103: Chapter 103 The Mystery of the Evil Array

The sound of hacking and slashing echoed continuously through the valley.

Ye Jing had already been entangled with the Scorpion Monster for dozens of rounds, and his clothes had been slashed in several places.

His two grandchildren were nearby, clearing out the Essence Spirits that pounced on them, blood splattering across a large area of the valley.

The Red Patterns on the ground glowed with a crimson light, illuminating the valley floor in a brilliant red.

But he didn't have time to dwell on the eerie red light in the valley; the most important thing right now was to deal with this annoying scorpion.

Having fought this scorpion for so long, Ye Jing noticed that while its defense was formidable and its attacks swift, the carapace on its belly seemed weaker than that on its back. However, its belly was pressed close to the ground, making it difficult to strike.

After a moment's thought, a plan formed. He deliberately left an opening and leaped upward, allowing the scorpion to raise its body to attack him with its pincers.

Just as the pincers were about to snap onto his arm, Ye Jing dropped abruptly. Several throwing knives flew out from his sleeves, infused with spiritual power and moving like slithering snakes.

They pierced accurately into the Scorpion Monster's belly. With a "squelch," the sharp throwing knives finally punctured the scorpion's abdominal carapace, and dark green blood gushed out.

The Scorpion Monster let out a shrill screech, the intense pain driving it into an even greater frenzy.

Its venomous stinger lunged recklessly toward Ye Jing's back. Ye Jing quickly raised his sword to defend himself and retreated rapidly, barely managing to dodge the stinger.

He leaped forward like an eagle pouncing on a rabbit, charging at the Scorpion Monster with his longsword pointed straight at its head.

The Scorpion Monster tried to raise its chelicerae in defense, but Ye Jing gathered all the spiritual power in his body into his blade and brought the longsword down with the momentum.

Aiming for the joint of the chelicerae, he severed it and continued the strike, piercing the scorpion's compound eye and driving deep into its brain.

"Sizzle—" The Scorpion Monster's body twitched a few times before it stopped moving altogether, its massive frame crashing to the ground.

After landing, Ye Jing stumbled, his face as pale as paper, clearly having exhausted himself significantly.

Seeing that the most powerful Scorpion Monster was dead, the other Yao Beasts quickly scurried away.

Ye Tianhao and Ye Tianyao immediately rushed over to support Ye Jing.

"Grandfather, are you alright?"

Ye Tianyao hurriedly took out some crimson blood wine and some detoxification Medicinal Pills from her Storage Pouch and handed them to Ye Jing.

Ye Jing drank the crimson blood wine and swallowed a few detoxification pills, feeling a bit better.

"It's nothing, just exhaustion of my spiritual power and some minor injuries. I'll be fine after a short rest."

He opened his eyes, looked at the Scorpion Monster's corpse, and then at the Red Patterns on the ground. Having absorbed the scorpion's blood, the red light from the patterns was now even more intense, and they even began to writhe slowly.

"What exactly are these Red Patterns?" Ye Tianhao asked in confusion.

Ye Jing looked up at the residual runes above the valley entrance. He had previously browsed books on Formations, but they only recorded common defensive Formations; none featured such eerie runes.

The Red Patterns on the ground and those runes were equally fragmented and incomplete.

Ye Jing recalled the eight characters mentioned in his two sons' letters regarding this strange Formation.

They were "Blood Leads the Formation" and "Soul Sacrifice Guards the Vein."

This residual Formation was an Evil Formation to begin with, and those eight characters likely referred to the method for activating it.

This residual Formation would consume Blood Qi and generate Devilish Qi; it likely wouldn't be easy to clear.

Ye Jing had no clues for now. He had his two grandchildren rest at the outskirts of the valley, intending to explore deeper once their strength was restored.

He collected the carcasses of the dead Yao Beasts in the cave and left the area.

Night had fallen, and the moon hung high in the sky.

Ye Jing settled down with his two grandchildren at the edge of the valley.

By the moonlight, he continued reading books on Formations. Most of what was recorded were basic defensive Formations and trapping Formations; even the few offensive Formations mentioned had no connection to the eerie runes in the mountains.

After months of browsing, his books on Formations were nearly worn out.

Ye Jing sighed and put the books away.

He pondered what the Formation inside actually was and who had left it there just to destroy a Spiritual Vein.

The next day, Ye Jing woke up Ye Tianyao and Ye Tianhao, and the three of them continued deeper into the eerie valley.

This time, Ye Jing had the Poisonous Variant Bees and Hei Feng lead the way. Most of the Yao Beasts in the valley had already been dealt with.

Now they had time to observe the valley. Going deeper, they were horrified to see it filled with skeletons—some of Mortals, others of Daoists.

Ye Tianhao used his blade to lift the tattered clothes; all of them had died gruesome deaths, with broken bones and crushed skulls.

There were also sword marks in the valley, as if a fierce battle had once broken out.

As they went even deeper, they couldn't help but exclaim in surprise—there was actually a relatively well-preserved Stone Building inside!

There were also some small wooden huts built against the Stone Building.

The Stone Building was constructed entirely from bluish-black rock. The walls were covered in marks of erosion from time, but the overall structure was relatively intact.

Above the main stone entrance, a blurred plaque was carved. The characters on it had long since weathered away, leaving only a few distorted symbols that were barely recognizable.

While looking around, Ye Tianyao suddenly noticed a ring of crimson fruits growing at the edge of the Stone Building; the plants looked very much like crimson blood fruits.

She immediately cried out, "Grandfather! Look, are those crimson blood fruits growing by the Stone Building?"

Ye Jing looked where his granddaughter was pointing and indeed saw patches of bright red fruits. He immediately walked over.

He saw the crimson blood fruits growing around the wooden huts, but these were surrounded by drifting black Devilish Qi. The fruits themselves were a dark, blackish-red, looking different from the ones he had planted.

A storm flickered in Ye Jing's eyes. He took a Storage Pouch from his robe, which was enveloped in a faint white light.

Runes could be seen floating on the surface of this pouch.

"Grandfather, what is this?" The two grandchildren were also very confused to see Ye Jing suddenly produce a Storage Pouch sealed with a Talismanic Incantation.

Ye Jing explained calmly, "I picked up this Storage Pouch from the skeleton of a dead Cultivator in the Qin Mountains. There were also crimson blood fruits growing near him. Perhaps there's a connection to this place."

With that, he also took out the golden light bowl. The golden light bowl was naturally capable of dispelling Devilish Qi; as soon as it was brought out, it emitted a dazzling golden light, dispersing all the surrounding Devilish Qi.

The Stone Building seemed to sense something, and a golden light also emanated from within.

"There's a reaction inside!" Ye Tianhao was stunned.

Seeing this, Ye Jing said, "Come on! Let's go inside and take a look!"

He took the lead and entered the Stone Building.

The stone door, having endured countless years, had become extremely dilapidated and was half-open, allowing them to enter easily.

However, the Devilish Qi inside was incredibly dense, enveloping the entire space. A faint white light could be seen glimmering through it.

The golden light bowl in Ye Jing's hand emitted a glow that held back the Devilish Qi, allowing the three of them to move through as if the area were clear.

By the light of the golden light bowl, they could see that the interior of the Stone Building was empty, containing only a few broken stone tables and stools. Red Patterns were also carved into the floor.

However, these patterns were more complete than those on the valley floor, faintly revealing the outline of a small Formation.

The white light came from a skeleton in the center of the Stone Building's hall. As Ye Jing approached, he saw that the skeleton was pierced by many swords, looking quite gruesome, yet it was surrounded by a lingering spiritual power.

It was this spiritual power that caused the remains to glow white.

Ye Jing's expression was grave. Judging by the fabric of the clothes, the person had been dead for a long time, yet the bones still held residual spiritual power. This indicated that the deceased had been an extremely powerful Cultivator!

Suddenly, the golden light bowl flew above the skeleton. Tiny flecks of golden light emerged from the remains, and the sound of spiritual power resonating echoed.

In an instant, the space filled with black Devilish Qi was suddenly flooded with golden light.

When Ye Jing and the others looked again, a white figure suddenly appeared.

A white figure had appeared in the hall filled with black Devilish Qi.

This startled all three of them, and they quickly drew their swords to point at it.