Once everyone reached their assigned positions, they felt over a dozen orbs of spiritual light rise behind them into the heights, illuminating the vast cavernous pit so brightly that not a single shadowed corner remained.
This provided ample light for all of them; though they had brought lighting fixtures when entering, those were no longer needed.
Moreover, these clusters of Spiritual Fire served as an early warning system—should any intrusion emerge from the fissure, it would be detected immediately.
Standing in place, Chen Chuan glanced upward. In his sight, the ritual diagrams were clearly visible.
Credit had to be given to the First Folk. Though the original ritual was never fully completed, it had still erected a colossal cage that firmly locked both the fissure and the evil spirit within, leaving it unable to escape except by slowly seeping outward day after day.
While a portion of its power had leaked into the outside world, that scattered force could not return, thereby diluting the creature's overall strength.
One could say this opening had been left intentionally to let it constantly vent its power without ever being able to break its restraints.
Knowing this put everyone present at ease. Furthermore, with Chen Chuan standing guard, their absolute trust in him freed them from worrying about their safety, allowing them to focus entirely on their work.
While waiting, Chen Chuan kept an eye on everyone’s actions. After all, this was their first time handling a First Folk ritual, and mistakes were possible; if anything went wrong, he could step in and correct it at once.
He soon realized that this team of ritual specialists was remarkably skilled. Living up to their reputation as elite members of the Purist Faction, they operated with tremendous efficiency. Not only did they make no errors while inlaying the materials, but they also used them economically. Every placement was precise and properly seated, requiring no second pass at all.
He had originally estimated that completion would take around six hours, but judging by their current pace, nowhere near that long would be needed—three hours at most would suffice.
In truth, the longer things dragged out, the more complicated the situation would become and the more fatigued people would grow. Rituals and the psyche interacted after all; the longer it took, the more mental energy was drained, lowering efficiency and prolonging the process even further.
Having gauged the time, he fixed his gaze on the fissure. Work had only just begun, so there was no movement from that side yet. But as things progressed, the entity might not be able to hold back. Even if it did not come out, that posed no issue either—they could simply finish sealing and snuffing out the fissure, after which there would be no need to bother with it anyway.
Time seemed to pass swiftly, and more than two hours slipped by in a flash.
Just as Chen Chuan had anticipated, thanks to their efficient division of labor and seamless coordination, the ritual was steadily nearing its end.
Regardless of whether the thing on the other side emerged, the outcome would soon be decided.
Vegadov was growing anxious now. Staring at the glow above the fissure, he gripped his walking stick tightly.
He was torn, worried both that the creature might not come out and that it actually would. As a martial artist, he appeared quite unable to keep his composure, often acting overly impassioned and irrational. Yet quirks of all sorts were normal for martial artists; as long as the man's presence held true, anything was justifiable.
Chen Chuan remained as calm as ever. He had dealt with old banes, combated entities from the other side, and even traveled across fissures; he had seen far too many scenes like this.
Right now, he even had the leeway to turn his attention outside the mountain, having sensed that a portion of the entity's power had leaked outdoors.
Chaoming was currently wheeling and circling in the sky above. Due to distance and the mountain's obstruction, the boundary credential it carried could not establish a field data connection.
However, Chen Chuan’s mental strength was far greater than in the past. He could easily project it outward and link directly with Chaoming’s field, seeing clearly through the bird's eyes. Of course, he could have surveyed the area directly himself, but that would have needlessly wasted mental energy, and with Chaoming up there, there was no reason to.
It was then that he noticed an anomaly: the wind and sand outside the mountain were growing increasingly fierce. Only a creature like Chaoming could manage; ordinary birds would have found it impossible to fly in such gale-force winds.
Strong winds did hit the south-central Federation in March, but they usually did not reach such scale until April to June; they shouldn't have been this violent now. In addition, the ground was trembling slightly.
Chen Chuan lowered his gaze. He quickly detected a formidable power entrenched deep beneath the mountain, previously well-concealed, now stirring in an apparent attempt to trigger seismic tremors and collapse the mine.
His eyes flickered slightly. This was undoubtedly that creature’s doing. A cave-in would indeed pose trouble. While he could guarantee everyone's survival, the ritual was mapped onto and anchored to the physical structures; if those were destroyed, the ritual would cease to exist.
However, the entity had underestimated the Purist Faction.
This was a mine, where the slightest mishap could spell disaster, to say nothing of the evil presence entrenched here. How could Vegadov and his people have overlooked that?
Over the past several years, not only had the mine shafts been re-braced and reinforced, but they had also laid down a wide outer perimeter of rituals to lock it down.
He had examined their design earlier: its guiding principle was letting outside forces pass while guarding within, focusing primarily on suppressing the entity’s power inside. Now, as the underground tremors surged, the defensive rituals activated, strangling that force. Though some faint vibration persisted, it caused negligible damage to the mine's overall structure.
Seeing this, he nodded to himself. Completing the final missing pieces of the ritual was the critical step, but without the efforts and preparations the Purist Faction members had made over the years, the prerequisite conditions for pulling this off would not have existed.
Had that not been done, he would have had to reinforce the site first before undertaking the ritual, which would have taken far too long—he might as well have charged straight in instead.
After a short while, the hurricane outside intensified and the subterranean rumblings grew violent, yet they still failed to breach the wards. Consequently, they did little to disturb the chamber, and thanks to the sense of security Chen Chuan provided, everyone remained completely engrossed in their work.
Realizing it could not shake the mine down while the ritual neared completion, the entity hiding inside the fissure grew impatient. A vague dark shadow could be seen stirring within the opening.
At first, it had held back, perhaps out of caution. But as the ritual reached its final stages, it finally lost its patience. Amid flickering light, a figure stepped forth from within.
It was a young man with sculpted, square features and deep eyes, bearing an air of melancholy and world-weariness. He appeared not yet thirty, dressed in a tailored suit with a ruffled collar.
His hair was slightly disheveled, partially covering his upper forehead. He must have once been a remarkably handsome man, but now fine fissures ran across his face and all exposed skin, from which wisps of charred black smoke seeped outward.
Vegadov stirred with emotion, but catching sight of those pitch-black eyes drifting with black smoke, he shut his eyes in sorrow and let out a sigh.
With the figure's appearance, the radiance of the orbs of spiritual light above began to dim. Rustling, alien sounds arose—a sensation akin to an indistinct whisper right against one's ear.
The people working on the repairs seemed to sense something, but they quickly filtered out the disturbance and continued their work.
The potent intrusion would ordinarily have compromised them, but the cavern was enveloped in Chen Chuan’s field and mental power, and he shouldered the brunt of every psychic wave alone.
Chen Chuan watched the silhouette. Though the entity appeared to have stepped out, he knew it was merely a partial projection of its power, so there was no need to strike just yet.
Seeing that it could not affect the others, the creature sent a strand of mental energy toward Chen Chuan, seemingly trying to convey a message.
Chen Chuan examined it. Most of the message consisted of threats, coupled with hints of prospective rewards.
He paid it no heed whatsoever.
He ignored the threats outright—if it had the capability, it could come out and fight him face-to-face. As for benefits, he only knew that slaying this abomination would bring all the benefits he needed.
From that mental trace, however, he could sense that its original form was some worshiped nature spirit. It had later succumbed to contamination, warping into something akin to an entity from the other side, and had now found a host body.
This made it somewhat different from both the pure old banes and the entities from the other side he had encountered. But whatever it was, it stood in the way of sealing the fissure.
Seeing that neither temptation nor intimidation worked, and with the ritual drawing closer to completion as the closing gap constricted tighter and tighter, the creature finally lost all restraint. The black smoke clinging to its form abruptly billowed outward.
In an instant, the smoke flooded the entire pit, inevitably colliding with Chen Chuan’s field and mental power.
Chen Chuan felt a tremendous jolt shudder through his surroundings as the world was abruptly drained of color, reduced to monochrome black and white. This was the phenomenon produced when massive influxes of power from the other world were projected in, interlocking with the physical realm.
Yet because it had been formed in haste, it appeared fragmented and frayed.
Chen Chuan kept his eyes fixed ahead. The entity clearly possessed tactical sense, exploiting every available advantage.
Because the pit was hemmed in by the First Folk ritual, the suppressing force of the Ring of the World was indirectly attenuated, allowing the creature to project more of the fissure's power outward for a brief period.
Simultaneously, it capitalized on his need to shield the people around him, forcing an unavoidable clash with his field and mind. This allowed it to drag him in, creating an isolated domain inhabited solely by the two of them.
None of this mattered to him, however; if anything, it suited his intentions perfectly. Restirring into motion, he rested a hand on the hilt of his Xuejun Saber. As the blade cleared its scabbard, a surge of platinum Spiritual Fire erupted around him.
……
……
Chapter 1212