Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 259: Blood Sacrifice

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A silent resonance occurred when he started the process.

It is debatable if there is another person other than him who could sense this, and even if there was, they probably wouldn't feel this as intimately as Cedric does.

The arrays he instructed the House of Light to engrave on the other Leyline Roots were resonating with what's happening here.

Cedric's perception was completely immersed in the Leyline Network; he couldn't spare any attention to anything else other than this. That's why he asked for help since he's actually very vulnerable right now.

Nobody knows except him what he's actually doing to achieve this. They probably don't have any idea just how much of a of a burden this was for Cedric. If this were to be done normally, it would require at least hundreds of people to do so. In other words, Cedric was doing the work of too many people by himself.

He could've asked for help. Many people would've loved to be a part of this project. However, Cedric selfishly took on this task alone, mostly because he trusted himself better than anyone else. Try as he might, he still couldn't get rid of his doubts and suspicions about other people.

He could think of a lot of ways others could take advantage of this or screw the whole project over, and that's not something he wants to see.

Three days have passed since he began his seclusion here. As per his request, nobody dared to disturb him. Old Man Jin resolutely stationed himself at the only entrance that led to where he was and swore that he wouldn't allow anybody in, not even the High Marshals themselves.

Runes, symbols, and inscriptions shimmered around Cedric, dancing around him for a solid minute or two before diving into the dried-up spiritual vein in front of him.

The Spiritual Vein hardly showed any difference until now; the only visible change so far was that it's now covered with golden runes that Cedric placed in it.

That said, the real difference could be seen within the depths of the spiritual vein itself. There must be at least milions of runic symbols in there, each one shimmering with a golden radiance. Looking closely, each one of these runes was connected to the other.

The interior array that Cedric made was too complicated. Even if hundreds of Master Scribes fused their brain power together, it would take them months, if not years, to decipher the sheer scale of Cedric's array. This is one of the reasons why he preferred to do this alone too.

And this complicated set-up isn't just limited here. Cedric has already finished his set-up in this area in about three hours since he started this whole thing. What he's doing now is extending this to the entire Leyline Network within humanity's territory.

This was an unbelievably heavy workload. It's simply too much for an ordinary person to bear this kind of burden. Fortunately, Cedric was many things except ordinary.

The drain on his energy wasn't too bad. Since he mastered the aspect of the stars, his astral laws have improved quite a bit. And this improvement allowed him to perfect his utilization of astral energy even further. Compared to Ki, astral energy was denser and contained more power and vitality.

Since Cedric discovered a way to restore astral energy more efficiently despite the obvious lack of it in his surroundings, he practically had no worries about consumption for this kind of activity. His Sage Physique was also helping him greatly with this. The rate of his energy recovery was almost keeping up with his expenditure.

The only real thing he had to worry about was making mistakes in the process and losing focus.

**

On the 7th day, humanity was shaken by the sudden activity around them.

Many woke up to the sight of soldiers marching all over the cities. Word spread very quickly online, and panic started rising. The faint tremors that could be felt all over their civilization weren't helping either.

Some thought that a crisis was happening and started preparing for the worst. Others felt wary but were helpless, so they could only go on about their day.

The nosy ones tried to pry some information from the patrolling soldiers but failed to do so. How can they say anything when they themselves don't know why they were suddenly ordered to do this?

Halfway through the day is when the truth came out, and it was triggered by a system announcement.

[Alert! Alert! Alert! ]

[This is a world-wide announcement! An origin energy storm is expected to occur tomorrow morning, which will last for the entire day.]

[Acala highly encourages everybody to educate themselves about what an Origin Energy Storm represents. Information could be found here.]

[Please maintain order when the storm begins. This is an equal opportunity for everyone. Greed is a sin.]

This was then followed by people doing their research and spreading the word to their social media platforms and news outlets. Everything they needed to learn about the benefits of the Origin Energy Storm was available to them; some even simplified or summarized it for those who couldn't be bothered to read the compiled articles, even with the strong suggestion of the system.

The soldiers also received additional orders, which made them understand why they were stationed here.

After reading about the benefits of the Origin Energy Storm, people couldn't help but look forward to it. Fortunately, the announcement was made ahead of time, giving them enough time to make preparations.

Cedric also received this message, but he didn't hear or see it.

Currently, he's kneeling in front of the glowing spiritual vein, which is pulsing every now and then. It was these pulses that caused the tremors that everybody has been feeling since the start of this day.

That said, Cedric hardly paid attention to that as well. His focus fell completely on a rather complicated runic formation around him.

With glazed eyes, he clutched a bloodied dagger in his hand, the same tool he used to open a gash on his wrist, letting his blood flow like a waterfall.

This isn't his ordinary blood, but his blood essence, which contained his longevity. Cedric was performing a blood sacrifice, and so far, he had drained a decade's worth of longevity for the final procedure.

This was 10 years worth of his lifespan, yet Cedric felt nothing about it. There were no hesitations on his face, only calm and serenity. Anybody would feel this pinch because this was longevity!one's life expectancy! 10 years could allow them to achieve many things; sacrificing them would obviously hurt them physically and emotionally. Not Cedric, though, it seems.

And truthfully, yes, Cedric doesn't feel this. To him, it's only 10 years. He evolved into a [Human IV] and had the [Advance Sage Physique], which extended his lifespan by a great deal. Cedric could easily live up to 5,000 years old if he wanted to, so really, 10 years was nothing much to him.

Besides, this blood sacrifice is a necessary part of this procedure. His longevity would be the tool to wake up and nourish the supressed humanity. The quality of the blood used for the sacrifice matters, and amongst everybody, who could compare to his?

Thinking about this, Cedric pursed his lips and said, "You know what? I'll use 50 years...just to be sure."

He grunted and felt the rapid drain on his vitality. He noticed the blaring system alerts next to him and casually ignored them. That was Acala telling him that he didn't need to do this, but he didn't listen. It's better to be safe than sorry, after all.

Draining 50 years of his lifespan obviously made him feel weak. He allowed his physique to heal his wound and sat down to take deep breaths to recover. He drank gallons of water and emptied his mind to help with his recovery.

Meanwhile, his blood was already being processed by the formation he prepared earlier. The viscous red orb containing 50 years of his lifespan was condensed into a deep crimson crystal that shone with sanguinous light. By the time it solidified into a crystal, Cedric had already recovered sufficiently to activate the formation.

The Aspect of the Sun and the Stars lit up behind him. He flicked his finger and left the engravings of both aspects on the crystal before pushing it into the spiritual vein.

Boom!!

The moment it entered, the crystal turned into a streak of light and appeared in the space where the slumbering providence cloud was. As soon as it arrived, the crystal exploded, releasing all the energy and profundities it contained.

Like a starved man, the Providence Cloud crazily devoured the energy. It visibly recovered to its peak state, even surpassing its peak due to the excess energy Cedric sent its way.

Once it absorbed everything, the Providence Cloud morphed into the shape of an eastern dragon and opened its eyes ferociously.

Boom!!!

It then broke from its restraints, rising and manifesting in the physical realm, causing a heaven-and-earth phenomenon.

A pillar of light erupted from the depths of the mountain Cedric was on, and its light could be seen by everybody.

Cedric, who was still in the depths of the cave, looked at the revitalized spiritual vein in front of him and smiled contentedly.

"Go on...be free!"