Chapter 181: Chapter 178: The Fall of the Ghost King_2
In the blink of an eye, several months passed.
The Five Spirits Sect, just as Zhou Yi had predicted, focused all their efforts on shrinking their defenses at their headquarters, and they spent a huge price to set up dozens of Sect Protection Arrays, claiming they could withstand the attack of a Nascent Soul ancestor.
The Eastern Sea, without the Five Spirits Sect stirring up trouble, returned to its previous calm, a state that had persisted for thousands of years.
Sect Leader Yuan Qi of the Earth Fire Palace ordered his disciples to secretly investigate and collect information on new disciples from various sects in the Eastern Sea, and then compare it with the records of talented cultivators from the Eastern Sea documented over several hundred years. He couldn\'t help but exclaim.
"The number of talented disciples has increased several-fold. Each sect has taken in more or fewer, and there are even three with Heavenly Spiritual Roots appearing in the Eastern Sea!"
"Golden Elixir True Monarchs who have weathered many storms may guess the strange origins of the disciples, perhaps harboring hopes of reforming them, or coveting the inheritances the disciples bring... Raising such tigers invites trouble, and in a hundred years, the Eastern Sea will surely experience great upheaval!"
However.
The most difficult thing to perceive in this world is the change of fortune; who could have predicted that the fluttering of a butterfly\'s wings could also cause a hurricane disaster?
Zhou Yi, who had lived for more than eight hundred years, was capable of seeking advantages and avoiding harm, which was already very impressive.
At this moment.
Deep beneath the Heavenly Demon Palace.
A sacrificial altar, covered with inscribed prohibitive runes, was occupied by a black-robed Daoist sitting cross-legged.
His white hair was spread out behind him at will, and his face was as gaunt as a skeleton. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, which were two burning purple-black flames.
A Bronze Mirror flew out from the sleeve, shimmering with demonic light, displaying two faces on its surface.
The left face had blood-red hair and pupils, and blood flowed down the face, as if it had just been fished out of a Blood Pool. The right face had a pale gray complexion with dead fish eyes, more white than black, exuding a cold, deathly aura as if a corpse had come to life.
The Daoist spoke in a low voice, "Blood friend, Gold friend, what business brings you to seek me out?"
"Old Blind Man, no need to play ignorant."
With a voice as cold as ice, Blood Devil Child said, "If we keep dragging this out, it won\'t be long before the righteous path breaks through our formation, and then nothing will be left of the Heavenly Demon Sect!"
Blind Daoist shook his head, "The Great Heavenly Demon Formation is far more ingenious and stable than the Ghost King Sect\'s, and it\'s been nearly half a year since any attack from the righteous path."
"Old Blind Man, have you grown foolish as death nears, or do you not trust us and Blood friend?"
Gold Daoist opened his mouth to reveal two sharp fangs, his voice sharp as metal, "Those old fools on the righteous path are deliberately delaying, waiting for the Demonic Path to seek revenge, to use our hands to eliminate those small sects and factions, and then clean up the aftermath and unite the Nine Continents!"
After the downfall of the Ghost King Sect, whether the righteous path\'s touted formation-breaking methods were true or false, the balance of power between the righteous and demonic paths was completely disrupted, and the destruction of the Demonic Path was only a matter of time.
"What can I do even if I\'m aware of it?"
Blind Daoist\'s eyes flickered with purple fire as he said, "Xuan Xiao was born with the luck of the heaven and earth on his side, borrowing the forces of nature. We are but dry bones in ancient graves. Even if we exhaust our lifespan to hunt down the younger generation, it\'s highly likely that we\'ll be vainly sending ourselves to death!"
Zhou Yi could see something was unusual about Xiao Tiezhu; how could the leaders of the righteous and demonic paths not know? That\'s why they could command the various righteous sects through a junior.
Unfortunately, by the time the Demonic Path realized it, Xiao Tiezhu had already grown powerful wings and it was already too late to turn the tide.
With a cold voice, the Blood Devil Child said, "If that brat is borrowing the strength of heaven and earth, then let\'s destroy this heaven and earth. Without the luck, he is nothing but a mere Nascent Soul!"
Blind Daoist fell silent for a long while before saying, "The Heavenly Monarch only has a \'Heaven\' in his title, barely able to command the power of heaven and earth. Compared to the vastness of heaven and earth, he\'s nothing more than a strong ant. How could we talk about destroying heaven and earth?"
"We obviously can\'t destroy the entire heaven and earth, we only need to destroy some key aspects to cause a drastic change in the world," said Gold Daoist.
"For example, the Spirit Veins!"
Blind Daoist sighed, "I had already guessed your intentions. But the Spirit Veins are the source of Spiritual Energy; if they are destroyed, wouldn\'t it ruin the foundation of the Cultivation World\'s spirit veins across the Nine Continents and Four Seas?"
"Humph! Old Blind Man, don\'t put on a show of goodwill. What does it matter to you whether the Cultivation World is destroyed or not?"
Blood Devil Child said, "Moreover, the Spirit Veins are governed by the rules of the heavenly order. Over time, they will recondense, and eventually, the Cultivation World will naturally recover and flourish."
The blind daoist spoke, "The ancestral vein\'s revival taking thousands to tens of thousands of years is unlikely. What benefits could I possibly reap from it? Either way, the sect faces destruction. If the ancestral vein remains unbroken, the Heavenly Demon Sect could still hide within the Four Seas and await an opportunity."
"Heeheehee!"
The golden daoist laughed strangely, "Brother Blood has an ancient secret technique that can seal one\'s lifespan, making a thousand years pass like a moment. In the future, when we take advantage of the Spirit Vein\'s restoration, even if we can\'t glimpse the stage of returning to nothingness, we can at least extend our lives by one lifetime!"
Of the great eight sects of the Righteous and Demonic paths, only the Red Continent\'s Blood God Sect truly inherited from an ancient grand sect and preserved many Divine Skills and secret techniques.
"The cost required by this method is enormous!"
The Blood Devil Child said, "Old blind man, make the decision yourself. Either face sect destruction and death, with your Dao dispersing, or risk your life on a bet, in wait for the right heavenly timing."
"What price must be paid?"
The blind daoist\'s brows furrowed slightly, "Does it require the slaughter of millions of living beings? Or a direct Blood Sacrifice of the beings of an entire continent? Now that the Righteous Path is flourishing, the latter would be a bit troublesome, but it\'s still worth a try."
"..."
"..."
The Blood Devil Child and the golden daoist were suddenly at a loss for words. It was no wonder that back in the day, he was known as the Heavenly Demon incarnate, with his demonic power shrouding the Nine Continents and Four Seas.
The blind daoist shrugged and said, "Don\'t make a big deal out of it. In this life, I have no grand ambitions; I simply want to extend my lifespan."
The Blood Devil Child explained, "There\'s no need for such a great cost. We only need to Blood Sacrifice the disciples of our sects, combined with Spiritual Objects and minerals to create sealing seals. The more cultivators sacrificed in the Blood Sacrifice, the longer the self-sealing time."
"You call this a cost? Those little demons outside are destined to die by the Righteous and Demonic swords. Dying sooner or later makes no difference!"
The blind daoist\'s brow raised, reminding, "Blood friend, don\'t try to deceive me. These Heavenly Demon eyes can see through the workings of fate. If I detect anything unusual, I will definitely come to have a word with you in the Blood Pool."
"Ancestral veins revive slowly, taking thousands to tens of thousands of years."
The Blood Devil Child said, "Even if we use this technique to self-seal, very few will actually survive the ordeal, perhaps one in ten. So there\'s no need for me to deceive. Whoever lives to see through the great calamity, I hope they will aid and carry on the legacy for the other two sects."
After talking, the Blood Devil Child carefully explained the technique of sealing lifespan to the blind daoist and the golden daoist.
At its core was an ancient seal that could completely trap essence, energy, and spirit within stone, reducing the consumption of one\'s lifespan to hundreds of times lower than outside.
Heavenly laws are impartial—the actual consumption wouldn\'t decrease but would be replaced by the essence, energy, and spirit of other cultivators through the Sacrificial Method.
Ordinary cultivators can replace the consumption of a Heavenly Monarch, and the difference in the cost is hundreds or thousands of times greater, which is why the more cultivators sacrificed, the longer the time of the seal.
"Worthy of being an ancient grand sect, to possess such profound methods." Enjoy exclusive content from мѵʟ
The blind daoist praised repeatedly, then his tone shifted as he said, "It\'s said that the strongest among the ancient sects were the Sect of Severing Heaven and Sect of Repairing Heaven, akin to today\'s Righteous and Demonic standoff; the Blood God Sect was merely considered an unconventional path. For such a grand sect, how could there not be a sealing technique?
Is it possible that there are still inheritors alive in the world today?"
"Perhaps there are, perhaps there aren\'t; either way, it is irrelevant to us."
The Blood Devil Child spoke, "Now, we have no other choice. Either we wait for Xuan Xiao to come knocking and become a stepping stone for the younger generation, or we flip this chessboard over!"
The golden daoist spoke, "I have never followed Heaven\'s arrangements. I prefer to \'flip the table\' when I\'m doing anything. Old blind man, what do you think?"
The blind daoist nodded, "How to destroy the ancestral vein, that\'s something I\'ll need guidance from Brother Blood on."
"That\'s easy; the three of us Heavenly Monarchs join forces at the core of the Spirit Vein to detonate the Sect\'s Supreme Treasure. The power would surely be comparable to a returning-to-nothingness strike. The ancestral vein is already extremely weak; otherwise, the Spiritual Energy wouldn\'t continue to decline. A returning-to-nothingness strike would surely destroy it!"
The Blood Devil Child said, "To avoid raising the suspicions of those on the Righteous Path, we must also instruct our minions to attack those smaller sects."
The golden daoist said coldly, "I\'ve long found the Five Spirits Sect irritating. It\'s a good opportunity to let the little demons abduct them all. Serving them up as a Sacrifice can also extend our lifespans by some years."
"That would work perfectly!"
The blind daoist\'s eyes flashed with fire as he suddenly asked, "The One Qi Sect originates from the ancient Great Profound Sect; perhaps they also have a sealing technique. When the ancestral vein revives in the future, might we see old friends again?"
"If that really happens, then we can greet each other as fellow daoists."
The Blood Devil Child\'s eerie laughter accompanied his words, as if he found the thought amusing.
"The path of Heaven cannot be reversed; this self-sealing technique requires the sacrifice of other cultivators. After committing such bloody deeds, how can they have the gall to call themselves the Righteous Path?"