134: Qianyuan medicinal materials were looted

Since that night in the imperial palace's side hall, the capital had seemingly returned to calm, but Li Dong knew this was merely the brief tranquility before the storm.

That woman, Ying Mei, was like a startled gopher; every time she was driven away, she left a mess behind. The "Spiritual Imprint" fragments she dropped this time, though blurry, connected terms like "Vortex Trap Zone" and "ancient defense."

That bunch from the Shadow Council had big ambitions.

The matter of refining the "Qian Yuan Cleansing Spirit Pill" could no longer be delayed.

Inside the study, Li Dong's fingertips lightly traced over a yellowed ancient map. This was a treasure he had dug out from the imperial library, marked with three long-abandoned ancient Spirit Medicine gardens in the Capital City Suburbs.

"To the east is Red Flame Mountain; Wei Zheng said there is a hao yang cleansing spirit flower there, but that is a pure Yang object. Its path does not align with the companion spiritual object for the 'nine nether soul-suppressing grass' in my Pill Formula."

"The one in the northern suburbs has had its Spiritual Qi long dispersed. The map even marks it as a 'dead zone'; going there would be a wasted trip."

His finger finally stopped on the west side of the map.

"Only this one at West Mountain remains," Li Dong muttered to himself. "It was abandoned the earliest and is almost forgotten. Logically, it is the most likely place to have some good things left behind that others have not discovered."

He did not alert anyone, merely leaving a note for the Seventh Princess and Wei Zheng saying, "Out to gather medicine, will return soon," before transforming into an inconspicuous phantom and vanishing into the morning light.

The deeper he went into West Mountain, the fewer people there were, but the fresh scent of vegetation in the air gradually began to change.

Li Dong stopped and twitched his nose slightly.

A familiar rancid smell.

It was like rotting vegetable leaves fermented in a sewer for three days, mixed with a hint of metallic, fishy stench. His [Spiritual Domain] covering his body could clearly "taste" the source of this smell.

"It is that bunch from the Shadow Council again," Li Dong curled his lip. "They really are like persistent ghosts."

It seemed his judgment was correct; this place really did have good things, otherwise it would not have attracted this swarm of flies.

He quickened his pace. Half an hour later, a valley almost completely covered by vines and weeds appeared before him. This was the ancient Spirit Medicine garden marked on the map.

The entrance to the medicine garden was shrouded in a faint, grey light barrier.

"A barrier?"

Li Dong did not rush in; he circled the valley once. Under a few inconspicuous old trees, he found several newly set up formations. The technique was crude but carried a sinister air, specifically designed for early warning and deception.

"Heh, they are quite fast," Li Dong smiled. "Trying to get there first? I am afraid they are just here to warm up the stage for me."

He did not take the main entrance. Instead, he found the weakest point of the barrier on the cliff wall, released a bit of spiritual power from his fingertip, easily tore open a gap just large enough for one person to pass through, and slipped in silently.

Inside the garden, it was a scene of desolation.

Most of the spiritual fields were long desolate, but the air was filled with a complex and chaotic Spiritual Qi, containing both the essence of vegetation and that nauseating evil energy. Many once-rare Spirit Medicines had withered to ash, but a few had seemingly been pumped with hormones; under the erosion of the evil energy, they had undergone weird mutations, their branches and leaves displaying a sickly black-purple color, exuding an ominous aura.

"Roar!"

A low roar came from the bushes not far away.

A Yao Beast, shaped like a cow but with three eyes, lunged out. Its fur had fallen out, its skin was covered in black pustules, and its saliva dripped onto the ground, corroding it with a puff of green smoke.

This thing was clearly another "masterpiece" contaminated by evil energy.

Li Dong did not even look at it, merely waving his hand casually.

"You look quite unique."

A barely perceptible purple lightning flash streaked by. The violent Yao Beast did not even have time to scream before it crashed to the ground, twitched a few times, and dissolved into a puddle of black liquid.

He continued walking deeper into the medicine garden, taking out several similar modified creatures along the way. These things were not strong, but they were annoying; they were clearly "mobile sentries" set up by the Shadow Council.

The further in he went, the stronger the smell of that evil energy became.

Li Dong's [Spiritual Domain] suddenly felt a slight stinging sensation.

He stopped and looked at a seemingly unremarkable open space ahead.

"An ambush? No..."

He could feel that a vast and complex formation was buried underground. Countless tiny energy nodes were slowly rotating like turbines, constantly absorbing the surrounding evil energy to form a cyclical defense system.

This setup... was seventy to eighty percent similar to the description of the "Vortex Trap Zone" in the mental imprint left by Ying Mei.

They were actually conducting experiments here!

Just then, Li Dong's [Spiritual Resonance] was triggered without warning.

It was not because of danger, but an attraction originating from deep within his Bloodline.

His gaze pierced through the trap zone, looking toward a small stone platform in the deepest part of the medicine garden. On the stone platform, a small plant, entirely pitch black but with leaves edged in an eerie blood red, swayed in the wind.

The aura it emitted had a clear homology with the "nine nether soul-suppressing grass" that Li Dong had learned about in the secret texts!

"Found it!"

But immediately, he realized something was wrong.

This plant had already been corrupted beyond recognition by the evil energy. It was no longer a spiritual object for suppressing souls and dispelling evil; instead, it had become an amplifier for evil energy, constantly converting the remaining Spiritual Qi in the ley lines into even purer evil energy.

"They did not come to destroy the medicine..." Li Dong instantly understood the crux of the matter. "They want to cultivate this companion spiritual object into some kind of evil 'medium,' or even use it to reverse-pollute the Dragon vein!"

What a vicious scheme!

Just as he was preparing to find a way to bypass the trap zone and seize the mutated Spiritual Plant, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of several corpses lying on the side of the stone platform.

They were wearing the attire of the Shadow Council.

Li Dong quietly approached and examined them carefully. There were three corpses in total, each having died in a different way. One had their chest pierced by a Sharp Weapon, one seemed to have been poisoned by some kind of potent toxin and was completely black, and another had its head missing.

Judging from the residual aura on them, the ones who did it were their own people.

"Heh, dogs eating dogs," Li Dong thought to himself. "It seems they had an internal conflict over this precious plant."

The Council was indeed not monolithic.

This was good news for him.

"Li Dong! You still dare to come here to die!"

A sharp shout came from behind the stone platform. Two black-robed figures appeared, evil energy swirling around them; they were clearly Council members left behind to guard the place.

"To die?" Li Dong looked at them as if looking at two dead men. "Just the two of you?"

"What about with us!"

Just as the voice fell, four more figures emerged from different directions, surrounding Li Dong and faintly resonating with the trap formation underground.

The leader sneered, "We knew you would come! This 'Evil Energy Vortex Formation' was prepared just for you! Today, let you taste the latest achievement of our Council!"

Li Dong did not even look at them, his gaze still locked onto the mutated Spiritual Plant.

"Noisy."

He spoke slowly: "Do not be in a hurry. Before I send you on your way, I will collect some interest first."

Before his voice had even faded, his figure suddenly vanished from where he stood.