The central Little Extreme Sacred Land.
A group of candidates from the West District had gathered in secret. There were about twenty of them, and each one's aura was several times stronger than that of an ordinary candidate. They stood in a circle around a blood-red pentagram on the ground, seeming to wait for something.
"Captain Hex, we've lost contact with Master Fu for the past two days. It's late, and he still hasn't arrived at the designated location. I'm afraid..."
At that moment, one of the West District candidates spoke to Hex Anmin, who was craning his neck as he waited nearby.
Hex Anmin frowned. "I see," he said. "Besides Afu, is everyone else here?"
"Sir," the candidate replied, "besides Master Fu, Shao Yushan and Jiao Zhiming also haven't arrived at the designated time."
'So, two more besides Xiaofu...' Hex Anmin's expression soured. Seeing that they had suddenly lost track of three team members, he felt a faint, ominous premonition.
After all, every member of their team possessed the strength of a Battle King Level. Neither the West Mansion's candidates nor the ordinary Demon Beasts of the Little Extreme Sacred Land should have been able to threaten them.
Furthermore, before setting out on this mission, the Sect had gifted each of them life-saving treasures. They might not have had three or four such items, but every person had at least one or two. Even if they encountered a Level 5 Demon Beast—or even a powerful one—escaping would have been a simple matter, even if they were outmatched.
And yet, three members had still failed to arrive at the rendezvous point on time. Something was very strange!
By all rights, they should have rushed here no matter what. They were all on a mission, and this was the final day—the most critical moment. No one would dare disobey a direct order!
The fact that some still hadn't arrived pointed to only one possibility: they had met with disaster. Otherwise, they would have come, no matter how important their other business was.
And forget the two ordinary members for a moment—there was Xiaofu. He was the mission's communications officer, responsible for relaying messages, which made him crucial. But no one had heard from him in days. Even if his lechery had led him off to chase women, he shouldn't have been gone for this long.
All these strange circumstances suggested that the three of them had likely met with disaster.
Hex Anmin recalled the last time he'd seen Xiaofu. 'Wasn't he going off to find women? And I think he went with Shao Yushan and Jiao Zhiming.'
He remembered Xiaofu saying that Shao Yushan and Jiao Zhiming had found some beautiful women, and then he'd gone off with them.
'For all three of them to disappear at the same time... it must be connected to those women.'
However... an important matter was imminent, and it was already the final day of the House Entrance Examination. No matter how wrong things felt, Hex Anmin had no time to investigate why Xiaofu and the others had vanished.
'They're just three minions,' he thought. 'Nowhere near as important as the Saint Spirit Blood.'
"Captain Hex, should we wait for them a little longer?" the same candidate from the West District asked. "Maybe they were just delayed."
"No. Let's begin," Hex Anmin said, waving his hand dismissively. "They're not coming."
"Yes, sir!" The candidate acknowledged.
Then, Hex Anmin glanced at the pentagram on the ground. "Alright, we're not waiting any longer. After days of widespread slaughter, the stench of blood in the Little Extreme Sacred Land is thick enough. The Altar's sigil has appeared. All we need to do now is perform the Blood Sacrifice to activate it!"
With a loud cry, Hex Anmin held out his right hand. He took a sharp blade in his left and made a small cut on his finger, chanting, "O great Saint Spirit, your people have come to call upon you! Please reveal yourself!"
PLINK. A drop of crimson blood fell from Hex Anmin's finger. Seeing Hex Anmin cut his finger for the blood offering, the others gripped their own blades and did the same, cutting their fingers.
Once every Heaven-Devouring Sect disciple circled around the pentagram had let their blood fall, the pattern on the ground suddenly flared with a dazzling radiance. Then, a beam of white light shot out from each of the pentagram's five points.
The five white beams converged in midair, forming an orb of light. From this orb, a yellow beam shot downward, completely enveloping the ground where the pentagram lay.
At that moment, the ground began to tremble. A deep rumbling sound echoed, as if from an earthquake, forcing everyone to struggle for balance.
CRACK... RUMBLE... The ground cracked open and the soil churned. From the earth beneath the pentagram, something suddenly began to emerge.
A moment later, an object seven to eight meters tall and over five meters wide had risen from the ground. However, because it was shrouded by the yellow light, only a vague silhouette was visible, and no one could make out what it truly was.
Only when the object had fully emerged from the earth did the strange phenomena cease. The yellow light in the air vanished.
And then, everyone could finally see the true form of the object that had appeared before them.
It was an enormous Cross! A massive Cross, covered with countless inscriptions and carved with cryptic symbols.
Nailed to the great Cross was a giant, stark naked and with hair as white as snow.
The giant was long dead, its eyes closed. Its face was sallow and emaciated, and its naked, white-haired body was covered in scars. It was a wretched sight, yet, somehow, its flesh had not decomposed.
The Cross seemed to have been buried deep underground for ages. Both the massive structure and the giant nailed upon it were suffused with the weight of time, covered in mottled, ancient marks.
And on the giant's chest, a Red light flickered and pulsed with an eerie rhythm.
Upon closer inspection, they could see that although the giant was lifeless, the heart in its chest was still beating slowly. Thin streams of blood flowed within it, emitting a soft, shimmering light that maintained the heart's vitality.
The eerie Red light was radiating from this very blood.
Dead for countless years, yet its heart lived on. The sight sent a chill down their spines; it was beyond bizarre.
Seeing the blood flowing in the giant's heart, Hex Anmin's face lit up with delight. "This is a Saint from ancient times," he exclaimed. "He had a feud with the West Mansion's Elder Ancestor, who killed him and nailed him here. The source of that Red light is the Saint's heart, and the Saint Spirit Blood is stored within it! Do you see that blood inside the heart? That is the Saint Spirit Blood!"
Upon hearing this, the others' faces also lit up with joy. After all the days they had spent, from infiltrating the cities to entering the West Mansion—wasn't this Saint Spirit Blood the very reason for it all?
With the Saint Spirit Blood right before their eyes and the mission on the verge of completion, a great reward awaited them upon their return. How could they not be overjoyed? They were absolutely ecstatic!

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