The night wind whistles like someone sharpening iron with a blunt knife, squeaking into the eardrum.
Chu Xuan crouched on the scorched earth, his fingertips grasping a speck of black ash - that was the remnant of the Heavenly Dao Pavilion's demonic cultivators after being burned by purple fire, with a sweet and fishy stench.
"Encrypted letters?" Su Mei Er shook the bamboo tube in her hand. It was the size of a palm, and the outer wall was engraved with dark gold patterns, like crawling centipedes. "The seal has a 'Soul Devouring seal'. If you force it open, it will explode. It will be powerful enough to do a somersaults between us."
Chu Xuan raised his eyebrows. "Then let it open itself."
He pointed together like a sword, and a wisp of chaotic light flowed from the tip of the finger, like a line of ink in water, gently entwining the bamboo tube. The primordial energy can transform into all kinds of power, and the Soul Devouring seal's emblem is gnawed bit by bit, making a faint "hissing" sound like snow falling into a pan of oil.
Pop --
The bamboo tube split open, and a thin silk paper slipped off, written in magic blood, dark red and purple, the first line pierced the eye --
[The seal of the Cave of Ten Thousand Demons has been lifted, quickly take the blood of the descendants of the spirit, sacrifice the array within ten days, and release the Taotie]
Signature: Xihe Zuo Xia · Xuanzi No. 3.
Su Mei 'er made a "TSK" sound, "Xuanzi No. 3? The Heavenly Dao Pavilion is quite grand, and assassins are numbered."
Chu Xuan looked down. There was a line of small characters at the bottom of the silk paper, most of which were covered with bloodstain. With a flick of his two fingers, the spiritual energy evaporated the stain, and the characters became visible --
[The holder of the Dao contract, the key of the seal, kill it, the array will be formed.]
Just fourteen words, like fourteen knives, hanging above the head.
...
"Key?" Su Mei 'er whistled, "So we are keyholes?"
Chu Xuan folded the silk paper into a square and stuffed it into his bosom. "If the Heavenly Dao Pavilion wants to open the door, it has to ask the key first. No answer."
He looked up. The black air vent fissure had been cut by him with a single sword, but there was still a lingering warmth, like a freshly scab wound. Occasionally, a dull "gurgling" sound came from underground, as if something was swallowing blood.
"Ten days left," Chu Xuan said softly, "we have nine days left."
Su Mei 'er stretched her body, and purple fire twisted into a flower on her fingertips. "Then go to the Den of Ten Thousand Demons and flip their chessboard."
...
Three hundred miles at night, the two of them, one in front and the other behind, with their flying swords dragging out long, bright tails like two shooting stars streaking across the wasteland.
On the way, they encountered three groups of scattered demonic cultivators, all in black robes with golden edges, with the word "xuan" embroidered on the cuffs, clearly in the same sequence.
The first group, five men, was hunting a caravan of the mortal world, with black fog chains around the necks of the convoy guards, as if leading livestock.
Chu Xuan said no nonsense. The Cold Moon sword was drawn, and the sword light was drawn into a full moon. In an instant, five heads flew up, and the blood beads were frozen into red jade by the cold air, clanging all over the carriage.
The second group, seven men, lay in ambush in the dry well, forging an array with infant souls, and wailing to the sky at the wellhead.
Su Mei 'er, with a smile, threw out a purple fire lotus. The lotus opened nine petals, each petal falling with fire. The infant spirit was saved, and the demonic cultivator was burned to charcoal. When the wind blew, black ash filled the sky.
The third one, but a tough one - in the early stage of the spirit transformation, the black robe was embroidered with "No. 7 of the Earth character", and he held a bronze mirror in his hand. When the mirror was aimed at Chu Xuan, it reflected the most terrifying scene in his heart:
-- In the village of the mortal world, blood flows like a river. Auntie, Uncle Li, A Li are dragged into the crevices by the black mist. He reaches out but only grasps the broken corners of his clothes.
The cultivator sneered, "Fear? If you are, leave your life!"
A flash of blood appeared in Chu Xuan's eyes, and his fingertips picked up the unformed primordial gas, as if grasping a needle, and gently thrust it into the mirror.
"Fear? I forged it into a sword long ago."
Click --
The bronze mirror exploded and the fragments rolled back, swallowing the cultivator himself into the illusion within the mirror. He screamed, struggled, and finally cut his own throat with his own hands, blood gushing three feet before the illusion shattered.
Chu Xuan drew his sword, his face pale, but he stood straight. "Tian Dao Pavilion, is that all you can do?" "
Su Meier threw him a bottle of elixir and said, "Don't force yourself. If you use too much of the chaotic qi, be careful it might backfire." "
Chu Xuan threw his head back and gulped it down, his Adam's apple rolling as if swallowing a mouthful of fire. "Keep chasing, I want them not to be able to hide a single card."
...
In the darkest hour before dawn, the two of them landed in a desolate valley.
The valley was shrouded in black mist, and in the mist there was a stone platform on which a black tripod was placed, with blood bubbles churning inside it like boiling asphalt.
Beside the cauldrons, two sorcerers added firewood to the fire, and the tongues of the fire turned dark green, and with each lick, a blurry human face floated up inside the cauldrons, emitting a silent roar.
"Soul Refining Cauldron." Su Mei 'er narrowed her eyes. "They want to refine mortal souls into 'key teeth' and combine them with spirit blood to open the seal."
Chu Xuan turned his palm, the Cold Moon Sword quivered, and the blade reflected his cold eyes. "Then break their keys first."
He stepped out, and the light of the sword, like a moon, fell to the ground and struck the black cauldron.
Boom --
The cauldrons cracked, the blood waves rose to the sky, the dark green tongues rolled back, and the two demonic cultivators were entangled by the fire snake and instantly burned to charcoal.
A dark shadow shot out from the blood wave, so fast that it pulled out a sonic boom --
"Want to run?" Chu Xuan sneered coldly, with a touch of his fingertip, chaos vaporized into chains, coiled across the air, and pulled the shadow back.
The shadow appeared as a thin old man, in the late stage of the primordial formation, with the black robe embroidered "Xuanzi No. 1", pale face, but with madness flashing in the eyes.
"Chu Xuan, the key will eventually be broken!" The old man roared, his spiritual power reversed instantly, and he was about to explode!
Chu Xuan's eyes turned cold, and a blade of light flew out of his sleeve, piercing the old man's dantian and pinning up the rebellious spirit power.
The old man spat blood, but still laughed wildly, "You can save a village, save a world? The cave of ten thousand demons has opened, the gluttony has awakened, the key... The key must break!"
Chu Xuan bent down, pinching his chin with two fingers, his voice low and cold. "Tell the person behind you - the key doesn't want to be a key; it just wants to be a locksmith's coffin nail." "
With the force of his fingertips, the old man's jawbone was shattered and he passed out.
Su Meier stepped forward, made the purple fire into a rope, tied the old man into a zongzi, "take it back, let Mo Chen pry open his mouth."
Chu Xuan nodded and looked up to the east. The sky was covered with crab shell blue, like a bloodstain, slowly healing.
He took a deep breath, his voice spreading in the morning breeze --
"The Cave of Ten Thousand Demons, I'm here."
The sky was just beginning to brighten, and the morning mist, like a veil that could not be torn apart, covered the desolate valley.
Chu Xuan stepped on the ground covered with fragments of the tripod, and a little spiritual fire shot out from his fingertips, burning the two charcoals to ashes. The fire reflected on his jawline, like a thin blade on the back of a knife, cold and hard.
"Xuanzi No. 1? Su Mei 'er kicked the half-dead old man, "If I can't pry his mouth again, I'll make him into a wick and light it for three months."
The old man, whose skin was torn apart by the purple fire rope, still grinned, the opening of the missing front tooth was windy. "Don't try, the den of ten thousand demons opens, Taotie opens its eyes, you... All of you have to be buried with me."
Chu Xuan crouched down, his fingers together, and a wisp of chaotic air pierced the old man's brow. As soon as the soul-searching technique began, the old man's soul spontaneously flared up with a "bang", and the black fire swirled and rushed straight into Chu Xuan's sea of consciousness.
"Damn, soul prohibition!" Su Meier raised her hand, and the purple fire turned into a cover, trapping the black fire within a small space. The curse was broken, and the old man bled from all seven orifices, his head tilted, and his breath vanished.
Chu Xuan shook the ash between his fingers, looking ugly, "The clue is broken."
"Not all of it." Su Mei 'er picked up a black jade token with "Xuan Yi" engraved on the front and a very fine gold sand embedded on the back - that was the unique "musical note array" of the Heavenly Dao Pavilion, which needed a special technique to activate.
Her fingertips hooked the fire, the gold melted, and a faint voice floated out of the token, as if strangled by someone, hoarse and urgent:
[The spirit has appeared, the blood sacrifice is coming, hurry to the Den of Ten Thousand Demons - No. 3 Ground]
The voice came to an abrupt halt, but it revealed two key points: the blood sacrifice and the number three of the Earth.
Chu Xuan narrowed his eyes. "Di Zi No. 3, one level lower than Xuan Zi, is responsible for the periphery, and it's easier to grab the tongue."
...
Two days later, on the edge of the demon world, in the town of Red Sand.
The town is not large, but it has become a no-man's land because it is close to the Den of Ten Thousand Demons. The tavern, the gambling house and the black market were all crowded on one street, and the air was mixed with the smell of blood and poor-quality spirit wine, which made people frown.
Chu Xuan changed into a coarse black robe, tied his hair with a straw rope, and hung a broken wine gourd around his waist, looking like a down-and-out hermit. Su Meier was even more straightforward. She wore a grey robe and veiled her face, concealing her alluring aura completely.
They crouched across from a gambling house with a broken bowl in front of them, in which a few fragments of spirit stones - bait - were thrown.
Target: Ground No. 3, code-named "Blood Hook", specifically to plunder the solitary cultivators in Red Sand Town and deliver "blood Sacrifice materials" to the Den of Ten Thousand Demons.
In the evening, a tall, thin figure appeared at the end of the street. Under the black robe, a half copper hook was exposed, with blood dripping from the tip of the hook. His gaze swept over Chu Xuan, like a venomous snake eyeing a frog, and he grinned, revealing his big, interlaced yellow and black teeth.
"The fish is hooked." Chu Xuan said in a low voice, flicking his fingers along the rim of the bowl, and a wisp of colorless spiritual energy spread out and turned into bait fragrance.
The blood hook sniffed, his eyes instantly burning, strode closer, the copper hook lifted, and went straight to Chu Xuan's shoulder, "Kid, borrow some blood!"
Before the tip of the hook dropped, Chu Xuan turned his wrist, and the Cold Moon sword slid out against his arm with a "clang" on the back of the sword to break the copper hook, and then flicked it, the blade pressed against his neck, a chill seeping through the bones.
"Don't move." Chu Xuan's voice was soft, but like an ice cone piercing the eardrum.
The blood hook froze, and only then did he see the eyes of the "disheveled hermit" before him, which were terrifyingly cold.
Su Mei 'er raised her hand, and the purple fire turned into chains, dragging the man into the dark alley beside her like a zongzi.
...
At the end of the alley, by the abandoned well.
The blood hook was suspended in mid-air by a purple fire rope, its toes off the ground, and its face turned liver brown.
"No. 3 Di?" " Chu Xuan asked.
Bloodhook gritted his teeth, "If you have the guts, kill me!"
"All right." With a flick of her fingertip, Su Meier turned the purple fire into a needle, and slowly thrust it into his dantian.
"Ah --!" The blood hook screamed, his face twisted into a twist, "I say! I say!"
Chu Xuan raised his hand, and the needle stopped, just half an inch away from his dantian.
Blood Hook panted like a broken bellows. "The outer array of ten Thousand Demons requires a hundred kinds of spirit blood, the primordial spirit body is the trigger... Three days later at the hour of Zi, the blood sacrifice begins, and everyone above the earthly character is present!"
"Location."
"Three hundred miles outside the cave, Blood Raven Valley, at the bottom of the valley there is an altar hidden under the illusory array, the token can be opened." He said, trembling as he pulled out a copper token with "Ground Three" engraved on the front and a drop of dark red blood crystal embedded on the back - that was the key to the phantom array.
Chu Xuan took it with his fingertips, the blood crystal crushed into powder, and the coordinates of the illusionary array were instantly reflected in the sea of consciousness.
"All above the earth character?" Su Mei 'er raised her eyebrows. "Including Xihe?"
Bloodhook's eyes flickered, and just as she was about to speak, her throat suddenly bulged, as if something was about to come out!
"Soul Bug!" With quick eyes and hands, Chu Xuan cut off half of the shoulder of the blood hook with a sword, black blood splashed, and a thumb-thick crimson worm burst out of his body, screeching and lunging towards Chu Xuan's face.
Su Meier snorted coldly, and the purple fire turned into a palm, grasping the insect and shaping it into a paste of flesh.
The blood hook, taking advantage of the intense pain, broke free from the fire rope, turned over and leaped onto the roof, laughing wildly: "Want to save someone? Blood Raven Valley awaits you!"
Before he could finish his words, Chu Xuan stepped up in the air, and the Cold Moon Sword was released, transforming into an ice-blue rainbow that pierced through his chest and nailed him to the roof ridge.
"Sorry," Chu Xuan's voice was cold, "I have no patience."
Blood Hook lowered his head, looking at the ice sword on his chest. His lips quivered as if he still wanted to utter a harsh word, but he only spat out a few mouthfuls of black blood. His head tilted and he died.
...
The night was as dark as ink, and outside the town of Red sand, the wind and sand howled.
Chu Xuan drew his sword, flung the black blood off the tip of the sword, and looked into the distance - where the sky hung low, as if blood-red clouds were rolling, like a huge mouth, waiting for prey to fall into its trap.
"Blood Raven Valley." Sumei 'er murmured softly, purple fire dancing in her pupil, "Three days later, at midnight."
Chu Xuan put the copper token into his bosom, rubbed the broken blood crystal with the pads of his fingers, and spoke in a low, firm voice:
"Three days later, I'll go and lift their pot."
He turned, the wind and sand rolling up the corners of his clothes, his back stretching long in the night like an undrawn sword, its edge dimmed, yet chilling.