Chapter 616: Indiscriminate Attraction

"Wang Jincheng, why are you here?"

A voice came from the distance. Wang Jincheng turned to look and saw a figure in a black-and-white spotted top standing there, his eyes full of surprise.

Wang Jincheng had seen this person before. Last time, he and two other Hall Masters participated in the encirclement and suppression of "Spade 6" and "Heart 9," winning in a near-crushing manner.

Eighth Hall Master, Yang Muquan.

"I received your request for reinforcements, so I came over." Wang Jincheng smiled weakly.

"You’re so heavily injured, why are you running around?" Yang Muquan frowned immediately. "Our Floating Life Painting people are already on their way here. Don't push yourself in your state; just stay on the sidelines."

Wang Jincheng looked behind him. Indeed, three or four members of the Floating Life Painting had already arrived, but because the Gray Realm intersection area was too large, others might be further away and would need time to arrive.

At this moment, these people were surrounding a semi-ruined site, standing on the roofs of several taller buildings, looking toward the distance with heavy expressions... In that direction, dozens of figures in red robes were gathered together, and a giant ring drawn in blood emitted a nauseating aura.

"This is... the Beidou Consortium?" Wang Jincheng looked at the place where those people were and suddenly felt it looked familiar.

Although most of the buildings here had been reduced to ruins, Wang Jincheng had come here to attend a birthday banquet not long ago, so he naturally recognized it. Was it a coincidence that these Jiangtian cultists chose the Beidou Consortium as their gathering place, or...

"Right." Yang Muquan said in a deep voice. "We had people patrol here before. Logically, such a large-scale gathering of Jiangtian cultists would inevitably trigger severe civilization regression and be easily discovered... But I’ve passed by here several times before and didn't find anything unusual.

I suspect they must have been hiding deep underground, which is why their aura didn't affect the surrounding environment. It’s just that now they are attempting an 'apocalypse'-level summoning ritual, so they’ve returned to the surface."

Wang Jincheng’s eyes narrowed, and he said coldly:

"In that case, that old bastard Mu Chunsheng is also involved in this."

"Now is not the time to pursue that... The Jiangtian Sect’s ritual has already begun. If we don't find a way to stop them, and they really summon the [Breath] disaster, the entire Red Dust Realm is finished."

"Then what should we do now?"

"We can only force our way in before they complete the ritual."

"Can we force our way in?" Wang Jincheng frowned tightly. "There are too many of them gathered, and there are two bishops sitting in command. Even from this far away, I can feel my Divine Path skills starting to go out of control. If we get any closer, I’m worried..."

"There’s no other way. Are we just going to stand here and watch them complete the ritual? As long as we can get close to them, even if we can't kill them all, reducing their numbers is better than nothing..."

Wang Jincheng opened his mouth but didn't know how to refute.

At the same time,

Above the ruins of the Beidou Consortium, dense crowds of Jiangtian cultists were gathered together. Everyone’s position seemed to have been strictly adjusted; viewed from above, it looked like a giant red circle.

Two red-robed figures stood in the center of the circle, one pointing to the sky, the other to the earth. Their mouths, full of fangs, were wide open, panting in the sighing wind.

"HUFF HUFF HUFF!!!"

This seemingly meaningless panting sounded like a signal to the other Jiangtian cultists. They simultaneously drew sharp short blades from their waists and slashed a bloody wound on each of their wrists.

Dripping blood flowed from their wrists, staining everyone’s hands blood-red, rolling down their fingertips to the ground. The blood of dozens of people merged together, like a sea of blood spreading in all directions...

The Jiangtian cultists surrounding the two bishops simultaneously knelt and prostrated on the ground, their palms and foreheads completely submerged in the pool of blood, praying in low voices like devout believers:

"Supreme Jiangtian Savior... Supreme Jiangtian Savior... Supreme Jiangtian Savior..."

……

"Huh?"

Not far from the Beidou Consortium, the Jack of Clubs seemed to sense something and turned to look in this direction.

"What? Did you find the way?" Heart 9, who was looking miserable, felt a glimmer of hope ignite in his heart.

"...No, but it seems quite lively over there."

"Lively? How lively?"

Before Heart 9 could finish speaking, he saw a wisp of faint, almost invisible red smoke rising slowly into the sky from that direction, and an indescribable sense of oppression struck from afar.

Heart 9 had never felt such an aura. Under that red smoke, the Divine Path within him seemed to be teetering on the edge.

"That is..."

"Want to go take a look?"

"Let’s go!"

Heart 9 nodded without hesitation, thinking that since they didn't know the way anyway, going to watch the excitement might be good. What if they ran into someone they knew, or recognized the way around there?

As the two approached the Beidou Consortium at high speed, a sea of blood slowly outlined itself before their eyes.

Scarlet figures rose and fell in the sea of blood, kneeling and worshipping. The sound of devout chanting resounded through the sky, and the aura that made Heart 9 feel so oppressed drifted from the blood of these people. After merging with each other, it gathered on the two bishops in the center, concentrating into faint red smoke that drifted toward the sky.

"Jiangtian cultists? What are they doing?" Heart 9 asked in confusion.

"Trying to attract the attention of the 'Apocalypse'."

"Attract the attention of the 'Apocalypse'?"

"The power of the Jiangtian Sect essentially comes from the Red Star aura contained within them. They can manipulate this aura through rituals to guide the Gray Realm to intersect with reality... So what they can summon is actually only the Gray Realm itself; they don't actually have the means to 'summon' the disasters within it.

But there is one thing... although I don't know the reason yet, the power of the Red Star seems to have a very strong attraction to 'Apocalypse'-level disasters.

In other words, 'Apocalypse'-level disasters will deliberately or unconsciously chase after the Red Star."

"I haven't heard of this theory..."

"I heard it by chance from a 'K'. And this situation only exists at the 'Ninth Rank'; ordinary disasters won't have this reaction. So theoretically, Jiangtian cultists can actively let the Red Star aura within them drift out to a greater extent by bleeding. As long as enough Jiangtian cultists participate and the total volume of blood is large enough, the Red Star aura contained within it will be extremely rich.

This rich Red Star aura is like a bonfire in the eyes of the 'Apocalypse,' very conspicuous, so there is a high probability of attracting them over... which is the so-called 'summoning'."

Heart 9 nodded slightly. The next moment, as if remembering something, his expression suddenly became a bit strange:

"Wait, you mean this thing doesn't actually have directionality like Gray Realm summoning... but that all 'Apocalypse'-level ones might be attracted by it?"