This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

Chapter 222: Blood Sacrifice Ritual + Illustration

Chapter 222: Blood Sacrifice Ritual + Illustration

The land had been dyed red from blood, and even the grass had turned red from absorbing what had soaked into the land. Laying atop these red grass were roots of poor white. Actually, roots was the wrong word since it was human bones.

It should have been a horrifying scene that could only be realized in a painting or a psychotic fantasy, but it was very real. The wars that had erupted on the Heaven Continent were far more terrible than mortals imagined.

“How dreary,” A woman sighed as she observed the bloody battlefield. Her blue dress stood in stark contrast against the crimson land, but the most eye-catching feature she had was the iris growing out of her right eye socket. She was Hu Landie, a participant of the Three Heavens Connecting Meetings and possessor of the Spring Autumn Butterfly.

She raised her hand and gently caressed the petals of the iris growing out of her left eye. After absorbing the essence of the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus, the lily in her eye had an ethereal, almost soul-like quality to it. The advantages weren’t just a more beautiful appearance, but the quality of her true qi also improved.

Thanks to the Sovereign Nine Yin Lotus, although Hu Landie wasn’t a soul cultivator, her soul wasn’t any weaker than the average soul cultivator. Those effects were only slight benefits in comparison to the immortal qi produced. The immortal qi was diluted, but it allowed Hu Landie to nurture her Spring Autumn Butterfly to its chrysalis stage in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Her greatest advantage in this life and the past was the Spring Autumn Butterfly. In the past, Hu Landie was only an ordinary disciple of the Silk Chrysalis Sect who happened to survive her Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation by sheer determination and luck. That all changed when she discovered the Spring Autumn Butterfly and the method to nurture it.

She succeeded, but she also exposed herself at the same time, resulting in a hoard of immortals chasing after her. They chased her from the Earth Continent all the way to the Heaven Continent, and the one who pushed her to the brink of death was the Buzhou Immortal Sect, forcing her to activate the still immature Spring Autumn Butterfly.

Still, she never expected that the Buzhou Immortal Sect could almost prevent her time travel. It was only by luck that she succeeded. As a result, Hu Landie was even warier of the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Their strength definitely wasn’t what was shown on the surface. The title of the number one sect in the Huang Realm was not wrong, but it did not convey the Buzhou Immortal Sect’s true power.

Hu Landie waved her sleeve and from her sleeves came out numerous larvae. They were two different types, one that was thin like a worm while the other type was chubbier like a grub. The worm-like one was a Bloodfest Locust larva, and the grub-like one was a Whitebone Beetle larva.

At a noticeable rate, the bones and crimson color disappeared from the land. Simultaneously, the bodies of the larvae began to increase at a visible rate until they were two meters long for the Bloodfest Locust larvae and five meters for the Whitebone Beetle larvae.

Satisfied, Hu Landie collected her tamed insects in an artifact, a unique immortal grotto that one could carry and hold living beings within. It was one of the treasures that she had obtained from one of the many inheritance sites from her memories.

‘It’s strange. I don’t recall the wars happening this early in my previous life.’ Hu Landie thought, her face expressionless despite her troubled thoughts. ‘It was one of the reasons why I decided to hide in the Heaven Continent after learning being exposed. Even now, I wonder how the Anti-Earth Alliance could afford to deploy crucial combatants to chase me. Did my actions really cause such a large butterfly effect?’

‘For now, I should continue to keep a low profile and amass my strength. Although Bloodfest Locust and Whitebone Beetles are considered devilish tamed beasts, I do not care for the matters between the orthodox and unorthodox forces. This war is good for me. Before it completely erupts, I have to gain as many benefits as possible. What is most important is to attain divinity! Everything is false except for strength.’ With a gaze as firm as steel, Hu Landie continued on her way.

“Retreat!” Fu Xiuyi spat those words through gritted teeth. His eyes were full of reluctance as he watched the crumbling situation on the battlefield. His army had reached the point of retaining only forty percent of its force.

Aside from Peng Yun, none of the other external grandmasters were willing to fight. Had it not been for his decisive actions of executing a grandmaster who wanted to flee, he was afraid that all of them would have already fled.

“Hah, you thick-brush bastards will definitely get it now!” One of the commanders of the war formations loudly shouted, obvious glee in his voice. For the past week, he had been under immense pressure battling the invulnerable jiangshi.

“Speak, what are you asshole planning?” One of the leaders of the Skybrush Sect war formations demanded.

“Heh, do you think I’ll tell you?” In fact, the commander of the Fu Dynasty’s war formation didn’t know the exact details either, just that it would deal a fatal blow to the Skybrush Sect.

Soon, a blood-red glow erupted from the Bloodriver Canyon and shot into the sky. The red beam could be seen for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Inside the blood-red light, a disruptive wave caused all the war formations to collapse. Even the demon jiangshi paused as the connection between it and the controller became muddied.

“What the hell is happening?!” A panicked voice gushed out of a Skybrush Sect’s nascent soul grandmaster. He was looking at horror in at his hand as he felt his blood boil under his skin.

“Speak, what heinous technique is this?” He glared at the Fu Dynasty’s grandmasters but was surprised to see the same look of horror on their faces. Their condition was a bit worse as their skin had already started to peel off, and their sclera became red from the ruptured blood vessels.

“Your Majesty, are you sacrificing us!?” One grandmaster asked as he roared in the direction where Fu Xiuyi was. Blood had started to leak out from his eyes, making him appear to be crying tears of blood.

It wasn’t just that one. Soon every cultivator within the Blood Sacrifice Ritual was leaking blood from every orifice. The weaker ones, such as the foundation establishment disciples or body transformation acolyte, had it worse. Their skin had already all disappeared, and with the flesh underneath exposed, one couldn’t even tell if they were leaking blood from their orifice or the flesh.

In less than ten minutes, not one of the cultivators trapped with the Blood Sacrifice Ritual had any skin left. The only exception was the demon jiangshi that lay dormant as if the formation had no effect on it. It wasn’t that there wasn’t anyone attempting to save them, but without fail, everyone who tried was sucked into the Blood Sacrifice Ritual.

The Skybrush Sect wanted to attack the remaining Fu Dynasty army, but they discovered that Fu Xiuyi and the others had already started retreating. After being stuck in a dilemma, the Skybrush Sect stayed to save their comrades.

As time passed, the Skybrush Sect could only stop with a helpless expression on each of the member’s faces. There was simply nothing they could do. Even if their remaining war formations attacked it, they couldn’t save the people inside.

Inside the Blood Sacrifice Ritual, hair-raising screams could be heard. Red mist was materializing from the cultivator’s body, but this red mist was actually evaporated blood. The pain of having your blood boiled and escaping out of your skinless flesh could not be described in words.

While the blood mist began to conglomerate from the density, a new stream of blood appeared at the bottom of the canyon. Bloodriver Canyon finally had another river of blood.

There was one being, or rather, one thing that wasn’t tortured by the Blood Sacrifice Ritual, the demon jiangshi. Although there was seemingly no reaction, the blood mist was being continuously being absorbed into the jiangshi’s decayed flesh, and a red light soon appeared on it.

Unaware of this, Fu Xiuyi and his army arrived at the capital. After ordering everyone to return to their homes and raising the city defense formation, he quickly entered a hidden room in the palace.

The room was dim and dark, but a faint light shone from the formation engraved onto the floor. Inside the formation were around sixty orbs the color of blood and the size of a thumbnail.

The Blood Sacrifice Ritual wasn’t just an offensive formation used to trap and kill enemies, but it had the added effect of refining blood and flesh into a unique material known as Blood Essence Orbs that could be refined into pills to boost martial cultivation.

It was one of the reasons that the Fu Dynasty became so much more powerful ten thousand years ago. However, Fu Xiuyi had a frown as he looked at the number of Blood Essence Orbs in the center of the formation. “Strange, why is there so little. I remember the records saying that there should be hundreds. Compared to yesteryear, the strength of the enemy is equal and perhaps greater, so why is there only twelve. Could they have broken the Blood Sacrifice Ritual?”