131: Chapter 131 They actually delivered themselves to our doorstep.

In the days that followed, the Lingyuan Family underwent a complete transformation.

The members of the Lin Family who had been bestowed with crystals began, one after another, to display astonishing cultivation speeds.

Some broke through from the Golden Core Stage to the Nascent Soul Stage, while others advanced from the Nascent Soul Stage to the Soul Transformation Stage. In just a few short days, the overall strength of the Lin Family multiplied several times over.

The cost was that dark red light began to appear in their eyes, their temperaments grew irritable and bloodthirsty, and their craving for slaughter became increasingly intense.

Yet they did not care, for the increase in power was tangible and real.

Patriarch Lin Tianyou organized the demonized Cultivators of the Lin Family and, following the methods taught by Venerable Lingyun, formed them into various hunting squads.

These squads hid during the day and moved by night, hunting Cultivators all across the Southern Wilderness.

At first, they only dared to target Loose Cultivators and small factions, but as their strength grew, their boldness increased, and they began to set their sights on the outer-circle Disciples of major factions.

Medicine King Valley, Piaomiao Sect, Qingyang Sect... the Disciples of the seven great factions became prey for the hunting squads, one by one.

The essence blood of those high-level Cultivators was continuously transported through the Blood Sacrifice Array into the blood pool of Venerable Lingyun.

Meanwhile, the hunting squads of the Lin Family grew stronger and more crazed with each successive hunt.

— —

The night was deep, and the mountains were like ink.

Zhou Tianchen and his three companions set out before dawn, continuing eastward along the increasingly narrow mountain path.

The scent of blood in the air was even stronger than it had been yesterday. By now, there was no need to deliberately sense it; the sickly sweet odor drilled straight into their noses, making one want to retch.

Shen Cihui walked at the very front, clutching the compass. The needle on its face still hung limply, motionless.

Zhou Tianchen walked in the middle of the group, his pace steady, but his gaze was more vigilant than it had been yesterday.

His Divine Sense was kept extended to its maximum range; every blade of grass, every tree, every insect, and every bird within a radius of more than ten miles was within his perception.

After walking for about an hour, the mountain path suddenly opened up.

The peaks on both sides retreated, revealing a relatively flat valley.

The valley was not large, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only the mountain path they had come from serving as the sole entrance and exit.

The valley was overgrown with waist-high weeds, and among the weeds, a few dead, withered trees were faintly visible, their bare branches stretching toward the sky like twisted ghostly claws.

Zhou Tianchen paused his steps and raised his hand to signal the three behind him to stop.

"What is it?"

Shen Cihui asked in a low voice, having already put away the compass and replaced it with a long sword that was entirely dark cyan.

Zhou Tianchen did not answer. His gaze fell upon that patch of weeds deep in the valley, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He sensed six auras hiding in those weeds, their presence fluctuating.

"There is someone," Zhou Tianchen said in a low voice, his tone calm but carrying a hint of coldness. "Six of them, hiding in the weeds."

Shen Cihui's expression changed slightly, and Chen Mo and Su Xiaowan instantly became vigilant, each tightening their grip on their respective Magical Artifacts.

Zhou Tianchen cautiously took a step forward and continued walking, his pace remaining calm, as if he had not noticed the six auras hidden in the dark at all.

Shen Cihui and the others exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and followed.

The four had not walked even ten zhang when a rustling sound suddenly erupted from the weeds deep in the valley.

Immediately after, six black shadows shot out from the weeds with astonishing speed, arriving before the four in the blink of an eye.

All six were dressed in black, their faces as pale as paper, yet their eye sockets gleamed with an eerie dark red light.

A layer of faint blood-colored mist lingered around their bodies—the same mist as Venerable Lingyun's—exuding an evil and heart-palpitating aura.

"People from Medicine King Valley?"

The leader of the black-clad figures swept his gaze over the four of them, a strange smile appearing on his face.

"They have delivered themselves to our door."

The five people behind him also had cold, gloomy gazes, scanning the four of them as if sizing up prey.

Zhou Tianchen swept his gaze over the six; all six auras were at the Soul Transformation Perfection.

As for his side, Shen Cihui and the other two were at the Soul Transformation Late Stage, and as for himself, he was at the Nascent Soul Perfection.

Judging solely by cultivation, the gap between the two sides was vast, but there was not a trace of fear on Zhou Tianchen's face.

He raised his right hand, and the qiankun furnace flew up from his waist, hovering above his palm. The runes on the furnace body lit up one by one, and golden flames danced at the furnace mouth, dispelling some of the surrounding blood-colored mist.

"Attack!" the leader of the black-clad figures barked, and the six black shadows moved simultaneously.

Their speed was astonishing; their figures left trails of afterimages in the Void Realm as they surged toward the four from six directions, carrying a dense blood-colored mist.

That evil aura rushed toward them, causing their minds to tremble slightly.

Shen Cihui's expression tightened. The dark cyan long sword in his hand suddenly lit up, and a sharp sword light pierced through the air, slashing toward the black-clad figure rushing at him.

Chen Mo and Su Xiaowan also attacked simultaneously, blasting out two Divine Abilities from different directions, temporarily forcing back the enemies in front of them.

However, the demonized Cultivators of the Lin Family were clearly not ordinary opponents. Their movement techniques were strange, their Cultivation Techniques were strange, and even the way their internal Qi circulated was completely different from normal Cultivators.

That blood-colored mist could not only erode an opponent's Qi, but it could also form an invisible shield around them; ordinary attacks striking it had their power directly weakened by several layers.

"These people aren't right!"

Shen Cihui gritted his teeth and shouted, waving his long sword in the air several times; the sword light slashed toward the black-clad figure in front of him like a bolt of silk.

But that black-clad figure merely flashed, easily dodging, and struck back with a palm. The dark red mist carried within the palm wind coiled toward Shen Cihui like a venomous snake.

Shen Cihui dodged to the side, but the sleeve on his arm was grazed by the mist, instantly corroding a fist-sized hole and revealing the reddened skin underneath.

His expression changed drastically, and he hurriedly urged his Qi to dispel the cold force that had invaded his body, retreating several steps rapidly.

Chen Mo and Su Xiaowan were not faring much better.

The two of them joined forces to tangle with two black-clad figures, but they were already struggling; if not for the fact that the two black-clad figures seemed to be holding back, they likely would have been defeated long ago.

"How can these people be so strong?"

Su Xiaowan's voice was trembling as she swung her short sword repeatedly; the sword light collided with the blood-colored mist, emitting a horrifying corrosive sound.

Zhou Tianchen stood in the center of the three, his gaze sweeping across the battlefield, taking in every movement.

The three black-clad figures besieging him seemed to realize he had the lowest cultivation, so their attacks were the most fierce.

Three dark red palm imprints blasted over from three directions simultaneously, sealing off all his retreat paths.

Zhou Tianchen's expression did not change. He turned the qiankun furnace in his palm, and the furnace mouth suddenly spewed out three golden flames, which collided precisely with the three palm imprints.

"Boom!"

Amidst the loud explosion, the golden flames and the blood-colored mist burst open simultaneously, dissipating into a sky full of light and rain.

The three black-clad figures were shaken back several steps, their expressions changing slightly; clearly, they had not expected that a Cultivator at the Nascent Soul Perfection could withstand a joint attack from the three of them.