Chapter 142: The Mysterious Altar

Chapter 142: The Mysterious Altar

Stepping through the barrier, Xia Zheng found the air inside excessively dry, as if moisture was being continuously drained away. A wave of dry, hot wind occasionally blew past, causing him a mild sense of discomfort, though it carried no poison—just pure, arid heat.

This time, there were no slithering, egg-producing blood vessels in sight. It seemed this area had already been abandoned.

Last time, they had followed the barrier all the way and finally reached the Carefree Zone. He wondered where this path would lead.

Hiss!

The sound of a venomous snake darting out its tongue echoed through the air. Xia Zheng instantly mobilized his spiritual power to dodge, as a thick, dark shadow pierced the spot where he had just been standing, leaving behind a deep pit.

Spinning around, Xia Zheng caught sight of a shadowy monstrosity. He flicked a beam of light from his hand straight up into the air, instantly illuminating the creature's true form.

It possessed at least seven or eight heads, all belonging to various types of serpents such as cobras and rattlesnakes, sharing a single massive reptilian body that stood roughly six meters tall.

Simultaneously, with the appearance of this monster, the surrounding silence was shattered. One grotesque creature after another, crafted by the Blood Clan, began to emerge. Flesh-mutilated humanoid monsters were the most numerous, resembling resurrected wraiths, seemingly far superior to the ordinary zombies encountered previously.

In addition, there were various stitched-together abominations. In short, this place resembled a massive testing ground, littered with a multitude of diverse experimental subjects.

Xia Zheng had no intention of entangling himself with these monsters here; his primary objective was to investigate the current situation of the Blood Clan.

Consequently, he sped continuously through the encirclement of monsters, eliminating any that blocked his path and could not be bypassed. Fortunately, the strength of these stitched abominations and wraiths did not exceed C-tier ability users, posing little threat to Xia Zheng as he was now. However, their sheer numbers meant that getting trapped could still prove dangerous, prompting Xia Zheng to eliminate targets swiftly and leave with extreme haste.

The range of this barrier zone was roughly similar to the previous one. Xia Zheng directly manifested a pair of spiritual wings on his back, skimming over the heads of the monsters while continually dodging those capable of ranged attacks.

Roughly twenty minutes later, Xia Zheng strode out of this region and arrived inside a warm garden, which caught him by surprise.

All the monsters that had been pursuing him halted their chase the moment they reached a hundred meters from the exit, subsequently resuming their previous states—either burrowing into the ground or lying dormant nearby, as if re-entering a state of hibernation.

This was not the Carefree Zone, nor could he determine his exact location. The simulated time inside the instance dungeon was currently set to early winter, yet here it felt as warm as spring.

The garden was quite expansive. Xia Zheng walked around the neatly trimmed hedges for over ten minutes without managing to exit the garden.

At this point, however, the path formed by the hedges had reached its end, blocked by a dense grove of tall fir trees that obscured his vision.

The sunlight here was ample, yet Xia Zheng could not shake a lingering sense of gloom, though he could not quite pinpoint the reason.

Within the fir grove, he noticed white mist drifting about, mingling with the occasional shafts of descending sunlight, creating an ethereal, fairyland-like scene.

The silvery, bell-like laughter of young girls drifted over from time to time, yet when Xia Zheng swept the area with his spiritual perception, he found no trace of any human presence.

"Strange. Could this laughter not belong to humans or the Blood Clan?" Xia Zheng advanced cautiously, paying close attention to his surroundings and remaining on high alert.

Another ten minutes passed, and Xia Zheng realized he still had not walked out of the fir grove.

"An array formation?" Xia Zheng recalled some of the knowledge he had acquired from the Divine Path Gate, such as utilizing the natural environment in reality to deploy various formations—some defensive, some illusory, some offensive, and others serving different purposes.

The fir grove before him, Xia Zheng surmised, was meant to disorient and confuse enemies.

"At its core, an array formation is merely a trick of the mind meant to deceive human spirit and perception. Fortunately, I possess the Divine Eyes." The "Divine Eyes" skill he had previously mastered had seen very low usage frequency, but he hadn't expected it to come in handy at this very moment.

Therefore, as he concentrated his spiritual power onto his eyes, the blood vessels around them immediately bulged and twisted menacingly. When he opened them once more, a pair of crimson pupils was revealed.

Observing the fir grove again through Xia Zheng's enhanced vision, he immediately detected numerous flaws and details. It seemed that while the array formation before him appeared exquisitely intricate to modern people, it fell far short in the eyes of ancient cultivators.

Thus, aided by the Divine Eyes, Xia Zheng took only three minutes to walk out of the fir grove this time. Emerging, he saw that the sky directly overhead was dyed a wash of crimson red, while a dozen kilometers away, a towering white altar stood proudly, continuously absorbing streams of flowing energy.

Upon leaving the fir grove, Xia Zheng spotted the figures of Blood Clan guards. Each of these guards possessed a restrained aura, quietly rivaling the strength of B-tier ability users.

"Could the Blood Clan be preparing for some kind of sacrificial ritual?" Xia Zheng restored his eyes to normal, unable to help his speculation. It seemed this was the urgent task the Blood Clan was currently undertaking, to the extent that they were willing to neglect the energy supply of the barrier. Consequently, this ritual must be of paramount importance to them; if humanity could disrupt or prevent it...

With this thought, Xia Zheng made up his decision and entered a state of stealth.

Using his imagination, he generated four reflective shields around his body, deflecting all light outward. This effectively rendered him "invisible" to others, allowing him to enter a state of complete concealment.

A Blood Clan guard suddenly felt a trace of unease and looked around, but found nothing amiss, leaving him slightly puzzled. Fortunately, this uneasy sensation quickly faded. After pondering for a moment, he resumed his normal patrolling stance.

Xia Zheng's figure gradually drifted away from this guard, letting out a silent sigh of relief. If he were discovered by the guards, it would likely alert the entire garrison, making his intelligence-gathering mission exceedingly difficult to complete.

"It seems I need to restrain my aura even deeper; otherwise, these fellows possess terrifyingly keen senses." Previously, Xia Zheng had primarily focused on visual concealment, but after noting the reactions of these guards, he made timely adjustments.

Having cultivated to his current level, he remained quite confident in his ability to suppress his aura. Henceforth, the remaining Blood Clan guards completely failed to detect his presence.

Stealthily advancing all the way, he drew closer and closer to the altar, and the Blood Clan members he encountered grew increasingly formidable.

When he reached the perimeter of an encampment, he halted, finding the security extremely tight. High-ranking powerhouses of the Blood Clan had begun to appear—generals on par with Alonice, whose strength likely reached the A or A+ tier. He no longer felt confident in his ability to bypass the perception of these high-tier Blood Clan members.

The altar was still roughly a few hundred meters away from him. It was practically within arm's reach, yet Xia Zheng was temporarily unable to close the distance, leaving him momentarily at a loss as to what the Blood Clan's altar truly was.

Just then, a change occurred. A group of several hundred young boys and girls, aged between ten and twenty, dressed in identical sleeveless linen tunics, were escorted slowly toward the encampment by Blood Clan guards, stopping mere dozen meters away from Xia Zheng.

These youths wore varied expressions: some looked fanatical, some indifferent, some angry, some dejected, and others utterly despairing.

"My Lord, this is the third batch of believers for today, safely escorted and delivered," reported the leader of the Blood Clan guards escorting the youths. Following this, a remarkably imposing Blood Clan man emerged from the encampment. Pressing a handkerchief to his mouth, he cast a rough glance over the group before nodding to signal their passage.

Spotting this opportunity, Xia Zheng immediately slipped into the procession, manifested clothing identical to those worn by the surrounding youths, and followed the others into the encampment with a vacant, expressionless stare.