Sacrifice

"Sacrifices? Fiend spirits just as with the formation?"

"No, this one requires blood."

"Blood? That's messed up. How much are we talking?"

"Maybe only a drip, maybe all of one's blood, the fiend race has never let humans into their turf easily. If I'm to hazard a guess, I think it'll require a considerable amount of human blood. If it was fiend blood, probably less in comparison."

"A blood requirement… The bats have been dead silent for as long as we've been down here… " Mu Yu contemplated.

Bloodbats derived their name from their blood-sucking nature. The trio was spared because there was no blood on them.

"We can't use blood. There are bloodbats looming. Let's search for another entrance," Mu Yu recommended.

Regrettably, they couldn't find any alternative way in. The only place they didn't inspect was where the bloobats gathered. If they were going to explore it, they might as well use the stone door. It was unlikely a Body Severing Realm cultivator could break the boundary. They, therefore, had no hope of breaking it.

Mu Yu sat down on the boundary. "It's going to be ridiculously tough to locate the fiend formation's core or foundation because of how big it is."

"There must be another way in." Qiao Xue persisted in her search.

"Xiaoshuai, what do you reckon?"

Xiaoshuai stared at the stone door in silence ever since they found out. Mu Yu's question had Xiaoshuai scratched his head. The little fellow questioned, "I feel as though I've seen the ugly carving somewhere. You have any clues."

"Pfft, is it your relative? If it is, shake hands. Try striking a deal with him so that we don't have to offer a sacrifice," Mu Yu joked.

Xiaoshuai curled his lips and did a lap in the sky. "I'm super handsome, while it's painfully ugly. How could we be relatives?"

Mu Yu turned around to see Qiao Xue holding a dagger up to her wrist. "Hey, what are you doing?!"

Qiao Xue already dripped a drop of her blood onto the forehead of the carving. The carving's eyes flew open. It shook its head, shaking off the dust and moss on its fangs. It sucked the blood straight out of her wrist without moving its head.

"What are you being so impulsive for?"

Qiao Xue pushed Mu Yu back and shook her head. "This is the only way."

"Death isn't a solution!"

There were more red glows above than Mu Yu could count. The bloodbats swooped down. Qiao Xue sliced one in half out of instinct. It was a big mistake. The blood spurred on the bloodbats on to scream.

"Cover your ears!" Mu Yu directed.

The two sealed their ears with their spiritual energy. The drawback was it increased the difficulty of evading the bloodbats attack, especially Qiao Xue, who was bleeding. The door didn't open, but she opened the floodgates containing a colony of bloodthirsty bloodbats.

As Mu Yu splattered dark-purple blood with each slash, the bloodbats would go and devour the corpses.

"Xiaoshuai, what's these bloodbats greatest fear?" Mu Yu asked whilst dodging and assisting Qiao Xue.

"Fire. We need to start a fire?" questioned Xiaoshuai, whipping the bloodbats away with his tail.

"If only Lie Shang was here. We'll have to make do with these pill fire stones I hoarded before setting out."

Though not a fan of fire, alive was more desirable than dead; Mu Yu lit up his pill fire stones, warding off the bloodbats. He rushed over to Qiao Xue's side and injected the stones with more spiritual energy. Unlike Lie Shang, he couldn't control the flames. As a result, he couldn't attack the bloodbats using the flames.

Qiao Xue's blood had left her face. Mu Yu, therefore, pulled her hand back from the carving and staunched the bleeding. That settled the bloodbats, thankfully.

"That was stupid. It'd be pointless if you opened the door and were dead. Even worse if it didn't open after you killed yourself. If you survived and couldn't tackle the challenges up ahead, then it was meaningless."

"Are we just going to wait here, then?" Qiao Xue knew logic wasn't her ally this time.

"We need to think of something else." Mu Yu's eyes darted back and forth until the saw the traces of blood on the wall. "I have an idea now."