Inside the cave, the fire flickered, casting a shadow on the face of an old man holding an odd-shaped dagger, complementing the blood-stained stone platform, making the cave seem sinister and terrifying.
This was originally a spine-chilling scene, but if you look to the other side of the cave, you’ll find the atmosphere in the cave has become polarized.
Su Xiao frowned deeply as he watched Old Bar. The old guy had been mumbling incessantly for over half an hour, like a god stick, muttering under his breath while continuously circling the stone platform.
The face of the boy on the stone platform was ashen; whether from fright or the effects of the inferior anesthesia was uncertain.
"Bar, how much longer?"
The animated Old Bar stopped and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
After a short rest, Old Bar continued to circle the one-armed boy.
"Kaka, Noisun (unknown language)."
Old Bar raised both hands high, holding a round dagger in one and a half-moon dagger in the other, representing the sun and the moon, respectively.
The moon-shaped dagger was thrown to the ground by Old Bar, and after it hit the ground, it bounced, and the knife tip pointed at the earth, surprisingly standing upright.
A special wave of energy spread from Old Bar, and Su Xiao instinctively tightened his grip on the knife handle.
Now Old Bar’s aura was very strange, seeming to have split from one person into two.
"Atma... (unknown language)."
After reciting a lengthy ’spell’, Old Bar’s eyes returned to normal from their previous whiteness, and that special aura vanished as well.
Su Xiao released the grip on the handle; previously Old Bar wasn’t just putting on a charlatan act but was genuinely conducting some sort of ritual.
Blood-red vines sprouted from the stone platform under the boy, gradually penetrating into his body.
Old Bar placed his hand on the boy’s forehead, muttering for more than ten minutes before raising the round-bladed dagger in his hand.
The dagger was incredibly sharp, and a touch to the boy’s skin caused a trickle of blood to flow out.
Old Bar dipped his finger in the blood and drew a line down from the boy’s chest.
Su Xiao finally understood what Old Bar intended, realizing he was going to slice open the boy.
Indeed, Old Bar used the round dagger to cut through the skin and muscle of the boy’s chest, then forcibly pried open the ribs with his hands.
The beating heart was exposed to the air, and typically in such a cave, the boy would die from massive bleeding or bacterial infection.
The blood-red vines from within the stone platform played a crucial role, clinging to the boy’s wounds, connecting to his blood vessels with vines of varying thickness, forming an external blood supply system.
Thump, thump, thump...
The boy’s heart beat faster and faster, and his body temperature gradually rose.
Old Bar wiped the blood from his hands and roasted them over the flames.
With a body temperature reaching 200 degrees, Old Bar’s heat resistance was strong, holding his hands over the flames for a dozen seconds before pulling them away, presumably to disinfect.
Indeed, the Yasenman Tribe had no disinfectant-like items, so they used flames for sterilization.
Old Bar untied a small cloth bag from his waist and took out an Original Seed and a Soul Crystal from it.
Holding the Original Seed in his palm, Old Bar’s hand temperature gradually increased.
A few plant roots sprouted from between Old Bar’s fingers, as the Original Seed surprisingly sprouted roots in his hand.
Old Bar closed his eyes tightly to control this growth process, opening them after a while.
Placing the already-rooted seed into the boy’s chest cavity, Old Bar hesitated for a few seconds, reluctantly placing that Soul Crystal (Medium) into the boy’s body.
As soon as the Original Seed was implanted in the boy, the anesthetized boy suddenly opened his eyes, with golden flames rising within them, his arms showing signs of movement.
Su Xiao considered this normal, but Old Bar was startled and stepped back repeatedly.
"What? Is this situation unusual?"
Su Xiao also became cautious.
"Of course, it’s unusual. No one can raise their arms after being sedated with Yase Tree Resin; I’ve conducted the ritual hundreds of times, and this has never happened."
Old Bar stepped to the side, warily watching the boy.
The ’boy’ sat up, looking down at the Original Seed inside his chest cavity.
"Oh? It’s still this crude, primitive method, the same method as the Sun Tribe."
The appearance of the ’boy’ began to change, and before long, both face and physique transformed into that of a woman.
The woman appeared to be in her twenties, not beautiful but not ugly either; she was simply ordinary.
"It seems the Void Race ’Yasenman Clan’ is not impressive, also being assimilated by this island."
Vines within the stone platform grew wildly, large cracks appeared on this platform with several thousand years of history, and Old Bar’s eyes widened in shock.
The stone platform shattered, and vines surged forth, gradually forming a vine throne.
The woman sat on the vine throne, a small blood-red vine ensnaring her chest, stitching up that horrifying wound. The source of this content ɪs 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒·𝗇𝗲𝘁
"My priest, you actually brought an outsider to the Holy Land, and you even conducted a ritual in front of him; have you forgotten the contract your ancestors made with me?"
The woman’s eyes were ablaze with golden flames, like the Solar Flame.
"You... who are you?"
Old Bar’s lips trembled, seemingly unable to believe the scene before him.
"Who am I? A foolish question; you fight with my power and still ask who I am."
The woman looked at Old Bar as if she were looking at an ant.
Old Bar swallowed, tentatively asking, "Mother of Blood Vine?"
Upon hearing Old Bar’s term, the woman shook her head.
"I despise that foolish name; you should address me as the Sun Woman, the Avatar of the Sun."
A cold laugh came, and upon hearing it, the Sun Woman’s gaze darkened.
"We meet again, madman of Annihilation Law, but what do you find amusing?"
The Sun Woman coldly regarded Su Xiao.
"It’s just amusing, that’s all—a mere plant calling itself the Avatar of the Sun. The Sun’s surface is about 6,000 degrees; compared to the Sun, all I see is insignificance."
Su Xiao nudged Bubu Wang, signaling to be ready to escape if things went wrong, and Bubu Wang returned a look to Su Xiao: ’Already prepared.’
Having witnessed the ritual, Su Xiao’s first stage of the hidden task was completed, and he could retreat at any moment.
The Sun Woman’s body ignited with golden flames, sizing up Su Xiao.
"Perhaps you’re correct, but I’ve never seen such a weak Shadow of Annihilation Law."
Su Xiao didn’t care about these heavily sarcastic words; although she wasn’t truly the Avatar of the Sun, her power was formidable.
Regarding the secrets of the Yasenman Tribe, Su Xiao understood them all.
The Yasenman Tribe originally came from the Void, dispatched to guard something on the Devouring Island by a king from the Void.
Upon arriving, the Yasenman Tribe discovered a magical plant in the Red Soil Area, known as the Sun Woman, also called the Blood Vine.
This vine had a huge mass, coiling beneath the entire Red Soil Area, causing the red earth of this region.