Excessive ferocity due to caution

"disappointment?"

Zhao Yi smiled.

"I won't be disappointed."

"Whether you avenge Edison or not makes no difference to me."

"Anyway, I'll help him get revenge in the end."

"It is my friend."

Ouyang Feng seemed somewhat moved upon hearing this.

He looked up and carefully examined Zhao Yi.

"Thank you... but with your current strength, clashing with the church would be like throwing an egg against a rock."

Zhao Yi presented the Blue Poison project.

"There's no need for you to worry about that, sir."

"I've come here to show you what this stuff's blood actually is."

Ouyang Feng took the Blue Poison project from Zhao Yi and examined it carefully.

This thing was brought out from the [Apocalypse Outlaw] dungeon. It seems to be the blood of some terrifying creature. The church tried hard to awaken the power in the blood, but failed.

"Where did you get this?"

Ouyang Feng's tone underwent a subtle change.

Upon seeing his reaction, Zhao immediately knew that Ouyang Feng recognized the blood!

"At the church."

"Have you figured out what's going on?"

Ouyang Feng remained silent for a long time.

Are you sure you want to know?

Zhao Yi smiled and said:

"certainly."

Ouyang Feng returned the blue poison to Zhao Yi and said:

"This is a drop of contaminated blood."

"And the source of the pollution... comes from the Chaotic Era."

"Judging from the power contained within, the owner of this drop of blood is an existence surpassing even the gods..."

"and……"

At this point, Ouyang Feng carefully sensed the power attributes within his blood and continued:

"Moreover, the owner of this drop of blood has most likely received a 'blessing' from some ancient being."

"You should know about the 'Old Ones,' which includes evil gods."

"Fortunately, although this drop of blood contains unimaginable power, it has not awakened but has fallen into a deep sleep."

"Otherwise... you would most likely be dead."

Ouyang Feng spoke his mind.

"The power contained within can easily kill a great evil!"

Zhao Yi's gaze drifted toward Blue Poison.

Good heavens, this thing is terrifying?

"It can be confirmed that the owner of this drop of blood, like the blood itself, is in a dormant state."

Ouyang Feng could almost guess the whole story.

"The church is mostly researching what external stimuli can awaken the blood, thereby awakening the master of the blood."

Zhao nodded:

"That's true."

Ouyang Feng paced back and forth in front of the river for a while, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly turned to Zhao Yi and said:

"You need to find a way to notify the Fifth Federation and other major families in the capital. Although it's unlikely, if the church really finds a way to awaken the owner of this blood, the capital will face a great calamity!"

Zhao Yi carefully put away the blue poison.

"Ha ha."

He said.

Seeing his state, Ouyang Feng sensed that something was wrong.

"You wouldn't..."

Zhao Yi shook his head and smiled:

"I do have a very bad relationship with them, but not to the point of resorting to something like this to the point of mutual destruction."

"And whether these forces you're talking about have any connection to the church is another matter entirely..."

Ouyang Feng clicked his tongue:

"That's true..."

"Although the church hasn't openly extended its reach into the capital, they've actually been infiltrating the city for years..."

"And don't be fooled by the hype the capital has been making these past few years, saying things like the Fifth Federation is the sworn enemy of the Skull Church, and the only force capable of standing up to it..."

"These words were said purely to appease certain forces in the capital. The truth is, in the few times the Fifth Federation clashed with the Church, they almost never won!"

"On one occasion, they even mobilized a large force to launch a siege against a secret refuge set up by the church, but the result was that the entire force was wiped out."

"Of course, the Fifth Federation would never release such information easily."

"What 'fated rivals' and 'evenly matched' are all just false statements made up by people inside the Fifth Federation."

Zhao Yi asked curiously:

"Are the people of the Fifth Federation always this shameless?"

The old man answered very confidently:

"Yes."

"If they had any shame... they would never have climbed to that position."

Zhao expressed his gratitude to the elderly man and then left his spiritual world.

He obtained important information from Ouyang Feng.

Although they ultimately failed to revive Edison, Zhao Yi felt it was a pity.

After carefully storing away the blue poison, Zhao began preparing for the next film shoot.

The filming will take place in two days.

The most important preparation was... to keep track of who in the capital was willing to participate in the film.

At first, it was just so-so, but as the entertainment company's promotion was effective, more and more people signed up.

Especially when many people in the capital heard that the serial killer Zhao Yi was going to star in this movie, they immediately became incredibly excited.

Killing Zhao Yi would bring fame and enormous benefits!

Time flies, and soon it was time to start filming the movie.

Zhao Yi's chauffeur, Yang, arrived early to wait for him. After Zhao Yi got into the car, it sped away into the distance...

...

[Participated in the film: Exorcist]

[Starring: Zhao Yi]

[Synopsis: Over a hundred years have passed since the death of the King of Qi during the Warring States period. Ren Wudi has vanished without a trace. Suddenly, a method for breaking through to the Unity of Heaven and Man realm (a highly ominous realm) circulated in the martial arts world. The severed path of martial arts was reopened, and for the past century, the martial arts world has been in turmoil, with heroes rising up and more and more martial artists breaking through to the Unity of Heaven and Man realm. The Warring States period has also entered its peak... But at some unknown time, a terrible disease suddenly spread throughout the martial arts world. Those afflicted gradually become mindless, vengeful ghosts who only know how to slaughter. The people of the martial arts world call the disease "sin," a punishment from heaven for those martial artists who broke through to the Unity of Heaven and Man realm without authorization... In just a few years, the disease has ravaged the entire martial arts world, and countless people suffer from its torment, living in constant fear...]

[Participation objective: To find the origin of the disease.]

...

Looking into the distance, all that can be seen is devastation.

The earth was tinged with a pale red by the setting sun, and behind the desolate, broken buildings lay a bleak and tragic scene hidden deep within the bleakness.

The once bustling and prosperous city is now nothing but ruin and desolation.

In the distance, startled birds flapped their black wings and left the dangerous area as dusk fell completely.

Some dark figures wandered among the ruins, eerie and dangerous.

Their legs were off the ground, putrid blood dripped from their toes, their necks were bent into inhuman shapes, and their eyes were as white as dead fish, making people's scalp tingle!

Clearly, these floating bodies no longer belong to humans.

Zhao Yi and Su Qingyao stepped over the scattered fallen leaves, feeling the chill in the wind and the desolation of the setting sun, and a strange sense of sadness arose within them.

This place is the capital of the State of Lu.

But things have changed.

Such a horrific scene makes it difficult to guess what exactly happened back then.

Why is this happening?

Su Qingyao murmured softly, the scene before her taking her back to the past, back to her own memories.

After she awoke, she wandered in this desolate world until the blood-red oiled paper umbrella she was attached to was swept into a mysterious rift, eventually falling into the hands of her clown father and becoming one of the props used in his performance.

Later, she met Zhao Yi and pledged her loyalty to him, after which the umbrella returned to its original blue color.

Now, back in the world of her memories, Su Qingyao's curiosity, which had dried up with time, was rekindled.

The Warring States period was originally functioning normally, so why did it turn into what it is today within a hundred years?

"Do you remember what happened during the Warring States period?"

Zhao Yi asked Su Qingyao.

The latter recounted how his father's wives later behaved strangely, suddenly became violent, and did many terrible things.

"Were they always on good terms?"

"Very harmonious."

Su Qingyao said with certainty.

When she recalls those days, she can still remember some of the key features.

Zhao Yi stroked his chin, gazing at the floating ghostly figures in the distance, and said:

"In that case... it seems to explain it."

"Perhaps they were infected with a disease called 'sin,' which is why they did those things. And the reason you were abandoned by your father may also be closely related to 'sin.'"

"But since we're here, perhaps we can go check out the observatory."

The Star Gazing Tower was very close to their current location, so Zhao Yi didn't hesitate and immediately led Su Qingyao across it.

Upon discovering the two, the ghostly creatures floating in the air charged forward recklessly, their strength reaching the level of near-Great Fiend!

"It seems quite a lot has happened since Ren Wudi reopened the broken path of martial arts..."

"So many martial arts masters have actually appeared in the martial arts world during the Warring States period."

Zhao Yi pondered that since these ghosts were transformed from humans, their strength probably wouldn't be much different from when they were alive.

When he first came to this Warring States world (a hundred years ago), there were very few martial artists in the martial arts world who had even reached the Tiger Roar and Dragon Cry realm!

Faced with the onslaught of these vengeful ghosts, Zhao Yi merely glanced at them, his mental power transforming into a divine sword that shot out from his eyes, cleaving these ghosts in two!

The other ghosts sensed the ominous aura emanating from Zhao Yi and immediately realized the danger, so they quickly turned and fled!

Chi!

With a flick of his finger, Zhao Yi unleashed a torrent of lightning, annihilating all the ghosts!

The Taotie cut through their shells.

"These ghosts are so badly corrupted that even their memories have been erased..."

Zhao Yi became much more serious.

He also encountered a corpse without memory in the church in the Abyss, because its soul and karma had been taken away by the black and white bronze figures in the Hall of Coroners.

While the memories within these ghostly corpses hadn't completely disappeared—it was clear that cause and effect still existed—they were severely corroded!

This kind of power... is definitely not something an ordinary ferocious beast could achieve!

They cut up many corpses along the way.

Zhao Yi learned a general understanding of what was happening in the martial arts world—

The six states completely perished.

Nowadays, there are no longer any states in the Warring States period. All that remains is a giant sanctuary built by some powerful martial arts figures in the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world) – Bright Cliff.

The Bright Cliff is home to roughly the population of the former Warring States period.

Inside, everyone, regardless of gender or age, must learn martial arts.

According to the memories provided by the corpse, only after reaching the Transcendent Mortal Realm can one have the basic ability to resist the disease 'Sin'.

Within Bright Cliff, there are almost all the peerless experts of the contemporary era who have reached the Unity of Heaven and Man realm. They have integrated the knowledge of the Hundred Schools of Thought and formed an array to protect this vast sanctuary!

Within Bright Cliff, there is no affliction of the "sin" of disease.

However, in Bright Cliff, the land is barren and food is scarce.

To survive in the long run, a group of people must go out to collect food.

In this process, some people inevitably become corrupted, turn into patients, and eventually become vengeful ghosts!

Moreover, almost every day, terrifying ghosts attack Bright Cliff.

Therefore, the guards of Bright Cliff suffered heavy casualties, and they had to be replaced almost every few years.

The ghosts that Zhao Yi killed were martial arts practitioners who had recently come out to look for food.

They were unlucky; they were infected and transformed not long afterward.

To this day, no one knows the origin of the disease or what its transmission medium is.

That's why people are so terrified.

Zhao Yi raised his guard.

It wasn't to guard against the people who entered the movie with him, nor to guard against ghosts, but to guard against the spread of 'sin'.

With his divine powers activated, Zhao Yi attempted to 'communicate' with the surrounding plants, hoping to use their eyes to help him see what was happening.

However, neither the infected ghosts nor some plants that have existed here for hundreds of years know what exactly happened.

No one knows what the source of the disease is, nor does anyone know what the medium of transmission is.

Seeing Zhao Yi's rather subtle expression, Su Qingyao asked:

"Master, are we still going to the Star Gazing Tower?"

Zhao nodded:

"Let's go take a look."

"The Star Gazing Tower was the organization your father established. It had the most detailed intelligence in the world and wielded immense power. If something happened in the martial world, there should be some clues left there..."

"We're completely lost and in danger, so we need to act fast!"

The two quickly headed to the ruins of the Star-Gazing Tower.

The scene inside was equally bleak and desolate, and Su Qingyao's heart sank to the bottom.

With her father's cultivation level, living for two or three hundred years would not be a problem.

But... is that ghostly scholar Su Xingcan really still alive?

Inside the Star Gazing Tower, many of the magnificent and imposing buildings that were once constructed are now covered in dust, and there is no trace of human activity.

Zhao Yi scanned it with his divine sense.

Ghosts are rare, and their combat strength is not high.

After quickly dealing with them, Zhao Yi rode the floating stone, which was still in operation due to the array patterns, into the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.

Tianji Pavilion is the headquarters of the Star Gazing Tower, which was handed over to Bei Ming by Su Xingcan.

Push open the door.

Inside, there should have been a flowing galaxy and shimmering celestial light.

Now, all that remains are a pile of damaged array patterns and a few rotting, dried-up corpses on the ground.

"A major battle took place here."

Su Qingyao briefly observed her surroundings and made this conclusion.

Zhao Yi's gaze fell on the few dried corpses. He stepped forward and took out the Taotie:

"Yes."

He cut up the mummified corpse.

But the memories inside have completely decayed, and nothing can be seen.

These mummies died very early, perhaps decades ago, and were particularly deeply affected by 'sin'.

Seeing that he could not use the ox-cutting technique, Zhao Yi withdrew the Taotie.

With the power of his Evil Eye activated, Zhao Yi found a scroll of extremely yellowed writing inside the clothes of these dried corpses, the ink stains almost invisible due to the corrosion of corpse oil.

[Yin Xia...he...is...a celestial being...unable to...escape...]

Zhao Yi frowned.

Yin Xia? Yin Xiashan?

Isn't that... the place where Ren Wudi went into seclusion back then?