Divine Root Bone

Just as the strange phenomena in the inn were quietly spreading, far away in the Southern Region, deep within the Chaotic Burial Valley, west of the Azure Cloud Mist Sect and east of the Broken Cloud Canyon, a shocking change was taking place in a mysterious and ancient side hall, unknown to anyone.

Previously, Zhang Yang had encountered a fortuitous opportunity. Guided by the mysterious black jade within his body, he broke through layers of illusory restrictions and found a hidden stone chamber in the heart of a side hall, a chamber concealed for countless years. At that time, the stone chamber was surrounded by only fine cracks, the gaps deep and dark, occasionally emanating a few wisps of faint, cold, and malevolent energy. It seemed ordinary, merely a trace left by the erosion of time and the loosening of the earth's veins. No one would have connected these minute cracks with the calamity in the Eastern Region thousands of miles away.

The entire ancient side hall was trembling silently and continuously.

There was no earth-shattering roar, no violent tremor, yet this subtle vibration within the deathly silence was more chilling than any cataclysmic event. The ancient stone bricks of the entire palace loosened layer by layer, and a thick, black, foul mist seeped from between the bricks. The previously stagnant and cold air inside the palace now churned and surged wildly, as if a malevolent spirit that had slumbered for millennia beneath the earth was slowly awakening and breaking free.

If Zhang Yang were to return to this place now and step into this desolate ancient side hall, he would surely be so shocked by the scene before him that he would feel a chill run down his spine and his blood would almost freeze instantly!

Those once tiny, narrow, and inconspicuous fissures in the earth's veins are no longer what they used to be.

The originally thin, finger-like cracks, with limited depth, are now expanding, tearing, and extending wildly!

The earth's rock strata crumbled inch by inch, peeling away layer by layer. The ancient rock strata, as hard as refined steel, were torn apart, stretched, and collapsed like fragile paper by an invisible, immense force. Countless fragments of stone, bone chips, and decaying rocks fell with a rustling sound, crashing into the deep earth, leaving not even a trace of echo.

What were originally fine cracks and fissures have now expanded into a giant, pitch-black gaping hole that is several meters wide, boundless, and bottomless!

The gaping hole was ferocious and terrifying, with its edges twisted and uneven, covered with strange marks of being corroded, burned, and gnawed by evil energy. The rocks were black and gray, loose and decayed, and icy cold to the touch, carrying ancient and incorruptible corpse poison and filth. It was like a giant, gaping maw that led to the deepest part of the chaotic burial valley.

Within this enormous underground maw, there was no light, no life, and even the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the gentle breeze, were completely swallowed up and cut off.

Instead, there was an endless stream of dark, malevolent energy!

Thick, billowing black gas, like boiling, hellish waves, surged and erupted wildly from the underground breach, shooting straight into the sky!

This is neither the sinister demonic energy cultivated by ordinary demonic cultivators, nor the malevolent energy generated by ordinary mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

This aura was as black as ink, as thick as paste, dark and lifeless, devoid of any restlessness or ferocity, yet it carried an ancient, sealed, decaying, and desolate chill that devoured everything. As the black aura surged and rolled, the surrounding space subtly twisted, wrinkled, and collapsed, the air was completely frozen, and the temperature of the entire ancient side hall instantly plummeted to an extreme cold. Even a Foundation Establishment expert standing here would instantly experience stagnation of qi and blood, a chill in their primordial spirit, and a tremor in their Dao heart.

Countless streams of black energy surged out, rushing up to the dome of the side hall. The moment they touched the ancient restrictions of the hall, they instantly changed direction, no longer spreading outwards, and instead sank and descended rapidly through the giant opening!

Countless strands of pitch-black evil energy converged into a surging black torrent, like a ceaseless underground ghost river, rushing forward along the torn abyss of the earth's veins, plunging into the deepest part of the earth.

It plunged rapidly into the desolate, uninhabited land tens of thousands of meters underground, tearing through rock layers, ripping apart the earth's veins, and crushing bones!

The deeper you go, the darker and more desolate the space becomes, and the more eerie and terrifying it becomes.

Ten thousand meters underground, it was long beyond the realm of comprehension. Here, there was no alternation of day and night, no changing seasons, no trace of life, only endless darkness, endless silence, endless piles of ancient bones, and yin energy accumulated over billions of years. The rock strata were pitch black and decaying, the earth's veins were filled with malevolent forces, and every inch of space was filled with highly poisonous yin energy capable of corroding a cultivator's body and eroding their soul.

The black, malevolent energy that had descended from the gap in the side hall of the chaotic burial valley continued unabated, piercing through ten thousand meters underground and rushing rapidly towards the deeper and more distant eastern underground veins!

As the gaze extends along the underground veins where black energy surges, a terrifying truth that is enough to overturn everyone's understanding is completely revealed!

Deep beneath this 10,000-meter-deep underground lies a hidden natural underground tunnel that runs north to south, traverses several regions, and spans thousands of miles of mountains and rivers!

This secret passage was not carved by human hands, but was formed by the ancient upheavals and the fracture and compression of the earth's veins. It has been sealed by thick layers of rock for thousands of years, unknown, unexplored, and unnoticed by anyone, remaining silent and hidden from the world for eternity.

The walls of the secret passage were gleaming black from being soaked in the yin energy of countless years. The stone patterns were ancient and rugged, with jagged cracks left by the compression of the earth's veins and the collapse of ancient times visible everywhere. Every inch of the rock exuded an antiquity and deathly stillness far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

If someone were to look closely and examine a very inconspicuous, mottled rock wall on the side of this dark passage, which is covered by thick black evil energy for many years and almost no one can find it, they would see a line of blurry but still discernible ancient seal script engravings on the layers of decayed, mottled stone surface that has been smoothed by yin energy!

The characters are vigorous and ancient, with a sense of vicissitude and weight. They are not the script of contemporary monks, but an ancient script from a time that has long been lost.

The passage of time has been too long, and the edges of the engravings have long been worn away by the endless underground winds, evil energy, and turbid currents. The characters are incomplete, mottled, and dim. Unless you get close and concentrate, and use your spiritual power to clear away the black and foul air covering the stone wall, you will not be able to detect them at all.

Among the remaining strokes, one can still discern a cold and soul-stirring record of time—

"This path was created by nature, dating back 100,000 years."

These seven words alone are enough to send a chill down the spine of anyone who catches a glimpse of them!

This underground ghost path connecting the Southern and Eastern Regions is not an ancient earth vein that is thousands or tens of thousands of years old, but has existed for a full hundred thousand years!

A hundred thousand years!

Ten thousand years of accumulated evil, ten thousand years of circulating malevolent energy, ten thousand years of secret gestation!

People only know that the mass grave valley is a cursed place for thousands of years, and that evil spirits have frequently appeared in Shou'an Cemetery in recent years. No one would have thought that this hell passage that spans thousands of miles and connects two regions has been quietly lurking deep in the earth for hundreds of thousands of years!

For 100,000 years, it remained hidden and silent, quietly connecting the source of evil in the southern region with the land of the eastern region, day and night sending out yin and evil turbid energy, nourishing the evil creatures underground, giving birth to strange puppets, and laying out a terrifying scheme that spanned 100,000 years!

At this moment, all the terrifying truths that connect everything become completely clear, completely closed, and utterly horrifying!

The mysterious side hall deep in the chaotic burial valley of the Southern Region is separated from the cemetery behind Shou'an Village in the Eastern Region by thousands of miles of mountains and rivers and several territories. They seem to be completely unrelated, but in fact, they are inextricably linked by this ancient underground ghost path that has existed for tens of thousands of years. They are of the same lineage and communicate with each other in the yin and yang realms!

An endless stream of ancient, sinister black energy surged from the underground of the forbidden side hall in the Southern Region, flowing eastward day and night through an ancient secret passage that had existed for 100,000 years, continuously pouring into the depths of the underground cemetery behind Shou'an Village in the Eastern Region!

This explains why the Shouan Village cemetery is filled with eerie atmosphere, teeming with evil spirits, where puppets appear, and strange occurrences happen frequently!

Why is the entire Blackstone Ridge area secretly set up with a terrifying scheme to hunt and raise cultivators?

Why would the strongest beings in the Central Plains sense the earth-shattering and sinister changes brewing in the Eastern Region?

All the sinister sources, all the strange phenomena, all the puppet manipulation, and all the low-level cultivator hunting and breeding schemes, all traced back to the Southern Region's Chaotic Burial Valley, an ancient and ferocious forbidden land that has existed for ten thousand years!

Within the underground passages, black energy surged ceaselessly, like an inexhaustible undercurrent of hell.

The rock strata on the four walls of the secret passage had been soaked and corroded by endless evil black energy for hundreds of millions of years. The rock strata were black and shiny, covered with a layer of viscous, cold, and slippery dark ghost light. Countless fine black yin threads, as thin as hair, were wrapped in the gaps between the walls. They were of the same origin and had the same aura as the soul-controlling threads that had previously controlled the three inner disciples of the Qingyun Sect!

From the depths of the dark passage, faint, low, and indistinct eerie sounds could be heard from time to time.

Like the whispers of ancient, lingering souls, like the trembling of withered bones, like the slumbering breaths of a monstrous demon from the depths of the earth, each sound was obscure and each phrase sinister, faintly emanating from behind thick layers of rock, causing hearts and minds to tremble and the Dao to waver.

The massive crack in the side hall of the chaotic burial valley continued to slowly expand, and the earth's tremors became more frequent and subtle.

The endless black gas continued to gush, sink, and flow eastward without ceasing.

at this time.

Deep beneath the dark cemetery on the back mountain of Shou'an Village in the eastern region.

Endless black energy surged and churned, ancient, malevolent energy gathering in layers upon layers. The entire graveyard was filled with howling winds, and the earth undulated slightly, as if a terrifying entity that had slumbered for countless years was finally slowly awakening.

At the heart of the darkness, a blurry, distorted, and completely indistinct humanoid shadow stood silently.

The silhouette of the human figure was naturally surrounded by an invisible and intangible supreme protective domain that enveloped all directions.

This realm is neither dazzling nor violent, and is even silent, yet it possesses an absolute barrier at the level of heaven and earth. The surging baleful energy, the rampaging yin wind, and the shattered power of the earth veins around him, as long as they come within ten feet of him, are instantly reduced to zero, annihilated, and calmed down.

The shadows in the outline do not need to be stirred by evil energy or activated by any technique; the protective rules of the heaven and earth level inherent in the physical body are enough to suppress the yin and yang energy of the entire graveyard.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth prostrated themselves, retreated, and submitted before him, while the evil and turbid energy flowed gently beside him like a stream.

He is the true source of this sinister upheaval in the entire Eastern Region.

All the previous manipulations of the silk threads, all the changes in the cultivators, all the actions of the puppet woman, and all the strange layouts of Black Stone Ridge were never the puppet woman's own doing.

Everything was remotely controlled and secretly orchestrated by him!

In the darkness, the blurry figure trembled slightly, and a low, obscure murmur seeped from the void. The words were unintelligible, but they conveyed an ancient, deathly indifference and coldness.

He knew that his own essence needed to maintain the operation of the Ghost Path for 100,000 years and continuously nourish the entire Yin Sha Grand Array of the Eastern Region, so he could not easily spare his power to act in the mortal world.

If a large amount of splitting force is involved, it will directly shake the foundation of the underground ghost path and deplete its own original essence.

Therefore, he only extracted a faint trace of his essence from his body of endless darkness and condensed it into a brand new clone.

This clone had a bland aura, low cultivation level, limited combat power, and extremely weak presence, making it almost impossible for powerful individuals to notice it.

[Note: This applies to it because its cultivation level is low!]

Even though he had only condensed a clone, his original evil body still trembled slightly, consuming his irreplaceable foundational power.

He must retain the vast majority of his mental and physical energy, firmly rooted deep underground, to continue:

1. Remotely control all the dark threads in the graveyard

2. Control all of the puppet woman's actions

3. Continuously suppressing, parasitizing, and manipulating three out-of-control inner disciples of Blackstone Ridge.

4. Maintain the eerie, cage-like layout of the entire Black Stone Ridge Inn.

The clone silently stepped out of the darkness, responsible for wandering around, guiding and leading strangers, assisting in assimilation, and heading towards the West District.

……

Meanwhile, in the eerie, windowless inn of Black Stone Ridge in the Eastern Region.

After listening to Su Qingyao's report on all the strange phenomena, Zhang Yang frowned deeply, his unease growing stronger.

He clearly sensed that the strangeness of this place was no accident.

A silent beckoning, a midnight extradition, cultivators inexplicably being controlled, everyone in a windowless, sealed room...

The entire inn resembles a giant, living prison or hunting ground.

Sitting idly by and waiting for death will only lead you step by step into the enemy's trap.

"We can't wait any longer."

Zhang Yang spoke in a deep voice, his gaze sweeping over the two women beside him.

"Our senior disciple lives alone in the next courtyard, quite far from us. The situation is strange, and we don't know if he's safe. We'll go out and find him immediately, gather everyone together, and then investigate the truth."

Lin Wanqing and Su Qingyao nodded repeatedly. At this moment, the two of them were already on edge and dared not be alone with each other.

The three of them caught their breath and prepared to leave the room immediately to search for the person.

At this moment, the deeper, more terrifying rules of the entire inn courtyard are being fully revealed.

All the rooms here have their windows sealed off, leaving no room for light to pass through, not at all to trap the people inside.

The real rules of terror are quite the opposite—

The windows were sealed off to block the eyes of the cultivators inside, preventing them from seeing the wandering evil shadows and the silently moving controlled cultivators outside!

The evil spirits deliberately deprive everyone inside the house of their view of the outside world, leaving the guests unaware, clueless, and at ease to rest.

However, from outside, one can clearly see, sense, and monitor everyone inside each room through the cracks in the walls and through the energy field of the earth's veins.

The people inside the house have zero vision and are completely blind.

An evil creature outside, all-seeing and with pinpoint accuracy in hunting.

This is the most sinister and vicious layout of the Black Stone Ridge Inn!

As the night deepened, the inn's eeriness fully erupted.

More and more guest rooms had their stone doors slowly pushed open.

One after another, the cultivators who were originally resting normally now stood stiffly at the doorway, their eyes vacant and faces expressionless, heads bowed, silent, repeating only one action—

The two or three, or even four or five, strange phenomena that Su Qingyao had witnessed before were just the beginning.

At this moment, such eerie and deathly figures can be seen everywhere in the entire corridor, the entire backyard, and inside and outside the inn.

Those cultivators who were beckoned, led away, or summoned to approach would invariably find themselves entering the other person's room.

No one knew that stepping into the room was the beginning of becoming prey.

There was no food or drink served inside, and no business or conversation took place.

Only silent parasitism, the entanglement of yin energy, the entry of threads into the body, and assimilation from the same source!

When two cultivators share a room, their evil energies intertwine and infect each other. The weaker one is parasitized and devoured by the stronger one's evil energy, their soul is slowly stripped away, their memories are erased layer by layer, and their body is assimilated by evil power.

Or perhaps the two were simultaneously controlled by a remote evil source from underground, their yin energy intertwined and their evil threads merged, completely turning them into newly born puppets of a unified faction.

With each additional person extradited, the sinister aura of the entire Black Stone Ridge intensifies.

With each person assimilated, the territory controlled by the underground evil source expands by one unit.

In the dead of night, the entire inn was undergoing a terrifying baptism of predation, parasitism, and transformation, with everyone hunting, parasitizing, and transforming.

……

Even more dangerously, the senior disciple whom everyone had been worried about had now completely fallen into the trap.

Previously, the evil energy remaining in his body had never been completely eradicated; it had only been temporarily suppressed deep within his meridians and flesh.

He was one of the first to be corrupted by the evil threads and nearly lost control; his body already contained the roots of evil and the seeds of parasitism.

In the past, evil influences were restrained from a distance, lying dormant and seemingly unharmed.

But tonight!

The evil energy that has existed underground for 100,000 years is fully unleashed, and the true source of yin and evil is completely awakened and fully dominates the entire area!

The evil seed buried deep within his senior brother's body was instantly and completely activated!

Without a sound, the evil energy surged, revived, and spread wildly from the depths of his flesh, blood, meridians, and soul!

The senior disciple sat alone in the room next door, his body suddenly stiffening, and the last trace of clarity in his eyes rapidly faded.

His muscles twitched slightly and uncontrollably, and faint black threads could be seen moving and shimmering under his skin.

The remaining rationality struggled desperately, but was like a drop in the ocean, instantly swallowed up by boundless evil.

His old illness completely relapsed, the second parasitic infection was completed, and he was completely under control!

At this moment, he was no longer the steady and responsible senior brother of the Qingyun Sect.

He became the most hidden and deadliest pawn that the evil source planted in the team!

……

Zhang Yang led Lin Wanqing and Su Qingyao through the door and into the silent corridor in the dead of night.

A cold wind swept across my face, its chill penetrating to the bone.

The entire corridor was eerily quiet.

The stone doors to countless guest rooms on both sides are half-open and half-closed.

A series of empty figures stood silently at the entrance, their eyes lowered, their hands gesturing without a sound.

The night was deep, and the hunt was complete.

Zhang Yang's gaze was sharp as a sword; he understood completely in his heart—

This Black Stone Ridge competition has never been a training ground for minor sects.

This is an eternal hunting feast that lasts for endless years, specifically for hunting low-level Qi Refining cultivators!

And they were already trapped in the cage!

The three of them remained vigilant and cautious all the way, and soon arrived at the door of their senior brother's windowless stone house.

Before Zhang Yang could even raise his hand to knock, the heavy stone door slowly opened from the inside out. His senior brother, dressed in the Qingyun Sect's standard Daoist robe, stood inside. His expression was calm and composed, and his demeanor and speech showed no sign of anything amiss. His aura was steady and restrained, showing no signs of the twisting and twitching caused by the evil energy's erosion. It was as if the sudden awakening of the evil spirit within him and the parasitism of his soul by the threads had never happened.

He looked up at the three people approaching and immediately saw through Zhang Yang's purpose. Before Zhang Yang could speak, he spoke first, and the two of them thought the same thing: "I know you noticed the strange phenomenon in the courtyard and are worried about the safety of everyone, so you came to find me to join you."

Seeing this, Zhang Yang relaxed slightly, assuming that his senior brother had already noticed the strange situation in the inn. He then spoke frankly about his plans: "Senior brother, there's something eerie about the courtyard. The three inner disciples who were left in the inner courtyard are still missing. I plan to go find them and investigate their situation."

The senior disciple nodded slightly and calmly assigned tasks: "You go ahead and check on the disciples inside the sect. I'll join you later. There are also five rogue cultivators from the Southern Region who traveled with us. I'll go and gather them together to prevent them from getting separated and encountering misfortune. It'll be more efficient if we split up."

After a moment's thought, Zhang Yang felt that splitting up was indeed the safest option and didn't dwell on the oddities. Just as he was about to agree, his senior brother suddenly changed the subject and asked, "Wanqing, Qingyao, which of you would like to come with me to gather those five rogue cultivators from the Southern Region? It'll be safer with another person by your side."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yang felt a strange, inexplicable feeling. In the past, his senior brother was always calm and meticulous in his actions, assigning tasks in a clear and organized manner, never changing arrangements on the spot, and never specifically inviting the two women to choose him to accompany them. This sudden invitation, with his tone of voice and style of behavior, was completely different from his usual self, exuding an indescribable sense of incongruity.

Strange as it may be, the situation was urgent, so Zhang Yang didn't delve into the worst-case scenario. He simply assumed his senior brother had mentioned it casually and turned to look at the two women beside him, waiting for their reply.

Su Qingyao was meticulous and always cautious. Upon hearing this, she subconsciously glanced at her senior brother a couple more times. However, he was, after all, a highly respected senior brother in the Qingyun Sect who had always taken care of everyone during their journey. Although she felt a slight awkwardness, she assumed it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision and didn't think too much about the terrifying possibilities of being possessed by evil spirits or being controlled by someone else. She immediately shook her head and stated her plan: "I will still go with Zhang Yang to find the inner disciples. The whereabouts of the three people there are unknown, and we need more manpower."

Lin Wanqing, standing to the side, was kind-hearted and always considerate of others. She was also skilled in healing and qi analysis, and like a traveling healer, she was always concerned about everyone's safety. She glanced at her senior brother, who was alone, and then at Zhang Yang and Su Qingyao beside her. She secretly thought to herself: her senior brother was going to contact five rogue cultivators by himself, and he was short-handed. If something happened to him on the way, he would inevitably be unable to take care of them. If she went along to lend a hand, she could provide more support.

She immediately tugged at Zhang Yang's sleeve and said softly, "Zhang Yang, I'll go with my senior brother to find those five rogue cultivators from the Southern Region. It'll be good to give him some help. You two go and find the inner disciples to see what the situation is. It'll be safer for the two of you to go together."

After a moment's consideration, Zhang Yang felt that this made sense. Both sides had important matters to attend to, and with two people accompanying each of them, there was indeed no need to worry. So he nodded in agreement.

The two groups parted ways in front of the stone house. Su Qingyao followed Zhang Yang and turned to go deeper into the inner courtyard to check on the situation in the small house where the three inner disciples lived.

On the other side, the senior disciple's gaze fell on Lin Wanqing, his tone calm and even, and he led the way: "Wanqing, let's set off. Let's go to the rooms where the five rogue cultivators in the Southern Region are staying and meet up with them."

After saying that, he turned around and stepped into the dark corridor. Lin Wanqing did not hesitate for a moment and quickly followed beside him. The two walked along the desolate and cold corridor toward the courtyard where the rogue cultivators lived. They were completely unaware that under the skin of the person beside them, strands of black yin energy were silently traveling along the meridians, and the depths of his eyes were already completely covered by dense death energy.

at the same time.

Inside another windowless stone chamber, the five rogue cultivators who had come from the Southern Region were already on high alert. The female cultivator who had gone out with Su Qingyao to investigate earlier and was the first to encounter the eerie, soul-snatching figure in the corridor rushed back into the room and immediately told the other one woman and three men in the room everything about the terrifying phenomenon she had seen in the corridor late at night.

All five were at the peak of Qi Refining, possessing solid and stable foundations. In this chaotic inn on the west side of Black Stone Ridge, they were already top-tier experts, far superior to ordinary low-level cultivators. Hearing that evil lurked around the inn, the five dared not be negligent. They gripped their personal magical artifacts tightly, their inner energy quietly circulating around them to protect themselves. Five three-foot-long inner energy shields appeared on their outer sides, ready to be deployed. They stood back to back, guarding the four doors of the stone chamber, waiting for any strange disturbances to appear so that the five of them could join forces to fight back.

Deep within the dimly lit corridor, the senior disciple was leading Lin Wanqing slowly toward the hermitage of this rogue cultivator. Halfway there, he suddenly stopped, as if sensing something hidden in the unfamiliar stone chamber next door. He turned to Lin Wanqing beside him and calmly instructed, "Wait here for a moment. I'm going to retrieve something important from this stone chamber. I'll be right back."

Lin Wanqing immediately felt a deep sense of doubt. The stone room beside her was a guest room rented by other unfamiliar cultivators, not their room. There were no belongings of the Qingyun Sect members in the room, and it was highly unusual for her senior brother to break into someone else's room to take things without reason. She was timid by nature, and now, standing alone in the desolate and cold corridor, with empty-eyed figures silently reaching out their hands behind the half-open stone doors on both sides, a chilling coldness crept up her spine, making her increasingly uneasy.

She weighed the pros and cons and came up with a prudent solution that would benefit both sides without delaying either.

The stone chamber where the five rogue cultivators from the Southern Region were staying wasn't far from here. If he waited idly in the same spot, his senior brother wouldn't show up for a long time, and being alone in the corridor full of eerie shadows would only become more dangerous. But if he followed his senior brother directly into the unfamiliar stone chamber, he didn't know what kind of dangers lurked inside. It would be better to go to the rogue cultivators' residence first and bring the five Qi Refining Peak cultivators here to wait. Firstly, with more people, the eerie shadows in the corridor wouldn't dare to approach easily. Secondly, if his senior brother came out of the stone chamber later, he could find them immediately without having to search around alone. Even if his senior brother happened to arrive at the rogue cultivators' residence after he arrived, they could meet up directly, saving him the trouble of going back and forth. He could take care of both sides without any conflict.

Having made up her mind, Lin Wanqing no longer lingered in place. She looked at the closed stone door of the unfamiliar stone chamber, paused for a moment, and then hurried towards the room where the five rogue cultivators from the Southern Region were ready to depart. She planned to find the five of them first and then return here together to wait for her senior brother.

At this moment, Lin Wanqing was unaware that she was only one stone door away from death.

Inside the dark, sealed stone chamber, there was no light, and it was as silent as a burial ground.

A malevolent avatar, elusive in appearance and ethereal in reality, stood silently in the darkness, shrouded in black mist, its outline hazy, its chilling malice pressing down without a trace of human voice.

The senior disciple, who was completely imprisoned, had a body as stiff as iron, and his meridians were locked by invisible yin threads, so that even his fingertips could not tremble.

Just as the ethereal, demonic hand suddenly pierced through his chest flesh, its five fingers gripping his burning, pounding heart tightly, about to tear him completely from his body—

An extreme, piercing, soul-tearing pain exploded out!

"Buzz—"

In the instant that excruciating pain washed over his soul, the last wisp of consciousness, buried deep within his heart and suppressed by evil forces, forcefully broke through the parasitic restriction!

The once lifeless and empty eyes of the senior disciple suddenly regained their clarity!

In an instant, the turbidity vanished and the darkness receded!

He regained his senses, and his vision became frighteningly clear.

He lowered his gaze, his eyes piercing through his pierced chest, and saw clearly, with utter despair—

A dark, cold, and murky ghostly hand was gripping his still pounding, burning hot heart tightly!

The heart was squeezed out of shape by external force, the blood vessels were torn, and warm blood gushed and dripped down from the ghost finger, hitting the bluestone ground with a soft sound that made one's scalp crawl.

A chilling fear, extreme pain, and a sudden awakening of shame and remorse instantly filled his entire body!

He is awake!

He was fully awake!

He clearly remembered leading his junior brothers and sisters on their journey to protect the Dao, remembered the responsibility he bore to protect everyone, and remembered that Zhang Yang, Wan Qing, Qing Yao, and other disciples were still struggling in this hellish Black Stone Ridge!

He can't die!

We cannot allow ourselves to be so humiliated, so pathetic, to have our hearts and bodies ripped out and be controlled, to die silently like puppets!

"Well--!!"

The senior disciple's eyes were bloodshot, his teeth were clenched so tightly that they seemed to grind out a bloody roar from his throat!

In dire straits, he disregarded everything, burning the last of his cultivation, overdrawing all his origin, and shattering the meridians around him that were tainted by evil energy!

The full power of the third stage of the fifth level of Foundation Establishment went berserk instantly, and the spiritual energy surged wildly. He actively mobilized the Dao Foundation Spirit Liquid, and a light golden spiritual pattern barrier was generated around his body. A circle of extremely rushed spiritual energy storms faintly exploded around him!

He's going to fight back with his life on the line!

He wants to break free from his confinement!

He had to live! He had to protect his junior brothers and sisters behind him!

Can--

His desperate last stand was as insignificant as a candle flame in the wind or an ant trying to shake a mountain in front of this evil avatar that carried the essence of the ghost path for 100,000 years!

Before he could unleash even a fraction of his power, before he could break free of any restraints.

The dark figure suddenly tightened its grip on the palm!

"Pfft—!"

A dull, muffled sound of flesh exploding rang out.

All of his struggles, resistance, and obsessions were instantly crushed by an absolutely terrifying evil force!

Life was extinguished in an instant!

That obsession, unwillingness, and stubbornness to protect the cause at all costs were all stuck in his throat, leaving no time to utter a final roar or a final word of advice.

His eyes were wide open, filled with endless regret, overwhelming resentment, and utter helplessness!

He woke up, but it was too late.

He wanted to protect it, but he had no power.

He knew that everyone behind him was in danger, but he himself became the enemy's executioner. He couldn't protect anyone until his death, and almost sent his junior brothers and sisters into the abyss with his own hands.

Endless frustration and regret were frozen in his unseeing eyes.

His body went limp, and Xiao Jingchen, a senior disciple of the Qingyun Clan at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, died tragically on the spot.

In the darkness, the evil avatar clutched a heart that was still warm and had just stopped beating, black energy surging and enveloping the flesh and blood.

Silently and indifferently, it devoured that loyal heart completely in one gulp.

Flesh and blood dissolved, essence and energy were plundered, and the embers of the soul were swallowed into nothingness.

The next moment, a cloud of black mist rolled and enveloped the entire corpse.

sizzle-

The eerie black mist corroded, smoothed out, and dissolved all traces.

The body, bloodstains, bits of flesh, and marks of the disciple's master vanished instantly under the evil magic, leaving no trace.

Then the black energy regrouped, solidified, replicated, and deduced.

The figure, clothing, eyebrows, eyes, aura, and expression are all perfectly replicated.

In the blink of an eye.

Inside the stone chamber stood a figure who looked exactly like his senior brother from the Qingyun Sect, without any difference whatsoever.

His expression was gentle, his breathing was steady, and his demeanor was normal.

Only deep within his eyes lay a chilling malice, lurking silently, undetectable to anyone.

……

The scene instantly spans thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, abruptly switching to the vast and boundless Central Plains.

Far from the chaos of the Blood Prison in Blackstone Ridge of the Eastern Region, this world is still filled with spiritual energy, with Daoist rhymes hanging in the sky, majestic and vast, as if completely isolated from the human hell of the Eastern Region.

Away from the core forbidden area, a simple and elegant scripture pavilion stands quietly.

The attic is closed year-round and rarely visited. It is shrouded in layers of restrictions and is used to store incomplete ancient books, lost scrolls, and records of regional disasters.

At this moment, someone is looking at these ancient books.

He was the one who had been instructed by the withered old man from the forbidden area to take charge of the situation in the Eastern Region.

Earlier, the withered and mysterious old man in the forbidden area, who seemed detached from the world, sensed the great changes and the rise of evil in the Eastern Region. He had secretly given him orders to keep a close watch on the unusual movements in the Eastern Region, find out the source of the disaster, and deal with this strange calamity that spanned two regions.

Upon hearing the order, he secretly harbored doubts and devised a plan.

There must be secrets, origins, and ancient remnants within them!

Therefore, he decided to peruse ancient scrolls and verify records, first tracing the origins, with the candlelight flickering on the desk, casting dappled shadows on the shelves of ancient scrolls.

Fingertips brushed over the thick, yellowed, damaged ancient books engraved with ancient seal script, carefully examining, comparing, deducing, and tracing their origins page by page.

Time slowly passed.

As ancient scrolls are opened, fragmented records, incomplete ancient accounts, and secrets of calamities buried by time gradually emerge.

At first, there were only a few scattered doubts.

The more he investigated, the more solemn his expression became, the stiffer his body became, and the more sluggish his breathing became.

When I turned to the last volume of the ancient, dusty "Records of Disasters and Anomalies in the Azure Earth Veins".

When that line of ancient characters, covered in ink stains, buried by time, and almost completely lost, came into view—

His hands suddenly froze in mid-air!

The pupils contracted violently!

His entire body's Dao heart trembled violently in an instant!

An earth-shattering secret originating from countless ages, capable of overturning the entire Cangxuan Continent's understanding, has finally surfaced!

The yellowed and tattered "Records of Disasters and Anomalies of the Azure Profound Earth Veins" was spread out under the candlelight. The thick layer of old ink stains and the moldy marks that eroded the pages were gently brushed away by a wisp of soft spiritual energy from the old man's fingertips. The seal characters buried for 100,000 years were slowly revealed. Each word pierced the eyes, causing the old man sitting in front of the table to stop his blood and qi, and his Dao heart to be stirred up by a raging storm.

The book begins by recounting how, at the beginning of time, a primordial Yin energy, existing outside the realms of Yin and Yang, was born. This being neither born nor died, nourished by the souls of living beings and the blood and qi of cultivators, yet bound by the rules of heaven and earth, it could not directly roam the human world to hunt and prey. Thus, it sought out the fractured ley lines beneath the chaotic burial valley in the Southern Region, and with the help of an ancient geological upheaval, tore open a hidden underground passage that spanned the two regions. This is the Netherworld Ghost Path, as recorded in the inscription on the stone wall, dating back a full 100,000 years.

This innate Yin energy is the mastermind behind the current situation, which is lurking underground in the Shou'an Cemetery, splitting into multiple forms and slaughtering the disciples.

Ten thousand years ago, it laid out a pattern of gradual encroachment that would last for millennia:

First: Using the Chaotic Burial Valley as the source of Yin energy, it continuously supplies pure black energy to the Eastern Region through underground tunnels that have existed for 100,000 years. This continuously nourishes the Yin and filthy energy field of the entire Eastern Region, subtly transforming the earth's veins, making ordinary people and low-level cultivators in the Eastern Region more susceptible to Yin energy and their souls more easily manipulated.

Second: Every so often, under the pretext of "small sects sparring and competing," they build cage-like inns in Black Stone Ridge. All the windows in the rooms are deliberately sealed off to isolate the cultivators inside from the outside world, while allowing evil spirits and controlled people to monitor their prey through the earth's vein energy, creating a natural hunting ground that specifically attracts cultivators at the Qi Refining Realm. Cultivators above the Qi Refining Realm have their own source protection, making them difficult for low-level Yin threads to erode, and thus not among their hunting targets.

Third: The medium for creating puppets by dividing forces, namely the puppet woman in Shou'an Cemetery, uses fine yin threads to control her prey from thousands of miles away, gradually parasitizing the cultivator's body and planting evil seeds. When the yin evil source power is sufficient, the evil seeds are awakened, completely taking over the cultivator's body and turning him into a walking puppet under her control. They guide each other, devour and assimilate each other, and continuously strengthen the yin evil energy field of the entire area.

Fourth: Every time it assimilates and devours a Qi Refining cultivator, it will extract the other's soul essence and flow back to the Chaotic Burial Valley in the Southern Region through the underground secret passage, nourishing the innate Yin Sha origin. Day after day, the cycle repeats itself, without interruption for 100,000 years.

The middle section of the ancient book records a chilling secret:

This innate Yin energy never intended to be confined to a corner of the Eastern Region. Its continuous accumulation of Yin energy and the harvesting of low-level cultivators were merely the prelude to its long-term plan. Once the Yin energy field in the Eastern Region reaches its peak and the ghostly path underground has fully integrated Yin and Yang for ten thousand years, it will completely break free from the shackles of the earth's veins, carrying boundless Yin and evil black energy out of the two regions, heading west, sweeping across the heart of the Central Continent, and slaughtering all the cultivators and living beings on the entire Cangxuan Continent.

The man's fingertips trembled slightly as he continued to scroll down.

Ten thousand years ago, our ancestors had already sensed the birth of this innate Yin energy, and the two sides had once engaged in a tremendous confrontation. However, at that time, the origin of the Yin energy was still in its infancy, and the rules of heaven and earth still protected it. Our ancestors could not directly destroy it, so they could only set up layers of heaven and earth balance seals, locking it tightly in the depths of the underground of a side hall in the Chaotic Burial Valley of the Southern Region, restricting its true form from appearing in the world, and only allowing it to send out a small amount of power to transform into a low-level clone to move outside.

Over the course of 100,000 years, the sealing power left by our ancestors has been continuously corroded by the incessant, day-and-night Yin Sha black energy. Now, the seal is riddled with cracks and is on the verge of collapse.

This is the fundamental reason why the withered old man sensed the earth-shattering and sinister changes in the Eastern Region and immediately dispatched people to investigate.

At the end of the ancient book, a line of profound words appears:

"The time returns to burial, and the highest dwells there."

A single line of text raises questions?

at this time.

If Zhang Yang were here, he would also be astonished. He had seen this sentence before in the mysterious grassland space of the side hall. However, the person reading the ancient book now was in the same state as Zhang Yang when he read it.

In Black Stone Ridge of the Eastern Region, the evil avatar that had taken the place of the senior disciple was slowly walking towards Lin Wanqing and the five rogue cultivators from the Southern Region.