The SSSSSSSS-level Mad Dragon is released from prison!

The bumpy ride stopped.

The dilapidated truck was parked on a desolate piece of land.

The driver, holding the wad of money Xiao Ruoye tossed to him, scrambled away and disappeared into the hazy morning mist.

The air was filled with a strange smell, a mixture of dust and animal dung.

Before me lay a dilapidated town. The archway at the town entrance was crooked, its red paint peeling away, leaving only two indistinct characters.

"Wakaba-neechan, this place feels strange."

Junyao supported the swaying Shen Suxin, looking at the tightly closed doors and windows and the occasional prying glances cast through the cracks in the doors, and said softly.

Xiao Ruoye ignored her, tightened the black cloth wrapped around Jiang Chen on her back, and stepped into the town.

Shen Suxin's face was as pale as paper. Although the wound on her wrist had stopped bleeding, her body swayed slightly with every step she took.

She had burned through ten years of her lifespan and exhausted her vital essence; she was now at her last gasp.

The streets were deserted, with only the wind whipping up sand and dust that stung my face.

Just as the three were about to find a place to stay, a dark figure suddenly darted out from a pile of garbage at the street corner and blocked their way.

That was a person.

A beggar who reeked of stench, was dressed in rags, and whose true appearance was unrecognizable.

The most horrifying thing about his face was his two empty eye sockets, as if someone had gouged out his eyeballs with a spoon, leaving only two dark, bloody holes.

"stop!"

The beggar let out a hoarse roar, he was leaning on a bamboo cane, and his other hand was outstretched, his palm was black and his fingernails were full of filth.

"Give me...give me some food...or...or I'll kill you all..."

His voice was weak, yet it carried the ruthlessness of a desperate fugitive.

Junyao was so frightened that she hid behind Xiao Ruoye.

Xiao Ruoye's eyes turned cold, and she tightened her grip on the broken knife.

"Get out of here."

She only uttered two words.

The old beggar seemed not to hear, sniffing the air intently, his two dark, hollow eyes precisely turning towards Jiang Chen behind Xiao Ruoye.

"It smells so good..."

His Adam's apple bobbed, and murky saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.

"Is it the finest medicinal herbs... or... a person on the verge of death...?"

He approached step by step, leaning on his bamboo cane.

Just as Xiao Ruoye was about to make a move, Shen Suxin suddenly grabbed her arm.

"etc!"

Shen Suxin's body was trembling, not from fear, but from an indescribable emotion.

Her eyes were fixed on the old beggar's hand that was gripping the bamboo cane.

The hand was gently tapping the bamboo cane in an extremely strange rhythm.

Three long and two short, one heavy and two light.

That's a secret technique unique to Medicine King Valley, used to disperse the medicinal properties of highly toxic herbs when processing them.

The old beggar's hoarse breathing was also quite distinctive, with each inhale accompanied by a slight whistling sound, a characteristic of lung erosion caused by long-term exposure to the poisonous gas of "Seven-Step Heartbreak Grass".

"It's you..."

Shen Suxin's voice trembled as she took a step forward.

"The drug fanatic... Uncle-Master..."

Upon hearing the words "drug madman," the old beggar's body stiffened abruptly, and for the first time, an expression appeared on his mud-like face.

That was extreme shock and panic.

"Who...who are you? How do you know this name!"

He brandished his bamboo cane and roared, his voice fierce but his heart weak.

"Twenty years ago, you stole the forbidden technique 'The Scripture of Ten Thousand Poisons Returning to Origin' from the valley, causing the deaths of three law enforcement elders, and betrayed Medicine King Valley... that was you!"

Shen Suxin's voice suddenly rose, each word laced with blood and tears.

The drug addict trembled violently. He wanted to escape, but his legs felt like they were made of lead.

"Impossible...impossible..."

He muttered to himself, his empty eyes turning towards Shen Suxin as if trying to see through her soul.

Suddenly, he stopped all movement.

He stretched out his dirty hand and pointed at Shen Suxin.

"The scent on you... is that of the Hundred Herbs Pill... and... the scent of the Hundred Herbs Withering and Flourishing Array..."

He then turned to Jiang Chen on Xiao Ruoye's back.

"And him... what he has on his body isn't an injury, nor is it poison..."

The muscles on the drug addict's face contorted, as if in fear or excitement.

"It's a wound to the Way of Heaven! Hahahaha! It's a wound to the Way of Heaven!"

He threw his head back and laughed wildly, his laughter shrill and piercing.

"It's hopeless! Even a god can't save someone cursed like this! He's doomed! You're all doomed too!"

Xiao Ruoye's eyes turned cold, and she drew her broken sword half an inch from its sheath, the sharp energy of the metal blade aimed directly at her opponent's throat.

"Shut up!"

Shen Suxin stopped her.

She looked at the seemingly insane drug addict, slowly raised her hand, and formed a strange hand seal.

"Shen Suxin, the thirty-sixth generation disciple of Medicine King Valley, begs her martial uncle... to die!"

She uttered a string of obscure syllables.

The syllable seemed to possess some kind of magic, drilling into the drug addict's ears.

"ah--"

The drug addict clutched his head and collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony.

He tore open his tattered clothes, revealing bulging, emerald-green veins on his emaciated chest, like countless small snakes crawling under his skin.

That was the "Mother-Child Heart-Connecting Gu" that Medicine King Valley had planted in his body years ago. Once activated by the secret incantation, it would gnaw at his heart meridian, leaving him unable to live or die.

"Stop...stop...little junior niece...have mercy..."

The drug addict kowtowed on the ground, and his forehead was soon covered in blood and flesh.

"explain!"

Shen Suxin's voice was devoid of any emotion.

"How can we save him!"

"There's...there's no hope..."

The drug addict is still being stubborn.

Shen Suxin changed the hand seal.

The drug addict let out a scream that sounded inhuman, and spat out a mouthful of green blood.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!"

He completely broke down.

"Miao Territory... the forbidden area of ​​Miao Territory, the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons... inside... inside there is a Blood Jade!"

"Blood Crystal?"

"That was formed from the heart of an ancient venomous dragon, condensing the most yin and poisonous energy of heaven and earth. It is the nemesis of all Golden Core cultivators in the world... but also... the only sacred object for reshaping a shattered Golden Core!"

The drug addict's voice was hurried and weak.

"Quickly...give me the antidote...otherwise...otherwise you'll never find that place!"

Shen Suxin stopped chanting the incantation.

"A token of love."

She coldly uttered two words.

The drug addict struggled and pulled something wrapped in oilcloth from his crotch.

He exhaled a foul-smelling breath and handed the object over.

"Junior niece... I'm dying... This poison has exhausted all my life force..."

Two streams of murky, bloody tears flowed from his empty eye sockets.

"I have only one request... After I die, take my ashes... back to Medicine King Valley... I want... I want to go home..."

Shen Suxin looked at him with a complicated expression, but finally nodded.

The drug addict felt like he had been granted a pardon, and he stuffed the thing into Shen Suxin's hand.

It was a pitch-black domino, cold to the touch, with a ferocious scorpion carved on it.

"The Jun family...the Jun family from the capital city came to see me not long ago..."

The drug addict gasped for breath and uttered his last words.

"They...are also looking for that place..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his head lolled to the side, and he was completely lifeless.

Your family!

Xiao Ruoye's heart sank suddenly.

She subconsciously looked around and realized that, without her noticing, the dilapidated rooftops and shadowy corners of the town had been filled with a cold atmosphere that didn't belong to this small town.

Those are Dragon Guard sentries!

They were surrounded!

Just then.

"boom!"

A thick bolt of purple lightning, carrying an aura of annihilation, descended from the sky.

The lightning didn't strike anyone; instead, it slammed heavily onto the street in the center of the town.

The earth trembled violently, and debris mixed with terrifying arcs of electricity scattered everywhere.

A charred crater, more than ten meters in diameter, appeared before everyone's eyes.

In the center of the crater, a man wearing a purple electric pattern combat suit slowly straightened up.

He raised his head, his eyes fierce, and fixed his gaze on Jiang Chen on Xiao Ruoye's back.

"Found you, Jiang Chen!"