Chapter 91: Death and Rebirth
After confirming the boundary of the ritual formation, Xu Zhi left the area with her familiars.
But when they reached the edge, she told Yi, “In a moment, shrink to normal size and stay just inside the edge of the formation. Keep your tail outside—I’m running an experiment.”
Last time, she had noticed that her familiars didn’t seem affected by the red light. She wanted to test it again. If something went wrong, the dog could still pull Yi out by its tail.
She then patted her pocket, and a small aberrant creature poked its head out.
“In two minutes, have the parasite inside Huo Ze devour him.”
Inside the ritual site, Huo Ze was smugly directing Yu Shenwei to complete all the preparations. Since he was blind now, he knew what to do, but doing it himself was troublesome.
Once everything was ready, Huo Ze said, “Take out your own heart, place it in the center of the formation, then connect all the materials with your blood—the ritual will begin.”
He himself was already standing in the heart of the formation.
Yu Shenwei sighed. Technically, she shouldn’t even be able to stand—her mobility was all thanks to Xu Zhi having fed her plenty of blood beforehand. Blood was a powerful thing, but she wasn’t fond of drinking it.
She always had a feeling that drinking too much would lead to trouble.
And now she was supposed to bleed out the very blood that let her barely move?
Yu Shenwei was reluctant.
Even though Huo Ze was blind, she knew she was no match for him. In her current state, anyone could push her over with a flick.
What should she do now?
Though Xu Zhi had made promises to her, she had left no plan, no backup. Was she just saying nice-sounding words?
At the critical moment, Yu Shenwei realized with surprise—she didn’t want Xu Zhi’s words to be empty. She truly wanted to kill Huo Ze, to become the chosen one.
But before she could figure out what to do, Huo Ze suddenly let out a painful wail in the center of the formation.
In her eyes, Huo Ze clutched his chest in agony and dropped to his knees, screaming. Then, a black, branch-like thing suddenly broke out of his chest.
Then another.
His screams grew weaker as more blood poured from the gaping wound in his chest. Seeing this, Yu Shenwei didn’t want it to go to waste. She stepped forward and caught the blood, sprinkling it over the designated spots as he had instructed.
The blood didn’t increase, but instead lessened, as if something inside Huo Ze was absorbing it.
When she sprinkled the final drops, the air shimmered subtly—as though something intangible passed through her. She couldn’t see it, but she could feel it.
At that moment, Huo Ze’s chest was torn open from within, and a small, black, grotesque creature burst out. It didn’t even glance at Yu Shenwei. It simply dragged Huo Ze’s corpse out of the center, then scampered toward the edge of the ritual site.
Yu Shenwei was surprised. Then she realized: the creature’s color and limbs looked identical to Xu Zhi’s branch-like familiar. This had to be the backup Xu Zhi had left her.
Her feelings were too complex to describe, and there was no time to sort them out. When she saw the ritual ground beginning to glow red, she hurriedly stepped into the center.
Though Huo Ze had claimed a full setup required her heart, Yu Shenwei clearly had no intention of removing it.
She slowly closed her eyes—this was the moment to bet her life.
Outside the formation, the moment the red light appeared, the little aberrant creature poked its head out of her pocket. Its whole body radiated hunger as it stared at the formation center. But this time, without Xu Zhi’s permission, it managed to restrain itself instead of blindly charging in.
Xu Zhi waited. When the red light surged skyward and the half-exposed Yi showed no signs of change, she instructed it to fully enter the formation. Still, nothing happened.
This confirmed it—aberrant creatures were unaffected.
She patted the little aberrant’s head.
“Go. Consume two-thirds of the energy.”
“Remember—no overeating.”
Before she even finished speaking, the creature shot forward in excitement.
Of course, she wasn’t about to let Yu Shenwei become archbishop for free. Even though the ritual was likely to fail, too many elements were missing to be reliable.
Her real goal? Feed the little aberrant.
Why waste energy on outsiders? Xu Zhi wanted to keep Yu Shenwei around as a lab subject, but not let her become too powerful. Meanwhile, the ritual’s energy could upgrade her familiar.
If Yu Shenwei survived, they could learn more from her.
Helping Yu Shenwei was a win-win deal.
If she died? Then the creature got to absorb everything. The only loss would be the information.
Thinking this, Xu Zhi also instructed Zhen and Yi, “You two go in as well. Watch it—don’t let it overeat.”
She was worried the little aberrant would lose control and suck Yu Shenwei dry.
After they left, a small creature—barely knee-high—ran out of the formation. Pitch-black and scrawny like it was malnourished, Xu Zhi immediately recognized it as a parasite-born creature, as if the knowledge had been planted in her mind.
The creature ran straight to her and rubbed against her leg excitedly.
Xu Zhi didn’t push it away and let it rest by her feet.
She pulled out her game console. On the pixelated screen, she watched the events inside the formation unfold.
Masses of fanatics knelt on the ground, willingly offering their blood and souls to the ritual. Some even raised their hands, faces filled with ecstasy and fanaticism.
“…Truly madmen.”
At the center, in the ritual’s core, Yu Shenwei was lifted by a pillar of red light. Her feet left the ground as if gravity had failed. Her black hair floated in the air, eyes shut tight, expression twisted in pain.
On-screen, a deadwood-like branch suddenly pierced the red light and lodged into her chest, then burrowed in.
Too bad the screen didn’t allow her to use the “Eye of Secrets” ability. She would’ve liked to take a closer look.
Curious as she was, Xu Zhi had no intention of risking herself by going in.
The ritual lasted nearly half an hour. The blood of over a hundred cultists was drained completely, and all the ritual materials and Yu Shenwei’s removed organs disappeared.
As the red light began to fade, Xu Zhi immediately issued an order through the game console:
“Bring the little aberrant out.”
The ritual was about to end.
