The Modern Martial Immortal

Chapter 117: Blood Sacrifice

”Ahhh!” Piercing, agonizing shrieks tore from the throats of Jiang Banzi, Zuo Wendao, and Jiang Zhenwu.

Within moments, the screams ceased. It was no longer their physical bodies being tormented, but their very psychic souls.

Under the horrified gazes of Yaoguang, Jiang Bairen, and the newly arrived Xie Yushu, Leng Tianfeng, who was now in control of the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, viciously wrenched the souls of the Jiang family’s pillars from their frames.

It was like watching someone being flayed and deboned alive. The intensity of that agony sent a shiver down the spines of even the battle-hardened Jiang Bairen and Xie Yushu. An uncontrollable coldness and dread washed over them, enveloping their entire bodies.

”How did this happen... How did this happen...” Jiang Bairen muttered to himself. As he watched Leng Tianfeng rapidly take command of the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, a flicker of absolute despair crossed his eyes.

They had exhausted every effort and staked everything on a single throw of the dice, only to be met with a total, crushing defeat. Worse still, that fiend from the Rebirth Society had actually become the artifact spirit of the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace!

The Jiang family had spent nearly a thousand years and sacrificed countless lives and martial paragons to nurture this treasure; they understood its terrors better than anyone. In their minds, as long as they could successfully master this artifact, any heavenly being or the Rebirth Society itself would be nothing more than trash, utterly beneath their notice.

But now, this very treasure had fallen into the hands of the Rebirth Society! The result of their near-total annihilation was this. Coupled with the despair and terror regarding the future, the Jiang family’s elder finally snapped.

”It’s over! It’s all over! We’re going to die, every last one of us! From this day forth, this world will truly become a hunting ground for these fiends. Every single one of us will—” Jiang Bairen let out a broken, hysterical cry.

Before he could finish his sentence, a bolt of lightning tore through the void. It instantly pierced through his head armor and transfixed his skull. The irritating shouting came to a dead stop. What had killed him had been the Thunderclap Sword, thrown by Yaoguang.

After hurling the Thunderclap Sword, Yaoguang withdrew his Psychic Descent state. Immediately, blood began to seep from countless points across his body, making him look weak to the point of exhaustion.

”It’s over...” Xie Yushu stared at Leng Tianfeng, who now wielded the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace. He looked as though all his essence, qi, and psyche had been sucked out of him in an instant. His tone was thick with an unspeakable dejection and powerlessness.

”The Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace... That was an artifact embryo that the Jiang family spent a fortune to buy from the Artifact Sect. They poured massive human and material resources into refining it into a treasured artifact! A treasure of this level is more than enough for a great cultivator to use; it’s even sufficient for those high-and-mighty perfected masters and perfected lords whose prestige rivals the scorching sun in the sky. They originally intended to trade this treasured artifact for this entire world, turning the Artifact-Nurturing World into a Jiang family asset. That shows just how precious it is. But now...”

It had become the vessel for a being from the Lunar Fiend Empire! How could they possibly fight a daemon who had possessed a treasured artifact? In particular, he glanced at Yaoguang, who was weak to the extreme and had clearly lost the capacity to fight. The same despair that had consumed Jiang Bairen surged into his heart.

”Run! Run now! Let whoever can escape, escape. Then we must forcibly activate the Star Gate and flee this world... Even if only one or two people make it out... This world is beyond saving...” Xie Yushu said.

”No! This isn’t the end yet!” Yaoguang suddenly said.

”Not the end...” Xie Yushu froze.

”Let’s make a deal.” Yaoguang looked at Leng Tianfeng, who was currently busy absorbing the souls of Jiang Banzi, Jiang Zhenwu, and Zuo Wendao.

If Leng Tianfeng were truly as powerful as he claimed right now, possessing a vessel stronger than a heavenly being’s body, he wouldn’t need to waste so much time absorbing the souls of these few men.

In other words, he had become the artifact spirit of the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, but the process was not yet complete.

”A deal?!” Xie Yushu was somewhat dazed. What time does he think it is? The world is on the brink of destruction, and he wants to talk about a deal?

”I will save your lives and defeat Leng Tianfeng. In exchange, all the spoils of today’s battle will belong to me,” Yaoguang stated.

Xie Yushu blinked, then realized that Yaoguang wouldn’t have made such a proposal out of thin air. Suddenly, a desperate thirst for survival ignited in his eyes. ”You have a way?”

”I’ll try.” Yaoguang could not offer a guarantee.

But he knew he had to try. Otherwise, once Leng Tianfeng truly mastered the power of the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, he didn’t know if the others could escape, but he would certainly be the first sacrifice in Leng Tianfeng’s furnace.

”I agree! I agree! Whatever you want, we agree!” Hearing that Yaoguang actually seemed to have a plan, Xie Yushu grabbed onto the words like a drowning man clutching at a straw. He hurriedly gave his promise. ”Even if you want the Snowdragon Empire, we will give it to you! As long as you are willing to help us open the Star Gate and let us return to the Artifact Sect!”

”Very well. Then the deal is struck,” Yaoguang calmly accepted.

However, he did not make a single move.

On the other side, no matter how the souls of Jiang Banzi, Jiang Zhenwu, and Zuo Wendao shrieked in agony, they were ultimately refined into the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, becoming the fuel for this treasured artifact.

Leng Tianfeng quietly felt the furnace burn with its new fuel, appearing to relish the sensation of surging power. As these two formidable beings turned silent, neither the experts from the Snowdragon Empire nor the remaining daemons dared to act rashly.

The atmosphere in the area fell into a strangely eerie calm. It was a heavy, suffocating stillness, like the air itself had solidified before a mountain storm.

After a long while, Leng Tianfeng finally seemed to recover from his state of enjoyment. He reopened his eyes, and his gaze immediately landed on Yaoguang.

”Interesting. You actually didn’t run,” Leng Tianfeng said with a light chuckle. He then seemed to realize something. ”Then again, you likely understand all too well just how much power I wield now that I command this treasure. Running would be pointless.”

He looked at Yaoguang with a playful, mocking expression. ”So why don’t you try begging me? Considering we share the same lineage, I might grant you a way to live.”

”I should be the one saying those words to you.” Yaoguang opened his eyes. He scrutinized Leng Tianfeng with a calculating look. After a moment, he shifted his focus to the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, scrutinizing it.

For some reason, that look made Leng Tianfeng incredibly uncomfortable. Losing interest in further verbal sparring, Leng Tianfeng’s patience snapped. ”Since you refuse to be sensible, I will fulfill your wish! I’ll make you my newest pet!”

He spread his arms, and countless ghostly blue flames erupted from within the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace. ”None of you has any idea how truly powerful this treasured artifact is!”

The next moment, he swept his hand forward. The ghostly blue flames followed the motion of his arm, tearing through the air to seize Yaoguang. The flames didn’t just grab his physical form; they latched onto his soul as well, seemingly intent on wrenching it violently from his flesh.

Seeing this, Yaoguang lunged forward. He charged directly toward the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace and struck down heavily.

Leng Tianfeng made no effort to dodge the attack. Instead, he sneered. ”You want to shatter a treasured artifact? Forget the fact that your physique hasn’t even reached that of a heavenly being; even if you were one, you couldn’t hope to scratch this artifact without a divine weapon of the same level.”

However, when Yaoguang’s hands actually slammed into the treasured artifact, it appeared that he wasn’t trying to break it. Instead, he gripped the artifact’s handles tightly. Then, the surging blood and qi within him condensed, and he spat a mouthful of it directly onto the vessel.

The moment the blood touched the treasured artifact, it began to seep rapidly into its interior. Carrying along with it were his essence, qi, and psyche. Ordinarily, when blood left the body, the essence, qi, and psyche contained within would quickly dissipate, much like how cells die once blood leaves its host.

But this time was different. The treasured artifact possessed a powerful spirituality. It was constantly emitting the residual spiritual energies left behind from Leng Tianfeng’s transformation into an artifact spirit. These spiritual energies burned around the furnace like ghostly blue flames, serving as both Leng Tianfeng’s source of power and a form of nourishment that sustained Yaoguang’s blood.

Under these conditions, the essence, qi, and psyche within the blood did not dissipate. Instead, they merged with the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace, penetrating deep into the artifact and gradually hooking into the power of the blue flames to become one with them.

Sensing this change, Leng Tianfeng’s sneer vanished as he realized what was happening. When he felt Yaoguang’s essence, qi, and psyche infiltrating the furnace, his expression changed drastically. ”A blood sacrifice technique?! You intend to blood-sacrifice me?!”

In the next instant, a massive wave of psychic soul power erupted from the artifact. The essence, qi, and psyche within Yaoguang’s blood were ignited, evaporating rapidly.

Seeing this, the well-prepared Yaoguang quickly pressed the spirit stones he had obtained from the Snowdragon Empire against the artifact. Then, before Leng Tianfeng could completely erase his own essence, qi, and psyche from the vessel, Yaoguang spat out another mouthful of blood.

The essence, qi, and psyche in this blood seemed to possess a natural ability to guide the other blue flames within the furnace. Specifically, as the spiritual qi from the spirit stones seeped into the artifact, the two forces acted in synergy, one from the inside and one from the outside. They quickly reached a consensus, completely ignoring Leng Tianfeng’s status as the artifact spirit and forcibly drawing his power inward.

The Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace needed a master, and it needed spirit stones for replenishment. As for the artifact spirit, Leng Tianfeng had not yet fully mastered the artifact’s power. Even if he had, he wouldn’t necessarily have been able to stop Yaoguang’s sacrificial refining in such a short time.

After all, when a treasured artifact was forged, it was ultimately designed to choose a master. In other words, a refiner would always consider how to quickly refine the finished product, leaving behind corresponding restrictions for that purpose.[1]

By analyzing the techniques Jiang Banzi and the others had used to try to control the artifact, and combining that with his own methods, Yaoguang had precisely located the restriction for refining the Five-Emperor Soul-Refining Furnace.

Once he found the restriction and combined it with his knowledge of blood sacrifice, his essence, qi, and psyche began to rapidly permeate the lock, seizing control of the treasured artifact.

Immediately, Leng Tianfeng, as the artifact spirit, felt a crisis that struck directly at his soul. ”How is this...”

The tides were turning!

1. Restrictions are spells which form a barrier around a location or act to seal/suppress a person or object. ☜