"Blood flows through three cursed streams. From a womb of crimson, the wicked shall rise. When the moon fades and the spirit awakens A world... will die in silence."
It was the tenth night since the unnatural ceasefire.
Dark clouds veiled the moonlight. Wind whispered through the wooden window of Chu Linh's quarters, creaking like wails from the underworld.
Chu Linh lay in bed, drenc hed in sweat, hands gripping the thin blanket.
In his dream.
A sea of blood. The shrill screams of women. Infants crying, fading into the void.
Above blood moon. Below eternal night. And in the center stood a towering figure draped in tattered robes. Its swollen belly pulsed like it was about to give birth. Yet its face... had no eyes only a black void, devouring all blood in sight.
A voice echoed in Chu Linh's mind:
"The Demon Mother Ritual... is near completion."
He jolted awake.
Eyes wide, breath ragged, he leapt from bed and rushed to the main hall in the dead of night.
By dawn, all elders had gathered.
Chu Linh recounted the dream in full silence. With each word, the elders' faces turned graver. And when he spoke the name "Demon Mother Ritual," silence gripped the entire hall.
Bai Luo said nothing. Eyes closed, his hands gripped the jade sword at his waist tightly.
Elder Qi Yunfeng muttered:
"That ritual… was wiped out a century ago at the Battle of Endless Night Valley. How can it still exist?"
He let out a heavy sigh, staring straight at Chu Linh.
"If it is reborn… blood will drown the skies. The earth will crack open. And all life… will kneel to the demons."
Mo Yue stood, forming a hand seal. His eyes were as cold as frost:
"If the ritual hasn't been completed yet, there's still a chance. We must find and destroy the core before the Demon Mother descends. We cannot allow it to succeed."
Elder La Yinghan nodded:
"We'll trace the origin. Maybe... they weren't all wiped out, after all."
Just then A crimson light burst into the hall from the sky outside.
The five cultivators were pulled into a beam of light Space distorted and the world changed.
They found themselves standing in a blinding white realm. No sound. No wind. No direction.
A raspy voice, deep and solemn, rose behind them:
"So it's you again… this lifetime, too, you've been chosen to defy fate."
They turned. It was the Grandmaster the one who vanished in the Battle of the Dark Abyss. Now, only half a soul remained
flickering like fading light.
He looked at each of them in turn, then spoke:
"The Demon Mother Ritual… is the final step in Blood Demon Sect's grand scheme. If completed nothing can save the Three Realms."
"The old seal has withered. You must find the only item that can replace it. Only one thing in existence.. can suppress the Demon Mother's spiritual form and shatter the ritual."
"It is known as…"
Heaven Soul Seal a jade relic of the Upper Realm, forged with the blood of one hundred thousand pure-hearted souls.
"It was once hidden in the 'Celestial Bone Pavilion'... but vanished during the Great Chaos. You will find it. The clue lies where the blood once flowed through three cursed streams."
"And remember… move faster than the feet of demons."
The Grandmaster's form faded. The white world collapsed and the five cultivators returned to the real world.
Back in the hall. Foreheads drenched in cold sweat. But in each of their eyes A faint flicker of hope remained. The only hope… to stop the end of the world.
Bai Luo whispered:
"The Heaven Soul Seal… Blood flowed through three streams…"
Mo Yue responded:
"I know where it is."