Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Naturally, Zhang Ruochen would not remove his mask. “Let’s just exchange for one Holy Stone first, since you don’t trust us. Tomorrow we will come with enough Spiritual Crystals to exchange for the remaining two Holy Stones.”
A gleam of disappointment appeared in Duanmu Ya’s eyes.
Duanmu Ya did not intend to force it further. She knew what Zhang Ruochen was capable of, and she did not want to provoke him to anger and make an enemy of him.
Mu Lingxi was not as cautious. She walked up to Zhang Ruochen and said, “When will you stop pretending, Zhang Ruochen? Why are you fearful of showing your true self to me since you are still alive? Don’t you trust me?”
“Zhang Ruochen?”
Zhang Ruochen maintained his calmness. The ends of his lips curled up as he said, “Your Highness, I am afraid you have mistaken me for another person.”
“Swosh!”
From 50 feet away, Zhang Ruochen stretched out one of his hands, curled his fingers into a claw, and directed one of the Holy Stones from the bronze salver into his sleeve.
He then turned to leave Wuwang Inn.
“Don’t go, Zhang Ruochen…”
Mu Lingxi speedily made a move to try to catch up with him.
However, she quickly lost sight of Zhang Ruochen the moment she was out of Wuwang Inn.
When Duanmu Ya caught up with Mu Lingxi, she said anxiously, “Lingxi, from the back, this man does look like Zhang Ruochen. However, it may not be him after all. A man cannot come back to life once he dies. Why don’t you just let it go?”
Mu Lingxi bit her lip as she started to tear up. She could feel her heart breaking in two and tears ran down her cheeks as she said with a lovesick tone, “Why, aunt? He was just standing before of me, but why didn’t he remove his mask? Why doesn’t he trust me?”
Duanmu Ya replied, “You are the Saintess of the Demonic Sect, and there are many important things you have to handle. I can’t just sit around and watch you sink deeper into this. I am going to inform the High Priest so he can send someone here to take you home if you refuse to perk up.”
Mu Lingxi did not seem to hear Duanmu Ya’s words. On the other hand, she seemed even more determined. She said, “Please prepare an altar for me, aunt. I will personally unlock the seal on myself. When I regain my level of cultivation, he won’t be able to walk away from me.”
“No, it would be too dangerous to unlock the seal using your strength alone. You could be putting your training at risk. I would advise you make a trip back to the Ancient Moon Precipice to allow the High Priest to unlock your seal,” Duanmu Ya said.
Mu Lingxi however, was unrelenting. She said, “Cyan Cloud County and Ancient Moon Precipice are hundreds of thousands of miles apart. I wouldn’t know where he is by the time I returned from unlocking the seal.” “The world is so vast and densely populated. It would be almost impossible to find him if I miss this chance. He must have encountered some difficulties, and he didn’t wish to implicate me. That’s why he’s avoiding me. Please, will you just help me this once, Aunt?”
Duanmu Ya was unmoved by her pleading. She did not wish for her to wallow in her stupidity.
“Don’t push it, Aunt.”
Mu Lingxi took the Holy Moon Token out of her Spatial Ring and placed it on her palm.
The Holy Moon Token flew into the air and transformed into a bright moon above Mu Lingxi. Instantly, her aura became very powerful.
At this moment, she seemed to be a statue of a commanding Saint, standing in front of Duanmu Yu.
In an instant, Mu Lingxin’s temperament turned cold and sharp. “You left me with no other choice. As the Saintess of the Moon Worship Sect, I command you to prepare an altar for me. Tonight, I have to unlock the seal on my body.”
Duanmu Ya had no choice but to kneel. She saluted her, saying, “Yes, Your Highness.”
Mu Lingxi pocketed the Holy Moon Token, went forward, and helped Duanmu Ya up, saying, “Aunt, I hope you understand that I am doing this because I have no other choice.”
“What can I say, now that you have even used the Holy Moon Token on me? Since you have made up your mind, I will give you a hand. I hope I am not doing you harm instead.”
Duanmu Ya gave Mu Lingxi a long thoughtful look, and she finally understood Mu Lingxi’s deep feelings for Zhang Ruochen. It really was a cruel twist of fate.
Following a hundred years of development, the Moon Worship Demonic Sect’s great power and influence in Cyan Cloud County had allowed them to take control of an extensive area of the city.
Duanmu Ya led Mu Lingxi to the northern part of Cyan Cloud County, which was relatively desolated, and they entered a manor that spread over 130 acres.
This manor was Moon Worship Demonic Sect’s secret stronghold, and many of its masters took cover here.
“Swosh!”
A slim figure in black, carrying a sword on her back, came out of the manor, knelt before Duanmu Ya and Mu Lingxi, and saluted them with a bow.
“Greetings to Your Highness the Saintess, and to the Chief.”
She was dressed in a tight-fitting black suit and wearing a black hat. A layer of soft metallic armor covered her torso, wrists, and thighs. She was covered from head to toe, exposing only a pair of bright eyes and fair-skinned hands.
Mu Lingxi took one look at her and seemed to recognize her immediately. “Junior sister apprentice Zi, it’s been a long time.”
The lady in blacked nodded but remained silent.
Duanmy Ya said, “Get up first, Zi Qian. Bring us to the altar.”
The lady in black was Zi Qian, the lady killer of the Hades Department.
When the Hades Department offended Di Yi in the battle at the Underwater Dragon Palace, they had no choice but to join the Moon Worship Demonic Sect for protection. Naturally, Zi Qian also came under the wings of Moon Worship Demonic Sect and became the chief of one of the branch gangs.
In the center of the manor stood a thirty foot tall altar, made of an enormous heap of huge boulders, each weighing a thousand pounds. The boulders on the edge were carved with strange inscriptions.
Duanmu Ya had given an order to conduct a sacrifice in the manor at midnight.
Therefore, the Moon Worship Demonic Sect disciples started busying themselves with the preparation of the oblation immediately. The disciples of each branch gang had purchased cattle and savage beasts from the city, brought them back to the manor, and placed them on the altar.
Midnight was the time that divided the day in half. At this time, the moon would be right at the center of the sky.
The Moon Worship Demonic Sect worshipped the Moon God. They would carry out the sacrificial ceremony at midnight to communicate with the Moon God and thereby gain the power to unlock the seal.
Midnight was drawing near, and the manor’s security team had been fully mobilized.
“The sacrifice begins.”
Duanmu Ya issued the command.
The heretic disciples on the altar lifted their butcher’s knives and slaughtered a total of two thousand and twenty cattle, as well as three hundred and sixty-seven savage beasts.
“Swoosh!”
The blood of the cattle and savage beasts gushed out and flowed into the groove at the center of the altar. It formed a frothing pool of blood.
The moonlight reflected on the surface of the pool of blood in the center of the altar, making it appear bright red.
As Mu Lingxi ascended the altar step by step, she mobilized Genuine Qi throughout her body to begin unlocking the seal. Her skin became fairer and fairer until it looked like porcelain.
“Crack!”
Suddenly, her entire body was covered in thin crack lines.
Streams of dazzling light emitted from the cracks. The turbulent Genuine Qi in her body seemed to be on the verge of tearing her body up.
At the point of transformation, Mu Lingxi stepped into the blood pool. The blood completely covered her as she sank to the bottom of the blood pool.
The power from the sacrifice drew the moonlight into a white light column that was driven into the blood pool. The fresh blood blended with the moonlight to produce an amazing power that closed in on Mu Lingxi standing in the blood pool.
The heretics around the altar scattered. The only ones left behind were Duanmu Ya and Zi Qian, who were clad in black.
Anxiety rose in Duanmu Ya’s heart as she fixed her eyes on the tall altar.
She was keenly aware of how precarious it was to unlock the seal through sacrifice. Any act of negligence would backfire on the participant. However, Duanmu Ya had faith that Mu Lingxi would be able to succeed, as she had a good control over her power.
At 1 am, the blood in the pool began to swirl around wildly and noisily, forming a vortex.
Suddenly, the shadow of a perfect human figure flew out from the center of the vortex and united itself with the shaft of moonlight.
At this moment, Mu Lingxi was stark naked, and every inch of her skin was perfectly smooth. She appeared to be emitting moonlight.
The surrounding air condensed to form streaks of nimbus which wrapped around her.
When Zi Qian saw Mu Lingxi’s true body, she said in wonder, “Only inherent Holy Jade could transform Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into nimbus to wrap around her. Could Her Highness, the Saintess, be a Saintly Being?
A human who was a Saintly Being would be no different from inherent Holy Jade.
Duanmu Ya nodded and said, “Ancient Holy Body of the Ice Phoenix. It had been ages since any tribesman, not to mention tribesman from the Mu Tribe, awoke the Blood Meridian of the Ice Phoenix.”
Duanmu Ya had witnessed Mu Lingxi’s true body before, but she had still been a little girl.
When she unlocked the seal and flew out of the blood pool, even Duanmu Ya gasped in shock.
At this moment, Mu Lingxi looked as beautiful as one of the Nine Goddesses of the Empyrean. Even Duanmu Ya, who was a woman, was struck with awe.
Even Luo Shuihan, Eastern Region’s new generation beauty as appraised by the ‘Eastern Region Report,’ paled in comparison.
As Mu Lingxi stood on the altar, the streams of moonlight fell on her like silver gauze. She looked enchanting with her long, flowing, black hair moving in the wind.
There was a little red Phoenix mark in between her brows. The mark was gently moving up and down as if it were a drop of blood sitting on the surface of her skin.
A close inspection would reveal that the red Phoenix mark was filled with the mysterious power of the Ice Phoenix. It looked to be a living Phoenix that could emerge from in between her brows at any moment.
As Mu Lingxi gradually got used to the power within her, the Phoenix mark sank in to form an Ice Phoenix suspended in her Qi Sea.
Due to the fact that Mu Lingxi was undercover in the School of the Martial Market, her body and cultivation level had both been sealed. For this reason, only she was aware of her true capabilities.
Only at this moment, when the seal had been unlocked, was her cultivation fully revealed.
“Finally I have recovered my true body. Indeed I have reached the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm. I shall open the first holy meridian first.”
As Mu Lingxi sat cross-legged at the center of the altar, she began to employ the Vast Universe Gong technique. Immediately, an illusory image of an Ice Phoenix appeared. The illusory image transformed into the shape of a pair of phoenix wings and wrapped around her.
The Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm was not the peak of Mu Lingxi’s capabilities. She continued to break through to the next level.
She could reach the the Fourth Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm by opening another holy meridian.
She could reach the Fifth Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm by opening yet another holy meridian.
However, Mu Lingxi was not sure how much martial power she had accumulated, or whether she could open one or two holy meridians, or even more. The more martial power she accumulated, the more power would be dissipated when the seal was unlocked.