175: heretical cultivation

As the wooden door swung open, a scent blending the warmth of Pill Fire with the fragrance of herbs and plants wafted over.

The interior of the attic was not as bright as imagined; only the Night Pearls embedded beside the pillars emitted a soft glow, allowing one to barely make out the surroundings.

Looking up, the attic was designed with a hollow center, with a spiraling wooden Corridor connecting various rooms.

Mu Wanqing slightly frowned. Upon entering the attic, she sensed that the Spiritual Qi in the air was several times denser than outside, winding around her fingertips in fine threads.

But when she tried to circulate her spiritual power to absorb it, the Spiritual Qi scattered as if alive, unable to merge into her Dantian at all.

"It seems this Innate Spiritual Qi must require a specific Cultivation Technique to absorb. Ordinary Cultivators, even if they were here, could only gaze at the ocean and sigh in despair."

Xiao Lingxian nodded gently: "This is exactly as Revered Master said. I wonder who created such an Evil Technique."

The two quietly advanced along the Corridor. Most of the rooms along the way had their wooden doors tightly shut, with plaques hanging above the lintels marked 'A-1'. Through the cracks in the doors, they could vaguely glimpse Pill Furnaces and medicine shelves inside.

Mu Wanqing slowed her pace, stopping before a seemingly ordinary door. She listened carefully for a moment, confirming there was no movement inside, then cautiously grasped the handle and slowly pushed it open a crack.

The sight before her made her breath catch abruptly, her pupils instantly contracting.

In the center of the room were over thirty Cushions, each with a human figure seated cross-legged.

Though called human figures, they had long lost any sign of life. Their bodies were withered like dehydrated deadwood, with dark brown skin tightly clinging to their bones. Their eye sockets were sunken into two black holes, as if all their flesh and blood had been completely drained.

They maintained the posture of cross-legged cultivation, their hands still forming hand seals, as if all their vitality had been suddenly sucked away during cultivation, freezing them into four lifelike dried skeletons.

Mu Wanqing gently pushed the door open and slipped inside with Xiao Lingxian.

This scene ignited fury in her heart, which even the heart-focusing pill she took yesterday couldn't suppress.

A faint ripple of Spiritual Qi emanated around her, gently billowing her yellow Ruqun: "Earlier in the Forest, when we met Lin Yan and his group, I heard him say they were following the Sect's orders, inviting any who sought immortality to join them on the immortal path."

"At that time, I thought the Sects in the Profound Realm were much better than those in the Great Yan Dynasty."

"But now it seems, even the Yin Yang Sect is far better than the Qinglan Sect. They aren't cultivating at all; they're nourishing their own cultivation base at the cost of others' lives!"

"Senior Sister, look!"

Xiao Lingxian glanced around and noticed Black Crystals embedded in the ground at each of the room's four corners, with several Yellow Paper Talismans pasted on the walls.

Could this be a Formation?

Using a Formation to absorb the Innate Spiritual Qi cultivated within these people, until the Spiritual Qi was exhausted, leaving them in this state.

To confirm the situation, the two checked several adjacent rooms, each scene identical: varying numbers of dried skeletons seated on Cushions, with Black Crystals in the four corners.

Mu Wanqing took a deep breath, suppressing the surging anger in her heart. Just as she was about to speak, faint voices suddenly came from the far end of the Corridor.

Xiao Lingxian gave a meaningful look.

The two exchanged glances, immediately restraining their auras and treading lightly toward the source of the sound.

It was a room with a slightly ajar wooden door. Through the crack, they could see eight figures standing inside. Leading them was Lin Yan, who had been taken away by the steward earlier, and opposite them stood a Black-robed Person, his broad hood covering most of his face, revealing only a pale chin.

"Lin Yan?" The Black-robed Person's voice was hoarse and low.

Lin Yan immediately stepped forward, his face full of fawning smiles, his tone excited: "Disciple is here!"

"You eight have done well this time, recruiting over twelve hundred fellow villagers to join the immortal path for the Sect." The Black-robed Person nodded slowly.

Lin Yan quickly clasped his hands, grinning so widely it seemed his mouth might split to his ears: "This is what Disciples should do! It's an honor to serve the Sect and give fellow villagers a chance to tread the immortal path!"

The seven behind him chimed in agreement.

The Black-robed Person took a brown porcelain bottle from his robe, pouring out eight pitch-black Medicinal Pills that emitted a faint but strange fishy odor.

"One each. Take this foundation establishment pill and go to Room D-4 to Cultivate."

After a pause, he added with a smile: "In less than three days, you'll Breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm, advancing your cultivation base to a higher level. Then you can truly stay in the Sect and enjoy the benefits of an immortal School."

"Foundation Establishment Realm!"

Hearing these words, excitement nearly overflowed from Lin Yan and the others' faces.

They were ordinary villagers from the mountains. Usually, when they encountered Cultivators, they could only bow their heads and avoid them, trying to stay unnoticed like ants, lest they be casually crushed to death.

Until a friend told them about an immortal School called the Qinglan Sect, where even Mortals could Cultivate to achieve Immortal Ascension.

Only then did Lin Yan realize that perhaps his life didn't have to be this way.

He wiped his hands on his Blue Robe before accepting the pill, repeatedly thanking: "Thank you, Elder! This Disciple will do his utmost and recruit more Disciples for the Sect in the future!"

Just as Lin Yan's words fell, with a loud "bang," the slightly ajar wooden door was violently blasted open by an invisible force. Amid flying wood splinters, Mu Wanqing's figure appeared at the doorway.

Her gaze was icy, fixed directly on the Black-robed Person. Before he could react, her mind stirred, and a half-foot-long Flying Sword flashed with spiritual light, piercing through the Black-robed Person's forehead like a meteor!

The Black-robed Person didn't even utter a sound, collapsing stiffly to the ground. His hood slipped off, revealing a wrinkled, bloodless face.

The sudden turn of events left Lin Yan and his group utterly stunned. They stared in shock at the fallen Black-robed Elder, then at the two Fairies they had met just two days earlier.

"Se... Senior?"

Mu Wanqing's icy gaze swept over the pitch-black pills in their hands as she coldly scolded:

"You're being deceived and don't even know it? Go look in the other rooms yourselves. See what this 'immortal path' you speak of really is."

As her words fell, a layer of fine crystals suddenly formed around Mu Wanqing, and a chilling cold instantly spread.

She raised her hand and waved, the crystals rapidly coalescing into dozens of sharp Ice Spikes that violently slammed into the Pill Pavilion's walls.

With a "boom," the thick wooden wall was instantly blasted open into a huge hole. Sunlight streamed through the hole, dispelling the gloom within the attic.

Since it was confirmed that the Qinglan Sect was an Evil Cultivator group deceiving commoners and harming lives, there was no need to conceal their auras any longer.

After Mu Wanqing and the other left, Lin Yan and the others looked at each other, holding the pitch-black pills with confusion and unease.

"Brother Lin, what do we do now?"

Remembering Mu Wanqing's earlier angry shout, Lin Yan decided to see what was going on.

When the first person pushed open the door and saw the cross-legged dried skeletons inside, a piercing scream echoed through the Corridor: "Wh... what is this!"

The others quickly gathered around. Seeing the horrifying scene, their faces instantly turned ashen, and the pills in their hands clattered to the ground.