Chapter 1854: 万灵兽

The leading patriarchs and elders from the other aristocratic families were accustomed to this sight. Upon hearing the Old Ancestor of the Long Family speak, each waved a hand towards their disciples. One person from each family, holding a palm-sized jade bottle, emerged from the crowd and quickly made their way towards the Myriad Spirit Platform.

Simultaneously, a golden light flashed around the Old Ancestor of the Long Family. With a flicker, he directly entered the light barrier that enveloped the Myriad Spirit Platform. Then, from a low altitude, he formed a hand seal with one hand and sent a golden light downwards.

The golden light flashed and vanished, sinking into the bluestone ground below without a trace.

The very next moment, a low rumble emanated from the Myriad Spirit Platform, and an ancient bluestone basin unexpectedly emerged near the white magic array.

The basin was long and flat, approximately ten feet in length, with faint black, peculiar patterns inscribed on its surface, giving it an extremely ancient appearance.

At this point, the emerging family disciples, one by one, walked to the stone basin, removed the lids from their jade bottles, and inverted them to pour their contents downwards.

Streams of liquids, varying in color, flowed from the bottles. Some were incredibly foul-smelling, others remarkably fragrant, while some were colorless and odorless, resembling clear water.

After dozens of different liquids were poured into the basin, each formed a distinct cluster, showing no sign of merging.

The Old Ancestor of the Long Family paid no attention to all this. He simply gazed at the increasingly dazzling light emanating from the magic array, then looked up at the astonishing purplish-gold net high in the sky. Remaining expressionless, he made no further movements.

Outside the Myriad Spirit Platform, all the Integration-stage cultivators stood up, looking towards the magic array, their expressions also growing exceptionally solemn.

With a colossal "boom,"

The multi-colored runes surging from the grand array suddenly converged, transforming into a massive orb of light several tens of feet in diameter, which slowly spun continuously above the magic array.

But after only a few rotations, the orb of light burst open with a muffled sound, revealing a monster with eight heads within.

It had the body of a lion and eight serpentine heads. Its form was unusually indistinct, as if it were merely an illusion, and its aura was only that of an ordinary early-stage Void Refinement being. Yet, as its eight distinct heads swayed, sixteen chilling gazes swept across the area beneath the Myriad Spirit Platform, causing everyone looked upon to shiver, as if an intense chill had passed through their bodies.

Fortunately, the next moment, the Old Ancestor of the Long Family, still in the air, cupped his hands and slowly spoke:

"Welcome, Lord Myriad Spirit, to your return," he said. "Please, Lord, enjoy the true blood offerings presented by our fifty-one true spirit aristocratic human families."

The monster named Myriad Spirit raised one of its heads, glanced at the Old Ancestor of the Long Family in the air, then, without a word, moved, lightly floating out of the magic array and positioning itself above the stone basin.

Its eight heads opened wide, and the liquids in the basin shot up as eight columns of fluid, flowing into the monster's mouths.

In a moment, the offerings in the basin were completely consumed by the monster. Then, a strange light shimmered across its body, and its originally indistinct form suddenly became clear and substantial.

After the monster glanced at the cultivators outside the stone platform, all eight heads simultaneously lifted and let out a thundering roar.

An astonishing aura emanated from the monster, climbing wildly from the early Void Refinement stage to the mid-stage, and then to the late stage…

In an instant, the monster's aura reached the peak of the late Integration stage. No, it seemed even half a step higher than that level, as if it had already stepped halfway into the Mahayana realm.

Han Li's originally calm face, after sensing the turbulent aura emanating from the Myriad Spirit Platform, couldn't help but sharpen his gaze.

Fortunately, after reaching this level, it seemed to be the limit of what the monster could achieve, and its immense aura finally stabilized and halted.

But the eight-headed monster's next action nearly made many family cultivators gasp in shock.

The monster's eight heads suddenly lifted simultaneously towards the sky. With a piercing shriek, each head unexpectedly shot out a bolt of green lightning as thick as a bowl's mouth. Flashing and vanishing in an instant, they struck the purplish-gold electric net high in the sky.

Even some Integration-stage beings, seeing this scene, couldn't help but change their expressions.

However, the Old Ancestor of the Long Family, despite being incredibly close to the eight-headed monster, after a slight twitch of his facial muscles, managed to maintain an unchanged expression.

Several earth-shattering booms echoed.

Purplish-blue and green arcs of electricity intertwined in the air, transforming into clusters of electric light the size of carriages, which burst open one after another in the sky.

But after a moment, the electric light dissipated. The purplish-gold net swayed slightly a few times, then calmly returned to its serene state, showing no signs of damage whatsoever.

Seeing this, the eight-headed monster's eyes lost their cold gleam, and it slowly closed its eight wide mouths.

However, one of its green heads twisted its neck and suddenly fixed its gaze on the nearby Old Ancestor of the Long Family. From its mouth came an incredibly ancient voice:

"Hmph, you humans are quite cautious," it sneered. "I've descended to this place countless times, yet this Myriad Thunder Sealing Array has never failed for so many tens of thousands of years. However, you'd best pray it continues like this forever. Otherwise, if you ever slip up and I find a loophole in this seal, heh heh..."

Not only did the monster's green head speak human words, but it also ended with a sinister sneer.

"On that matter, Lord Myriad Spirit, please rest assured," the Old Ancestor of the Long Family replied, bowing slightly and displaying no significant fear, neither humbly nor arrogantly. "Should there truly come a day when our true spirit family disciples are so negligent that they cannot properly maintain a mere sealing array, then their true blood being absorbed and enjoyed by you, Lord, would simply be them seeking their own demise. However, in accordance with the agreement between our true spirit family ancestors and you, Lord, on that day, now that the tribute has been presented, it is your turn, Lord, to cast your spell and create the Hidden Spirit Tokens for us and the younger generation."

It was no wonder. Although the monster's true body was a true spirit-level being from another realm, only an avatar, a fragment of its consciousness, could descend across realms. Furthermore, with the meticulously arranged sealing array set up by the true spirit families' ancestors, even if the monster's avatar absorbed the offerings and greatly increased its cultivation, its actual divine abilities were still largely suppressed. As a late-Integration stage cultivator, he naturally had no need to be overly afraid.

"Hmph, since I've received your benefits, I, the Lord, will naturally attend to this small matter for you," the monster snorted coldly. Its eight heads swayed, and simultaneously began chanting incantations.

Amidst the chanting, runes of eight different colors spewed forth from its mouths one by one, intertwining at a low altitude.

After a short while, the dense, multi-colored runes almost covered the entire sky above the Myriad Spirit Platform, creating an astonishing display.

Although the Old Ancestor of the Long Family was surrounded by runes of various colors, his expression remained exceptionally calm. Furthermore, a layer of golden light enveloped his entire body, preventing the runes from approaching within several feet of him.

Suddenly, the monster let out another thunderous roar.

The entire void above suddenly underwent a distorted, invisible fluctuation.

The sky-filling runes, with overlapping images, converged, transforming into countless five-colored tokens that plummeted from the sky, scattering across the entire Myriad Spirit Platform.

"Alright, all nine hundred and ninety-nine Hidden Spirit Tokens have been created," the eight-headed monster grunted with a hint of weariness. "The next time I, the Lord, am summoned, it must be three thousand years from now."

Then, the monster shook its head and wagged its tail, plunging back into its original magic array.

The grand array's light flickered, and spiritual light surged forth, instantly submerging the monster's form within it.

A buzzing sound resonated again. As the magic array spun rapidly, the eight-headed monster, just as it had appeared, shattered into countless pieces with a muffled sound, disintegrating into countless runes.

The next moment, the magic array itself faded and completely vanished from the Myriad Spirit Platform, as if it had never been there.

"Someone, collect all the Hidden Spirit Tokens," the Old Ancestor of the Long Family commanded coldly after a long moment, his eyes squinted as he stared at the bluestone ground where the magic array had vanished. "After the families' rankings are re-determined later, we will decide their distribution."

Upon hearing this, several gold-armored guards immediately emerged from an unknown location.

Each of them held a silver tray. With successive gestures of grasping the air towards the ground, they picked up all the tokens and piled them onto their trays. They then carried them to an offering table beneath the stone platform and respectfully placed them there.

"Lord Myriad Spirit has departed," the Old Ancestor of the Long Family announced with a firm voice, sweeping his gaze over the crowd outside the stone platform. "Now, let us begin the worship of our true spirit ancestors from the various families."

Upon hearing this, a stir immediately arose among the members of the various large and small families outside. Subsequently, people began carrying various sacrificial spiritual artifacts, spirit fruits, and incense candles, arranging them on the platform.

Then, led by their respective family heads and elders, all the true spirit family disciples began to ascend the Myriad Spirit Platform in turns, kneeling before the true spirit ancestors enshrined by their own families, each offering different prayers.

Some true spirit families with even older lineages also performed sacrificial rites that had long been lost to the outside world, which Han Li, observing from below, watched with great interest.

However, only after these sacrificial rites, which took half a day to complete, did the true main event of the Grand True Spirit Ceremony begin: the determination of the rankings of the various true spirit families and the redistribution of their resource benefits.

When the Old Ancestor of the Long Family once again flew onto the stone platform, he clasped his hands within his sleeves and spoke indifferently:

"According to ancient teachings, during the ceremony, every family has the opportunity to challenge higher-ranked families and must accept challenges from lower-ranked families. Each side has one such opportunity. However, a challenger cannot challenge a family ranked more than five positions above their own. If several families issue challenges to the same family, the family with the higher ranking among the challengers holds the right to challenge. Of course, as per tradition, the rankings among our five great families are now void. We must first undergo a round-robin re-ranking before challenges from other families can commence. Fairy Lin, Fellow Daoist Lin, please come up as well. Let's draw lots to determine the opponents for the first round."

"Heh heh, what's there to draw lots for?" came a lazy male voice from the last of the five great true spirit families, one entirely composed of male cultivators. "Anyway, if I encounter your Long family, I, Lin, know I'm no match and will definitely concede. However, I've recently cultivated a couple of minor divine abilities, so if I encounter Fairy Ye, I might just have to ask for some pointers."

The speaker was a man with long, loose hair, wearing a dark green robe and an odd silver ring tied around his head. His appearance was unexpectedly delicate, almost like a woman's.