Pathway To Eternity

As a result, a number of blood cultivators had decided to avoid making pacts with the divine beasts. Rather, they would obtain the much less powerful magical creatures. No ascension tribulations meant no sudden death and no fright of death over a dying divine beasts.

Nevertheless, the importance of Xue Wu was significant in any cultivation world. Due to their scrying oracles, they had become an integral part of the cultivation world. Every village had a Xue Wu who carried out the village's divination. 

Elder wang Xu sent out her awareness to intercept the bird.

"Xue Wu?"

"Yes, immortal one. My name is Yan Dai."

"Yan Dai?"

"Yes, immortal one. Please, help me."

"Where are you?"

"JinJin village, immortal elder."

"JinJin? Hmm. Why do you need my help?"

"They're going to kill me."

"Why? What did you do?"

"Nothing, immortal one. They are blaming me for what I didn't do."

"Continue."

"First, they accused me of being Xue Ku. And now, they''re saying I'm responsible for the disappearances of many children in JinJin and other villages too."

"Are you?"

"No, immortal one." 

"You better don't tell lies. Those are serious offenses in a mortal world."

"No, immortal one. I'm not lying."

"So, why are they accusing you?"

"I don't know. But I believe the one responsible is still here in JinJin?"

"Huh? How did you know?"

"Before my parents died, I heard them talking about something they discovered. There's a powerful Xu Ku who has a connection to the villages so the children could be taken. My parents were about to expose the roots of the disappearances when they were killed."

"Continue."

"Something powerful and extremely fast entered our house. But before he could enter, it had to pass through the defensive array. Although it took seconds for it to break the defense, but while trying to do that, my father used our ancestral heavenly artifact on me and I couldn't remember anything from there. By the time I came around, I found them decayed. Please immortal elder, I can no longer hold the connection."

"Okay, go. If what you say it's true, I'll see what I can do. But if you are lying, you must face their consequences."

A Xue Ku in the village?

A Xue Ku, rogue blood cultivator. It was the forbidden side of Xue Wu, true blood cultivator.

Rogue blood cultivation. Completely draining the life-force of innocent mortals thereby turning them to Spectres before bonding them. They didn't bond with one but hundred or thousands of spectres. That gave Xu Kus more power than the Xue Wus due to the pure karmic virtues in innocent mortal souls. The power of the spectres could also allow the rogue blood cultivators to launch powerful soul attacks. Extremely powerful blood cultivators. 

Elder Wang Xiu recalled her awareness and turned to the waiting group. Caution was greatly  needed when facing a situation like that or else, she could easily loose her life. She began to explain what was happening to the disciples.

"Elder Cao, should we be involved?"

Lin Cheung asked worryingly. They were only out to find the forsaken palace and should be on their way. Why should they complicate things in this way?

"Something's wrong. Follow me. Stay quiet and leave everything to me."

Entering the village, they saw a young girl being tied to an Etcher tree with the spectral chains by the side of a path at the entrance of the village. A large number of the villagers, who gathered in front of the tree, were being held back by the village guards.

Ju Feng and the rest of the group were distraught by the scene. Who could tie a young girl to a tree like this? Was she the Xue Wu elder Wang Xiu was talking about? That was truly an unfair and strange world.

Combining her spiritual sight with her ancestral bloodline sense, elder Wang Xiu examined the girl but she couldn't detect any form of Karmic sin in the girl. But she had the feeling of something not quite right. With her aura masked, elder Cao Wang Xiu approached one of the gathered villagers.

"Excuse me, what's going on here?"

The man turned to see who was talking to him. When he saw the scholarly robe of elder Wang Xiu, he respectfully replied with a slight nod.

"Yes, Xiansheng. The girl's found to be a rogue blood."

Another villager who was close to them also quipped in.

"She's a Xue Ku. Xiansheng."

"A Xue Ku?"

Asked elder Wang Xiu as she acted to be contemplating on the situation.

"Yes, xiansheng. Her name is Yan Dai. She was the daughter of the old village diviner, Wen Dai, a true blood cultivator and Wang Dai, an evanesce core cultivator."

"Where are they now?"

"They are both dead. They died in mysterious condition on the same night, their bodies decayed and disintegrated before morning. She was the only survivor. At that time, many villagers were wondering if she was the cause of their death or not. But because she was too young then, the suspicion was overlooked. But now, with the happenings around now, all fingers pointed to her."

"What happenings?"

"There have been many disappearances and death of children in this village and sorrounding villages."

Are you certain she's a rogue blood cultivator?"

"Yes, Xiansheng. The village headmen came together and consulted their diviners but they couldn't locate the problem. It continued like that until our village diviner confirmed it that the girl was the one behind them."

"The village diviner?"

"Yes, Xiansheng."

The man pointed to the woman in black robe with half mask on her face.

"That's her over there, in the black robe. Wu Yu Cui, a true blood cultivator."

Behind the woman was a grim-faced man wearing a heavy grey robe. As elder Cao Wang Xiu watched the man, she could sense a dangerous presence with him which radiated sinister, but no evil. She turned her attention back to the man who was addressing the gathered villagers.

"Is that the village chieftain?"

Elder Wang Xiu asked as she gestured toward the man wearing the yellow silk robe.

"Yes, Xiansheng. That's chieftain Xu Xinyi. He lost a son too."

"Hm, I see."