Foundation Establishment's Move

Beyond the mountain range, above the clouds.

Two great Foundation Establishment cultivators stood in the air, their expressions indifferent as they looked down at the mountain range shrouded in black mist below.

"Senior Brother Lin truly foresees matters like a god. The vital blood of martial artists really does have a fatal attraction to these underworld blood beasts. The moment they entered the mountains, the underworld blood beasts hiding deep within the range swarmed out."

The alluring female Foundation Establishment cultivator spoke with a smile, her tone carrying a measure of flattery.

The Foundation Establishment elder surnamed Lin nodded slightly and said, "With these eight hundred martial artists, especially the two hundred-plus Martial Army members among them above the seventh level of Body Tempering, using their blood essence and souls as the lure will surely raise the power of the Ghost Rakshasa Banner another level. When the time comes, with the strength of the two of us combined, if we activate the Ghost Rakshasa Banner together, suppressing that Underworld Blood Beast King should be no difficult matter."

"Once that time comes, that Skull Underworld Flower will be something already in Senior Brother Lin's bag."

The alluring female cultivator's eyes rippled as she said with a soft laugh, "After this little sister helps Senior Brother obtain the Skull Underworld Flower, Senior Brother mustn't forget the benefit you promised me."

"Rest assured, Junior Sister Chu. Are you still unclear about what sort of person I, Lin, am?" Elder Lin gave a hearty laugh.

"This little sister naturally trusts Senior Brother."

Elder Chu smiled and nodded, then sighed and said, "But Senior Brother's move this time truly makes this little sister admire you. Eight hundred servant martial artists were not easy for the sect to cultivate either. The price Senior Brother paid this time must have been no small thing, right?"

"If one wishes to accomplish great things, how can one begrudge wealth? So long as the Skull Underworld Flower falls into my hands, I will have an eighty percent certainty of breaking through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage. By then, everything paid today can be recovered twofold."

Elder Lin's words were filled with powerful confidence.

"Then this little sister congratulates Senior Brother in advance on breaking through to Foundation Establishment Late Stage. The great road to the Golden Core will be just around the corner."

Elder Chu bowed slightly, but deep in her eyes, a nearly imperceptible trace of jealousy flashed and vanished.

Deep within the Four Underworld Mountain Range.

Lu Lin moved soundlessly through the branches and leaves, constantly advancing deeper into the great mountains.

Along the way, he was still attacked by monsters from time to time. Those that were weaker, he killed decisively, absorbing their spiritual energy and exchanging it for cultivation time;

And whenever he encountered one of those powerful beings over ten meters long, he did not hesitate in the slightest—he turned and fled.

On the way, he even glimpsed from afar a terrifying giant beast fully twelve meters long, frightening him until his scalp went numb. He pushed Spirit Cat Step with all his strength, barely managing to shake it off by relying on his agile movement technique.

Several hours later, Lu Lin clearly felt that the monsters he encountered were gradually decreasing.

His guess had not been wrong. These monsters had indeed been drawn out by the martial artists' flourishing vital blood.

Eight hundred martial artists gathered together—how vast was that vital blood? His aura alone was far from enough to draw large-scale attention.

"Mm?"

Suddenly, Lu Lin's gaze sharpened.

A steep mountain peak appeared ahead.

The entire mountain was deathly silent, without the slightest sign of vegetation. There was only exposed black rock, giving off a heart-palpitating aura.

For some reason, the moment Lu Lin saw this mountain, his breathing hitched, and his heart inexplicably began to panic, as though a great disaster were about to descend upon him.

Danger!

Extreme danger!

Within this mountain, there was definitely some unimaginably terrifying existence dwelling there.

Lu Lin immediately held his breath, circulated the Breath Concealment Art to its limit, restrained his vital blood, sealed his pores, and slowly retreated backward.

Only after retreating several li away did he let out a long breath, realizing that his back had already been soaked through with cold sweat.

He chose a giant tree forty to fifty meters tall, agilely climbed up into a place thick with branches and leaves, hid his figure well, and quietly lay low.

He decided he would hide here for the full three days.

As for gathering Underworld Iron Cardamom? When the time came, he could just pluck some on the road back to hand in and be done with it.

This place was high enough above the ground, and with his perfected-level Breath Concealment Art assisting him, it was effective indeed.

For the next stretch of time, no more monsters came looking for him.

The sky gradually darkened. Black mist filled heaven and earth, without the slightest trace of moonlight. It was truly so dark one could not see one's fingers before one's face.

Lu Lin did not dare sleep. He remained highly vigilant the entire time, his mind intensely focused.

With his current cultivation, his vital blood was vigorous and his spirit was powerful. Even if he went several days without sleep or rest, it would not have too great an effect.

Before he knew it, the sky began to brighten.

Boom!

Just then, the energy between heaven and earth suddenly boiled over, as if it had exploded!

An incomparably enormous black banner appeared high in the sky, blotting out the heavens and shielding the sun, exuding an aura that made one tremble.

"Ah—"

Billowing black smoke churned above the black banner, and countless shrill screams rang out from within it, filled with resentment and malice, chilling the heart of anyone who heard them.

Two figures hovered beneath the black banner, vast spiritual power pouring into it like a tide, making its might climb higher and higher, growing ever more terrifying.

Roar!!

As though sensing the threat of the black banner, from deep within that black mountain, an earth-shaking roar suddenly erupted!

The next moment, a colossal creature charged out of the mountains.

Its appearance was similar to the monsters Lu Lin had seen before: a wide mouth, fangs, and a body covered in pitch-black fleshy lumps. But its size was horrifyingly large, its body over twenty meters long, with a pair of broad, fleshy wings growing from either side!

Its pair of enormous scarlet eyes locked hard onto the black banner in the air. It let out an earthshaking roar; sound waves spread outward, shaking down falling leaves across the sky.

Then its huge wings unfurled, and it shot into the heavens, lunging straight at the black banner!

"Junior Sister Chu, the Underworld Blood Beast King has appeared! Strike with all your strength and kill this beast!"

Elder Lin shouted and drove the Ghost Rakshasa Banner with all his might.

The black smoke on the banner roiled even more violently, sometimes dispersing like mist, sometimes condensing into shape.

They were actually human figures, each clearly visible—even their faces could faintly be made out. From their mouths came bursts of ghostly wails and wolfish howls that disturbed the mind.

"That's..."

Lu Lin's pupils contracted. He could vaguely recognize several familiar figures among them.

They were clearly the appearances of Yu Chong and the other members of the Nine Layers Gang!

"The martial artists who were killed were all devoured by this black banner? Not just their blood essence, but even their souls weren't spared?"

Lu Lin's face grew darker and darker.

To martial artists, the soul was profound, mysterious, and hard to grasp.

But to immortal cultivators, the soul truly existed.

He had long since heard that within the Blood Baleful Demon Sect, there was a "Soul Searching Technique" that could directly probe another person's soul and seize their memories.

Countless clues intertwined in Lu Lin's mind, and the truth gradually surfaced.

"Menial martial artists really are only tools and expendable materials... To achieve their goal, they could discard eight hundred martial artists the moment they pleased and use them directly as materials for sacrificial refinement. And this is only the work of Foundation Establishment cultivators. If it were those Golden Core ancestors, wouldn't they be able to use the lives of a hundred thousand martial artists as expendable material?"

The more Lu Lin thought about it, the colder his heart grew.

No matter what, he had to figure out as soon as possible exactly what the mark the Demon Sect had planted on him was. Then he had to find a way to break it and completely escape this den of devils!

High in the sky, the Ghost Rakshasa Banner blotted out the heavens and covered the sun, carrying an unmatched momentum as it smashed fiercely toward the Underworld Blood Beast King.

Roar!

Sensing a lethal threat, the Underworld Blood Beast King raised its head and roared. The fleshy lumps all over its body swelled rapidly, then burst open, spewing out vast amounts of green venom that gathered into a surging poisonous river and rushed upward against the air toward the Ghost Rakshasa Banner!

BOOM!!!

The heaven-shocking, earth-shaking collision rocked the entire void. Ripples visible to the naked eye swept in every direction.

Part of the aftermath fell to the ground, directly grinding towering trees into powder and shattering huge boulders into rubble!

Terrifying deep fissures split open across the earth, and smoke and dust surged into the sky.

Lu Lin watched, his mind shaken.

So this was the strength of the Foundation Establishment Realm? It was far too terrifying, surpassing the Qi Refining Realm by who knew how much, and even less something body-tempering martial artists could compare to.

That Underworld Blood Beast King had clearly fallen into a disadvantage and was shaken into a violent retreat.

"Kill!" Elder Lin shouted while pressing the advantage, driving the Ghost Rakshasa Banner with all his might as it shrouded down toward the Underworld Blood Beast King.

Countless black shadows condensed from black smoke threw themselves at the beast king in wave after wave. The beast king's huge wings shook, its sharp claws sweeping out, instantly tearing several black shadows to pieces, but immediately even more black shadows swarmed forward.

For a time, the Underworld Blood Beast King was hard-pressed on all sides, retreating step by step. Every time it tried to break through, the Ghost Rakshasa Banner blocked its path tight.