The only way

Chapter 939 Sacrifice
Shenxiao City.

This is a city that is both ancient and not ancient.

For mortals, a hundred years is a long time, but for cultivators, it is but a fleeting moment.

This city, originally intended as one of the key points of a great array to block the demons' attack, had towering city walls, and the houses inside were built in a neat, uniform, and densely packed manner, abandoning any sense of refinement.

But now these densely packed houses have become prisons for the human race.

Countless humans have been forced into this city by the demons in just a few years, and now it is probably the city with the most humans in Yunzhou.

Every room was filled with people, but the rooms were not locked or marked with any formations. Even so, none of the mortals inside dared to step out of the rooms at will.

Because demons patrol every street in Shenxiao City, if you leave your house outside of designated times and are discovered by the patrolling demons, you will become their food.

They were devoured alive by the demons. Some of the more cruel demons even enjoyed skinning and flesh-slicing humans alive, which was extremely terrifying!
Once someone has seen it, no ordinary person will dare to step out of the house again, even if it is not locked.

Old Man Li was one of the mortals who had witnessed the demons eating people. Since then, Old Man Li had forbidden the other people in the house from approaching the doors and windows or trying to escape.

Young people are always defiant. The mortals in Shenxiao City did rebel, and some even tried to escape, but their fates were always heartbreaking.

They are not immortals who can fly in the sky, nor do they have the ability to summon wind and rain. Even those mortals who are called heroes and are admired by ordinary people, the so-called martial arts masters, cannot last more than a few moves against those demons.

The final outcome is always bloody.

Old Li has lived for many years. In his early years, he was just a merchant in a small town. Gods, demons, and monsters were just stories told by storytellers in teahouses and taverns.

More than ten years ago, when he was already quite old, he actually saw the so-called immortals and was forced to leave his hometown and move to this magnificent city.

His children were separated on the day Shenxiao City fell, and there has been no news of them since.

He was also trapped in this house by these demons for years, and through countless days and nights, he witnessed too much resentment and fear.

But I have never seen anyone successfully escape from this city occupied by demons.

Mr. Li felt he had lived long enough and was generally easygoing about life and death. But if he could live a few more years, no one would complain, right?
After all, if a person lives long enough, they will eventually get some opportunities, some chances to survive.

Before that, he first needs to live well.

Two children lay beside Old Man Li. They had been captured from elsewhere by demons and imprisoned in a random room, which happened to be the one Old Man Li was in.

The sight of two orphans reminded Old Man Li of his grandchildren. He treated the two children kindly, hoping that his lost grandchildren would also be treated kindly by others.

"Grandpa Li, I'm so hungry! Why isn't there any food today?"

The child, curled up beside Old Man Li, clutched his stomach with one hand and gently tugged at Old Man Li's clothes with the other, his dirty little face full of questions and unease.

The child's innocent question silenced the adults in the room; some of the more intelligent ones wept, while others wore expressions of despair.

When Old Man Li met those clear eyes, he opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. He hesitated for a moment, then couldn't bear to point it out. He simply comforted her, "Perhaps the food was delivered late today. Abao, go to sleep. You won't be hungry when you're asleep." Go to sleep, child. You'll be fine after a good night's sleep.

Old Li softened his voice, gently patted the backs of the two children, and coaxed them to sleep.

What it meant by the discontinuation of meals was something that the shrewd old man, Mr. Li, could easily understand.

Those demons could have simply eaten them, but instead they kept these mortals well, providing them with food and water, and even blankets to keep them warm, without making them do any work, as if they were willingly supporting them for free.

But Old Man Li knew in his heart that even those high-ranking officials and immortals among the human race would not support a city of mortals for nothing.

Some people suspected that these demons might be preparing them as food, like pigs, but seeing that everyone was pale and thin, and that the demons outside had mentioned that they preferred humans with delicate skin.

People like Old Man Li probably wouldn't even qualify for reserve rations. Children and women who are supposed to have delicate skin and tender flesh are not actually raised to have delicate skin and tender flesh.

Perhaps, as some people captured from other places said, they were to be used as human shields to block the demon army, making the immortals hesitant to act.

Everyone guessed and speculated, each offering their own opinion, but in the end, they all came to the same conclusion: death.

Whether used as food or as human shields, it's a dead end.

Stopping feeding is already a very clear signal.

Death was very close to them.

That's what Old Man Li thought, and that's what everyone else in the house thought too.

So when they discovered the patrolling demons were gone, when they saw the earth beneath them suddenly burst into red light, when they felt a momentary burning sensation in the red light and lost consciousness, their hearts were filled with no surprise, only relief.

The moment has finally arrived.

At the moment Old Man Li lost consciousness, he showed no emotion whatsoever. He simply glanced at the two children who had passed away in their sleep and murmured, "Good children...sleep...sleep..."

A city, a million mortals, were instantly reduced to sacrifices within the sacrificial array.

The soaring blood and resentment, like an axe that split the heavens, fiercely tore open the sky above Shenxiao City, and the violent spatial fluctuations instantly leveled the entire city.

Only in the very center of Shenxiao City remained a high platform made of white bones. Layer upon layer of white bones were human bones, beast bones, and even demon beast bones and demon corpses. Leg bones, arm bones, and sternum bones were randomly piled up and crossed, while the white bones and skulls were neatly arranged facing outwards, layer upon layer.

At first glance, countless empty black eyes stare at you mercilessly, sending chills down your spine.

This towering platform of white bones stands proudly in Shenxiao City, its exterior shimmering with a layer of dark purple barrier, easily repelling all impacts.

At the very top of the platform was a massive, dark stone carved with exquisite patterns, its abundant demonic energy transforming into wisps of light that swirled around it.

A figure lay on the boulder.