Chapter 262: Bloody Ritual
The ancient shrine deep within the realm’s sacred forest had been abandoned for centuries, its weathered stones bearing the scars of countless seasons and forgotten conflicts.
Moss-covered pillars formed a perfect circle around a central altar where rituals had once been performed to commune with the realm’s most ancient ancestors.
The air itself seemed heavy with residual magical energy that had accumulated over millennia, making the surrounding trees grow in twisted and unnatural.
Xùyán knelt before the altar in the darkness, his bandaged neck throbbing with each heartbeat as he traced complex symbols into the earth.
The humiliation of his defeat still burned in his memory—not just the physical pain of being used like a toy, but the crushing realization that Grim’s power exceeded his own by such a vast margin that their confrontation had been less a battle than a demonstration.
"This will show them," he muttered, his voice carrying the desperate edge of someone who had been pushed beyond rational thought.
"This will prove that fox spirit magic is superior to human corruption. That our ways are stronger than his darkness."
The ritual he was attempting had been forbidden by the council for longer than most fox spirits had been alive.
The ancient texts he had stolen from Elder Míngzhì’s private collection described it as a technique for temporarily channeling the power of the realm.
The same energies that maintained the protective barriers, sustained the perpetual magic that kept their territory hidden from human eyes, and fed the spiritual wells that nourished their land.
But those same texts also carried warnings written in the blood of previous practitioners, describing catastrophic consequences for those who lacked the spiritual strength to contain such an enormous force.
The ritual had been banned not because it was evil, but because it was simply too dangerous for anyone below the level of the masters to attempt safely.