(35) The eight rings of Death

The scene was beyond words and at the same time, appeared extremely impure and evil — in Mars's mind. 

The glowing red particles, the same as remnants of fire, floated around the wicked array. Like the blooming of the world's deadliest flower, they spiraled above Mangrel and parted around the facility of the array. 

The array drawn on the floor had a rough roundish shape, forming multiple circles, connected by triangular cones. Strange writing flowed through the red circle, they twisted in a cursive manner, giving out a vile feeling. 

Because of the gathered death energy, Mars felt uncomfortable all over. It was like an impending death stood right beside him. 

"Come here." Mangrel's voice spread through the cellar. 

"Eh...?" Feeling it to be directed at him, Mars hesitated. 

'Would I be alright entering that thing?' Mars thought to himself nervously. 

"Don't worry about it, the array won't affect you, I am in complete control of it." Mangrel's confident and encouraging voice reached Mars. 

Deliberating for a second, Mars moved forward with a resolute face. He trusted Mangrel more than anyone right now. 

As Mars neared the array, immediately the red particles, which gave out a dangerous feeling, parted to make a pathway to Mangrel. 

It was like Mangrel said, the whole array was in complete control, moving according to his will. 

Mangrel glanced at Mars while sitting beside Belvan's corpse. 

'If the death wisp were to enter Mars's body, he might awaken the perception to see the origin essence, but it might give birth to a problem in his future cultivation too.' Mangrel's eyes turned back forward. 

The sparkling red particles, the death wisp, were nothing but the impurity extracted from Belvan's corpse. Once a person dies, impurity forms within them, it was a natural phenomenon. 

The Demonic Array — Sacrificial life reformation, extracts the death wisp and diffuses it in the air. That was also the first function of this array. 

Well, it was supposed to be the first step, Mangrel stopped the array from diffusing the death wisp and retained them around it. 

Mangrel took off his upper clothes.

"Pierce the nail here by hammering it using the rock." Mangrel placed his finger on the left of his upper back.

"Huh?" For a second, Mars thought that he was hearing things. 

"Do it," Mangrel spoke demandingly.

"No. Is that alright?" Mars frowned. 

"It will be alright, just do it." Mangrel met Mars's gaze, showing that he was dead serious. 

Calming himself, Mars placed the nail at the place pointed by Mangrel. It was not like he wanted to hurt Mangrel, he was just doing what he was ordered to do. 

Seeing Mars moving Mangrel braced himself. 

He had thought a lot. 

Which was the best zero-rank body cultivation module, in his current state and situation. 

Low potential and a turbulent position, where life and death were uncertain. It was the worst of the worst, where many would have given up, before even trying. 

Demonic cultivation modules — That was the only option. 

Demonic cultivators used unorthodox methods. Hence, they grew at a visibly faster rate. Their strength surpasses the righteous cultivator in many cases too.

Though the sacrifice made for it was intangible, Mangrel felt it was necessary for his current situation. 

With his potential, it would not be weird if Mangrel were to die of old age even before ascending to become a rank one body practitioner. 

There were millions of rank-zero cultivation modules, and they all gave an individual perk of their own, like excelling in speed, strength, or reaction. All of them could potentially impact the life and death of an individual. 

The eight Ring of Death — a demonic cultivation module, which gave explosive growth in cultivation in exchange for killing yourself, at the initial practice of the technique. 

It was a requirement not many could fulfill, as outside help was absolutely necessary. 

The reason Mangrel knew of this module was very apparent. While he was the sect master, the eight rings of death was the most trending cultivation technique. 

Being an unorthodox cultivation module, of course, dying once was not the only drawback. Cultivating this method would cause the practitioner's body to be filled with death energy. This could prove to be fatal while ascending to rank one. 

'However, that is only the case for others. I already know the cultivation module I am going to use while ascending to rank one. Therefore I know that it would not get in my way.' Mangrel's eyes grew cold, this matter was decided by him before he was even re-birthed. 

The death energy didn't affect his strength, so he didn't care about it. Actually, he wanted his body to be filled with death energy more and more. That was the reason Mangrel retained all the death wisp around him. 

If Mangrel hadn't found the life force physique, he was planning to use the blood gate cultivation module. 

"Here I go." Mars gave a heads-up.

Clank!

"Psshhh!" Mangrel breathed in sharply, feeling the nail piercing into his flesh. 

A cold sweat formed on his head, losing too much blood would be fatal, hence he gritted his teeth. 

"Don't stop, keep hammering quickly," Mangrel ordered Mars with an emergency in his voice. 

Clank! Clank! 

Mars hit the nail's head with the rock, putting all his strength behind it. No hesitation was seen in his movement anymore, only appearing cold and ruthless. As Mangrel had predicted, Mars truly had an innate demonic nature. 

This scene just proved his speculation. 

"The nail's in, brother," Mars spoke in a calm voice. 

Mangrel breathed in deeply, he had pointed at a relatively safe place, but the nail's projectile twisted and gazed at one of his ribcage bones. This caused waves of pain to hit him, spreading like an electric wave. 

The nails were longer than an inch, so they wouldn't harm any vital parts until he was careful. The only drawback to be considered for a short while was blood loss. 

A trail of blood could be seen rolling down Mangrel's naked back.

"Pierce the next nail here and try to keep your hand steady." Mangrel Pointed at another place on his shoulder. 

Clank! Clank! Clank!

Mars began doing as ordered again. 

Having grown used to the pain, Mangrel urged Mars to move quickly. 

Mars performed the same process another six times until only the last nail was left. 

"Go out of the array and wait," Mangrel instructed with a pale face, his poor condition clear at a single glance. 

Without a word, Mars got out of the array and looked forward with interest visible in his eyes. 

The death wisp floating around the array at that instant suddenly froze. They flowed towards Mangrel, or more specifically towards the nails rapidly, like swarming insects.

"Ugh...!" Amidst the pain, Mangrel felt his mind feel like it was hit by thunder. 

At once, foreign substances that could not be felt before, appeared in Mangrel's field of senses. 

It was the origin essence. 

Attaining the perception he desired for a long time, Mangrel showed no hesitation. He controlled the origin essence around him, like the most natural thing in the world. 

With no inconsistency, the origin essence flowed into the seven nails, giving birth to another chain reaction.