Building a sect from scratch.

After hearing the explanation from "Human Heart Transformation," the players from the other teams laughed and joked, "We will remember your dedication! Rest in peace!"

"To thank Huadao for his contributions, I've decided to celebrate with fried chicken tonight!"

"Rich guy, message me for fifty, I'm Qin Shi Huang!"

"I'm the Jade Emperor!"

"The Jade Emperor is in Chang'an, and our righteous spirit will live on forever. Wake up!"

Just as they were exchanging banter, another squad's voice came through the group mic: "Leader! We've found an altar!"

"altar?"

Nietzsche paused for a moment, and everyone else looked down at the jade-carved stone platform beneath their feet—it did indeed look like some kind of altar.

"It should be an altar. In the middle of the altar, there's a glowing circle that looks like a teleportation array, and inside that circle is a box—"

Nietzsche chimed in, "It says 'Grant you eternal life'?"

"Yes, yes, yes! Commander, how did you know?"

“We encountered that too,” Nietzsche asked again. “Did you encounter anything strange, like minor monsters or bosses, such as headless people?”

"Yes! Lots of them! But they're really stupid, all they do is ram people and then passively take the hits. And like zombies, they're afraid of thunder and fire. Just use some talismans or something and you can get rid of them! They're just pretty scary to look at!"

Another squad leader joined the discussion: "We also encountered headless people! But we haven't gone to the altar yet. Since you say these monsters are afraid of fire and lightning, that makes things easier!"

"You have an altar there too?"

"It's a huge stone platform, or maybe a jade platform? Anyway, it looks a lot like an altar!"

Nietzsche said, "That's it! Take a screenshot and zoom in to see if there's a small box in the middle of the altar!"

"Let me see... Holy crap! It really is there!"

While waiting for his resurrection cooldown in the small dark room, Renxin Huadao overheard the group's discussion and analyzed, "So, there might be an altar in each of the four directions, and each altar has a small box... Hmm... Isn't this supposed to be a cultivation game? How did it turn into a puzzle game?! Thumbs down!"

One player complained to the Humanity Path: "You guys are really useless! You all died in such a neat and orderly way that there's no way to verify anything. I have a feeling there's something fishy going on between these four altars!"

"Then what should we say? How about we send a few people to check on Huadao?"

"Let's not do it yet. Let's wait for them to respawn. Our current team composition is pretty perfect, and it's not easy to break it up."

Nietzsche also said, "Let's explore around and wait for Huadao and the others!"

……

While the players were completely confused, Fang Xianyu, who had already completed one playthrough in the Guixu Realm, knew exactly what was going on.

To be precise, this ruin is not the "Yinglong Ruins," but rather the "Relics of the Resurrected Yinglong."

In ancient times, immortals and gods roamed everywhere, and Mahayana immortals were as common as dogs. Yinglong was one of these ancient gods.

After several great calamities, many ancient gods vanished without a trace. At that time, many intelligent races, unable to accept the fall of these ancient gods, tried various methods to "resurrect" them. Yinglong, as the great ancient god who named a race, was naturally the subject of many attempts by his descendants to "resurrect" him.

Although according to legends and scattered records from various sects, the ancient god Yinglong was not resurrected, the various small worlds and grotto-heavens he created to revive it have been left behind.

The small world in front of them, which Fang Xianyu initially mistook for a lost mansion, is actually an abandoned ruin from the failed attempt to revive Yinglong.

Of course, strictly speaking, calling it the Yinglong Relic Palace wouldn't be wrong either.

The towering, crumbling buildings inside the ruins were the palaces and residences prepared by the group (or perhaps not even human) who resurrected Yinglong. The altars at the four corners were part of a grand sacrificial array for resurrection.

As for those headless people, they were the sacrifices made in the past.

Indeed, another way of saying that in ancient times, immortals and gods were everywhere and Mahayana practitioners were as common as dogs is that ordinary mortals were like livestock.

That was an extremely cruel and bloody period. Although there were many mentally unstable cultivators who favored the past over the present and praised the ancient times, saying that there were many wise men and everyone was a moral exemplar, it was actually just a lie fabricated by a group of people who were utterly disappointed with reality.

While the players were exploring, Fang Xianyu also quickly wandered around and observed many places. She roughly determined that the only living things in the entire ruins were plants—or rather, those plants that had been "enchanted".

For example, the grove of trees that Nietzsche and his team first encountered was actually all one tree. This tree, due to its long stay in this nearly sealed-off ruin, and for various other reasons, successfully became corrupted.

The term "demonic transformation" is actually a name for a special change that occurs in an individual. Whether it is a plant, an animal, or even a cultivator or a mortal after being demonized, it will lose its self-awareness and become a strange being with only certain instincts.

This instinct is not necessarily an instinct that the individual had before becoming demonized, but rather a strong desire for something.

For example, that demonized tree has a strong craving for headless corpses. It drags strange birds and headless people into the ground, inserts its roots into their flesh, draws a special power, and then feeds back its demonic energy to maintain their "survival".

They seem to understand sustainable development quite well...

Having roughly figured out the situation, Fang Xianyu couldn't help but secretly mutter a complaint in her heart.

However, what really caught her attention was the small box in the altar.

The words “grant you eternal life” were not unfamiliar to her.

The mortals of the Guixu Realm initially yearned for cultivation, including the cultivators of today, who aspire to become immortals and attain enlightenment. Ultimately, it all boils down to two words: immortality.

In ancient times, many ancient gods used the promise of granting mortals "eternal life" to attract believers.

At that time, believers did not play a significant role. At least, the ancient gods did not need incense offerings. They simply recruited believers to serve them and support themselves.

They built palaces and temples, or perhaps, raised them for food.

Besides recruiting some mortals who are descendants of fallen ancient gods, some ancient gods would "create" mortals themselves, which is one of the main origins of the current human race.

The mortals "created" by those ancient gods did not need to cultivate immortality, so they were all "celestial cripples" whose path to immortality was cut off. This is why, despite the large number of mortals, very few are able to embark on the path to immortality.

Therefore, it's easy to guess what those headless corpses around the altar in this ruined mansion are. They were probably consumables used for blood sacrifice by the cultivators or other beings who tried to "resurrect" Yinglong.

Thousands upon thousands of offerings.

Fang Xianyu took a deep breath and clenched her fists. (End of Chapter)