Chapter 192 - Fresh Blood
Ghost Li watched Jin PingEr for a long time, his eyebrows slowly frowning but he did not speak, and Jin PingEr under Ghost Li’s stare, looked unconcerned, did not feel that her words were inappropriate at this moment, smiling sweetly and looking at Ghost Li.
In the Inferno Altar, the place turned quiet. Xiao Hui who was crouching at Ghost Li’s shoulder did not like the atmosphere and moved, [zhi zhi] called out twice, leapt down from his shoulder, peering around, it then walked off by itself, slowly to the drawings in the middle of the altar.
Ghost Li slowly looked away, saw Xiao Hui who was crouching on the floor curiously and looking at those ferocious drawings, slowly said, “So, you already much of it?”
Jin PingEr smiled, that smile was warm like spring wind, gently brushing past this cold hall, said, “I am a small and weak woman, how would I know anything, I am only fortunate to have visited a few places in the past, and also received Ghost King sect head’s important regard, that’s I came to assist you.”
Pursing her lips and smiling, she said, “Don’t think too much!”
Ghost Li frowned and did not speak, even more so ignored the indistinct flirtatious tone in Jin PingEr’s words, after contemplating for a moment, he seemed to forget the reason why Jin PingEr was here, and also the intricate and mysterious relationship between her and Ghost King, only indifferently said, “Since it is so, then I must ask for your guidance.”
Jin PingEr’s eyes glimmered but the smile on her face remained, said, “GongZi please speak.”
Ghost Li said, “Looks like you are here before me, like what you said, the legend said in order to subdue the Beast Deity, the ‘Eight Savage Inferno Formation’ here is vital, just that I have dull wits and can’t figure it out, I wonder if Miss Jin has some comprehension?”
Jin PingEr shook her head, a bitter smile on her face, said, “To tell you the truth, actually I have been in Inferno Altar for three days but I end up empty-handed, other than those messy drawings engraved on the ground, I did not discover anything else.”
Ghost Li’s gaze couldn’t help but shifted to the dark red drawings under his feet, different from Jin PingEr, including Xiao Hui, he had experienced the power of that strange formation, that overwhelming force, and that terrible red huge beast, were all memories that were not easy to forget. Or maybe it was because of that, Xiao Hui excitedly lay on the ground, scratching there, touching here, seemed to be searching for something?
Unless after that earthshaking event, the volcano lava eruption, actually destroyed the formation here?
The thought flashed past Ghost Li’s head but he did not reveal it out, after keeping silent for a moment, he again looked at Jin PingEr, said, “Miss Jin, no matter what, this is the only place we know that has the ‘Eight Savage Inferno Formation’, since this is vital to subdue the Beast Deity, why don’t we stay a few more days here, maybe there is still some hope.”
Jin PingEr smiled sweetly, extremely coquettishly, said, “Alright.”
Ghost Li glanced at her and then looked away, again sat down before the drawings, not long after, a whift of faint fragrance came over, light clothes fluttered, it was Jin PingEr who sat down not far from him, and the distance between them, seemed to be nearer.
Ghost Li’s frowned but he did not speak and also did not look at the beauty beside him, only watched closely at the drawings, for some reason, in his heart, another thought came up:
That day Xiao Bai said she was going to southern border to search for the ‘Eight Savage Inferno Formation’ incantation but it had been a long time since there was any news of her; and in the whole world it seemed like only this place has the Eight Savage Inferno Formation, but Xiao Bai evidently was not here, then, where would she be right now?
Is she still doing fine?
This vague thought, in the coming days, frequently flashed past Ghost Li’s head.
X x x
However it seemed like on that day, the damage was much bigger than what Ghost Li’s assumed, even though those engravings on the ground still looked intact but it clearly did not have that spiritual energy as before, or that powerful vicious force, what was left, was only the stiff stone engravings.
Ghost Li and Jin PingEr stayed secretly in the Inferno Altar for a total of seven days, trying to figure it out but still nothing. In-between FenXiang Valley disciples came in to conduct checks, a few times Shangguan Ce also personally brought men to do the rounds but the Ghost Li today, including Jin PingEr, their skills had already improved tremendously, they concealed themselves above in the dim Inferno Altar and easily escaped detection.
Just that in the end they were still unable to grasp the essentials of the formation, it was really troubling.
This day, the two of them sat facing those stiff drawings for an afternoon, suddenly, Jin PingEr stretched, her slim waist looking like a seductive snake, an alluring image. Even though the only man beside her, stared intently on the floor carvings, thinking hard, did not notice Jin PingEr’s lithe and graceful dance at all.
Jin PingEr softly humphed, glared at Ghost Li, her eyes seemed to have a trace of complicated emotion but that was only a flash. The next moment, she sighed and said, “Are you able to tell anything from it?”
Ghost Li’s body moved then slowly focused back, turned and glanced at Jin PingEr, shook his head, said, “You?”
Jin PingEr did not answer and only laughed bitterly but Ghost Li already understood.
Jin PingEr frowned and said, “We have looked at these ghostly things for seven days. In the seven days, we did all we could but not to say activating this formation, even trying to stir some figures up seem impossible, what exactly happened here?”
Ghost Li after being silent for a moment, looked up into the darkness above, said, “That day when I was here rescuing someone, I triggered the mechanism in this hall, the Eight Savage Inferno Formation was immediately activated. But” his eyes glanced towards the middle of the hall, a strange tone in his words, said, “But that mechanism, is already gone now.”
Jin PingEr looked towards the direction of his gaze and saw a small stone platform raised in the middle but the stone was burnt black, congealed together into an ugly-looking form, how would it look like some superb craftsmanship mechanism.
In fact, when Ghost Li looked at that scene, he knew that strange stone mechanism was already destroyed, and the overwhelming fierce forces emitted by the ferocious stone engravings, right now were all gone.
The stretch of the once terrible carvings, looked to have become lifeless things.
The two of them sank into silence, not knowing what to say, after a long time, Jin PingEr seemed to think of something, raised her head and was about to speak, suddenly her countenance changed, Ghost Li’s brows also frowned, suddenly turned, immediately his eyes swept to where Xiao Hui was playing by itself, grabbed Xiao Hui and then floated up, the next moment, already disappeared into the darkness above the altar.
Jin PingEr after watching him disappearing into the darkness in two or three movements, smiled and then also floated up and disappeared.
The next moment, [zhi ya] a sound, deep muffled sound reverberated in the altar.
The door, was opened.
Footsteps were heard, the number of people seemed to be a lot but a powerful voice was heard indistinctly, after saying a few words, the place immediately quietened down. Then, from the door, three people walked in.
The first person, was FenXiang Valley master Yun YiLan, following behind him on his right was his junior brother Shanguan Ce, and the last person, about a few steps behind, was Yun YiLan’s favourite disciple, Li Xun.
After the three of them entered, Li Xun turned and closed the heavy door, immediately cut off the light outside, only dim light gently flickered in there.
X x x
Losing its spiritual power, the third level of the Inferno Altar which was originally in ice, had long lost the bitter cold, what was left were only the huge and hard cold rocks. In the darkness, Ghost Li and Jin PingEr quietly passed through that black cave hole, watching from above in the darkness.
Xiao Hui who seemed to know this was different, also turned quiet, obediently crouched beside its master.
Yun YiLan and Shangguan Ce slowly walked to the middle of the altar, stood at the formation and looked far, their faces enveloped in the dimness.
The three people stood there, after a long period of silence, did not speak, the atmosphere indistinctly strange. And above them, Ghost Li seemed to sense it, glanced over at Jin PingEr and happened that Jin PingEr was also looking at him. Both saw the faint bewilderment in each other eyes.
Yun YiLan looked solemn, or maybe his mood should be so, whoever it was, after watching their own painstakingly built-up business over the years turned into this, most probably would also be in a bad mood. Just that at one glance his face seemed expressionless, after some time, it seemed to give people an impression that its ever-changing but if you watched carefully, again discovered, his face had never changed, what changed, was only your heart.
At least, during the time at Qing Yun Hill, the world was not be able to see that image of him.
After a long time, Yun YiLan’s shifting gaze in the end maintained on the strange red stone, from one end to the other, from one drawing to another, and then, he slowly walked to that burnt stone platform, stretched out his hand and gently smoothed the rock.
“How long has it been?” Yun YiLan suddenly spoke, his deep voice asking a question out of nowhere.
Shangguan Ce stood beside him, he did not look surprised by Yun YiLan’s question, obviously he seemed to be already aware of some things, just that he looked like he did not intend to answer, and very strangely, turned and glanced at Li Xun who was standing three steps behind them.
Li Xun slowly lowered his head, his expression respectful, both of his eyes slightly closed, not making a sound.
Without turning back, Yun YiLan seemed to know what was going on, indifferently said, “Xun’er is not an outsider, in the future he will also take over FenXiang Valley, don’t have to hide these things from him.”
Shangguan Ce’s body shook slightly and then calmed down, after a moment of silence, said, “From the start of the preparation for the official summoning, till today has already been a total of thirty days, ‘Red Fire Brilliant Elder’ never responded.”
Yun YiLan’s expression did not change the slightest, the most only a glint in his eyes but the feeling it gave others seemed to be heavier. And above the altar, Ghost Li was instead surprised, not that FenXiang Valley was also helpless in repairing this strange formation, but the ‘Red Fire Brilliant Elder’ which Shangguan Ce had mentioned, triggered a memory deep inside his head, almost subconsciously, he felt that what Shangguan Ce referred to was something -
That huge wild beast enveloped in raging fire, could it be the crux of the legendary Eight Savage Inferno Formation?
The atmosphere in the altar was somehow strange, Yun YiLan did not look good, he did not speak, only strided around with big steps in the hall, seemed to be pondering over something, and Shangguan Ce only watched him, did not say anything, as for Li Xun, he only maintained a humble posture and remained silent.
Following the passing of time, Yun YiLan slowly frowned, a sharp glint indistinct in his eyes, as if something in his mind was having an intense fight but eventually he abruptly stopped pacing, with a long breath he turned to them.
Shangguan Ce glanced at Yun YiLan, softly called out, “Senior brother?”
Yun YiLan seemed to make up his mind, without hesitation, coldly said, “Shangguan junior brother, how important is this Inferno Altar formation, I don’t have to emphasis it, no matter what, it must be recovered, if not, we don’t have any other way to deal with him!”
Shangguan Ce nodded, did not speak, but in the darkness above the three of them, Ghost Li and Jin PingEr received a shock at the same time.
He?
Who is he?
The person that FenXiang Valley wanted to use this strange formation to deal with, was who?
In the quiet Inferno Altar, what was flowing right now, seemed to be an invisible dark energy. Just that, what Yun YiLan was about to say, made the surrounding indistinct darkness, turned into cold icy chill:
“That day when the lava erupted, the damage caused to the formation was really too great, the spiritual energy that our FenXiang Valley has accumulated for several hundred years has depleted, including losing the key ‘Inferno Mirror’, that’s why we are unable to summon the Red Fire Brilliant Elder to activate the formation. Actually if that person did not appear, this is naturally not important, we can start accumulating over again but currently, it is the critical time to use this formation.” Yun YiLan coldly snorted, three deep wrinkles appeared on his forehead, the murderous intention could be vaguely felt, his voice also became more cold.
Shangguan Ce was also deeply frowning but a trace of delight was on his face, asked in surprise, “Why, don’t tell me senior brother already has other ideas?”
Yun YiLan’s eyes twitched, said, “The formation in this altar, is created by our sect ancestors following the records from the ‘FenXiang Jade Book’ which is passed down, and at the end of the Jade Book, a forefather had written some words which are the risky methods to deal with this kind of difficult situation where the formation is unable to be activated, maybe it will work.”
Shangguan Ce and Li Xun were surprised and then delighted, ‘FenXiang Jade Book’ was FenXiang Valley supreme treasure, and all along only FenXiang Valley master was able to read and keep it, to Yun YiLan, it must be an exceptional forefather who left the ingenious method.
Shangguan Ce delightfully said, “Senior brother, what is the ingenious method left by that forefather?”
Yun YiLan saw their excitement but his face did not show any delight, instead, he was even more solemn, after a moment of silent, he slowly said, “That forefather wrote at the end of the ‘FenXiang Jade Book’, Inferno formation is created out of Heaven and Earth’s vicious energies, the Red Fire Beast brutal and ferocious, the spiritual energy that the engraved drawings contained, are the eight barbarian ferocious deities, with such it is recommended to reference southern border ancient books, with live humans as blood sacrifice, using the prosperous vicious energies to return the various deities back to position, the ferocious beast will appear and complete the formation.”
Shangguan Ce and Li Xun’s countenances changed greatly, looked at each other, for a moment speechless.
After a long time, Shangguan Ce forced himself to calm down from the shock, with a hoarse voice said, “This, this is really what our sect forefather wrote?”
Yun YiLan snorted, said, “Shangguan junior brother, don’t tell me you suspect I use our forefather’s name as a pretext?”
Shangguan Ce’s countenance changed again, quickly said, “I don’t dare, just that, just that using humans as blood offering, it is clearly Evil sect ways, how is it, how is it possible for it to appear in our sect Jade Book”
Yun YiLan directly interrupted Shangguan Ce’s words, coldly said, “What you said is right, this forefather although wrote such words but never has someone tried this method before.”
Shangguan Ce watched Yun YiLan’s directed stare, suddenly felt his body turned cold and couldn’t help but step back, he spied Li Xun behind him, saw his face had turned ashen too.
“Senior brother, don’t tell me you” Shangguan Ce seemed for the first time, spoke with such difficulty, “don’t tell me you plan to use this method?”
Yun YiLan frowned, forceful but without anger, he sneered and said, “If not this then what shall we do? We work so hard for several hundred years, looking as the big thing is about to be accomplished but with so many incidents, now even the most important formation is destroyed. Don’t tell me you want me to watch as our hard work goes down the drain?”
Shangguan Ce seemed to have some hesitant, argued, “Senior brother, the big matter is of course important, this method is really too”
Yun YiLan coldly cut him off, said, “Shangguan junior brother, being so tenacious, don’t tell me you still vaguely regard yourself as the Good Faction? Then for so many years, for this important thing, what you have done are not regarded as Good Faction ways right?”
Shangguan Ce was speechless.
Yun YiLan’s gaze sharp, looked as if about to stab into a person’s heart, stared at Shangguan Ce, said, “And, Shangguan junior brother, that day, the Inferno Altar as our sect sacred place, was guarded by you, unexpectedly it was in your hands that resulted in the situation today, do you know?”
Shangguan Ce was shocked, looked up but saw Yun YiLan’s cold stare, like knife, looking at him, Shangguan Ce’s expression looked agitated, his body slightly trembling, appeared like he had words to say but for some reason, under Yun YiLan’s stare, he eventually shrank, after a long time, a defeated look on his face, quietly said, “I understand.”
Yun YiLan nodded, said, “Since it is so, I will leave this thing to you, other than that, Xun’er, “He turned and looked at Li Xun.
Li Xun’s expression was also strange, suddenly heard his teacher calling him, he came to attention and quickly said, “Disciple is here.”
Yun YiLan glanced at him, said, “You will follow your Shangguan teacher uncle, learn well and also assist him.”
Li Xun turned pale, his voice turned hoarse and quietly said, “Yes.”
Yun YiLan took a final look at the stone drawings, frowning, turned and did not look back, walked out, after the sound of the heavy door [zhi ya], leaving only Shangguan Ce and Li Xun, both staring at each other in daze.
For a long time, nobody spoke, the two of them also slowly walked out.
Inferno Altar again descended into silence.
X x x
In the air, a faint sound was heard, two figures gently floated down. Xiao Hui [zhi zhi] called out twice, jumped onto the ground and went off to play again. In the first few days, it was still rather curious about the drawings but after a few days, looking still the same, the monkey lost interest in it.
Ghost Li and Jin PingEr after landed, for a moment nobody spoke, the surrounding atmosphere was still cold, as if the strange energy from Yun YiLan, had not dispersed.
After a long time, Jin PingEr suddenly said, “The person that they were talking about, what person is that?”
Ghost Li glanced at her, answered with another question, “What do you think?”
Jin PingEr smiled and said, “I am 90% confident that they are talking about the Beast Deity. However from their tones, I am not sure if they know where the Beast Deity is.”
Ghost Li silently nodded, said, “And one more thing, the formation in this altar, from their words it seemed like they also want to use the formation to deal with the Beast Deity, don’t tell me they knew for certain that the Beast Deity will come to this altar, or that this formation can be moved?”
Jin PingEr’s elegant brows frowned, clearly she too could not understand many important points about this, for the moment pondered.
Ghost Li’s eyes slowly moved, onto the stone drawings, after a long time, suddenly sneered, said, “So this is the so-called Good Faction, with humans as blood offering to vicious deities, he he, even in the Evil sect, I have never seen this kind of thing”
He had not finished his words, suddenly heard Jin PingEr’s clear laughter beside, in the laughter a faint strange tone, like a sneer, like mocking, and an indistinct concealed fear, said, “You, how do you know in our holy sect, there isn’t such a thing?”
Ghost Li’s body shook, turned and looked at her, saw Jin PingEr smiling but she had already turned her head away. Ghost Li frowned, coldly said, “What do you mean”
Suddenly, before he could finish his words, Ghost Li’s voice turned hoarse, at that moment, for some reason, he suddenly remembered that day when the great shaman was casting the spells to save BiYao, sought fresh blood from Ghost King to draw the formation’s drawings.
And Ghost King, almost in a blink, produced sufficient amount of blood.
The bowls of blood, where did it come from
Ghost Li stood in a daze, felt his body turned cold, unable to speak anymore.