Chapter 21: Blood Sacrifice

  The Bagua diagram runs through ancient Chinese history, with a very early origin. How it was created and what its purpose is remains an intriguing mystery to this day.

  It was once used to prove and calculate the orbital velocity of celestial bodies, and even the creation of computer binary is related to it, which can be said to be extremely mysterious.

  To this day, the profound and mysterious meaning contained in the ancient Taiji Bagua diagram has not been deciphered, but people have made many bold guesses and conjectures.

  Someone once said that it represents the unknown "trend", and based on it, various possibilities that will occur in the future can be inferred and calculated. Of course, it must be a perfect inference to roughly calculate the future "trend". If there is an error in the calculation, everything will be lost and invalid.

  Some also say it depicts the essence of the universe in the most concise way, with each symbol being the most primitive thing.

  Some people have even boldly put forward the hypothesis that Tai Chi Bagua diagram is related to space-time, and the eight trigrams of Bagua diagram are coordinates of starry sky, representing different star domains with different arrangements.

  According to this hypothesis, the coordinates of any star in the universe can be determined, and the Taiji Bagua diagram is equivalent to the gate of the starry sky, which can connect wormholes.

  Based on this speculation, the Taiji Bagua diagram is a stable structure. If enough energy can be provided to establish the coordinates of a certain piece of starry sky, and after complex and precise calculations, the door to the starry sky can be opened.

  However, this "complexity" is hard to imagine, involving strange "arrays", and these so-called "arrays" have not been recognized, and are still in a speculative and hypothetical stage.

  "The formation" itself is related to space, and it has not been conquered until now, it is mysterious and complicated to the extreme.

  It can be imagined that building a Stargate - Taiji Bagua diagram is so elusive, it can be said that in a fairly long period of time, it is unlikely to be realized.

  At this moment, Ye Fan and others are fortunate to see the construction process of Taiji Bagua Diagram again. If those who have been thinking about and studying the Starry Sky Gate for many years see it, they will definitely be excited to madness, because this is a great witness.

  Unfortunately, Ye Fan and the others did not have that thought, they now have a strong sense of survival crisis, for the time being only wanting to escape from here as soon as possible, because the shadow of death is always shrouding them.

  The ruins of Daluo Temple thousands of miles away, although temporarily quieted down, the fierce and ferocious aura has already spread all over the sky, and those lantern-like blood-red giant eyes are staring here in an instant, making people's hearts tremble with fear in the darkness.

  The Tai Chi diagram in the sky has taken shape, with a metallic texture and a sense of solidity, as if it were cast from refined gold.

  Around it, space is distorted, light is dim, and the eight trigrams corresponding to Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, and Kan emit a glow one after another, like an ancient mysterious code flashing.

  The eight trigrams have flashed hundreds and thousands of times, undergoing complex permutations, but never lighting up simultaneously, ultimately slowly fading away. The massive Taiji Bagua diagram is trembling, with a tendency to collapse.

  "How did it end up like this..."

  Many people were terrified, for if they couldn't open the Starry Sky Ancient Road, it would mean death for them.

  The light curtain shrouding the Five-Colored Altar had dimmed to almost nothing, with only a faint, weak glow flowing towards the Taiji Bagua diagram in the sky. Seeing this scene, everyone knew why.

  "Building the Taiji Bagua diagram, or opening the gate of the starry sky, requires sufficient and stable mysterious energy supply, but now the energy is insufficient!"

  "What should we do? Are we really going to die here..."

  Far away there is a crocodile ancestor, near there are small crocodiles, a death net has already been cast over the crowd.

  Bang

  Already over a dozen small alligators have drilled into the light curtain, starting to attack the crowd. The incense burner, vajra pestle, copper bell, and fish drum, among other divine artifacts, flashed out with sharp rays of light, resisting the impact of the divine alligator, but that power was incredibly strong, causing those who were struck to involuntarily retreat.

  "Chirp chirp"

  Outside the Five-Colored Altar, densely packed and covering the ground with scales, tens of thousands of divine alligators continuously charged at the light screen, more shattering sounds came, and in just a moment, over a hundred small alligators successfully broke through.

  This seemingly small but extremely ferocious species is very terrifying, can fly and escape, each divine alligator is like a sharp sword, with extremely strong penetration.

  "It won't do, if we continue to passively defend like this, we'll end up dying here sooner or later." Pang Bo shouted loudly, the copper plaque of Dalai Temple kept shaking, emitting a brilliant light that formed a screen of light, protecting three or four people inside. Although it could temporarily ensure their safety, no one could predict what would happen if they continued for an extended period.

  "You stay still for now, I'll go out and try first." Ye Fan reminded Pang Bo, while he himself was no longer passively defending, holding the ancient lamp and walking forward with big strides.

  In an instant, dozens of divine crocodiles pierced towards him, dozens of dark lights like flashes of lightning, fast and fierce to the extreme, as if nailed to the light screen flowing out of the ancient lamp, forcing their way in.

  "Call"

  Ye Fan Jing and dozens of divine crocodiles approached, then suddenly blew towards the wick of the ancient lamp with great force. Instantly, a brilliant light burst into the sky, and within a radius of five or six meters around him, flames filled the air, completely engulfing everything in sacred fire.

  A pungent smell suddenly spread, and the mournful cries rose and fell. As the flames slowly receded, Ye Fan was spotless, surrounded by a brilliant light, as if he had descended from the moon. However, around him lay a scorched earth, with dozens of divine alligators almost completely burned to death.

  Several ferocious creatures that had narrowly escaped also suffered severe burns, their bodies charred and incomplete, as they glared at Ye Fan from a distance with venomous eyes, letting out low growls that sent chills down one's spine.

  "Good, burn well!" Pang Bo shouted from behind, he was about to rush over and join the fight. But he was tightly held back by three people beside him, their faces were pale and bloodless, they had no divine artifacts, if not for the protection of the Daluo Temple's bronze plaque, they would have been dead without a doubt.

  "Chirp chirp"

  The sound of shattering echoed again, this time with five or six hundred divine alligators bursting through the light curtain and charging in. Each one was fierce and tiny, their bodies seeming to condense magical power, their sharp teeth glinting coldly, their eyes gleaming with a wicked, intimidating light as they charged forward fearlessly, surrounding Ye Fan and constantly circling around him.

  "No way, Ye Fan alone can't handle so many 'black nails', I'll go help him." Pang Bo wanted to go over again.

  "But... what are we going to do?" The three people beside him were pale-faced, looking at Pang Bo with a pleading gaze.

  "I won't let you guys die." Pang Bo turned around to look at Wang Ziwu, Liu Yunzhi and others behind him, saying: "You protect them three, I'll go help Ye Fan, and it's best to mobilize a few more people, this passive defense is not the way after all."

  "Alright, I'll go with you." Zhou Yi stepped forward.

  Pang Bo had always been unimpressed with Zhou Yi, thinking him to be deep and profound, but couldn't help but admit that this refined man still had some backbone at critical moments.

  At this time, the seemingly gentle Prince Wang also walked forward and said to the people behind him: "Let one or two more follow up, the remaining divine artifacts are enough to protect everyone, but girls don't need to come over."

  Faced with such a ferocious and terrifying creature, with the gentle nature of a girl, she would probably be paralyzed with fear from the start, even if she had a Buddhist instrument in her hand, it's not necessarily helpful.

  Clang

  Pang Bo suddenly lifted the bronze plaque of Daluo Temple, heavily smashing it onto the five-colored altar. Instantly, a violent surge burst forth, a turbulent wave condensed from radiant light, crashing out seven or eight meters away, instantly submerging a group of divine crocodiles within.

  The dying struggles' cries made one's hair stand on end, as if a group of evil spirits were being refined, wisps of white smoke rising, corpses all over the ground, a scorched smell filling the air.

  This is a large-scale attack, not like the first one-on-one encounter with that giant crocodile, can't keep up with its speed, now so many fierce creatures rush up together, just swinging the copper shield can cover dozens or hundreds of them.

  "When..."

  The melodious bell sound rose, like the ancient temple bell in the deep mountains, giving people a sense of quiet and depth. The broken bronze bell in Wang Ziwu's hand shone with golden light, layer upon layer, and visible ripples shook out. It seemed gentle, like water waves, but when it touched those rushing divine crocodiles, it was like a slaughter knife, each golden ripple capable of cutting off one divine crocodile at the waist.

  The sound of "puff puff puff" kept ringing out, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of divine alligators were beheaded, with fresh blood flowing down to the ground, a bloody scene that was extremely intimidating.

  However, countless fierce alligators fearlessly charged forward, with nearly a thousand small alligators rushing in, densely packed, their dark scales glistening as they clashed and intersected, forming a deadly scythe-like net.

  Bang

  Zhou Yi wielded the purple gold basin lid, continuously chopping and sweeping out a large area of Buddha light, crushing countless scales, leaving behind a large area of corpses on the ground, a gruesome sight to behold. Many small alligators were turned into minced meat, their blood and mud blurred together.

  It was a very tragic scene, in order to survive, several people all went all out, blood quickly dyed the altar red, the pungent smell of blood filled the air, and a faint bloody mist rose, like a battlefield.

  "Ah"

  "Ah"

  Just then, two miserable cries came from the rear one after another. Two classmates fell into a pool of blood, with many bloody holes on each person's head and ugly little alligators crawling all over their bodies, with dark scales.

  Everyone was filled with sorrow, life and death were beyond their control, and despite struggling desperately, two more classmates died tragically.

  These two people jointly held a divine relic, but just now there were three or four hundred divine crocodiles rushing over, crazily colliding and impacting with great force, directly knocking the two flying, unable to grasp the Buddhist utensil in their hands, dropping it aside. The two were instantly drowned by those small crocodiles and died miserably on the spot.

  "We'd rather die than let go!" Lin Jia shouted, reminding everyone.

  Many people have already been knocked down and are rolling around, and due to holding Buddhist instruments with others, their movements are restricted, and the danger is at its peak.

  "Ah"

  "Ah"

  Again, two mournful cries rang out. Two classmates, a boy and a girl, lay in a pool of blood, their bodies covered in gore, a ghastly sight to behold. Their eyes were wide open, frozen in death.

  The people in the rear hastily gathered together, defending and attacking at the same time, holding the divine artifact to slash the divine crocodile, and the situation was temporarily stabilized.

  "Kill!" Liu Yunzhi's face turned somewhat pale. He had a gloomy temperament and wasn't particularly brave, but at this moment he also grasped the Vajra Pestle and charged out.

  In Buddhist legend, this is a powerful sacred object of the Dharma protector, destroying enemies like a raging fire that burns everything in its path, leaving nothing unscathed, symbolizing invincibility, and is the scepter held by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

  Electric sparks danced, radiant lights flashed, Liu Yunzhi's divine aura pierced the eyes, the golden vajra swept across like a killing blow to thousands of troops, instantly leaving behind a sea of blood and endless shattered scales, a large group of divine crocodiles were crushed.

  The power of Vajra Pestle is evident!

  Just then, the foreigner Kade rushed over, shouting "gibberish" non-stop, holding a broken wooden fish and beating it wildly.

  "God is merciful..." He shouted loudly, but his hands were not lenient. The broken wooden fish looked like it would fall apart at any moment, but it possessed a mysterious power.

  Above were engraved three Bodhisattvas, which now all manifested as light shadows, floating out and swirling around Old Foreigner Khaid's body, sweeping across the surrounding divine crocodiles.

  "Lord, is this the angel you sent? Quickly kill these devils from hell!" This foreigner suddenly spoke fluent Chinese at this extremely tense moment, shouting loudly and non-stop.

  "Blond foreigner, you're holding the Buddha's thing, don't talk nonsense, okay..." At this critical moment, Pang Bo was actually amused by him.

  "God said that all living beings are equal, I am merciful and compassionate, Bodhisattva is the angel..."

  "Let go of your ego, all living beings are equal, I am compassionate and benevolent, isn't that what the Buddha said?"

  The conversation between the two somehow brought a different atmosphere to this altar filled with an aura of death.

  The fresh blood on the altar turned into a speck of light, breaking through the light curtain and floating towards the sky, gathering towards the already unstable Taiji Bagua diagram, making the crumbling Starry Sky Gate flash with brilliance once again.

  It was clear that everyone had discovered this situation and suddenly showed a spirited look.

  "Kill, the more we kill the better. This divine alligator is a descendant of the greatest demon in the world. In essence, it has divine blood flowing within its body and divine power condensed within. After being sacrificed on an altar, it can be transformed into the mysterious energy needed for the Taiji Bagua diagram."

  "Not bad, this five-colored stone altar was originally a sacrificial altar, and in that distant past, it must have been considered for blood sacrifices."

  The Taiji Bagua diagram in the sky is becoming increasingly clear and resplendent, like a metal casting, with its light constantly flashing. The eight symbols of the Bagua are flickering unpredictably, changing in an intricate sequence countless times before finally all lighting up, opening the ancient starry road.

  Boom

  But it was at this time that the Daluo Temple had a fierce and terrifying aura, the earth completely cracked, and a huge object burst into the sky, shaking the heavens!

  In almost an instant, everyone felt their souls were about to leave their bodies, and all of them nearly collapsed onto the altar.

  Two lantern-like huge blood pupils, in the darkness from afar, are rapidly closing in!

  "That's the Crocodile Ancestor who was suppressed by Buddha under the Great Thunder Sound Temple in myth and legend! Now that it has escaped, is there anyone in this world who can still suppress it?!"

  Everyone felt as if they had fallen into an icy pit, feeling utterly hopeless. It was likely that even if a Bodhisattva were to manifest, it would not be enough to subdue such a powerful and extraordinary monster, unless the Buddha himself came.

  Could it be that at this final juncture, I will really be left with my life by this legendary demon?

  Clang

  At this moment, the bronze giant coffin on the five-color altar suddenly emitted a tremolo sound, and the two red lantern-like blood eyes in the distance suddenly froze, as if they were surprised and uncertain, no longer moving forward.