Han Yu had never seen a Beastkin like this man.
The features differed.
The bat murals around the village suddenly returned to his mind.
He slowly looked toward the wall carvings.
The sa creature.
Bat body.
Human face.
Sharp fangs.
Smiling expression.
Was this man connected to that being?
A descendant?
A worshipper?
Han Yu could not continue thinking.
The man began moving. He stood at the center of the corpses. His hands slowly spread. Then he began chanting.
His voice echoed through the chamber.
"O Ancestor of Frozen Wings..."
"O First One who drank from the Eternal Spring..."
"O Great Ancestor whose smile outlasted death..."
"O Lord beneath the hidden frost..."
"O Keeper of the laughing souls..."
"Hear the blood within your child..."
"Hear the yearning buried in flesh..."
"See the longing concealed beneath this frozen face..."
"I offer rembrance..."
"I offer devotion..."
"I offer the joy of those who departed..."
"Let the smiling waters awaken..."
"Let the hidden spring reveal its reflection..."
"Let your eternal smile gaze upon your descendant..."
"Open your eyes..."
"Open your spring..."
"Open the path..."
The final words echoed.
Silence followed.
Then...
Cold filled the chamber.
Han Yu imdiately focused.
The temperature plumted.
Frost spread over the ritual circle.
The air twisted.
At the center before the man, cold condensed.
Liquid appeared.
Han Yu’s eyes narrowed.
A spring ford.
Three ters wide.
Its water looked utterly still.
The surface reflected the ritual chamber perfectly.
The man stepped closer and stared into it.
His expression remained somber.
Han Yu watched too.
Then...
His scalp tingled.
The reflection in the spring changed, but the man above remained expressionless.
The reflection beneath though, grinned.
Han Yu’s pupils contracted.
The smile widened further.
Slowly.
Unnaturally.
The reflected face stretched.
The mouth opened wider than humanly possible.
The man still stood frozen.
A full minute passed.
Then...
His lips twitched.
Han Yu watched as the smile spread onto the real face.
Slowly.
Forcefully.
The man’s cheeks trembled.
His expression distorted.
Soon a wide smile stretched across him.
Then laughter escaped.
At first soft.
Then louder.
"Hahaha..."
"Hahahaha..."
The laughter echoed.
Han Yu suddenly felt movent behind him.
He turned.
The corpses moved.
No.
Their mouths moved.
Frozen dead people began laughing.
Cold laughter filled the chamber.
Hundreds of corpses.
Laughing together.
The sound crawled beneath Han Yu’s skin.
Then sothing even stranger happened.
Wisps erged.
Tiny pale lights drifted from the mouths of the corpses.
Han Yu stared.
His eyes widened.
"Souls?"
The wisps floated upward.
Hundreds of them.
They drifted toward the spring.
The smiling reflection opened its mouth wider.
The souls entered it.
One after another.
Han Yu suddenly understood.
The ritual was never taking lifespan.
It was harvesting souls.
The realization struck him imdiately.
Longevity...
The smiling corpses...
The forced happiness...
Everything had been wrong.
Soone had deliberately disguised this as a longevity ritual.
The real purpose lay elsewhere.
Han Yu stared at the spring.
The reflected smile widened further.
Then...
Sothing moved beneath the water.
A shadow.
Large.
Winged.
And smiling.
The ritual continued.
The souls continued drifting from the smiling corpses toward the spring while the reflection beneath the water grew increasingly distorted. The shadow under the surface moved again, its outline becoming clearer.
Vast wings spread beneath the water. Long fingers ended in claws. A face that resembled the murals slowly tilted upward.
Han Yu narrowed his eyes.
Then suddenly the entire spring trembled.
HREEEEEEEE
A deafening screech erupted.
It sounded like a bat.
Yet it also sounded human.
The noise pierced straight into the mind. The water exploded with ripples and the smiling reflection vanished instantly.
The Beastkin man froze as the smile disappeared from his face and he slowly turned his head.
The expression on his face changed completely.
He looked around sharply.
"Who dares enter the Ancestor’s sanctuary?!" he roared.
The entire temple shook.
The candles flickered violently.
Cracks spread over the floor.
Han Yu imdiately felt the change.
An imnse pressure burst from the man.
His aura exploded upward.
Peak Nascent Soul.
Half step Dao Shell.
Then beyond.
Han Yu narrowed his eyes.
It was temporary.
The man himself had not grown stronger.
The ritual had affected him sohow.
The spring.
The souls.
The shadow beneath the water.
Sothing was empowering him.
The Beastkin man waved his hand violently.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
Cold mist erupted.
The chamber instantly filled with icy clouds.
They rushed everywhere like living creatures.
Han Yu moved imdiately.
Unfortunately, one cloud struck him.
The frost clung to his body as the illusion hiding him flickered. While he still stayed invisible, the frost made his outline appeared within the alcove.
The Beastkin imdiately spotted him.
"You!" he roared.
The man rushed forward.
The floor cracked beneath his feet.
"You dare enter the sacred sanctuary? You will die just like the ones who ca before!"
His clawed hand slashed downward.
The air scread.
Five crescent blades of frost shot toward Han Yu.
Han Yu stepped forward calmly.
"Humph."
He pushed his palm outward.
Abyssal Frost Qi surged.
Dark blue energy mixed with black mist and ford a shield before him.
BOOM!
The frost claws struck.
The entire chamber trembled.
The shield remained unmoving.
The Beastkin landed before it.
"re tricks!"
His claws struck again.
BOOM!
The shield still did not move.
The man’s eyes widened.
"What?"
Han Yu raised his head.
The Beastkin stepped back.
"Frost Qi that can oppose mine?"
Shock appeared on his face.
He stared at the dark frost.
"No... this Frost Qi..."
His pupils narrowed.
"There is darkness within it?"
Confusion filled his expression.
Han Yu gave no answer.
He attacked.
His hand rose.
A five ter spear ford instantly and pitch black frost wrapped around it.
The spear shot forward.
WHOOSH
The Beastkin imdiately leaped aside.
The spear struck a pillar.
CRACK!
The entire structure froze instantly before shattering into black ice fragnts.
The Beastkin flipped in midair.
His leg swept out.
A crescent wave of pale frost rushed toward Han Yu.
Han Yu simply extended a hand.
Abyssal Frost Qi surged.
The attack stopped.
Then dissolved.
The Beastkin stared.
"Impossible!"
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