Heaven Official's Blessing: Vol. 1

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence, sexual violence, death, illness, and bullying.

Xie Lian warns the group to avoid the face in the mud, but a merchant ignores him. A long, scarlet tongue shoots out, piercing the merchant’s ear and extracting a bloody lump. The creature, no longer human after decades in Banyue’s cursed land, cackles as it consumes its prey.

Suddenly, Banyue General Kemo and his undead soldiers arrive. Though they surround the group, they do not attack. The buried face pleads with Kemo, insisting it is still human, but Kemo reveals its skeletal body and, disgusted, crushes its head. Kemo and his soldiers then escort Xie Lian’s group to the Sinners’ Pit, an execution site with a powerful spiritual array ensuring no one can escape once inside. The walls are reinforced with magic, making climbing impossible.

Xie Lian sees a girl in black, apparently dead, suspended on a pole above the pit. Kemo yells, and a chorus of voices from within the pit responds. He calls them his “brothers” and orders two members of Xie Lian’s group to be thrown in. A-Zhao panics, attacking Kemo in an attempt to drag him down.