159: filthy swamp

"Junior Brother Lin," Xiao Qinghan smiled slightly, "I was passing by nearby and sensed your aura, so I came over to take a look."

Her gaze fell upon the still-fluctuating spiritual energy around Lin Feng. "Looking at your expression, are you planning a long journey?"

Lin Feng stepped aside to let her into the room, paused for a moment, and decided to be honest.

Looking at Xiao Qinghan before him, a strange feeling of emotion welled up in his heart.

Many years ago, when he was still a small Qi Refining cultivator, Senior Sister Xiao was already at the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage, radiating brilliance.

Now, more than a decade had leisurely passed; he had surpassed her, stepping into the Late Foundation Establishment Stage, while it seemed as if time had stood still for Senior Sister Xiao, who remained at the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.

Although her appearance had not changed much, that once-sharp edge had gradually settled into a gentle, tempered demeanor.

"Senior Sister, I received news that houtu blood marrow has appeared in the Foul Abyss Marsh," he lowered his voice, "but people from Jueqing Valley are also setting their sights on it."

The faint smile on Xiao Qinghan's face immediately froze, replaced by deep worry: "Jueqing Valley? Those people... their Heart-Nature is cold and callous, their Cultivation Techniques are bizarre, and they are best at stirring up one's seven emotions and six desires, making them impossible to guard against."

"It is rumored that the Foul Abyss Marsh was formed from the corpse of a fallen mighty expert, and it is filled with poisonous miasma. How can I be at ease with you going there alone?"

She stepped forward, her tone resolute, "I will go with you."

Lin Feng felt a warmth in his heart, but immediately shook his head: "Senior Sister, I appreciate your good intentions. But the outcome of this trip is unpredictable."

He looked into Xiao Qinghan's clear, large eyes, his voice lowering, "You... your cultivation has been stagnant for many years; you should focus on finding an opportunity for a Breakthrough, not risk such danger for me."

As he spoke, he felt a twinge of reluctance.

He was already at the Late Stage and still felt the path ahead was treacherous; for Senior Sister, with her Middle Stage cultivation, this trip would be a narrow escape from death.

After these words were spoken, there was a moment of silence in the room.

Xiao Qinghan's eyelashes trembled slightly, a faint sadness flashing in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by an even deeper persistence.

She raised her head, looking at Lin Feng with clear and direct eyes: "Precisely because you have reached the Late Stage and your path of Dao is long, you must not be easily lost."

"Although my cultivation is not as high as yours, I have more experience with these dangerous places and villains than you do. One more person means one more layer of protection."

Looking at the unrefusable concern in her eyes, and the trace of anticipation hidden deep beneath—perhaps something she herself did not fully understand, born from a long period of waiting—Lin Feng fell silent.

He recalled when he was an Outer Sect Disciple, how this Senior Sister, already at the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage, would offer inadvertent guidance; he remembered when he was about to undergo Foundation Establishment, her expressed desire to help; he remembered how, over the past decade or more, her attention had been seemingly indifferent yet consistently constant.

Lin Feng took a deep breath, met Xiao Qinghan's gaze, and finally nodded: "Very well. Then I will have to trouble you, Senior Sister. We shall go together."

Lin Feng and Xiao Qinghan had been struggling through the Foul Abyss Marsh for three days.

The marsh fog here was thick, and poisonous miasma permeated the air.

Beneath their feet was bottomless sludge, from which bubbles would occasionally emerge with a gurgling sound.

From the air came the sharp hissing of unknown poisonous insects, sometimes near and sometimes far, unsettling the mind.

In this desperate place, flying through the air was akin to suicide.

The thick fog not only severely hindered vision and Divine Sense exploration but also hid countless flying Yao Beasts capable of spewing venom, acid webs, and even interfering with spiritual energy.

Once airborne, they would become living targets.

The two could only rely on their Physical Body strength to struggle through the mud and dangerous vegetation.

Thanks to Xiao Qinghan's profound understanding of the habits of Yao Beasts, they had several times avoided giant crocodiles lurking in the mud pits and poisonous pythons disguised as dead wood.

Lin Feng, relying on his powerful Late Foundation Establishment Stage Divine Sense, keenly avoided several death mud pits that looked calm but actually concealed suction vortices.

At noon on the fourth day, when the two were passing through an area filled with twisted, strange willows, Lin Feng suddenly stopped, his brows furrowed tightly.

"There is a scent of blood, very fresh," he said in a low voice, signaling Xiao Qinghan to be on guard.

The two cautiously approached the source of the smell, and after pushing aside a cluster of large, foul-smelling purple poisonous mushrooms, the scene before them made Xiao Qinghan gasp.

Three shriveled corpses were scattered on the muddy ground, their gray-white robes still faintly showing the markings of Jueqing Valley.

Their state of death was extremely miserable; their essence blood had been drained, leaving only skin stretched over bone, with expressions of terror and pain frozen on their faces.

Broken Magical Artifacts were scattered around the corpses, and there were traces of a fierce struggle on the ground, but the fatal wounds were not caused by sharp blades or Spells; it was more as if their lives had been forcibly sucked away by some power.

"Was it... sucked dry by something?" Xiao Qinghan's voice trembled slightly.

She noticed that there were tiny holes on the necks or wrists of the corpses, and the surrounding skin was dark purple, clearly a sign of poisoning, but the main cause of death was indeed the exhaustion of essence blood.

"Looking at these traces, it doesn't seem to be man-made; it looks more like... they encountered some kind of extremely bloodthirsty Yao Beast."

Lin Feng squatted down to examine them carefully. His fingertips brushed through the air over the hole in the neck of one of the corpses, feeling a trace of residual cold Demonic Qi, his expression becoming increasingly grave.

He said to Xiao Qinghan in a deep voice, "The Demonic Qi remaining at the wound is pure and highly corrosive; it can instantly drain the essence blood of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator and even devour their true essence... This is definitely not an ordinary Yao Beast. It looks more like the hunting method of the Blood Nightmare Blood Mosquito recorded in the texts."

"Blood Nightmare Blood Mosquito?" Xiao Qinghan's pretty face turned slightly pale upon hearing this, "That kind of Yao Beast that is said to contain a trace of the Bloodline of the ancient fierce insect, the Netherworld Blood Mosquito? Hasn't it long been extinct?"

"If it really is this creature, an adult Blood Nightmare Blood Mosquito is at least a Level 5 Yao Beast, and they often appear in swarms. Their mouthparts can ignore most protective spiritual light, and they are bloodthirsty by nature..."

Before she could finish her sentence, a faint yet scalp-tingling "buzzing" sound suddenly came from the depths of the thick fog around them.

This sound seemed to pierce through the eardrums, reaching deep into the Divine Soul, stirring up the most primal fear in one's heart.

"Not good! Retreat quickly!" Lin Feng, with his superior Divine Sense, was the first to sense the danger. He grabbed Xiao Qinghan's wrist, and his figure retreated rapidly.

Just where they had been standing, the thick fog was torn apart, and several slender black shadows swept past.

These black shadows were about the length of a finger, completely pitch black like ink, with scarlet compound eyes, and mouthparts like a slender straw, flashing with a cold, eerie light; they were indeed Blood Nightmare Blood Mosquitoes.

Their speed was astonishing, appearing almost like a teleportation.

The mouthpart of one of the Blood Nightmare Blood Mosquitoes narrowly grazed the raised sleeve of Lin Feng's robe.

With a soft "chi" sound, his sleeve, which had been infused with spiritual energy, was sliced open like paper, the edges instantly turning gray and rotten, as if its vitality had been drained away.

"What terrifying penetrating power and corrosiveness!" Lin Feng was horrified.

If he had reacted a moment slower just now, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

These Blood Nightmare Blood Mosquitoes seemed extremely sensitive to the life blood of living creatures; having missed their first strike, they immediately turned around, their scarlet compound eyes locking onto Lin Feng and Xiao Qinghan, and they transformed into several black lines, attacking again.

The buzzing sound became even more intense, disturbing the mind and causing the circulation of spiritual energy to become sluggish.

"We cannot fight them head-on!" Xiao Qinghan said urgently.

She quickly formed hand seals with both hands, and a soft, cyan-green light curtain spread out from her center, emitting a fresh, herbal aura that Yao insects detested.

It was the "Clear Spirit Barrier," a secret technique of the Beast Taming Peak used to repel poisonous insects.