The entry for cultivating immortality states that after dying a hundred times, I attained immortalit

After the effect of "Desperate Counterattack" faded, a feeling of weakness washed over my limbs and bones like a tidal wave.

Jiang Bai could only rely on the "Hundred Poisons Tempering Body Technique" to hold on. The poisonous patterns on his right arm slowly circulated, absorbing the sparse resentment and poison power in the surrounding poisonous miasma and transforming it into spiritual power to repair the internal injuries.

After walking for about half an hour, the poisonous miasma ahead suddenly thinned out a bit.

The outline of a dilapidated building emerged from the darkness.

Collapsed stone walls, broken beams and pillars, and shattered roof tiles and fragments of ritual implements scattered on the ground.

Only the half-collapsed stone hall in the center still stands.

Jiang Bai stopped on the ruins, spreading out his [Killing Intent Perception].

Within fifty feet, apart from some wandering low-level miasma ghosts, there was no sign of any living creature.

He then stepped into the ruins and found a relatively intact compartment in a corner of the stone hall.

He took out three array flags from the Valley Master's storage ring.

This is a simple early warning array that Foundation Establishment cultivators carry with them. It is placed at the entrance of the compartment and sprinkled with a circle of insect-repelling and miasma-avoiding medicinal powder.

After doing all this, Jiang Bai finally couldn't hold on any longer and slid down against the stone wall.

Before his consciousness sank into darkness, he put a "Pulse-Regenerating Pill" that he had found in the Valley Master's Ring into his mouth.

……

When I opened my eyes again, I had no idea how much time had passed.

Outside the stone hall, it was still pitch black, with only the warning array flags emitting a faint spiritual light.

Jiang Bai moved his shoulders, his chest still aching slightly, but the broken ribs had been mostly repaired thanks to the effects of the pills and body-tempering techniques.

He looked inward and found that the spiritual energy in his dantian was three times stronger than before he fell into a deep sleep.

He actually reached the mid-stage of the fifth level of Qi Refining.

The life-or-death struggle is indeed the fastest way to break through realms.

Jiang Bai then had time to examine the cubicle.

There are blurry murals on the stone wall depicting some kind of vines entwining a giant tree.

The vines were dark red, with skull-shaped fruits hanging among the branches and leaves. In one corner of the mural were carved a few lines of small characters, the handwriting hastily done as if scratched with a fingernail:

"A myriad of poisons devour the heart, the path to enlightenment is nearing its end. Let it wait for those with the right destiny, lest you follow in their footsteps."

The signature reads "Blood Vine".

Jiang Bai's eyes flickered slightly.

Blood Vine... Blood Vine Master?

He took out the half of the jade pendant with the pattern of intertwined poisonous vines from his pocket. The pattern on the jade pendant was seven or eight parts similar to the dark red vines in the mural.

He got up and walked to the center of the stone hall.

This place used to be an altar, but now only half of the stone platform remains.

A skeleton lay on the table, its bones a dark gold color, still exuding a faint sense of oppression despite the erosion of time.

The skeleton sat cross-legged, its left hand pressed against its chest, its right hand hanging down beside its knee, a jade slip clutched between its fingertips.

Jiang Bai bent down, carefully took out the jade slip, and placed it on his forehead.

The moment my consciousness probed in, a flood of information rushed into my mind.

***

"I am Blood Vine, the seventh true disciple of the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons in Central Continent."

"After cultivating for three hundred years, I have refined the 'True Blood Poison Pattern,' making me invincible among those of the same level. However, the elders of the valley are jealous of my talent and falsely accuse me of stealing the Valley's Poison Manual, setting up a net to surround and kill me."

"I fought a bloody battle for three days and nights, killing seven Foundation Establishment cultivators and severely injuring a Golden Core elder. I then fled to this place with the 'True Blood Poison Pattern Foundation Establishment Chapter'."

"This place was originally an ancient battlefield, where resentment gathers and poisonous miasma grows rampant. I used the terrain to set up the 'Black Wind Secret Realm' to conceal the secrets of heaven, to focus on healing my wounds, and to reforge my poisonous patterns."

"However, my foundation has been damaged, and my lifespan is coming to an end. I have exhausted my remaining strength to set up an 'Ancient Teleportation Array' in the central part of the secret realm. The array diagram comes from battlefield ruins and can connect to a desolate state 100,000 miles away."

"This formation requires three 'Boundary-Suppressing Flags' as coordinate tokens to activate. I have forged three flags and hidden them in various secret locations, waiting for those destined to receive them."

"If anyone in future generations inherits my legacy and refines the True Blood Poison Pattern, they should know that the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons considers this pattern taboo. Once exposed, a Golden Core cultivator will personally come to extract their soul and refine their spirit, seizing the pattern to regenerate them."

"The teleportation array is the only way out. Once the three flags are gathered and infused with the power of the poisonous runes, it can be activated."

"My path is about to end. I leave this jade slip, hoping that those who come after me will not repeat my mistakes."

The message ends here.

Jiang Bai slowly put down the jade slip and remained silent for a long time.

It turned out to be the case.

The Black Wind Valley secret realm wasn't the ancient ruins discovered by the three clan ancestors at all, but rather a hiding place personally set up by the Blood Vine True Man to escape pursuit. That ancient teleportation array could actually connect directly to the desolate state tens of thousands of miles away. No wonder Li Zhen went to great lengths to change the competition rules and implement a flag-capturing melee—the Li family probably already knew part of the truth about the secret realm and wanted to monopolize the teleportation array to escape the prison that was Ping'an County.

As I was pondering this, the system's light screen automatically appeared in my mind.

[Hidden Quest Triggered: Lord of the Secret Realm]

[Mission Objective: Collect all three town boundary flags (main flags) to activate the ancient teleportation array]

[Mission Rewards: +3 Deaths, 1 Random Purple Affix]

Current progress: 2/3

Jiang Bai stared at the words "Deaths +3," his eyes brightening slightly. The number of deaths granted by the system was his greatest asset in this cruel world. Each additional death gave him more confidence to try and fail, more trump cards to reverse life and death, not to mention the purple attribute. Of the six attributes he currently possessed, only two were blue; the power of the purple attribute was evident from the [Poisonous Pattern Resonance]. This task had to be completed.

The latter half of the jade slip contained a detailed map of the secret realm. The location of the central altar was marked as being due north of the core area, approximately twenty miles away. The altar was guarded by array puppets, whose strength was equivalent to the early Foundation Establishment stage, and it was the last line of defense left behind by Bloodvine True Man before his death.

Jiang Bai sat down cross-legged and began to take stock of his cards.

[Poison Explosion] is off cooldown, and poison reserves have been restored to 60%. [Desperate Counterattack] will not be usable again for another six hours. [Shadow Stealth], after being upgraded to blue quality, has its duration extended to half an hour, its cooldown halved, and its stealth effect remains unchanged while moving, making it a god-tier stealth skill. [Venom Corrosion] is a newly acquired poison rune ability, which is remarkably effective against beings of resentment; it was used to kill the Black Fiend Valley Master earlier. Although the Burial Mountain Ancient Sword is damaged, its blade is still thick and heavy, and combined with the power of the poison runes, its power is considerable.

In addition... Jiang Bai poured out a bunch of things from the Valley Master's storage ring: more than two thousand low-grade spirit stones and seventeen mid-grade spirit stones—this was almost half of Black Fiend Valley's accumulated wealth over the years; more than forty bottles of various pills, three of which were labeled "For Foundation Establishment Stage Only," which Jiang Bai couldn't use now but could keep; more than one hundred and twenty talismans, most of which were mid-to-high-grade Yellow Rank, with attack, defense, and support capabilities. What Jiang Bai cared about most were the seven low-grade Profound Rank "Thunderfire Talismans," which, when activated, were equivalent to a full-force attack from an early Foundation Establishment cultivator; and three magic weapons: a palm-sized black bone shield, a ghost claw glowing with green light, and a short blade as thin as a cicada's wing.

Jiang Bai refined the bone shield and discovered that it could automatically protect its master, with defensive power comparable to the protective aura of a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the early stages. However, each activation required a large amount of spiritual power. He temporarily put away the ghost claw and the short blade, as he was not used to such sinister magical artifacts.

Finally, he took out the crimson flag and the black flag from his bosom. According to the jade slip, the true names of these two flags are "Li Huo Zhen Jie Qi" (Boundary Flag of Li Huo) and "Xuan Yue Zhen Jie Qi" (Boundary Flag of Xuan Yue). The patterns on the flags are not decorations, but miniature array diagrams carved by True Person Blood Vine with his own poisonous power. They are both coordinate tokens of the teleportation array and contain some of the profound meaning of the poisonous patterns.

Jiang Bai attempted to infuse a wisp of poisonous energy into the Li Huo Flag. The flame patterns on the flag suddenly lit up, and a scorching, highly poisonous aura wafted out. The poisonous patterns on his right arm responded in kind, with the tenth gray-black pattern glowing slightly, actually drawing a wisp of pure fire poison energy from the flag.

"I see……"

Jiang Bai seemed to be deep in thought.

The three boundary flags are not only tokens indicating coordinates, but also nourishment for his poisonous runes. If he can collect all three flags and absorb the poisonous power they contain, his True Blood Poison Soul Runes might advance even further.

He put the flag away and got up to walk outside the stone hall.

The sky was still pitch black, but in the [Killing Intent Perception], dozens of auras could be vaguely seen wandering around the outer perimeter of the core area—those were cultivators from Black Fiend Valley and the Li family, setting up the so-called "Soul Searching Net".

Jiang Bai turned back to look at the remains of the Blood Vine Immortal inside the stone hall and bowed in respect.

"I am grateful for the legacy of my predecessors."

"I will activate this teleportation array. As for the debt owed to the Valley of Ten Thousand Poisons... if there's an opportunity, I'll also try to collect some interest for you, senior."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the edge of the ruins.

The Black Fiend Valley Master's corpse still lay in the scorched pit. Jiang Bai hesitated for a moment, then turned back, dragged the withered body up, and walked more than a hundred feet towards another area in the core area where there was obvious fluctuation of fiendish spirits. He then dropped the body and deliberately left several traces of fighting and escape nearby.

After doing all this, he used [Shadow Stealth] again, his figure becoming an almost imperceptible shadow as he stealthily headed due north.

The twenty-mile journey was not easy, especially in the third layer of poisonous miasma.

Along the way, they encountered four waves of wandering evil spirits, but Jiang Bai easily dealt with them all using the [Venomous Corrosion] combined with the Burial Mountain Sword. With each evil spirit he killed, the poisonous markings on his right arm absorbed a considerable amount of vengeful power, and the tenth gray-black marking became increasingly solid.

Two hours later, a huge black shadow emerged from the poisonous miasma ahead.

It was a black altar over thirty feet tall, constructed entirely of dark stone, its surface covered with dense patterns of poisonous vines. At the top of the altar stood an earthen-yellow flag, embroidered with a pattern of layered mountains—the very border flag of Kunyue Town.

The third main flag is just around the corner.

But Jiang Bai did not rush forward.

[Killing Intent Perception] clearly revealed that within a ten-zhang radius around the altar, the ground, stone steps, and even the air were filled with interwoven array spiritual light. Beside the flagpole atop the altar stood two stone statues, each about ten zhang tall, with human bodies and snake tails, their faces indistinct, each holding a stone halberd. They stood silently, seemingly inanimate, yet Jiang Bai could sense a powerful and icy spiritual energy fluctuation within the statues—the aura of the early Foundation Establishment stage, and there were two of them.

Jiang Baifu silently observed from a crevice in the rock a hundred feet away from the altar.

Forcing their way in is a poor strategy. Even if they use [Desperate Counterattack] and [Poison Explosion], their chances of winning against two puppets with Foundation Establishment level combat power are no more than 30%.

We must outsmart them.

His gaze swept over the array patterns surrounding the altar, recalling the "Introduction to Breaking Common Magic Arrays" given to him by his master, Jiang Yuanshan. He then compared it with the description of this array in the jade slip—this array was called "Twin Serpents Suppressing the Mountain," using two puppets as its core, connecting to the earth's ley lines and poisonous miasma, combining offense and defense. The key to breaking the array lay in simultaneously severing the connection between the puppets and the earth's ley lines.

But how can we do it "at the same time"?

Jiang Bai looked at the poisonous markings on his right arm, then glanced at the seven Thunderfire Talismans in his storage bag, and a thought slowly formed.

He exited the crevice and walked halfway around the altar, finding a node with relatively sparse array patterns. He then took out six earth wall talismans from his storage bag, used the power of the poisonous patterns to infuse the spirit-corroding powder into the talisman paper, and then quietly affixed them to six rocks around the node according to specific directions—these six talismans formed a small "spirit-trapping array," which, though rudimentary, was enough to isolate the flow of earth veins within a small area for a short time.

Then, Jiang Bai took out the three Thunderfire Talismans, smeared the edges of the talismans with the highly poisonous powder scraped from the skull cane of the Black Fiend Valley Master, and then used the power of the poison pattern to compress the gray-black mist of [Vengeful Poison Erosion], allowing it to seep into the interior of the talisman paper bit by bit.

After doing all this, he dived back into the crevice and waited quietly.

The effect of [Shadow Stealth] can last for another fifteen minutes—that's enough.

He closed his eyes and focused his mind, adjusting himself to his optimal state, before suddenly opening them.

His figure flashed out like a ghost, heading straight for the altar!

Almost the instant he stepped into the array's range, the two stone statues on the altar trembled simultaneously, and a scarlet light shone from their stone eye sockets!

"Trespassers, die!"

A chilling wave of divine sense swept out, and two stone halberds slashed down from the sky. The halberd wind tore through the poisonous miasma, carrying the terrifying pressure of a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, and descended upon Jiang Bai!

Jiang Bai neither dodged nor evaded, and his right hand wielded the Burial Mountain Sword fiercely upwards!

The swords and halberds clashed, producing a dull, deafening roar. Jiang Baihu's mouth split open, and he was sent flying backward by the shockwave. However, he twisted his body forcefully in mid-air, raised his left hand, and three Thunderfire Talismans transformed into streaks of light, shooting straight at the node marked by the Earth Wall Talisman on the base of the altar!

"burst!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three clusters of thunder, fire, and poisonous clouds exploded simultaneously!

The array patterns at the node fluctuated violently, and the six earthen wall talismans activated in response, transforming into six earthen-yellow light walls that firmly locked down the area of ​​the explosion!

The flow of the earth's veins was forcibly severed in an instant.

The two stone statues on the altar paused simultaneously, and the light in their scarlet eye sockets dimmed by a third.

It's now!

The moment Jiang Bai landed, he unleashed the full power of [Swift Shadow Step], his figure shooting towards the stone statue on the left side of the altar like lightning!

The poisonous patterns on his right arm were fully activated, with nine patterns bursting out with dazzling light. The tenth gray-black pattern even detached from his arm and transformed into a tangible chain of resentful poison, which wrapped around the snake's tail on the stone statue!

The stone statue swung its halberd and fell.

Jiang Bai didn't dodge. He met the attack with his left Thunder Fang Sword, while his right Burial Mountain Sword pierced the stone statue's chest at a tricky angle, aiming straight for an inconspicuous crack!

That's where the puppet's core is, as recorded in the jade slip!

clang!

The Thunder Fang Sword was knocked away by the Stone Halberd, and Jiang Bai heard the sound of bone cracking in his left arm, but his right hand's Burial Mountain Sword had already precisely pierced into the crack!

The dark gray resentment surged wildly into the sword!

The stone statue trembled violently, its scarlet eye sockets flashed rapidly, and finally went out completely.

The other stone statue had now broken free from the earth's ley lines, and its stone halberd swept across with overwhelming fury!

Jiang Bai drew his sword and retreated hastily, at the same time a thought flashed through his mind—

"Poison Explosion, activate!"

Sixty percent of the toxins stored in the poisonous markings on his right arm exploded at this moment!

Instead of spreading outwards, it was forcibly compressed into a small area at the top of the altar, turning into a cloud of poisonous dark blue and gray-black that completely engulfed the remaining stone statue!

A piercing sound of rocks cracking came from within the poisonous cloud.

Three breaths later, the poisonous cloud dissipated.

The stone statue was covered in cracks, its movements were frozen in place, and the red light in its eye sockets flickered until it finally dimmed completely.

Jiang Bai knelt on one knee, panting heavily.

A strong sense of emptiness came from the poisonous markings on his right arm, and the one-day cooldown for [Poison Explosion] began.

But he looked up at the top of the altar.

The earthen-yellow boundary flag of Kunyue Town was quietly planted on the flagpole.

Jiang Bai grinned, staggered to his feet, and walked step by step up the stone steps of the altar.

Arriving at the flagpole, I reached out and grasped it.

Pull hard.

"Clang—"

The moment the flag left the altar, the entire altar emitted a deep rumble, and the poisonous vine patterns carved on the altar lit up one by one, then went out one by one.

Eventually, everything returned to calm.

Jiang Bai put the third main flag into his storage bag.

The system notification arrived in my mind as expected:

[Hidden Quest "Lord of the Secret Realm" Progress Update: 3/3]

[Submit the task now?]

Jiang Bai did not rush to submit.

"No rush."

He muttered to himself, sat cross-legged at the top of the altar, and began to use his internal energy to heal his injuries.

"We can claim the reward after we leave this secret realm."

"Now……"

"It's time to think about how to close the net."