Chapter 1125: The Invocation Ritual

Rustle—

Amidst a stinging sensation of being dragged by his back, Jian Changsheng opened his eyes hazily.

The first thing that came into view was a gray, dark sky. A hand with dark yellow, long fingernails was dragging his collar, moving him bit by bit toward a certain direction. On both sides were low, crude houses, which at first glance gave one the illusion of having traveled back to ancient times.

Jian Changsheng was stunned for several seconds before he came to his senses. He turned his head violently to look behind him, only to see several figures in red robes dragging them like dead pigs toward a bonfire not far away.

"Jiangtian Sect?!"

Jian Changsheng's heart skipped a beat. He instinctively kicked the ground for leverage, backhanded his way out of the Jiangtian Sect member's grip, and landed steadily on the ground.

He scanned Sun Bumian, Jiang Xiaohua, and Square J, who were also unconscious, and his heart sank to the bottom...

Jian Changsheng remembered. They had encountered an attack by the Jiangtian Sect, and he hadn't even lasted two rounds in the hands of that red-robed Bishop. Now, red-robed figures were everywhere; they had probably been brought to the Jiangtian Sect's lair!

"...Damn it."

Even so, Jian Changsheng couldn't just stand by and watch Sun Bumian and the others die. Without a word, he rushed forward to kill the two Jiangtian Sect members who were dragging the others!

Jian Changsheng's sudden awakening startled the Jiangtian Sect members. Then, seeing Jian Changsheng rushing straight toward them, their expressions became somewhat subtle.

Not far from the crowd, the burning bonfire flickered slightly, and the Shura killing intent Jian Changsheng had just gathered was shaken and scattered. His Divine Path seemed to be obscured by some power, and he couldn't use any ability at all.

The two Jiangtian Sect members nearby moved simultaneously. One grabbed one of Jian Changsheng's arms, and then they both tripped his lower legs. Under the terrifying force, Jian Changsheng lost his balance and crashed heavily to the ground!

At the same time, another red-robed Bishop stepped forward slowly, placing a foot on Jian Changsheng's chest, suppressing his body like a rock. Then, he took a thick stone chain from the side and tied Jian Changsheng's hands and feet tightly, making him look like a hog-tied pig from afar.

Jian Changsheng's chest heaved violently, feeling both humiliated and angry, and he couldn't help but curse:

"Damn it, if you have the guts, unlock my Divine Path! Let's have a fair fight!!"

The red-robed Bishop glanced at him without speaking, instead kicking him casually like a ball, sending him flying dozens of meters to crash heavily against the stone mound around the bonfire, shaking Jian Changsheng into spitting out a mouthful of blood.

After doing all this, the red-robed Bishop dusted off his hands and turned to leave.

"Unlock your Divine Path? Where do you think you are?" A Jiangtian Sect member walked up and sneered. "This is the dojo of the Supreme Jiangtian Savior... You, and the corner of civilization you control, are worthless."

As he spoke, Sun Bumian and the others were also hog-tied with stone locks and imprisoned around the bonfire with Jian Changsheng, unconscious.

Jian Changsheng stared fixedly at these Jiangtian Sect members, wishing he could swallow them alive.

After locking Jian Changsheng and the others up, these Jiangtian Sect members dispersed and entered the surrounding houses to busy themselves with their own affairs. Since the village wasn't large and the bonfire was in the central area, there was no need to leave anyone to watch them; just opening a window and glancing here was enough to see everything.

Jian Changsheng tried to break free from the heavy stone locks on his body, but with his Divine Path disabled, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free, only emitting dull clanking sounds.

"Don't waste your effort, you can't open them." Sun Bumian's voice came from the side.

Jian Changsheng was stunned, only then noticing that Sun Bumian had already opened his eyes and was looking around.

"When did you wake up?"

"Just now, when you were getting beaten up."

"…And you just watched??"

"What else could I do? Jump up and get beaten up with you?" Sun Bumian answered righteously. "This is the Jiangtian Sect's territory, and Divine Paths are interfered with. You're thick-skinned enough to take a few hits, but I can't handle it."

Jian Changsheng: ...

With the clanking of stone locks, Jiang Xiaohua, on the other side of Jian Changsheng, silently curled into a ball, his eyes looking at the ground beneath his feet, his hollow gaze filled with a longing to be buried.

"You're awake too??"

"...I never fainted."

“？”

"I saw you all fall, so I couldn't be bothered to fight," Jiang Xiaohua said gloomily.

Jian Changsheng was speechless for a moment. It turned out that these people were all awake and just watched him get beaten up... The key was that the beating was useless and only made him look stupid.

"Where's Square J?"

"Don't know, he hasn't had any movement."

The three looked to their side, only to see a lump of plant matter of unknown origin lying limply at the edge of the stone mound. No matter how Jian Changsheng called out, there was no movement, as if it were dead.

"...That shouldn't be. No matter what, he's a senior; he shouldn't have died so carelessly, right?" Jian Changsheng was baffled.

"I'm not dead."

A voice echoed in the ears of all three simultaneously.

Jian Changsheng was stunned, subconsciously turning his head to find the source of the voice, but he didn't see anyone... Even Square J's body remained lying on the ground, motionless.

It wasn't until Jiang Xiaohua let out a soft "huh" that they noticed a fresh green sprout had grown from a crack in the earth behind them at some point.

"How did you turn into grass?!" Jian Changsheng's eyes widened in shock.

"...This is just a part of my body; my main body isn't here." Square J's voice sounded somewhat speechless. "Don't look here. If that group of Jiangtian Sect members finds out, it'll be troublesome."

Jian Changsheng and the others immediately looked away, pretending to admire the primitive village scenery as if nothing were wrong.

"Listen to me carefully. The situation is a bit troublesome now... If nothing goes wrong, we should have been dragged into the Jiangtian Sect's sacrificial ritual."

"Sacrificial ritual?"

"The Jiangtian Sect worships the Red Star. While obtaining power from the Red Star, they offer sacrifices to it. These sacrifices are usually not fixed; they can be people, beasts, or even the plants or stones of Earth... The sacrifice is not for the traditional sense of offering, but to transmit coordinates to the Red Star."

"What coordinates?"

"Earth's coordinates." Square J paused for a moment. "Therefore, the sacrifice is not limited to any fixed thing; as long as it's a specialty from Earth, it's fine... In the Jiangtian Sect's philosophy, this is an important ritual to summon the Red Star, so it is conducted periodically in many places, and at least one Bishop-level figure will be sent to oversee it.

However, I don't know why they dispatched an Archbishop and two Bishops this time... to such a remote village."