The darkness before dawn was at its thickest. Han Li left Falling Cloud Market and slipped silently into the depths of the Falling Cloud Mountains like a wisp of smoke, racing northwest toward Poison Dragon Marsh.
The deeper he ventured into the mountains, the denser and gloomier the vegetation became. Towering ancient trees blotted out the sky, and a thick layer of decomposing matter covered the ground. The air reeked of dampness and rotting vegetation, occasionally punctuated by the low growls of unknown demonic beasts. Ordinary mortals, and even low-level cultivators, would have struggled to take a single step in such surroundings.
For Han Li, however, it was like a fish taking to water. His dark attribute spiritual power gave him a natural affinity for damp, gloomy environments, while his powerful spiritual sense acted like radar, allowing him to avoid several lurking venomous insects and natural traps well in advance. He moved at tremendous speed, never touching the ground as he bounded between branches, leaving only faint afterimages behind.
A day later, the scenery ahead changed abruptly. Thick, pale-green miasma shrouded a vast area like a curtain. The ground became a muddy quagmire, with murky pools scattered like stars across a chessboard. Strange bubbles rose from the water, and the pungent, sickly-sweet stench in the air grew stronger-he had reached Poison Dragon Marsh.
Han Li stopped and took out the detailed map he had purchased to compare it with his surroundings. According to its markings, corrosive bone flowers usually grew in the muddiest areas along the outskirts of Poison Dragon Marsh, where yin energy was strongest. The Black Fiend Cult's suspected area of activity lay closer to the marsh's depths.
He circulated his spiritual power, forming that pale-black membrane of light over his body, and stepped into the miasma. As the jade-phosphor miasma approached the membrane, it silently dissolved once again. The swampy terrain was difficult to traverse, but it barely affected Han Li with his Lightness Technique active.
He cautiously explored farther inward, spreading his spiritual sense like a spiderweb as he remained alert for danger. The marsh was frighteningly silent, broken only by the soft squelch of footsteps in the mud.
After traveling for roughly an hour, Han Li's gaze sharpened, and he stopped beside a slightly raised mound. In its shaded hollow, several oddly shaped, purple-black plants grew quietly in the mud. Their petals resembled rotting bones, and they gave off a faint, chilling aura.
Corrosive bone flowers! And five of them!
Joy stirred in Han Li's heart. He was just about to step forward and pick them when something suddenly happened!
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several sharp whistles tore through the air from the dense miasma to one side, aimed straight at vital points all over Han Li's body! They were not arrows, but glossy black bone spikes that reeked of foulness!
An ambush!
Already prepared, Han Li shifted like a phantom and easily evaded the bone spikes. They plunged into the mud where he had just stood, immediately producing corrosive hisses and wisps of white smoke. They were clearly coated in deadly poison.
"Huh? You actually dodged?" A harsh, hoarse voice emerged from the miasma, tinged with surprise.
Then five figures slowly emerged from the miasma in different directions, closing into a ring around Han Li.
All five wore matching black cloaks embroidered with hideous Skull Demon Head designs. Their faces were hidden beneath their hoods, revealing only pale, bloodless lower faces and lifeless lips. Cold, deathly auras emanated from them, blending into the poisonous marsh. Their cultivation was at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer! Their leader's aura had even reached the Qi Refining Seventh Layer!
Black Fiend Cult members! And a standard squad at that!
Han Li sneered inwardly. They had finally come. His expression remained calm as his gaze swept over the five before settling on the Qi Refining Seventh Layer leader. "You Black Fiend Cult scum finally decided to show yourselves?"
The leader's eyes turned cold beneath his hood, and his voice scraped like metal. "Boy, you've got quite a mouth. If you know what's good for you, hand over your Storage Bag, then kill yourself. Save us the trouble of making you taste Soul-Refining Torment!" He clearly took Han Li for a fat sheep that had wandered into the wrong place.
The other four let out sinister cackles like the cries of night owls and slowly advanced. Pale Bone Blades or chains wreathed in black energy appeared in their hands, accompanied by gusts of chilling wind.
An icy smile curled Han Li's lips. "You? A bunch of clay chickens and straw dogs?"
Before his words had faded, he moved!
Strike first!
His target was the cultist on the left, standing slightly farther away and seemingly specializing in ranged attacks!
Han Li shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, moving so fast that only an afterimage remained! His dark attribute spiritual power erupted at full strength, forming a faint layer of flowing black light around him!
"You're courting death!" the leader roared. A Black Banner appeared in his hand, and he shook it violently. Wails and howls erupted as several hazy ghostly figures lunged at Han Li, baring their fangs and claws! The other three melee fighters attacked simultaneously with their Bone Blades and chains!
But Han Li's target remained perfectly clear! Facing the charging ghosts, he neither dodged nor retreated. He merely opened his mouth and inhaled!
An invisible devouring force arose. As though confronted by their natural nemesis, the vicious ghosts let out terrified shrieks and were helplessly sucked into Han Li's belly! The Slaughter System seemed to possess an innate ability to suppress and devour this kind of yin-soul energy!
"What?!" The cultist controlling the ghosts turned pale with horror. The evil ghosts that had made his name had been swallowed in a single gulp?
In that instant of stunned distraction, Han Li had already closed in! He pressed two fingers of his right hand together like a sword, compressing his dark spiritual power into an exceptionally concentrated black sword ray, and thrust straight at the cultist's heart!
"Block it!" The cultist hastily summoned a Bone Shield.
Rip!
Like a hot knife through butter, the black sword ray pierced the Bone Shield with ease, then continued unabated straight through the cultist's heart!
[Ding! Killed one Black Fiend Cult member at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer. Plundered eighty percent of his cultivation, a portion of his blood essence, and fragments of the cultivation technique "Ghost-Driving Technique." Cultivation advanced to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer!]
A powerful surge of spiritual power flooded into Han Li, and his aura instantly soared. He had officially entered the late stage of Qi Refining! His strength increased dramatically!
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye! Before the leader and the other three could fully react, one of their companions was already dead!
"Fifth!"
"Bastard! Kill him!"
Shocked and enraged, the remaining four attacked even more frantically. The Qi Refining Seventh Layer leader shook his Black Banner. This time, what flew out was no illusory ghost, but a refined corpse covered in green hair and emanating a foul stench. It lunged at Han Li with its sharp claws! The other three attacked with Bone Blades and chains that shrieked through the air!
Fresh from his breakthrough, Han Li's momentum was surging! He let out a long cry and advanced instead of retreating, thrusting out both palms. His immense dark spiritual power transformed into two enormous black palm prints that crushed forward like millstones!
Boom! Boom!
Two deafening crashes rang out. The palm prints shattered the Bone Blades and chains of two sixth-layer cultists, sending them flying backward, blood spraying from their mouths!
At the same time, Han Li twisted unnaturally to evade the refined corpse's lunge. His left hand shot out like lightning and seized its swinging wrist! Dark spiritual power poured into it furiously!
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Black smoke rose from the refined corpse as it howled in agony, its movements instantly slowing. Han Li clenched his right fist, coating it in concentrated currents of black energy, and smashed it into the corpse's skull!
Bang!
The refined corpse's head burst like a watermelon, splattering green fluid everywhere. Its headless body swayed, then collapsed.
The leader's pupils contracted sharply at the sight. He finally understood how terrifying Han Li was! This was no ordinary Qi Refining cultivator! Fearful thoughts of retreat arose in his mind. He abruptly planted the Black Banner in the ground, bit his tongue, and spat a mouthful of blood essence onto it!
"Hundred Ghosts Devour Souls!"
The Black Banner shook violently. The skull emblazoned on it seemed to come alive, unleashing a piercing roar. Dozens of ghostly figures, several times more solid than before, swarmed out with towering resentment and surrounded Han Li!
"Petty tricks!" Han Li snorted coldly. Dark spiritual power surged through his body like rushing rivers as his hands formed a strange seal before his chest.
"Heaven-Devouring!"
At his low shout, every pore on his body seemed to become a tiny vortex. A terrifying devouring force erupted with him at its center!
As though confronted by a bottomless abyss, the dozens of vicious ghosts tried to flee in utter terror. Yet that force held them fast, dragging them into the black hole within Han Li's body like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea!
[Ding! Devoured a large quantity of yin-soul energy. Spiritual sense slightly enhanced. Dark spiritual power purity increased!]
The leader watched his strongest spell get broken with such ease that his soul nearly fled his body. He turned to run.
"Think you can escape?"
Han Li's icy voice seemed to sound right beside his ear. A moment later, a large hand covered in spiritual power resembling black scales pressed down on the crown of his head!
Soul search!
Another agonized scream rang out, only to cut abruptly short.
A short while later, Han Li withdrew his hand. The leader crumpled to the ground, his eyes unfocused. Han Li casually finished off the other two cultists he had blasted away, reducing them to ashes.
[Ding! Killed one Black Fiend Cult member at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer and two at the Qi Refining Sixth Layer. Plundered large quantities of cultivation and blood essence. Cultivation advanced to the middle stage of the Qi Refining Seventh Layer!]
After killing five enemies at his own level or even higher in succession, Han Li's cultivation had soared like a rocket! If word of such a terrifying rate of advancement spread, it would be enough to frighten the entire cultivation world senseless!
Han Li swiftly cleared the battlefield, collecting the five cultists' Storage Bags and the Black Banner. Through the soul search, he had obtained plenty of useful information: this squad was indeed an outer patrol of the Black Fiend Cult. Their base lay deep within Poison Dragon Marsh, in a place called Yin Corpse Cave. At least several dozen cultists occupied the cave, overseen by a "deacon" at the foundation establishment early stage. They had indeed been plotting something major lately. Apparently, they had discovered the Ancient Cultivator's Cave Abode deep within the marsh and were attempting to break its restrictions.
"Foundation establishment early stage... the Ancient Cultivator's Cave Abode..." Light flickered in Han Li's eyes. Risk and opportunity went hand in hand!
He first carefully picked the five corrosive bone flowers and stored them securely. Then he looked toward the marsh's depths, where the miasma was thicker and faint, unsettling fluctuations emanated.
Yin Corpse Cave, a foundation establishment deacon, an ancient cultivator's cave abode...
A dangerous smile curled Han Li's lips.
Since I'm already here, how could I return empty-handed?
This Poison Dragon Marsh would make the perfect proving ground for consolidating his late-stage Qi Refining cultivation! As for that foundation establishment deacon... an icy gleam blazed in Han Li's eyes.
Who said a Qi Refining cultivator couldn't slay someone at foundation establishment?
He swallowed a few Qi-Replenishing Pills and briefly regulated his breathing, restoring himself to peak condition. Then, with a flicker of movement, he slipped without hesitation toward the deepest reaches of Poison Dragon Marsh-the place of greatest danger, and greatest opportunity.
The real hunt had only just begun.
Before you continue