Chapter 530: Summoning Evil (3)

In a secret chamber beneath a certain residence, nearly thirty Yin Tower Believers, clad in black robes and exuding a strange aura, sat cross-legged in concentric circles.

Lotus lanterns hung from the ceiling of the secret chamber. Unlike the lanterns outside, however, these were entirely blood-red. It wasn’t fire that burned within them, but rather orbs of crimson light.

Blood Food Power.

There were ninety-nine of these strange, crimson lotus lanterns in the secret chamber.

“One night, Tiezhu was stumbling home drunk. He knocked on a door for a good long while, but no one answered. Thinking it was odd, he squinted his drunken eyes and realized he was at the wrong house. The family of five who lived there had all died from a strange illness the year before. The neighbors had even helped with the burials.”

One of the seated, black-robed figures spoke in a raspy, eerie voice. As the sound spread, the lotus lanterns above swayed slightly, their crimson light flickering.

“Tiezhu cursed his bad luck and drunkenly turned to leave. But just then, he froze. A cold sweat broke out on his back, the alcohol’s haze clearing in an instant. He heard a CREAK. The door behind him had opened a crack. A voice drifted out from the old house, sighing as it spoke.”

“The Gate isn’t locked. Come on in.”

the black-robed figure said in a bizarre voice.

POOF!!

One of the lotus lanterns hanging above the secret chamber suddenly went out, its Blood Food Power vanishing to an unknown destination.

The instant the lantern went out, the light throughout the chamber seemed to dim. In the flickering crimson glow, a strange shadow faintly appeared. But as the light steadied, the shadow vanished, seemingly just a phantom of the wavering light.

The Yin Tower Believers seemed completely unaware. As soon as the first storyteller finished, another began: “Once, a merchant checked into a decrepit inn outside a mountain village. It was late, and he was exhausted from days on the road, so he took a room and went right up. The room was dark, the candlelight only managing to illuminate a small patch. The furnishings were old and simple, with one notable feature: a painting hanging on the wall opposite the bed. The person in the portrait was astonishingly lifelike, but the merchant was too tired to care. After checking that nothing else was amiss, he lay down in his clothes and fell asleep.”

“But he didn’t sleep well. He kept feeling like someone was watching him. Figuring it was just the unnervingly realistic painting, he tried his best not to look at it. Thankfully, the night passed without incident. When the merchant woke up, however, he was scared out of his wits. Opposite his bed, there was no painting—only a window. Some unclean thing had been staring at him through it all night long.”

POOF!!

As the story ended, another lotus lantern went out, its Blood Food Power vanishing along with its light. In the ensuing flicker, the strange shadow appeared again—this time, seemingly a little closer.

The storytelling continued. With the end of each frightening tale, another blood-red lotus lantern would extinguish, its Blood Food Power spirited away.

This was a special method for summoning a terrifying, unknown Evil Spirit.

As more and more of the ninety-nine lotus lanterns were extinguished, the form of the shadow in the chamber grew clearer with each subsequent flicker.

It was the corpse of a woman with disheveled hair, her bluish-black skin cracked and fissured.

「In another secret chamber.」

A single lotus lantern, lit by Blood Food Power, hung from the ceiling. Beneath it, a woman was suspended by ropes, her body covered in bizarre runes.

She was not one of the Yin Tower Believers, but merely a poor soul with the right birthdate, captured by the organization’s members.

Her eyelids had been sliced off, her eardrums pierced, and her tongue removed. For three whole days, She had been unable to close her eyes, unable to speak, and unable to hear. And yet, the faint light from the lantern overhead was all that sustained her life.

The lantern’s light fell in a single column, enveloping her alone while the rest of the room remained in pitch-black darkness.

And in that darkness, inscrutable eyes were peering at her, as if trying to strip her bare and see through her very soul.

An eerie, invasive gaze.

It was a silent, ultimate form of torture. After so many days, the woman’s Spirit was on the verge of collapsing into madness. The trickles of Blood Food Power spilling from the overhead lantern grew more Fierce. Under the gaze of those many eyes, her body began to crack and swell, losing its human shape and transforming into the terrifying Form of an Evil Spirit.

Summoning Evil!

Similar evil-summoning rituals, hosted by the Yin Tower Believers, were taking place all across South Mansion.

Because of their unique nature, and because they were protected by corresponding Escape Techniques, talismans, and Magical Artifacts, not even the City God on his personal patrols could succeed in Sensing the specific locations of the anomalies.

Midnight was drawing ever closer.