Demon Cultivator in Abyssal Era

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: Blood Moon Ceremony

”Blood Moon Ceremony!”

Chu Xiu felt a chill in his heart, his intuition was indeed correct. When the Blood Moon reaches its Perfection, unexpected changes occur!

He focused and sensed the information in his mind.

[Blood Moon Ceremony]

[Duration: One Hour]

[Rule 1: During the ceremony, all creatures’ positions are marked by the Blood Moon, and those holding the mark can sense each other within a certain range.]

[Rule 2: Killing any creature earns points, the amount depending on the strength of the creature killed, and a points ranking is conducted for all creatures within the ceremony range.]

[Environment: Abyss creatures exposed to the Blood Moon gain Power +50%, Life Recovery Speed +300%, Combat Desire +300%, Pain Perception -70%, and gain experience from kills +100%, with experience also gained from killing other Abyss creatures.]

[Rewards: The top 1000 creatures in the points leaderboard will receive rewards from the Endless Blood Pool]

As the hint panel appeared, the Blood Moon hanging high in the sky suddenly extended eerie red beams all around, like countless blood-red tentacles.

The Corpse Demons stimulated by the blood light developed a strange red hue on their skin. They howled at the sky, and their already ferocious eyes grew even more frenzied!

Suddenly, a Corpse Demon turned and directly bit the neck of another Corpse Demon beside it!

What followed was utter chaos, with the Corpse Demons below launching indiscriminate attacks on each other like a chaotic war had erupted!

But these were only the lowest-level Corpse Demons. The advanced ones seemed to retain their sanity and immediately left the center of the melee, hunting their lower-level counterparts in their preferred manner and accumulating points.

At the same time, Chu Xiu could feel the blood light shining upon his body. Although he didn’t receive the frenzy buff like those Corpse Demons, a faint restlessness surged within him, as if his natural instinct for killing was being aroused, eagerly desiring to step into the arena to fight!

He also gained a peculiar perception ability — he could vaguely sense the life around him.

Chu Xiu was stirred, ”So this is the effect of the Blood Moon Ceremony?”

He knew this perception worked both ways, meaning that while he hunted other creatures, he was also a target for others!

Taking a deep breath, he suppressed the unrest within and quickly began to assess the situation.

Currently, the area below was still in a state of a large-scale melee.

However, Chu Xiu noticed that as the number of Corpse Demons decreased and more evolved high-tier Corpse Demons emerged, increasingly more Corpse Demons began retaining some of their sanity under the influence of the Blood Moon.

They started hiding their forms, choosing more advantageous battle sites like seasoned hunters, completing their hunts in this chaotic crimson world.

Moreover, quite a few Corpse Demons had already entered the apartment buildings, moving towards the location where people were situated!

This movement was quickly noticed by others,

Everyone in the stronghold ran out, their faces pale as they observed the horrifying scene below!

Trials end tomorrow, and no one wants to die here!

Especially those Support Profession members, who lacked fighting ability and were so frightened that they could barely stand.

”After I go back, I’ll never enter the Abyss again, I don’t want to die here.” Xu Hang was almost in tears.

To them, with their Awakened craft, they could live comfortably even if they never entered the Abyss again—a high-tier technician would earn a monthly salary of twenty thousand, or perhaps make it into the Inner City! They were just one night away from a better life!

”Quiet, everyone back to the stronghold!” Shen Zhuo commanded in a low voice, calming the frightened crowd, ”Don’t worry, no one will die tonight!”

His voice was also trembling, but the crowd, like finding the backbone, retreated into the stronghold room one after another.

The room itself was spacious and had been continually reinforced over time, becoming akin to a safe house, offering a great advantage from the terrain.

After issuing the order, Shen Zhuo looked at Chu Xiu, ”Even at a time like this, won’t you join us? You were attacked by a Corpse Demon before and should know how terrifying the high-tier ones are! It’s not a force one person can overcome!”

Chu Xiu chuckled, ”How would you know if you don’t try? Meanwhile, aren’t you tempted by the rewards of the ceremony with your excellent equipment?”

”You...” Shen Zhuo widened his eyes, ”Are you still thinking about the rewards?”

But he quickly reacted, ”Chu Xiu, you must have misunderstood. The ceremony’s ’top one thousand’ does not refer only to Awakened ones, but to all creatures in this city!”

Unexpectedly, Chu Xiu just responded nonchalantly, ”Oh, so what?”

”So... what?” Shen Zhuo stammered.

He took a deep breath and said, ”I don’t know if you’ve estimated how big this city is, but I once stood atop a building, 33 floors high, and couldn’t see the other end of the city.”

”And within just one kilometer around us, we’ve found at least six Warrior Tier creatures! Not to mention who knows how many are hidden underground!”

”Estimating like this, it’s likely just the Warrior Tier monsters alone exceed a thousand! Aren’t you dreaming to think you’ll make it into the top one thousand?”

”Chu Xiu, I don’t want you to die out here due to a moment of impulsiveness. Come join us, and after the trial ends, we can come back to this world with better preparation for exploration!”

Shen Zhuo extended his hand, sincerity written all over his face.

Chu Xiu remained silent for a moment.

After a while, he said, ”Shen Zhuo, you’re a good person.”

”But I still say, I have my own strategy.”

”You...” Shen Zhuo shook his head with a wry smile and sighed, ”Alright, if you change your mind, come and find me, just don’t... lead the monsters here.”

With that, he stopped trying to persuade him and returned to the stronghold.

With a ”bang”, the heavy iron door slammed shut.

Standing outside the building, Chu Xiu took a deep breath and a faint smile appeared on his face.

”Didn’t expect, this Shen Zhuo is quite the Holy Mother, a bit like Qingshan. I used to think he was the hypocrite type.”

”Holy Mothers are great, I like them most, harmless and easy to manipulate.”

In times of crisis, you truly see a person’s true colors.

Even during this time, Shen Zhuo hadn’t forgotten to pull him into the fold, possibly thinking there’s strength in numbers, yet it reflected part of his character.

”It’s a pity, I really want to see what this so-called Blood Moon reward is.”

Having mastered all his heritage, he was at his strongest state for the short term, and his strength far exceeded those of the Same Tier.

Hiding in such circumstances would be a waste!

”Moreover, the rewards aren’t entirely out of reach.”

He naturally had a rough estimate of the place, and because of his high Attributes and larger exploration range, Chu Xiu’s estimation was more precise and detailed than Shen Zhuo’s.

”There aren’t possibly over a thousand Warrior Tier creatures here, there are absolutely more than a thousand!”

”But, as Warrior Tier creatures will kill each other, the number of surviving creatures will greatly reduce, and my chances aren’t low.”

Of course, Chu Xiu’s adventure wasn’t driven by greed like a gambler, with no preparation, but after thorough observation and analysis.

The primary reason for his choice was—

”This Blood Moon Ceremony is practically a killing field tailor-made for me!”

During this time, he hadn’t been staring blankly at the scene of Corpse Demons fighting below, but carefully summing up the Corpse Demons’ behavior.

He found that once out of their frenzy state, Corpse Demons preferred hunting ”non-similar” creatures, forming a ”cooperative hunting” tendency among themselves.

For them, these Awakened people were the best hunting targets. He could clearly sense a large number of Corpse Demons rushing towards the top floor!

Also, under the influence of the Abyss’s experience decay mechanism, these Corpse Demons rarely waste time killing creatures over three levels lower than themselves.

This made sense, when Chu Xiu was Level 1, a Black-haired Corpse Ghost could give him 60 experience points, but by Level 5, it sharply declined to 10 points.

Combining the above points, the top floor human stronghold in the apartment building became a perfect monster-gathering bait!

It attracts a large number of Corpse Demons without alerting higher-tier creatures.

This is practically a perfect killing field gifted by heaven!

Under such circumstances, even without the Blood Moon Ceremony’s reward, he had ample reason to take risks just for the extra 100% experience!

”Not to mention—territorial battles are my specialty!”

Chu Xiu curled his lips into a smile, waving his hand to set up the Bone Bloodthirst Array on the spot!