379: Chapter 379 Paradise

The group walked along the bone plains towards the southeast.

The blood moon hung overhead, its dark red light casting a heavy pall over the ground.

The chaotic battle among the skeletons continued; the sound of clashing bones drifted over from the distance, never ceasing.

After walking for about ten minutes, fewer and fewer skeletons stood up around them, until eventually, there were basically none left moving.

Although the ground was still covered in remains, they were all just lying there quietly, their eye sockets pitch black, devoid of green fire.

The team maintained a single-file formation, with Chen Rong in the front, Lin Wan at the back, and Su Mingyuan and Tao Zhe walking in the middle.

Their feet crunched on broken bones, the creaking sound becoming numbing to their ears.

Han Li walked two steps behind Su Mingyuan, constantly sniffing the air.

This was her habit; her wood-attribute Spiritual Root gave her a sensitivity to the scent of herbs far exceeding that of an ordinary person.

As they walked, her pace slowed down.

"Group Leader."

"Hmm?"

"The scent of the nine-origin herb has grown stronger."

Su Mingyuan paused for a step and turned his head to look at her.

"How much stronger?"

Han Li sniffed twice, her brows knitting together.

"It's more than three or four times stronger than it was at the landing point," she said. "And it's not just the nine-origin herb; the scents of other herbs are also intensifying. I can recognize two or three of them, and there are a few others that smell unfamiliar, but they are definitely Spirit Medicine."

Su Mingyuan looked around.

Desolate land, shattered remains, and in the distance, a few scattered wisps of green fire flickered—those were the skeletons that hadn't finished fighting.

There was no grass, no trees, no plants of any kind on the ground.

It was exactly the same as before.

"The concentration is increasing, yet there are no signs of any plants?" Su Mingyuan asked.

Han Li nodded.

"It means the source of the medicine is not on the surface," she said. "It might be underground, or it might be somewhere ahead that we haven't seen yet."

Su Mingyuan didn't dwell on it and pointed forward.

"Keep moving."

The team continued forward.

They walked for another two hundred meters or so.

The scent in the air was indeed changing.

It wasn't just Han Li who could smell it; Su Mingyuan could smell it too—a sweet, slightly bitter aroma, mixed in with the scent of blood and burnt bitterness, becoming increasingly distinct.

The sweet sensation in his throat grew heavier, and the base of his tongue felt faintly sour, as if he were holding an undissolved tablet.

The condition of the ground began to change.

The density of the remains decreased; there were fewer bone fragments, and more and more bare soil was exposed.

The ground further ahead suddenly dipped, as if it had collapsed, forming a shallow slope.

At the bottom of the slope was a stone wall.

A grayish-black stone wall, covered in a layer of dried moss, stood about four or five meters high and stretched dozens of meters horizontally, like a natural cliff.

In the very center of the stone wall, there was a cave.

The entrance was not large, just over two meters high and about a meter and a half wide, just enough for an adult to pass through normally.

The stones around the entrance were darker in color than elsewhere, and the surface was very smooth, as if polished by something.

The medicinal fragrance was wafting out from the cave.

Standing at the top of the slope, Su Mingyuan smelled it immediately; it came rushing at him, wrapped in a strong herbal scent. It was more than twice as strong as what Han Li had described earlier.

Chen Rong had already walked to the front of the cave entrance.

He stopped, turned sideways, and peered into the cave.

The cave was not deep, or rather, it was impossible to tell how deep it was. It was pitch black inside, but not the kind of black where you couldn't see your hand in front of your face; it was as if something was blocking the view, as if separated by a layer of something.

Chen Rong looked back at Su Mingyuan.

Su Mingyuan nodded.

Chen Rong turned around and stepped into the cave entrance.

Then he vanished, and no sound came from him.

One second he was still standing at the entrance, and the next, that spot was empty.

Several people in the team gasped.

"Chen Rong!" Sun Lei shouted.

There was no echo from the cave.

Lin Wan did not shout. She looked at Su Mingyuan, then followed directly, stepping into the cave entrance, and also vanished.

Two Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators had gone in one after another, and both had disappeared.

Su Mingyuan stood at the top of the slope, staring at the pitch-black entrance for three seconds.

"Everyone stop, wait right here."

The team obeyed, and no one moved again.

Tao Zhe leaned in, his voice lowered.

"What do you think?"

"There was no spiritual power fluctuation when they went in," Su Mingyuan said. "If it were an attack or a trap, Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators wouldn't have reacted without any response."

"So, it's like a teleportation?"

"Not sure. Let's wait a moment."

They waited for about a minute.

Some people in the team began to shift their feet uneasily, but no one spoke. The medicinal fragrance in the air kept pouring out, and after smelling it for a long time, their heads began to feel a little dizzy.

Another half minute passed.

A person suddenly emerged from the cave entrance.

Chen Rong.

He walked out of the cave, turned, and faced Su Mingyuan.

"Group Leader Su," Chen Rong began, his voice half an octave higher than usual. "You need to come in and see this."

"What's going on?" Su Mingyuan asked.

Chen Rong opened his mouth, as if wanting to say something, but didn't know where to start.

He paused for two seconds.

"I don't know how to describe it," he said. "You'll know once you come in and see it."

Su Mingyuan looked at him, then at the cave entrance behind him.

"Tao Zhe, Han Li, come in with me. The rest of you stay here; if we don't come out within five minutes, Zhou Jian will take command and lead the team to retreat in the southeast direction."

"Understood." Zhou Jian replied.

Su Mingyuan stepped down the shallow slope to the front of the cave entrance.

He did not hesitate, lifted his foot, and stepped directly into the cave.

The moment his foot landed, his vision went black for a moment.

After about half a second, his vision returned.

Su Mingyuan stood still.

In front of him was no longer a cave, but a valley.

The valley was not large, estimated to be about two kilometers north to south and one kilometer east to west, surrounded by low stone walls covered in vines.

The valley floor was terraced fields.

Layer upon layer, ascending from the valley floor towards the stone walls, each layer about half a meter high, with neat ridges built from gravel and soil. The ridges were covered with various Spirit Medicine, each layer planted with something different.

Some leaves were long and thin, tender green in color, with a ring of pale golden light on the edges.

Some were short and clung to the ground, with round, purple leaves covered in dew. Some looked like dandelions, but the stems were silver-white, with a flower the size of a fingernail blooming on top.

At the same time, the scent in the air rushed over.

The medicinal fragrance was so thick it was cloying.

Sweet, bitter, pungent, cool—dozens of scents mixed together; taking a breath filled the entire lungs, and the air breathed out carried the scent.

Su Mingyuan heard the sound of water.

On one side of the valley, a thin stream seeped out from the cracks in the stone wall, flowing down the channels between the terraced fields. The water was very clear, shimmering with white light under the moonlight.

The sensation under his feet was different too.

It was not broken bones, not hard soil, but soft, damp soil with grass roots.

Stepping on it, it sank slightly, and he could feel the moisture of the soil through his boot soles.

Lin Wan stood at the edge of the valley, looking back at Su Mingyuan.

Her expression was the same as Chen Rong's.

Behind Su Mingyuan, Tao Zhe and Han Li also stepped in.

Tao Zhe stood still, his mouth agape, unable to close it for a long time.

Han Li crouched down directly.

She thrust her hands into the soil beside her, scooped up a handful, and brought it to her nose.

She took a sniff.

Then she looked up.

Her eyes were red.

"This is a medicinal field," she said, her voice trembling. "Everything planted here is Spirit Medicine."