Chapter 90: A Vicious Plan
Even though the elderly woman, their temporary leader, had just been brutally killed in front of the fanatics, they surprisingly began to calm down and follow Yu Shenwei’s orders once comforted and commanded by the Saintess.
After all, in their eyes, Huo Ze was a traitor—his words weren’t worth listening to. But the Saintess was different.
The death of their kind stirred no sympathy in them. They were enraged by the high-rank zealot’s death only because she was their leader. Losing their leader naturally caused panic. But now that a new leader had stepped up, they immediately accepted her.
Watching this, Xu Zhi was more certain than ever—these followers were seriously mentally ill.
Once the followers were pacified, Xu Zhi asked in confusion, “Wasn’t there one more high-ranking zealots? Why haven’t I seen them?”
Huo Ze, thinking victory was in hand, eagerly answered, “Dead. He was one of the sacrifices—his blood and life were used to prepare the ritual.”
Originally, Huo Ze himself was next. But he escaped.
“I see,” Xu Zhi nodded. “Then stop wasting time. Let’s start the ritual now?”
Upon hearing that, a flicker of doubt appeared on Huo Ze’s face. “Miss Xu, the thing is…”
“The high-rank zealots herself wasn’t fully confident about this ritual. Our setup is too rudimentary, and the quality of the sacrifices isn’t great.”
He was clearly worried the ritual might fail.
Xu Zhi tilted her head toward him. “You don’t want to go? Then I can find someone else.”
“No, no, no!” Huo Ze quickly refused.
Seeing that Xu Zhi was determined to begin the ritual immediately, he gritted his teeth. “Of course I’m willing.”
At worst, it was just a gamble.
Xu Zhi thought he had lost his mind—risking his life, blinded by the allure of power. Was this what it meant to be a fanatic?
In his mind, Huo Ze completely dismissed the Saintess now wielding real influence. To him, she was simply destined to be a sacrifice.
That was common knowledge among the believers. No one questioned it.
Fanatics didn’t care for things like “human rights.”
As he walked toward the ritual center leaning on a stick, Huo Ze excitedly explained to Xu Zhi, “Actually, the entire area here is inscribed with the ritual formation. Once activated, it spans a 300-meter radius. It took a lot of blood from Transcendents to draw.”
At that point, he realized Xu Zhi was also a Transcendent and paused briefly. Seeing she didn’t scold him, he let out a breath of relief and continued, “The Saintess’s organs are also placed in special containers at the center of the array. Once the ritual starts—”
He stopped abruptly, realizing he was getting too excited and saying too much.
Just as he was trying to change the subject, Yu Shenwei suddenly spoke up, “Once the ritual starts, aside from the one standing at the core, everyone within the ritual area will have their flesh and soul drained. Miss Xu, you should leave before it begins.”
Huo Ze’s expression turned ugly. He glared at Yu Shenwei with something close to hatred, unable to understand why she suddenly exposed this.
His hollow eye sockets couldn’t convey his emotion, but he was furious that his carefully hidden plan had been revealed so easily. He was so close to killing Xu Zhi through this ritual!
Yu Shenwei, after saying it, felt her mind go blank too.
She didn’t know why she said it. Logically, she should’ve feigned ignorance—let Xu Zhi stand at the ritual’s core, reap all the benefits, then eliminate both Xu Zhi and Huo Ze.
But at that moment, she had spoken instinctively, against her will.
The atmosphere instantly froze. Everyone stopped in their tracks—until Xu Zhi chuckled coldly.
“Quite the little scheme you had there.”
But even if Yu Shenwei hadn’t said anything, Xu Zhi had no intention of staying within the formation. She only wanted to inspect it. After all, she’d sensed something was off during the rooftop ritual before—there was no way she’d walk in unprepared now.
She wasn’t surprised by Huo Ze’s underhanded plan either.
She was never naive enough to believe their shared time had turned enemies into allies. An enemy was always an enemy—and for all she knew, they might not even be the same species anymore.
Xu Zhi didn’t even feel angry about it.
To her, Huo Ze had always been a dead man walking. This little last-ditch attempt was just a childish plan relying on luck, because he never had the power to trap her in that formation.
It was laughable.
“What’s with the tension?” Xu Zhi smiled at them.
“Stop spacing out. Let’s go—I can’t wait to see this ritual in action.”
Her tone was calm and even cheerful, but Huo Ze felt chills run down his spine. The unease was overwhelming. Even the excitement about becoming Archbishop was gone.
Xu Zhi’s strange attitude weighed on him like a mountain. His every step felt heavy, and with each one, his mind spiraled with doubt:
Why?
Why was she so calm, so carefree?
Was she planning something?
What did she really mean?
Her voice was light and smiling—but was that what her face looked like too?
He couldn’t figure it out.
But no matter what, the fact that Xu Zhi didn’t kill him on the spot when the plan was exposed was already far beyond his expectations. This brush with death made his heart pound even faster.
The group arrived at the center of the formation—the ritual core—located in an open-air basketball court within a residential compound.
Apart from the eerie patterns etched into the ground with Transcendent blood, there were unfamiliar materials, mutated animals bound and marked with sigils, and at the corners of the formation’s core, glass jars.
Those, presumably, held the organs excavated from Yu Shenwei.
“Such crude conditions?” Xu Zhi’s tone carried a hint of disdain.
But given the current state of Cloud City, expecting anything elaborate was just wishful thinking.
“Alright,” she said after walking a circle around the basketball court. “Get ready to start. I’m heading out.”
Huo Ze looked a bit disappointed, but the fact that Xu Zhi was letting him continue was already a surprise. Naturally, he dared not say more.
Before leaving, though he had no eyes, Huo Ze didn’t see Xu Zhi turn and give Yu Shenwei a long, meaningful look.
Yu Shenwei bowed her head in response.
