I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Inside Black Wind Ravine, the brief silence was broken by an even more piercing wind, but it could not suppress the turbulent waves churning in the hearts of the third squad members.

Sun Ying, Li Zhen, Wang Shan, and Su Wan stared at Qin Yuan's retreating figure, their eyes filled with indescribable shock and a hint of unconscious awe. They had watched in disbelief as their captain unleashed a powerful burst of energy, his aura instantly weakening, only to recover in the blink of an eye, even surpassing his former strength! The immense and pure spiritual energy fluctuations were undeniable; they couldn't possibly be achieved instantly through consuming elixirs. This illogical recovery ability was practically akin to legendary immortality!

Zhao Zheng's expression was the most complex, a mixture of paleness and ashen skin. His previous hidden schadenfreude and scheming had been completely shattered, replaced by a profound and utterly bewildered shock. His lips trembled, as if he wanted to say something, but his throat was too dry to produce a coherent sound. Demonic Disintegration? Instant Recovery? What kind of monster was this?! He had originally planned to use an "accident" during the mission to embarrass or even injure Qin Yuan, thus proving his incompetence as captain. But now… he felt that all his calculations had become a laughable joke in the face of the opponent's unreasonable abilities.

Qin Yuan seemed oblivious to the varying expressions on his teammates' faces. His gaze swept over the corpses of the Yin Sha Lizards on the ground, especially the remains of the three leaders. He crouched down, gathering a wisp of spiritual energy at his fingertips, and examined the broken skull of one of the leaders for a moment.

"The Yin energy has deeply eroded the demonic core, causing it to mutate and carry a trace of the rare 'Bone-Corroding Netherfire' aura." Qin Yuan stood up and analyzed calmly, "It seems that the anomaly deep within Black Wind Ravine is not just a simple matter of disordered spiritual energy. There may be changes in the earth's veins that have triggered the deeply buried Yin fire, or... traces of human intervention."

"Man-made?" Su Wan steadied herself and asked doubtfully, "This place is secluded and gloomy, who would tamper with it here?"

"It might not be for the place itself." Qin Yuan looked into the deep, dark valley. "Perhaps it's using the natural yin energy of this place to conceal some activity. Continue forward, maintaining the highest level of vigilance. Zhao Zheng."

Startled by being called upon, Zhao Zheng quickly replied, "Your subordinate is here!"

"You're familiar with the path here, so lead the way. Avoid known, obvious danger zones, but don't take excessive detours." Qin Yuan looked at him, his eyes deep. "I need to reach the core source of the spiritual energy fluctuations as soon as possible."

Zhao Zheng's heart skipped a beat. Qin Yuan's words, seemingly ordinary, subtly revealed what he might have been secretly plotting. He dared not delay any longer and quickly bowed, "Yes! Captain, please follow me!"

This time, Zhao Zheng led the way with significantly more effort, not only pointing out several areas with natural poisonous miasma and fragile rock formations that needed to be avoided, but also proactively sharing some of the monster habits he had recorded during previous explorations. The team's pace quickened, but the atmosphere became even more tense. Having witnessed Qin Yuan's incredible abilities, no one dared to underestimate their new captain in the slightest, and they were also extremely cautious about the potential dangers of this mission.

The deeper they went, the harsher the surrounding environment became. The gray fog was almost solidified, carrying a biting chill and corrosiveness; even with spiritual energy protecting them, their skin felt a faint stinging sensation. The jagged rocks grew increasingly bizarre in shape, some even appearing distorted by an unseen force. A faint, pungent smell, like sulfur mixed with the stench of decay, permeated the air.

"Captain, three hundred feet ahead is the 'Nether Pool Area' marked on the map." Zhao Zheng pointed to an even deeper darkness ahead. "That's one of the known dangerous areas in Black Wind Ravine. There's a bottomless, icy pool there, the water of which contains extremely yin energy that can freeze the soul. In the past, abnormal fluctuations in spiritual energy were mostly related to that icy pool."

Qin Yuan extended his divine sense forward and indeed sensed an extremely dense and chilling aura. At the same time, the originally chaotic spiritual energy fluctuations became clearer and more regular as they approached the dark pool, as if something was rhythmically breathing in and out at the bottom of the pool.

"Let's go take a look." Qin Yuan took the lead.

Passing through a stone forest that stretched towards the sky like ghostly claws, a relatively open depression suddenly appeared before us. In the center of the depression, as expected, lay a pitch-black pool about ten zhang in diameter. The water was as black as ink, without the slightest ripple, yet it exuded a chill that seemed to freeze one's very soul. The rocks along the pool were covered with a thick layer of white frost, and not a single blade of grass grew there.

However, everyone's attention was soon drawn to the scene on the other side of the pool.

There lay seven or eight corpses! Judging from their clothing, they were not disciples of the Taiyi Immortal Sect, but rather from several different small or medium-sized sects. Two of them were even dressed in the coarse linen clothing commonly seen on rogue cultivators. The corpses were in various postures; some were prostrate on the ground, others leaning against rocks. What they had in common was a bluish-black complexion, stiff bodies, and a layer of white frost similar to that on the rocks by the pool, clearly indicating that they had been instantly killed by the extreme cold and malevolent energy. Judging from the residual spiritual energy fluctuations on the corpses, the highest cultivation level was no more than the late Golden Core stage, and the lowest was only at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage.

"They are cultivators who recently entered Black Wind Ravine to explore or search for treasure," Sun Ying reported after a quick examination. "The time of death is no more than five days. All their storage artifacts are missing. The fatal wound was that their heart meridian was frozen and shattered by the extreme cold evil energy, but... something is strange."

"What's strange about it?" Qin Yuan asked.

Sun Ying pointed to two of the corpses that were relatively close together: "The angles of the fatal wounds on these two are somewhat subtle. They are not entirely caused by the naturally dissipated evil energy, but rather seem to be... caused by some kind of precise attack of cold force. Moreover, the position where they fell seems to be faintly facing a certain direction from the center of the pool."

Li Zhen, holding a compass, walked solemnly to the edge of the pool and carefully sensed it: "Captain, there are faint array fluctuations at the bottom of the pool! Although they are covered by the intense Yin energy, they are definitely there! It's a... combination of concealment and spirit gathering array, and the technique is quite sophisticated!"

Qin Yuan's eyes narrowed. There were array formations, signs of unnatural death, and looted corpses... This was definitely not a simple change in the natural environment.

He walked to the edge of the pool and stared at the dark water. The powerful divine sense granted by the Nine Revolutions Nascent Soul forcefully penetrated the dense baleful aura and probed to the bottom of the pool. The pool was extremely deep, more than a hundred feet deep. The deeper he went, the heavier the baleful aura became, and the more bone-chilling the cold became, even his divine sense felt sluggish.

Just as his divine sense touched the silt at the bottom of the pool, a subtle yet exceptionally pure fluctuation of cold energy, like a sleeping venomous snake being startled, suddenly surged back and invaded his divine sense! At the same time, the hidden formation at the bottom of the pool also seemed to be triggered, rippled slightly, and drew an even stronger baleful aura upward!

"Step back!" Qin Yuan shouted, instantly withdrawing his divine sense. With a flick of his sleeve, a gentle spiritual force pushed Li Zhen and Su Wan, who were near the edge of the pool, back several feet.