40: Chapter 40 Poisonous Miasma in the Swamp, Scales Lead the Way astray

The further northeast they went, the lower the terrain became. Towering ancient trees were gradually replaced by low, strangely shaped hygrophytes. The ground became soft and muddy, and the air was filled with an indelible scent, a mixture of rot and a strange, sweet, fishy smell.

Thin, multi-colored mists began to linger among the trees, obscuring the view, and even the sunlight became thin and distorted.

The Mist Swamp is one of the dangerous places in the northwest region of the Magical Beast Mountain Range that makes people change color at the mere mention of it. The poisonous miasma that never dissipates all year round, the bottomless mud pits, and the countless poisonous insects and strange beasts lurking within form a natural maze of death.

Rarely do mercenaries or adventurers dare to venture deep into this place, and the markings on the map for this area are the most vague, with only large blank spaces and skull marks representing danger.

Lin Yan and his group were now standing at the edge of the swamp. The soil under their feet had become soft and slippery, sinking slightly when stepped on, making a squelching sound.

The view ahead was blocked by the multi-colored mist, and they could only see scenes within a few dozen zhang—twisted, gnarled dead trees, stagnant pools floating with green duckweed, and the occasional flash of brightly colored poisonous insects or slippery figures.

The poisonous miasma permeating the air was a fatal threat to ordinary people; inhaling it through the mouth and nose would erode the lungs and paralyze the nerves. But for Lin Yan and Xiao Yi Xian, it was a different experience.

The Heavenly Flames circulated within Lin Yan's body, especially the auras of the Green Lotus Core Flame and the Void Swallowing Flame, which had a natural purifying and resistant effect against these ordinary poisonous miasmas. He felt no discomfort while breathing; instead, he could sense that these miasmas contained various complex yet rich elemental energies, especially wood, water, and poison attributes.

Xiao Yi Xian's experience was even more direct. Her emerald eyes appeared exceptionally bright in the multi-colored mist. With every breath, it seemed as if she could inhale the essence of the toxins in the poisonous miasma into her body, strand by strand. After the transformation by her poison body's origin, it turned into pure poison power, nourishing herself.

She could even distinguish the subtle differences in the miasma in different areas—that pale purple patch had hallucinogenic and paralyzing effects, that dark green patch had stronger corrosiveness, and that pink patch contained toxins that induced aphrodisiac and chaotic effects... The Seven-Colored Poison Manual automatically operated in her mind, analyzing and recording these natural "poison repositories."

"This place... is simply a paradise for poison-attribute cultivators." Xiao Yi Xian sighed softly, her tone carrying a hint of complexity. The more dangerous the environment, the more beneficial it was for her growth, but the invisible murderous intent hidden in this dead silence also made her instinctively vigilant.

Chi Rong appeared somewhat restless. Its massive body was quite inconvenient on the wet and soft muddy ground, and it hated the ubiquitous humidity and water puddles even more. Although the dense poisonous miasma in the air was blocked by its formidable physique and fire-attribute Dou Qi, that damp and sticky feeling made it feel uncomfortable all over, and the luster of the lava shell on its back had dimmed somewhat.

"Master, this place is unfavorable for me. My aura is too obvious, and it is easy to attract unnecessary trouble." Chi Rong sent a thought through the Soul Contract.

"You stay on the periphery to provide support; do not go deep." Lin Yan nodded in agreement. Chi Rong's attributes were indeed incompatible with this place, and forcing it to enter might instead make it a target. He had Chi Rong lurk and rest under a relatively dry rock wall at the edge of the swamp, while also guarding the rear.

Only Lin Yan and Xiao Yi Xian remained. Lin Yan took out the ancient soul scale with the strongest resonance and held it in his palm. The scale was slightly hot at the moment, and the dark gold patterns on it flickered, transmitting a clear and continuous sense of attraction, pointing directly to the depths of the swamp.

He tried to use his soul perception to scout the path, but found that the multi-colored poisonous miasma here also had a certain interference and weakening effect on soul power, compressing his perception range to about a hundred zhang.

"Follow the guidance of the scale, and be careful of your feet and surroundings." Lin Yan said in a deep voice, focusing his soul perception on the front and his feet. The pale Pure Corrosion Soul Seal between his eyebrows appeared exceptionally striking in the poisonous miasma environment, emitting a faint cold light that silently purified and dispersed the approaching poisonous miasma, clearing a small area.

Xiao Yi Xian nodded, following closely by Lin Yan's side, holding several specially made antidote pills and poison needles in her hand, her eyes sharply scanning the surroundings. Her poison power perception was actually more effective here than Lin Yan's soul perception, capable of detecting poisonous creatures lurking in the mud, dead wood, or mist in advance.

The two of them, one in front and one behind, cautiously stepped into the multi-colored mist.

Underfoot was deep, uneven mud, and they occasionally needed to use floating rotten wood or protruding tree roots to jump forward. The surroundings were terrifyingly silent, with only the squelching sound of boots sinking into the mud and the occasional hair-raising hissing or rustling sounds coming from unknown places.

The multi-colored mist flowed, and the light and shadows changed; sometimes it felt as if one could see twisted human or beast figures, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing, adding a touch of eeriness.

After traveling for about an hour, except for occasionally encountering a few blind low-level poisonous insects and snakes (easily dealt with or dispersed by Xiao Yi Xian), they did not encounter any major danger. However, the vigilance in Lin Yan's heart did not diminish in the slightest. The terror of this swamp often did not lie in those visible poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, but in the invisible environmental murderous intent.

Sure enough, when they passed through a seemingly calm depression covered with thick rotting leaves, a sudden change occurred!

The ground under Lin Yan, who was walking in front, suddenly gave way! The seemingly solid layer of rotting leaves collapsed instantly, revealing a bottomless mud pit below, churning with dark green bubbles! A powerful suction force came, trying to drag him into the abyss!

"Careful!" Lin Yan's reaction was extremely fast. Explosive Step was activated instantly, Dou Qi exploded under his feet, and his body forcibly shifted several feet to the side. He grabbed an exposed, slippery tree root nearby with one hand, hanging on the edge of the mud pit in a precarious manner. As for the place where he had just stood, the rotting leaves and soil were quickly swallowed and disappeared into the dark green mud.

"Quicksand Poison Swamp!" Xiao Yi Xian exclaimed, hurriedly stepping forward, throwing out a tough vine to wrap around Lin Yan's arm, and pulling him up. The two of them looked at the mud pit again and saw that in the dark green mud, there were faintly visible pale white bones and beast corpses that had not completely rotted, floating and sinking, emitting an even stronger stench and highly toxic aura. If he had fallen in just now, I'm afraid even Dou Qi protection wouldn't have lasted long.

Having bypassed this poison swamp without any major incidents, the guidance of the ancient soul scale led them to an even denser, almost pitch-black, deep purple mist area.

The poisonous miasma here was so dark that it turned black, with strong hallucinogenic and soul-eroding characteristics. Lin Yan had to increase the output of the Pure Corrosion Soul Seal to maintain a "purification field" with a diameter of less than three feet around him. Xiao Yi Xian also needed to exert her full effort to operate the poison manual to resist the pervasive mental interference in the miasma.

And right in the center of this deep purple mist area, they saw the target guided by the ancient soul scale—

It was not some magnificent ruin, but a... low, altar completely built from various pale white bones?

The altar was not large, about a zhang in radius, built entirely from the bones of an unknown creature. The surface of the bones was covered with dense small holes, as if eaten hollow by something. In the center of the altar stood a crooked, grey-black pillar that looked like a human spine. At the top of the pillar, it was not enshrined with any idol, but... stuck with an irregularly shaped, dark-colored, almost black-purple... scale!

The scale was similar in size to the ancient soul scale in Lin Yan's hand, but the color was deeper and gloomier. The surface was covered with twisted, purple-black patterns that bulged like blood vessels, emitting an extremely uncomfortable aura mixed with highly toxic, deathly silence, and crazy resentment!

This was exactly the suspected "poison" attribute scale guided by the ancient soul scale!

However, the state of this scale was clearly extremely abnormal. It was not like the water or yin attribute ones that were accompanied by the Ancient Flood Dragon's remnant and Xuanming True Water, full of ancient majesty and aura of inheritance. The one before them was more like a cursed, evil object full of malice and ominousness!

The ground around the altar was barren, the soil was a weird purple-black, and more small bone fragments of various colors were scattered about. The poisonous miasma permeating the air seemed to be continuously radiating from this altar as the center.

"This scale... is it polluted? Or... is it the core of some kind of poison condensed or sealed?" Xiao Yi Xian's expression was solemn. She could clearly feel that the poison power origin in her body had a very strong, contradictory reaction of both longing and extreme repulsion towards that black-purple scale.

The longing was because the essence of "poison" contained in the scale was a supreme tonic for her; the repulsion was because the crazy resentment and deathly silence mixed in the scale were contrary to the "control" and "vitality" pursued by the poison manual, more like pure destruction and depravity.

Lin Yan also frowned tightly. The ancient soul scale in his hand was no longer transmitting a peaceful attraction, but a rapid, even warning-like tremor! It was as if it was reminding him that the scale in front of him was extremely dangerous!

"System, scan the altar and the black-purple scale in front."

[Scanning... Warning! High concentration 'Corrupted Soul Poison' force field detected! Target: Black-purple scale (suspected ancient soul scale - poison attribute corrupted variant).]

[Status analysis: This scale was once one of the origin scales of the 'Ancestor of Ten Thousand Scales' (poison attribute), but it has suffered deep pollution and corruption by unknown forces. The 'poison' laws sealed inside have twisted and mutated, mixed with a large amount of crazy resentment, deathly soul power, and some kind of unknown curse. It has formed a 'Corrupted Poison Source', continuously radiating and polluting the surrounding environment, generating 'Myriad Poison Miasma'.]

[Danger level: High. Contact or approaching may trigger 'Corrupted Soul Poison' erosion, polluting the soul and energy origin, and inducing madness. Forcibly collecting it may cause the poison source to erupt, rapidly expanding the scope of pollution.]

[Suggestion: Need to purify the corrupted part of the scale first, or find a safe isolation/sealing method, before attempting to collect it.]

Corrupted variant? Unknown pollution? Lin Yan's heart sank. It seems that the acquisition of this second scale is much more troublesome and dangerous than expected. This is not just a place of inheritance or treasure, but more likely a huge source of pollution and a trap!

"Should we try to purify and collect it directly, or first explore the surroundings to look for clues?" Xiao Yi Xian looked at Lin Yan. Although she longed for the poison origin in the scale, she also knew its danger.

Lin Yan did not answer immediately. He scanned the surroundings of the altar with sharp eyes. Suddenly, he noticed that on the edge of the purple-black land behind the altar, there seemed to be... a few inconspicuous traces of being stepped on? The traces were very faint, almost covered by the erosion of the poisonous miasma, but under the careful investigation of his soul perception, they still revealed clues.

Those were not the footprints of beasts, but more like... human footprints? Moreover, the traces were relatively new, no more than three or five days old!

Someone has been here! And, very likely the target is also this corrupted poison scale!

Lin Yan's heart instantly tightened. Was it people from the Hall of Souls? Or other forces? Or... other existences hidden in this swamp?

"Don't act rashly for now." Lin Yan said in a low voice, "Someone has been here before us. Let's explore the surroundings first to see if there are any other clues, and at the same time observe if there is anything else strange about this scale and altar."

The two carefully bypassed the front of the altar and began to explore from the side and rear. Relying on powerful soul perception and poison power sensing, they soon discovered an abnormality in a pile of rocks covered by dense poisonous vines about fifty zhang behind the altar.

There was a hidden entrance that could only accommodate one person, cleverly covered by poisonous vines and small illusion-type arrays. If it weren't for Lin Yan's keen soul perception, it would have been almost impossible to discover.

From inside the entrance, faint but extremely weak energy fluctuations were transmitted, which caused Lin Yan's soul seal between his eyebrows and the ancient soul scale in his hand to react simultaneously—that was an aura homologous to the ancient soul scale, but weaker and "fresher"!

"Is there someone inside? Or... is there another scale?" Lin Yan and Xiao Yi Xian looked at each other, both seeing the shock and doubt in each other's eyes.

Just as they were hesitating whether to enter the cave to investigate, a very slight "crack" sound, like porcelain shattering, suddenly came from inside the hidden entrance. Immediately following, a soul power fluctuation that was colder, more evil, and carried a certain greed and ecstasy than the one at the altar, suddenly erupted from the cave!

The poisonous vines and illusion arrays covering the entrance shattered instantly! A figure shrouded in a tattered black robe, whose face could not be seen, but whose body was wrapped in dense black-purple poisonous mist and sickly green soul fire, rushed out from the cave like a ghost!

In his hand, he was holding a palm-sized, yet emitting a faint green light, fragment that was somewhat similar in shape to the ancient soul scale... a broken bone fragment?

The figure rushed out of the entrance and saw Lin Yan and Xiao Yi Xian not far away at the first glance, especially the ancient soul scale in Lin Yan's hand that was emitting resonant light! In the area of his face shrouded by poisonous mist, two points of scarlet light suddenly lit up, like a hungry wolf that had discovered a peerless treasure, emitting a hoarse and excited low roar: "Ancient Scale... Resonator... finally... found you! Offer up your scales and souls... and become the sacrifice for the resurrection of the 'Myriad Poison Lord'!"