160: Chapter 160 This pot is both black and round.

"Whoosh—Boom!"

Jiang Wanrou's shrill cry for help had not yet fully faded when the sky seemed to be ripped open by a giant hand.

A cyan beam of light, bright enough to blind, slammed into the rocky beach, the resulting shockwave grinding the surrounding rubble into powder.

Jiang Wanrou was knocked backward by the blast of air, yet she instinctively clung tightly to the "dying" man in her arms.

The dust settled.

An old man wearing dark cyan Daoist robes with a long sword strapped to his back revealed himself.

His hair and beard were snow-white, his face gaunt, but right now, his eyes, usually as still as an ancient well, were fixed on the massive crater ahead, his pupils slightly constricted.

Yunlan Sect Sect Master, Ye Guyun.

Behind him, Elder Su Ming rushed out, clutching a wine gourd, reeking of alcohol, followed by dozens of high-ranking deacons from the Law Enforcement Hall.

"This... is this Fallen Demon Valley?"

The gourd in Su Ming's hand nearly fell to the ground.

The Forbidden Ground, originally eerie and terrifying, shrouded in red mist year-round, had now turned into a deep pit several miles in diameter.

Black smoke was still rising from the bottom of the pit, and the air was thick with a suffocating stench of blood and chaotic Spiritual Qi turbulence.

"Gu Yan!"

Su Ming spotted Gu Yan lying in the pile of rubble, covered in blood.

His figure flickered, and he instantly appeared beside the two, his withered fingers resting on Gu Yan's pulse.

The pulse was weak, his breathing faint, the Meridians inside his body were a chaotic mess, and his internal organs showed signs of displacement.

Especially his left shoulder and chest, where the flesh was torn and rolled back, painful just to look at.

"Good lad, you're tough."

Su Ming breathed a sigh of relief, pulled out a fragrant Medicinal Pill, stuffed it into Gu Yan's mouth, placed his palm against Gu Yan's back, and slowly channeled pure internal energy into him.

"Cough, cough..."

Gu Yan coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of clotted blood mixed with organ fragments (which he had caused himself using Spiritual Qi), and opened his eyes with difficulty.

In that instant, his gaze was unfocused and terrified, yet carried a sense of bewilderment from surviving a near-death experience.

"Su... Elder Su..."

He reached out with blood-stained hands, grabbing Su Ming's sleeve tightly, his nails nearly digging into the flesh: "Quick... quick, stop him... Lin Canghai... he's gone mad..."

"Lin Canghai?"

Standing to the side, Ye Guyun turned around. His voice was not loud, but it instantly calmed the restless Spiritual Qi around them: "Speak slowly, what happened here?"

Gu Yan gasped for air, seemingly lacking even the strength to speak. He looked toward Jiang Wanrou.

Jiang Wanrou was trembling all over, her face covered in red mud and tear stains. She clutched Gu Yan's hand tightly, her voice choked with sobs, yet it clearly reached the ears of everyone present:

"Lin Canghai... he built a blood river palace at the bottom of the valley... it was full of dead people... they were Loose Cultivators..."

"We... we followed the clues of that blood river Formation Flag to this place... and caught him in the middle of a blood sacrifice..."

At this point, Jiang Wanrou seemed to recall some extremely terrifying scene and dry-heaved: "He wanted to silence us... To save me, Gu Yan took a blade strike for me... Later... later..."

"Later, he tried to forcibly perform a Fusion with the blood river bead."

Gu Yan took over, his voice weak but every word piercing: "But he underestimated the demonic nature of that thing. He lost control... He threw all the Lin family Disciples into the blood pool... And then... it exploded."

The entire scene was deathly silent.

Only the sound of the wind wailing across the rocky beach remained.

Dozens of Law Enforcement Hall deacons looked at each other, seeing horror in each other's eyes.

Blood sacrifice of living people?

Slaughtering fellow Disciples?

And finally being devoured by the demonic object and self-destructing?

If this was true, the Lin family was not just violating rules; they had completely fallen into the Demonic Path and were the eternal shame of the Yunlan Sect!

"Nonsense!"

A collateral deacon of the Lin family who arrived shortly after jumped out, his face flushed red: "The Grand Elder is a Golden Core Stage great Cultivator! How could he do such a thing? It must be these two juniors..."

"Shut up."

Ye Guyun did not turn back, simply spitting out those two words indifferently.

The deacon was struck as if by lightning; he flew backward, spat out a mouthful of blood, and lay on the ground, not daring to move.

Ye Guyun walked to the edge of the crater, his Divine Sense spreading out like a tidal wave, probing deep into the ground.

After a long while.

He withdrew his Divine Sense, his face so gloomy it could drip water.

"There is indeed a large amount of residual Blood Fiend Qi below, and also... traces of hundreds of corpses having been burned."

Ye Guyun turned around, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, finally landing on Gu Yan's pale-as-paper face: "And, Lin Canghai's aura has vanished."

A Golden Core has fallen, heaven and earth grieve together.

The violent, destructive aura remaining beneath these ruins indeed matched the characteristics of a Golden Core self-destruction.

"Sect Master..."

Gu Yan struggled to stand, but fell heavily back into Jiang Wanrou's arms. He gave a miserable laugh: "The Lin family... also set up a trap in Baifeng City... cough, cough... If it weren't for Yue Chan and me being prepared, the people of that city..."

He did not finish his sentence before passing out.

(Acting here: Fainting maneuver.)

"Gu Yan! Gu Yan!" Jiang Wanrou shouted in panic.

"Take him back."

Ye Guyun waved his sleeve, and a massive dragon-headed flying ship broke through the clouds, hovering above everyone's heads.

"Su Ming, you personally escort them back to the Sect to heal. Use the best medicine; you must preserve their Foundation."

"Yes." Su Ming picked up Gu Yan, a flash of complexity in his eyes, but more of it was satisfaction.

"As for the Lin family..."

Ye Guyun looked at the bottomless crater, a cold, chilling killing intent flashing in his eyes.

Regardless of the details of the truth, the fact that Lin Canghai died here is true, the fact that the blood river Formation Flag appeared here is true, and those hundreds of wronged souls are also a fact.

This pot, the Lin family will definitely carry.

Furthermore, they must carry it firmly, so that the Sect and the Righteous Path of the world can be given an explanation.

"Spread my decree."

Ye Guyun's voice echoed through the valley, carrying unquestionable majesty:

"Seal all industries of the Lin family and recall all Disciples currently outside. From this moment on, the entire Lin family is to undergo investigation by the Law Enforcement Hall."

"If there is any resistance, kill without mercy."

...

On the flying ship.

Gu Yan lay on a soft cloud couch, eyes closed, breathing weakly.

But deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the System that had just devoured the Golden Core remnant soul was spamming notifications like crazy.

[Ding! This "Fallen Demon Valley Dungeon" has been cleared perfectly.]

[Mission Rating: SSS Rank.]

[Battle Results Statistics:]

1. **Kills:** Lin Canghai (Early Golden Core Stage), Lin family elites x24, hidden sentries xN.

2. **Loot:** Obtained Ancestor Blood River's Legacy (blood river bead), the wealth accumulated by the Lin family over decades, and countless rare Materials.

3. **Achievements:** "Scapegoat Maker", "Best Actor Performance", "Sect Hero".

4. **Current Assets:** Wealth rivaling a nation (though it cannot see the light of day).

[Bloodline Fusion progress: 25% (Blood River Battle Body).]

[Host, this move of yours is simply pitting the Lin family to death. Now it's great; not only are they dead, but they will also be nailed to the pillar of shame and reviled for ten thousand years.]

Gu Yan's consciousness formed within his Sea of Consciousness, looking at the storage space that had been filled, his mouth twitching.

"How can this be called pitting them?"

"I just helped them exit the stage of history with dignity."

The flying ship pierced through the clouds and mist, speeding toward the direction of the Yunlan Sect.

Outside the window, the sunlight was just right.

A storm of reckoning against the Lin family was about to sweep through the entire Sect. And as the instigator at the center of the storm, he was currently lying comfortably, waiting to go back and receive rewards, and by the way...

Enjoy the personal care of that Chief Senior Sister of the Pill Pavilion.

This Cultivation world, in the end, belongs to the living.

As for the dead?

Who cares how they died.