Chapter Twenty-One: The Grand Blood Sacrifice Array

By the time I had finished tidying up and eaten my meal, dusk had already settled in. The last rays of the setting sun cast a yellowish glow over the dilapidated high-rises before me, making the world feel eerily like a realm of wandering spirits. Indeed, this was the hour when day and night met—when the sun gave way to the growing power of darkness. As soon as night fell, the spirits that had hidden during the day would emerge to roam.

Since awakening the Blood Fate Formation within me, I possessed abilities far beyond those of ordinary people—such as the Yin-Yang Eye. I could now sense the formation in my body clearly, no longer ignorant of its existence as I once was.

“Xiaodong, let’s go. We’ll head to Spirit Spring Village first.”

I nodded in agreement.

Ever since the crystal orb had been taken by Xiyue, the Oracle’s soul no longer had anywhere to reside and had become fully attached to the back of my right hand, manifesting as a tattoo.

In a way, this was for the best. The Oracle now protected me constantly.

As for the crystal orb, even the Oracle did not know what treasure it truly was. She only mentioned that it had the power to purify hearts. Xiyue had called it the Tear of the Vast Sea, but its true name remained unknown. Still, if someone as mysterious as Xiyue valued it so highly, it was certainly no ordinary artifact.

I hailed a cab and rode until I reached the main road outside Spirit Spring Village, then walked the rest of the way. But as soon as the village appeared before me, my expression changed drastically, for what I saw was nothing like what I had seen before.

Night had already fallen, yet Spirit Spring Village blazed with an eerie brightness—not the warm glow of lamplight, but the terrifying luminescence of ghostly fire. The entire village was engulfed in this unnatural brilliance. As I stepped inside, the ground beneath me, which had been shrouded in darkness, became gradually clearer.

“Xiaodong, look at the sky!”

Just as I was about to make my way toward the Spirit Spring Reservoir, the Oracle’s startled voice echoed in my mind.

I immediately looked up. Overhead, a massive Taiji diagram had faintly appeared, but it no longer bore its traditional colors. Instead, it was streaked with lines of blood-red.

“Oracle, what is that?”

“A Blood Sacrifice Formation!”

“A Blood Sacrifice Formation was a common refinement array in ancient times—it absorbs the life force of people for cultivation, or to forge magical treasures. But Spirit Spring Village isn’t anything special. Why would someone set up a Blood Sacrifice Formation here?”

The Oracle’s explanation sent a tremor through my heart. Someone had cast this formation here—could it be Xiyue?

I ran straight for the Spirit Spring Reservoir, and sure enough, when I arrived, I saw Xiyue dressed in pure white, her robes like fresh snow. Blood-red light shimmered in her hands, and from the crystal orb at her brow emanated rays of silvery light.

Wherever that light reached, a massive blood-red yin-yang symbol shrouded the land.

It was she who was constructing the array—the Blood Sacrifice Formation—to absorb the entire Spirit Spring Village into the diagram.

“Xiyue!”

I shouted and rushed toward her.

Though I still didn’t know what exactly connected us, I could not allow her to destroy the entire village for the sake of cultivation.

“You’ve come,” she said softly, her voice as gentle and familiar as a spring that flowed straight into my heart.

“What are you doing? Stop this at once!”

I kept running toward her. I was not who I once was; I now understood that a barrier, set by Xiyue, separated me from her—a reality beyond ordinary life. I might not have grasped this before, but now I was certain.

“All of this is their fate. Heaven’s mandate cannot be defied. Many years ago, my uncle urged them to leave, but they were greedy for the water here and kept taking from it, destroying the feng shui. There was once a young dragon beneath this land, but because the spring was ruined, if my uncle hadn’t intervened, everyone here would have died. To save them, my uncle had no choice but to cast an ancient water curse, using the Yin-Yang Water Burial, burying my yet-unawakened soul here to subdue the young dragon, and setting up the Nine-Steele Dragon-Slaying Formation. But the villagers would not leave, even transporting the spring water elsewhere. In the end, the delicate balance of feng shui was destroyed. If I hadn’t sensed your bloodline and the Tear of the Vast Sea in my brow, my soul would have been annihilated, turning me into nothing but a water corpse.”

As she spoke, the crystal orb at her brow—what she called the Crystal Tear—burst forth with limitless silvery light, casting veils of radiance over the entire village.

I could actually see the trees before my eyes begin to wither. The yin-yang diagram suspended in the air, once vague, now became starkly visible. I seemed to hear the echoes of anguished screams.

“Xiyue, stop! No matter what, you can’t drain their life force. If you do this, how are you any different from those malignant spirits?”

Though I understood her reasoning, I could not accept so extreme a method.

“This is Heaven’s will. Even if I didn’t send them off with the Blood Sacrifice Formation tonight, they wouldn’t survive until morning. The young dragon I subdued all those years ago has awakened. Imagine, after being suppressed for so long, how many will it slaughter once it breaks free?”

“But… but I won’t allow you to do this! Isn’t there any other way? Please, stop!”

I watched as the energy of the trees dissipated, the trunks withering, even the stones starting to crack.

“Stop! If you don’t stop, I’ll never speak to you again!”

I didn’t even know why I said it, but the words burst out in my panic.

And it worked. Xiyue’s brows furrowed, and with a gentle wave of her hand, the yin-yang diagram dissolving in the air vanished at once. A fierce wind swept past me, chilling me to the bone.

Xiyue descended slowly from above the reservoir, and the barrier before me disappeared instantly.

“We don’t have much time. We must warn the villagers to leave immediately. Hurry—if we wait any longer, it’ll be too late!”