The Central Army Camp still bore the wreckage of battle.
Broken tents stood crookedly on the ground, while blackened bloodstains covered the earth, mixed with fragments of demonic bones. Whenever the wind blew, it swept up strands of chilly tainted energy that clung to the skin, cold enough to pierce the bone.
"Gu Yang, go this way!"
The Captain leading the group barked an order, gripping an Evil-Warding Command Banner in his fingers. Its surface trembled faintly, driving away the wandering foul energy around them.
"Pay special attention to the piles of rubble in the corners. Interlayer Demonic Energy is most likely to hide in the cracks. There cannot be the slightest oversight!"
A squad of auxiliary soldiers bowed and acknowledged the order, their movements restrained and cautious.
Everyone wore Mystic Iron masks that blocked Demonic Energy and had spirit-silkworm silk gloves wrapped around their hands. They hauled a heavy iron-skinned cart as they slowly cleared the entire battlefield.
The cart was piled with demon-tainted broken blades, blackened armor plates, and shattered fragments of formation patterns. Every item exuded a chaotic, frigid aura.
Everyone stationed at the Returning Ruins border knew how dangerous such objects were.
If one was contaminated by ordinary Demonic Energy, then over time, one's soul and flesh would be silently eroded. Upon death, one would immediately transform into an Aberrant Corpse.
But if one encountered Inverse-Path Tainted Energy of an exceedingly high concentration, it would take no time at all to throw the mind into disorder and cloud one's spiritual intelligence, causing one to fall on the spot into a demon that brought calamity upon the camp.
"Yes."
Amid the crowd, a middle-aged man of average build and utterly ordinary appearance lowered his head and answered.
His voice was calm and unruffled, without the slightest rise