The blood omen of heaven and earth, the sudden outbreak of demonic plague—this was an unprecedented upheaval in a thousand years.

If mishandled, these Zhou Zhangsi would face, at best, dismissal and imprisonment; at worst, execution and decapitation.

In an instant, slaughter spread across every region.

Demons slaughtered cultivators; the Dao Ting Si suppressed the demons.

And deeper still, even stronger demonic forces stirred in the shadows…

…

All of this was seen by the Void-Exploration Ancestors of every sect and clan atop Guan Jian Tower.

A long-forgotten, bloody name, one that struck fear into all who spoke of it, surfaced in their minds:

The Demon Array!

Someone in Qian Prefecture has activated the Demon Array!

The elders first disbelieved, then erupted into indescribable fury.

In this age of peace, how dare anyone, beneath the very eyes of our group of Fifth-Grade Void-Exploration Ancestors, in the heart of Qianxue Prefecture—a land of countless sects and powerful clans, a sacred realm of cultivation—defy heaven and earth by activating a Demon Array steeped in murderous sin?!

Utterly insane. Reckless beyond measure.

But after their fury, the elders felt a creeping chill in their hearts.

All of this was clearly meticulously planned.

From the Luo Dao Tian Yi's prediction of the Asura War, to the anomalies in the Fifth-Grade Array, to the collapse of Xuantian Peak's spatial teleportation, followed by its fall upon Xiang Yan's Luoshan Prefecture…

And the establishment of demonic strongholds across the land, the breeding of demonic cultivators and monsters, the commission of countless atrocities—all secretly laying the foundation for the Demon Array.

During the Dao Discourse Assembly, they kidnapped hundreds of prodigies from Qianxue's major sects.

Taking advantage of the upheaval at Xuantian Peak, they slipped in again to abduct the child of the Shangguan clan, whose destiny was extraordinary…

Such planning could not have been accomplished overnight, nor by any ordinary cultivator.

Aside from the remnants of the Demon Dao, there must be another, higher-ranking, far more powerful cultivator—deeply skilled in array arts, even capable of manipulating the Fifth-Grade Array—who secretly aids the demons.

This person's origins are likely terrifying…

So much so that, though all the elders harbored suspicion, none dared voice it aloud.

Some words, without irrefutable proof, must never be spoken.

They were Ancestors—did they not understand this principle?

They could only bury this doubt deep within their hearts.

The immediate priority is to consider how to destroy the Demon Array as swiftly as possible and quell the demonic plague—that is the most urgent matter.

Once the Demon Array gains momentum and the demonic disaster spreads, life across Qianxue Prefecture and its surroundings will be utterly annihilated.

Indeed, every day the Demon Array endures means countless cultivators will die in vain.

This matter is urgent; the elders' faces were grim as stone.

"The Dao Ting Si has already begun surrounding and exterminating demonic cultivators across the land."

"Each sect has issued orders: senior elders must lead their disciples to various prefectures to assist the Dao Ting Si in suppressing the demonic plague."

"All demons must be slaughtered; all demonic arrays, demonic artifacts, and demonic scriptures must be destroyed."

"Especially the Demon Array techniques—leave not one behind."

"That child from the Shanggu family must also be rescued… Though we do not know what the demonic heretics intend to do with him, this child is clearly vital to the demonic path—and to this great array…"

An elder scoffed, "A fifth-grade family of noble standing, an enlightenment-stage elder with real power—willing to ruin their reputation just to abduct this child—clearly, this child is pivotal. We cannot let him fall into the hands of demonic heretics…"

"Moreover, the most critical matter is the hundreds of prodigies within our Qianxue Province."

"These prodigies include the top disciples of the Four Great Sects, Eight Gates, Twelve Schools, and even a small portion of the hundred Qianxue sects. They must not suffer the slightest loss, or our sects' decades of effort will be destroyed in an instant…"

Though the Qianxue Assembly occurs every three years, and each session produces many talented disciples…

This year is different from all others—the prodigies each sect has sent out, whether in spiritual roots, talent, or comprehension, are vastly superior to those of the past.

This is the most talent-rich session yet.

Perhaps it truly proves the saying: In an age of fierce contention, talent emerges in abundance.

If these prodigies can grow strong, they will surely become the backbone of their respective sects.

Some may even lead their sects to unprecedented glory.

If these disciples truly perish, it would be like carving flesh from the hearts of their sect's elders.

"At all costs, destroy the demonic array!"

"Equally, at all costs, rescue the prodigies of the Four Sects, Eight Gates, and Twelve Schools!"

This was an iron decree, issued directly by the sect elders and transmitted to the strongest leading sects of Qianxue Province.

Almost all sect elders mobilized.

Inner-disciples rushed toward the third-grade Luoshan Mountain.

This was true righteous-demonic warfare.

It was also the largest, broadest, most severe, and most rampant demonic upheaval in Qianxue Province in nearly a thousand years.

They would face not only demonic cultivators and monsters, but an entire demonic array.

Even a second-grade demonic array built within a third-grade province would be bloodily powerful beyond measure.

Yet this demonic array before them radiated the aura of a third-grade array.

A third-grade province, a third-grade demonic array—nearly impossible to resolve. Even if breached, it would mean rivers of blood, fields of corpses, countless deaths…

All the Void-Opening elders wore grim expressions.

Master Xun raised his head, gazing toward the distant horizon, watching the slowly forming aura of the demonic array, the faint bloodlight, and the malevolent intent seeping from it—his brow tightened further.

A demonic array was already exceedingly difficult.

But Master Xun knew this demonic calamity was far from simple.

Within this demonic array lay even more terrifying karmic threads, nurturing an even more horrifying presence…

What worried him most was Mo Hua, trapped at the heart of this malevolence.

"Please… just survive…"

Master Xun sighed silently in his heart.

Meanwhile, Gu Changhuai, under orders from Dao Ting Si, en route to Luoshan to exterminate demons; Zhang Lan, temporarily reassigned to assist in slaying demons; Elder Murong, Hua Qianqian, and other disciples rushing to Luoshan to purge demons—along with other cultivators close to Mo Hua—all silently worried and silently prayed for Mo Hua.

"Mo Hua, please don't be harmed…"

…

"Mo Hua!"

"Mo Hua…"

"Little Brother!"

"Little Brother, wake up…"

In utter darkness.

Mo Hua felt many people were thinking of him, and heard many voices calling his name.

Half-dazed, the voices seemed distant yet near; his consciousness gradually sharpened, and he struggled, slowly opening his eyes—to see a cluster of heads surrounding him, faces filled with anxiety, calling his name.

Sister Situ, Cheng Mo, Xiao Xiao, Hao Xuan… and about a dozen others—all his junior brothers.

"Little Brother is awake!"

Seeing Mo Hua open his eyes, Sister Situ Jian and Linghu Xiao were overjoyed, their hearts suddenly lightened.

Mo Hua rubbed his eyes, then recalled what had happened.

He had been teleported to Xuantian Peak, then the peak vanished, collapsed immediately, and he was swept downward by falling rocks.

With no way to gain leverage in midair, and too many shattered stones from Xuantian Peak's collapse, Mo Hua could not maneuver his body, and his physical frame was weak.

Fortunately, Tai'e's five brothers and Cheng Mo and other disciples with strong bodies took turns serving as "human cushions," so he escaped serious injury—but when he hit the ground, he still passed out temporarily.

Mo Hua rubbed his head, slowly recovering, then looked around.

Around him, everything was gray and hazy, tinged with blood. The mountain paths were tangled, choked with toxic mists and pestilential vapors rising to the sky; swamps stank, flowing with putrid water.

Both perilous and demonic, yet strangely familiar.

"Is this… Luoshan?"

Mo Hua frowned slightly.

He had studied Luoshan's terrain when preparing to exterminate the Mo Sect, and had personally come here during the campaign—so he was not unfamiliar with this environment.

Luoshan had always been chaotic and perilous, which was why the Mo Sect chose it as their base.

But now, Luoshan was far bloodier and more demonic than before.

Everywhere, it radiated a demonic, vast, and majestic array aura.

"An array?!"

"So much demonic energy—could this be… a demonic array?"

Mo Hua's expression turned stunned.

Was he now inside a demonic array?

Mo Hua felt a mix of tension, fear, and a faint thrill.

He suddenly remembered the bone steles he had discovered in Yanluoshan.

The bone steles were carved with grotesque, bloody patterns, and the baleful aura in the air converged from all directions into the bone steles, nourishing the blood patterns.

The blood patterns, saturated with blood, seemed to have come alive, slowly writhing, accompanied by piercing ghostly wails.

Now it seemed these bone steles were likely one of the ritual conduits of this evil array, absorbing the flesh, resentment, and baleful blood-aura of dead cultivators, transforming them into evil power, and channeling it into the earth veins to power the great array.

This was no small undertaking.

The one who set this array possessed extraordinary intent, imagination, methods, and mastery of arraycraft.

That person might be Mr. Tu.

But Mo Hua also had a faint feeling that even Mr. Tu might not possess such skill…

Or rather, Mr. Tu alone could not possibly have set up such an unimaginable evil array.

When Mo Hua had previously hunted down the Mo Sect, he had sensed at the sight of the bone steles in Yanluoshan that this might involve a terrifying evil array.

But at the time, he had only guessed—there was no evidence, and his experience with evil arrays was too limited to investigate further.

Yet now it turned out this truly was an evil array.

And in an instant, he himself was trapped within it.

"Young Master Mo, what should we do now?" Cheng Mo asked softly.

Everyone else also turned to look at Mo Hua.

Asking them to fight and kill was no problem, but expecting them to strategize under danger, avoid misfortune, or even decipher the array and find a way out was simply too much.

Especially since this was inside a massive evil array.

Mo Hua fell silent for a moment, scanning the surroundings, then asked: "Where are the others?"

The Grand Void Gate's disciples who entered the Earth-level Sword Discourse should have numbered thirty.

Yet now, only about ten remained beside him.

Even the Five Tai'A brothers, who had protected him as his "human cushions," were gone.

Sister Situ and the others shook their heads: "After we fell from Xuantian Peak, we scattered. Only these dozen or so landed nearby. We eventually managed to find you, Young Master Mo, and have been waiting here since, waiting for you to wake up…"

They couldn't rest easy while Mo Hua remained unconscious.

Moreover, the surroundings were strange and eerie; without Mo Hua to lead them, they dared not wander blindly.

Mo Hua nodded. "Let's first stroll around, observe the environment, and look for the others."

"Alright."

"Yes, Young Master Mo."

Everyone responded in unison.

Then Mo Hua led the way, Linghu Xiao brought up the rear, Cheng Mo and the others formed a protective circle around Mo Hua, and they moved cautiously to explore the vicinity.

After circling the area, observing the surroundings, sensing the array's aura, and mentally deducing the array's core structure, Mo Hua gradually pieced together the situation through his experience with great arrays.

This was indeed an evil array.

Moreover, the place they stood was near the array's core, within a complex region of an evil compound array.

This region was vast and completely sealed off.

The array was filled with evil power, stirring up hatred, greed, envy, and other dark thoughts within their hearts.

A thin layer of blood mist hung in the air, mixed with poisonous miasma.

Within the blood mist, faint, invisible blood leech-like evil entities drifted sporadically—things ordinary cultivators' eyes could not perceive.

Mo Hua led the Grand Void Gate disciples forward a few steps, then suddenly stiffened and warned:

"Watch out!"

Everyone halted, alert and tense.

The atmosphere was eerie and strange.

Moments later, a grotesque human figure burst from the nearby shrubbery, rushing toward Cheng Mo with a stench of blood, roaring as it attacked.

Cheng Mo, prepared, sidestepped and swung his axe backward, striking the figure's shoulder, knocking him down, then stepped forward and pinned him with his foot.

Sister Situ and the others rushed forward, piercing the attacker's limbs with blades and swords, subduing him.

Only then did Mo Hua step forward.

Cheng Mo and the others turned the attacker over, and Mo Hua studied his face.

The face was unfamiliar—he did not recognize him—but the man wore the robe of the Xiao Yao Sect, so he must be one of their disciples.

Yet now, this Xiao Yao Sect disciple's eyes burned red with murderous intent, snarling like a beast, his mouth caked with blood and strands of flesh, emitting incoherent, guttural sounds.

Everyone watching felt nauseated.

Sister Situ frowned: "Young Master Mo, this…"

Mo Hua sighed: "Evil corruption has entered his brain. His mind has been devoured."

Sister Situ and the others froze with dread.

"Then…"

"Kill him…" Mo Hua said quietly.

Cheng Mo and the others fell silent, hesitant.

During the Sword Discourse, though they fought fiercely, it was still only "discussion"—no one would truly die.

But now was different: this was Yanluoshan, without the protection of the Luoshan Dao Discourse Array. Once killed, they would truly die.

Though they belonged to different sects, they were all students within Qianxue Province, fellow disciples with no mortal grudges—how could they truly bring themselves to kill?

Mo Hua sighed slowly; he too found it hard.

But this disciple had no hope left.

His spiritual sense had been entirely devoured by the malevolent force; not a single trace of his own consciousness remained.

Even from the flesh fragments around his teeth and fingertips, it was clear that after being corrupted, he had attacked—and like a demon—gnawed at other sect disciples.

Under these circumstances, there was no way to save him.

And if he wasn't killed, he would wander like a corpse, slaughtering others, spreading the "malevolent force" through biting and tearing flesh, expanding it into a larger-scale massacre…

"He is already 'dead.' If you don't kill him, he'll kill more people," Mo Hua said calmly. "Or rather, he has already become a 'demon.'"

To slay demons and eradicate evil is the duty of the righteous path.

Even if this "demon" was once a fellow disciple of the righteous path.

A chill passed through Cheng Mo and the others, but their gazes hardened, and they nodded.

This demonized disciple of the Xiaoyao Sect was torn apart by sword qi from Linghu Xiao and the others at a distance.

After his death, his blood and flesh seeped into the earth; his resentment and malevolent energy transformed into an invisible force, merging into the sky, nourishing the evil array and sustaining the "embryo" that existed somewhere within it.

Mo Hua watched all of this with open eyes, yet could do nothing.

This was the rule of the evil array.

The rule forced them to kill—or be killed.

Whether they killed or were killed, they became nourishment for the evil array, offerings to the evil embryo.

Mo Hua frowned slightly.

He realized the situation was different from what he had planned.

His original plan had been to use spiritual thought to form a sword, slashing to cripple Shen Linshu and the other three, and sever the Son of Heaven Lunjian.

The Sida Sect's reserves were simply too strong, and they would unite against the Grand Void Gate.

The Grand Void Gate stood alone; it could not possibly stand against the Sida Sect.

With the Son of Heaven Lunjian in place, the Grand Void Gate had no chance of seizing first place in the Lunjian.

Mo Hua had deduced this cause-and-effect countless times; in every outcome, the Grand Void Gate lost.

Not the slightest chance of victory existed.

Since victory was certain to be impossible, Mo Hua simply chose not to play.

He slashed directly, severing the Son of Heaven Lunjian.

Then, if the Grand Void Gate won first place in the Dizi Lunjian, it would naturally become the overall Lunjian champion.

Using spiritual thought to form a sword and shatter the Lifespan Talisman would inevitably summon the Void-Dwelling Manifestation.

This scene had once been demonstrated to him personally by his senior brother and senior sister.

And the Void-Dwelling Manifestation summoned would surely kill him.

The Fifth-Rank Dao Discourse Mountain Array would surely intervene to save him, opposing the Void-Dwelling Manifestation.

A clash at the Void-Dwelling level would be too powerful, too destructive; the subsequent Son of Heaven Lunjian would most likely be terminated.

Originally, everything unfolded exactly as Mo Hua had foreseen—but he had not anticipated that others had also laid plans in the shadows.

His slash had severed the Son of Heaven Lunjian, but also triggered other shocking changes.

Now, all the prodigies were trapped within this evil array, facing another life-or-death slaughter.

It was a battle within the confines of the evil array, under the lure of malevolent thoughts, the parasitism of the Bai Jisheng, and the collapse of their Dao hearts—where former comrades turned their blades against each other in a fight to the death, more real, more cruel, more bloody than any war.

Or rather, this slaughter within the evil array was the final "Tian" Lunjian of the Lunjian Assembly.

It was a demonic "battle royale."