The abandoned pills in his acupoint started to melt. Gao Ming submerged himself in the memory fragments. He flipped through them and experienced them. When he reached the last memory, a well-hidden emotion flowed out of the dark. It was not sadness or relief. It was a very special loneliness.
The people in Gao Ming’s lives had seen him once, but Gao Ming had encountered them many times. All his efforts pushed him to the worst ending every time. At the end of the struggle, only Gao Ming remained on this path. All the memory fragments were stained with anger and soaked in despair. Some had lingering urges for love. Each fragment was different, but all of them carried deep loneliness.
Someone tapped his shoulder. Gao Ming whipped his head around. The God of Flesh and Blood sent the loneliness of his memory into the furnace. Ignited by the heart fire and soul fire, a chisel appeared in Gao Ming’s mind. The God of Flesh and Blood left a name on it, the man of empty heart.
“Is he talking about me, or does it contain a different meaning?”
The chisel cracked the abandoned pills. The soul fire scorched them before Gao Ming used the carving knife to turn them into the Gods. When he worked on the statues, his consciousness started to join with the memory fragments. Through his process, he found his old self. When the last statue was completed, the divine glow was limited to Gao Ming’s stomach. Divine figures sat inside his body. They made the room inside his heart appear more like a divine temple.
“The third step is to carve out the shape to hide the God!”
Gao Ming had the cultivators design the blood city. The blood city was on his body. The shape didn’t need to be carved. The change started once he had the many statues inside his body sit on the Blood City tattoo. The Blood City tattoo was like a dead city. It was filled with shadow and death. However, once the divines returned, the city surged with life. Endless shadow spread with Gao Ming as the centre. It was so expansive that the nightmare couldn’t contain it. It blurred the boundary of the Soul Temple.
A giant sound came from the divine palace above them. Holy rain fell. Many cultivators raised their heads. The smoke faded even more. The divine palace glowed a bit red.
“The fourth step is using the spiritual blood to dot the eyes!” The cultivators placed the blood of their hearts on the central statue. By then, the statue had fully changed. Buildings dominated by ghosts appeared on its surface. Endless humans called for help. As the shadow spread, Gao Ming’s body resonated with the statue. The central statue had been turned into the ‘shell’ of Blood City, and Gao Ming was the city's core. In this way, he represented all the tragedy.
“Carry me over!” Gao Ming didn’t open his eyes. He raised his bloody hands, tearing open the wounds on his body. His finger pointed directly at the central statue. The wooden tourniquet was moved to the statue. Gao Ming was minute compared to the statue. However, their presence was almost similar. It was like two deep-sea beasts acknowledging each other.The carving knives kept changing the statue. With the aid of all the cultivators, it became more like Gao Ming’s blood city tattoo. Gao Ming reconstructed the blood city.
“Is this the divine palace?” The cultivators studied the wide expanse of the city. They had never seen an architectural style like this before.
Gao Ming ignored the cultivators. He placed his bloody fingers on the central figure. When the blood touched the stone, something that shocked all the cultivators happened. The buildings on the statue started to undulate like waves. They seemed to respond to Gao Ming’s summons.
“Are the buildings alive?”
“The city is moving on its own! This is a divine technique!”
Gao Ming placed his palm and closed his fingers around the tunnel exit! Everything was fated. The Blood City tattoo overlapped with the Blood City carving. The tunnel entrance enlarged in Gao Ming’s eyes. A gap opened on the stomach of the central statue. Gao Ming saw the palpable desire inside it. Once a false thing was trusted by enough people, it would gain power. The ascension desire of everyone below the seventh floor kept supplying the Soul Temple with energy.
“The divine in everyone’s heart is different. That is why the face of this divine statue is blurry.”
The meat fragrance overwhelmed the incense smell. Golden dust descended from above. The cultivators believed they had succeeded. Gao Ming was the only one who became nervous. The Soul Temple noticed the changes to the seventh floor. It targeted him again!
“The fifth step is organ insertion!”
One had to fill up the divine statue with internal organs to have it perform miracles. There were not many materials that could be used for this purpose on the seventh floor. The cultivators were fanatics of the Soul Temple. Before they reached the seventh floor, the Soul Temple had already hollowed them out.
“Master, how do you plan to do that?”
“This city is so large. One person’s organs will not be enough. I suggest we sacrifice the friends who have not contributed.”
Some of the careful cultivators backed away. The group started to crack. The way they looked at each other was wary. Faced with the chance to become immortal, no one wanted to sacrifice themselves to perfect others.
“I don’t need your sacrifice. Like I’ve said, I’ll help you become immortals!” Gao Ming’s smile became distorted. He glared at the golden dust. Rings of circles tried to entrap him. Gao Ming had nowhere to hide. He leaned forward, and his broken body fell into the tunnel entrance.
Gao Ming didn’t hesitate. The giant tunnel was connected to the divine statue’s desire. Gao Ming opted to make himself the internal organs of this statue!
The tunnel closed. A howl came out of the statue. The city started to bleed. Death and despair shrouded every building.
The cultivators were stunned. Those who were too slow were absorbed by the blood city carving. They had no idea how a city could become so dangerous. Who cleansed this city in the first place?
The golden light showered. The cultivators were crushed by the light rings. The divine palace shed its disguise. Without using the divine fog, it targeted the central statue brutishly.
“Is that urgency I feel? Will the true divine really feel threatened?”