People kept pouring into Xundu. The streets and alleys were filled with people. It was so densely packed that there was no end in sight.
The whole Xundu was decorated with lights and there was a market going on with vendors carrying food and other goods to sell. In this era, apart from Xundu, perhaps only the legendary city of immortals and demons, Youdu, could see such a grand scene.
Hundreds of people carried a tall wooden statue of the witch god and entered from the west gate of Xundu. Among these people, the pillars were all witches, each of them was extremely powerful, and the most ordinary and lowest-ranking witch could tear a tiger or leopard apart alive. They carried the heavy wooden statue on a high platform and marched in neat steps.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
Each step was in time with the nodes, and the sound was so steady that it seemed as if the earth was vibrating along with it.
On the wide streets, thousands of people were performing sacrificial dances and marching with exaggerated steps, accompanied by the sound of animal-skin drums.
The grand sacrificial dance, surrounded by the strange and tall wooden statue of the witch god, moved towards the center little by little.
Along the way, there were people all kneeling and bowing their heads. Many of them knelt on the ground and screamed wildly, like crazy, as if this was the only way they could get closer to the witch god.
Dozens of shaman priests stood in the way, shouting and wailing as they chanted sacrificial prayers. Those were the most ancient syllables and chants, accompanied by the sound of the xun, low and solemn.
In the weirdness and frenzy, the tall and terrifying statue of the witch god, led by dozens of witch priests with painted bodies, tattooed faces and cut hair, walked through the streets and entered the witch god altar under the tribute of all the people in Xundu.
The tall wooden statue of the witch god, under the joint efforts of the great witch's sacrificial cloud and the witches, and under their sacrificial dances and kowtows, floated up little by little and landed on the witch god altar. The entire witch god altar finally became complete.
And the sacrificial ceremony of the Wushen Festival finally reached its climax.
King Huan, along with the royal family and the most powerful witch priests such as the Great Witch Priest, the Witch Priest He, and the Curse, were at the front, offering sacrifices to the witch god and the sky on behalf of the witch god.
The princes, prefects, and tribal leaders were all watching the ceremony below. As King Huan held up the wine vessel, they knelt down together to express their submission to King Huan. They also stated that the princes and prefecture states they controlled were all vassal states of King Huan and acknowledged King Huan's rule over them.
At such times, wine and sacrifices naturally became the most important things in the sacrifice. Wine was said to be the medium for communication with the witch gods, while sacrifices were gifts to please the witch gods and heaven.
Hundreds of people in the north who were reduced to slaves because of rebellion were now tied together like pigs and sheep and placed under the altar together with a large number of livestock. They would later be sacrificed together to the witch god.
This kind of bloody and horrific sacrificial ritual has rarely been used in the past ten years, but because today's witch god sacrifice is different from the past, the tradition has been restored here.
Drinking, partying, and praying to the gods.
Massacre, beheading, disembowelment and heart digging, blood gathered into a river, and amid the witch's chanting, this crazy blood sacrifice scene aroused the wildness in the hearts of the Dahuan people, who had a brutal and murderous nature hidden in their bones. The entire Xun seemed to have returned to the era of the Xun tribe.
Hundreds of bloody heads were offered up as sacrifices. A large group of witches chanted something, and all the sacrifices turned into thick blood and energy, which was completely absorbed by the terrifying and sinister witch statue at the top.
The statue of the witch god suddenly turned blood red, and the hideous face and blood-red eyes seemed to become lively all of a sudden.
The wooden giant, which was a dead object, seemed to be about to step down from the altar and rush into the human world.
At this moment, the sky also darkened for some unknown reason.
The sky was covered with dark clouds, but there was no thunder. The bright and clear sky was nowhere to be seen. The whole Xun City was plunged into darkness.
The sky and the earth changed color, and the universe changed dramatically.
Everyone was stunned by this scene, and the groups of witch priests became even more excited, shouting the ancient name of the witch god frantically, believing that the witch god had arrived.
The Huan people below became even more awed and crazy. In their eyes, the strange phenomena in heaven and earth were all related to the witch god, and everything was a manifestation of the witch god's will.
At this moment, dozens of disciples from the academy were all here in Xundu, and no one went to the outside world to participate in the witch god ceremony.
These were the young men who were not favored by their clans, the ones who were abandoned and considered to be the least qualified. But now, after spending a year in Xundu Academy, they seemed to have been reborn.
Knowledge and vision can change a person's spirit and appearance.
Fang Xiu put one hand behind his back and held the scroll in the other, his eyes sweeping over every student present. There were a total of twenty-four people left, and so many people came and went, until finally only these forty-two were left. Fang Xiu spent a year telling them everything he could.
Fang Xiu also left the unfinished story in the library of Xundu Academy.
I suddenly felt quite emotional. I thought that the next time I step into Xundu, I probably won’t see any of these Xundu students.
Fang Xiu couldn't help but sigh: "At the beginning of ancient times!"
"Who preached ~"
The academy disciples below the stage also looked at the Master one by one, as if they had sensed something. After listening to these two sentences, they suddenly felt a sense of vicissitudes and heaviness. In their opinion, this was the Master's self-praise, but no one really understood the meaning of Fang Xiu's sigh.
Even the witch priests can only live for a hundred years, and a sorcerer who has activated his bloodline powers cannot live more than two hundred years. They are all ordinary people, how can they resist the erosion of time
However, the knowledge, will and principles they inherit will continue to be passed on.
"A teacher is someone who teaches, imparts knowledge, and resolves doubts!"
"My teachings have been passed on to you. I hope you can bring glory to Xundu Academy!"
"Zhuang Li! After I leave, you will be the next generation of Master!"
Fang Xiu called the name of a man in his thirties who looked a little skinny. The man immediately stepped forward and knelt in front of him.
Fang Xiu handed him a scroll of extraordinary-looking white jade. This was the embryo of a magical instrument that Fang Xiu had cultivated. The material was taken from a piece of spiritual jade that was born from the blood of a dragon in the depths of the North Sea. It was impervious to water and fire, and difficult to be damaged by knives and axes.
Its function is to store and retrieve a large amount of knowledge. As long as you write words on it, they can be stored in it, and mortals can also use it. With this jade slip, the inheritance of the entire Xundu Academy is there.
It was called the Jade Slip of Teaching, and Fang Xiu also passed it down as a token of the Xundu Academy.
Zhuang Li took the jade slip of teachings respectfully, while Fang Xiu gradually disappeared in the Xundu Academy.
"Today, no matter what noise you hear, don't come out!"
—————————-
As a ray of blood shot up into the sky, it instantly spread to the entire Xundu.
The black smoke from the earth gradually spread into the sky, and a strange power seeped out, covering the entire Xundu.
The moon-trees hidden in every corner of Xundu resonated together, emitting rays of black light that connected with them.
The common people and nobles of Dahuan regarded this horrifying scene as the arrival of the witch god. They went crazy and could not control themselves. Even some princes and dukes looked at the witch god statue on the stage in disbelief.
Only groups of shaman priests noticed something was wrong at this moment. They looked around in panic, at the sky and the earth, without understanding how everything before their eyes could have happened.
They had never encountered such a situation and scene before.
What’s even more terrifying is that shadows struggled out from the earth amidst the darkness.
Ghosts that can only appear at night suddenly appeared at the same time and set foot on the earth.
One after another, twisted ghost shadows appeared in the darkness. Thousands of dead souls stood on the streets and appeared beside the people of Xundu at this moment.
"What is that?" The common people who were reveling on the street were stunned for a moment, trembling in fear under the darkness and terrifying shadows.
"Evil ghost? The evil ghost is coming out!" One after another, phantoms appeared in the streets and alleys, and then gradually turned solid. They were hideous and terrifying evil ghosts.
"Ah! Protect me! Protect me!" The terrified nobleman was so frightened that he fell off the sedan chair to the ground, cheering and shouting.
However, at this moment the entire street was in chaos, and everyone was running around in panic, and the fear of evil spirits had penetrated into everyone's heart.
The illusory shadows gradually solidified, and eyes with ferocious and bloody pupils looked at them.
Evil ghosts wearing bloody animal skins, white skeletons, demon ghosts running wildly holding broken limbs, and giant ghosts that were as tall as giants, several meters tall, and could easily tear apart walls and destroy houses.
The headless warrior, wearing armor and holding a big axe, easily chopped the passerby in half.
There were even barbarian ghost armies rushing out from underground, carrying chariot ghost beasts, crossing the boundary between life and death, and crashing into the streets. Along the way, they devoured living people at will.
The evil ghosts laughed ferociously, and their crazy and greedy desires were rampant in Xundu. They horrified people walking on the streets, choosing whom to eat and greedily chewing the flesh and blood of living people.
In the sky, endless black shadows were circling, making sharp cries, and from time to time they would swoop down and bite a living person to death.
Here, life and death have lost their boundaries. The ghosts completely stand in the realm of the living, venting their hatred and rage at will.
The Huan people gathered in Xundu had nowhere to hide. They were so vulnerable to the endless stream of evil spirits. Ordinary weapons were of no use against these evil spirits.
They could only scream, shout, run, struggle, and then die.
The crises and ghosts hidden under the ancient capital Xun all broke out at this moment.
The horrifying scene created even made people feel that the place they were standing in was not the mountain and sea world, but purgatory.
Because countless ghosts broke free, the permeating power, along with the entire formation, turned the Xun into complete darkness, and the sun in the sky disappeared.
The entire xiao seemed to have entered the night, and the diffuse black smoke became all that could be seen.
"Hahaha! It's finally over!"
"Years of planning, today is the day!"
Qingyun, wearing a blood-red robe of the great wizard, looked up at King Huan and dozens of wizards on the altar. A cold look appeared on his face, and he looked at King Huan with icy eyes as if he was looking at a dead person.
King Huan also looked at him. Although he was old, he exuded the power of a tiger or wolf, and his eyes were extremely sharp.
"The last step!"
"start!"
Following a loud roar from Qingyun, countless talisman lights emanated from his body, and the entire formation resonated in unison.
The black smoke gathered and rose towards the center, and thousands of ghosts followed, rushing here from the sky.
However, what Qingyun did not expect was that the endless black smoke had all penetrated into his shell at this moment, and the evil spirits pounced on him.
The horrifying evil spirits formed a storm, sweeping him up and gnawing at his flesh and blood madly.
Qingyun was stunned for a moment. He screamed and howled, and was surrounded by countless evil spirits.
He was completely covered by darkness and evil spirits, and a violent black storm formed under the altar. All the people around him, princes, governors, and nobles of Xundu, all quickly avoided him.
During the violent struggle, a huge golden forbidden light burst out from Taoist Qingyun's body. Mysterious talismans rose up one after another, emitting golden spiritual light and vibrating out, sweeping out dozens of meters.
A huge golden talisman appeared, and wherever the light covered, all the evil spirits turned to ashes.
But the endless black smoke kept rushing into his body, and endless evil spirits followed one after another, with no end in sight.
All he saw was his three souls, seven spirits and body quickly turning into ghosts. Even his natal golden talisman was gradually turning dark and being corroded by the ghost power of the underworld.
"How could this happen? What is going on?" Qingyun's hair was disheveled at this moment, his face was as ferocious as a devil, and he even had fangs and sharp teeth growing in his mouth. His eyes were full of disbelief.
Countless evil ghosts devoured his flesh and blood, while the ghost power from the underworld continued to penetrate into his body, replenishing his shell.
"Why is this happening?" Taoist Qingyun looked at the scene in disbelief, staring at King Huan below.
This was his former disciple, the one who looked honest and simple.
He called him... the disciple who was most like him.
According to his plan, the center of the formation located on the altar will be activated at this moment, devouring King Huan and all the sorcerers. Then the ghost power will merge with King Huan and refine him into a Ghost Emperor. At that time, he will bring tens of thousands of ghosts to devour the entire Fengdu.
Sacrifice the hundreds of thousands of people in the city and the entire royal capital.
With so many people dying at once, the power of the Ghost Emperor and the great formation will surely open the door to the underworld.
The Ghost Emperor opens the underworld and rushes into it, and then the underworld will undergo drastic changes.
He will get a glimpse of the greatest secrets of the entire world, the secrets of life and death and immortality, and the secrets of the god of the earth.
Even if he is not very good at it, he will know how to transform into a ghost or a ghost king, perfect his own formation of ten thousand ghosts, and then enter the next stage.
It can even be perfected to form a truly flawless Ten Thousand Ghosts Array, and transformed into a magical method that can preserve one's own memory and sanity, thus breaking through to the next realm.
These were all told to him by the Siqiong Mountain God. He had deduced and confirmed them countless times, and he had also set up the formation himself.
How could it be wrong? How could it be wrong
“This kind of trick is really… embarrassing, isn’t it?” King Huan moved slowly and looked at Taoist Qingyun who was being devoured by the evil spirit and gradually losing all his sanity and memory bit by bit.
A huge force erupted from within his old body. Black witch power spread out and took over the entire formation that controlled all the ghosts in Xundu.
"Is this what you call the art of immortality?"
"The center of the formation has already moved, and it is now right under your feet!"
King Huan's old voice was filled with sneers: "The only person you want to sacrifice is yourself!"
"It's useless! It's useless!" Qingyun laughed miserably and allowed the evil ghost to haunt him, dragging him into the ground little by little. He then sank into the earth, carrying thousands of ghosts with him.
The formation has been implemented halfway, and the door to the underworld cannot be opened before all the living beings in Xundu are sacrificed.
These evil spirits alone are not enough to destroy and knock open the door to the underworld.
"Only by sacrificing all the people in Xundu can we open the door to the underworld!"
"Only in this way... Only in this way..."
"You can't be cruel, you can't be cruel enough!"
"You are a weak and incompetent person."
Taoist Qingyun roared in extreme anger: "Huan Chen!"
"You still can't survive these years, and turn into dust and a rotten corpse!"
King Huan looked at Taoist Qingyun coldly: "I know!"
"But with this formation, and you as the guardian, we can naturally suppress the ghosts of Xundu and keep Xundu safe!"
"For the next hundred years, my Xun will be free from worries!"
"Thanks!"
This last word of thank you seemed to send Taoist Qingyun to hell.
"Huan Chen, you little bastard!"
"I'll be waiting for you down there!"
He was extremely angry and desperate. He roared and screamed, but he still could not stop himself from being dragged into the ground by the Ten Thousand Ghosts bit by bit. He was transformed into a talisman to protect the entire Ten Thousand Ghosts Formation, merging with the evil spirit under the Xun City and the countless Moon Sophora japonica trees to become the core of a large formation.
At this moment, the entire land of Xundu suddenly erupted with extremely shocking power.
“Boom!”
The voice is low and deep.
It was like a heavy, old door that was slowly opening.
As the sound spread, the entire Xundu fell silent in an instant.
A spot of black, with the royal palace as the center, instantly spread out and filled the entire land of Xundu, even spreading to the distance, and the entire royal capital was turned into darkness.
At this moment, there was no ground under their feet, as if they were standing on an abyss with no bottom in sight.
The terrifying and deep darkness was like a big mouth, swallowing everything in the world.
The gate to the underworld!
It’s open!