Kui Ox, Aura of Decay

As the Flying Boat ventured deeper into the core region, the unease in the air grew stronger.

Lin Yi swept his Spirit Eyes across the land below, and the more he looked, the more something felt wrong.

The marks on the ground were all made by trampling. There were no signs of battle, no traces of spiritual power clashing, and no bloodstains.

Those beast hordes seemed as though something had driven them out of the core region, and they were fleeing outward with their heads down.

"This doesn't look like a battle happened," Lin Yi murmured. "These are all trampling marks from fleeing."

"Big Brother, there must be an incredibly terrifying Ferocious Beast in the core region." Ye Xing shrank off to one side, gripping the railing with both hands, his voice weak. "How about we don't go?"

Lin Yi ignored him and drove the Flying Boat another notch faster.

The farther inward they flew, the drier the air became, until all that remained was the dryness left behind after scorching.

The ground below shifted from deep green to grayish brown, then from grayish brown to charred black.

They had reached the core region.

The Flying Boat hovered in midair. Lin Yi stood at its prow and looked down, his expression grave.

The ground before them was pitch-black, as though it had been struck by lightning countless times.

Every tree had withered, its branches and leaves stripped bare. Only charcoal-like trunks remained, planted crookedly in the earth. Some were even still giving off thin wisps of smoke, as though they had only been struck not long ago.

The air was thick with the smell of ozone, mixed with an indescribable stench of blood and rot.

Ferocious Beast corpses were piled everywhere.

Lin Yi swept the area with his Spirit Eyes.