With the stronghold gates gone, the scene inside came into view.
The stronghold was empty. Chaotic footprints covered the ground, along with patches of blood that had yet to dry.
A dense stench of blood permeated the air, sickening enough to make one retch.
Li Yanran, who had not cared much at first, instantly went pale upon seeing this eerie sight.
"Something's wrong!"
The next moment, Li Yanran shot toward the depths of the stronghold.
Seeing this, Su Tianqi and Chen Lingfeng hurried after her.
Inside the stronghold's main hall.
At this moment, the floor of the hall was covered in gnawed-clean white bones, while some sort of liquid seemed to have dyed the ground an alluring blood-red.
A withered, elderly-looking figure stood there—it was Fang Sheng, clutching something in his hands.
He desperately stuffed it into his mouth, unidentified red liquid dripping from his hands onto the floor.
"Not enough!"
"Still not enough!"
"Where are the people? Where the hell did they all die?"
Fang Sheng threw away the bone in his hand. His crazed eyes swept the surroundings, only to find that there was nothing left to eat.
"No!"
"Pure World White Lotus Sect!"
"You bastards, you demons!"
"You deceived this old man!"
Fang Sheng threw back his head and howled like a madman. He had regained his senses.
Looking at the white bones scattered everywhere, how could Fang Sheng not know what he had just done?
A trail of bloody tears streamed from Fang Sheng's sunken eye sockets. At this moment, he felt incomparably sick, along with a sky-high hatred for the Pure World White Lotus Sect.
All he wanted now was to vomit up what he had eaten, but he found that he simply could not.
Because everything he had swallowed had already been completely absorbed by the white lotus on his chest.
Meanwhile, the flesh-and-blood embryo above the white lotus had become abnormally huge.
The flesh-and-blood embryo had fallen from Fang Sheng's chest to the ground, connected to his body only by a thin white lotus stem.
Through the embryo's membrane, a savage, twisted face showed through, as though it would burst out at any moment.
"Stop! This old man doesn't want to die!"
"Pure World White Lotus Sect!"
"Even as a ghost, this old man will never let you go!"
Fang Sheng could clearly feel his Qi and Blood being recklessly absorbed by the white lotus before his chest.
His already gaunt body shriveled at once, until it was little more than skin draped over a skeleton, a horrifying sight to behold.
At that moment, a figure shot into the main hall like lightning from outside.
The newcomer was Li Yanran. She stared at the flesh-and-blood embryo before Fang Sheng with horrified eyes.
"White Lotus Blood Infant!"
"How is this possible? Fang Sheng, you actually used the White Lotus Holy Seed."
Facing Li Yanran's arrival, Fang Sheng raised his head and gave the people outside one final, unwilling look.
"Blackbird Guard, hehehe!"
Before Fang Sheng could finish laughing, all the flesh and blood on his body instantly vanished, leaving behind only skin and bones, which collapsed to the floor.
Fang Sheng! Dead!
Thus, the chief of Black Wind Stronghold, whom the Blackbird Guard had been hunting all this time, died just like that, without causing even a ripple.
Yet Li Yanran felt no joy whatsoever.
She stood as though facing a great enemy, staring at the flesh-and-blood embryo on the ground.
The White Lotus Blood Infant was an eerie creature hatched from the White Lotus Holy Seed, possessing terrifying strength comparable to a Blood Refinement Realm martial artist.
More importantly, the White Lotus Blood Infant contained an eerie white lotus aura that could resist the terrifying Qi and Blood of the Blood Refinement Realm, making it exceptionally difficult to kill.
If a lone Blood Refinement Realm martial artist encountered a White Lotus Blood Infant, a head-on clash would lead only to death. The only path to survival was to run!
Unless several Blood Refinement Realm martial artists unleashed their terrifying Qi and Blood together, they could only barely grind it away.
Or there was a martial arts master of that realm.
A senior of the Inner Qi Realm!
With the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi within their body, they could easily erase the eerie white lotus aura inside the White Lotus Blood Infant, cutting off the source of its strength. Then it would naturally die.
This was why the Blackbird Guard had relentlessly pursued the chief of Black Wind Stronghold.
It was also why the Pure World White Lotus Sect was not tolerated by the Great Xia Court.
Such eerie White Lotus Blood Infants were man-made horrors, comparable to weakened versions of supernatural horrors.
Fortunately, hatching a White Lotus Blood Infant was extraordinarily difficult. It required the Qi and Blood of a Blood Refinement Realm martial artist to cultivate one.
Moreover, when first parasitizing someone with the White Lotus Holy Seed, it required the cooperation of a Blood Refinement Realm martial artist. Otherwise, the terrifying Qi and Blood of such a martial artist would instantly burn the White Lotus Holy Seed away.
Just as Li Yanran made up her mind to turn and leave.
Two more figures rushed into the main hall. They were Su Tianqi and Chen Lingfeng, who had been chasing after her.
"Lord Li, what happened?"
Of course, Li Yanran did not need to answer that question.
The two had already spotted the flesh-and-blood embryo on the ground ahead, as well as the eerie white lotus growing atop it.
Even Chen Lingfeng, who had always been taciturn, panicked at this moment. Su Tianqi's face turned fearful as he staggered several steps back.
"What is that?"
"That is a White Lotus Blood Infant!"
Li Yanran reacted instantly and shouted to Chen Lingfeng and Su Tianqi, "Run!"
The instant her words fell, the flesh-and-blood embryo on the ground exploded.
A humanoid monster the size of a newborn infant appeared, its entire body dripping with bright-red blood, its eyes glowing with an eerie white light.
The next moment, a fierce gust howled in.
Chen Lingfeng, who had just reached the outside of the main hall, had a huge hole instantly torn through the middle of his tall, burly body.
Through the gaping hole in Chen Lingfeng's chest.
The White Lotus Blood Infant was already standing there, its tiny, deathly pale hand holding a beating heart that it stuffed directly into its mouth and swallowed.
The moment the White Lotus Blood Infant swallowed it, several cold flashes burst forth, instantly slicing its body into several pieces.
Li Yanran had struck. A longsword was in her hand, its blade radiating cold light.
Li Yanran glared furiously at the White Lotus Blood Infant as terrifying Qi and Blood surged from her body.
As expected, the wounds on the White Lotus Blood Infant rapidly healed before the naked eye.
Then the White Lotus Blood Infant's eyes, shining with eerie white light, locked tightly onto Li Yanran.
The next second, the White Lotus Blood Infant turned into an afterimage and shot toward Li Yanran.
Whoosh!
An afterimage streaked past, and Li Yanran's body was flung backward. The longsword in her hand also fell to the ground.
When Li Yanran rose again, a deep scratch that reached the bone marked her left thigh, hissing with smoke.
It seemed that the terrifying Qi and Blood within her body was resisting the eerie white lotus aura invading her flesh.
Enduring the agonizing pain, Li Yanran looked fearfully at the White Lotus Blood Infant not far ahead.
Seeing this, Su Tianqi turned and ran without hesitation, fleeing toward the stronghold gates.
Yet at that moment, the White Lotus Blood Infant gave up attacking Li Yanran and instead pursued Su Tianqi.
Outside the stronghold gates, a figure appeared—it was Lu Xuan.
Lu Xuan had not returned directly to the county town. He needed to make sure they had exterminated the Bandits before he could rest easy.
Before you continue