Sacred Tree Purgatory

The closer he drew to the depths of the ice cave, the stronger the medicinal smell in the air became.

A heavy stench of blood mingled with it, sickening to the stomach.

Lin Yuan slowed his steps.

His Second Soul Ring glimmered faintly.

Second Soul Skill-Hunting Sense.

An invisible perception spread forward through the passage.

Signs of life, fluctuations of Soul Power, and directions of movement gradually appeared within his perception.

A large number of Soul Masters had gathered ahead.

Most were Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors, with several Soul Kings among them.

And in the deepest reaches lurked an immensely powerful presence.

That Soul Power was dense and cold. Merely sensing it from afar made Lin Yuan feel a distinct pressure.

It was definitely no Soul Saint.

At least a Soul Douluo.

Lin Yuan concealed his presence and continued forward along the ice wall.

There were considerably more guards in the passages than on the perimeter.

Their patrol routes intersected. If any one of them raised the alarm, the entire base would immediately be alerted.

Lin Yuan did not rush to strike.

Using Hunting Sense to determine the guards' directions of movement, he slipped silently between several passages.

Only when he encountered Evil Soul Masters he could not bypass did he swiftly shoot them dead.

A black-robed Soul Ancestor came around a corner.

He was just about to look up when an iron arrow streaked through the dim lamplight.

Squelch!

The arrow pierced between his brows.

Lin Yuan darted forward, caught the corpse, and slowly lowered it to the ground.

Not far away, another trace of Soul Power was approaching.

Lin Yuan dragged the corpse behind an ice pillar, then retreated into the shadows on the other side.

A moment later, a patrolling Evil Soul Master walked past.

He noticed nothing unusual.

Only after the footsteps had faded completely did Lin Yuan continue forward.

The white smiling mask floated beside him.

"You could clearly kill them with one arrow, yet you insist on sneaking around."

"How dull."

Lin Yuan did not respond.

This place was not far from where the civilians were being held.

Making a commotion now would only bring disaster down on those people first.

After bypassing two more concealed sentries, he came upon a half-open stone door.

A rich medicinal fragrance kept pouring through the gap.

Lin Yuan stopped.

The Imperial Bow vibrated faintly inside him.

This reaction was even stronger than when he had approached that Abomination of Abundance.

Behind the stone door lay a true creation of Abundance.

Lin Yuan edged sideways up to the door and peered through the gap.

Beyond the door was an enormous underground ice chamber.

At its center stood a pitch-black pill furnace several meters tall.

Twisted patterns of branches and leaves covered its body.

Dark green flames churned beneath the furnace, making the surrounding ice walls flicker between light and shadow.

Muffled sounds came from inside the furnace from time to time.

Like a gigantic heart beating.

More than a dozen Evil Soul Masters surrounded the furnace.

Some carried medicinal ingredients.

Some ground Soul Beast bones.

Others carried wooden buckets full of blood to the pill-refining platform.

A metal trough extended from the raised platform to the furnace.

The blood in the buckets was poured into it, flowing slowly toward the furnace's base.

Lin Yuan's gaze passed over the furnace and settled on the rear of the ice chamber.

A dark golden formation covered that area.

At its very center floated a pale golden branch about the length of a forearm.

Fine golden markings covered the branch's surface.

Light flowed ceaselessly along those markings, while new buds slowly sprouted from its broken end.

Lin Yuan's gaze abruptly turned cold.

The Ambrosial Arbor.

Though it was far inferior to the piece sealed beneath Spirit Hall, there was no mistaking the presence of Abundance it gave off.

This was a genuine fragment of the Ambrosial Arbor.

"Another piece."

The smiling mask peeked out from behind Lin Yuan's shoulder.

"Looks like this wood really does get everywhere."

Lin Yuan ignored it.

His gaze shifted to the area around the formation.

Six Abominations of Abundance were chained to the ice walls with thick iron chains.

Two still retained roughly humanoid forms.

The others had already become completely twisted.

Their limbs had turned into roots, their shoulders and backs were covered in branches, and proliferating flesh had completely enveloped some of their faces, leaving only golden-red eyes exposed.

Slender, pale golden rootlets extended from the bottom of the branch, piercing each of the six abominations.

An Evil Soul Master poured Soul Power into the formation.

Hum-

The formation suddenly lit up.

Pale golden light from the Ambrosial Arbor fragment surged along the roots into the abominations.

"Roar!"

All six abominations let out anguished roars at once.

Their flesh rapidly swelled.

Their skin split open, their bones twisted continuously, and lumps of newly grown flesh squeezed out through the gaps between their branches.

Several Evil Soul Masters stepped forward, sharp blades in hand.

The blades fell without hesitation.

Squelch!

The freshly grown flesh was sliced off in whole chunks and placed on trays nearby.

The abominations struggled frantically.

The thick iron chains bit deep into their bodies, tearing flesh and even crushing bones.

Yet under the stimulation of the Ambrosial Arbor's power, those wounds soon healed again.

Broken bones rejoined.

Severed flesh regrew.

Once the flesh recovered, the Evil Soul Masters swung their blades again.

Growth.

Cutting.

Regeneration.

Over and over.

An Evil Soul Master standing guard beside the formation raised both hands, his expression fanatical.

"Mercy from the Medicine King, life from the Sacred Tree!"

The surrounding Evil Soul Masters answered in unison:

"Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, united in heart, ascend together to bliss!"

Lin Yuan's gaze shifted slightly.

The Sacred Tree.

These people knew this branch possessed the power to stimulate life, but they did not know its true name.

Tray after tray of still-writhing flesh was delivered to the furnace.

The one responsible for refining the medicine was an old man wearing dark green robes.

He was tall and thin, with gray-white hair and dark golden markings like tree roots covering his skin.

The green-robed old man grabbed a chunk of flesh from a tray and tossed it straight into the furnace.

Boom!

The dark green furnace flames suddenly surged.

Then two Evil Soul Masters dragged over an unconscious middle-aged man.

The man's hands were bound with chains, and his wrists had already been cut open.

Blood flowed down his arms into the metal trough.

The green-robed old man raised his palm and pressed it onto the man's head.

Gray-green Soul Power flooded into his body.

The man's body convulsed violently.

His already pale face rapidly lost its remaining color, and his signs of life steadily weakened.

It was not only blood they were extracting.

They were also taking the vital essence of a living person.

Lin Yuan now understood the purpose of this ice chamber.

The Evil Soul Masters used this branch to stimulate the Abominations of Abundance, making them continuously grow flesh.

They then refined pills using the abominations' flesh as the main ingredient and the blood essence of living people as the medicinal catalyst.

Those pills could grant powerful recovery and enhancement to those who took them, but they also carried an extremely serious risk of mutation.

The more living blood essence they added, the easier it was to stabilize the medicinal potency.

This was also why they kept abducting civilians.

"Lord Furnace Keeper."

An Evil Soul Master walked up behind the green-robed old man and spoke respectfully:

"How much more blood essence does this batch need?"

The green-robed old man kept his eyes closed, sensing the changes inside the furnace.

A moment later, he slowly uttered his answer.

"Still not enough."

"Bring five more people."

"Choose those with vigorous blood and vitality."

The Evil Soul Master hesitated.

"What about those people captured from Skywater Academy?"

The green-robed old man opened his eyes.

His dark golden pupils looked especially cold in the furnace light.

"The ice-attribute Soul Masters have another use."

"We'll test the medicine on them with the next batch."

"Yes."

Two Evil Soul Masters picked up chains and turned toward the stone door.

Lin Yuan quietly backed away, his body disappearing into the passage's shadows.

He did not strike immediately.

The powerful presence he had detected through Hunting Sense earlier belonged to that green-robed old man.

Even without releasing his Martial Soul, the Soul Power emanating from his body still far exceeded that of an ordinary Soul Saint.

An Eight-Ring Soul Douluo.

And besides the green-robed old man, the ice chamber contained more than a dozen Evil Soul Masters and six Abominations of Abundance.

In a head-on fight, Lin Yuan had no chance of winning.

Even if the Power of The Hunt could suppress Abundance, it could not make up for the enormous gap in Soul Power.

What was more, that fragment of the Ambrosial Arbor was connected to the entire formation.

Once battle broke out, no one knew what changes might occur in that formation.

The captives from Skywater Academy and the nearly one hundred civilians were being held not far from here.

If a Soul Douluo attacked with full force, the shock waves of battle would be enough to sweep through the entire ice cavern.

Those civilians would have no chance of surviving.

The two Evil Soul Masters had already stepped through the stone doorway.

Using Hunting Sense to track their direction, Lin Yuan slipped into another passage ahead of time, avoiding the pair.

He could not beat the grass and startle the snake yet.

He had to get the people out first.

Once everyone from Skywater Academy and the civilians had evacuated safely, he would no longer have any constraints.

Lin Yuan took one last look at the dark green flames in the furnace beyond the stone doorway.

The Ambrosial Arbor fragment.

The pill furnace.

And this group of Evil Soul Masters who used living people to refine medicine.

He would not spare a single one of them.

Lin Yuan turned and swiftly left along the passage he had come through.

Save the people first.

Then come back to hunt.