Twisted Ritual
Right at this moment, a hand reached out from the dimness, firmly choking him in mid-air.
The Scarlet Heaven Cultist's body jolted. He struggled to look up, only to see a red-clad Thespian, his entire body soaked in fresh blood, standing silently beside him. A pair of eyes narrowed into an eerie arc, currently examining his exposed lungs.
The trajectories of history converged at this moment. Not long ago, it was also such a hand that choked the Scarlet Heaven Cultist who was about to complete the suicide ritual... And now, fate repeated itself again, Chen Ling and Liu Qingyan's figures overlapping across time and space.
But Chen Ling ultimately wasn't Liu Qingyan. Even if their actions were identical at this moment, behind the Great Crimson Theatrical Robe, the trajectory of fate was forcefully altered by pairs of scarlet mocking pupils, extending towards another completely unfamiliar direction...
"This is the suicide ritual you use to summon the 'Sighing Wilderness'?" Chen Ling's voice seemed to come from the netherworld, calm and deep. He seemed to be thinking very seriously,
"Sacrificing your own lungs, huh... Why does it have to be the lungs?"
The Scarlet Heaven Cultist's pupils contracted slightly. His right hand was already firmly grabbed in mid-air, completely unable to move. Resolutely, he reached out his left hand like lightning, grabbing towards that exposed lung!
The next moment, a flash of a Bone-Stripping Knife's blade light flashed by. His entire left arm was chopped off neatly, leaving only a smooth scarlet stump.
Before he could recover his senses, the blade light of the Bone-Stripping Knife once again sliced across his right arm. Under the splattering fresh blood, that section of arm held in Chen Ling's hand had completely separated from his body, leaving only a torso kneeling alone in the pool of blood.
Losing both arms, the Scarlet Heaven Cultist no longer had the possibility of completing the ritual himself. A hint of despair flashed in his eyes as he looked at Chen Ling.
Chen Ling didn't rush to kill this Scarlet Heaven Cultist. He grabbed his throat with one hand, forcing him to look up and meet his gaze... Following that, a pair of apricot-red eye makeup appeared on his face, and [Painting the Vermillion Face] instantly activated!
Fragmented memory fragments surged into Chen Ling's mind!
...
The first thing to appear before Chen Ling's eyes was a massive and magnificent altar.
Under the gray sky, blood-colored thunder and lightning roamed among the leaden clouds, like a churning whirlpool. In the center of the altar corresponding to the center of the whirlpool, a two-story-tall red fragment stood majestically.
The moment he saw this fragment, Chen Ling froze, and then a look of shock appeared on his face.
"Red Star Fragment?!!"
Such a fragment, Chen Ling had seen a similar one with his own eyes... In the Timeline Save File, the one explored by the Nine Monarchs was almost identical to it, only slightly larger than this one, and the contours around the fragment were also somewhat different.
Chen Ling could be certain, this fragment absolutely came from the Red Star.
Aside from the one explored by the Nine Monarchs before the Great Cataclysm, in this era, there was actually another Red Star Fragment preserved?
Chen Ling looked down towards the edge of the altar, only to see a large patch of figures wearing red robes surrounding the Red Star Fragment, bending down and kneeling on the ground. Looking out, it was like hives growing out of the earth, exceptionally conspicuous under the gray sky.
The Scarlet Heaven Cultist whose arms had been cut off by Chen Ling was also kneeling and bowing on the ground at this moment, kowtowing time and time again along with the surrounding Scarlet Heaven Cultists... His location was at the outermost periphery of these Scarlet Heaven Cultists. And the closer they were to the Red Star Fragment, the closer the kneeling Scarlet Heaven Cultists were to being primitive.
The Scarlet Heaven Cultists in the front row had even completely lost the characteristics of Homo sapiens, and didn't wear red robes either. Instead, they tied a circle of red leaf skirt around their hairy waists, occasionally opening their mouths to let out resonant ape cries.
Behind him, numerous Scarlet Heaven Cultists faced that Red Star Fragment, repeating their chanting while kowtowing:
"Supreme Crimson Sky World-Saving Exalted One... Supreme Crimson Sky World-Saving Exalted One... Supreme Crimson Sky World-Saving Exalted One..."
The red tide of kneeling and bowing undulated around the altar. Under the gray sky, only Chen Ling, draped in the Great Crimson Theatrical Robe, still stood tall among them.
His eyes stared fixedly at the Red Star Fragment above the altar, muttering to himself:
"The Supreme Crimson Sky World-Saving Exalted One they speak of... refers to the Red Star Fragment?"
Chen Ling had always thought that the Scarlet Heaven Cult's "Supreme Crimson Sky World-Saving Exalted One" was a real existing god or Demigod, just like the Fire-Stealers' "Silver King". He didn't expect it to actually just be a fragment.
Since that was the case, who gave the name Supreme Crimson Sky World-Saving Exalted One?
Before Chen Ling could get any closer to the Red Star Fragment, the scene before his eyes shattered inch by inch. His pupils gradually returned to their original state, returning to the dim pharmacy once again.
Chen Ling grabbed his collar with one hand and asked in a deep voice:
"Where are the other Scarlet Heaven Cultists?"
"Woo... Don't... know... woo woo..."
The Scarlet Heaven Cultist's exposed lungs pumped like a broken bellows. Trickling fresh blood surged out from his throat and severed arms, smudging amidst the blood-colored ring... His breathing grew increasingly weak, and the eyes meeting Chen Ling's gaze also became hollow and dim. His life had reached its end.
Chen Ling seeing this, knew it was impossible to pry any more intelligence from this Scarlet Heaven Cultist. He began to regret that he should have kept the other cultist alive just now... But the power of [Sleeve-Hand Pushing Heaven] was truly too strong. He also didn't expect that it wouldn't even leave a whole corpse.
Chen Ling didn't waste any more time with him. The Bone-Stripping Knife in his hand danced lightly at his fingertips, and then fiercely stabbed into his heart!
A muffled groan sounded from the Scarlet Heaven Cultist's throat. As Chen Ling backhandedly pulled the knife handle out from his chest, a large patch of fresh blood dripped from his lips again. His figure swayed and he planted face-first onto the ground.
Chen Ling gripped the bloodstained Bone-Stripping Knife and walked towards the entrance of the pharmacy without looking back. Li Qingshan's figure was currently staggering and slowly standing up from among the messy shelves.
"How is it? You're not hurt, right?" Chen Ling asked.
Li Qingshan nodded slightly. Just as he was about to say something, he caught a glimpse of Chen Ling's palm from the corner of his eye, and his expression suddenly stiffened!
"Brother Lin... you..."
"What?" Seeing Li Qingshan's expression suddenly change, a hint of doubt flashed in Chen Ling's eyes.
"You... you dug his heart out??"
"Heart?"
Chen Ling looked down at his right hand gripping the Bone-Stripping Knife...
He didn't know when, but the Bone-Stripping Knife in his hand had already disappeared, and replacing it was actually a scarlet heart that was still slowly beating!
Chen Ling froze in place.
A few seconds later, he finally realized something and abruptly turned his head to look at the corpse lying in the pool of blood. He saw his Bone-Stripping Knife was still stuck in the Scarlet Heaven Cultist's chest, and under the blade, a ferocious large hole that looked like it had been torn open barehanded was shocking to see!
Inside the bloodstained chest cavity, severed blood vessels were still wriggling, while the heart that should have existed within had vanished.
"How could this be? I clearly just pulled out the knife just now..."
A long-lost sense of astonishment surged into Chen Ling's heart. Behind him, pairs of scarlet pupils opened from the nothingness, gazing at the dripping heart in Chen Ling's hand, smiling curved like an evil moon.