These were already old stories of the past. The Coffin Mountain, as it was called back then, now had a much nicer name. In Xie Bai's memory, during the hundred years after that incident, until he left the Tai Xuan Dao, Yin Wushu seemed to have never dug up a heart again, at least not in his presence.

Perhaps after scaring Xie Bai once, he finally understood to avoid people when doing such things.

Xie Bai remembered that Yin Wushu had been acting a bit unusual lately, so he frowned and looked at him. "Did you dig again recently?"

Yin Wushu responded with a nonchalant "Hmm?"

Xie Bai didn't say anything, confirming his suspicions.

Standing beside them, Li Dong looked utterly confused. "Why wasn't I aware of this?"

"Why should you be?" Yin Wushu shot him a displeased glance.

"How long ago was the last time? I haven't been out much in the past three months, and I haven't noticed anything, except..." Li Dong stopped mid-sentence, suddenly remembering something. He widened his eyes and glanced at Yin Wushu, then immediately shut his mouth, refraining from continuing.

But he wouldn't have been able to continue even if he wanted to because just as he paused, countless small dots of light, like fireflies, suddenly floated up from the ground. They surged towards the top of the Coffin Mountain like a tide.

The three of them looked towards the source of the lights and realized they all came from the Yin ghosts torn apart by Yin Wushu. Upon closer inspection, these dots of light were actually tiny sparks with a yellow-green hue.

At the same time, there was a faint buzzing tremor coming from the mountaintop, so faint that it could barely be heard, easily drowned out by the mountain wind.

"Something's not right up there," Li Dong whispered.

As he spoke, Xie Bai and Yin Wushu had already followed the direction of the lights, swiftly heading towards the mountaintop. Their speed was incredibly fast, like two shadows disappearing into the forest in an instant. Li Dong immediately quieted down and hurried to catch up.

The reason Coffin Mountain was once nicknamed "Coffin Mountain" was because its shape somewhat resembled a lid of a coffin, with its mountaintop not being a peak but rather a long section lying horizontally.

On the Coffin Mountain, most of the trees were wild, growing freely without any human care or planning. As a result, there was a wide variety of species, with slightly more pines, cypresses, and camphor trees, but there were also many others such as peach trees and old locust trees. The ground was also scattered with vines whose names were unknown, their stems and leaves covered with fine thorns. Accidentally brushing against the skin would leave several blood marks.

As they approached the mountaintop, they were blocked by a barrier—a wall made of twisted wild trees and vines, dense and impenetrable. These vines whipped around like whips, seemingly determined to prevent anyone from reaching the mountaintop.

Seeing this scene, both Xie Bai and Yin Wushu were stunned, while Li Dong laughed on their behalf. "They think they can stop us with this?"

Xie Bai raised his hand and released a cloud of black mist, tightly entwining a vine that was reaching towards him. Then, with an expressionless face, he tightened his fingers and pulled, uprooting the entire vine. The deep roots, snaking several meters long, were ripped out of the ground, bringing up a layer of mud.

"Not aimed at us," Xie Bai said faintly, whilst .casually tossing aside the vine that couldn't be a demon.

Yin Wushu grunted in agreement. "This should have been set up in advance to prevent disturbance."

This tree barrier was more than enough to block ordinary people who might accidentally stumble upon it. Even for spiritual beings with cultivation, these trees, when gone wild, would be enough to entangle them for a while. However, the person who set up this barrier probably never expected that Yin Wushu and Xie Bai would happen to come up the mountain.

Yin Wushu let out a laugh of ambiguous meaning, then lifted his foot and stepped forward. His step appeared no different from a normal stride, almost soundless, but it caused a violent tremor throughout the mountain. With just that one step, the soil under the tree barrier shook violently, flipping over and revealing roots several meters deep. Fine cracks quickly spread from the roots underground to the branches above.

Taking advantage of the moment, Xie Bai shook his mist, wrapping around the thickest branches of the tree barrier. As soon as he lifted his hand, countless wooden branches exploded with a cracking sound. The seemingly endless wall of trees collapsed completely under the force of the mist, crashing down into countless broken branches.

The tips of these branches were particularly sharp. At the moment of collapse, they spontaneously ignited, and flames soared several meters high. Like arrows released from a bowstring, these flaming branches surged towards the three of them.

Xie Bai sneered coldly, and with a shake of his mist, a barrier of black waves spread out like a hundred-meter-long wall, catching all the wooden branches and then violently rebounding them. The fiery branches, like flowing fire, instantly changed direction and shot towards the mountaintop.

The branches with fire and the tide-like fluorescent lights landed in the same area at the top of the mountain. However, after landing in that area, whether it was the fire or the fluorescence, they suddenly disappeared without a trace. In just the blink of an eye, both the fire and the light were completely absorbed, leaving nothing behind. The mountaintop was briefly illuminated for a few seconds before returning to darkness and silence.

The barrier was effortlessly cleared, and Xie Bai and the others barely hesitated before stepping onto the mountaintop.

As they had suspected, there were already people guarding the mountaintop—

Li Dong glanced around and counted thirty-two dark figures, hunched over, sitting in a circle with their shoulders rubbing against each other.

They seemed oblivious to the three who had arrived at the mountaintop, or more accurately, as if they were oblivious to everything outside. Each one seemed lifeless.

Xie Bai walked to the nearest figure and bent down to take a closer look without fear.

These figures sitting were not actually human; their faces still had remaining fur, and their small facial features squeezed together looked like they were forcibly stuffed with a baby's facial features onto an adult's face, creating a strange and eerie appearance. They looked exactly like the "Short Mountain spirits" from before.

What was even more bizarre was that these "Short Mountain spirits " were bleeding from all seven orifices. Dark-colored blood flowed continuously from them at night, winding down their necks and bodies before finally reaching the ground.

Xie Bai stood up, and as he walked a few steps around the circle, he discovered that every " Short Mountain spirit" sitting here had bleeding from all seven orifices. However, all the blood flowing down their bodies was not scattered everywhere. Instead, it followed pre-prepared grooves and meandered along.

Stepping back a few steps, intending to see from a distance what shape the grooves filled with blood were, Yin Wushu, who was beside him, had already spoken up. "This is a sacrifice."

 

Translator : DarNan