The Remnant Soul and the Witch God's Traces
The villagers' cheers intertwined with the sunlight, completely isolating the chill of the underground passage. As Su Xiao stowed the Red Sun Gu box away in her bag, a piercing chill suddenly brushed across her fingertips—not from the surroundings, but from the direction of the sealed evil core. She turned sharply and saw, deep within the stone chamber, countless fine black lines quietly moving across the surface of the evil core, enveloped in red light, as if it were alive.
"What's wrong?" Chen Mo followed her gaze, but the bronze compass showed no reaction. "The vibration of the evil core has stopped. Is the seal unstable?"
Before he could finish his words, a crisp "crack" sound suddenly emanated from the passage. Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw black droplets seeping from the stone wall, gathering along the cracks and congealing on the ground into a pool of viscous, inky liquid. Suddenly, several hair-like black threads emerged from the liquid and entangled the nearest vole. The vole, startled by the villagers and fleeing into the passage, was instantly wrapped in the black threads, turning into a ball. Its fur visibly charred black, its body twitching and deflated.
"Xiao Wan?!" Meng Meng screamed in surprise, and the fabric with anti-Gu patterns automatically emitted a blue light.
The inky liquid surged violently, and countless tiny black threads rose from it, piecing together in the air a distorted half-human face. It was exactly like Xiaowan, but without the facial features, only dense black threads that constantly reconstructed. The sound was like countless insects chirping simultaneously: "The Red Sun Gu can seal the evil core, but it can't seal the soul threads hidden in the cracks of my evil power!"
Su Xiao instantly understood that Xiaowan had already shattered the core's remaining soul into countless soul threads before merging into the evil core. These threads, like parasitic vines, entangled themselves in every wisp of evil energy released from the evil core. The red light of the Red Sun Gu purified the main soul and most of the evil energy, but it allowed these extremely tiny soul threads to escape through the creature's body, which was corroded by the evil energy.
"She's devouring the vitality of living things to repair her soul!" Lin Xi rang the bronze bell, its humming vibrations causing the black silk to tremble slightly, but he couldn't cut it. The inky liquid had already spread through the cracks in the passage. Wherever it passed, insects from the cracks in the rocks crawled out and swam towards the liquid, instantly devouring them, causing the black silk to grow even thicker.
As everyone busied themselves trying to stop the spread of the soul threads, Chen Mo's bronze compass suddenly spun violently, its needle madly pointing toward the mountains west of Qingwu Town. A line of blurred ancient characters appeared on the compass's surface, then vanished in an instant, leaving only the two legible words "Witch Sacrifice" and "Blood Guidance."
"It's the trace of the Evil Witch God!" Chen Mo held the compass, his tone solemn, "Before, the power of the evil core was too strong, covering up his presence. Now that the evil core is sealed, his presence is exposed - he is using the underground blood sacrifice of Qingwu Town!"
Su Xiao suddenly recalled the notes left by Senior Lin Shen: the Evil Witch God specializes in using the earth's veins to nourish itself with evil energy. Fengwu Mountain, west of Qingwu Town, was the site where the Evil Witch God's remains were once suppressed. She immediately turned to Meng Meng and asked, "Does your clan's ancient texts record any connection between the seal of Fengwu Mountain and the evil core?"
Meng Meng's face turned pale. "Yes! Ancient texts say the Evil Witch God's shattered remains were hidden in three locations, held in place by 'evil cores'. The two evil cores we sealed are probably just two of those locks!"
By this time, the inky liquid within the passage had already devoured over a dozen living creatures. The humanoid form formed by the black silk became increasingly distinct, and even a pair of gleaming green eyes could be seen. Xiaowan's voice was filled with pride. "The Evil Witch God has long anticipated that you would seal the evil core! When he unseals it, you will all become nourishment for my soul!"
Zhao Yu swung his sword to cut off a black thread that was trying to entangle a villager, but saw two new black threads immediately split from the broken end and crawl towards his blade. "These soul threads can absorb the spiritual power of objects!" He hurriedly retreated, and a layer of gray and decayed color was already coating the blade.
Su Xiao made a quick decision: "Lin Xi, use the copper bell to stabilize Xiao Wan's soul thread; Meng Meng, lead the villagers away from Fengwu Mountain; Chen Mo, follow me to Fengwu Mountain to investigate the movements of the evil witch god! The Red Sun Gu can temporarily suppress the evil core, but it will take time for him to break the seal!"
Everyone immediately split up. When Su Xiao and Chen Mo arrived at the foot of Fengwu Mountain, they saw the mist in the forest tinged with a dark red. Sticky blood oozed from the cracks in the ground, and the air was filled with the stench of decay. On the ancient altar on the mountainside, a black-robed figure could be vaguely seen fiddling with something. Countless dry vines clung to the wooden stakes surrounding the altar—vines with a strikingly similar aura to Xiaowan's soul threads.
"He's using Xiaowan's soul threads as a medium to awaken his remaining body!" Su Xiao tightly grasped the Chiyang Gu Box, a red light condensing in his palm. "Xiaowan's soul threads can parasitize evil energy, which just happens to be the key for him to unlock the blood sacrifice seal!"
The black-robed figure on the altar seemed to sense their arrival and slowly turned. The figure, devoid of features, consisted of only a surging black mist, the remnant of the Evil Witch God's spirit. His voice was as heavy as a landslide: "Two of the two evil cores have been released. All that's missing is this strand of 'Soul-Sending Silk' to completely break the seal on Wushan..."
Before he finished speaking, Lin Xi's exclamation suddenly rang out from the foot of the mountain. Su Xiao looked back and saw a black column of smoke rising from the direction of Qingwu Town. The smoke was formed by countless soul threads, rapidly drifting towards Fengwu Mountain. Xiaowan's soul had grown to the point where it could be separated from the liquid carrier.
A low laugh came from the black mist of the Evil Witch God: "The game has just begun."
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