Chapter 51: The Sun Woman
The firelight flickered within the cave, casting its glow on the face of an old man holding a strangely shaped dagger. Paired with the bloodstained stone platform, the cave felt eerie and terrifying.
This should have been a scene of gloom and horror, but if one looked to the other side of the cave, they would find the atmosphere had become polarized.
Su Xiao frowned deeply as he watched Old Bal. This old fellow had been muttering to himself for over half an hour, putting on the airs of a divine stick, pacing around the stone platform while chanting incessantly.
The young man on the stone platform had a pale face, whether from fear or the inferior anesthetic.
"Bal, how much longer?"
Old Bal, who had been gesticulating wildly, stopped and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Soon."
After resting for a moment, Old Bal resumed circling the arm-broken youth.
"Ka baba, Noisen (unknown language)."
Old Bal raised both hands high, one holding a circular dagger and the other a half-moon-shaped dagger, representing the sun and moon respectively.
Clink.
The moon-shaped dagger was thrown to the ground by Old Bal. After hitting the floor, it bounced up, its tip touching the ground, and stood upright.
A peculiar wave of energy spread from Old Bal. Su Xiao instinctively gripped his sword hilt.
At that moment, Old Bal's aura was strange, as if he had split from one person into two.
"Atemai... (unknown language)."
After chanting a long string of 'incantations,' Old Bal's eyes, which had turned white, returned to normal, and the strange aura dissipated.
Su Xiao released his sword hilt. Old Bal hadn't been pretending to be a divine stick; he was indeed performing some kind of ritual.
Crack, crack, crack.
Blood-red vines sprouted from the stone platform beneath the youth, gradually burrowing into his body.
Old Bal placed his hand on the youth's forehead, muttering under his breath. After droning on for over ten minutes, he raised the circular-bladed dagger in his hand.
The dagger was exceptionally sharp. A light touch on the youth's skin drew a trace of blood.
Old Bal dipped his finger in the blood and drew a line from top to bottom on the youth's chest.
Su Xiao finally understood what Old Bal was about to do: he was going to cut the youth open.
And indeed, that was the case. Old Bal used the circular dagger to slice through the skin and muscle of the youth's chest, then forcibly pried open the ribs.
Thump, thump, thump.
The beating heart was exposed to the air. Under normal circumstances, in a cave like this, the youth would die from massive blood loss if not from bacterial infection.
The blood-red vines sprouting from the stone platform played a crucial role. These vines clung to the youth's wounds, connecting to his blood vessels with varying thicknesses, forming an external circulatory system.
Thump, thump, thump...
The youth's heart beat faster and faster, his body temperature gradually rising.
Old Bal wiped the blood from his hands and held them over the fire to roast.
With a body temperature capable of reaching 200 degrees, Old Bal had strong heat resistance. He kept his hands over the flames for over ten seconds before pulling them away, likely for sterilization.
Indeed, the Yasenman tribe had no disinfectants or the like, so they used fire to sterilize.
Old Bal untied a small pouch from his waist and took out a Primordial Seed and a Soul Crystal.
Clutching the Primordial Seed in his palm, the temperature of his hand gradually increased.
Crack, crack, crack.
Several plant roots sprouted from between Old Bal's fingers. The Primordial Seed had actually grown roots in his hand.
Old Bal closed his eyes, controlling the germination process. After a long while, he opened his eyes.
He placed the now-rooted seed into the youth's chest cavity. After hesitating for a few seconds, Old Bal reluctantly placed the Soul Crystal (Medium) inside the youth's body.
As soon as the Primordial Seed was placed inside, the anesthetized youth suddenly opened his eyes. Golden flames flickered within them, and his arm faintly showed signs of lifting.
Su Xiao thought this was normal, but Old Bal was so startled he stumbled back repeatedly.
"What? Is this situation unusual?"
Su Xiao also became alert.
"Of course it's unusual. No one can lift their arm after being anesthetized by Yashen tree resin. I've performed this ritual hundreds of times, and this has never happened."
Old Bal retreated to the side, watching the youth warily.
The 'youth' sat up, looking down at the Primordial Seed in his chest cavity.
"Oh? Still this crude, primitive method. The same method as the Sun Tribe."
The 'youth's' appearance began to change. Before long, both features and physique transformed into those of a woman.
The woman appeared to be in her twenties. She wasn't particularly beautiful, nor ugly—just ordinary.
"It seems the void race 'Yasenman Tribe' isn't much either, equally assimilated by this island."
The vines within the stone platform grew wildly. The stone platform, thousands of years old, was covered in large cracks. Old Bal's eyes bulged in shock.
Boom!
The stone platform shattered. Vines surged out, gradually forming a throne of vines.
The woman sat on the vine throne. A thin, blood-red vine climbed to her chest, stitching up the terrifying wound.
"My priest, you brought an outsider to the sacred ground and performed the ritual in front of him. Have you forgotten the contract between your ancestors and me?"
Golden flames flickered in the woman's eyes, like the fire of the sun.
"Who... who are you?"
Old Bal's lips trembled, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Who am I? A foolish question. You use my power to fight, yet you ask who I am."
The woman looked at Old Bal, her gaze like that of someone watching an ant.
Old Bal swallowed hard and asked tentatively, "Blood Vine Mother?"
Hearing Old Bal's address, the woman shook her head.
"I hate that foolish title. You should address me as the Sun Woman, the incarnation of the sun."
"Heh~."
A cold laugh rang out. Hearing this laugh, the Sun Woman's gaze turned gloomy.
"We meet again, you madman of the Law Destruction. But what are you laughing at?"
The Sun Woman stared coldly at Su Xiao.
"I just find it ridiculous. A mere plant dares to call itself the incarnation of the sun. The sun's surface is about 6,000 degrees. Compared to the sun, I only see your insignificance."
Su Xiao nudged Bubu Wang and gave him a look, roughly meaning: be ready to run if things go wrong. Bubu Wang returned a look: 'Already prepared.'
Having witnessed the ritual, Su Xiao had completed the first part of his hidden mission and could withdraw at any time.
Golden flames ignited on the Sun Woman's body as she looked Su Xiao up and down.
"What you say might have some truth, but I've never seen a Law Destruction Shadow as weak as you."
Su Xiao didn't care about this heavily sarcastic remark. Although she wasn't the incarnation of the sun, her strength was indeed formidable.
As for the secrets of the Yasenman tribe, Su Xiao now understood them all.
The Yasenman tribe originally came from the void. They were dispatched by a king in the void to guard something on Devourer Island.
After arriving on Devourer Island, the Yasenman tribe discovered a miraculous plant in the red soil region—the Sun Woman, also known as the Blood Vine.
This vine was enormous, sprawling throughout the underground of the red soil region. The red soil of that area was formed because of it.