Chapter 460: Living Sacrifice

Watching those few ghost races depart, Hua Changxi once again revealed her form.

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

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

In the primordial era, when heaven and earth had just settled and yin and yang were still harmonizing.

A sudden catastrophe arose in the depths of the Nine Netherworlds; yin veins erupted violently, the barriers of the Netherworld collapsed, and the Ghost Infant River, formed from the wails of hundreds of millions of resentful spirits, broke through its bounds, carrying endless death qi and obsessions, intending to flood back into the mortal world.

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

Sensing the disturbance in the Nine Netherworlds, Emperor Zhu Que arrived personally at the disaster zone to suppress the fissure with supreme divine power.

Yet this fissure was no ordinary crack; it had been eroded by the very source of the Nine Netherworlds and could not be completely sealed. Forcing a blockage would only trigger an even greater collapse.

Thus, above the fissure, the Emperor used the South Bright Li Fire as a hammer to forcibly carve out a massive well connecting yin and yang—the Ghost Fire Well.

At the bottom of the well, he laid the "Zhu Que Prison-Suppressing Great Formation," using a section of his own finger bone as the formation core to seal the fissure, locking the Ghost Infant River firmly in the abyss beneath the well and cutting off its momentum to flood back.

Above the well, he placed the eighth-grade Dao weapon, the 'Nine-Layered Prison Tower'; the tower's body was cast from fallen star black iron and true Zhu Que feathers, with each layer inscribed with prohibitions, stacked layer upon layer to suppress the Ghost Fire Well, ensuring ghost fire did not overflow into the human world and ghost qi did not stain the mortal realm.

Since then, although the fissure remained, the human world found peace.

Initially, the Ghost Fire Well served only as a place of suppression and sealing.

But as time passed and the Zhu Que Army gradually took shape, anyone who violated military orders or defied heavenly laws was thrown into the well to suffer the punishment of ghost fire scorching their souls and yin wind eroding their bones, serving as a warning to others.

Over time, the Ghost Fire Well became the exclusive military prison of the Zhu Que Army.

Later, when the human race rose and Nanxiang City was established, gathering cultivators from all directions, any cultivator who violated the city regulations of Nanxiang City would also be imprisoned in the Ghost Fire Well to face judgment and endure punishment.

Thus, this dark well, originally carved to suppress the Nine Netherworlds fissure, gradually became stained with the laws and punishments of the mortal world.

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

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

The Zhu Que totem on the token was inscribed with the ancient will of Emperor Zhu Que, pledging with divine bone as the contract and Li Fire as the oath. Since its creation, it has served as the key to suppressing the nether, the seal of law, and the torch for burning evil.

The holder of this token could control the eighth-grade Dao weapon, the 'Nine-Layered Prison Tower', with everything inside the tower moving according to the token master's will; they could also activate and seal the Zhu Que Prison-Suppressing Great Formation to sense the movements of the Nine Netherworlds fissure; furthermore, in times of crisis, they could urge the token's power to burn the formation core, the Zhu Que Bone, forcibly suppressing rampaging ghost qi and ghost fire to temporarily halt the collapse.

At the same time, the Ghost Fire Token also preserved a divine ability created by Emperor Zhu Que specifically for the Zhu Que Army guarding the Ghost Fire Well—Crimson Nether Flame Prison.

"Crimson Nether Flame Prison..."

So the bloodline chain divine ability born from the well was actually called by such a name.

Indeed, members of the Zhu Que Army who cultivated Crimson Nether Flame Prison could transform their bloodline power into blood-colored chains.

To cultivate the Crimson Nether Flame Prison divine ability, one must first cultivate the 'Zhu Que Divine Art' and secondly introduce ghost fire into the body to temper the flesh; only by combining these two could one cultivate the bloodline chains.

The bloodline chains existed between life and death, containing both the intensity of Zhu Que Fire and the cunning of the Nine Netherworlds ghost fire.

Once unleashed, they could burn an enemy's divine soul invisibly, erode their Dao foundation in an instant, and further transform fire into shadow to hide and vanish, leaving opponents unable to guard against them.

Once this divine ability reached perfection, its combat power would become so unpredictable and strange that it would be sufficient to slay enemies across realms and intimidate all evil.

After reading all the information in her mind, Hua Changxi's spirit stabilized slightly; she could now take the Ghost Fire Token and leave the Nine Netherworlds at any time to return to the bottom of the Ghost Fire Well.

However, without retrieving the core of the Zhu Que Prison-Suppressing Great Formation, the formation could not seal off the ghost qi and ghost fire from the Ghost Infant River flooding back into the human world, and the hundreds of Zhu Que Army soldiers currently exerting all their strength to maintain the formation's operation would not be able to hold out much longer.

She must retrieve the formation core, the Zhu Que Bone...

Hua Changxi's gaze shifted toward the direction where those few ghost races had vanished earlier; the next moment, her form flashed, transforming into a streak of flowing light as she swiftly pursued those ghost races.

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

Hua Changxi silently followed those few ghost races, sweeping across the dark green river surface like a soundless crimson shadow, hiding within the dark shadows where ghost qi churned.

Before long, a towering and sinister sacrificial altar loomed prominently ahead.

The altar used white bones as its foundation, skulls as its steps, and ribs as its railings; the entire structure was actually piled up entirely from skeletons.

Ghost fires coiled around the altar like snakes, spiraling and winding; greenish-blue flame tongues licked the void, emitting low moans, while ghost qi thick as ink gushed from underground, shooting straight toward the sky, dyeing the entire firmament a dead, gray-black.

Initially, from a distance, Hua Changxi could only see a cluster of crimson-gold flames burning stubbornly in the darkness at the center of the altar, like the last star in the night sky refusing to extinguish.

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

Her heart clenched violently, nearly causing her to suffocate.

Due north of the altar, nine ghastly white bone pillars were arranged in an arc, each over thirty feet tall, carved with twisted runes and exuding a nauseating aura of evil filth.

And hanging from each of these bone pillars was a soldier of the Zhu Que Army!

Their shoulders were pierced by ghost chains as thick as a child's arm, the flesh around their collarbones already rotted away to reveal stark white bones.

The ghost chains glowed with a cold, dark green light throughout, constantly writhing like living creatures, greedily extracting the essence blood and soul power of the Zhu Que Army soldiers.

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

There, a segment of crimson-gold bone floated in midair; it was precisely the core of the Zhu Que Prison-Suppressing Great Formation—the Zhu Que Bone!

At this moment, pure South Bright Li Fire burned all around the Zhu Que Bone, the flames fierce as rage, constantly trembling and roaring as if resisting the suppression of the sacrificial formation.

With every tremor, the entire altar shook slightly, causing the ghost fires to scatter.

However, as the essence blood and soul power of the nine Zhu Que Army soldiers were continuously injected into the altar's formation patterns, that resisting power was being slowly eroded away bit by bit.

The amplitude of the Zhu Que Bone's trembling grew smaller and smaller, the flames shifting from brilliant gold to dim red, then gradually thinning out...

Watching the Zhu Que Army soldiers on the verge of death, Hua Changxi clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging deep into her palms as crimson flames churned in the depths of her pupils.

Just as she could no longer suppress her rage and prepared to rush out to save the people and seize the Zhu Que Bone, a faint yet familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy came from the east.

"Creak~"

On the east side of the altar stood a black stone mountain burning with green ghost fire; the stone door of the mountain suddenly opened, and several ghost races with formidable auras walked out from within.

The familiar trace of spiritual energy Hua Changxi had sensed was precisely what had leaked out from that stone door.

"Congratulations, Lord Ghost Marshal."

Several ghost races walked onto the altar, bowing and smiling obsequiously at a ghost race with an even more terrifying presence, "It seems it won't be long before the South Bright Li Fire on the Zhu Que Bone is completely extinguished."

They looked at the Zhu Que Bone in the center of the altar, their gazes filled with greed and eagerness, yet also carrying a fear that penetrated to the marrow of their bones.

The ghost race addressed as Ghost Marshal was tall of stature, wearing a string of infant skulls around his neck, with deep-set eye sockets and dark green ghost fire dancing within his pupils.

"How many Zhu Que soldiers remain in the prison?" His voice was low and grating, causing a wave of discomfort in one's very soul.

"Fewer than a hundred."

A ghost general licked his sharp fangs, a hungry light flashing in his eyes. "But rest assured, my lord—the essence blood and soul force of those hundred will be enough to extinguish the last wisp of Li Fire."

Another ghost general added with a sinister grin: "Even if it is not enough... there are still over three hundred human cultivators in the prison. Though their souls are weak, as long as there are enough of them and their blood is hot enough, it can still burn away that lingering flame."