Chapter 314: Black Serpent
The crimson fire blazed fiercely in the fields, the piled-up straw crackling in the flames. Under the pitch-black night, the burning blood-red flames illuminated the eerily silent, deserted village. Dark blood flowed quietly on the ground.
In the center stood a dark stone platform covered in dark red runes. Many men and women, dressed in Daoist robes, kneeled upon it. Sharp dharma weapons had pierced through their throats, and they lay collapsed on the sacrificial altar.
A chilling wind blew, creating a mournful wail. Nine piles of bones, varying in size, were neatly arranged around the area, most of them fragmented. In the middle, a cultivator clad in black sat cross-legged, his eyes closed in deep concentration.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes, mana light flickering within its depths. His skin was slightly tanned, his hair disheveled, revealing him to be a man of Mount Yue. He stood up, humming a song, and picked up a black gourd, glancing at the moon. He murmured softly, "The moon is at its zenith, the yin energy is at its peak… Perfect!"
He then gently lifted the black gourd, which was covered in numerous runes that began to glow with a blood-red light. He shook it lightly as his mana flowed freely, and shouted, "Collect!"
Immediately, black and blood-red qi rose from the piles of bones, emitting a cacophony of sharp, mournful screams. The qi interwove in the air like threads, like homing swallows, all of it wafting toward the sacrificial altar and into the small opening of the gourd.
"Good… good!"
The black-robed cultivator waited for an hour until the resentment qi and blood qi were fully collected into his gourd. The piles of bones had now withered, crackling as they disintegrated. The blood-red light on the gourd grew increasingly intense.
He finally stopped in satisfaction and said, "Over three thousand people, six Embryonic Breathing Realm cultivators. This batch should please the sect master!"