The Demonic Among the Demonic: The Return to Dust Sect!
After carefully putting away the ancient Jade Slip slip containing the "Wood Phase Command Method," Qi Yun did not leave immediately.
In such an important place, it's impossible that only one Jade Slip was accidentally left behind.
They continued to urge the Thousand Cranes to spread out, like casting an invisible reconnaissance net, to conduct a more thorough carpet search of this vast abandoned medicinal garden.
As the Thousand Cranes ventured deeper into the more central and dilapidated areas of the herb garden, the scenes they brought back gradually made Qi Yun's expression turn serious.
"Something's not right—the people in this herb garden didn't seem to leave normally; it's more like they were forced by something to flee in a panic?"
The deeper one goes, the more strange and scattered marks begin to appear on the remaining walls, the cracked ground, and even the surfaces of those enormous Pill Furnace.
Those were footprints, each one as black as ink.
The edges of the footprints were not clear, as if they had been stained with some kind of viscous liquid, and there were splattered stains around them.
Moreover, the shape of these footprints can be vaguely discerned as human feet.
But its color and condition gave off an ominous feeling.
"Blood footprints?" Alarm bells rang in Qi Yun's mind, and a chill ran down his spine.
This doesn't look like what an abandoned ruin should look like.
Sensing the eeriness and danger permeating the air, Qi Yun made a snap decision, forming a Method Formula to summon back all the Thousand Cranes and leave this dangerous place immediately.
Even the most precious treasures require a certain lifespan to enjoy.
Just as he was about to leave, a sudden change occurred!
Puff!
Puff!
Puff!
The mental connection between him and Thousand Cranes had ventured deep into the innermost part of the herb garden was suddenly severed.
It was as if it had been extinguished in an instant by something.
Something is destroying Thousand Cranes.
And it's extremely fast.
Almost at the same instant Qi Yun realized that Thousand Cranes had lost contact, a thunderous roar erupted!
A sudden, rapid, and violent tremor came from the ground beneath his feet, as if some enormous creature was tearing through the soil at an astonishing speed and rapidly approaching his location.
Even through the soil, the violent, foul stench was overwhelming!
His gaze suddenly sharpened, and Qi Yun reacted with lightning speed.
In the blink of an eye, all the skeletons and the Sunken Abyss Iron Sand were instantly retracted into his body.
He then swayed and activated [Gather Form and Disperse Qi].
His entire being suddenly transformed into an invisible and intangible wisp of pure energy, completely merging into the surrounding environment.
Just seconds after Qi Yun's figure vanished, a deafening explosion occurred!!!
A figure, accompanied by a nauseating, foul stench, shot into the sky like a cannonball from somewhere deep within the herb garden, bursting open from the ground, before crashing back to the ground.
The terrifying force smashed the hard ground into pieces, and spiderweb-like cracks spread wildly!
As the dust settled, the monster's true form was revealed.
It was clearly a "human-shaped" entity.
However, its entire skin was completely peeled off, exposing well-developed, dark red muscle fibers and bluish-black blood vessels, making it look extremely terrifying.
Even more bizarrely, on the surface of this skinless body, there grew strangely colored and twisted flower branches.
These flower branches swayed gently as if they were alive, their roots piercing directly into the flesh!
As soon as this skinless monster covered in flowering branches landed, its bloodshot eyes, completely exposed and without eyelids, slowly began to move.
With an inhuman coldness and greed, he carefully scanned his surroundings, his nostrils flaring as if he were desperately searching for any remaining trace of Qi Yun.
Fortunately, the concealment effect of [Gather Form and Disperse Qi] far surpasses that of the ordinary Clear Breeze Technique that Qi Yun had previously cultivated.
The strange man carefully sensed and searched for a long time, but ultimately failed to find Qi Yun, which had already transformed into pure energy and perfectly blended into the surrounding environment.
Hidden in the shadows, Qi Yun, after clearly seeing the monster's appearance, felt a slight unease, and a name he had only seen in ancient texts surfaced in his mind:
"Human Body Medicine Gestation?!"
Could this be the medicine garden of the [Return to Dust Sect]?
Return to Dust Sect!
A sect whose name sounds like it transcends the mortal world.
In reality, it is the most demonic path of all, the most perverse of all.
If the Wuji Sacred Sect is known for its intrigue, scheming, and the survival of the fittest, then the Return to Dust Sect is utterly insane.
They don't consider any living beings in the world to be living things, except for themselves.
According to scattered records in ancient books, the Return to Dust Sect believed that "all things in heaven and earth are dust, and even the most beautiful flowers fade and the body is not truly real."
They believe that everything in the world will eventually return to dust, so they act without any bottom line and without any restraint.
As a sect founded on Dao of Alchemy, the Return to Dust Sect has undertaken a series of actions that even other members of the demonic path felt a chill run down their spines.
A terrifying experiment that makes you frown.
The most infamous of these is the [Human Body Medicine Gestation]. The Return to Dust Sect believes that the human body is the most intelligent of all things, forming its own microcosm, and is the most perfect [medicinal cauldron].
Cultivating spirit medicine using living human bodies can simulate the natural processes of heaven and earth, giving birth to extraordinary and miraculous medicines.
Driven by this almost fanatical and fanatical pursuit of the Dao, the Return to Dust Sect quickly attracted the joint attack of all righteous sects and even the royal families of secular dynasties.
Other major sects of the demonic path also secretly feared his extreme and uncontrollable nature, and did not offer any assistance.
Ultimately, the Return to Dust Sect was completely destroyed by the combined forces of the righteous path and the royal family.
It just goes to show what they often say, "All things in heaven and earth will eventually turn to dust."
Unexpectedly, Fuluo Prefecture, which sank into the Cold Abyss and was later salvaged by the Holy Sect, was once a medicinal garden of the Return to Dust Sect.
The Skinless Flower Corpse before us is likely a horrific remnant of the "Human Body Medicine Gestation" experiments of yesteryear.
"Did you go too far?"
Concealed in his pure aura, Qi Yun calmly observed the Skinless Flower Corpse wandering and searching among the ruins, secretly thinking that this medicine garden had been hastily Return to Dust Sect back then.
Most likely, it's because these bizarre products have gotten out of control.
However, upon closer inspection, Qi Yun did not sense any fluctuations in cultivation power from the flower corpse.
This suggests that the monster before them may have simply undergone some kind of terrifying physical mutation.
They do not possess the level of cultivation and Law Power of cultivators.
Even so, Qi Yun had no intention of engaging in combat with him.
The existence of a place that could force even a fanatical sect like Return to Dust Sect to abandon an important medicinal garden must possess something terrifying, perhaps even hiding unknown and eerie abilities.
It's better to avoid trouble.
It would be unwise to risk a direct confrontation with something of unknown origin.
With stability as the top priority, the pure energy transformed from Qi Yun silently retreated, quickly moving away from the ruins of the medicinal garden that were filled with an ominous aura.
There may be even more precious treasures hidden in the garden, but taking on unpredictable risks for them is not worth the effort.
The Blood Fuluo on the outskirts of Fuluo Prefecture, which can significantly enhance cultivation, has already made this examination extremely worthwhile.
There's no need to complicate things here.
With a clear mind and decisive actions, Qi Yun quickly and completely left the area.
However, about half a day after Qi Yun left, several rather wolfish figures followed the faint traces and unexpectedly found the ruins of the medicinal garden hidden deep in the poisonous rain.
"Hidden so deep, and on such a large scale—this place is no ordinary spot."
Looking up at the dilapidated yet still recognizable outline of the once magnificent mountain gate and buildings, the eyes of several Outer Mansion disciples gleamed with greed.
They tasted the benefits of refining precious medicines with Blood Fuluo on the periphery.
Seeing these ancient ruins in the heart of Fuluo Prefecture, one naturally assumes that they must hold even greater fortuitous opportunity.
"If the Blood Fuluo on the outer perimeter is already so effective, the treasure deep inside must be taking off!" one of them whispered excitedly.
Having experienced two terrifying and bloody battles at Great Black Mountain and [Peach Garden], the outer disciples of the Holy Sect Outer Mansion now have an insatiable thirst for power.
Suppressing their wariness of the faint sense of danger in the environment, the group rushed eagerly toward the ruins.
Several days later.
Having successfully destroyed another serpent's lair and harvested over three hundred more Blood Fuluo, Qi Yun returned to the ancient altar he had previously discovered.
This time, he didn't rush to refine the newly acquired Blood Fuluo into a precious medicine.
Instead, they focused their attention more on the altar itself.
The altar appears to be a rough and ancient structure made of randomly piled stones, but with Qi Yun's current Divine Sense sense, he can perceive that its internal structure subtly conforms to some kind of natural Dao.
The arrangement of the stones contains a wondrous rhythm and a trajectory of flowing light, revealing the extraordinary nature of this altar.
After staring at the altar for a long time, a bold idea rose in Qi Yun's mind.
"If I could remove this entire altar and find a way to artificially cultivate Blood Fuluo, wouldn't I essentially have a 'money-printing machine' that continuously produces cultivation-enhancing elixirs?"
Once this idea takes hold, it becomes incredibly difficult to suppress.
Let's do it!
Qi Yun immediately activated the Sunken Abyss Iron Sand, which transformed into two enormous digging hands, starting from beneath the base of the altar.
Carefully digging through the hard soil and rocks.
They attempted to uproot the altar and store it entirely in a storage Law Artifact.
However, as the excavation deepened, Qi Yun was surprised to discover that the above-ground part of the altar was only a few meters high, but the underground foundation was far deeper than he had imagined, reaching more than ten meters deep.
Fortunately, the Sunken Abyss Iron Sand is indestructible and possesses boundless power.
Under his full control, he managed to clear away all the soil and stones around the altar.
Its complete foundation structure has been exposed.
"Get up!"
Qi Yun let out a low shout, urging all the Sunken Abyss Iron Sand to transform into two giant hands that gripped the base of the altar tightly, and then pulled it upwards with a sudden burst of force!
Rumble!!!
At the same time that the altar was forcibly removed from its original position.
A deep, muffled roar, seemingly originating from the depths of the earth, suddenly erupted, as if some kind of restriction had been broken.
The entire Fuluo Prefecture Secret Realm then began to tremble and shake violently.
The mountains trembled, the ground cracked, and even the poisonous rain from the sky became chaotic!
Looking at the enormous altar he had forcibly lifted and now suspended in mid-air, and feeling the tremors beneath his feet as if it were about to disintegrate, Qi Yun Yunshan smiled:
"Oh no, I think I've messed up."