You said you would practice martial arts. Have you mastered the Tiangang Dharma?

The smell of humus was mixed with the smell of rust. Jiang Qiu squatted at the edge of the Snake Swamp, watching the Xihe Witch pick up a handful of soil with her shark silk gloves. The moonlight shone on her glass-like scales, and those scales that should have been shining with pearlescent luster were now oozing spider-web-like black blood threads.

"The blood alliance made three hundred years ago is backfiring." The witch suddenly pressed the soil into her left eye, and the eyeball immediately expanded into a crystal ball, revealing the image of underground veins - the demon veins that should have flowed with emerald sap were now covered with dark red mycelium. Her shattered eyeball tissue fell into the swamp and was immediately eaten up by carrion slugs.

They followed the path of the luminous moss. The fluorescent moss, which should have been tender green, was now scarlet and dazzling as if it had been soaked in pus and blood. The bone bell on the witch's waist moved without wind. When the fifth bell rang, she suddenly swung out the fishbone whip and wrapped it around Jiang Qiu's ankle. The ground collapsed, revealing the stalactite forest hanging upside down in the cave below - each stone pillar was embedded with a dried demon corpse, and their skulls were drilled with neat round holes.

"This is the soul-catching stake of Taoism." The witch touched the lightning pattern on the surface of the stone pillar with the tip of her whip, "but what is really fatal is..." She cut her wrist and sprinkled the mermaid's blood on the cave wall. The rocks touched by the blood suddenly opened countless eyeballs, and the golden light unique to Taoist spells flashed in the depths of their pupils.

Jiang Qiu's bronze compass was shaking wildly at this moment. When the needle finally stopped at the Xun position, a black tide of asphalt suddenly gushed out from the cracks in the rocks. These viscous substances condensed into seven faceless human figures, and the sound of chanting in the morning class of Qingxu Temple came from their chests. The witch threw out three reverse scale darts, and when the darts penetrated the human figures, they made a crisp sound of metal hitting each other.

"It's the Taoist iron corpse talisman soldiers!" Jiang Qiu pulled the witch onto the stalactite. The black tide below had condensed into a Bagua formation. The talisman soldiers climbed to the top of the sky with their limbs bent backwards, and corrosive cinnabar powder sprayed out from their joints. The witch suddenly bit her tongue and drew a tidal pattern on her palm with blood. The entire cave was instantly filled with sea water. When the salty sea water receded, the talisman soldiers had turned into rusty copper coins all over the ground.

The view after passing through the cave was breathtaking. The entire iron birch forest fell radially, and the trunks were covered with honeycomb-like holes. The witch blew ultrasonic waves with the bone flute, and a large group of mutant fireflies immediately emerged from the tree hole - their abdomens were swollen like pustules, and their tails were dragging ovipositors like octopus tentacles.

"They are injecting spores into the demon veins." The witch used ice to freeze a firefly, and the purple-black liquid splashed out when the insect's abdomen exploded, which was the same as the blood beads that oozed out when the ancient tree shed its skin. They tracked the insect swarm to the abandoned old altar, where the Taotie bone tripod, which was supposed to be sealed, was now spewing out smelly smoke.

The chains wrapped around the cauldron had all broken, and what was boiling inside the cauldron was not sulfur, but sticky demon blood. The witch suddenly ripped open Jiang Qiu's collar and touched the mermaid mark on his heart with her fingertips: "The heart of the blood alliance is the key to unlock the truth."

When Jiang Qiu's blood dripped into the bone tripod, a scene from three hundred years ago emerged in the tripod: the Taoist elders and the demon chief priest drank blood wine under the moon, and seven merman corpses lay at their feet. The picture suddenly distorted, and Jiang Qiu saw the contemporary chief priest injecting the juice of the Drunken Life Vine into the demon core, and the cloud and thunder tattoo of the Qingxu Temple appeared on his left arm.

"So the source of the pollution is inside the altar." Before the witch finished speaking, the entire bone tripod suddenly flipped over. What crawled out of the tripod was not a ghost, but a high priest covered with demon core crystals. Countless struggling human faces bulged under his skin, and his right hand had transformed into a tentacle shaped like a ginkgo tree root.

The moment the witch's bone whip wrapped around the tentacles, peach blossoms suddenly sprouted from the whip. The high priest laughed wildly and shattered the altar floor, revealing a huge underground laboratory below - thousands of demon larvae were soaked in talisman water, and bronze catheters connected to the demon veins were inserted into their spines. The meteorite pillar in the center of the laboratory was the branch of the altar in the settlement.

"This is the real demon core." The high priest's vocal cords were mixed with the Taoist boy's clear voice. He tore open the chest cavity, revealing the beating crystal heart. Inside the demon core that should have been pure, there was a Taoist Yuanying that was gnawing at itself.

When the witch cast the tidal spell, the laboratory suddenly activated the self-destruction array. They fled to the ground with some experimental records, and heard the scream of the demon core overload behind them. In the strong light of the explosion, Jiang Qiu clearly saw the inscriptions on the bronze tubes - both the cloud seal of the Taoist sect and the blood writing of the demon clan.

When they returned to the Snake Swamp, the witch used her last bit of strength to activate the forbidden blood alliance technique. When their blood mixed, the corpses of the contract signers from three hundred years ago floated up in the swamp. The hearts of the mermen's corpses were all embedded with demon core fragments engraved with the marks of both parties.

"They planted the source of pollution when they formed the alliance." The witch's body began to turn into glass. "The blood alliance is not a reconciliation, but a parasitic curse that the Taoist sect has cultivated for three hundred years."

When the morning light pierced through the mist, the bronze compass in Jiang Qiu's arms suddenly pointed to his heart. The green scales on his wrist began to fall off, revealing the cloud and thunder pattern that was taking shape underneath. The blood in the swamp reflected Jiang Qiu's face, and his left eye was gradually turning into a crystal like the high priest.

Before disappearing, the glass-transformed Xihe Witch embedded three reverse scales into Jiang Qiu's spine. The moment the scales entered his body, Jiang Qiu heard the roar of an underwater volcano erupting, and the crystallization speed of his left eye temporarily stopped. The last fragments of the witch's memory exploded in his consciousness: in the underground palace of Qingxu Temple under the moonlight, three hundred pregnant demon women were hung on the Tai Chi diagram by iron chains, and their bulging abdomens reflected the shadow of the talisman.

Jiang Qiu followed the guidance of his memory and came to the Soul-Breaking Cliff. The thunderstorms that never dissipated here all year round were a natural restriction. When the bronze compass was full of Jiang Qiu's crystallized blood, the needle suddenly split into seven, pointing to cracks of different shapes on the cliff. The second reverse scale began to heat up, prompting Jiang Qiu to step into the seemingly narrowest crack in the stone - the pain of his skin and flesh being peeled off by the folds of space when he passed through proved that this place was cast a blood and flesh forbidden spell.

At the bottom of the abyss is an inverted world. Rainwater falls upwards, fireflies sink into the "sky" with comet-like tails, and the real land is a wriggling carpet of flesh. Countless umbilical cord-like flesh tentacles protrude from the ground, connected to translucent egg sacs at the ends, and in each sac is curled up a human-demon hybrid embryo.

"This is the origin of the Drunken Life Vine." The lame Gu Diao walked out of the shadows, its antlers full of invalid forbidden symbols, "The nutrients those embryos need are the essence of the settlement demon core."

The meat blanket suddenly bulged to form an altar, and on the altar was the Tai Chi diagram that Jiang Qiu had seen in the illusion. The pattern was now covered in blood, but one could make out the object that should have been placed in the central depression—it matched the bronze compass in Jiang Qiu's arms perfectly. When the compass returned to its place, the entire meat blanket shrank violently, revealing the thousand-faced bronze mirror soaked in a pool of blood underneath.

The bronze mirror did not reflect Jiang Qiu's current appearance, but three hundred "Jiang Qiu" in different time and space. Some were completely transformed into eight-armed Rakshasas, some maintained their human form but were eating their own kind, and the mirror image in the center was a high priest covered with demon cores. The mirror suddenly stretched out a bony hand and dragged Jiang Qiu into the blood pool. In the moment before suffocation, Jiang Qiu saw that all the mirror images had cocoons of molting hearts embedded in their chests.

When he returned to reality, he had an amber cocoon in his hand. The Gu Diao's single eye glowed with greed: "This is what can remove the parasitic curse." Before he finished speaking, its head was pierced by an ice cone. Three Taoists wearing thunder crowns stepped out of the twisted space, revealing skin of the same material as the meat blanket under their Taoist robes. The youngest Taoist opened his skull, revealing the beating demon core inside: "Brother, the container delivered itself to the door." The elder waved his whisk, and the heart-molting cocoon in Jiang Qiu's arms suddenly woke up, and the voice of the Xihe witch came from the cocoon: "Swallow it! Use the gastric juice of the mermaid to corrode the root of the curse!"

In the excruciating pain of swallowing the cocoon, Jiang Qiu jumped into the blood pool. The Taoists' roars turned into muffled sounds, and blood poured into the crystallized left eye, activating some kind of ancient vision - nine bronze coffins were sunk at the bottom of the pool, and the names of Jiang Qiu and other mirror images were engraved on the coffin lids. When Jiang Qiu pushed open the coffins with the labels, countless memory fragments emerged from them:
The truth behind his "death from illness" at the age of five was that he was implanted with the first-generation demon core by the Taoist sect; the soup and medicine his mother fed him on the first day of every month was actually talisman water that could suppress his demonization; even the mission to track down the source of pollution was the result of the control of the soul-binding silk by the elders of Qingxu Temple.

The cocoon of the molting heart completely dissolved at this moment. Jiang Qiu vomited a large mass of tentacles wrapped around the talisman paper, and the crystal shell of his left eye peeled off, revealing the reborn mermaid pupil underneath. The blood pool began to boil, and nine copper coffins formed a nine-palace formation. Chains stretched out from the coffins and dragged Jiang Qiu to the center of the formation. When the chain pierced into the spine, the top of the abyss suddenly collapsed, and the moonlight pierced the center of the formation like a silver spear.

"The time has come." The high priest who was supposed to be dead descended from the moonlight, his tentacles inserted into the Taoists' skulls, "After three hundred years of reincarnation, I finally waited for the perfect hybrid container." Bronze lines began to appear on Jiang Qiu's skin, but his consciousness was unusually clear - the molting heart cocoon contained not only the soul of the Xihe witch, but also the original copy of "Forbidden Forest Blood Alliance" that she had preserved at the cost of turning into glass.

When the high priest's tentacles were about to pierce Jiang Qiu's heart, Jiang Qiu recited the forbidden words of the seventh chapter of the Blood Alliance. The ancient words engraved in the demon veins turned into physical blades at this moment: the Taoist sect never used pregnant women to cultivate mixed-blood demon species, but a "living cauldron" that could accommodate both Taoist fetuses and demon cores; and the demon elders voluntarily sacrificed themselves in order to gradually replace the Taoist elites with demon soul puppets.

The abyss began to collapse. Jiang Qiu took advantage of the chaos to grab the main demon core from the high priest's arms. The Taoist Yuanying inside the crystal suddenly opened his eyes and smiled. The moment he shattered, Jiang Qiu understood the deepest conspiracy - this pollution that lasted for three hundred years was nothing more than a tacit blood exchange plan between the top leaders of both sides.

When he escaped from the abyss, the main demon core in his hand had already coexisted with Jiang Qiu's heart. Under the moonlight, Jiang Qiu could see the curse marks in the bodies of all living beings within a hundred miles: the demon scales on the back of the Taoists' necks, the cloud seals in the pupils of the demons, and the new blood alliance tattoo on his wrist.

In the thunderstorm clouds, the huge image of the founder of Qingxu Temple emerged. His left eye was the Taoist Bagua disk, his right eye was the demon clan's Wanlun pupil, and the ninth molting heart cocoon was suspended in his palm.

When Jiang Qiu crushed the eighth positioning jade talisman, the blood alliance tattoo had spread to his collarbone. The smoke rising from the direction of Qingxu Temple was mixed with demonic fire. The Taoist priests and demon civilians, who were once mortal enemies, were now attacking their respective high-level strongholds together. The vision granted by the molting heart cocoon allowed Jiang Qiu to see that inside each furious rebel, there was another terrified self curled up.

At the abandoned canal wharf, Jiang Qiu met the leader of the uprising army, the centipede demon who was once a medicine man, with only 20 legs left. In the bamboo basket behind him were seven rebel flags, each with the word "murder" written in the blood of an elder. In the corner were curled up demon children, who were sharing the roots of the Drunken Life Vine, with cloud seals and animal pupils flashing alternately in their pupils.

"The core of the Blood Alliance is in the observatory." The centipede demon spat out a blood-stained jade slip with a three-dimensional star map on it, "But we need..." He suddenly twitched and pinched his throat, and bronze chains emerged from under his skin. When Jiang Qiu used the main demon core to cut the chain, half a jade pendant fell out of his broken abdomen - it was exactly the same as the tear crystal condensed by the Xihe witch before she disappeared.

The road to the night attack on the observatory became a purgatory. The mountain protection formation had been transformed into a blood and flesh grinding wheel. The Taoist priests flying on swords collided with the demonized mobs in the strong wind. The blood mist that exploded was absorbed by the formation and formed a huge Tai Chi diagram on the sky. Jiang Qiu stepped on the remains of the fallen and rushed forward. The main demon core in his chest beat like a war drum, shaking the restrictions along the way into powder.

The Blood Alliance's main body was suspended on the top of the Star Platform: a tree-shaped totem woven from three thousand human-demon spines. Each bone was engraved with a double-sided spell, and Taoist blood and demon core fluid flowed between the lines. At the bottom of the totem were seven natal lamps, one of which belonged to the high priest, and the wick was actually Jiang Qiu's birth date.

The rebels' self-destructive charge bought Jiang Qiu three breaths of time. When the main demon core was embedded in the crack of the totem, time and space suddenly stopped. The faces of three hundred elders appeared on the surface of the totem, and the blood oath they recited in unison turned into physical chains that entangled Jiang Qiu's limbs.

"You are also in the blood alliance." The image of the founder of Qingxu Temple appeared from the flames of the lamp, and the tentacles of the demon clan extended from under his Taoist robe. "Look at the mark on your heart."

The glow of the main demon core penetrated the chest cavity, reflecting the fine blood alliance lines on the surface of the heart. Those lines were devouring the jade pendant that the centipede monster gave to Jiang Qiu, and the core of the jade pendant was sealed with the erased marriage contract of the Xihe witch - Jiang Qiu and her name were listed at the end of the alliance book three hundred years ago.

The totem suddenly extended its bone spurs and pierced Jiang Qiu's eyes. In the severe pain, Jiang Qiu saw the true operating mechanism of the Blood Alliance: every uprising was a metabolic ritual planned by the elders, and the "rebels" who were purged were actually expired containers, and their flesh and blood eventually flowed into the ground veins of the observatory. The so-called resistance was just the tentacles of the Blood Alliance system's update and iteration.

The wailing of the rebels awakened the existence deep in the main demon core. The consciousness that coexisted with the Taoist's Yuanying suddenly surged, and it turned out to be a fusion of all the mirror images that Jiang Qiu had seen in the bronze coffin. He controlled Jiang Qiu's arm to tear off the spinal totem and inserted the bone fragments into his seven orifices: "It's time to let the parasites see the real cleansing."

When the Star Platform collapsed, the backlash of the Blood Alliance contract began. The elders' souls that were parasitic in other people's bodies collectively combusted, and the shackles on the rebels turned into revenge blades. During Jiang Qiu's fall, he witnessed the changes in the way of heaven: the Taoist's Yuanying broke out of his body but grew demon horns, the demon elders shed their skins to reveal their Taoist bones, and Jiang Qiu's hands were becoming virtual, becoming the carriers of new rules.

When it crashed into the depths of the earth veins, there was no flesh and blood left around it. The crystal formed by the fusion of the main demon core and the blood alliance core was reorganizing the laws. The contract words that were once engraved in the soul were now floating in the void like grasshoppers waiting to be eaten. The tidal patterns left by the Xihe witch surged from the depths of memory. Jiang Qiu wove them into a net, trapping the blood alliance system in the Mobius ring that Jiang Qiu swallowed.

When the last wisp of the contract was wiped out, a baby cried from deep in the earth. The roots of the new earth veins broke through the ground, and the tips bloomed with pure demon core buds. The creatures who lost the bondage of the contract stood blankly, and the demon patterns and cloud seals on their bodies were fading, revealing a pure life background that had never been seen before.

The shadow of the founder of Qingxu Temple sneered in the wind: "A mob without shackles will not survive more than three sunrises." (End of this chapter)