Zhang Xiaoxia stared ahead, her eyes wide with terror.
In the dark underground parking lot, there were more than a dozen corpses piled into a small mountain. Their eyes, ears, and noses had all been dug out. Around the mountain of bodies, a strange magic circle was drawn with blood, appearing to be conducting some kind of ritual.
"This is..."
Ye Ling's brow furrowed slightly upon seeing the magic circle.
The formation looked exactly like the one previously drawn by the Yin Curse Elder he encountered in Jiangcheng!
This kind of evil formation sacrificed to non-existent evil gods, and the entire formation was meaningless.
However, the continuous appearance of such formations indicated that they must have some function, which Ye Ling had not yet discovered.
"You, you've seen this formation?"
Zhang Xiaoxia swallowed a mouthful of saliva and asked Ye Ling tremblingly.
In her life, although she hadn't personally captured evil spirits or monsters, she had seen her master and senior disciples capture many, including some extremely vicious ones.
But even after seeing so many, she had never witnessed such a scene as today!
Ye Ling nodded, "Yes, I've seen it once. This is a sacrificial formation, and the corpses inside are sacrifices, used to offer to a non-existent evil god."
"That's all I know about the specifics. Oh right, this thing might also be related to the Tianluo Ghost King."
"Tianluo Ghost King?"
Upon hearing Ye Ling's words, Zhang Xiaoxia exclaimed subconsciously, then quickly covered her mouth and looked at Ye Ling, "The Tianluo Ghost King you mentioned, is it the one our ancestor lost?"
Ye Ling nodded, "Yes."
Since escaping a hundred years ago, the Tianluo Ghost King had been actively sought after by the Zhengyi Sect's Heavenly Masters throughout China, with the goal of finding and resealing it.
Unfortunately, over a century, despite the efforts of several generations of Heavenly Masters, only fragments of the Tianluo Ghost King's remnant soul had been recovered. To this day, the Tianluo Ghost King remained at large.
If this evil sacrificial formation was indeed related to the Tianluo Ghost King...
Zhang Xiaoxia realized the seriousness of the matter and whispered to Ye Ling, "Master Ye, this matter is of great importance, and my abilities are not enough to resolve it. Let's retreat and report to the sect."
Zhang Xiaoxia was self-aware. While she might be able to handle minor demons, this matter involved the Tianluo Ghost King, and the fact that the demon could kill more than ten people in a busy international airport indicated a ferocity beyond the capabilities of ordinary cultivators.
It would likely require several senior Heavenly Masters from the Zhengyi Sect to resolve!
Seeing Zhang Xiaoxia's sensible retreat, Ye Ling couldn't help but appreciate her more.
The path of cultivation was fraught with danger, and a single misstep could lead to death.
Unfortunately, most cultivators lacked self-awareness, wanting to snatch treasures upon seeing them or eliminate monsters on sight.
On the Dongxuan Continent, Ye Ling had seen too many righteous disciples perish by their own eagerness to slay monsters far beyond their strength.
Such overestimation of one's abilities was meaningless, other than causing trouble for others.
Zhang Xiaoxia's mindset was rare and valuable.
However, even though Zhang Xiaoxia knew when to retreat, Ye Ling...
Ye Ling glanced back and chuckled, "It's probably too late to leave now."
"What do you mean?"
Zhang Xiaoxia was startled, not understanding what Ye Ling meant. She instinctively looked back, only to find that the entrance they had come through had disappeared!
"This... ghost illusion?"
Seeing the exit vanish, Zhang Xiaoxia immediately became nervous, tightly gripping her three-inch wooden sword with her nerves on edge.
The evil spirit that could silently pull them into the barrier was definitely above sixth grade in strength!
Zhang Xiaoxia was only at second grade cultivation. Combined with the talismans and the small wooden sword in her hand, she could barely capture a third-grade evil spirit.
A sixth-grade evil spirit, let alone her, even within the entire Zhengyi Sect, there were few senior Heavenly Masters who could subdue it!
Seeing Zhang Xiaoxia's nervous and fearful demeanor, Ye Ling shook his head and smiled, saying, "This barrier is triggered automatically. Anyone who steps into this place will be pulled here."
"The evil spirit is not here at the moment, so we are safe for now. Let's take this opportunity to look for clues here."
Hearing Ye Ling's words, Zhang Xiaoxia calmed down slightly and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, let's find clues to get out first!"
Ye Ling was not in a hurry to leave. He walked directly towards the mountain of corpses, carefully observing the sacrificial formation around them.
Unlike the formation drawn by the Yin Curse Elder before, this sacrificial formation was more intricate. The blood of the more than a dozen corpses had been drained, but based on the formation patterns on the ground, the amount of blood required to draw this formation was not that much.
This meant that some of the blood and the ears and noses of these people were not here but had been used elsewhere.
Ye Ling walked to the mountain of corpses and used his spiritual energy to move the bodies down, arranging them in a line.
Ye Ling scanned the attire of these people and murmured, "These people are either construction workers or airport staff. Judging by their appearance, they have been dead for at least three days."
"Given such a long time, there has been no reaction from the airport authorities, which indicates that there is a high-ranking official within the airport who can mobilize these people, either an accomplice of the evil spirit, or that high-ranking official is the evil spirit itself."
"Three days ago was precisely when the first batch of cultivators from all over the country arrived here to participate in the Zhengyi Sect's Heavenly Master Ordination Ceremony. Could these two events be related?"
"Master Ye, look here quickly!"
Just then, Zhang Xiaoxia's voice was heard.
Ye Ling looked in the direction of her voice and saw Zhang Xiaoxia pulling someone out from a pile of debris.
"There's still a living person here?"
Seeing the young man covered in injuries, a hint of surprise flashed in Ye Ling's eyes.
The young man's life force was extremely weak, almost like that of a dead person. Moreover, the spiritual energy in this place was chaotic, filled with the resentment of the more than ten sacrificed individuals, so Ye Ling had not noticed the man at first.
Approaching the young man, Ye Ling squatted down, pressed his pulse, and used his spiritual energy to probe his condition.
Zhang Xiaoxia squatted in front of Ye Ling and asked in a low voice, "Master Ye, he still has body temperature, but his life force is extremely weak, and he's probably about to die. Can he still be saved?"
"He can be saved. Give me a stack of your talismans."
After confirming the young man's condition, Ye Ling said to Zhang Xiaoxia.
Although Zhang Xiaoxia didn't know what Ye Ling wanted the talismans for, she didn't hesitate. She quickly took a stack of talismans from her pocket and handed them to Ye Ling with both hands, "Master Ye, the talismans."
Ye Ling took the talismans, injected his spiritual energy into them, and simultaneously made the talismans float in the air, rolling them into paper needles.
Then, under Zhang Xiaoxia's stunned gaze, those needles accurately pierced the young man's major acupoints!
This, this is...
Acupuncture?
Zhang Xiaoxia's mind went blank. She had never seen anyone save a person like Ye Ling!