Upon entering the Cloud Empire, a sickly sweet, bloody scent unique to poison masters drifted through the wind.
The skies here were gloomier than elsewhere, shrouded year-round in a hazy gray miasma that filtered the sunlight into a wan, unhealthy yellow.
The Cloud Empire was renowned for its poison masters. Eight out of ten cultivators here practiced poison arts, and the omnipresent sickly sweet scent in the air was the distinctive odor formed by the evaporation and mingling of countless poisons.
After making a few inquiries within the Cloud Empire, Lin Yu and the two women headed straight for the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect.
The Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect was one of the foremost poison master sects in the Cloud Empire, and its strength ranked among the best on the Northwestern Continent as well.
However, before Lin Yu and Han Shanshan, two Dou Zongs who possessed Heavenly Flames, the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect's poison masters were practically nonexistent.
Lin Yu did not even alert anyone. He merely used the Spatial Ancestral Talisman to slip silently into the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect's treasure vault and swept away every mountain-like pile of poison-attributed medicinal ingredients within.
After leaving the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect, Lin Yu found a detailed map of the Cloud Empire.
His gaze lingered over the map for a moment before it was swiftly drawn to a place marked "Netherworld Poison Marsh."
"Let's go take a look here." Lin Yu put away the map and spoke to Han Shanshan and Du Ning.
Naturally, neither woman objected, and the three changed direction and flew toward the Netherworld Poison Marsh.
The Netherworld Poison Marsh lay amid the mountain ranges in the northern part of the Cloud Empire, a highly toxic swamp stretching nearly a hundred miles.
The moment the three entered the