137: Chapter 137 The Altar Appears Again

Li Changsheng turned around, pushed aside the withered vines, and stepped into the cave entrance.

It was pitch black inside the cave.

Li Changsheng took a Night-Luminescent Pearl from his robes, its dim yellow light illuminating a range of three zhang ahead.

The corridor beneath his feet wound downward; the stone walls were covered in moss and water stains, and the air was thick with a damp, musty smell mixed with a faint scent of blood.

"There's a faint smell of blood in here; I'd better be cautious."

Li Changsheng thought to himself.

Thus, he walked very slowly, the sensory power of the Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture operating at full capacity as he watched for any movement in his surroundings.

After walking for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn, a familiar fork in the road appeared ahead.

"It's here. This path leads to the stone chamber discovered by my father, Li Zhenyue."

"Behind that stone chamber is the one where the Spirit Devourer is sealed."

He had walked this path twice before, and each time had been thrilling.

Li Changsheng looked toward the other side of the fork.

There was an even narrower passage there, winding and twisting, hidden behind a giant rock; if one didn't look closely, it was impossible to find.

Deep within the passage, a faint red light flickered, like a ghost fire in the night, appearing and disappearing.

He had never entered it before.

Previously, he hadn't dared; now, he didn't have the time.

He withdrew his gaze and continued along the path downward.

The stone steps grew steeper, and the air grew colder.

That gloomy, cold aura became increasingly dense; even though Li Changsheng channeled his spiritual power to protect his body, he could still feel a bone-chilling cold.

Finally, he reached the place where the stone door once stood.

However, it had been blasted into fragments, and no trace of the original stone door remained.

Li Changsheng stepped into the stone chamber, and the sight before him made him gasp.

"How did it become like this?"

In the center of the stone chamber, that dark green pool was churning.

Foul-smelling bubbles constantly rose from the bottom of the pool, releasing a nauseating, fishy stench upon bursting.

Above the stone chamber was the large hole through which the Spirit Devourer had once burst.

However, following the collapse at that time, the opening had been blocked again by various giant rocks.

Above the pool, the azure crystal that once trapped the Spirit Devourer had long since shattered and scattered.

The nine stone pillars covered in runes beside the pool had also shattered and collapsed, their fragments scattered around.

Li Changsheng withdrew his gaze and began to search the stone chamber carefully.

Soon, he discovered something unusual.

In a corner not far from the pool, there were several fresh marks.

They were marks left by sword strikes, the cuts still fresh, clearly left recently.

On the stone slabs around the pool, several pieces of shattered blood-colored runes were scattered.

Those were curved rune lines that Li Changsheng remembered well; he had seen them at Luanshi Ridge—they were the altar runes of the Blood Fiend Sect.

"Zhou Yuan has been here?!"

Moreover, he had fought something here.

Li Changsheng crouched down, picked up a rune fragment, and brought it to his nose to sniff.

A faint scent of blood still lingered on the rune, along with a strange fluctuation of spiritual power.

He stood up and continued his search.

He found another fragment of clothing from the Jinyang Sect.

"It's certain that Zhou Yuan came here, but there's no sign of him, alive or dead."

"He likely went to another location after destroying the altar."

"Where did Zhou Yuan go?"

Suddenly, Li Changsheng's gaze fell upon that fork in the road he had never explored.

There, a red light was faintly showing through.

He took a deep breath, gripped his green steel sword, and turned to walk out of the stone chamber.

Returning to the fork, Li Changsheng stood before that narrow passage.

The red light flickered, as if summoning him.

He closed his eyes, and the sensory power of the Evergreen Plant Truth Scripture extended to its full limit, probing deep into the passage.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, his brow furrowed.

Deep in the passage, there were several fluctuations of spiritual power.

Some were strong, some weak, some chaotic, and some strange.

One of them felt somewhat familiar; it was Zhou Yuan's Sword Intent—though faint, it definitely existed.

"Zhou Yuan is still alive."

Li Changsheng no longer hesitated and stepped into the passage.

The passage was longer than he had imagined, winding downward with an increasingly steep slope.

Strange murals began to appear on the stone walls, depicting ancient sacrificial scenes.

People knelt in worship before an altar; living humans were bound upon the altar, with ferocious-looking priests standing beside them.

The faces of those priests were deliberately blurred, but those blood-red eyes were chilling.

After walking for about half an hour, the space ahead suddenly opened up.

It was a massive underground cavern.

The cavern was dozens of zhang wide with a ceiling seven or eight zhang high; countless stalactites hung down, reflecting a strange light under some unknown light source.

In the center of the cavern stood an altar even more magnificent than the previous one.

The altar was built of giant black stones and had three levels, each about a zhang high.

At the top level of the altar, stone pillars about a zhang high stood in a circle in the center, covered in dense, blood-colored runes.

At the top of the stone pillars, a blood-colored bead the size of a fist floated, emitting an eerie red light.

Around the altar, several corpses in black clothing lay scattered about.

Li Changsheng approached to take a look, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

They were the corpses of Blood Fiend Sect Disciples.

There were five in total, wearing black martial attire with the Blood Fiend Sect mark on their chests.

Their deaths were extremely gruesome; some had their hearts pierced by a sword, some had their heads severed, and some were charred all over as if struck by lightning.

Zhou Yuan's sword.

Li Changsheng looked up, his gaze sweeping across the altar.

At the highest point of the altar, he saw Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan was kneeling on one knee, supporting himself with his sword, covered in blood.

There was a terrifying wound on his chest, extending from his left shoulder to his right ribs; the flesh was torn open, and the white bone beneath was faintly visible. But his eyes remained open, staring fixedly ahead.

Li Changsheng stepped forward quickly and knelt beside him.

"Zhou Yuan!"

Zhou Yuan's eyes moved, looking at him with difficulty.

"Li... Changsheng..."

His voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.

"You... came..."

Li Changsheng took a healing Medicinal Pill from his robes, intending to give it to him.

Zhou Yuan shook his head and with difficulty raised his hand to press down on Li Changsheng's wrist.

"No... use..."

"My heart's... meridians... are severed..."

Li Changsheng fell silent.

For a Qi Refining Level 9 Cultivator, once the heart's meridians were severed, even a Grand Unity Golden Immortal could not save them.

Zhou Yuan looked at him, a bitter smile touching the corners of his mouth.

"You... warned me... I didn't listen..."

"In the Storage Pouch... there is a letter... give it to my master..."

Following Zhou Yuan's gaze, Li Changsheng took off his Storage Pouch.

Zhou Yuan smiled, took a deep breath, and used his last bit of strength to say haltingly:

"Below... there is another level below..."

"The Blood Fiend Sect... is summoning... something..."

His hand tightly gripped Li Changsheng's sleeve.

"Stop... them..."

Having said those words, his hand fell powerlessly.

His eyes slowly closed.

Suddenly, a thin piece of beast hide fell from Zhou Yuan's hand.

Li Changsheng picked it up and looked closely; it was actually a map of the Relics of True Lord Xuanyun.

"This Zhou Yuan really did put in the effort, and he managed to find some useful things as well."

"A pity it's incomplete..."

Li Changsheng murmured to himself while holding the fragmented map.

The fragmented map had some simple markings and some strange runes.

After looking for a while, Li Changsheng put away the fragmented map.

Next, he opened Zhou Yuan's Storage Pouch.

Inside were Zhou Yuan's identity token, several bottles of Medicinal Pills, some Spirit Stones, some miscellaneous items, and an unfinished letter.

The letter had only a few lines of writing.