261: Chapter 261 Still Daring to Play Dumb! (Part 2)

Five dark green figures streaked through the poisonous miasma at extreme speeds.

Zhao Xiao led the way, his gaze locked tightly onto the charred, withered trail on the ground.

The deeper they went, the more viscous the surrounding poisonous gas became.

Even their protective spiritual light emitted an overwhelmed sizzling sound.

Ten miles ahead.

Chen Mu hung upside down from a thick branch of a towering, decayed tree.

The crystallized vine on his left leg was rooted deep within the trunk, greedily absorbing the faint pulsations of the entire woodland.

Five mixed auras from behind clearly entered his perception.

These poisonous insects from the Southern Border were as greedy as they were stupid.

Did they really think those clumsy concealment techniques could hide them from the detection of the Ember-Born Flower?

Chen Mu's face twitched, letting out a sneer of extreme contempt.

The Old Ancestor had handed down a decree, ordering him to devour the jinsheng demon lotus.

Surrounding such a Heaven-Defying spiritual object, there would surely be a terrifying companion Great Yao or a natural poison formation lying in wait.

Though he was anxious to break through his Realm, it didn't mean he was a brainless brute.

He had five top-quality pathfinding stones delivered right to him; it would be a waste not to use them.

Chen Mu flipped and landed on the ground.

Ahead lay a churning dark red swamp, emitting a nauseating, fishy stench.

In the center of the swamp, an extremely domineering and pure Death Qi faintly emanated.

The demon lotus was just ahead.

But beneath that swamp, hundreds of violent Demonic Qi signatures were dormant.

Chen Mu raised his right hand, pressing his fingers together like a blade.

He directly sliced a deep, bone-deep wound into his left arm.

Dark red blood gushed out, splattering onto the charred mud.

He even deliberately dissipated a portion of his protective spiritual light, allowing the surrounding poisonous miasma to corrode large scorched patches onto his clothes.

He was feigning the appearance of someone who had just survived a bloody battle and was low on Qi.

After doing all this, Chen Mu's figure flickered, completely merging into the thick poisonous fog on the right.

Using Death Qi for concealment was a specialty of the Ember-Born Flower.

Half a stick of incense later.

Zhao Xiao arrived at the edge of the swamp with four Junior Brothers.

“Senior Brother, look!”

One Disciple pointed at the pool of blood on the ground that hadn't completely dried yet, unable to suppress his internal wild joy.

“This blood contains extremely thick Evil Qi; it's definitely that kid's!”

“There are also traces of corrosive miasma nearby; he can't even maintain his protective spiritual light anymore!”

Zhao Xiao crouched down and pinched a bit of the bloody soil.

The blood energy was unstable, and his vitality was dissipating.

It was entirely the image of a spent arrow in decay.

A greedy glint burst from Zhao Xiao's eyes.

“He stole the Poison-Tailed Leopard's poison core and then forced his way into the heart of the demon forest; he must have been attacked by a Great Yao.”

“Now is his weakest moment!”

“Chase him down! Take his life while he's down!”

The five of them stepped into the dark red swamp without hesitation.

Their spiritual power was pushed to the limit, and five Magical Artifacts circled in the air, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.

The surface of the swamp was eerily calm.

Not even the sound of a flying insect's wings could be heard.

In the shadows.

Chen Mu pressed himself against the back of a withered tree, the vine on his left leg silently drilling into the ground.

A sliver of extremely faint Wither-Bloom Magic Power power followed the earth's pulse, precisely piercing into the largest mass of Demonic Qi in the deepest part of the swamp.

Provocation.

Naked provocation.

Boom!

The dark red swamp exploded without any warning.

Poisonous mud poured down like a torrential rain.

“What is that!”

Zhao Xiao roared, his pitch-black long banner waving violently, whipping up a gale to try and blow away the mud.

Beneath the mud, countless dark green compound eyes lit up.

Hundreds of Ghost-Faced Poison Spiders, each the size of a millstone, burst out of the ground.

These spiders had pale, human-face patterns on their backs.

Their eight long legs shimmered with a ghostly blue poisonous light.

A swarm of Peak Second-Tier Yao Beasts!

Even the Spider King in the center, which was the size of a small hill, already had one foot in the Purple Mansion threshold!

“Retreat! Retreat quickly!”

Zhao Xiao's liver and gall were splitting with fear as he shrieked miserably.

It was too late.

Thousands of viscous, pale white spider webs descended, covering the sky and earth.

In an instant, all five of their retreat paths were sealed.

A Ten Thousand Poisons Sect Disciple failed to dodge and was covered by a spider web.

The terrifying corrosive power on the web instantly melted through his protective spiritual light.

“Senior Brother, save me!”

He struggled frantically, screaming piteously.

Several Ghost-Faced Poison Spiders swarmed him, their sharp limbs piercing directly through his chest.

Toxins were injected.

That Disciple's Physical Body dissolved into a pool of fishy blood at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Form a formation! Hold our ground!”

Zhao Xiao gnashed his teeth and spat a mouthful of essence blood onto the black banner.

The banner expanded in the wind, turning into a black cloud that stood firmly above their heads.

The remaining three Disciples stood back-to-back, frantically driving their Magical Artifacts to slay the spiders pouncing on them.

Severed limbs flew everywhere, and green poisonous blood stained the swamp red.

This was a meat grinder with no suspense.

The spiders were too numerous to be killed.

Half an hour later.

The three Junior Brothers ran out of Qi and were dragged into the depths of the swamp one by one by the spiders, with not even a bone fragment left behind.

Zhao Xiao was covered in blood, his left arm having been grazed by the Spider King's venom, turning completely black and rotten.

He flipped his hand to reveal a crimson orb.

The Explosive Flame Poison Thunder.

A life-saving trump card bestowed by the Grand Elder of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect.

Zhao Xiao frantically injected his Qi and smashed the poison thunder hard against the Spider King.

Boom!

A violent poisonous fire soared into the sky, directly blowing apart half of the Spider King's body.

The spider swarm emitted a series of shrill cries, and their formation fell into chaos.

Zhao Xiao used this brief opening to force his way through the encirclement.

He crawled and scrambled out of the swamp.

He collapsed onto a hard rock, spitting out large mouthfuls of black blood.

He had survived.

Only this single thought remained in Zhao Xiao's mind.

His hand trembling, he pulled a handful of detoxification pills from his Storage Pouch and stuffed them haphazardly into his mouth.

As long as he could return alive, what did the deaths of four Junior Brothers matter?

Once he healed his wounds, he would definitely bring the sect elders to trample this swamp flat!

“You did a good job scouting the path.”

A flat voice suddenly rang out from above.

Zhao Xiao's entire body froze.

Even his chewing of the Medicinal Pills came to a complete halt.

He stiffly raised his head.

Chen Mu stood before him, completely unscathed.

Blue-purple vines slithered over his left leg, emitting a terrifying Wither and Flourish vitality.

On his dharma robe embroidered with skeleton totems, there wasn't even a single wrinkle.

Where was there any sign of him being heavily injured or exhausted?

“You... you intentionally lured us in!”

Zhao Xiao's eyes were bloodshot, and his knuckles cracked as he clenched his fists.

Extreme fear and anger intertwined, bringing him to the brink of collapse.

This lunatic from the Corpse Yin Sect had actually used them as pathfinding stones!

Chen Mu didn't even spare him a glance.

His gaze passed over Zhao Xiao and stared straight into the center of the swamp.

The Spider King had been heavily damaged by the poison thunder and was currently leading the remaining swarm back underground.

The obstacles had been cleared.

“You can't kill me!”

Zhao Xiao retreated frantically, screaming at the top of his lungs.

“I am the Personal Disciple of the Grand Elder of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect!”

“If I die here, my Revered Master will definitely turn the Corpse Yin Sect upside down!”

Chen Mu tilted his head.

He looked at this noisy ant as if looking at a dead man.

“Noisy.”

His left leg suddenly exerted force.

Bang!

A crystal vine as thick as a thigh burst out from the ground.

It brutally pierced through Zhao Xiao's chest.

It pinned him firmly in mid-air.

“Aaaah~!”

Zhao Xiao let out a scream that didn't sound human.

A domineering devouring power erupted.

The pure Qi, blood energy, and even the Soul of a Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator.

They frantically flowed back into Chen Mu's Dantian through the vine.

The Ember-Born Flower burst out with an unprecedented tremor of pleasure.

Not only that.

In the soil beneath Chen Mu's feet, countless tiny vines spread rapidly.

They plunged directly into the carcasses of the dead poison spiders at the edge of the swamp.

The blood and flesh essence of the Yao Beasts were forcibly extracted, turning into a sky of blood mist that all gathered toward him.

In just three breaths.

Zhao Xiao's burly body shriveled into a skeleton wrapped in skin.

Bang.

The vine whipped violently.

The shriveled corpse smashed onto the rock, turning into a cloud of bone dust that drifted down.

A beast-like low growl escaped Chen Mu's throat.

Having devoured the entire foundation of one Foundation Establishment Perfection and four Late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators, plus a massive amount of Yao Beast vitality.

The Spiritual Pressure in his Dantian had already climbed to a terrifying critical point.

The barrier to the Purple Mansion only needed one last spark to completely burst open.

He set off.

Stepping over the spider corpses covering the ground, he walked straight into the deepest part of the swamp.

The poisonous miasma ahead was thick to the extreme, forming a literal black water curtain.

Chen Mu raised his right hand, and blue-purple Wither-Bloom Magic Power power gathered in his palm.

He tore it violently.

Rip!

The water curtain was forcibly torn apart.

An extremely pure and domineering yi wood Death Qi, mixed with world-destroying vitality.

It washed out with a roar.

Chen Mu stared fixedly ahead.

A giant lotus, ethereal green and possessing nine petals, floated quietly in mid-air.

The lotus's roots were embedded in a massive Yao bone that had been dead for who knew how many years.

With every opening and closing of its petals, it would exhale a vast amount of poisonous miasma.

The jinsheng demon lotus!

The Old Ancestor hadn't lied to him!

This top-tier spiritual object that snatched the creation of heaven and earth perfectly matched his immortal foundation!

Chen Mu stared intently at the center of the swamp and stepped forward violently with his left leg.

Bang.

A thick blue-purple vine burst through the mud, directly wrapping around the stem of the jinsheng demon lotus. The massive Yao bone supporting the demon lotus shattered under the vine's crushing force.

The demon lotus fell into his palm.

An extremely domineering yi wood Death Qi poured into his body through his pores, and the Ember-Born Flower immortal foundation in his Dantian erupted with an extremely greedy tremor.

It even attempted to devour it directly.

Chen Mu forcibly suppressed the rampaging Spiritual Pressure in his body.

The immortal opportunity bestowed by the Old Ancestor was in his hands!

He absolutely could not refine it here.

Too many Great Yao were dormant in the depths of the Gloomy Mist Demon Forest; the commotion just now would eventually attract even more terrifying existences.

He flipped his hand to reveal a Blood Escape Talisman and slapped it directly onto his chest.

Bang.

A blood mist exploded.

Chen Mu turned into a dark red blood-colored escape light, brutally tearing through the thick black poisonous miasma above.

He shot into the clouds.

He didn't dare leave even a hint of his aura, shattering all the withered marks left by his left leg vine along the way.

He headed straight for the mountain gate of the Corpse Yin Sect.

Half an hour later.

The heart of the Gloomy Mist Demon Forest.

Above the originally dead silent dark red swamp, a violent blood-colored hurricane whipped up without warning.

Boom.

The poisonous miasma was brutally torn to both sides, and a figure wrapped in black-red Evil Qi crashed down like a meteor onto the edge of the swamp, the hard rock instantly exploding into dust.

The violent Purple Mansion pressure turned into a literal ripple.

It crushed outward in a ring.

Towering decayed trees within a Thousand-Feet were snapped one after another.

Ling Yunzhi's hair was disheveled.

His bare upper body was covered in eerie blood-colored demon patterns. He had just finished refining the remnants of the True Dragon's resentment in the depths of the Blood Lake, successfully condensing his second Divine Ability. At this moment, the Evil Qi in his body was boiling.

He urgently needed that jinsheng demon lotus companion to the dead lands to stabilize his surging Realm.

He strode into the swamp.

With every step, the poisonous mud beneath his feet was directly evaporated by the Evil Qi.

However.

When he reached the deepest part of the swamp, his footsteps suddenly stopped. The area ahead was empty, with only the remains of spiders all over the ground.

And a bottomless, giant mud pit.

The Yao bone that had carried the demon lotus, along with the demon lotus itself, had vanished without a trace.

Ling Yunzhi stared fixedly at that mud pit.

His chest heaved violently.

Black-red Evil Qi churned frantically on his body's surface, nearly igniting the surrounding space.

He had been intercepted!

The top-tier spiritual object he had plotted for several years had actually been uprooted by someone else!

A trace of extremely subtle Death Qi remained around this swamp; it was definitely not a trace of a natural poison formation collapsing.

Someone had deliberately erased their aura!

“Who did this!”

Ling Yunzhi roared at the sky.

The violent sound waves, mixed with the pressure of his two Purple Mansion Divine Abilities.

Directly shook a giant hole in the poisonous miasma above.

He suddenly turned his head.

He stared fixedly at a black poisonous Peak in the depths of the swamp.

This area had always been the territory of the Ten Thousand Poisons Sect.

Aside from Thousand-Feet, who could clear out a swarm of Second-Tier spiders and pluck the demon lotus so silently in such a short amount of time?

“Thousand-Legs Old Ghost!”

“Get out here for this Saint!”

Ling Yunzhi's hands suddenly formed seals.

His second Divine Ability, Rakshasa Sea, erupted.

Within dozens of miles, the area was instantly submerged in a black-red sea of Evil Qi. Countless hideous ghosts condensed from Evil Qi burst out of the water, frantically devouring all surrounding life.

Rumble.

The earth shook and the mountains swayed.

That black poisonous Peak trembled violently.

The mountain split open down the middle, revealing a giant crack.

A terrifying centipede over thirty feet long, its body covered in dark gold shell.

It crawled out from underground.

Thousand-Legs Old Ghost.

A Purple Mansion dual-Divine Ability Yao King.

It had just gone to the underground abyss to devour a fire vein and take a nap. As soon as it came out, it found its nest flooded.

Thousand-Legs Old Ghost raised its hideous head.

Hundreds of pairs of sharp limbs waved frantically in the air.

It emitted a deafening shriek.

It had no idea what had happened.

It only saw Ling Yunzhi, this demon child, causing massive destruction on its territory.

“Still daring to play dumb!”

Ling Yunzhi laughed out of sheer rage.

This beast had definitely taken advantage of his seclusion to devour it in advance!

“Spit out the demon lotus!”

Ling Yunzhi's legs suddenly exerted force.

Bang.

He turned into a blood-colored afterimage, charging straight toward Thousand-Legs Old Ghost.

The five fingers of his right hand turned into sharp bone claws.

Wrapped in violent Dragon's resentment Evil Qi, he clawed fiercely at the centipede's head.

Seeing someone act so arrogantly on its own turf, Thousand-Legs Old Ghost was enraged, its Yao ferocity completely triggered.

It opened its bloody maw and spat out a thick pillar of dark green poison. The poison pillar and the bone claw collided violently in mid-air.

Sizzle.

The poison was instantly evaporated by the Evil Qi.

Ling Yunzhi's bone claw continued with undiminished momentum, brutally tearing through the dark gold shell on Thousand-Legs Old Ghost's head.

Green Yao blood sprayed out wildly.

Thousand-Legs Old Ghost let out a piteous shriek, its massive body twisting frantically as hundreds of pairs of limbs slashed over like blades.

“Refusing the easy way!”

Ling Yunzhi pressed down with both hands.

The Rakshasa Sea boiled.

Countless Evil Qi ghosts swarmed up, biting firmly onto Thousand-Legs Old Ghost's limbs, forcibly dragging it down into the sea of Evil Qi.