Surging blood qi erupted from underground, filling the entire subterranean space in just a few breaths!
The moment Wang Xuan sensed the dense blood qi rushing up from below, his expression changed drastically!
Faced with the surging blood qi, the Black Face Mark on his chest actually opened its huge mouth and began greedily gulping it down like a whale swallowing the sea!
The rolling blood qi poured into his body, all of it devoured by the Black Face Mark!
Wang Xuan only felt an agonizing, corrosive pain spread from his chest, as though it were about to tear apart!
"Ah!!!" Wang Xuan could not help but cry out in agony.
"There's Baleful Intent poison in this blood qi! Circulate your Breathing Technique to resist it!"
"Take this!"
As Li Qingyi spoke, he flicked his wrist and threw a jade-green pill to Wang Xuan.
Enduring the agonizing pain in his chest, Wang Xuan caught the jade-green pill and immediately swallowed it.
As the jade-green pill entered his stomach, a cool sensation instantly spread through his entire body, and the corrosive agony in his chest began to fade.
"W-what the hell is this thing?"
Wang Xuan panted heavily and looked down at the ground with lingering fear.
For that brief instant just now, he had felt as if the Soul-Devouring Mark on his chest had come alive!
The ground he had split open with his Pudao had revealed a hollow layer beneath it, as though there was another passage under this altar.
That blood qi had been suppressed in the passage for too long, which was why it had burst forth all at once.
Light flashed in Li Qingyi's eyes as he stared intently underground.
"I never expected there to be a passage beneath here! No wonder I searched for half a day several days ago and found no clues at all!"
Li Qingyi muttered under his breath.
After helping Wang Xuan kill Zhou Laifu, he had come here to investigate, yet found nothing.
But he had never imagined that, more than ten meters beneath the original altar, such a passage had been hidden!
As the blood qi gradually dispersed, the pain within Wang Xuan's body completely vanished. Yet the Black Face Mark continued to twist violently.
Moreover, Wang Xuan had a powerful feeling that something underground was drawing him in!
More precisely, it was drawing in the Black Face Mark on his chest!
"There's something else underground!"
Wang Xuan covered his chest and rose to his feet. Looking at the entrance below, solemnity filled his eyes.
He had thought Zhou Laifu's matter was already settled, but now it seemed that was far from the end!
"Go in!"
Without further thought, Wang Xuan immediately jumped into the underground passage.
Seeing this, Li Qingyi followed him down.
This was a passage carved out by human hands.
The entire passage was an eerie dark red. Strange runes and patterns had been carved into the surrounding stone walls.
With just one glance, Wang Xuan felt a chill run down his spine!
Li Qingyi's expression was grave, killing intent surging in his eyes. "These are Pity Life Sect blood sacrifice patterns!"
"What are those damned bastards trying to do?!"
His expression turned utterly grim.
No one knew how long this passage was, but Pity Life Sect patterns covered its entire length!
If it was meant for blood sacrifice, just how enormous would the scale be?
Li Qingyi did not dare think about it.
After Wang Xuan entered the passage, the disturbance from the Black Face Mark on his chest grew increasingly intense!
"This way!"
"There's something over there drawing in the Soul-Devouring Mark!"
Wang Xuan spoke in a low voice and hurried toward the direction that drew the Soul-Devouring Mark.
As the two advanced, branching paths began to appear all around them.
Relying on the fluctuations of the Soul-Devouring Mark and the boost from the Tracking Art, Wang Xuan accurately found the way.
As the bloody stench grew thicker and thicker, the two arrived at a carved-out underground space!
This space was more than ten times larger than the one Zhou Laifu had excavated.
At the entrance stood two eerie demon beast statues!
And within the space—
A bloody stench rushed at them head-on, mingled with surging demon qi that filled the entire chamber!
When Wang Xuan and Li Qingyi emerged from the passage and saw the sight before them, their expressions changed instantly!
Li Qingyi's pupils suddenly contracted!
Wang Xuan's eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the scene before him!
"Th-this is...!"
In the vast space ahead—
A statue more than ten meters tall stood there. It had twelve arms and twelve heads, its massive body seated cross-legged upon a lotus throne.
It was none other than the Holy Mother of Pity Life!
Beneath the lotus throne was an enormous altar. Terrifying demons hung upside down all around it, blood continuously dripping from their corpses.
Following the altar's patterns along the ground, the blood gathered in one of the Holy Mother of Pity Life's hands, forming a blood-red bead the size of a longan.
Extremely dense demon qi radiated from the blood-red bead.
Wang Xuan was startled by the sight.
"So many... demon beasts!"
Wang Xuan drew a deep breath.
Nine demon corpses hung upside down around the Holy Mother of Pity Life's statue, each one grotesquely misshapen.
Some had ox heads and serpent bodies, some human faces and tiger torsos, while others had three heads atop human-shaped bodies. Just looking at them was enough to make one's liver and gallbladder split apart!
This was Wang Xuan's first time seeing real demons in all his life!
Yet these demons, which usually devoured humans, now hung upside down like livestock, being drained of blood.
"Young Master Li, do you know what this is?"
Wang Xuan took a deep breath and turned to Li Qingyi.
The latter's expression was grave.
"This is a Blood Demon Pearl, condensed from demon blood. Within the Pity Life Sect, it is revered as a sacred pearl capable of cleansing one's five viscera and six bowels!"
"It can greatly increase a person's cultivation!"
Li Qingyi spoke slowly.
"Blood Demon Pearl?"
Wang Xuan frowned upon hearing this.
Condensed from demon blood!
The Pity Life Sect truly had made a grand display!
Looking at the nine demon corpses before him, Li Qingyi said with a grave and complicated expression, "Aside from increasing cultivation, this Blood Demon Pearl has another purpose!"
"It is used for sacrifice!"
"That is, the Banquet of Ten Thousand Demons spoken of by the Pity Life Sect followers!"
The moment the words "Banquet of Ten Thousand Demons" entered his ears, Wang Xuan's pupils abruptly contracted!
Though he did not know what this "Banquet of Ten Thousand Demons" was, it sounded immensely terrifying!
"Fortunately, the Blood Demon Pearl has not taken shape yet. We must destroy this place immediately!"
Killing intent surged in Li Qingyi's eyes as he moved to destroy the Holy Mother of Pity Life's statue!
Seeing this, Wang Xuan hurriedly stopped him!
"Young Master Li, don't!"
"If you act now, you'll definitely alert the Pity Life Sect!"
Wang Xuan quickly said.
Li Qingyi's killing intent boiled over. "All the better if they find out. Perhaps they'll come to stop us, and then we can kill them all in one sweep!"
Wang Xuan was speechless.
"Young Master Li, our top priority is to find their lair. If you alert them and they hide themselves, what then?"
"As long as we haven't found their lair, they can make another altar like this at any time. What use would it be even if you destroyed this one?"
At these words, Li Qingyi immediately calmed down considerably.
"Then what do you suggest?"
Wang Xuan looked toward the altar and pondered briefly. "We absolutely cannot destroy the altar, or we'll surely beat the grass and startle the snake!"
"We can wait here!"
"Look at those demons—the blood in their bodies has already been drained dry!"
"If I'm not mistaken, the Pity Life Sect will definitely send people to replace them with fresh demons for condensing the Blood Demon Pearl!"
"All we need to do is wait here!"
Li Qingyi's eyes lit up at once!
The Blood Demon Pearl required demons to provide blood without cease. The nine demons before them had long since been bled dry, so the Pity Life Sect would certainly send someone to replace them.
Just as Li Qingyi was about to agree, Wang Xuan's expression suddenly changed.
"Someone's coming!"
Within his perception, someone was approaching this place.
Seeing this, Li Qingyi grabbed Wang Xuan and brought him above the entrance. There happened to be a hollow there, enough to conceal both of them.
However, the hollow was rather cramped. With the two of them inside, they could only stand face-to-face, less than half a foot apart!
Wang Xuan could even clearly smell the gardenia fragrance on Li Qingyi's body.
Li Qingyi seemed not to notice how close they were. His gaze remained fixed on the area below.
Very soon—
Footsteps sounded, drawing closer and closer.
"Hurry up! Drag these beasts' corpses over here and hang them up for me!"
"If you delay the Holy Envoy's great undertaking, none of you can dream of receiving the Holy Mother's blessing at the Holy Assembly!"
Before you continue