Xia Xuefeng sat upon a wooden bench, staring up at the starry night sky. Here, upon the balcony of her room at the Greenwind Pavillion, she felt at ease. It was an ease she had not experienced since the-

- A shadowy serpent in the sky, staring down with malicious crimson eyes-

The young cultivator shuddered, cutting off that line of thought. If she could somehow never again remember the events of the past few days, she'd be a happy girl.

While Xia Xuefeng had traversed the Flesh Mountains twice before, she never had she experienced such a horrifying ordeal-

A sharp sound, like a thousand thunderbolts and blood pouring from her ears-

She stood up, shoulders shaking.

'Perhaps cultivating will help clear my mind. Furthermore, I've yet to begin cultivating the manual the Young Mistress gave me. I wonder what it will be like Considering what Bing Meilu had said, it must be a very powerful art,' Xia Xuefeng thought, sighing.

The black-haired girl reached into the satchel on her waist, pulling out the sheets of paper that comprised the cultivation technique Bing Meilu had written for her.

Quickly, she looked over the first page, reading through the instructions.

"The Anthem of the Crucified?" she questioned aloud. "What an ominous name!"

The Qi Condensation portion of the Anthem of the Crucified involved condensing Spectral Crosses from freshly spilled blood. To reach the first stage one would only need to condense a single Spectral Cross. Then, to reach the second stage one would need to condense two additional crosses. Three for the third stage, and so on. By the final stage of Qi Condensation, she would have fifty-five Spectral Crosses, which she would then need to meld together into a Blood Crucifix to achieve Foundation Establishment.

As she read, Xia Xuefeng's rosy face whitened slightly. To cultivate using fresh blood? Wasn't that an unorthodox, demonic method of cultivation? Plus, it was just disturbing!

However, after a moment, the girl squared her shoulders. Her life had been saved by Bing Meilu. If she ever hoped to repay the favour, she would need to become strong. If she couldn't even train in a simple manual, how would she dare call herself a cultivator?

'I'll go buy some animals at the market,' she thought.

Xia Xuefeng carefully stepped back into her room, cautious not to make any noise. She did not want to wake up Bing Meilu, after all. Slowly, she made her way out of the room and down the stairs of the Greenwind Pavillion.

After exiting through a side gate, Xia Xuefeng began to jog through to the city to the bazaar she and her comrades had seen when they had first entered the Blue Pearl City. Even at night, the large market was still abuzz with activity.

She wandered through the market, searching for any traders selling cheap animals. Eventually, she caught sight of one. There was a short, fat man standing upon a bench behind a stall. Cages and cages filled with mice sat upon the stall.

Xia Xuefeng approached the man waving.

"Good evening," she greeted the man. "Do you perchance accept coinage?" she asked, showing the man a copper small coin.

"Yes, we accept copper coinage," the man nodded, recognizing her currency.

"How much for a cage of mice?" She asked.

"Fifteen copper,"

"You've got to be kidding me," Xia Xuefeng said, shaking her head. "We are talking about mice, not chickens. I couldn't give you more than three copper."

"It costs a lot to keep them alive and warm in the climate of Blue Pearl City," the man retorted. "Twelve copper is as low as I can go."

"Twelve copper is still way too much," she shook her head. "I guess I'll have to find another merchant..."

"W- wait a minute, dear customer. How about I give you a special discount, just this once," the merchant offered. "If you buy two cages instead of one, I'll sell it to you for eighteen copper total, only nine copper per cage."

"I'm not sure I have the space for two cages of mice," Xia Xuefeng told the man. "Maybe if it were a few copper's cheaper I'd consider it."

"Fifteen copper. You won't get a better deal than this!" the merchant replied.

"Alright, deal," she said.

She reached into her bag of coins, quickly dumping a handful of small copper discs onto the merchant's stall. He smiled pleasantly as the ebony-haired girl grabbed two cages of mice and left.

---

An hour later, Xia Xuefeng returned to her room, carrying two small wooden cages, each holding a dozen white mice. She carefully made her way out to the balcony of her room, careful not to disturb Bing Meilu, before setting down the two cages. Then, she pulled a small knife out of a sheath on her thigh and a set down soup bowl she had grabbed from her room's kitchen.

Xia Xuefeng reached into her cage, gingerly grabbing one of the mice. She felt its warm, soft body squish in her palm as she lifted it up. The mice squirmed in her grip, squeaking cutely. It turned to look at her with its beady red eyes, looking almost aggrieved. It was as if the mouse was begging for its life.

She grimaced and looked away, refusing to look at the mouse as she pressed the blade down on its neck. With a quick swipe, the sharp metal of her knife slashed open the small animal's throat. Warm thick liquid poured from the mouse's wound, oozing over Xia Xuefeng's fingers like warmed honey.

She held the mouse above the soup bowl, letting the blood slowly pour into it. After a few minutes, the young cultivator felt she had fully bled out the mouse. She placed its corpse on the ground, reaching into the cage and grabbing another mouse.

Now that she had done it once, it was much easier for Xia Xuefeng to repeat the process. One mouse, two mice, three mice... Soon she had bled a full cage of mice, leaving the soup bowl nearly full.

The girl forced herself not to look at the nearby pile of bloody mice corpses. Instead, she slowly submerged her fingertips in the still-warm bowl of blood. She grimaced at the sensation of the thick liquid on her skin, before beginning to cultivate.

Xia Xuefeng opened the apertures in her fingers, following the instructions of the Anthem of the Crucified. Slowly, a stream of Blood Qi began to travel up her fingers, through her meridians and into her Dantian. It began to gradually condense, from a thin mist into a dense fog before slowly taking the vague shape of a cross made from blood. Concentrating harder, she drew in more and more blood Qi. The bowl began to visibly drain away as her body suddenly shuddered.

Within her Dantian, a solid cross of crimson blood had formed, emanating a rich vitality. Xia Xuefeng had now reached the first stage of Qi Condensation using the Anthem of the Crucified.

The young girl stood up, her black hair waving gently in the ocean breeze. She marvelled at the sheer amount of Qi she felt flooding through her meridians. With just the first stage of Qi Condensation using the Anthem of the Crucified and she already felt several times more powerful than she had been at the fourth stage of Qi Condensation when using the Extreme Yang Clockwork Index.

'This technique is marvellous!' Xia Xuefeng sighed. 'If only it didn't require such a disgusting process to cultivate.'

She stepped forward, executing a short martial art routine. Her body moved swiftly and fluidly, with more speed and strength than she had ever been capable of before.

Satisfied with her increase in strength, the girl sat down, preparing to continue cultivating. As she did so, she suddenly froze, her body unable to move. A horrifying crushing sensation filled her body like a mountain had been smashed onto her back.

'What's going on?!' Xia Xuefeng screamed internally.

High in the night sky, a densely red fog began to gather. Massive cracks spread out across the starfield. Then with the sound of shattering glass, an enormous blood-red moon appeared. It seemed to tear away the stars in the night sky, revealing a black void beneath.

As she stared at the blood-red moon with shock and horror, Xia Xuefeng felt a penetrating gaze crush down on her. She could feel the eyes on her, like every part of her body was stripped bare for the world to see.

"You filthy mortal, who gave you the permission to blaspheme my Anthem of the Crucified with your lowly self?"

The words filled the air, reverberating as if they had been spoken by a legion of a thousand men. Xia Xuefeng felt the words hit her, like a hammer smashing into her chest. She coughed up blood, spitting it out onto the floor.

"Before I kill you, tell me where you found my art!" the voice commanded.

Despite her fear, the black-haired girl found herself answering automatically as if she were utterly incapable of disobeying the legion-like voice.

"It was given to me by my mistress, Bing Meilu," she stated robotically.

Then, Xia Xuefeng felt the crushing, penetrating gaze disappear from her body. After a moment, the voice spoke again, seemingly confused.

"Hmm. What is this? The legacy of the Crystal Providence? I need a better look."

Whatever force has been holding Xia Xuefeng in place disappeared. She fell onto her back, coughing up blood.

A man appeared on the balcony a few feet from Xia Xuefeng. His skin was as pale as a corpse, his short hair as dark a pure void. He wore a robe as black as his hair adorned with images of red moons. The man carelessly stepped over Xia Xuefeng's fallen body, entering her and Bing Meilu's room.

Xia Xuefeng lay on the ground deliriously, coughing up blood. She tried to speak, to shout or warn Bing Meilu of the man but she could not.

A few moments later, the man stepped out of the room with a scowl. He turned to look at Xia Xuefeng with a scornful gaze.

"You're in luck, you dirty rat. As much as I wish to kill you for the sin of blaspheming my divine anthem, the Second King would be pretty pissed if I screw around with the successor of the Crystal Providence. I can't believe that frigid bitch's legacy is still around!" the man spat scornfully. "That doesn't mean you get off without any consequences, mortal! Since you're cultivating my Anthem of the crucified, your body will be the perfect vessel for my rebirth."

As the man spoke, his body began to melt into a pool of blood. The red fluid flowed towards Xia Xuefeng, enveloping her body. It began to drain away into her skin, eventually drying up.

As she fell unconscious, a large, blood-red moon appeared within her Dantian.

---