“You actually tracked me right up to this place!” A male voice suddenly sounded out. A figure clad in red was standing at the altar. Although obviously a man, he looked especially seductive with a flirtatious look in his eyes. Nine big, red tails trailed behind his back, two of which were severed, and blood stains could still be seen on the site of the wounds. It was the Nine-Tailed Blood Fox which they had been pursuing.
“Blood Fox, the reason you killed so many people, eviscerating them, was just so you could set up this Blood Sacrifice Array?” Lonemoon frowned and scanned his surroundings. “What are you planning to do?” The Blood Sacrifice Array was a notoriously evil formation array which required the sacrifice of a human heart and the blood of thousands of humans before it could be activated. The array held enormous power. It was rumored that once the array was completed, a blood cloud would form which would drift for thousands of miles, under which no living thing would survive.
Obviously, he had only completed half of this formation; the blood in this array was not enough to condense into a blood cloud which meant that his next step…
“You want to slaughter the entire town!” Yi Qing said, stepping forward, evidently coming to the same conclusion as Lonemoon. The dozen or so people he had killed were obviously not enough to activate the Blood Sacrifice Array but if all the people in the town were included, it would be enough. If they had not arrived in time, the entire town would likely have been full of corpses.
“Oh, I had intended to.” The Blood Fox snorted, and one of his tails which had seemed to be hiding something suddenly moved a little to the front of his body. He looked down and the previously vicious expression on his face turned tender. Raising his hand, he patted at the tail, his movement so gentle that it seemed as if he was afraid to awaken something. “The town can count itself lucky as the civet cat brought me something even better.”
It was only now that they saw he had a baby on his tail. The baby was wrapped in thick fur, revealing only half of his face. His face looked yellow like he was just born, and on the altar behind him was an open box.
“Meow, meow… my gift!” The civet cat burst into tears and looked at the box that had obviously been used. His heart was broken. Ooh, ooh, ooh… his clan’s patriarch was going to have his skin.
The Blood Fox looked greatly excited in contrast, the expression in his eyes revealing a hint of madness. Holding the baby on his tail, he muttered, “Once he absorbs the aura of this Splendor Lingzhi, my son will soon… soon awaken.”
The reason the Blood Fox had set up the Blood Sacrifice Array was to reverse the baneful Qi of heaven and earth so that he could cure his fox cub. But along the way he had found something even better—the Splendor Lingzhi of the civet cat—so he had devised all ways and means to steal it from the civet cat.
However…
“It’s no use. Your baby won’t wake up,” Yi Qing suddenly said coldly.
“What are you talking about!” The Blood Fox suddenly turned violent, his blood red eyes glaring at Yi Qing. “Splendor Lingzhi can revitalise dead flesh and bones. It is the best healing divine medicine there is, so how can it be useless? My son will soon wake up, right now!”
“You too know that it is just a divine healing medicine, not a medicine for resurrection. Splendor Lingzhi cannot revive a corpse whose soul has already left its body. The fact that this baby has not woken up for so long proves it.” Yi Qing continued, “Blood Fox, the baby you are holding was already dead at birth.”
“No, impossible!” The Blood Fox looked even more frenzied. “He is my son with Snow Flake, the only bloodline that she has left for me in this world. He cannot be dead! You’re talking nonsense! Nonsense!”
Suddenly, the baneful Qi of the Blood Fox surged up and a gust of Yin wind buffeted the entire area. Furrowing his brow, Lonemoon exchanged looks with Yi Qing. The both of them rushed forwards, not wanting to continue talking nonsense with this fox demon who had obviously gone insane. Within moments, the whole area was filled with flashes of light from the blade of their swords as they seamlessly switched from one sword move to the next.
The Blood Fox let out out a loud roar. His remaining seven tails, which had suddenly grown longer, shot out of the array formation like sharp blades towards the two of them.
“Yi Qing, attack its feet!” No living things could survive within the Blood Sacrifice Array. Although the array was not yet complete, because the Blood Fox was standing at the eye of the array, these blood clouds would still protect their master. They could not touch him unless they forced him out of the array.
Yi Qing nodded, directing the spirit swords around him to fend off the Blood Fox’s attack while directly attacking the feet of the fox with the tip of his sword.
“Damn!” The fox demon roared in anger and quickly withdrew one of his tails to shield himself. This tail was instantly cut off. Although he could block their first wave of sword attacks, he could not ward off their second wave. The spirit swords plunged right into the ground under his feet close to the eye of the array, causing the formation to suddenly turn dark. On seeing that a skyful of swords was about to rain down on him, the Blood Fox was left with no choice but to retreat and fly out of the array formation.
Without the support of the Blood Sacrifice Array, the Blood Fox’s baneful Qi was immediately reduced by half. The Sword Qi in the air grew even denser. Lonemoon and Yi Qing took this opportunity to break into the array and were about to destroy the formation, when the ground suddenly lit up with another beam of dazzling white light, bathing the entire space in a white glow.
A huge array formation suddenly emerged and instantly covered the original blood array. They felt their whole body become heavy—the array was exerting a force that pressed down on them until they were forced to kneel down on one knee. The Spirit Qi began to flow out from their body continuously into the array.
Damn it, they had been tricked!
“Hahahahaha…” The Blood Fox, who had been standing outside the array, suddenly laughed hysterically. Looking at the two of them coldly, he said, “Hey, did you really think that I did not make any preparations? That I would just sit and wait for death?”
Lonemoon’s face darkened in anger, but his body felt like it was being weighed down by a ton of bricks; he couldn’t move at all. He tried forming a few hand seals but to no avail. What was this array formation that even he couldn’t break through? And it also seemed capable of absorbing their Spirit Qi. He looked at the markings on the array formation closely but found that they were inscribed in some incomprehensible Dharmic talisman characters. They looked like… ancient words!
“This is the ancient Spiritual Annihilation Array!” He widened his eyes in surprise.
“Oh, you know this formation.” The fox demon looked at him, slightly surprised, but then the light in his eyes turned more vicious. “Yes, this is indeed an ancient array formation. But as to what it was exactly I too had no idea. It doesn’t matter, however, as long as it can hold the two of you down.”
“You deliberately led us into the array!” The ancient Spiritual Annihilation Array was a long-lost array formation. Legend had it that it could absorb the Spirit Qi of any creature inside the array. Lonemoon had only seen it described in some ancient records.
This array could not have been set up by the fox demon; it was very likely that it had been there all along. The fox demon had discovered it and so had deliberately set up the Blood Sacrifice Array there, and the Spirit Qi emitted during their attack on the fox demon had happened to activate the array.
“Hmmph, you are right. I have just tried using the Splendor Lingzhi. It really could not revive my son.” Swishing his tails, the fox demon swept the box on the altar to the ground.
“My gift…” The civet cat wanted to retrieve the box out of instinct but he could not get up as he was being pressed down by the formation.
“But… you can!” cried out the Blood Fox, his expression becoming increasingly excited. He looked at Yi Qing and Lonemoon like he was looking at a sumptuous feast. “Hahaha… I didn’t expect the Blackheaven Sect to send me a Nascent Soul and a Soul Formation cultivator. With the cultivation from the both of you, plus this Blood Sacrifice Array, I can recall the soul of my child. He can be resurrected!”
“You still have thoughts of slaughtering the town’s residents!?” cried Lonemoon, looking anxiously at the Blood Fox.
“So what if I slaughter them?” The expression on the Blood Fox grew increasingly deranged. Seemingly thinking of something, he clenched his teeth and the murderous intent in his eyes intensified. “That stupid bunch of mortals, they should have died long ago! They… they were the ones who killed my Snow Flake, claiming that human and demons couldn’t be together. All a bunch of bullsh*t! Snow Flake and I really loved each other, so what business was it of theirs? Snow Flake was the love of my life and she died because of them, so they should pay for what they did!”
“…” Holy sh*t, there was a love story behind all this! Lonemoon had been wondering why the dead baby in the fox demon’s arms had a human form—it was because his mother was actually a human.