Chapter 122: The Crimson Temple
The Mountain's Edge
The hazy autumn night concealed the landscape in a shroud of gloom. A profound silence had fallen, but it was an unsettling one, pregnant with a tension that was almost palpable. This calm felt like the deceptive lull before a devastating storm.
Huang Quan stood atop the cliff, looking down upon the scene below like a bird of prey. He held his arms out wide, his eyes burning with a fiery, almost manic anticipation. Years of meticulous planning had finally led to this, the most critical juncture.
The power he so desperately coveted lay within the temple nestled in the basin below. All that stood between him and his goal was the Shrine Maiden's seal. Once it was broken, the ghost of the Sprite would walk the earth once more.
"Begin!" Huang Quan suddenly clenched his fists, his voice ringing with fervor. "The wait for this day has been far too long!"
He waved his left hand, and the four white-robed figures behind him stepped forward in unison.
"The time is finally here," Huang Quan murmured, the violent mountain wind whipping his black hair around his weathered face, adding a grim determination to his features. "The Dark Medical Ninjutsu I developed for this very moment..."
He would use this power to awaken the Sprite and rule the world!
His figure flickered, and he appeared directly behind the four acolytes—Kira, Setsuna, and the other two.
He thrust his palms forward, shouting with zealous passion, "Forced Processing Technique! Infuse Chakra!"
Crack!
The uneven ground at their feet shattered. Four shocking, black, vine-like tentacles erupted from the fissures, writhing violently before plunging deep into the necks of the four white-robed men.
As Huang Quan chanted the incantation, a vile, purple energy—the monstrous chakra of the Sprite—flowed through the tentacles and into the bodies of the four acolytes. A malevolent purple glow emanated from them, radiating a pure, evil demonic nature.
"Processing... complete!" Huang Quan's hands slowly lowered, and the black tentacles retracted back into the earth like venomous snakes.
Instantly, Kira, Setsuna, and the other two erupted with an immense, terrifying power. It was fundamentally different from ordinary chakra, saturated with a wicked, magical taint.
The original power of the monster, the Sprite!
"Go!" Huang Quan shouted, his voice fanatical. "The power you seek lies ahead! The future you dream of is right before your eyes! Massacre! Let the blood of the sinful drench the temple gates! I can already feel the Master Sprite's call growing stronger!"
Lost in this ecstasy, his vigilance towards Aizen faded into the background. In his mind, once the Master Sprite was resurrected, a mere obstacle like Aizen would be effortlessly dealt with.
Aizen remained silent, observing. He paid no mind to Huang Quan's theatrics, his gaze locked intently on the center of the temple complex below. With his keen spiritual perception, he could sense a powerful barrier there. And at the heart of that barrier, a looming, evil aura pulsed—an energy identical to the magical chakra now coursing through Huang Quan's acolytes.
'Be you a fly or a dragon... let me see your true face, so-called Sprite.'
Shunshin!
Empowered by Huang Quan's technique, the four acolytes leaped from the cliff, their bodies enhanced as they slid down the steep mountain wall with unnatural agility. Their eyes were vacant of all distraction, filled only with a fanatical pursuit of power. With zealous focus and enhanced skill, they landed easily on the ground of the basin below.
"Kill! Tonight is another blood feast!" Kira sneered, his voice distorted by the dark energy. His figure flashed, turning into a phantom as he charged forward.
Whoosh!
The other three followed closely behind, moving like the wind.
Such a conspicuous intrusion immediately alerted the temple guards.
"Alert! Intruders!" Seven or eight warriors, gripping long swords, rushed out of the temple, their expressions grim.
"Defilers of the temple! Show no mercy!" the lead samurai shouted, the blade in his hand gleaming with a cold, silver light in the darkness, radiating a stern authority.
"Hah! Nothing but shrimp soldiers and crab generals. You think you can stop us?" The white-robed man with blue long hair—Setsuna—leaped nimbly, easily evading a sweeping sword strike. He yelled to the others, "Kill them all! Kira, Setsuna, now!"
"Fire Style: Streaming Fire!" the white-haired acolyte, who had been still, formed a series of hand seals. Scorching flames erupted, forming a wide ring of fire that swiftly trapped the samurai within it.
Inside the fiery circle, the warriors' faces paled with shock. At such close range, they could feel the blistering heat. A faint, creeping dread began to take root in their hearts.
"Do not fear! This level of flame is nothing to be..." one samurai tried to rally his companions and steady their morale.
But before he could finish, the final white-robed acolyte, who had yet to act, leaped into the air, his hands already forming another seal.
"Wind Style: Divine Wind!"
The surrounding air churned violently, coalescing into three roaring tornadoes.
To the horror of the trapped samurai, the tornadoes merged with the ring of fire, creating a terrifying, amplified storm of flame.
"AAAAH!"
Screams of agony were cut short as the samurai were utterly consumed by the ferocious inferno, their bodies reduced to ashes in moments.
"Too weak," Huang Quan muttered from his perch on the cliff, a dismissive sneer on his lips.
"Kill the invaders! Protect the temple!" Another wave of unrest surged as dozens more warriors poured from the temple's surroundings, brandishing their swords with angry cries.
Just as the four acolytes prepared to unleash another assault, Aizen, who had been quietly observing from the cliff, finally spoke.
"This is too slow. These meaningless ants... allow me to eradicate them in a single stroke."
Aizen calmly brought his hands together. A surge of immense spiritual power gathered within his palms.
"Hadō #58: Tenran!" (Orchid Sky)
An indescribably terrifying whirlwind erupted into existence mid-air, howling as it then fragmented into countless, razor-sharp blades of condensed wind.
Swish— Swish— Swish—!
Wherever the whirlwind passed, it left a trail of sharp, cutting sounds.
When the last of the wind blades dissipated, the dozens of charging samurai lay strewn across the ground, lifeless, their expressions frozen in anger and shock.
A single strike. Total annihilation.
"This... this is too strong," the four acolytes—Kira, Setsuna, and the others—stared dumbfounded at the scene of dozens of corpses. The ecstasy that had clouded their minds was washed away by a wave of cold, sobering fear. They remembered the terror of being dominated by Aizen's Reiatsu, a feeling that was now deeply carved into their bones.
Fwap.
In an instant, Aizen's figure appeared directly in front of the four of them.
He cast a calm, appraising glance toward the temple's main entrance, then began to walk forward, his steps measured and unconcerned.
"Proceed. Follow in my footsteps. It is time to release this 'Sprite'."
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