76: Junior sister asks, rare treasure appears

Zhao Linger tied a delicate jade sachet to his waist.

“Promise me.”

She stood on tiptoe, leaned into his ear, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear.

“You must come back safely.”

The warm breath brushed his ear, carrying the faint, unique scent of a young girl, mixed with the fragrance of herbs.

In that instant, Lin Gou’s heart, which had been unmoved for ten thousand years and only beat for KPIs, inexplicably skipped a beat.

A strange warmth rose from the bottom of his heart.

But he, Lin Gou, a professional Great Master of courting death, crushed this warmth in its infancy within 0.1 seconds.

Come back alive?

What kind of international joke is that?

If he didn't exploit this A+ grade death experience to the extreme, squeezing out every last drop of reward, he wouldn't be worthy of these KPIs spread all over the mountains!

“Let's go.”

Lin Gou suppressed all his thoughts, turned, and took the decisive first step towards the Forbidden Ground shrouded in darkness.

Zhao Linger immediately followed, walking closely by his side.

In the eyes of the crowd at the mountain gate, their silhouettes were one of heroic fearlessness and the other of gentle steadfastness.

They walked side by side towards the abyss that represented the unknown and death.

There was an indescribable sense of tragedy and harmony.

Many female Disciples watched with red eyes.

And those male Disciples were so jealous that their eyes were about to pop out of their sockets... The moment they stepped into the Demon Suppression Abyss.

The world seemed to be muted.

The surrounding light suddenly dimmed, and the high-hanging sun seemed to be covered with a thick black veil, casting a sickly, gray light.

The air was filled with a nauseating, sweet smell of rust and decaying flesh.

Zhao Linger's face instantly turned pale.

She shivered uncontrollably, instinctively leaning closer to Lin Gou, her slender fingers unconsciously grasping his sleeve.

Cold, eerie, despairing.

This was the most intuitive feeling this land gave to all normal living beings.

Lin Gou's feelings, however, were completely different.

His System panel was flashing red frantically, like the brightest disco ball in a nightclub.

“Warning! High concentration of 'Ancient Devilish Qi' detected, currently eroding your spiritual energy shield! Awesome!”

“Warning! Residual 'Grudge Curse' detected, currently polluting your Divine Soul! So awesome!”

“Ding! Your Thunder Spirit Saint Body is stimulated, automatically operating, currently offsetting part of the Devilish Qi erosion...”

“Ding! Your 'Nine Revolutions Clear Heart Pill' Medicinal Pill has taken effect, Divine Soul defense has greatly increased, immune to 'Grudge Curse'...”

The corner of Lin Gou's mouth twitched fiercely, at an angle no one could see.

This damned Zhao Linger.

This damned, thoughtful, explosively effective Medicinal Pill!

He could clearly feel that golden Divine Soul barrier, like an impregnable fortress, isolating all negative energy that tried to pollute his mind and allow him to easily achieve the 'Qi Deviation' method of death.

The difficulty of courting death had inexplicably risen from “Easy Mode” to “Hell Mode”!

“Senior Brother Lin, you... your face looks terrible, are you alright?”

Zhao Linger asked worriedly when she saw Lin Gou's expression.

How could it not look terrible!

The KPIs he was about to get flew away!

“It's nothing.”

Lin Gou took a deep breath, forced a “resolute with a hint of pallor” smile on his face, and perfectly reassured her.

“My Thunder Spirit Saint Body can still hold on, it's just that this Devilish Qi is more overbearing than I imagined.”

“Stay close to me, don't leave my side by more than three steps.”

“Mm!” Zhao Linger nodded vigorously, her hand clutching his sleeve even tighter.

Lin Gou maintained a powerful posture of “alertly surveying his surroundings, calm and unhurried” while roaring frantically internally.

“System! Scan! Find the location with the densest Devilish Qi nearby, one that can break through the defense of this damned Medicinal Pill, and is most suitable for my 'accidental' demise!”

“Scanning... Based on the current environment analysis, the optimal death-courting location is 700 meters to the front left, a cliff crevice.”

“The Devilish Qi concentration there is thirteen times that of the current location, accompanied by strong signs of spatial tearing.”

“Warning: The target location shows signs of a high-level demonized creature lurking, death rating is expected to reach A+.”

A+!

Lin Gou's eyes instantly lit up like two-thousand-watt light bulbs.

But the problem was, how could he get rid of this “thoughtful,” walking “Sacred Artifact of defense” by his side?

His brain spun rapidly, and his Oscar-level performance began.

“Watch out!”

He suddenly roared, moving like lightning, and yanked Zhao Linger behind him.

Hiss!

A black shadow shot out like lightning from behind a withered tree nearby—it was a venomous snake eroded by Devilish Qi, its crimson snake pupils full of brutality.

Zhao Linger let out a short gasp of surprise.

Lin Gou, however, did not dodge, pointing his fingers like a sword, and a dazzling golden lightning flashed across his fingertips.

Crack!

The lightning accurately struck the demon snake's head.

That hard snake head, like a watermelon smashed by a hammer, instantly exploded into a cloud of black mist and blood.

Instant kill.

Clean, precise, full of violent aesthetics.

“So... so powerful!”

Zhao Linger looked at Lin Gou's broad back, her beautiful eyes sparkling with admiration.

In her eyes, Senior Brother Lin at this moment was like a walking God of Thunder in the darkness; any evil demon or crooked Dao seemed so vulnerable before him.

Lin Gou, however, sighed inwardly.

Alas, another trace of spiritual energy wasted.

Even if he killed ten thousand of these small monsters, the combined rewards wouldn't be worth a single leg hair.

He continued to lead Zhao Linger deeper, “casually” eliminating several more ignorant demonized creatures along the way, perfectly imprinting an image of being “reliable, powerful, and at ease” deep into Zhao Linger's heart.

Her guard, unknowingly, dropped to its lowest point.

After walking for about half an hour.

Lin Gou's footsteps suddenly stopped.

His gaze was fixed on the bottom of the cliff to the front left.

There, visibly, Devilish Qi as dense as ink was churning.

More importantly, in the center of that churning Devilish Qi, a plant emitting a seven-colored halo flickered in and out of view in the darkness!

The plant was crystal clear throughout, as if carved from ice and snow, with a unique lotus-like flower blooming at its top, and within its pistil, a galaxy seemed to flow.

The opportunity had arrived!

Lin Gou's face instantly showed an incomparably complex expression of “shock,” “ecstasy,” and “disbelief”!

He suddenly grabbed Zhao Linger's arm, his fingers trembling slightly from “excitement.”

He pointed in that direction.

“Junior Sister Ling'er, look!”

His voice was filled with the excitement of discovering a new continent, even with a slight crack!

“Is that... could that be the legendary... 'spirit condensing flower'?!”

“What?!”

Zhao Linger looked in the direction he pointed, and the moment she saw the plant clearly, her beautiful eyes instantly widened, and her breathing stopped!

As an Alchemist, she knew the value of the “spirit condensing flower” better than anyone!

This was the only main ingredient for refining the legendary Divine Pill that could directly raise the Divine Soul Realm — the “Seven Apertures spirit condensing Pill”!

It was a divine object that had been extinct for a thousand years, existing only in the records of ancient Pill Formulas!

“But... Senior Brother, the Devilish Qi there... is so dense, so terrifying!”

Although Zhao Linger was excited, she still retained a trace of rationality; she could feel the terrifying aura emanating from beneath the cliff, enough to make even a Golden Core cultivator's heart tremble.

“Exactly.”

Lin Gou's expression instantly switched from “ecstasy” to extreme “solemnity.”

He lowered his voice, speaking in a seductive yet somewhat tragic tone.

“Such a Heaven And Earth Treasure must be guarded by powerful demonic beasts.”

“Junior Sister Ling'er, this spirit condensing flower is too important to you, to me, and even to the entire Sect!”

“Wait for me here, set up a defensive Formation, and absolutely do not move randomly.”

He took a deep breath, turned around, leaving Zhao Linger with a tall and resolute back.

His face bore the solemnity of “facing death as if returning home.”

“I'll be back soon!”