The Lord of Void and Real
Chapter 1233

Chapter 1233: Chapter 1230: Sacrifice Chapter 1233: Chapter 1230: Sacrifice Shen Luo had been investigating with the Ghost General in this deserted city for half an hour but still found nothing.

Just as the two of them were gradually lowering their guard and planning to head back, an abrupt change occurred in front of them!

Accompanied by a series of piercing screeches coming from the distance, countless moths shot out of a nearby building and swooped straight towards Shen Luo and the Ghost General at a fast pace.

These moths were about a foot long, their bodies a grayish-black color, and with each flap of their wings, wisps of gray flames fluttered towards them.

“Bring it on!” The Ghost General charged ahead of Shen Luo and leapt forward to meet them, shrieking loudly.

Countless black sound waves appeared out of nowhere and pelted down on the gray moths like a torrential downpour, shredding both the moths and the gray flames into pieces before dissipating into strands of black Qi.

This black Qi was just like the vitality left over from slaying the Night Rakshasa but much more diluted.

The Ghost General was about to absorb this black Yin Qi when, from within it, over a dozen shadows shot out. They were gray flying scorpions the size of millstones, each with a cultivation level at the Nascent Soul Stage.

Hissing noises rose sharply!

Over a dozen pitch-black scorpion tails shot out like lightning, crossing a distance of twenty or thirty feet in a flash and striking the Ghost General hard.

The Ghost General couldn't dodge in time. His body burst into black light, instantly condensing into a Black Light Shield. At the same time, unwilling to be at a disadvantage, he opened his mouth again and sent out a wave of sound wave attacks, as countless black sound waves crashed angrily towards the flying scorpions.

With two muffled “bang” “bang” sounds, both sides took a heavy hit from the other!

The Ghost General was knocked flying out, and the flying scorpions were also hit by the sound waves and flung backward.

However, the scorpions' figures flickered and they stabilized themselves, lunging forward again as if nothing had happened.

Shen Luo watched and let out a soft “huh,” then flicked his fingers on the Bloodthirsty Flag. A dozen black flames shot out from the flag's surface towards the grayish-black scorpions.

But the scorpions were incredibly agile, twisting their bodies and dashing to the side quickly to dodge; however, the black flames also shifted, transforming into a dozen lifelike black firebirds in mid-air, catching all the grayish-black scorpions in their beaks.

Before the scorpions could struggle, a series of “plop” sounds followed, and all the black firebirds plummeted to the ground.

An icy chill suddenly dissipated, and within moments a small sea of black flames formed, engulfing the dozen gray scorpions and instantly turning them to ashes.

Seeing this, Shen Luo silently nodded his head.

The re-refined Bloodthirsty Flag indeed had formidable power. The bodies of those black scorpions were tough, and even the Ghost General's sound blade couldn't slice through them, yet they were so feeble before the Yin Fire formed by the flag's Yin power that they were easily turned to nothing!

“Thank you for the assistance, Master,” said the Ghost General as he flew back, his complexion not looking very good.

“Things are strange here. Don't be careless,” Shen Luo said indifferently as he put away the Bloodthirsty Flag.

“Yes,” the Ghost General hurriedly responded.

Shen Luo didn't bother reprimanding the Ghost General any further. As he turned to leave, his gaze suddenly shifted, and he waved his hand, emitting a beam of blue light that rolled out an object from the still-burning black Yin Fire. It was a thumb-sized, pitch-black bead.

“What is this?” the Ghost General asked in surprise.

Shen Luo didn't reply, but instead caught the bead in his hand, feeling a cool aura seeping from it.

He activated his Divine Sense to probe the bead and his brows slightly furrowed.

This black round pearl was obtained from inside one of the gray flying scorpions and was filled with a strange power fluctuation. It wasn't Yin Qi, nor did it resemble Ghostly Qi, but it seemed somewhat similar to the Fixed-element Relic in his possession.

The bead was devoid of any positive energy, instead, it was brimming with a mysterious and eerie power.

“I'm not sure either, it was formed inside the body of a Flying Scorpion, and it doesn't seem to be a crystallization of Yin Qi or anything of the sort,” Shen Luo said.

“This thing looks quite nice, take it out and have someone look at it, maybe it's some kind of precious material,” the Ghost General suggested.

Shen Luo had this in mind and pocketed the bead with a flick of his hand.

“Master, those moths and Flying Scorpions all came out of that building, shall we go in and have a look?” the Ghost General asked, looking at the great hall from which the moths had emerged.

“Let's go, let's have a look,” Shen Luo said after a brief pause for thought.

The two headed towards the great hall, but the palace doors were tightly closed and could not be opened with force.

Shen Luo formed a hand seal and once again urged the Bloodthirsty Flag, unleashing a stream of black Yin Fire from it that rolled and condensed into a black Ghost Hand, wrapped in wisps of black flames, looking very sinister as it grasped onto the palace door.

With a light sizzling sound, the sturdy palace door was torn open, creating a large hole about ten feet in size.

“Master, the power of this big banner of yours is now terrifying, these Black Flames don't seem like any ordinary Yin Fire, I don't dare to meet them head-on,” the Ghost General admired as he looked at the black Ghost Hand.

Shen Luo also felt that the black flames were not ordinary Yin Fire but had no time to pay attention to them now.

The two stepped into the great hall, where the light was dim, but that was naturally no problem for Shen Luo and the Ghost General, who swept their gaze over the interior and saw everything clearly.

The space inside the great hall was not small, spanning twenty or thirty feet wide, yet it was quite empty, with only five gray stone pillars rising directly to the top of the hall in the center, among which was arranged a complicated-looking black Magic Array, embedded with numerous gray crystal stones.

The Great Formation had gathered dust, clearly having been inactive for a long time.

In the central part of the Array, there was a small round open ground where a corpse was seated, its limbs bound with black iron chains and firmly tied to the ground.

The corpse was withered and yellow, resembling old tree bark, with disheveled gray hair covering its head; its features were indistinct, but most eerily, its skull was nearly split in half, as if someone had cleaved open the top of its head to remove the brain contents.

Although Shen Luo had seen countless grand sights, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre scene, and he couldn't help but frown.

“Eh, what kind of Formation is this?” The Ghost General bent down to inspect the Ground Array and uttered a soft exclamation.

Shen Luo also looked at the Array and, raising his hand, produced a Blue Light that lifted one of the gray crystal stones from within the Array for a closer look; the spiritual power within the crystal stone had been exhausted, leaving nothing inside.

Activating his Ghost Eye of the Netherworld, his eyes emitted two beams of Green Light to inspect the crystal stone closely, which contained traces of a peculiar Blood Light.

“This is…” he exclaimed with a hint of surprise on his face.

“Do you recognize this crystal stone, Master? What's special about it?” The Ghost General picked up a piece of gray crystal stone to look at it carefully, but he could see nothing.

“If I'm not mistaken, these crystal stones should be Blood Fetus Stones,” Shen Luo said slowly.

“Blood Fetus Stone?” the Ghost General looked confused, clearly having never heard of this name before.

“It's a type of Blood Path crystal stone used for sacrifices. I'm afraid this Array on the ground might be a Sacrificial Array,” Shen Luo explained.

Shen Luo came to know about Blood Fetus Stones and Sacrificial Arrays in the Dream World, from the Classics of the Jade Fox Clan, which was naturally unknown to the Ghost General.

“Sacrificial Array? Indeed, there are rituals in Ghost Path that sacrifice Souls to refine Magical Treasures or to enhance Divine Powers, which are very effective. Sadly, these rituals have long been lost. I didn't expect to find one here,” the Ghost General muttered to himself, observing the Ground Array carefully as if he had a great interest in it.