Sludge suction system

Amidst the lotus-like radiance of the mass grave, the air suddenly rippled with the eerie blue hue unique to blood jade. Sang Xuan's figure solidified as if pieced together from shattered jade fragments. His skull still bore cracks, but the swarm of blood jade insects within had transformed into crystalline specks of light, coalescing at his fingertips into a deformed blood lotus.

“Yuan family girl, you really didn’t disappoint me.” His laughter mingled with the rumble of gears turning backward, and the lotus altar beneath his feet began to grow in reverse, with purplish-black spiritual liquid seeping from the edges of the petals. “Awaken the core of the Wusheng Temple with pure good bloodline, and then purify the old bones with spirit deer blood lotus seeds—unfortunately, you don’t know that the ‘rebirth’ of this altar is always just a prelude to giving the old bones a new shell.”

Yuan Xiangya's light suddenly contracted within the lotus heart. Gazing at the blood-red jade seed between Sang Xuan's fingertips and the lotus seed, she finally saw the sinister glint in his eyes—a fanaticism for "immortality" that had existed since the blood sacrifice three hundred years ago. "You...you weren't completely annihilated!"

"Soul scattered?" Sang Xuan raised his hand to stroke his crumbling skull, and the swarm of blood jade insects automatically repaired the cracks. "I had long ago divided my soul into sixteen parts, hiding them in the bones and blood of each generation of jade beings. The 'Release' spell you activated just now was merely piecing them back together for me—"

The lotus altar suddenly trembled violently, and the lotus veins of the sixteen jade skeletons simultaneously turned black. Yuan Xiangya's light spot was forcibly pulled out of the lotus heart and shattered into countless fragments in the air. Qian Wanguan saw in horror that those fragments were absorbed by the blood jade seed at Sang Xuan's fingertip. With each piece absorbed, the "Xuan" character incantation on the seed shell became clearer.

“Back then, when the mute servant hid the Spirit Deer Blood Lotus Seed in your birthmark, I knew that preserving the Yuan family bloodline was a brilliant move.” Sang Xuan’s figure gradually solidified, and beneath the robe that had shed the aura of decaying jade, he was actually wearing the priest’s robe that the first generation of jade people wore. “Now that the Wusheng Temple has been reborn, the old bones of the dragon turtle need a new vessel—and you are the best nourishment.”

Blood rained down in the mass grave, staining Yuan Xiangya's pristine white robes crimson, making her resemble a lotus flower soaked in blood. Sang Xuan's gilded silver hairpin pierced her right shoulder, pinning her to the taotie pattern in the center of the blood jade altar. The lotus pattern on the hairpin's tip greedily sucked her blood, transforming into sixteen blood streaks that flew towards the jade-like corpse in the air. Her lotus birthmark was fading, replaced by the "Xuan" character incantation carved by Sang Xuan with spiritual liquid, resembling a venomous snake coiled above her heart.

"Does it hurt?" Sang Xuan pinched her chin with his fingertips, forcing her to look at Qian Wanguan, who was being devoured by the blood jade worms. "Your father traded thirty years of his lifespan for you to live as bait, and Qian Wanguan used the bones and blood of sixteen generations of jade beauties to pave his career, and you—" He twisted the silver hairpin sharply, "are nothing more than a drop of blood on the road to the rebirth of old bones."

Black blood welled up in Yuan Xiangya's throat, but when she saw the lotus pendant on Qian Wanguan's wrist, she suddenly smiled. It was a gift he gave her for her sixteenth birthday. At that time, he was still a boy doing odd jobs in the jade market, squatting by the lotus pond all night to carve that crooked lotus flower. "So... you've been wearing it all this time." Her voice was as light as a feather, yet it drowned out the hissing of the blood jade insects.

Qian Wanguan's jade-like hand reached out to her in vain, the chains scraping against the stone wall and sparking. He saw her gaze fall on his palm, where the lotus pendant faintly reflected light—the dead jade on the pendant seemed to come alive in her blood-red light, revealing the character "雅" (elegant) carved on the inside, which he had secretly added before he became rich.

"Stop struggling." Blood beads clung to Yuan Xiangya's eyelashes, turning into specks of light as she fell. "Remember the bottom of the lotus pond..." Before she could finish speaking, Sang Xuan's other hand pierced through her chest, his palm tightly gripping the withering lotus birthmark.

The sixteen jade-like corpses simultaneously emitted shrill screams, and Yuan Xiangya's blood gathered into blood-jade spheres in their palms, each sphere reflecting Sang Xuan's crazed face. She felt her soul being torn apart, yet within the fragments she saw her father's smiling face—he stood by the lotus pond, holding freshly picked lotus pods in his hands, sunlight filtering through the lotus leaves, weaving a transparent net of light behind him.

The blood rain from the mass grave soaked through Qian Wanguan's official robes. He watched as Yuan Xiangya's body fell like shattered glass towards the blood jade altar, a choked sob escaping his throat. Sang Xuan's silver hairpin pierced the lotus birthmark on her heart, the purplish-black jade poison spreading along the hairpin, absorbing her last bit of blood, leaving only bluish-gray cursed patterns blooming on her skin like withered flowers.

“The spirit deer blood of the Yuan family lineage…it turns out it only manifests when one is on the verge of death.” Sang Xuan pinched the shimmering blue blood bead seeping from her wrist with his fingertips. The blood bead transformed into sixteen blood jade insects in his palm, each insect's body engraved with the character “Xuan”. “How happy the old bones of the dragon tortoise would be to use your blood to nourish these sixteen containers.”

Sixteen jade-like skeletons rose anew amidst the rain of blood, their empty eye sockets turned toward Yuan Xiangya's corpse, the character "解" (jie, meaning "unravel") on their palms blurred into indistinct bloodstains by Sang Xuan's spiritual liquid. Qian Wanguan, suspended in the center of the altar by blood-jade chains, watched helplessly as his wife's blood was channeled into the heart of the skeleton. The once-purified spiritual bones emitted a teeth-grinding cracking sound once more, and were covered anew with bluish-green spots resembling decayed jade.

“Qian Wanguan, look at this jade beauty.” Sang Xuan raised his hand and waved it toward the nearest skeleton. The body that once belonged to A Yan turned its head, and Sang Xuan’s eerie green pupils flickered deep in the eye sockets. “The lotus pendant you gave her, I changed into a soul-locking bell—with every step she takes, it is singing a soul-summoning song for me.”

Qian Wanguan's gaze fell on the silver bell on A Yan's wrist. Through the crack in the bell, the character "Yan" that he had carved years ago could be faintly seen. The swarm of blood jade insects crawled into his ear canal, and he suddenly heard countless tiny sounds exploding in his mind, all of them Gu curses woven by Sang Xuan using the souls of sixteen generations of jade figures.

Sang Xuan (his voice seeped from every crevice of his bones): Go to the summit of Kunlun Mountain and retrieve Sang Yu's tortoise shell.

Qian Wanguan (responding uncontrollably from his throat): ...As you command.

Yuan Xiangya's body was thrown into the blood pool beneath the altar. Qian Wanguan's last sight was in her hair, where his father's finger bone was sinking into the bloody mud. In the instant the finger bone cracked, he seemed to see a lotus seed hidden inside—their only hope, which had turned to dust at the sole of Sang Xuan's boot.

"Remember, don't keep me waiting too long." Sang Xuan's figure blurred in the blood mist, and the jade-like corpses began to kowtow in unison. "The new shell of the old dragon turtle bones cannot be without Sang Yu's tortoise shell... and your soul."

The snowstorm swept through the mass grave once more. Qian Wanguan's jade-like hand was pierced by chains, yet he felt no pain. He mechanically stood up; the gilded xiezhi pattern on his official robes had been corroded by the blood jade into a ferocious taotie, and the pixiu waist pendant at his waist seeped spiritual liquid, leaving a winding trail of blood on the snow. As he passed Ayan's grave, he heard the soft ringing of bells, a sound mingled with Yuan Xiangya's sighs, but it was shattered into pieces by the curse in his mind.

Amidst the clouds atop Kunlun Mountain, Sang Yu's tortoise shell glowed on the altar. Qian Wanguan touched his heart, where Yuan Xiangya's lotus mark should have been, but now only the character "Xuan" carved by Sang Xuan remained. He knew that the moment the tortoise shell fell into Sang Xuan's hands, the sixteen jade vessel sets would be fully formed, and he would become the first key for old bones to devour new souls.

"Xiangya, I'm sorry..." His voice was torn apart by the wind and snow, his jade-like pupils reflecting the blood-red light from the direction of the altar, "In the end, I still couldn't protect you, I couldn't protect you..."

Before he could finish speaking, the curse in his mind suddenly took effect. Qian Wanguan staggered and grabbed a tree for support, only to find half a piece of blood jade nailed to the trunk—a fragment of Yuan Xiangya's peace lock. What was protruding from the lock's core was not a finger bone, but a scroll of paper written with lotus dew. He trembled as he unfolded the scroll and saw only seven words on it: "There is life at the bottom of the lotus pond."

The swarm of blood-jade insects hissed in his mind, but could not drown out the sound of his heartbeat. Qian Wanguan gripped the fragment tightly, and suddenly remembered the lotus pot in his old residence in Yangzhou—could the broken stele with the character "解" at the bottom of the pot be the life force that Yuan Xiangya had mentioned? He turned to look at the mass grave. Sang Xuan's blood-jade altar was rising, and sixteen jade human skeletons were holding Yuan Xiangya's remains, heading towards the giant mouth of the old dragon turtle skeleton.

"Even if I only have one breath left..." He touched the spirit deer blood pouch at his waist, which Yuan Xiangya had given him before she died, "I still want to show you that the blood of our Yuan family has never been used to raise Gu."

Amidst the howling wind and snow, Qian Wanguan rushed towards his old residence in Yangzhou. His jade-like feet shattered the ice and snow, yet with each step, they left pale blue lotus imprints on the snow—the last resistance left in his body by Yuan Xiangya's blood, and the only faint yet unwavering light that could pierce Sang Xuan's lies three hundred years later.