An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 42 Blood Moon Ritual

"Blood Moon Ritual!"

Chu Xiu felt a chill run down his spine. His intuition was right; an unexpected turn of events would occur when the Blood Moon was at its full glory!
He focused intently on sensing the information in his mind.

Blood Moon Ritual

[Time: One hour]

[Rule 1: During the ritual, the positions of all creatures will be marked by the Blood Moon, and those who hold the mark can sense each other within a certain range.]

Rule 2: Killing any creature will earn points, the amount of which is determined by the strength of the creature killed, and all creatures within the ritual's range will be ranked according to their points.

[Environment: Abyssal creatures illuminated by the Blood Moon gain +50% Strength, +300% Health Regeneration, +300% Fighting Spirit, and -70% Pain Perception. Killing them grants +100% experience, and experience is also gained from killing other abyssal creatures.]

[Reward: The top 1,000 creatures on the leaderboard will receive the reward of the Boundless Blood Pool]

As the notification panel appeared, the blood moon hanging high in the dome suddenly extended its bewitching red light outwards from itself, like countless blood-red tentacles.

Stimulated by the blood-red light, the ghouls' skin turned a strange red, and they roared to the sky, their already ferocious eyes becoming even more crazed!

Suddenly, a ghoul turned its head and bit the neck of another ghoul next to it!

Immediately afterwards, as if a chaotic war had broken out, the ghouls below began to attack each other indiscriminately!
But these are only the lowest-level ghouls. The higher-level ghouls seem to have retained their rationality. They immediately left the center of the battle and hunted their lower-level kin in their own way, accumulating points.

At the same time, Chu Xiu could feel that his body was also illuminated by the blood light. Although he was not given a berserk buff like those corpse demons, a sense of heat rose in his heart, as if the killing desire from human instinct had been aroused, and he couldn't wait to step into the arena to fight!

At the same time, he gained a strange sensory ability—he could vaguely sense life in his vicinity.

Chu Xiu's heart stirred slightly: "Is this the effect of the Blood Moon Ritual?"

He knew that this perception was two-way; in other words, while he was hunting other creatures, he was also being hunted!

Taking a deep breath and suppressing the restlessness within him, he began to quickly observe the situation.

The area below is currently in a state of great chaos.

However, Chu Xiu noticed that as the number of ghouls decreased, the number of high-level ghouls that evolved increased, and more and more ghouls began to retain some of their sanity under the influence of the Blood Moon.

They began to conceal themselves, choosing more advantageous battlegrounds, like seasoned hunters, to complete their hunt in this chaotic, blood-red world.

In fact, quite a few ghouls have already begun entering the apartment building and moving towards where everyone is!

This activity was quickly noticed by others.

Everyone in the stronghold ran out, their faces turning deathly pale as they stared at the horrific scene below!

The trial will end tomorrow and we can go home. Nobody wants to die here!
Especially those support classes, who have no combat ability, were so frightened that they could barely stand.

"I will never go back into the abyss again after I go back. I don't want to die now." Xu Hang was almost crying.

For them, with their awakened skills, even if they never enter the Abyss, they could easily become highly skilled technicians, earning tens of thousands of yuan a month, and might even be able to enter the inner city! In other words, they were only one night away from a better life!
"Stop arguing, everyone, back to the base!" Shen Zhuo shouted, silencing the terrified crowd. "Don't worry, no one will die tonight!"

His voice was trembling, but as if they had found their pillar of support, everyone retreated back into their rooms at the base.

That room was quite special. It was already quite spacious, and over time it had been continuously reinforced by everyone, making it resemble a safe house. Holding it would provide a significant terrain advantage.

After giving the order, Shen Zhuo looked at Chu Xiu: "At a time like this, aren't you coming with us? You were attacked by a ghoul before, right? You should know how terrifying a high-level ghoul is! That's a force that no one can defeat alone!"

Chu Xiu chuckled: "How would you know if you don't try? As for you, you have such good equipment, but don't you want to try to obtain the reward of the ritual?"

"You—" Shen Zhuo's eyes widened, "You're still thinking about the reward?"

But he quickly realized: "Chu Xiu, you must have misunderstood. The so-called top 1,000 in the ritual does not refer to the top 1,000 awakened individuals, but to the top 1,000 of all creatures in this city!"

Unexpectedly, Chu Xiu simply replied indifferently, "Oh, so what?"

"So...?" Shen Zhuo was momentarily speechless.

He took a deep breath and said, "I don't know if you've assessed just how big this city is. I've stood on the rooftop and looked out; even at 33 stories high, I couldn't see the other side of the city." "And within just one kilometer of our surroundings, we've found at least six warrior-level creatures! Not to mention how many more are hidden underground!"

"Based on this estimate, there are probably over a thousand warrior-level monsters alone! Isn't it a pipe dream to think you can get over a thousand?"

"Chu Xiu, I don't want you to die out there because of a moment of impulsiveness. Come with us. We'll come back to this world after the trial is over, and then we'll explore it with even better preparation!"

Shen Zhuo extended his hand, his face full of sincerity.

Chu Xiu fell silent for a moment.

After a long pause, he said, "Shen Zhuo, you are a good person."

"However, I still maintain that I have my own strategy."

"You," Shen Zhuo shook his head with a wry smile and sighed, "Alright, if you change your mind, come find me, just... don't attract the monsters here."

Having said that, he stopped trying to persuade him and returned to the base.

With a loud bang, the heavy iron door slammed shut.

Chu Xiu stood outside the house, took a deep breath, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"I didn't expect Shen Zhuo to be so saintly, he's a bit like Qingshan. I thought he was a hypocrite before."

"The Holy Mother is great! I love the Holy Mother the most. She's harmless and easy to manipulate."

It is in times of crisis that one's true colors are revealed.

Shen Zhuo didn't forget to pull him up again at this moment. Although he might have thought that there was strength in numbers, it also reflects part of his nature.

"Unfortunately, I really wanted to see what this so-called Blood Moon Reward was all about."

He has now mastered all the inheritances and is at his strongest in the short term, with strength far exceeding that of his peers.

Hiding in this situation would be such a waste!
"Moreover, there is still a chance of being rewarded."

He naturally had a rough estimate of the place, and because of his high attributes and larger exploration range, Chu Xiu's estimate was more accurate and detailed than Shen Zhuo's.

"The number of warrior-level creatures here is not just possibly more than a thousand, but absolutely more than a thousand!"

"However, since warriors also kill each other, the number of creatures that survive will be greatly reduced, so my chances are not low."

Of course, Chu Xiu's adventure was not driven by greed like a gambler without any preparation, but rather by careful observation and analysis.

The most important reason that prompted him to make this choice was—

"This Blood Moon Ritual is practically a killing field tailor-made for me!"

During this time, he wasn't just staring blankly at the scene of the ghouls fighting below, but was carefully analyzing the ghouls' behavior.

He discovered that once ghouls escaped their frenzied state, they preferred to hunt "non-human" creatures, while among their own kind, they tended to "cooperatively hunt."

These awakened ones are the best prey. He could clearly sense that a large number of ghouls were rushing towards the top floor!

At the same time, due to the experience decay mechanism in the abyss, these ghouls rarely waste time killing creatures more than three levels below their own level.

This is easy to understand. When Chu Xiu was level 1, a black-haired ghoul could give him 60 experience points, but when he reached level 5, it dropped sharply to 10 points.

Combining the two points above, the human stronghold on the top floor of the apartment building became a perfect bait to lure monsters!
It can attract a large number of ghouls without provoking high-level creatures.

This is simply a perfect killing field bestowed by heaven!

In this situation, even without the rewards of the Blood Moon Ritual, he would have every reason to take the risk just for the extra 100% experience!
"Not to mention—positional warfare is my specialty!"

Chu Xiu smiled and waved his hand, setting up the Bone Blood Devouring Array on the spot!
(End of this chapter)