Asura Emperor Venerable-Chapter 796: Altar

After everyone had entered, Xu Zhong also dashed in, but he did not put away his lasso.

It didn’t matter. Restless Souls didn’t have a physical form, so they couldn’t pull on the rope.

—Unless they could possess a body, whether alive or dead.

Everyone had already agreed that if anyone were to die in battle, the others would immediately collect the corpse, leaving no opportunity for the Restless Souls to exploit.

The one leading the charge was Huang Jian. ƒгeewebnovёl.com

He was a disciple of the Purple Wind Sect and had been at the third blood sacrifice for many years. In theory, he could have broken through by now, but he wasn’t satisfied.

If he broke through just like that, his future achievement would only extend to the Heaven Connecting Road, but his ambition was much greater.

Therefore, he had been suppressing his realm all along, hoping to offer one more sacrifice to undergo the refinement of the Power of Heaven and Earth four times, which in the future would give him a chance to ascend the Heaven Building Ladder and embrace endless possibilities in life.

Otherwise, so what if he reached the Heaven Connecting Road? He would only rot and stink in the Mortal Realm.

Huang Jian’s realm was the same as Xu Zhong’s, but his combat power was only at the level of the third sacrifice, not like Xu Zhong, who possessed the power of the fourth sacrifice.

Therefore, he was extremely cautious.

Suddenly, a Restless Soul floated up.

It was as if the attack horn had blown abruptly, and a large number of Restless Souls rose up, taking on human forms. Although they had no features, Huang Jian could sense that these Restless Souls were staring at him.

"Be careful, the Restless Souls have awakened!" he shouted loudly.

No sooner had his voice fallen than the Restless Souls rushed towards them like a surging sea.

Huang Jian let out a roar and slapped his palms together, invoking the Fire Element, which turned into a wave of fire to meet the Restless Souls.

—Restless Souls had no physical form, so no matter how powerful, they couldn’t be destroyed by force alone. It was necessary to use Elemental Power or rules, and a combination of the two was particularly effective.

Being at the third sacrifice, his single blow brought down a swath of Restless Souls.

For one, the realms of these Restless Souls were too low, and secondly, they had been trapped here for too long. Their energy had severely dissipated, naturally diminishing their ferocity.

The others also started to act, opening their domains and transforming the Elemental Power into various shapes, harvesting the "lives" of the Restless Souls with gusto.

But were Restless Souls truly living beings? Did the concept of life even apply to them?

Shi Hao was thinking while he acted.

It wasn’t his first day dealing with Restless Souls, but he still didn’t understand where Restless Souls came from or what their purpose was.

Moreover, the places where Restless Souls appeared seemed to always herald a disaster.

The Ancient World didn’t need mentioning, as the entire universe had been destroyed. As for this place, the entire Imperial Capital had turned into the City of the Dead.

Were the Restless Souls to blame?

Or was it that too many deaths attracted the Restless Souls?

Hmm?

Shi Hao sensed that someone was watching him.

—Kan Haoming.

This guy clearly hadn’t given up on finding an opportunity to thrust him into the midst of the Restless Souls.

Should he counterattack directly and push him into the Restless Souls, or could he use this chance to make himself disappear?

He had the Immortal Abode, which allowed him to hide among the Restless Souls. If he waited for the right moment to strike, he could pose a huge threat to both the Restless Souls and to Kan Haoming and his allies.

Hmm, staying with these people meant that some trump cards were not suitable to be revealed.

Alright, it’s decided.

The group advanced forward, all of them with the combat power of Great Sacrificial Heaven, and there were even those with the power of four sacrifices. Such a team, let alone flattening everything in the Great Sacrificial Heaven, needn’t fear even if they encountered an undead spirit ascending to a saintly position—they were fully capable of fighting.

Besides, these restless souls had been slumbering for too long; the energy they had lost was severe. Even if it was a restless soul that had ascended to a saintly position, how much combat power could it still possess?

Thus, the team marched with boldness and high spirits, unstoppable on their journey.

Before long, they had fought their way through the passage, and a vast square appeared before them.

What the—how could a square possibly appear in an underground space?

In the middle of the square, there was also a high platform, shaped like a cone, but with its top flattened to form a small platform.

However, looking around, everyone gasped in shock,

The place was strewn with skeletal remains, scattered across the square. Judging from the density of the bones, the bodies had originally been thrown down from the high platform, forming a distribution that was dense in the middle and sparse on the outside.

"Are they performing a blood sacrifice?" someone asked in a hoarse voice.

Everyone’s expression turned grave.

Like them, all part of the Great Sacrificial Heaven, had also experienced a sacrifice. But theirs had been with their martial arts understanding as the offering to exchange for the cleansing by the Power of the Azure Sky, a leap in the life order to approach the Heavenly Dao.

Throughout history, some Great Sects had also carried out sacrifices, offering heavenly materials and earthly treasures to change the fortunes of a power or a region.

However, sacrificing living beings indicated no need for consideration—it was definitely an offering to some evil existence, not the Azure Sky.

The key issue was that this was already an Ancient Dynastic Court with an Almighty from the Heaven Building Ladder seated in power. And yet, they still resorted to blood sacrifice—what exactly were they after?

Merely the thought of it left people horrified.

"This is a City of the Dead, we originally thought that the Ancient Dynastic Court had encountered some great enemy, causing them to evacuate all residents. But now it looks like... it’s highly probable that they were all brought here for sacrifice," someone said, their voice trembling.

No one looked down upon him for that statement because the terrifying truth behind a powerful dynasty resorting to such a method of sacrifice was undoubtedly horrible.

Although countless years had passed, everyone still felt a chill run down their spine.

"It’s not right," someone else said. "The number of bones here is not small, but it’s far from the number of a whole city."

Indeed.

This prompted many heads to nod in agreement. There might be tens of thousands of corpses here, but to say that an Imperial Capital had only a population in the tens of thousands was far too meager.

"This is only the first layer; there are many more below," Xu Zhong spoke up.

At these words, everyone felt the chill again.

If there were many layers, then the number of those sacrificed would skyrocket—hundreds of thousands or even millions were possible.

Just then, amidst the dry bones, spirits began to rise, some even attempting to control a skeleton. But too many years had passed, and the bones merely clattered to pieces after attempting to stand.

"Be careful, the terrain here is open, we have no defenses," Xu Zhong warned. "From this point on, no one should show off their personal strength. It doesn’t matter if you die, but if you break the defensive line and cause others’ deaths, that would be the gravest sin!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Although they were Heaven’s Proud Sons and had stepped onto the threshold of Great Sacrificial Heaven, ranking as masters in the entire Universe, it was exactly for this reason that they cherished their lives even more.

The good days were just beginning, how could they die here?

But the desire for power was irresistible, and despite the danger, they pressed on boldly.

"Kill!"

Lots of restless souls fell, but their numbers were too great, and the open terrain indeed increased the difficulty of the group’s defense, putting them under immense pressure.

No wonder the Azure Descent Sect had given up after one failed charge. Indeed, under the condition that only the power of Great Sacrificial Heaven could be deployed, moving forward was exceedingly difficult.