After leaving the Wandao Sect with Jiang Xin, Xiao Mo followed the map given to him by the Blood Demon and headed for Kongnian Temple.
During his year at the Wandao Sect, Xiao Mo had learned a great deal about the Western Regions.
The two great powers of the Western Regions, the Buddhist Sect and the Demon Sect, had been fighting for untold millennia.
Over these many millennia, both the Buddhist Sect and the Demon Sect had, at one ti or another, been on the verge of being annihilated by the other. But every ti they faced a life-or-death crisis, they managed to bounce back from the brink.
And over these sa millennia, countless Buddhist Temples and Demon Sects had vanished into the river of ti.
But only one Buddhist Temple and one Demon Sect had endured to this day.
The Buddhist Temple was Kongnian Temple.
And the Demon Sect was the Black Lotus Sect.
Today, the Buddhist Sect in the Western Regions was led by Kongnian Temple.
As for the Demon Sects, while they had no official leader, there were the widely recognized Ten Great Demon Sects.
In practice, however, the Black Lotus Sect was the leader of the Ten Great Demon Sects.
In the month since leaving the Wandao Sect, Xiao Mo no longer avoided people as he had before.
Although Xiao Mo was only a Cave Mansion Realm cultivator, cultivators at the Foundation Establishnt Realm were already pitifully few in this world, let alone those at the Cave Mansion Realm.
So, as long as Xiao Mo didn’t go looking for trouble, basically no one would bother him.
Xiao Mo didn’t fly with Jiang Xin the entire ti. Instead, he would occasionally co down and walk.
He had three months, after all, so there was no need to be in such a hurry.
He wanted to see more of the Western Regions and spend more ti with Jiang Xin.
Otherwise, once Jiang Xin left for Kongnian Temple, who knew when he would see her again.
Another half a month later, Xiao Mo and Jiang Xin were passing through a small village.
According to the map, passing through this village would be a major shortcut.
But not long after the two of them entered the village, Xiao Mo sensed that sothing was wrong.
He couldn’t see a single villager.
As they walked further, the two saw signs of a struggle and bloodstains splattered everywhere.
Soon, Xiao Mo and Jiang Xin saw souls wandering aimlessly through the village.
These souls were all bound in chains.
"Xiao Mo..."
Seeing this, Jiang Xin couldn’t help but grip Xiao Mo’s clothes, her face turning pale.
"It’s all right."
Xiao Mo patted Jiang Xin’s small hand. His own mind focused as he tightened his grip on the long saber in his hand.
Just then, Xiao Mo saw sothing drawn on a white wall.
Looking closer, he saw it was so kind of Array.
Although Xiao Mo’s comprehension of the Great Dao and his mories of various Cultivation Techniques, Arrays, and the like would fade after each of his life experiences, in this life, the Blood Demon had taught him more than just Daoist Skills. She had also imparted a great deal of other knowledge to prevent him from being swindled.
That was why Xiao Mo could tell that this Array was a type of Sacrificial Spirit Array.
As Xiao Mo continued, he found the sa Array drawn on walls, the ground, and other surfaces every so often.
These Arrays weren’t drawn at random.
Their positions could be connected to form a single Array Map.
Xiao Mo understood perfectly what was happening.
It was simple.
Soone had slaughtered everyone in this village and was using it for a blood sacrifice.
Blood sacrifice was a common thod used in Demon Dao cultivation.
Such things were not at all uncommon in the Western Regions.
Even the Blood Demon herself had perford blood sacrifices many tis.
However, the Blood Demon disdained using mortals for her sacrifices; she only used cultivators.
In the Blood Demon’s own words: "Once you set foot on the path of cultivation, you must struggle against the heavens and against your fellow man. If I sacrifice them, it just proves they were nothing but unlucky trash."
Xiao Mo focused his mind. Drawing on the understanding of Arrays the Blood Demon had taught him, he easily located the core of the Sacrificial Spirit Array.
’This blood sacrifice has nothing to do with ,’ he thought, ’but since I’m here, I might as well take care of it.’
’Besides, this Sacrificial Spirit Array isn’t high-grade. It was probably set up by a Dragon Gate Realm cultivator at most. Even if they co looking for , I’m confident I can kill them.’
’Otherwise, if a Golden Core Realm cultivator had laid this Sacrificial Spirit Array, I wouldn’t have even been able to enter the village.’
After finding the core of the Sacrificial Spirit Array, Xiao Mo destroyed it with a single slash of his saber.
In an instant, all the chains binding the souls throughout the village shattered. Those souls with weaker lingering attachnts imdiately returned to the Great Dao, entering the cycle of reincarnation.
Those with deeper attachnts drifted out of the village, remaining in the mortal world.
As a re Cave Mansion Realm cultivator—and a Demon Cultivator at that, not a Buddhist Disciple—Xiao Mo couldn’t purify all the souls. This was the most he could do.
"Let’s go," Xiao Mo said to Jiang Xin.
"O-oh." Jiang Xin nodded and hurried to follow.
...
anwhile, on a desolate mountain a hundred li south of the village, a man’s eyes snapped open.
"Senior Brother, what is it?"
A cultivator from the Wangchuan Sect stepped forward, asking cautiously.
"To think that the Sacrificial Spirit Array I laid in Linggan Village, the one I slaughtered, was just destroyed by so ddling cultivator!" The man, Guang Cuo, narrowed his eyes, a vicious glint flashing within them.
"How could that happen?" Hu Hui said with displeasure. "I’ll take so n and go at once."
"There’s no need." Guang Cuo shook his head. "One less village is no great loss. We have more important things to do."
With that, Guang Cuo stood up and walked out of the cave.
On a patch of flat ground not far from the cave entrance, an Array was laid out.
This was the master array for the Sacrificial Spirit Arrays.
Guang Cuo had previously slaughtered over sixty villages and laid just as many Sacrificial Spirit Arrays, all to perform a blood sacrifice of souls to help soone break through to the Foundation Establishnt Realm.
And that very person was now sitting at the core of the Array.
In addition, another person was bound and thrown on the ground before him.
The man about to break through was nad Qian Zhenhao. The one bound on the ground was his closest sworn brother, Tang Kuang.
"The ti has co. Zhenhao, begin," Guang Cuo said to Qian Zhenhao.
Qian Zhenhao stood, raising his longsword, his eyes trembling uncontrollably.
"Hurry up. Don’t waste ti," Guang Cuo said flatly. "Our Master thinks highly of you and has promised to accept you as his Direct Disciple. But you know the rules. To receive his legacy, you must first kill soone close to you. Do not disappoint us."
Qian Zhenhao swallowed hard, the tip of his sword aid straight at Tang Kuang’s heart.
"Fourth Brother... I never thought you’d do sothing like this." Tang Kuang looked at his sworn brother. There was no despair in his eyes, only sorrow and a sense of the absurd.
"I’m sorry, Third Brother... I... I want to beco an immortal!"
With that, Qian Zhenhao thrust his sword down.
Tang Kuang’s pupils constricted, and monts later, he stopped breathing.
His blood flowed along the grooves carved into the ground, gradually filling the entire Array.
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