83: Chapter 83 A chilling thought

The water mirror formed by that stone disk flickered, radiating a bone-chilling sorrow.

Inside the mirror, a solitary male figure appeared.

He looked desolate, standing all alone against a tidal wave of Yao Beasts.

Beside him, a pair of silver rings spun at high speed; one radiated the scorching heat of a blazing sun, the other released the cold chill of a crescent moon.

It was precisely those sun and moon rings.

Only now, the sun and moon rings were wailing in grief.

Beneath the man's feet lay countless corpses of Yao Beasts and Cultivators; fresh blood gathered into a river, staining the earth red.

Jiang Feng's gaze sharpened.

That river of blood...

He remembered—the shape of this river of blood, its winding, twisted flow, wasn't it exactly the same as the twisted patterns carved onto the stone disk earlier!

Furthermore, the scene of this river of blood was almost identical to the sight of the blood from countless Yao Beasts and Cultivators gathering outside Huoyang Commandery not long ago!

Before he could dwell on it, the image in the water mirror shifted again.

The scene suddenly changed, arriving at a familiar underground cavern.

The layout of this cavern, the jagged rocks, and the blood pool in the center were exactly the same as the place they were currently in!

The man in the image had clearly experienced the same encounter as them, having escaped from the belly of a Yao Beast.

But he felt no relief from surviving a disaster; instead, he seemed to have gone mad.

"A scam! It's all a scam! Hahaha..."

The man roared, his voice filled with despair and unwillingness.

He attacked the surrounding stone walls frantically; the immense power made the entire cavern tremble, but it was completely useless.

In the end, he gave up resisting, allowing the black slime that seeped out from the surrounding stone walls to swallow him bit by bit, turning him into a part of the blood pool.

The image stopped abruptly there.

The water mirror turned back into that ancient stone disk, silently floating above the blood pool, and everything returned to tranquility.

Inside the cavern, there was a deathly silence.

"True… True Monarch Riyue?"

Huangfu Yunshang's trembling voice broke the silence; she stared at the stone disk with an expression of disbelief.

"You know him?" Jiang Feng turned his head.

"I have seen his portrait in my father's study," Huangfu Yunshang took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. "Father said this person is named True Monarch Riyue, and he is a genuine Golden Core True Lord!"

Golden Core True Lord!

These four words made Yao Shifei and the Huangfu Sisters catch their breath.

A powerhouse at the Golden Core Stage would actually die in a place like this? Die inside the belly of a Tier 3 Demon King?

This was too inconceivable!

"Father said that True Monarch Riyue was once a Genius Disciple of the Qingyun Sect. Later, for some reason, he left the Sect, joined our Great Yan Dynasty, and even served as the previous Commandery Lord of Huoyang Commandery."

Huangfu Yunshang recounted everything she knew.

"A hundred years ago, he suddenly disappeared. Everyone thought he went wandering or found a place to enter seclusion to breakthrough to a higher Realm, but I never expected… he actually died here."

Jiang Feng did not speak; his mind was racing.

He recalled the final look in True Monarch Riyue's eyes within the water mirror; it wasn't just pure despair, but rather, it looked more like... liberation.

Hum.

Just then, the sun and moon rings held in Yao Shifei's hand suddenly trembled violently, emitting a sorrowful cry.

They broke free from Yao Shifei's hand, hovering automatically in mid-air, slowly circling the blood pool. Their light flickered, revealing a sense of sorrow.

Secret Realm.

Beast tide.

River of blood.

The fall of a Golden Core Immortal Master.

Qingyun Sect.

Clue after clue flashed through Jiang Feng's mind, then connected together.

A bold yet terrifying idea gradually took shape in his mind.

He slowly raised his head, scanning this eerie cavern, his voice low and hoarse.

"What if all of this was a trap from the very beginning?"

His words made everyone's heart leap into their throats.

"Husband, what do you mean by that?" Yao Shifei asked, puzzled.

Jiang Feng didn't answer but pointed at the ceiling and the ground beneath their feet.

"Don't you find it strange? Why does this Secret Realm produce so many spiritual plants? And they are all of extremely high quality?"

"Why does the Black Mountain Yao Beast launch a beast tide to attack Huoyang Commandery every so often? It's as if it were agreed upon."

Jiang Feng's gaze finally landed on the stone disk in the center.

"And that river of blood, isn't it similar to this pattern?"

"If my guess is correct, this is a Formation connecting the inside and outside, gathering the blood of Cultivators and Yao Beasts produced during the beast tide battle here."

"This isn't some natural Secret Realm at all; this is a carefully laid out... farm!"

"And there should be more than one such farm!"

Farm!

This word made the Huangfu Sisters' bodies turn cold.

"Then... what is being raised? And what is the fertilizer?" Huangfu Yunni asked with a trembling voice.

Jiang Feng curled his lips, revealing a cold smile.

"What is being raised, naturally, are the spiritual plants filling this Secret Realm."

"As for the fertilizer..."

He paused, then said word for word: "It is the... blood and lives of the Cultivators and Yao Beasts in every beast tide outside Huoyang Commandery! Using the power of the Tier 3 Demon King, it is dispersed throughout the entire Secret Realm."

This conclusion left everyone's minds blank!

Using the lives of countless Cultivators and Yao Beasts as the price to nourish the spiritual plants of an entire Secret Realm!

What a vicious scheme! What a shocking layout!

"This... this is impossible!" Huangfu Yunshang couldn't accept the fact. "Who would have the capability to set up such a massive trap? And what for?"

"What for?"

Jiang Feng sneered.

"Naturally, for the spiritual plants filling this Secret Realm. The families hand over fifty percent to the Great Yan, but as for the Great Yan, whose pockets do these spiritual plants end up in eventually!"

"I think the mastermind behind all of this is the Qingyun Sect."

"As for that Tier 3 Demon King, it is by no means a guardian; it is just a watchdog raised here by the Qingyun Sect! With it here, the secret of this farm will never be discovered, and no one can destroy this Formation!"

Every word of Jiang Feng shattered everyone's last shred of hope.

The truth was laid bare before their eyes, cruelly suffocating.

"Therefore, the mastermind behind all of this is the one who ultimately benefits..."

Jiang Feng's tone became cold and eerie.

"The Qingyun Sect!"

The moment his voice fell.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two figures appeared silently at the crack they had just escaped from.

Those two were clearly wearing the iconic cloud-patterned robes of the Qingyun Sect.

One of them swept his lecherous gaze over Yao Shifei and the Huangfu Sisters, eventually landing on Jiang Feng, a cruel and arrogant smile curling on his lips.

"Heh, who would have thought that a Sect layout that even we couldn't see through has been figured out by an ant at Qi Refining Stage 6."

"However, so what if you've seen through it?"

His voice echoed in the empty cavern, filled with mockery.

"Now, hand over the women beside you and all the treasures on your body, and I might consider giving you a quick death!"