Chapter 460: Living Sacrifice

Watching the few ghost clans leave, Hua Changxi revealed herself again.

Although she had refined the Ghost Fire Token, she did not move it, leaving it suspended within the blood cage.

As a desolate, vast ancient will surged into her mind from the Ghost Fire Token, Hua Changxi finally understood the origin of the Ghost Fire Well.

In the primordial era, when heaven and earth were first settled, yin and yang were still in harmony.

Suddenly, a violent change occurred deep in the Nine Nether. Yin veins surged violently, the barriers of the underworld shattered, and the Ghost Infant River, formed from the weeping cries of billions of resentful spirits, broke through the boundaries, carrying endless death qi and obsessions, intending to flood the mortal world.

Wherever the death qi passed, vegetation withered and living beings turned to ash.

Sensing the disturbance in the Nine Nether, the Vermillion Bird Monarch personally descended upon the disaster zone and used supreme divine power to suppress the fissure.

However, this fissure was no ordinary crack; it was eroded by the origin of the Nine Nether and could not be completely sealed. Forcibly blocking it would instead trigger a greater collapse.

Thus, the Monarch, using Southern Bright Lihuo as a hammer, forcibly excavated a great well connecting yin and yang above the fissure—the Ghost Fire Well.

At the bottom of the well, he laid down the "Vermillion Bird Prison Suppression Grand Array," using a segment of his own finger bone as the array core, sealing the fissure, locking the Ghost Infant River firmly in the abyss at the well's bottom, and cutting off its flooding momentum.

Above the well, he placed the eighth-grade Dao armament 'Nine-Layered Prison Tower,' whose body was forged from meteor star dark iron and Vermillion Bird true feathers, with prohibitions set on each layer, layer upon layer pressing down, suppressing the Ghost Fire Well, so that ghost fire would not overflow into the mortal world and ghost qi would not taint the mundane realm.

From then on, though the fissure remained, the mortal world was safe.

At first, the Ghost Fire Well was merely a place of sealing and suppression.

But as time passed, the Vermillion Bird Army gradually took shape. Whoever violated military orders or defied heavenly law would be cast into the well, subjected to the punishment of ghost fire scorching the soul and yin wind eroding the bones, as a warning to others.

Over time, the Ghost Fire Well became the exclusive military prison of the Vermillion Bird Army.

When the human race rose and South Elephant City was established, cultivators gathered from all directions. If a cultivator violated the city rules of South Elephant City, they would also be imprisoned in the Ghost Fire Well, subjected to trial and punishment.

Thus, this dark well, originally excavated to suppress the Nine Nether fissure, gradually took on the hue of human law and punishment.

It was both a seal and a prison; both protection and judgment.

And the Ghost Fire Token was the supreme token of authority governing all power over the Ghost Fire Well—

The Vermillion Bird totem on the token engraved the ancient will of the Vermillion Bird Monarch, who used divine bone as a contract and Lihuo as an oath. From the day it was forged, it was the key to suppress the abyss, the seal of law, and the torch to burn evil.

The holder of this token could control the eighth-grade Dao armament 'Nine-Layered Prison Tower,' with everything within the tower moving according to the token master's will; they could also open and seal the Vermillion Bird Prison Suppression Grand Array, sense the movements of the Nine Nether fissure; and in times of crisis, they could activate the token's power, burn the array core Vermillion Bird bone, forcibly suppress rampaging ghost qi and ghost fire, and temporarily delay the collapse.

At the same time, the Ghost Fire Token also preserved a divine ability specially created by the Vermillion Bird Monarch for the Vermillion Bird Army guarding the Ghost Fire Well—the Crimson Abyss Flame Prison.

"Crimson Abyss Flame Prison..."

So the bloodline chain divine ability of Jing Sheng was actually called this name.

That's right, the Vermillion Bird Army cultivators who trained in Crimson Abyss Flame Prison could all transform their bloodline power into blood-colored chains.

To cultivate the Crimson Abyss Flame Prison divine ability, one had to first cultivate the "Vermillion Bird Divine Art," and second, draw ghost fire into the body to temper the flesh; only by combining the two could one cultivate the bloodline chains.

The bloodline chains existed between life and death, containing both the blazing intensity of Vermillion Bird fire and the eerie strangeness of Nine Nether ghost fire.

Once deployed, they could burn the enemy's soul formlessly, erode their Dao foundation in an instant, and could even transform fire into shadows, concealing form and traces, making it impossible for opponents to defend.

Once this divine ability was perfected, its combat power was so unpredictable that it could even kill enemies above one's level, intimidating all evils.

After finishing reading the information in her mind, Hua Changxi's mind calmed down a bit. She could now leave the Nine Nether at any time with the Ghost Fire Token and return to the bottom of the Ghost Fire Well.

However, if the array core of the Vermillion Bird Prison Suppression Grand Array was not retrieved, the array would be unable to seal the Ghost Infant River from flooding ghost qi and ghost fire into the mortal world. The several hundred Vermillion Bird Army soldiers currently doing their utmost to maintain the array's operation could not hold out for long.

She had to retrieve the array core, the Vermillion Bird bone...

Hua Changxi's gaze turned to the direction where the few ghost clan members had disappeared. In the next moment, her figure flickered, turning into a wisp of flowing light, quickly chasing after those ghost clan members.

On both banks of the Ghost Infant River, black mist coiled, and withered bones formed a forest.

Hua Changxi quietly followed those ghost clan members, like a silent red shadow skimming across the dark green river surface, hiding among the surging shadow of ghost qi.

Before long, a towering, gloomy altar suddenly stood ahead.

The altar had white bones as its base, skulls as steps, and ribs as railings. The entire altar was actually built entirely from skeletons.

Around the altar, ghost fire coiled like snakes, circling around, with blue-green flames licking the void, emitting low sobs; thick, ink-like ghost qi spewed from underground, rushing straight into the sky, dyeing the entire sky a dead gray-black.

Initially at a distance, Hua Changxi could only see a ball of red-gold flame stubbornly burning in the darkness at the center of the altar, like the last star refusing to go out in the night.

But as she quietly approached, the scene on the altar suddenly stabbed into her eyes.

Her heart clenched violently, almost stopping.

To the north of the altar, nine ghastly white bone pillars stood in an arc formation, each over three zhang tall, carved with twisted runes and exuding a nauseating, vile aura.

And on every bone pillar hung a Vermilion Bird soldier!

Their shoulders were pierced by ghost chains as thick as a child's arm, their collarbones long rotted to raw flesh, exposing white bone.

The ghost chains glowed with a cold, eerie green light, writhing constantly like living things, greedily draining the essence blood and soul power of the Vermilion Bird soldiers.

This drained essence blood and soul power flowed like water, winding toward the center of the altar.

There, a crimson-gold bone joint floated in midair—the Vermilion Bird Bone, heart of the Vermilion Bird Prison Suppression Grand Formation.

At this moment, the Vermilion Bird Bone was wreathed in pure Southern Brightness Lihuo, flames blazing fiercely in anger, trembling and roaring continuously as if resisting the suppression of the sacrificial formation.

Each tremor made the entire altar shake slightly, and the ghost fires scattered.

Yet, as the essence blood and soul power of the nine Vermilion Bird soldiers poured steadily into the altar's formation lines, the resistance was being eroded bit by bit.

The Vermilion Bird Bone's tremors grew weaker and weaker, its flames shifting from blazing gold to dark red, then steadily thinning...

Watching the dying Vermilion Bird soldiers, Hua Changxi clenched her fists, her nails digging deep into her palms, crimson flames surging within her pupils.

Just as she could no longer suppress her fury and prepared to charge out to rescue them and snatch the Vermilion Bird Bone, a faint but familiar fluctuation of spiritual breath came from the east side.

"Creak~"

On the east side of the altar was a black stone mountain burning with green ghost fire. The stone gate of the mountain suddenly opened, and several ghost clan members with not-weak auras emerged.

The familiar spiritual breath Hua Changxi sensed had leaked out from that stone gate.

"Congratulations, Ghost Marshal."

Several ghost clan members walked onto the altar, bowing and flattering a ghost clan member with an even more terrifying aura, "It won't be long before we can completely extinguish the Southern Brightness Lihuo on the Vermilion Bird Bone."

They looked at the Vermilion Bird Bone at the center of the altar, their gazes filled with greed and eagerness, as well as a fear that went deep into their marrow.

The ghost clan member called Ghost Marshal was tall and large, with a string of infant skulls hanging around his neck, sunken eye sockets, and green ghost fire flickering in his pupils.

"How many Vermilion Bird soldiers are left in the prison?" His voice was low and grating, causing even one's soul to feel discomfort.

"Fewer than a hundred."

A ghost general licked his sharp fangs, a gleam of hunger flashing in his eyes, "But don't worry, Lord—the essence blood and soul power of those hundred are enough to quench the last spark of Lihuo."

Another ghost general added with a sinister smile, "And if that's not enough... there are still over three hundred human cultivators in the prison. Their souls are weak, but as long as there are enough of them and their blood is hot enough, they can still burn away that remaining fire."