Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 267 Blood Sacrifice to the Infant Head Lotus Seed
The moment Fang Shu entered the blood mist, he activated the armored horse magic weapon on his body, holding a mid-grade spirit stone in one hand and Shen Yin's Foundation Establishment Drum in the other.

In the past few days, besides digesting the spiritual medicine and increasing his cultivation, he also naturally digested all the new items he had acquired.

The drum in Shen Yin's hand is the most important item among the many objects.

This item is a complete killing artifact, far more powerful than the armor and talisman on Dai Jintong's body, and it is also a sonic killing weapon that excels at killing multiple targets.

Even if he couldn't unleash its full potential, Fang Shuzhi believed he could still use it to his advantage among the many immortals in the secret realms. He thought that once he deciphered some of the sound-based scriptures on Shen Yin's body, its power would increase even further.

However, the origins of these two items are somewhat shady, and their blatant use could easily create hidden dangers.

Fortunately, Fang Shu entered the blood mist and ran for a long time without any other immortals attacking him, and there was no unusual killing intent in the area, forcing him to use the two items.

After pondering for a while, Fang Shu first put away the Foundation Establishment Drum, then hid the armor and talisman on his body to conceal it as much as possible, and then took out the newly refined Flying Pearl magic weapon in his hand to cover and protect himself.

His current attire clearly identified him as a practitioner of witchcraft, so much so that even Fang Lu and the others wouldn't recognize him when they came forward.

Fang Shu walked in the blood lake in a low-key manner, skipping and hopping for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, until finally an open space appeared in front of him.

This open space was not a flat road, but rather resembled a huge reef, sloping upwards, its entire surface a stark white, whether it was painted white or something else was unknown.

When Fang Shu arrived at this place, there were already many figures on the pale white reef.

They were walking back and forth on the rocks, examining what was unusual about the place and whether any medicinal herbs were growing there.

However, based on the occasional discussions among these people, this place must be very barren, with not a blade of grass growing, and not worth staying for long.

After Fang Shu landed, he acted no differently from the people around him, wandering around and soon discovering that the number of people on the reef was decreasing.

So he turned his gaze to the dense cracks on the giant reef.

"If I'm not mistaken, the others must have all gone down deep underground."

Without much hesitation, Fang Shu cautiously slipped into a crevice, slowly crawling downwards like a gecko.

It was initially extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

After climbing down several dozen feet, the space below Fangshu suddenly opened up, and the sound of cold wind blowing echoed at the bottom, buzzing like a valley.

Because it was pitch black below, he channeled his inner energy into his eyes and was able to see a little bit of the situation at the bottom.

Beneath the giant reef of the blood lake lay a vast underground palace. However, this palace was now in ruins, with many buildings leaning precariously or upside down, twisted and chaotic, as if they had been violently shaken apart, which was quite bizarre.

Clang!
As Fang Shu was carefully examining the scene, the sounds of a magical duel suddenly came from ahead.

"Fellow Daoist, do not seek death!?" A sharp shout rang out.

Immediately after a few flashes of magical light, several screams rang out in the underground palace, and then the commotion subsided.

Clearly, someone has met with misfortune underground and perished here. Moreover, the deceased did not die from the traps and restrictions of the underground palace, but from the hands of other immortals.

Such a commotion caused many immortals, including Fang Shu, to hold their breath.

Those who had originally intended to take advantage of the situation suddenly lost their greed and hurriedly began to climb upwards, hoping to escape the area.

But soon, another sound came from the top of the underground palace:
"Ah! Quickly, enter the underground palace."

"This mist is poisonous! It can corrode magic!!"

"Brother, we can't get out. The lake is rising again."

Upon hearing this, Fang Shu couldn't help but look up at the ceiling.

Without much thought, he knew that these immortals who were searching for treasure were probably already trapped and had no way to turn back.

Even though Fang Shu had made such a plan long ago, the fact that this situation had actually occurred left him with mixed feelings.

But quickly, after taking a few breaths, he suppressed the distracting thoughts in his mind and turned his gaze to the depths of the underground palace:

"According to what is said in the temple and past rumors, there are many ancient traditions in the Lushan Secret Realm. There are many dangerous places, especially man-made dangerous places. Although there are hardships, they are by no means places where one is sure to die. At most, one is nine out of ten to survive."

Fang Shu was invigorated.

Instead, he began to think that this place was so dangerous that there might really be a rare treasure that could enhance one's spiritual roots!
Whoosh.

With his escape route cut off, he didn't hesitate any longer and immediately leaped into the depths of the underground palace.

On the rest of the journey, he encountered other immortals, and none of them seemed like easy targets.

However, his aura was also formidable, so the two simply brushed past each other without any conflict.

at last.

Fang Shu followed the voices and arrived at a square.

There are stone pillars here, each about ten feet in diameter, some long and some short, and many people have already taken up their feet on them.

He flew over, surveyed his surroundings, and discovered that there were no fewer than a hundred people who had entered this place. It seemed that all the immortals who had ventured into the Blood Lake to search for treasure had been forced to come here.

The people at the scene were dressed in a mixed style, representing all five sects of Lushan, but most of them were unorthodox cultivators from outside the mountain.

These people gathered here, discussing among themselves: "Where's the elixir? Why is this godforsaken place so empty!"

Some people even shouted directly:
"Does anyone on the field know anything? Tell us quickly, how can we get out of this hellhole?"

"Yes, yes, if there are treasures, I will not fight with you for them. I only ask to leave."

Fang Shu listened from the sidelines, looking around the empty square with curiosity, but he didn't say anything, just stayed on the periphery of the crowd.

Amidst the chaos, voices did indeed rang out:

"Fellow Daoists, I am a person from the Five Internal Organs Temple. Please listen to me. There may be a way to reveal the true nature of this place."

These words immediately caught Fang Shu's attention.

He looked up and was immediately surprised.

On the front of the stone pillars stood members of the Er family, and the one speaking was the middle-aged beauty who held power in the Er family.

Beside this woman were her daughter, Erdaiyang, and Fang Shu's lover, Erdaiyuan.

Aside from the Er family members, Fang Shu also spotted another familiar figure ahead. It was Pei Zhongshan, an inner disciple and another immortal seed invested in by the Er family.

The group gathered together, and when everyone looked at them, they didn't feel weak at all. On the contrary, they were ready for battle and showed a fierce aura, effectively intimidating the people around them.

In the silence, someone called out, "Fellow Daoist, please speak."

The beautiful woman from the Er family smiled, cupped her hands in greeting, and then pointed to the stone pillars beneath their feet, saying, "This place is clearly an ancient array of restrictions. To unlock the treasure, all we need to do is break the array. You all just need to follow the Er family's instructions and exert your strength to break this place."

As soon as she finished speaking, the beautiful woman from the Er family flicked her finger, and a talisman flashed and landed on a stone pillar next to her.

The stone pillar was suddenly broken and collapsed, sparking a burst of light in the square.

A buzzing sound came from the very center of the square, from underground, as if something was about to open or emerge.

"So that's how it is." "Just as I expected."

Voices rang out, and someone immediately raised their hand and tried to strike the surrounding stone pillars, triggering spiritual energy fluctuations.

In addition, someone's eyes flashed, and they immediately took out a talisman for burrowing underground. They leaped down and, like a fish, disappeared into the ground beneath the plaza, rushing towards the location from which the strange phenomenon was coming from the center.

But soon, screams rang out from beneath everyone's feet.

The other person jumped up from the square and landed back on a stone pillar.

The man was in a terrible state, his skin torn and bleeding. As he screamed in agony, he hurriedly took out some medicine to try and heal his wounds.

However, before the pill could even enter his mouth, the opponent's true energy completely dissipated, and his flesh trembled and fell to the ground, turning into pus and leaving behind only a pile of white bones.

Many people at the scene gasped.
"Why is that!?"

"Can't it be hidden underground?"

At this moment, the middle-aged woman let out a soft laugh:

"Since there are array formations and restrictions here, it is naturally impossible to pass through easily."

To be honest, according to the ancient texts collected by our clan, this place has long been surrounded by a lake of blood. The outer perimeter is filled with incredibly malevolent blood energy, said to be a poison specially placed by Taoist priests in ancient times, used to kill evil spirits and corroding everything in its path.

Fang Shu did not immediately believe it upon hearing this.

He sat cross-legged on his own stone pillar, secretly extending his divine threads downwards, even penetrating the cracks in the ground.

As soon as the divine thread entered the plaza ground, a layer of blood appeared, corroding the thread completely. However, this blood could not be detected by divine sense.

On the other side...

As expected, the hundreds of people at the scene, under the arrangement of the beautiful woman from the Er family, began to try to destroy the surrounding stone pillars, and rumbling sounds rang out continuously.

After a period of busy work, to everyone's surprise and dismay, a layer of blood seeped into the ground of the square, as if the underground palace beneath the lake had been breached.

Within a few breaths, the blood below rose several feet, completely submerging the entire square, leaving only the protruding stone pillars.

What terrified everyone even more was that strange objects were floating in the blood, resembling tentacles or ghostly shadows, hidden in the dark red mist, as if they were about to drag them into the blood at any moment.

"What's going on here!?"

Several people were shocked and immediately questioned the beautiful woman from the Nar family.

But at this moment, the beautiful woman from the Er family remained silent. She merely smiled coldly and uttered the words "Make your move" between her lips.

Ahhh!
Several screams immediately rang out from the stone pillar.

All the immortals who were close to Er's house were suddenly struck by magic and were attacked from both sides.

Some of them were not able to react in time and were killed on the spot, their bodies falling into the blood.

Others reacted quickly, but lacked the necessary magical power and suffered severe injuries, so they wanted to escape the place as soon as possible.

As soon as they left the stone pillar beneath their feet, blood mist spewed out from the blood lake below, landing on the man and corroding all the spiritual energy and flesh around him.

In the blink of an eye, not a single immortal was able to escape from Erjia's surroundings.

This scene horrified the remaining immortals who were closer to them. Many were relieved that they were far enough away from this group of scoundrels that they hadn't been harmed.

However, something unusual happened at the scene, attracting everyone's attention.

The blood at the bottom of the square surged again after the bodies of the immortals were found, and had already submerged more than half of the stone pillars under everyone's feet.

When the beautiful woman from the Er family saw this scene, she couldn't help but sneer:
"To open this place and harvest the precious herbs, a blood sacrifice is naturally required."

The two women beside her, Erdaiyang and Erdaiyuan, reacted differently upon seeing this scene.

The former was excited and kept looking around, while the latter glanced at the cloaked figure in the center of the Er family.

Among the surviving immortals, someone immediately cursed, "What a vicious woman!"

However, they dared not leave the stone pillar beneath their feet, for fear of being enveloped by the spray of blood mist.

Some of them, with shifty eyes, even started to make dirty moves towards those around them.

In the ensuing chaos, the lake of blood in the square rose again.

Fang Shuan remained calmly atop his stone pillar, intending to observe the situation from the sidelines. However, some people noticed his solitary nature and set their sights on him, attempting to preemptively strike and eliminate the risk.

Several flashes of inspiration followed, then a scream rang out.

The final result was that the three men were knocked off the stone pillar by him in no time, and they all fell into the blood and disappeared.

Soon, in less than half an hour, the original hundred or so immortals were reduced to only twenty or thirty, and each of them glared at the other with hostility.

Such a shocking rate of loss left everyone breathless with fear when they came to their senses.

Fortunately, what brought them mixed feelings of worry and joy was that the blood below was churning and steaming like boiling water, the dark red mist was getting thicker and thicker, and a sweet smell appeared in their mouths and noses.

The crowd gasped for breath, their expressions changing drastically at first, fearing poison. But then their brows relaxed and their eyes lit up with joy.

Fang Shu, being in that situation, was no exception.

He slightly raised his eyelids, realizing that the mist around him was actually pure spiritual energy, of a quality even better than the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs he had refined.

With just a few breaths, the bottleneck of the Ninety-Six Toad True Qi in his body trembled and increased by a few strands.

At the same time, a large lotus flower, composed of mist, slowly rose from beneath the plaza and continued to condense, becoming almost tangible.

When it completely solidified, hanging in the center were tiny figures the size of baby heads, each one plump and full of life.

"This is... a blood lotus seed?" The remaining immortals all had this thought in their minds.

As Fang Shu gazed at those tiny infant figures, his mouth watered and his heart pounded with excitement, as if swallowing this thing would allow him to establish his foundation on the spot.

(End of this chapter)