On the high platform where the ritual was performed, Master Qu glanced at the incense burner that had been shattered into ashes, and swept it away with a duster, scattering the ashes everywhere.

"Master Qu, someone is coming," someone warned.

"It's good that you're here!"

Master Qu jumped down from above and quickly dispersed with the others.

No sooner had they left than people from the Xuanmen Association came looking for them.

As the group approached, they saw the high platform, and could faintly smell the scent of incense ash in the air.

"This is where the ritual was performed. That person couldn't have gone far. Let's look around."

...

Su Miaomiao, Pan Pei, and others boarded a large van, with Dark Raven Prince among them.

"I didn't see a single person on that island, the boat that took me there had run away, and I couldn't make phone calls. I had no choice but to come back via the ghostly route."

He spoke lightly, but Su Miaomiao knew the danger involved.

For a living person to walk the path of the dead is to head towards death, but perhaps the gatekeepers treat them differently. In any case, Young Master Dark Raven seems to be doing fine right now.

Niu Dali was utterly shocked. For some unknown reason, he suddenly asked:

"Then I can go wherever I want in the future without having to take a plane!"

"What nonsense are you thinking! With your strength, you'd be devoured by the thing inside the door as soon as you go in, leaving not even bones and dust."

When Dark Raven heard Niu Dali say that he still needed external Yin energy to open the door, he felt ashamed. If he had known that Niu Dali was so useless, he would have just tricked the little girl into becoming the gatekeeper.

I don't know if it's too late to replace them now!

He gazed at Su Miaomiao with a deep, melancholy look.

Su Miaomiao sensed something strange in Dark Raven's gaze and immediately flattered him, saying, "Grandpa, you're amazing! With you teaching Brother Niu, he'll be a master in no time!"

Wow! This little girl is quite clever.

"Turn left ahead!" Pan Pei pointed to the address shared by the association members and directed Su Haoran, who was driving.

Su Haoran knew about the Xuanmen (mystical arts) and was therefore assigned by his brothers to follow Su Miaomiao.

"The occupancy rate here is very low. There is a lakeside ecological park further ahead."

Su Haoran was quite familiar with the area; his own villa was right next to Su Miaomiao's villa.

"Go straight to the park."

Su Miaomiao glanced at the compass in her palm and then said.

...

In the open space, sacrificial offerings of three animals were placed in the four directions. They were all alive, but their mouths were sealed so they could not make a sound.

Many people dressed in black robes stood around, their faces obscured and their features unclear.

Beneath their black robes, they were chanting something softly, which sounded extremely obscure and difficult to understand.

A very spacious mirror was placed in the center of the open space, reflecting the night sky and appearing mysterious and beautiful.

The chanting was done at a very low frequency, giving it a feeling of weeping.

"Sacrifice!"

One of them said.

Then someone took a knife and bled all the sacrificial offerings placed in the four directions.

Animals whose throats have been slit do not die immediately, but they are bound very tightly and cannot escape. They can only watch silently as their blood slowly drains away and they gradually lose consciousness.

The chanting gradually quickened, sometimes high and sometimes low.

A gentle breeze suddenly swept through the previously windless area, causing the flags planted around the open space to flutter slightly.

"Sacrifice!"

The sound appeared again.

Then more than twenty living people were dragged out. Like the animals, they were all gagged and tied up.

They had already witnessed how the animals were sacrificed, and now that it was their turn, they knew exactly what these people were going to do, so they all struggled frantically.

Unfortunately, they were bound so tightly that all their struggles were in vain.

Seven people were dragged to each of the four directions and made to stand in place, and then the gleaming sharp knife was revealed.

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Don't kill me!"

A fat man struggled in terror as the sharp knife was already in front of him, and beads of cold sweat dripped down his nose.

The fat man struggled to turn around and run away, but he was actually tied up like a dumpling and couldn't escape at all.

"Ugh... gulp..."

A cold, sharp pain shot through my neck, blood gushed out, and a red mist filled my vision.

The others, like him, looked terrified and struggled, but the blade was merciless, and their throats were ripped open just like the animals before them.

The stench of blood at the scene was even stronger...

The bell rang at that moment, and the man who had just shouted for the sacrifice casually tossed out a stack of yellow talismans.

These yellow talismans, covered in black runes, gradually merged into the mirror in the center after landing on it.

The black-robed figures around them chanted faster and began to move slowly. Several people went to the mirror, cut their fingers, and let the blood drip onto the mirror. Others did the same.

While doing all this, their chanting never stopped.

More and more blood appeared on the mirror's surface, all of it merging into the mirror along with the yellow talisman. The vibrations from the chanting also caused ripples to spread outwards.

"Sacrifice!"

The sound rang out again.

Another group of people were dragged out, but these people looked completely different from those who had just been sacrificed.

Many of them were dressed in Taoist robes, clearly a group of people from the Xuanmen (Taoist) sect. 189

These people weren't as nervous as the previous group, but their expressions were grim, clearly indicating that they understood what the men in black robes were doing.

They were dragged to the side of the mirror, and the blade was about to slash their necks when one of them suddenly raised his hand and used the blade to cut the cable ties on his hand.

With a flick of his wrist, he took the dagger into his own hand, and with a backhand swift motion, killed the black-robed man who had just tried to attack him.

Besides him, other members of the Xuanmen sect also succeeded.

The scene became extremely chaotic, but the person who had just shouted for the sacrifice did not stop what he was doing, and even the people chanting around him did not stop.

"We can't kill them; this mirror is sucking away people's souls."

Someone shouted something, which alerted the others.

However, this put them in a passive position, because those people were going to kill them.

Someone slammed the back of a knife against the mirror, but before the knife even hit the ground, they felt a sharp pain in their waist and collapsed instantly, their body trembling in agony.

He was cut in two at the waist by something, I don't know.

When Su Miaomiao and the others arrived, they witnessed this cruel scene.

"They are the people who went missing from the association before."

Pan Pei said angrily, and he had already rushed forward first.

When Ning Tianwei saw this, he wanted to rush forward, but Su Miaomiao grabbed him.

"You'll just be throwing your life away if you rush in. The important thing is for us to break the formation."

Su Miaomiao realized that the formation was rather strange. If she rushed in recklessly, even if she killed all those men in black robes, it would be useless.

"Someone actually managed to create a formation that can break through boundaries? That's insane!" Young Master Dark Raven said, stroking his chin.