The passageway was pitch-black.
The stench of blood hit him head-on.
Su Chen walked down the stone steps.
The stone walls were carved with winding formation patterns.
Dark red liquid slowly flowed along the grooves.
"A crude transport formation actually managed to stay hidden in Heaven Dou Academy for so long."
A trace of purple lightning gathered at Su Chen's fingertips.
The lightning illuminated the path ahead.
The formation patterns had nowhere to hide beneath its glow.
"Using the flow of underground waterways to forcibly gather resentment and vital blood—the idea is passable, but the execution is far too crude."
"A trash formation like this wouldn't even earn a second glance from an apprentice cultivator."
He continued downward.
The baleful energy in the air grew increasingly dense.
An ordinary soul master, even a Soul Saint, would suffer reversed meridians and qi deviation after taking a single breath of it.
Su Chen circulated his cultivation technique.
Spiritual energy formed an invisible barrier around him.
The instant the baleful energy approached, it was shredded by spiritual energy.
The stone steps came to an end.
Ahead lay a vast underground cavern.
At the very center of the cavern was a Blood Pool dozens of zhang across.
The water churned and boiled.
Underground waterways converged from all directions, endlessly pouring into it.
Four gray-robed figures stood at the edge of the Blood Pool.
They were Evil Soul Masters guarding the formation core.
Sensing the presence of a living person, the four gray-robed figures abruptly turned around.
Their scarlet eyes fixed tightly on the entrance to the passageway.
"Who goes there? How dare you trespass into the Holy Church's forbidden grounds!"
The leader of the gray-robed figures drew a long blade.
Its edge was coated in green poisonous light.
Four black Soul Rings appeared beneath