Lie Huo Jiao Chou

geous.
As soon as he regained his freedom, he pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the demon.

It was a Mithril gun specially designed for the field agents to deal with all kinds of monsters and demons.
The Mithril bullets inside would automatically avoid people and objects without any abnormal energy reactions, and chase after high-energy targets.
For a moment, silver light was flying everywhere in the corridor.
As the silver light passed by, a soft laugh rang out, like the helpless and indulgent laugh of a beloved child misbehaving.
The team leader was a middle-aged man with a daughter in high school.
When he heard the laughter, he was momentarily dazed, as if he had returned to his infancy, feeling vulnerable and wronged, wanting to be coddled.

Just as he was lost in thought, a claw made of black mist had already grabbed his wrist holding the gun.
He only felt a tingling sensation spreading from his wrist, and then half of his body lost consciousness.
The Mithril gun slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, while the black mist climbed up his arm and headed straight for his throat!

“Get out of the way!” A burst of fire rolled up and ignited the team leader's arm in a swoop.
However, the fire only used the black mist as fuel, it didn't burn his clothes or scorch his skin.
In the blink of an eye, the black mist was burned to ashes and disappeared along with the fire.

The undercover team leader rolled on the ground and retrieved the Mithril gun, looking at Xuan Ji in shock and suspicion.
“You…
are you actually a Lightning-Fire type?”

Lightning-Fire type was an extremely rare type of ability with strong offensive capabilities.
Even in the External Affairs Department, it was almost impossible to find one.
Almost all Lightning-Fire types were in the three major special elite forces of the General Administration – the commander of the former special forces “Thunder”, and current director of the External Affairs Department, Xiao Zheng, was a Lightning-Fire type.
Local branch offices might not have seen a live “Lightning-Fire” in their entire lifetime!

What was wrong with the personnel department of the headquarters, letting a Lightning-Fire expert do the cleanup work?

Xuan Ji said, “Keep firing, don't stop!”

The team leader snapped out of his trance, and the agents behind him finally reacted and took their positions, using silver bullets to snipe the demon lord.
The demon lord had probably never seen silver bullets before and hesitated in the face of the dense silver light.
Just as the silver bullets were raining down on him like drops, ready to turn even a stone statue into a sieve, a layer of black mist suddenly appeared around the demon lord, sweeping away all the silver bullets.

At that moment, Xuan Ji reached out and grabbed the coins embedded in the walls and floors out of thin air.
Each coin had an exaggerated cartoon face on it, either crying, laughing, scolding, or happy, arranged in a row, spinning in his palm like a row of miniature living beings.
Then, the coins suddenly transformed, elongating into several iron chains, one end held in Xuan Ji's hand, the other end flying out like a poisonous snake, hooking onto the demon lord's limbs, tightly binding him.

’

The agents were once again collectively dumbfounded – what was this? Was this monster a Lightning-Fire type or a metal type? Had lightning rods gained sentience? They had been taught that Lightning-Fire and metal were incompatible and could never coexist!

But even Xuan Ji himself didn't look relaxed as he tugged on the iron chains, a layer of frost forming on his eyebrows and hair.
His hands were shaking as if he might lose his grip at any moment.
“Quickly evacuate the people near the hospital, hurry up!” he shouted.

One of the agents hesitated for a moment.
“You…”

“Don't dawdle!”

The agent was about to say something else but was stopped by the team leader, who had put aside his pride.
With his experience and keen eye, he had already realized that this post-crisis management director was at least a qualified expert who could enter a special forces unit.
In this kind of combat, leaving behind anyone who wasn't capable would only be a hindrance.

The team leader took a deep look at Xuan Ji.
“Brother, remember to immediately report to headquarters and request support from the nearest special forces unit – everyone! Clear the area and evacuate ten kilometers! Let's go!”

That night, Dr.
Wang, the head of the ancient studies department, was on the night shift at the Bureau.

Dr.
Wang wore a pair of round glasses and stooped, shuffling along to the main control room.
His head, ahead of his body, extended out of his neck two li away and landed in front of Xiao Zheng.
It was said that he was born in the late Ming Dynasty, and he had no other special abilities other than being old and refusing to die.
He retired more than 30 times, but was rehired by the Bureau.
Now, he specialized in the research of mysterious ancient books and rituals.
He was knowledgeable and well-versed in both ancient and modern knowledge, like a living encyclopedia, but due to his age, he did everything slowly, so one needed to have some patience when communicating with him.

“Yin Sacrifice…it's really serious! This is a forbidden ritual.
If it goes wrong, people may die.” Dr.
Wang opened his mouth like an old opera performer and spoke eloquently, making Xiao Zheng want to fast forward.

“'Sacrifice' is an 'evil contract.' On one hand, it can be used to summon evil gods to descend and massacre the people, and on the other hand, it can be used to ask evil spirits to possess people and seek revenge.
However, those evil gods and evil spirits are not easy to please.
They will require a hundred times more repayment for helping you.
Xiao Director, you asked at the right time.
We just did a special topic on 'sacrifice' not long ago, and the file should be saved somewhere…oh…”

Xiao Zheng asked, “What is the date of the saved file?”

“Oh…it was last week, which date was it again?”

Xiao Zheng grabbed his computer and rushed to the archive room, dragging the power cord behind him.

The archive room of the ancient studies department was constantly temperature- and humidity-controlled, with no light.
There were rows of crystal cabinets inside, containing various original ancient books.
There was a small screen on each cabinet door that could access the researchers' annotations.
With a command from Xiao Zheng, more than ten researchers rummaged through the archive, and soon found the “Sacrifice” special topic cabinet.

“The so-called sacrifice can be understood as a kind of buying and selling contract.
A sacrifice has four elements: 'sacrificial object,' 'sacrificial host,' 'medium,' and 'sacrificial text.'” A researcher told Xiao Zheng, “The sacrificial object is the 'cost' paid by the 'Party A'; the sacrificial host is the 'Party B' that charges for the service, usually not a good person.
Some scholars believe that only a 'demon' can serve as a sacrificial host and respond to the 'sacrifice.' The 'medium' is the 'communication tool' between the buyer and seller.
Finally, the 'sacrificial text' is equivalent to the contract for this transaction.
It is said that this is a type of writing that cannot be written.
Once it is written, the sacrifice has already taken effect.
Neither party can go back on their word, and the sacrificial object listed in the sacrificial text must be in place, and the sacrificial host must fulfill the contract, otherwise, he will suffer the backlash of the sacrifice.”

Xiao Zheng asked, “Tell me specifically about the Yin Sacrifice.”

“The Yin Sacrifice is a type of 'sacrifice'.
According to legend, the sacrificial host for this type of 'sacrifice' is a very special being, a sealed demon lord.
The Yin Sacrifice can unlock the seal, so it is also called the 'Summoning Demon Sacrifice'.
The sacrificial object must be sacrificer, Party A, themselves,” the researcher said, “As you can imagine, regardless of success or failure, the sacrificer who initiates the Yin Sacrifice will not have a good ending.
It's a kind of 'suicidal attack'.”

Xiao Zheng asked, “What the heck? What are these sealed demon lords?”

“Our information is limited.
Ancient texts say that demons can 'live forever, have endless magical powers', and can only be sealed or left to dissipate naturally, they cannot be killed by external force.
According to this description, the contemporary academic community generally agrees that the so-called 'demon lord' is actually a kind of chaotic and harmful abnormal energy.”

’

Xiao Zheng was confused, “How can a ball of energy do business, or fulfill contracts?”

“Sorry, Director, I don't know, after all, whether it's a 'demon' or a 'sacrifice', they are just legends in ancient texts, and may even be the fantastic imagination of ancient people – but…there is a damaged ancient text that once mentioned 'human-demons'.
We speculate that this special abnormal energy similar to a 'demon' can be embodied in a specific person, and this person can either control this exceptionally powerful abnormal energy…or be controlled by it, becoming a real demon lord.”

Speaking of which, that mysterious man with an unknown background in Chiyuan Hospital…
Xiao Zheng's eyes widened, “What information can we find about human-demons?”

“Human-demons are like natural disasters,” the researcher opened an electronic scanned document, revealing a mural on it, which depicted scenes of floods, earthquakes, plagues, and wars in meticulous and somewhat gruesome strokes.
The picture was filled with bodies of various shapes and sizes, and in each scene resembling a human purgatory, there was a white-clothed figure that stood out, without a clear face, seeming to be only a symbol of terror, “You see this white-clothed figure, in the scene of the flood, he reaches his hand into the water upstream and stirs it; in the scene of war, two people stab each other with swords, and this white-clothed figure is holding a cup, collecting blood to drink from the tip of the sword – suggesting that all these major disasters are related to him.
Did you notice that in this painting, except for this white-clothed figure, everything else is just corpses.
This painting is called “Demon Lord'.”

Xiao Zheng: “…”

It's over, Xuan Ji is probably in trouble.

Xuan Ji not only felt cold, but also bone-chillingly cold.
His hands had already been frozen by the ice chips, as if he was wearing a pair of crystal gloves that were shining with colorful light.

Sheng Lingyuan—the demon lord lowered his head, his gaze sweeping over the blood-red totem on his body.
He couldn't be bothered to move, and his smile was like that of an old cat looking at a little bird under its paw.
The more the little bird struggled, the more interesting he found it, and he coldly advised, “Little demon, you are naturally pleasing to my eyes.
I liked you at first sight and don't want to hurt you.
You should retreat quickly.”

Xuan Ji never thought of himself as a face-con, but the phrase “I liked you at first sight” hit his ears and he inexplicably felt strange.
He suddenly had a sense of being favored and his heart skipped a beat.
His fingers holding the iron chain almost softened.

Fortunately, at this moment, the “Thousand Demon Bestiary” which had been frozen for a long time, returned to life, and a line of annotations appeared under the “demon” entry: “The demon understands the six desires and is good at devouring people's hearts.”

Xuan Ji was suddenly alert, and his eyes cleared up.
This demon was actually trying to seduce him, shamelessly!

“Tsk,” the demon shook his head regretfully.
“You're young, but you have a firm heart.
Letting you go is for your own good.
I'll tell you something.
This is the 'Thousand People Sacrifice’ ceremony.
The sacrificial text is about to be completed.
All that's left is the final 'living sacrifice'.
Why don't you go find the one who started this and bother me no more?”

“I'm afraid you'll bite me,” Xuan Ji sneered, and looked at the sacrificial text on the wall through the “Thousand Demon Bestiary”.

The “Thousand Demon Bestiary” finally caught up this time, and the translation of the gloomy sacrificial text slowly floated between the pages of the book.
With a quick glance at the translation, a thought came to mind, and his phone automatically flew out of his pocket, hovering to his ear and connecting to Xiao Zheng's phone.

Before the half ringtone finished, Xiao Zheng answered: “Hey, are you still…”

“I'm barely alive.
Listen to me first,” Perhaps because of his special talent, Xuan Ji spoke in Mandarin at five times the normal speed, so fast that it almost went out of tune.
Only someone who had the ability to transcribe Mandarin rap could understand him.
“I understand this sacrificial text.
The sacrificial offerings listed on it are 'thousand people sacrifice', and the sacrificial ritual must be completed within the phase of one month.
The first live sacrifice is offered on the 'day when the moon is new', and the last one is offered on the next 'day when the moon is new'.
If I remember correctly, today is the day of the new moon!”

Although Shen Lingyuan did not understand Xuan Ji's rapid rap, he was extremely interested in the phone, staring at it fixedly.

“The living sacrifice must die an unnatural death,” the coldness seeped into Xuan Ji's lungs and even his breaths were not coherent, “one month…um…within a month, one thousand people must die abnormally.
It is impossible for this to happen without a sound…”

“Contact the Public Security Department and investigate the non-natural deaths that have occurred in the past month,” Xiao Zheng quickly instructed the field staff beside him, then asked, “Are you okay now? How long can you hold on?”

“I'm not okay at all,” Xuan Ji gritted his teeth, shivering, “Why isn't there any heating in the south!”