novelraw Chapter 256
Chapter 256
"Up ahead is the formation core of the Herb Garden. Stay alert."
"Mm."
Their gains had not dulled their vigilance. In fact, the more they obtained, the warier Wang Yu became, paying attention to even the faintest stir of wind or grass.
Finally, one of the formation cores of the Heavenly Soul Herb Garden came into view.
Because the blood mist was too thick, even with the enhancement of his Taiyin Nether Eyes, Wang Yu could only see within a range of six or seven meters. Long Yiran’s sight was even worse, barely two meters.
The Golden Vision of Qi Observation seemed useless against this blood mist—or perhaps its power was simply not meant for this purpose.
The two of them felt their way forward carefully.
Suddenly—
Long Yiran bumped straight into Wang Yu’s back. She realized that his body had gone rigid.
"What is it, Brother Wang..."Her voice grew weaker and weaker, because in the blood mist ahead, two crimson eyes, glowing like lanterns, were staring at them. The creature was not as tall as the Blood Corpse Giant, but still more than ten meters high.
Two streams of turbid red air sprayed from beneath its eyes—its breath.
As the huge shadow moved, the surrounding blood mist was pushed aside, revealing a grayish-brown ginseng-shaped creature covered in countless wrinkles. Its chin was tangled with thick, root-like tendrils.
On its head grew twelve green leaves. Its head, body, and limbs were all plump and round. If not for its wrinkled face resembling that of an old man, one might have mistaken it for a gigantic baby.
Gulp.
Long Yiran swallowed hard and said hoarsely,
"Th-this... this is... a Medicine King?!"
"Run!"
Its strength far surpassed that of the Blood Corpse Giant. The aura emanating from its body had definitely reached the fourth rank. Other than the root tendrils, its skin was covered with blood-colored patterns—it was clearly tainted by Blood Demon energy.
As the two retreated, the Blood Demon Ginseng seemed to have been triggered. Its chubby short arm crossed the distance in an instant and struck down with a single palm.
Whoosh!
Wang Yu shot backward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring. Midair, he felt several bones shatter;
his internal Qi went into chaos, and his organs suffered severe damage.
A mouthful of blood gushed out.
That single blow left him grievously wounded—enough to leave lasting trauma.
If the creature had attacked to grab instead of strike, he would have been completely finished.
Boom!
Wang Yu smashed through the white walls at the edge of the Medicine Garden, crashing through several more buildings before barely managing to stop himself.
Long Yiran was nowhere to be seen. Looking at the Escape Talisman in his left hand, Wang Yu gave a bitter smile—there had been no time to activate it, let alone save his companion.
Given her physical resilience, her situation was undoubtedly grim.
This was... the third time his "fortune found in danger" had gone terribly wrong.
He was becoming allergic to that phrase. What thousand-year Medicine King? This was a death trap!
As soon as he stabilized himself, the Frost Moon Wings on his back unfurled, and he sped toward the exit of the secret realm, swallowing several supreme-grade Spirit Pills along the way.
From the moment he was struck to the moment he fled, the entire sequence took less than three breaths.
But immediately afterward, he sensed a vast shadow looming behind him. The Blood Demon Ginseng was chasing him—specifically him!
"Damn it!"
A massive ginseng fist descended from the sky. Wang Yu twisted around in midair.
Clapping his hands together, he fully unleashed the Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal. His waist twisted as he poured all his strength into forming a hundred-meter-long ghostly demonic dragon, its body engulfed in Ice Chi Pill Flames.
In an instant, he used nearly every technique he had. But the next moment filled him with despair.
The Yellow Spring Great Hand Seal shattered instantly against the ginseng’s fist. Realizing the danger, Wang Yu activated the Escape Talisman without hesitation.
Then—
The blue-flamed ghost dragon disintegrated inch by inch under the ginseng’s blow, leaving only a black scorch mark.
Clang!
At that critical instant, Wang Yu’s Starfall Cold Cauldron saved his life. As a mid-grade third-rank treasure, even though the Blood Demon Ginseng possessed fourth-rank power, it could not completely destroy it with one casual strike.
Thus—
Wang Yu was struck once again, sent flying like a sandbag. The Starfall Cold Cauldron was dented, and the man hiding inside was shaken and injured once more.
He felt as though all the bones in his chest were about to crumble.
Fortunately, the Void Escape Talisman activated just in time. The Blood Demon Ginseng lacked intelligence and could not stop spatial escape techniques. It could only watch as Wang Yu turned into a streak of silver light and vanished.
It roared to the heavens, its massive head sweeping around. When it looked down at the ground, its wrinkled mouth twisted into a grotesque grin.
Its short, thick legs stomped heavily upon the earth.
Rumble!
The entire secret realm quaked. The ground split open with wide cracks, and from within, countless Blood Corpse Giants—each hundreds of meters tall—began to crawl out.
From the distant Heavenly Soul Herb Garden, the dense blood mist surged outward.
Three more Blood Demon Medicine Kings emerged from it.
One resembled a lingzhi mushroom, another looked like a polygonum root. They flew out to stand beside the Blood Demon Ginseng. Their auras were all at the fourth rank.
And the final figure—
It looked like a pitch-black sunflower, its flower face imprinted with a blood-red human visage. Its aura was the most terrifying of all, having reached the late fourth rank.
A level comparable to a late-stage Nascent Soul grand cultivator!
All around, more than a thousand Blood Corpse Giants rose from the earth, each at the third rank, ranging from early to peak stage.
Within the secret realm of the Heavenly Soul Sect, the remnants of the Blood Demon power began to boil violently. Countless ordinary blood corpses moved in unison toward the gate of the secret realm.
Deep within the earth veins,
Long Yiran, who had forcibly connected herself to the veins through a secret art, barely managed to preserve her life. Half of her body, however, was nearly reduced to pulp—unlike Wang Yu, she did not possess such a resilient physique.
If she had delayed even for a single breath, she would have perished completely.
At the same time, the backlash from connecting with the earth veins erupted. Her body began to petrify uncontrollably, the stone corrosion spreading along an entire leg before it finally stopped.
She dared not be careless. Gritting her teeth, she used the Earth Mother Breath Soil Banner to flee through the earth veins. The ruins of the Heavenly Soul Sect… hid a great calamity.
Though she was worried about Wang Yu’s condition, she absolutely did not dare linger. She fled toward the secret realm’s exit—whoever wished to stay in this cursed place could do so themselves.
…
Meanwhile, outside—
Yin Ghost Mountain.
“What in the world is happening in this place?”
Several Foundation Establishment cultivators hovered in midair, arms crossed as they surveyed the gloomy Yin Ghost Mountain, all the while remaining alert to the dense silhouettes filling the sky above.
Several years ago, the Red and White Twin Fiends vanished. According to eyewitnesses, they had been pursuing the Wan brothers of Poison Scorpion City toward the direction of Yin Ghost Mountain, and disappeared there.
Around that same time, the region that had been eternally shrouded in dark clouds saw the black mist thinning, while the soul-devouring yin winds grew stronger.
Faint threads of blood mist began rising from the ground, gradually enveloping the entire mountain.
This place had long been a popular site for ghost hunting. The nearby cities bordering the Heavenly Demon Bone Forest, as well as many wandering cultivator bases such as Ten Thousand Poison Town, often sent people to explore here.
It was something of a “famous attraction” for adventurers, and the abnormal blood mist was quickly noticed.
Soon, more and more cultivators were drawn to the site.
From Cloud Ridge Prefecture, Night Jewel Prefecture, and You Prefecture, cultivators arrived to investigate. Many believed it to be a sign of a rare treasure emerging—a type of fortuitous encounter quite common in the Crimson Kite Demonic Domain.
Such events were often triggered by a lucky rogue cultivator, leading to grand phenomena that would attract every major faction nearby.
The Ancient Ruins of the Eastern Extreme Capital could certainly testify to that.
At this moment, during the ongoing struggle for Chasing Moon Prefecture, the cultivators of Yellow Springs Monastery had traversed the Heavenly Demonic Bone Forest of You Prefecture to reach this place—inevitably encountering those of the Blood Reversal Sect.
These were currently the two largest forces present.
The Gu Poison Peak cultivators of the Blood Reversal Sect were the most numerous. There was the Evil Centipede Daoist active around Ten Thousand Poison Town, six Core Formation elders who had rushed here from their mountain gate, as well as the city lords of Poison Scorpion City, Barrier flow City, and Fragrant City—all subordinate to the Exalted Sect.
Their cultivation varied from Foundation Establishment to Core Formation, but all had brought large contingents of trained cultivator-soldiers.
If Wang Yu were present, he would have recognized a familiar pair—a father and daughter.
True Personage Green Serpent and his only daughter, Liu Jinxian.
The latter had already been active in Ten Thousand Poison Town for some time, known by the nickname “Insect Maiden.” Her cultivation had reached the fourth layer of Foundation Establishment. She had been the second survivor from the Blackbone Mountain incident, second only to Wang Yu himself.
On the side of Yellow Springs Monastery, five Core Formation cultivators had arrived with more than twenty Foundation Establishment cultivators. They and the Blood Reversal Sect stood on opposite sides of the sky, staring each other down.
In addition, over ten thousand rogue cultivators were hiding in the forests around Yin Ghost Mountain, most in the Qi Refining stage—though among them were certainly hidden Core Formation experts.
Several Core Formation clans and second- or third-rate sects had also arrived:
Fire Demon Sect, Guiyin Palace, Earth Demon Valley, Scorpion Clan of Ten Thousand Poisons, the Ruan Family, the Zhou Family of Spirit Den, the Yuan Family, and others.
Since this was within the Blood Reversal Sect’s territory, most local forces naturally leaned toward the Exalted Sect’s side, which placed great pressure on the cultivators of Yellow Springs Monastery.
The standoff had lasted for quite some time.
Aside from sending scouts to probe the area, everyone was simply waiting for the anomaly to erupt. Many formation masters had calculated that within three years, the true form of this land would be revealed.
“Father, doesn’t this blood mist feel familiar to you?”
Liu Jinxian quietly pulled True Personage Green Serpent aside, transmitting her voice through divine sense to prevent anyone from overhearing.
Upon hearing her words, the old cultivator furrowed his brows.
“It does feel somewhat familiar. This aura resembles that of Blood Nether Peak. Could it be that they are plotting something here?”
At the mention of Blood Nether Peak, Liu Jinxian’s eyes suddenly lit up. She gasped.
“I remember now, Father. When I was young, I once went to the Blood Demon Hall to test my affinity for the Blood Scripture. When Lu Chenzhou came into contact with the scripture, this was exactly the kind of aura he released.”
“Lu Chenzhou… Are you certain?”
That man was one of the Blood Demon Hall Master’s disciples. Due to his cultivation in blood-path demonic arts, his progress was extraordinarily rapid. He could devour human blood to increase his power.
Though about the same age as Liu Jinxian, he had already reached late Core Formation and was expected to condense a Nascent Soul.
“I’m certain, Father. This aura is almost identical to his.”
True Personage Green Serpent’s expression grew grim. He took out a third-rank Void Escape Talisman and handed it to Liu Jinxian.
“If anything feels wrong, leave immediately.”
“Yes, Father.”
“I’ll go contact your Uncle Wu. He’s well-read and versed in ancient history. He may know something about the ancient secrets hidden near the Heavenly Demon Bone Forest.”
“Understood.”
Saying so, True Personage Green Serpent retrieved a sound transmission jade slip. Reluctantly, he took out five supreme-grade spirit stones to enhance the talisman’s range through secret arts.
Even then, it was still impossible to contact the Exalted Sect’s mountain gate directly.
The message would need to be relayed multiple times before reaching the destination.
Just then, high above Yin Ghost Mountain—
Before the eyes of countless cultivators, a flash of silver light appeared.
A masked, disheveled figure stood frozen in midair, aura in disarray, grievously wounded.
Wang Yu: “...”