56: Is the Lin family so shady?

Inside the gloomy cave, Li Dong had just steadied himself when the Crisis Prediction Enhancement function, like a death knell, shrieked so sharply it could pierce eardrums!

The System's cold alert exploded in his mind: "Warning! High energy reaction! Three Poison Flame Winged Serpents are rapidly approaching from the front passage! Their strength rivals peak Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment Yao Beasts! Accompanied by a Foundation Establishment Stage - Early Phase experimental subject deeply controlled by demon-attracting incense, with highly coordinated combat patterns, suspected of targeted hunting!"

Before the voice had even settled, a fishy smell (fishy and foul-smelling) gale slammed into him!

"Hiss—!"

Three grotesque snakes, covered in dark red scales and with fleshy wings on their ribs, shot out in a "pin" formation like arrows released from a bow. Their speed was incredibly fast! The poisonous flames they spat out were not ordinary fire, but a terrifying dark green. Where the poisonous flames swept, stones sizzled, emitting plumes of black smoke, and the air was filled with a charred smell that made one want to vomit.

What made Li Dong's heart skip a beat even more was the black-clothed Cultivator following behind the winged serpents.

The man's eyes were vacant, his face covered in eerie blue-black patterns. His movements appeared stiff, yet each one was terrifyingly precise. He held several glowing poisonous needles, clearly intended to assist the Poison Flame Winged Serpents with finishing blows and control.

"What the hell, this thing... is it coming for me?" Li Dong cursed inwardly. These were no ordinary Yao Beasts; they were clearly killing machines meticulously crafted by someone!

The enemy came so fast, and their target was so clear!

He didn't panic; Environment Analysis had already familiarized him with every nook and cranny of the cave. His figure flickered, his toes tapping several times on the uneven rock wall. His posture was even more agile than a monkey's, as he narrowly dodged the first volley of dark green poisonous flames.

As he dodged, he stomped his foot down hard!

"Boom!"

The loose rocks he had secretly piled near the cave entrance collapsed in response. But that wasn't all; more importantly, the force of his stomp, perfectly aimed, triggered a weak demon-attracting incense leakage point hidden beneath the pile of rocks.

It was originally a tiny bit of lingering fragrance from a botched experiment, not much, but now, enticed by Li Dong's spiritual Qi, it was like pouring a scoop of cold water into a hot oil pan!

"Puff—"

A puff of demon-attracting incense, several times more concentrated than the surrounding air, suddenly exploded. The range wasn't large, but the scent was an absolute delicacy for these catalyzed and enhanced Yao Beasts.

"Hiss hiss!"

The movements of the three Poison Flame Winged Serpents visibly paused. For a moment, they seemed a bit dazed, hissing at each other, appearing to be vying for the sudden source of fragrance.

"Now!" Li Dong shouted in his heart.

His Spirituality, as high as 9999, was not just for show; the pre-emptive prediction ability it brought allowed him to calculate this exact moment with absolute precision.

He moved like a weightless shadow, darting through the gaps in the three winged serpents' attacks. A cold glint flashed on the Demon Suppression Ruler in his hand, and without hesitation, he struck directly at the vulnerable seven-inch mark of one of the Poison Flame Winged Serpents!

That winged serpent was still dazed by the fragrance, never expecting someone to launch a sneak attack.

"Bang!"

The Demon Suppression Power contained within the Demon Suppression Ruler struck its seven-inch mark squarely. Its seemingly tough scales actually dented slightly.

"Ow—!"

The winged serpent let out an extremely mournful cry, its massive body crashing heavily to the ground, dark green poisonous blood spraying out as if it were free.

"You... seek death!"

The controlled experimental subject assistant let out a guttural roar, unlike anything a human could produce. The poisonous needles in his hand rained down, all shooting towards Li Dong at once.

Although this fellow was not in his right mind, his combat instincts had been pushed to the extreme; every move and every stance exuded ruthlessness and cunning.

"Hmph!" Li Dong snorted coldly.

Instead of retreating, he advanced, wielding the Demon Suppression Ruler like a spinning wheel of fire, creating a blur of afterimages that parried all the poisonous needles with a series of "clangs."

He noticed that this experimental subject exuded a particularly strong scent of demon-attracting incense, and also a trace of... spirituality fragment, as if it had been forcibly stripped from a living person and then haphazardly stuffed back in.

This discovery made a fire surge within Li Dong's heart. What did these damned people consider living Cultivators to be?! Consumables?!

He no longer held back. The magical power of the Heavenly Pill Rifting Demon Seal surged wildly through his Meridians, and a faint golden light flickered on the Demon Suppression Ruler.

"Break!" Li Dong let out a low shout.

His footwork suddenly changed, his figure moving so fast it was almost imperceptible, instantly closing in on the experimental subject assistant.

The assistant tried to resist, but Li Dong's speed and strength were beyond his ability to react.

"Crack!"

The Demon Suppression Ruler precisely struck his wrist. The crisp sound of bone cracking echoed in the cave, and the experimental subject assistant's wrist was directly broken by Li Dong.

Immediately after, Li Dong pressed a palm to his chest.

"Bang!"

The experimental subject assistant stiffened there, as if struck by an invisible bolt of lightning. A trace of pain seemed to flicker in his hollow eyes, but soon, the vitality in his body rapidly receded like a retreating tide, and then he fell heavily to the ground.

The mixed spirituality fragment aura on his body also dissipated.

Li Dong didn't even spare him a glance, turning to pounce on the other two Poison Flame Winged Serpents, who had fallen into a berserk state due to their companion's severe injury.

For a moment, the cave was filled with the pungent smell of poisonous flames and a strong scent of blood.

After a while, Li Dong stood amidst the wreckage, slightly out of breath. The three arrogant Poison Flame Winged Serpents, along with the unfortunate experimental subject assistant, had all become corpses on the ground.

He quickly cleared the battlefield, rummaging through the experimental subject assistant's embrace.

"Hmm? What is this?"

A Jade Slip, completely black and chillingly cold to the touch, appeared in his hand.

System Prompt: Detected a special encrypted Jade Slip, containing a large amount of anomalous energy and highly encrypted information. Attempt decryption?

"Decrypt!" Li Dong thought without hesitation. This thing must hide a big secret!

System Prompt: Decryption initiated... Detecting multiple spiritual Qi Restrictions... Analyzing structure... Estimated Spirituality consumption: 500 points...

"Five hundred points of Spirituality?" Li Dong muttered to himself, "It seems the contents of this Jade Slip are not insignificant."

Meanwhile, deep within the Earth Abyss, in the secret chamber converted from a giant rock cave.

The "Doctor" was staring unblinkingly at Li Dong's direction through the glowing crystal screens. When he saw Li Dong cleanly dispatching the three Poison Flame Winged Serpents and an experimental subject, a clear look of surprise appeared for the first time on his withered, tree-bark-like face.

But soon, that surprise turned into a pathological fanaticism.

"Trash! A bunch of trash! You couldn't even stop a mere Foundation Establishment Stage - Early Phase!" He cursed the dead experimental subjects in a low voice, but his sunken eyes were fixated on Li Dong on the screen, as if drawn by a magnet.

"Interesting... so interesting! This combat instinct, this adaptability to the environment... even more perfect than I imagined!"

A greedy light, almost sickening, flickered in his eyes, making one's scalp tingle.

"Even trash like Jia-Yin-3 could provide so many spirituality fragments... What kind of surprise can this little fellow bring me?"

Anger and covetousness, two completely different emotions, intertwined on his twisted face, making him appear even more sinister and terrifying.

"Can't wait any longer," he muttered hoarsely to himself. "Such material must be 'processed' by me personally. Any flaw would be a desecration of art!"

He suddenly stood up, and the powerful pressure of a Late Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator exploded like a tangible storm, carrying a chilling stillness and madness.

Inside the cave, Li Dong was patiently waiting for the System to decrypt the Jade Slip.

System Prompt: First layer of encryption successfully decrypted! Analyzing information...

Sections of text and some blurry images surged into Li Dong's Sea of Consciousness like a tide.

"demon-attracting incense catalytic (catalysis) experiment record... Batch 17..."

"Yao Beast enhancement plan... Code Geng-7..."

"Sewn Giant Spider stability test report... Failed..."

These contents alone were shocking enough. But Li Dong knew this was definitely not everything. Since this Jade Slip was encrypted layer by layer, the core information must still be hidden deeper.

System Prompt: Detecting second layer of core encryption! Decryption difficulty is extremely high! Continue? Will consume 2000 Spirituality, and may trigger Jade Slip self-destruction or energy backlash!

"Two thousand Spirituality?!" Li Dong's brows furrowed tightly. This was almost half of his hard-earned savings!

"Do it! Continue!" He gritted his teeth. If one doesn't enter the tiger's den, how can one catch the tiger's cub! Having come this far, there was no reason to give up halfway!

System Prompt: Core encryption in progress... Energy fluctuations intense... Warning! Detected residual information of a forbidden formation for 'Spirituality Stripping and Grafting' within the Jade Slip...

"Boom—!"

A chaotic and extremely complex torrent of information suddenly rushed into Li Dong's Sea of Consciousness. Within that information stream were countless shrill roars and desperate wails, as if countless vengeful spirits struggled within it.

Li Dong grunted, feeling as if his head was about to explode from the pain. But he endured, clenching his jaw tightly, desperately digesting the information flooding his mind.

This time, he saw something deeper and more terrifying!

In the Jade Slip, in cold, emotionless text, it was meticulously recorded how to strip "Spirituality" from living Cultivators, little by little. Then, these stripped "spirituality fragments" would be mixed with the blood essence of Yao Beasts and some special spirit plants, in an attempt to create an Artificial Dao Body that possessed both the wisdom of Cultivators and the powerful strength of Yao Beasts!

There were even more direct and cruel experiments—directly transforming living Cultivators into "Yao Beast Weapons" with partial Yao Beast characteristics!

Side effects?

The Jade Slip casually recorded: Experimental subjects generally experienced mental derangement, cognitive collapse, and rapid depletion of vitality, with a success rate of less than one in ten thousand.

These so-called "failures" were treated as "waste material" or became material for other experiments.

Behind each line of chilling text lay the demise of countless vibrant lives and the trampling of countless Cultivators' dignity!

Li Dong trembled with rage, an uncontrollable, monstrous killing intent rising from the deepest part of his body. This was no longer a simple struggle within the Cultivation world; this was an inhumane, heinous crime! These beasts!

Just then, the last piece of information in the Jade Slip was painstakingly deciphered by the System.

...The primary source of funding for this stage of the experiment: Lin Family of the Prefecture...

...Some high-quality 'body' samples were secretly transported from Mu Shi County's Zhao Zhen area, contact person, Zhao Gan...

The Lin Family!

Zhao Zhen!

Li Dong felt as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning. These two names, like two invisible heavy hammers, slammed heavily into his heart!

Lin Fan's face, always with that schadenfreude smile... The familiar scent of special spices on Zhao Zhen, that trusted steward... The controlled giant python in Black Wind Ridge... The enhanced Earth Abyss Demon Spiders in the abandoned mine... All the previously seemingly unrelated clues, at this moment, were connected by an invisible thread, suddenly making sense!

So that's how it was!

It turned out that from the very beginning, he had been embroiled in this massive conspiracy orchestrated by the Lin Family of the Prefecture, with Zhao Zhen of Mu Shi County acting as their pawns!

This was not some damned factional infighting; this was a vast, dark web of interests woven with the lives and blood of countless innocent people!

"Lin Family..." Li Dong squeezed out these two words through gritted teeth, his eyes bloodshot with anger, "What a Lin Family! What a dark scheme! What a grand scheme indeed!"

He took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled, forcing himself to calm down.

This Jade Slip was ironclad proof of the Lin Family's heinous crimes! He had to take it out and expose everything! To make these heartless scoundrels pay for their blood debts!

However, just as he made up his mind, a terrifying pressure that chilled him from head to toe, like a surging tide breaking through a dam, swept in from outside the cave, instantly locking onto his aura!

The System's piercing alarm blared again, more urgent and sharper than any previous time:

Warning! Super high-level life form approaching! Strength assessment: Far exceeds Late Foundation Establishment Stage! Suspected to be the 'Doctor's' true body! Host has been locked on! Escape probability extremely low!

Li Dong suddenly raised his head, looking towards the cave's only exit.

The darkness there seemed to come alive, and a pair of cold, greedy eyes stared at him from within the shadows.

"Little mouse, you... surprise me very much." A hoarse, dry voice, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing together, drifted from the darkness.