The grand sacrificial ceremony of Nai Shu began!
One thousand griffins were deployed. Apart from their riders, each griffin also carried five prisoners. Some were near-humans, while others were native barbarians.
More than a dozen of the leading griffins carried elderly shamans.
Under Nai Shu’s command, the thousand griffins flew in a mighty formation towards the volcano of the Chimera Tribe.
After a day and a night, this enormous aerial force arrived above the Chimera Volcano.
More than a dozen shamans rode their griffins and hovered above the crater, beginning to chant spells to awaken the three headed Chimera beast beneath the volcanic magma.
There were certain beast languages that only these shamans understood.
However, after chanting for a full quarter of an hour, there was still no movement beneath the magma.
Nai Shu looked to the side.
The graceful woman completely shrouded in a black cloak said, “All powerful demonic beasts are extremely arrogant. Begin the live sacrifice first!”
Nai Shu waved his hand.
One hundred griffin riders advanced. One after another, they flew over the crater and threw the five prisoners from each griffin into the volcano.
“Ah… ah… ah…”
Screams rang out without end.
One living prisoner after another fell like bombs from an aerial bombardment, raining down into the crater.
The innocent prisoners struggled desperately and screamed desperately.
But it was completely useless. Nothing could change their fate.
“Plop, plop, plop…”
As each prisoner fell into the magma, their entire body immediately caught fire. Within moments, they were burned to charcoal before disappearing completely.
Viewed from above, the scene was horrifying.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
The griffins continued flying over the crater, throwing the prisoners down as sacrifices.
In the blink of an eye, the magma inside the crater was filled with countless struggling figures and shrill screams.
The first batch of five hundred living prisoners had all been thrown in.
Only a few minutes later, the screams stopped, and the struggling ceased.
All five hundred prisoners had been reduced to ashes.
Yet the entire volcano remained silent.
Nai Shu looked towards the graceful woman beside him.
“Powerful demonic beasts like this one are not interested in the physical bodies of sacrifices, so they will not consume their flesh. They only consume the essence of their bloodline energy,” the mysterious woman explained.
After the five hundred prisoners had been burned to ashes by the magma, their bodies disappeared, but the essence of their bloodlines was extracted.
Deep beneath the volcano, the three headed Chimera beast was greedily devouring it.
The essence of living human bloodlines was its favourite delicacy, an unparalleled feast.
Although devouring the energy of the volcanic magma could make it stronger, it was also extremely painful. Every time it did so, it felt as though it were being reduced to ashes in hell.
The bloodline essence of living humans, however, could make it stronger without any side effects.
Previously, it could only obtain living human bloodline essence when the Chimera Tribe underwent the Heavenly Eye Judgement. Now, so much time had passed without it tasting any fresh human bloodline essence, and it was starving.
It had never expected to suddenly receive so many human sacrifices at once.
After consuming the bloodline essence of the five hundred prisoners, there was no further movement above.
The three headed Chimera beast let out an impatient roar.
Immediately, the magma in the crater surged violently.
The entire enormous volcano trembled slightly.
Nai Shu was overjoyed. There really was a three headed Chimera beast here.
The dozen or so shamans immediately used special spells to establish contact with the three headed Chimera beast.
This was a negotiation.
The shamans sent a message to the three headed Chimera beast. They now had five thousand prisoners available for sacrifice and consumption. Furthermore, they would provide one thousand living human bloodline sacrifices every month in the future.
They asked whether the three headed Chimera would be willing to leave the magma and sign a spiritual contract with their master.
Yes, the entire process was simply a naked exchange of benefits, with nothing sacred about it.
The volcanic magma could provide the three headed Chimera with strength, but it was extremely painful.
It was like eating sweet potatoes every day. They could keep a person alive and provide energy, but they were not particularly pleasant to eat.
For the three headed Chimera, the energy of the volcanic magma was like the nutrition from sweet potatoes, but the taste was like eating clay. Not only was it unpleasant, it left it feeling terribly uncomfortable afterwards.
Without comparison, there was no sense of how much worse something could be.
If the three headed Chimera had always been consuming the energy of the magma, it would not have mattered much.
The problem was that every time the Chimera Tribe underwent the Heavenly Eye Judgement, hundreds of prisoners were thrown into the volcano. This had allowed the Chimera to taste the unparalleled delicacy of living human bloodline essence.
It had become addicted.
Being forced to consume magma energy afterwards was simply unbearable.
However, it was unwilling to leave the volcano easily because there was an endless supply of energy here. Once it left, there was no guarantee that it would find another endless source of energy.
Of course, it could always return to the volcano.
But the moment it returned to the magma, the resulting pain was indescribable. It felt as though its entire body were being burned away and then reconstructed.
Now, the dozen or so shamans of Nai Shu were telling it that there were five thousand people’s bloodline essences available for it to consume.
This drove it completely wild with desire.
Not only that, there would be another one thousand living human bloodlines available every month.
It was simply too tempting. It was enough to make it willing to leave the volcanic magma.
“My master will provide you with sustenance. You must obey his commands,” the dozen shamans said.
“I do not want to become anyone’s mount,” the three headed Chimera sent back.
“You do not need to become a mount. You only need to obey commands to kill and destroy!” the shamans replied.
“Agreed!” the three headed Chimera sent back.
Both sides agreed.
Nai Shu would provide five thousand living human sacrifices initially, followed by one thousand living humans every month to sustain the three headed Chimera, in exchange for its allegiance.
Next came the signing of the spiritual contract.
The dozen shamans used their entire spiritual power and bloodline energy to create a special spiritual seal, which they released towards the depths of the magma.
Once the three headed Chimera accepted this spiritual seal, the contract would be considered signed.
The three headed Chimera clearly sensed a complicated spiritual seal flying towards its mind.
The three headed Chimera was a very unusual creature. It possessed an extremely powerful demonic bloodline, but there was no stronger demonic beast to teach it anything.
Therefore, it was naturally short sighted.
One thousand living human bloodline sacrifices every month was enough to buy its loyalty.
After a brief hesitation, it accepted the spiritual contract.
Accepting a spiritual contract was an extremely serious and important matter.
Such a spiritual contract was like a spiritual virus engraved deep within the mind. One could refuse it, but once it was accepted, one could only obey.
If the contract was violated, the other party could use it to punish the contract holder. A simple spiritual attack could cause unbearable pain.
Therefore, in the Wilderness World, if someone wanted to completely subdue a powerful demonic beast, or even a powerful native barbarian, the best option was to sign a spiritual contract.
Of course, signing a spiritual contract was an extremely profound spiritual technique. In the Wilderness World, only these mysterious and powerful shamans possessed this secret art.
At least within the Silver Alliance, not a single shaman could establish a spiritual contract.
“Master, the matter is settled!” An elderly shaman came to Nai Shu’s side and quietly recited a spell.
“Master, from now on, as long as you recite this spell, you can command the three headed Chimera. If it disobeys your orders, you can recite the punishment spell, which will cause it unbearable pain. However, unless it disobeys your command, it is best not to use the punishment spell. Once you use it, you can forget about obtaining its absolute loyalty.”
Nai Shu nodded excitedly. “I understand! Begin the sacrifice. Throw the remaining four thousand five hundred people down!”
The most brutal and bloody live sacrifice in the Wilderness World began once again.
Wave after wave of living prisoners were thrown into the magma.
It was as though the crater were a huge cooking pot, boiling thousands of living people.
Shrill screams shook the heavens.
Four to five thousand people filled the entire crater in several layers.
Within moments, these people were burned to ashes, while the bloodline essence within their bodies was extracted.
The three headed Chimera devoured it frantically.
It was incredible. It was intoxicating.
It had never experienced such a satisfying feast.
Consume… consume…
The three headed Chimera’s spirit and soul trembled.
It felt itself becoming stronger.
Of course, this was only an illusion. The sacrifice of five thousand people could indeed make it stronger, but nowhere near as much as it felt.
After a full half an hour.
The consumption ended.
The three headed Chimera was like someone who had been starving for several years and had suddenly been served an enormous feast. It was completely satisfied.
Above the volcano, the dozen shamans began calling out to it, asking it to fulfil its promise and leave the bottom of the volcano.
The three headed Chimera let out a low growl.
Then it began rising.
Higher.
Higher.
Higher.
From above, three enormous heads could be seen emerging from the surface of the magma. Each head was engulfed in flames.
“Quick, spread out! Spread out! Get as far away as possible!” the elderly shaman shouted.
Immediately, all one thousand griffins scattered, giving the three headed Chimera enough space.
“Crack!”
Three overlapping shrieks rang out, followed by a column of flames hundreds of metres high.
An enormous flaming beast suddenly rose into the sky from within the volcano.
The entire earth seemed to tremble!
…
Khan Chi Yan led more than twenty thousand Centaur soldiers, escorting the prisoners of the Xie Li Tribe and carrying Lan Ling’s stone coffin as they left the Xie Li Tribe and travelled south towards the Chi Yan Sea.
The journey of two to three thousand kilometres took only three days.
The more than twenty thousand Centaur soldiers then established a camp on a vast open plain north of the Chi Yan Sea, waiting for the moment when the Chi Yan Sea would be consumed by flames.
Several thousand elderly, weak and injured members of the Xie Li Tribe knelt on the ground in a huge circle, with Lan Ling’s stone coffin at the centre.
They faced the direction of the Chi Yan Sea, closed their eyes, clasped their hands together, and prayed constantly.
All the Centaurs, including Khan Chi Yan, waited silently.
The days passed one after another.
Three days.
Five days.
Eight days.
Nine days.
The entire Chi Yan Sea remained completely calm.
Not only were there no flames reaching the heavens, there were not even any large waves. The sea was calm and still, its surface like a mirror.
Khan Chi Yan had initially been uneasy, but as time passed, his arrogance returned.
He once again cursed and mocked Lan Ling every day.
Every day, he swore that once the half month deadline arrived, he would chop Lan Ling’s body into pieces and feed it to dogs, and slaughter every surviving member of the Xie Li Tribe.
The Centaur warriors of the Chi Yan Tribe and the allied Centaur forces from the other tribes had indeed been intimidated by Lan Ling at first.
But after ten days had passed without anything happening, their fear gradually faded, and their reverence for Lan Ling also slowly disappeared.
Only the survivors of the Xie Li Tribe remained completely convinced that Lan Ling was the god of all Centaurs.
If he said he would punish the Chi Yan Tribe, then he would definitely punish them.
If he said the Chi Yan Sea would turn into a raging inferno and all its waters would be burned away, then it would certainly happen.
The days continued to pass.
Khan Chi Yan’s patience was running out.
His murderous instincts began stirring once again.
On the thirteenth day, with only two days remaining until the half month deadline, Khan Chi Yan’s patience was completely exhausted.
He began ordering the survivors of the Xie Li Tribe to be thrown into the Chi Yan Sea one by one.
This was a provocation.
He was challenging Lan Ling, whom he believed to be dead. He was also challenging every Centaur present.
He wanted to show everyone that even if he did this, the Chi Yan Sea would still not be consumed by flames. The so called punishment of the Sea Demon Fire God would never appear.
Lan Ling was nothing but a fraud.
Rather than wait for others to act, he would do it himself.
Every hour, one Centaur from the Xie Li Tribe was thrown into the Chi Yan Sea.
Throughout the entire process, no one resisted.
The survivors of the Xie Li Tribe allowed Khan Chi Yan to throw them into the sea without resisting. They continued to pray with their hands clasped together.
The fourteenth day!
Khan Chi Yan had already drowned thirteen Centaurs from the Xie Li Tribe.
However, the behaviour of these Centaurs angered him.
They showed absolutely no fear and remained extremely devout.
They were not even afraid in the face of death.
This enraged Khan Chi Yan. He saw it as a provocation.
“You are not afraid of death, are you?” Khan Chi Yan sneered.
He stepped forward, grabbed the wife of Khan Xie Li by the neck, and dragged her towards the Chi Yan Sea.
“Mother…” Her two daughters desperately chased after them, crying out.
There was no fear on the face of Khan Xie Li’s wife either. Instead, she gently said to her two daughters, “Do not worry. The Moon Demon God will watch over me!”
“Fools. Brainwashed fools!” Khan Chi Yan grabbed her by the hair and dragged her towards the Chi Yan Sea.
“Lan Ling, you lowly Lan Ling. Didn’t you say you were the Moon Demon God? Didn’t you say you were the Sea Demon Fire God? Didn’t you say you were the god of all Centaurs?” Khan Chi Yan roared viciously. “Didn’t you say you would punish me? Didn’t you say you would burn the entire Chi Yan Sea? Didn’t you say you would dry up the sea and make flames reach the heavens? Come then! Come then… hahahaha!”
Khan Chi Yan grabbed the wife of Khan Xie Li by the hair with one hand. He then began humiliating her in an extremely degrading manner.
At that very moment!
“Boom!”
A deafening explosion erupted.
Then…
A mass of flames suddenly erupted from beneath the Chi Yan Sea.
Flames stretching across a hundred kilometres shot directly into the sky, reaching an altitude of a thousand metres.
The heavens and earth shook violently, as though the sky itself were collapsing!