Silence descended over the Bloodline Hall.
The disciples stood rooted in place while the corpse slowly leaked darkened blood across the stone pathways.
The smell alone was enough to make them shiver.
Within moments, alarms rang throughout the Miredon Family Estate.
Elders and physicians rushed over at full speed, only to come to an abrupt stop after seeing the corpse lying before the Ancestral Hall.
Even the elders felt chills spread through their bodies.
The old ancestor no longer looked human.
His skin had blackened in several places while his veins bulged grotesquely beneath the flesh. His body looked hollowed out from within, as though every drop of bone and blood inside him had decayed into corruption.
One elder quickly knelt beside the corpse and sent his spiritual sense inward.
The next instant, his expression twisted into one of horror.
"The bloodline..."
His lips trembled, "It’s corrupted..."
"What nonsense are you saying?" Another elder who stood behind him, maintaining a careful distance, barked.
The elder who checked turned around and roared, "The bloodline itself became poison!"
The surrounding elders instantly stiffened.
Only one thought dashed across their mind like a million horses galloping across the battlefield: Impossible!
How can one’s own bloodline turn into poison?
That was saying that their own blood turned into poison. It didn’t make sense at all. If the ancestor’s blood was poison itself that was harmful like this, then how come he survived to this day?
"Elders..."
Suddenly, one of the terrified disciples who witnessed the scene spoke through clattering teeth.
"Speak boldly." One of the elders encouraged him.
The terrified disciple nodded, "Ancestor... he kept saying there was a hex..."
The moment the word left his mouth, silence fell again.
The elders exchanged uneasy glances.
A hex was a troublesome thing to encounter. It wasn’t a rune, but it acted like one, latching onto blood, soul, and other spiritual factors that karma could integrate and be borne from. Even in the Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm, known for poison and darkness, a hex was still rare to come across, unlike a curse.
Fearing the origin of this hex, one elder immediately began inspecting his own body.
At first, he found nothing of concern, but he kept checking.
Then his face turned deathly pale.
Deep within his soul, hidden so carefully it was nearly impossible to detect, a black-red mark pulsed with a green glow silently beside his soul essence.
The elder’s pupils constricted violently.
Cold sweat drenched his back as he found it difficult to breathe.
"No..."
He hurriedly circulated his cultivation art and surged with his soul force, trying to squash the hex.
The black-red hex mark that glowed in a sinister green reacted instantly.
Agonizing pain exploded through his meridians.
"Argghh!"
The elder staggered backward, coughing blood onto the ground.
The surrounding elders recoiled at the suddenness, thinking it was another enemy attack.
"What happened!?" However, even as they looked around, they couldn’t find anyone.
"There’s... really a hex..." The elder who checked blurted out, fear overwhelming his voice.
The other elders immediately wanted to check themselves, but one elder roared.
"Stop! The hex might react adversely to your discovery!"
Hearing this, their expressions crumbled one after another, but one elder was too late.
That elder who was the fastest to check among them spurted a mouthful of blood along with the elder who first checked. Their skin increasingly became red as their pores began dripping blood.
The other elders watched this scene, their hearts sinking.
"Quick, aid them!"
One elder who was a physician instantly began burning his blood essence and sent a healing water wave directly along with his blood to support that elder’s blood from degrading.
He clenched his teeth and continued supporting despite the unknown danger this strange hex posed to him.
Seeing that he wasn’t affected by the hex poison within that elder’s body, the others also started doing the same, trying to help stabilize the blood from rotting into poison. They burned their blood essence to stabilize the two elders.
Soon, they were able to help them avoid a quick death, unlike the ancestor.