When I opened my eyes again, all that remained was coldness and ruthlessness.
In the days that followed, the entire Qingyun Sect was immersed in an almost frenzied busyness.
The disciples were busy setting up the altar and practicing the formations, while the elders frequently visited Xuan Chengzi's residence to discuss the details of the ceremony.
A restless excitement filled the air.
Jiang Chan, however, became an incongruous shadow in this frenzied atmosphere.
She continued to be frequently "fed" by Zhao Mang, who squeezed her even harder each time. Zhao Mang had tasted the sweetness of his rapidly increasing cultivation level and had long since become addicted to it. He didn't care about Jiang Chan's life or death at all, treating her only as an inexhaustible mine of high-grade spirit stones.
Jiang Chan's physical condition visibly deteriorated; she began to stagger, her eyes were sunken, and her skin had a deathly grayish-white hue, as if a gust of wind could blow her over.
Those lower-ranking disciples in the sect who occasionally caught a glimpse of her all had a hint of barely perceptible sympathy and fear in their eyes—not that they were afraid of her, but that they were afraid she wouldn't last until the grand ceremony in her current state.
Liu Mei's jealousy and anxiety reached their peak. She tried several times to find an opportunity to interrogate Jiang Chan or Zhao Mang, but was stopped by Zhao Mang's increasingly domineering attitude and Xuan Chengzi's emphasis on the festival.
She could only watch helplessly as Zhao Mang's aura grew stronger day by day, feeling so frustrated that she almost suffered internal injuries.
Finally, the day of the sacrificial ceremony to Heaven arrived.
At the summit of Qingyun Peak, the enormous altar was arranged in a solemn and dignified manner.
The plaza, paved with bluestone, was covered with intricate array patterns, which were now emitting a faint glow. All the inner disciples, core outer disciples, as well as the sect leader and elders of the Qingyun Sect, stood solemnly around the altar, silent and in a heavy atmosphere.
Xuan Chengzi, dressed in the most solemn sect leader's robes, stood in the center of the altar with a solemn expression. His gaze swept over the dark crowd below and finally landed on Jiang Chan, who was being "supported" by two expressionless inner disciples as she slowly made her way up the altar.
Jiang Chan was practically dragged up here.
She wore a white ceremonial robe that clearly didn't fit her well; the large robe hung loosely over her thin, bony body, making her appear even weaker.
She lowered her head, her long hair falling down and covering most of her face, leaving only her bloodless chin and slightly trembling body visible.
"Return the array core to its original position!" Xuan Chengzi shouted in a deep voice.
Two inner disciples immediately led Jiang Chan to a slightly concave circular jade platform at the very center of the altar and forced her to sit cross-legged. A chilling coldness instantly seeped up from the jade platform, making her shiver.
She could clearly feel that the array patterns on the entire altar beneath her feet were faintly connected to the jade platform beneath her, like an invisible net that firmly locked her in the center.
Immediately afterwards, the sect leader and four other elders with profound auras walked to five special positions on the altar and stood there.
There was a slightly smaller jade platform there. Zhao Mang, Liu Mei, the eldest brother, and several other core disciples with outstanding cultivation were arranged at key nodes on the outermost ring to guide and stabilize the energy of the formation.
Xuan Chengzi's gaze swept over Jiang Chan, carrying an unquestionable command: "Concentrate and do not hold back! Today's ceremony concerns the rise and fall of our Qingyun Sect. As a pure spirit, you should give your all for the sect!"
Jiang Chan didn't look up, but only nodded her chin very slightly, letting out a faint breath, as if she had exhausted all her strength.
"Activate the formation!" Xuan Chengzi stopped looking at her and gave the order!
Buzz—!
The entire altar trembled violently! The array patterns carved into the ground suddenly burst forth with dazzling light! A massive, heavy suction force, like a mountain collapsing, erupted from the jade platform beneath Jiang Chan and fiercely seized her!
"Ugh!"
Jiang Chan let out a short, suppressed cry of pain, her body tensing up abruptly!
The extraction force, a hundred times more terrifying than ever before, ruthlessly tore at her meridians, squeezing out the last bit of primordial spiritual power from the depths of her soul!
The excruciating pain felt like thousands of red-hot steel needles piercing through my limbs and bones in an instant!
Her body shrank visibly, her skin quickly lost moisture and clung to her bones, her eye sockets became sunken, and her hair became dry and lusterless.
The breath of life flickered like a candle in a storm, threatening to be extinguished at any moment.
Amidst the boundless agony, Jiang Chan clung desperately to the last vestige of clarity.
Instead of resisting the terrifying suction, at the moment when the power of the formation reached its peak, and Xuan Chengzi and the others were most focused and their spiritual energy was most closely connected, she used the slight control of spiritual energy by her immaculate spiritual body to redirect the massive spiritual energy that had accumulated in her body for nearly a month and was deeply polluted by "impurities" from its even output. Instead, she directed it like a floodgate being opened, frantically and precisely to the node in the formation that represented Zhao Mang!
This spiritual power carried with it the "deadly poison" she had carefully prepared!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
