Wei Zhiruo looked at her hands a little longer, feeling the growing energy. Her half-matured spiritual roots tingled in response, her meridians were being washed with bright spiritual energy as if she was the center of this heaven where everything whirled around, taking her as its origin. She hadn't intended all of this to happen. It was just a moment of inspiration – or rather understanding of the whole ordeal.

She was standing leaning at the pavilion pillar, her small hands folded behind her back, looking at the pool swaying with white lotuses and purple water lilies, swaying gently, swaying softly as the wind blew softer or gained momentum. She was biding her time. When the sun started to wane from the harsh brightness of mid-noon, she sat down beside the pond looking at its muddy grey water. One of her hands reached inside her small pouch taking out a small knife from it – brass hilt, sharpened to shine with a pointed head.

She looked grievously at the water, a while longer than earlier, conceding to some force that was constantly running in her meridians telling her how much changes have happened since she had last appeared in these waters. The lost spiritual energy, the extinct magical and chaotic energy – and the newly emerging spiritual energy constantly slipping out as if somewhere drops of water constantly collected. In the previously drained region, there was a chance of forming a pool of spiritual once again – at a much faster pace.

It looked like her judgment about the artifact and this space was incomplete. She looked at the symbols arranged in order, creating an array protecting the area of the pool which was glistening continuously. Or there might be a spiritual stone vein lying under this land, that had been, unfortunately, because of her meddling, made contact somehow with the artifact.

Wei Zhiruo clutched the brass handle of the knife and swiftly cut a gash in her small palm. Blood drops gushed out one by one into the murky pond waters making the water taint a little red – the gush was deep, and the blood flowed much faster than the rate of the healing flesh. Her pupils constricted as she finally saw the state of the pond in its entirety, looking at the merging space that looked like scenes from hell, merging in bits and pieces.

Among the many grotesque small spaces filled with corpses, filled with corpse-eating maggots squirming in bunches, with buildings charred in fire, scenes of houses razed to the ground, piled with rotting bodies and scenes of villages burned leaving charred cokes of human anatomy.

Wei Zhiruo struggled in keeping her breakfast inside herself as she shifted her eyes from one macabre scene to the next one – all recounting the horrors of the past, and the present distasteful disrespect. There was no soil to hide their shame, no air to swiftly wash away their rotting stenches, no foliage to cover their incapacitated head, neither the grace of a living human whose heart would burn with sympathy and love and tears and burn for the utter disrespect, and then give them the deserved burial. No, in these several spaces like boxes, cut off from reality, folded into chamber-like existences, they had been but just fodders – fodders to fuel, creating, stimulating magical energy. 

Wei Zhiruo's eyes had resumed their earlier apathetic look. After washing her hands with freshly cut wounds inside the pond water, she flicked the traces of the rest of the lingering moisture. Glancing at the various places under the pond surface, which in her eyes appeared as small chambers arranged like a hive; she finally had the significant amount of information to assume how large the range of this whole mechanism stood, supported by these sacrifices which had been carried out around this world, and folded down here.

There was clear involvement of a Mahayana-level monk who had a significant amount of understanding of Space Dao. 'Preposterous! No thinking man should ever take lives at such value! Such disregard!'

Looking at the clear sky reflecting the boundless blues, fresh and ascetic, her mind cleared a bit from the gloom. Wei Zhiruo sighed and closed her eyes. Then suddenly raising her voice in a shout she burst into a chanting:

"To the heavens high above, behold the injustice! Pierce in sieve this darkness of the human heart! Cast your blessings!" 

"Cast your blessing!"

"Cast your blessing!"

As if beseeching the lord in the high abodes, she recalled the blessings. But this heaven wasn't the heavenly Dao or rules the world pursued. This was their blood-kins understanding of their position that had allowed them to see many of the wonders of creation and get a pulse of this business – to realize where the rules of nine thousand big and three thousand small realms of this universe originated and held court.

Even if she wasn't in her own universe right now by any chance, this thing will hold true. Because many universes followed this pattern, the same origin rules; their blood-clan which fled from the original universe had sufficient claims to this fact. Yes, they had proven this with their evolving powers and knowledge.

Even if the heavenly rules of this world have been shrouded in shielding artifact making it difficult to observe this corner of the world, she had that understanding, and means to bring the original intention of this world to the forefront, the very consciousness of this realm and make it aware of the ongoing upheaval. From the deepest corner of her heart, she was recalling the trace of world consciousness. Recalling it to the wakefulness of the upcoming catastrophe!

As of now, Wei Zhiruo was completely sure of the set demise of this realm and the shielding of the heavenly eyes. This ceremony was late but she had gained enough surety. 

"Cast this blessing, that world awakens and see! Glimpse the misery, and cast thy blessing."

Wei Zhiruo's hands were swiftly forming several seals and constantly stacking one motion over the other, the trembling waters swayed in the sudden recklessly emerging spiritual energy. The spiritual energy overwhelmingly surrounded her, rushing to enter her meridian. The familiar pain of overstretching dantian overtook Wei Zhiruo. She didn't want this too – but she didn't have any other way. This pain, she had to bear it once more, and with this newly formed and tender body and soul!

She gritted her teeth with agony and started melding the spiritual energy traces into the blood drops. Her eyes couldn't see through the water, as she was focusing her mind completely on the shifting traces of space and their unfolding and merging movements. As such she didn't clearly see her blood becoming engorged, swelling in bunches under the water. But her blood thrummed and she received its call.

"Cast thy blessing on misery, cast it on innocent soul."

It was swift action, hastened by Wei Zhiruo's unsettled emotions. She really couldn't bear the trembling and overstretching of her dantian and meridians overfilled with spiritual energy and started absorbing the excess in her blood.

What she had intended to do at first this day had been to set some traps for those wretched creatures. But unfortunately, she made her way to this pond to make sure of her previous victory and saw a scene of bubbling spiritual energy. Who would have expected that this region, a completely mortal realm with no trace of energy, would have first-grade spiritual veins lying just under all this mishap ready to be exploited by that artifact?

Because she was now ready to bet with her life, there was no monk present inside this realm itself. Some may have travelled through some way or the other, but a Mahayana monk or Transcendental body monk will never have a chance to enter fully.

The absence of spiritual energy had shielded this world from becoming completely the back garden of these monks right now. Looking at the planning, the profound level of energy and malice simply begs a notice of their lack of resources. Could such a realm ever dream of this mortal realm sleeping over a mound of spiritual stone mine? Of course not! It wouldn't be a monk if he wasn't looking down on mortals as mere ants and their realms in utter disregard. And these people, with their brutality have proven nothing otherwise.

Unfortunately, she made the artifact reach out to other regions in alarm and seek more energy and it directly hit the jackpot! What a chance, as if a hand in the dark didn't want this world to remain a mere mortal realm and was ready to arrange any chance for its fulfilment. Wei Zhiruo didn't like this. She abhorred being pushed and shoved in an arranged direction. She hated fate lines the most!

Suddenly as if all the spaces inside the pond had found a source of opening started melting into one another, assimilating into one large space filled with remnants of gruesome carnage – a temple with overhanging intricate and high cornices, with three floors of wooden architecture with its roof hanging down one over the other making a conical structure, with several wooden pillars and doors and open windows and striking hues; spectacular in its beauty and grace, yet equally grand in its solemn standing. It gently stood out amongst the several overlapping spaces.

Wei Zhiruo was now particularly confounded. But her eyes didn't last wandering for long as she resumed carrying out forming numerous seals and evoking the spirit of this world. Whatever happened in the pond was simply an acceleration of an already happening process. She had simply aided in its emerging earlier than later. But now she really couldn't make out what kind of conspiracy it all was. A Buddhist shrine temple! A place where avatars of Buddha and noble souls are accorded and enshrined. There was one here in this realm where Buddhism hasn't even had much influence.

'No! This – this whole temple palace was in itself an artifact!'

What a surprise! But now Wei Zhiruo knew why the artifact didn't turn completely demonic with all the magical energy. This level of artifact was not by any means simple. This was an 'Immortal level Buddhist treasure', pristine and sacred.

She hadn't heard of this treasure, of course, she wasn't aware of much of the common sense in this world, or in this universe – but she could guess this thing being used in the god realm. Such karmic affluence and surging waves of dharma – how in the heavens had these people behind the scenes got their hands on such a maverick treasure, she wondered.

This meant – this thing meant a lot of things for Wei Zhiruo as she finally saw the artifact emerging from the darkness into the light – this meant a change in the views of the nature of this sacrifice. What could be needed to maintain this artifact running was by no means as simple as human blood or some paltry number of spiritual stones smuggled from the immortal realm – no, this meant a very specific kind of sacrifice.

It was during the time she had been wandering about the 'Forgotten Empire' while on the run from several desperately chasing parties funded by her mother dearest; she had fallen into a space crack and teleported to an Immortal realm. At first those people appeared to have many peculiar customs, and peculiar habits for her, a person who had been a mortal for first two decades of her life.

She hadn't realized her bloodline and stepping into the immortal realm of that place was simply like stepping into the den of tigers. She had learned many things there. And quite naturally there were many life and death battles.

There was this one anecdotes of those time, which particularly stood out amongst the rest. What was it? Yes, a Buddhist relic. A Buddhist relic owned not by any demonic cultivator who had renounced his humanity, no, it was a disciple of one of the most reputable orthodox sects. This anecdote had left many wondering about the lower limits of human conscience.

Wei Zhiruo stared at the Buddhist relic with its unusual luster and solemn air. Her hands hadn't stopped forming seals even during her ponderings and wandering mind recalled back to the front of her mind the particular details.

'Yes, she remembered.' It was all the more the rage of the town at that time. Someone was found carrying a series of sacrifices. Mostly mortals and qi cultivators. But that wasn't the most peculiar thing about that sacrifice that made her remember it so clearly. It was the nature of that sacrifice, specifically the gruesomeness of it.

Wei Zhiruo finished her chanting and looked at the pond water. Her blood drops returned to her hand, one by one. Her hands settled down. It was going to be a big event. She really hadn't thought these people to lie so low in human morals. But it doesn't matter.

Her feet turned around to carry her back to her chambers. It was afternoon. What she had left traces of will need times to come to fruition.  She had done what she could carry out her sealing business. She wanted erase the last of the trace of the two creatures prowling in the dark, always at her feet, as if biding their time. Though she didn't know, nor wanted to, why they didn't attack her now – but she was thankful for this respite, she had hands tied with so many other businesses. 

*

Wei Zhiruo spent the next few hours inside her chamber. She was tinkering with her tiny little peach tree branch, folding many grasses and herbs she had found randomly in the garden, creating a little human-like figurine. When she was pretty satisfied with her work; she looked at the doll with grass head, arms and limbs floppily lying on her bed.

A sweet aroma of damp earth filtered through the windows inside the chamber inviting her attention. \

Sometimes Wei Zhiruo really didn't like to strive so hard in this life. She knew what she wanted– a hearth that would warm herself for the rest of the nights. She knew it all but how could she let these things go bye, slipping through her hands as if they were out of her reach. Reality was never out of her reach. She was never helpless or unaware of the solutions of some problems to simply raise her hands and give up. And even if there were those moments, she knew her conscience won't allow her to escape because she had that energy to burst and blow out. Till her death– once more, she won't find that peace in these lands.

She wanted to do many things. She wanted to walk freely under the sun, wash under its warmth and look at the sky without pondering the end of the matter, without finding any blemishes in the evenings, in the mornings. The blood will flow through her not as a tool to be exploited but just her organ. Her heart will pump, but never with the anxiety of falling short on her promises.

She wanted the sky, the valleys and the fresh green grass to know of her, and resound with her heart as it did with playful wind. She wanted to linger around only those crannies; not embroiled in disgusting greed of some human. But she knew for a fact she will never give up.

She took a deep breath and looked at the blackening sky. By now, her two little prowlers must have found their way into the enchantment array she casted beside the pond. She could deal with them all in one go.

"Screech! Screech…"

Wei Zhiruo smiled coldly. It might be not the right time, but she really wanted to crush this –

"Sister Yunxi! Will you come with me in the courtyard for a while? I wanted to show you what I have made. Look, it really turned out so pretty!"

"Coming!"

Oh yes. She had been planning to trick this piece of reserve meat with her along her journey. She couldn't leave her by any chance here to become someone's food, so this weight had to be carried by her whether willing or not. Sometime even she felt proud of her patience!

"Find me in the courtyard!"

*

Wei Zhiruo once more set out when she saw Yunxi hesitantly stealing her way from the backdoor. It was all on her now, how much provision she could arrange for the upcoming journey. Wei Zhiruo was really not quite sure whether the tender girl could really arrange it all without alarming anyone; and with that crying face too.

Her tiny steps took quite some while to reach the pavilion. She looked at the previously positioned cracked array, then at her own shining one above it, quite stably. There were two giant shadows of ignominious creatures huffing and snarling. A giant head with sticking yellow eyes– the one who was following Daiyu looked especially irked by its state right now. Wei Zhiruo waved her hands and a shield of blood like vapor stood between the creatures and her. She wasn't going to fall short on this step.

She didn't look into the eyes, even through the shield. She was observing the river monster which had appeared in front of her for the first time. Ugly, disgusting, dripping slime from its contorted body looking like an unformed frog with several limbs missing or at wrong places. The yellow eyed monster was comparatively well structured, huge, with thick skin and a face akin to something human. A cross between a human and a lizard. Very in line with their original nature.

The chaotic creatures she had previously observed were similar to these anamorphous creatures, but more clearly human then animal, unlike these two who looked like a cross between a lizard and a frog with humans.

If asked about their fighting ability, apart from cognitive pollution that came as a natural ability, they were natural illusionists with a knack of picking memories and altering its preys ego. These one's here must be quite well adapt in their animal forms attack habits. No long tails and tongues for her though, she had quite gladly restricted their movement. Though there were no chains binding them but many fine threads like ancient characters were gripping them tightly. This looks like they had been quite eager for her blood to fall so easily in the trap.

Wei Zhiruo walked closer to the newly formed array. Her blessings will take some while to work in awakening the world consciousness. Till then she could deal with these too.

Thinking of that Wei Zhiruo, gripped her palms tightly as if she was clutching something in her hands.

[Esomear] was casted, a well-known blood-spell which infiltrated the body of the prey, injecting a substance which catalyses' the internal organs into a substance similar to a wispy, flimsy threads of blood foams floating like spiritual energy. It was quite like the way a spider paralyzed its prey. Sucking the internal organs after waiting a while; there was no counter-attack. The immobilized enemy would never have the chance to say or do anything.

There was a great panicked shriek let out by the struggling lizard-like creature. Wei Zhiruo frowned a bit and simply tore apart a piece of her cloth and shoved a rolled piece into her ears. This would alarm many people. But she had already removed all sources of suspicion on herself – her puppet, very much alike her had already fallen sick on her bed. And her maid, quite distressed had simply took it upon herself after seeing there was no one to ask for aide and went out to invite a doctor. The doctor will indeed come, but something will happen in between and make Yunxi stray from her path and get lost in the town which she knew not much of. If she kept to the instructions, that is.

"[Eshkaur]" 

Wei Zhiruo once more commanded waving her hands and completely crushed the ugly lizard. The lizard bleated it's last breath of pain like a wraith, struggled like a fish out of water and finally broke out into millions of small wisps of light and melted away in the surrounding.

The frog like human faced water ghost though started struggling as if on the brink of losing complete control over its instincts. She wasn't going to give it any time. Soon the figure of the remaining creature also broke into many small wisps of white bead like lights and jingling into the water it too faded away. Wei Zhiruo recalled her last drop of blood from the enchanting array.

With this she could focus on the artifact with all her mind. That was the biggest of her headaches and she couldn't simply do away with it like those two creatures. She didn't have any earlier experience in this case.

She looked at the wooden palace through a layer of murky soiled water. Swaying lilies and lotuses seemed to have received some kind of boast and were close to maturing and shedding their flower petals into pods. Looks like she could still try to harvest some nice treat for the journey, if there was time.

Her attention was soon on the space that had finally emerged in the water. Should she recall the last drop of blood in the water? No, there was something red emerging from the steps in the water– it looks like she isn't alone here.

Yes, of course, there must be a noble soul who had sacrificed itself completely to appease the mound of agonized souls in the huge chambers, even now splayed in the torturous manner of their demise. How could there be no scapegoat to look after it all and take the karmic retribution? This cunning spell was really like a slippery loach, slipping through the boundaries of several world, even universes. Just like that one. In fact, the human greed was simply the same kind of matter whichever universe it happened to be. No surprise, no surprise then.

She finally saw the complete bedrock of this whole conspiracy. Here, in that ignorant face of the red wedding gown wearing woman, stepping gently down the stairs with her self so detached to the mortal self, taking tentative steps through the muddy water and flowing out in the open – in that figure she saw the traces of the past torment in wrinkled silhouettes gripping her skin, marking them dark inky blotches of pitiful struggles against a hand that had dragged it down the realms of hell once and now erased its last resemblance to itself – Wei Zhiruo lost the desire to call out. Her lips stretched in a taut, indifferent expression.

There might not be many innocent victims in this mortal realm, but she was always reminded that the cruelest thing that human greed did was to taint the innocence of their own tribe. She could never dare to understand this self-inflicted demise, running in this breed. Each epoch drowned in pain, in misery of incomprehensible hatred and greed.

She abhorred it with all her being. That's why she would never accept herself as a human ever. She hadn't in the past, even when she had been kept into shadows about her own lineage, and she will continue to do so till her last breath.

"Congratulations maiden, you have saved yourself from the grimmest part of the hell."

"You –you brought me here?"

"Just a while back I had been unaware of your existence, but it can be seen that you came out from the most unexpected corner of the world. Are you aware of your identity? Do you remember?" Wei Zhiruo didn't ask what she remembered because there was no need for a tool-man to keep anything worth, as a rule, since old.

"No, have we met before?"

"Perhaps, we did." Wei Zhiruo didn't deny. "You want your memories, I believe."

"You can do that too? Please –

There was a choking voice as a tear slipped from the eyes of the woman. She looked perplexed as tears trailed down her hollowed white cheeks. She looked like a wraith, drained away from any trace of human breath.

Wei Zhiruo recalled the last drop of blood floating in the water, which flew in between the two figure of one child and a woman. She stretched her hands towards the woman and took her hand and chanting her blessing, she infiltrated the consciousness of the woman, with her blood seeping into the woman's forehead.

The woman in read at first showed the agonized expression of being intruded then later as the barriers and seals in the mind came off one by one like locks falling off, setting a cloud of dust. She hurriedly retracted her hand as she clutched her head, chanting a series of 'no' through her bloodless lips. Pain, hell like agony teared through her being as she fell on her knees then completely let go of her being as her head pressed down on the ground.

There was a long silence stretching, as the sky darkened and the clouds bellowed. There were slight sparks in the air. The thunderous calamity sent by the heaven on spotting this wraith will descend soon. She will have no respite till she is erased from the face of the earth. Or she finds the strength to go against her destiny. So much karmic retribution, it was impossible to survive. Wei Zhiruo looked at the building up clouds and the thunder sparks as if warning of the emerging attack.

"You should be ready; the heavenly tribulation will begin soon. I can't help you with that, unfortunately."

"You are Wei…Wei Zhiruo right?" From amidst the broken glass like voice of deep agony and lamentation came a eager question, making Wei Zhiruo take another look at the woman.

"Oh, I see. They weren't successful in turning you into a complete wraith and merged you with some other human soul?"

"No, it's a gift from my niang. She had always loved me the most. Even when I gave her so many worries with my waywardness, even when the world wanted to erase the last of me, she stood between the heavens and saved a trace of myself in her body. She herself was blown away in the abyss. Say, my little sister, what did she, no, what did we ever do to deserve this fate?" The remembrance broke in convulsion, as the red wraith slowly raised herself from the ground.

"What sin was of my simple mother, that she died so horribly? Only I, only I brought this sad fate on her. Blame me sister, blame me for all that was brought on that gentlest of souls!"

"Mother wouldn't have done less if she didn't love you, Wei Cuihua. Prove her sacrifice with your life. Don't fall."

"I was the designed noble soul, you know, to keep all these ignominious creatures down in hell, I had this fate dictated at birth by those oracles. But my mother won't let me, when she knew, she broke down the hell gate to bring me out in my last breath– we were so close to escaping, so close. But you know it was all a lie! Someone wanted to watch our last struggle, enjoy it with its heartless eyes. What absolute horror was that night, my sweet sister, she was dragging me, a tattered body, trying to wade through spikes and burning coals, all the world's tribulations."

"Mother Jiang died one step earlier, and they couldn't do the sacrifice as accorded. She was gone. I turned into a wraith, a hateful wraith that I had no business turning into. There was no one binding me from death then. I could have gone after her after my revenge, after I had drained their blood – but they, but they still broke me down, clutched me down like an animal and bled me and prayed and I was to attach the last remnant of sane self with my mother's soulless body, becoming this being knowing nothing sleeping inside my mother's body forever under someone else's control, taking the enemy as the savior. They said so many horrible things they would do with her. Tell me sister, what else could I had done? What else could I do then weep and escape into oblivion!"

There was no response, but the growing thunder strikes and some hurried footsteps of Wei family members. At last, they had found this place.

"They live, and your death is certain. I can give you a respite, if you prove yourself worth it. A way to revenge all the humiliations." Wei Zhiruo spoke like a silent sigh. A force broke out from her hands as it shielded the two figures from general view. "Prove you can live through this." Her eyes didn't look at the kneeling figure but at the sky brimming with the rage of the world.