Atlas of Heaven and Earth

Chen Chuan glanced at the Snow Emperor Blade, then took two steps closer. Although the outward invasion from the red stone below had weakened, its surface seemed unchanged.

He ignored this, bent down, and picked up the stone with his hand. At the same time, he glanced at the ground, walked to the key ritual node, and used his foot to smear it a few times, destroying the pattern on it.

Just as he finished this task, several deep breaths were heard around him, followed by a few coughs. The three people wrapped in Secret Ritual cloth slowly woke up.

However, when they saw Chen Chuan standing in the middle and holding the Sun Wheel Stone, they were first surprised, then turned to anomaly and anger, bursting out a series of words from their mouths.

Chen Chuan couldn't understand; it must have been some foreign language. At this moment, two of them tore off the cloth from their bodies and stood up from their spots.

These two individuals were over two meters tall, and from their body movements, it was clear they were martial artists. After standing up, they each pulled out two axes from their waists and said something to him. Although he still couldn't understand a word, the anger contained within was clearly felt.

Chen Chuan calmly stood in place, looked at the two axes, and felt a bit regretful, but not for long.

Just as the two roared and attempted to charge at him, he took out some prepared gravel from his pocket and flicked it with his fingers. The two were halfway when they seemed to suffer a gunshot, their heads tilting back, and they fell to the ground one after another.

The whole process happened very quickly.

Chen Chuan looked at him and asked, "Was this Sun Source Ritual set up by you?"

Hearing him directly name the ritual, the man was startled, gave up any hope of luck, hesitated, and then said, "Yes, it was set up by us... May I ask, sir..." He raised his head and cautiously asked, "What year is it now?"

Chen Chuan said, "The 94th year of the Da Shun Republic."The man was stunned for a moment, converted the time, and then fell silent, clearly realizing that he had just entered the ritual hibernation period not long ago, and now this person had come in and destroyed the ritual. Moreover, being able to find this place so accurately, he must not be of ordinary status. He asked with difficulty,

"Are you from the Great Shun Government?"

Chen Chuan said, "You can think so."

The man actually felt relieved. What he feared were competitors within the sect and other hostile Secret Cults. On the contrary, people from the Great Shun Government were easier to communicate with. At worst, he could just pay a fine.

He cautiously said, "Sir, all the offerings I used were brought from abroad, and I did not use any of your country's citizens. Even the Sun Wheel Stone would not leak out during the ritual..."

Chen Chuan looked at the crystal in his hand and asked, "If it leaks out, what consequences would it have?"

"You don't know?"

The man was somewhat surprised but hesitated for a moment before explaining, "If not handled properly, within a certain range, it could cause the death of humans and animals and the withering of plants..."

At this point, he hurriedly explained, "For our sect, the Sun Crystal is the key to opening the ritual and a necessity to maintain it. We also don't want such a situation to arise, which would be discovered by your Government, so please believe me, such a result will not occur."

Chen Chuan said, "Not to mention that this is the land of Da Shun, not a place where you can casually set up rituals, but it seems you haven't considered the consequences of ritual failure either?"

"Failure, impossible!"

The man immediately denied.

But Chen Chuan just looked at him calmly.

The man realized something was wrong because if Chen Chuan had come here to deal with it, if he hadn't followed someone, then it must be that he had discovered some anomaly?

Had something happened to the people who went back?

Just as he thought of this, suddenly, his breathing became rapid, and he grabbed his throat with both hands, as if he couldn't breathe.

Chen Chuan raised an eyebrow; he could clearly sense that the man's physical condition was rapidly deteriorating, and his vitality was weakening with an unstoppable momentum.

The man suddenly pointed at the Sun Crystal, "Quick, quick, save..."

Chen Chuan understood what he meant; he wanted to return the Sun Crystal to its original position to extend his life. But the ritual had already been destroyed by him, so even if it was put back, it would be useless. Therefore, he just stood there quietly.Seeing him unmoved, the man's face showed a look of despair. As his breath gradually faded, the flesh on his body quickly withered away, turning into a mummy within just a few seconds.

Chen Chuan stepped forward to inspect, finding a package on the man's body containing some essential drugs and a notebook. As for the two security guards, only some necessities for wilderness survival were found.

Seeing there was nothing of value left here, he prepared to return to the surface. But as he looked up, the light hit the top of the cave, revealing several bulges.

At first, he thought they were just natural formations on the cave's ceiling. However, upon a closer look, it seemed there was something inside. Looking again, he was startled to find what appeared to be curled-up human figures inside.

He withdrew his gaze, ignored it, and turned to walk out. Behind him, the uneven cave walls were as usual, with no sign of any human figures.

Chen Chuan walked out the same way he came. Since his external energy field had completely converged, he had rarely seen such phenomena recently.

He guessed that the situation just now might have been triggered by the Sun Crystal in his hand, but as long as he firmly believed in his own judgment and ignored it, there would be no hindrance.

In fact, he recently discovered that as long as he utilized...

And Cao Guiqi had told him that such phenomena were also resources to help him advance. Every time he saw and overcame them, it was beneficial for training Steady Spirit, so he didn't need to do this, just face it normally.

Because he had memorized the situation along the way, he exited faster than he entered, returning to the surface in less than ten minutes, with only some moisture from the cave on him, not even sweating.

Walking out of the cave and into the daylight, he just closed his eyes slightly, then opened them, completely adapting to the outside light.

Bureau Chief Lei had been waiting outside. Seeing him come out, he walked up to him and asked, "Student Chen, are you okay?"

Chen Chuan said, "Bureau Chief Lei, I'm fine." He patted the package, "I brought some things up."

"Let's talk in the car."

Bureau Chief Lei led him to his armed special car, handed him a bottle of water. Chen Chuan thanked him, took out the items from his package to give to Bureau Chief Lei, and recounted the situation he had just encountered.Bureau Chief Lei first took the Sun Wheel Stone, glanced at it, and his expression became serious. He then carefully placed it in a heavy metal box and sealed it. Only after that did he take out the data and the notebook Chen Chuan had brought up and began to examine them carefully.

Chen Chuan noticed that he read very quickly, his eyes sweeping over a page before flipping to the next.

Just over ten minutes later, Bureau Chief Lei closed the notebook in his hand and said, "I've basically figured it out. The leader of this expedition is the wealthy businessman mentioned in the data, likely Erike."

Chen Chuan asked, "Is this person very famous?"

Bureau Chief Lei said, "Erike is from Norland and has criminal records of conducting cult rituals in various countries around the world. The Da Shun Secret Cult Investigation Bureau has his file."

Chen Chuan said, "This person claimed that the one in the expedition team twelve years ago was his father. Is that true?"

"They are indeed father and son, but the matter is not that simple."

Bureau Chief Lei raised the notebook in his hand and said, "I thought they were conducting a simple Sun Source Ritual, but in fact, they went further and conducted a "Stealing Fire' on top of it."

"Stealing Fire?"

Bureau Chief Lei said, "This is the terminology of the Sun Source Ritual. Simply put, during the Sun Source Ritual, the life force of one party can be transferred to another.

However, to achieve the maximum effect of the Sun Source Ritual, the sacrificer must be willing and fully aware of every detail and truth. If ignorant sacrifices are used instead, the life force obtained will be very little, as no one is willing to sacrifice themselves for others for no reason.

So, in this case, Erike and his son played a trick.

Erike first had his son transfer twelve years of his life to him.

Then, for the next twelve years, due to the effect of the ritual, he could ensure that he would not age because of this, while his son used the life force obtained from other sacrifices to enter ritual hibernation.

In the doctrine of the Sun Worship Cult, twelve years is a cycle, where everything starts anew, and a gap appears in between, from which the followers steal strength."So when the next ritual was about to be completed, Erike woke up his son and had him take twelve years of life from himself, but in reality, he himself did not lose anything. Then he used the life force from the other sacrifices to enter ritual hibernation.

This way, his son could enjoy the next twelve years outside, and when the next ritual was held, they could repeat this operation. This is what "Stealing Fire' is.

It can be said that they "borrowed' from the ritual a twelve-year life span that could be used repeatedly. Their plan was good, but it seems there was a flaw this time, causing the ritual to not fully succeed."

Chen Chuan asked, "Can they keep exchanging like this indefinitely?"

Bureau Chief Lei said, "The Sun Worship Cult followers place great importance on the number twelve, so according to their understanding, "Stealing Fire' can be performed twelve times in a row. Even if it's only twelve times, the additional lifespan gained is quite considerable."

Chen Chuan, after listening to Bureau Chief Lei, thought for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "I wonder if the ritual they held this time is...

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