48: Chapter 48 The Core of the Swamp, the Eye of the Poisonous Miasma

The Mist Swamp lived up to its reputation.

The gray-green poisonous miasma was like a living curtain, flowing slowly with the faint, rotting breeze, blocking out the sky. Visibility was less than ten zhang, and all around were twisted, bizarre dead trees and bottomless black mud swamps. The air was filled with a pungent, sickly sweet, and rotting stench; an ordinary person would become dizzy and their skin would fester after just one breath.

But for Lin Yan and Xiao Yi Xian, although the environment here was treacherous, it was not a dead end. Lin Yan circulated his Dou Qi, fusing the aura of the Green Lotus Core Flame and the Fallen Heart Flame to form a thin, scorching, and stable energy barrier on his skin, isolating and purifying most of the encroaching poisonous miasma and cold energy. Xiao Yi Xian was like a fish in water; the Woeful Poison Body energy within her flowed automatically. Not only did she not fear the miasma poison, but she also absorbed its pure toxicity like a sponge, nourishing herself. However, the swamp miasma was complex and chaotic, so if she absorbed too much, she still needed to carefully refine it using the Seven-Colored Poison Manual.

Chi Rong was the most uncomfortable. As a fire and earth dual-element Magma Earth-Walking Dragon, its strength was greatly reduced in this extremely damp and miasma-filled environment, and it even found it difficult to breathe. Lin Yan had temporarily stored it in a special dormant stone talisman inside his storage ring that simulated a subterranean fire environment, allowing it to sleep and recover from its injuries while also avoiding exposing their trail.

The two had been struggling through the mud and miasma for three days. Relying on the increasingly clear resonance guidance of the ancient soul scale and Lin Yan's powerful soul perception (though interfered with by the miasma, it was still far superior to an ordinary person's) to scout the path, they avoided several hidden nests of poisonous insects and bottomless man-eating mud pits. During this time, they also encountered attacks from unique swamp magical beasts, such as the "Soul-Bewitching Poison Toad" that excelled in mental illusions, and the "Iron-Thread Poison Python" that could spray corrosive venom, but they were quickly dealt with through the two's tacit cooperation, instead providing quite a few rare poison-attribute materials.

The further they went into the swamp, the higher the concentration of poisonous miasma became, and the color gradually shifted from gray-green to deep purple, even faintly emitting an eerie, deep blue luster. The toxicity in the air became increasingly fierce, and even Lin Yan's protective energy barrier needed to be reinforced from time to time to resist it. Xiao Yi Xian, however, appeared increasingly spirited; her eyes were bright, and the poison energy surrounding her became more refined, faintly resonating more deeply with the environment.

"Ahead... the flow of the poisonous miasma has a pattern." Lin Yan suddenly stopped, the Pure Corrosion Soul Seal between his eyebrows flickering slightly, helping him discern the subtle trajectories within the chaotic energy ahead. In his perception, the originally disorderly drifting deep purple poisonous miasma, about a hundred zhang ahead, seemed to be slowly and continuously rotating and converging around a central point, like a huge, silent vortex.

"The resonance of the ancient soul scale also points there." Xiao Yi Xian took out the scale from her bosom that had been guiding their direction and was currently slightly hot. The dark gold patterns on the scale flickered with an introverted, dull luster that was out of place with the surrounding poisonous miasma, and the resonance reached its peak here.

That place was very likely the core of this Mist Swamp, and also the location of the ruins pointed to by this poison-attribute ancient soul scale—the Eye of Poisonous Miasma!

The two looked at each other, both seeing the solemnity and anticipation in the other's eyes. Approaching the swamp core meant stronger toxicity and unknown dangers, but it also meant being one step closer to the secrets and potential opportunities.

They sneaked forward even more carefully. The mud under their feet became increasingly sticky and slippery, and even began to emit a faint, nauseating, sickly sweet stench. The dead trees around them were long gone, replaced by large patches of colorful, hideous-looking poisonous grass and flowers; some shaped like ghost claws, others like bleeding lips, swaying silently in the poisonous miasma. An intangible mental pressure began to permeate the air, mixed with fragments of negative emotions like resentment, madness, and despair, evidently formed by the long-accumulated toxic and deathly aura of this place, enough to drive those with weak wills to instant insanity.

Lin Yan had to divert more of his focus, using the Seed Flame of Void Devouring Flame to guard his soul and resist this mental erosion. Xiao Yi Xian circulated the heart-clearing and spirit-guarding techniques from the Poison Manual, while simultaneously guiding the calming properties of the Xuanming True Water within her to keep her mind clear.

After moving forward for about another half an hour, the view ahead suddenly opened up—it was not that the miasma had dissipated, but that they had finally arrived at the edge of the "Eye of Poisonous Miasma."

Before them was a huge circular basin; the center of the basin was sunken and bottomless, as if the earth had opened a giant black hole mouth that devoured everything. And that thick, deep purple poisonous miasma, shimmering with a deep blue luster, was continuously gushing out from this "giant mouth," then spiraling upwards to form a poisonous miasma canopy that shrouded the entire swamp!

At the edge of the basin, the concentration of the poisonous miasma had reached a terrifying level, appearing to the naked eye almost like viscous liquid flowing slowly. The ground was covered with a thick layer of highly toxic moss and fungi that shimmered with mottled, eerie colors. The sickly sweet stench and mental erosion power in the air were more than ten times stronger! If it weren't for the fact that both of them had their own methods, they would likely have died from the poison or suffered a mental breakdown in an instant.

In the center of the basin, at the edge of the "giant mouth" where the miasma gushed out, Lin Yan's soul perception captured an abnormality—it was not pure nothingness, but an extremely obscure energy barrier perfectly fused with the surrounding miasma environment! The barrier was ancient and powerful, emitting fluctuations that were of the same origin as the ancient soul scale, yet even colder, more violent, and filled with a deathly aura!

That was the entrance!

"It needs the ancient soul scale to open." Lin Yan said in a deep voice; he could feel the barrier's "call" to the ancient soul scale.

Xiao Yi Xian nodded and handed the ancient soul scale in her hand to Lin Yan. Lin Yan took it, held both scales (he also took out his own poison-attribute resonance scale) in his palm, slowly injected Dou Qi, and guided a trace of the ancient soul scale's own aura.

Both scales simultaneously lit up with a dull black light, and the patterns on them seemed to come alive, beginning to flow and connect on their own. A wave of ancient, cold, yet strangely vibrant poison energy radiated from the scales, resonating strongly with the barrier ahead!

"Hum..."

In the center of the basin, the obscure barrier rippled like water, revealing a twisted, unstable deep purple energy vortex entrance that could only allow one person to pass through at a time. Inside the entrance was an even deeper darkness, as if it led to another world. A breath of poison energy, pure to the extreme yet dangerous to the extreme, permeated from the entrance, making the already thick poisonous miasma all around seem to become even more "excited."

"Follow me closely." Lin Yan did not hesitate and stepped into the deep purple vortex first. Xiao Yi Xian followed closely behind.

The moment they passed through the vortex, the world spun, as if they had crossed through time and space. The anticipated toxic erosion did not arrive immediately; instead, there was a strange sense of silence and emptiness.

When they steadied themselves and saw the scene before them, even though they had been mentally prepared, they could not help but gasp.

This was not an underground cave, nor a palace ruin, but a... deformed world of "vitality" existing amidst intense poison and death!

They stood at the edge of a vast, boundless "forest" composed of countless poisonous plants, fungi, and strange creatures that were half-plant, half-animal. The colors of these "plants" were glaringly vibrant, and their forms were twisted and bizarre to the extreme; some were like giant flowers with bloodthirsty maws wide open, with seven-colored venom flowing from their stamens; others were like dancing tentacle monsters, their bodies covered in suckers and poisonous thorns; and some were like solidified poisonous mist, constantly changing their forms. The air was filled with seven-colored poisonous miasma that was so thick it had become tangible, flowing slowly and emitting a dreamy yet deadly luster. The ground was a soft, warm, and constantly wriggling dark purple fungal mat, which made a slight "squelch" sound when stepped on.

And in the center of this eerie forest stood a mountain that could not be described. It was not made of rock, but was a mountain of "living tissue" formed by countless thick, gnarled, dark green vines flowing with viscous venom, and huge, translucent, eerie mushroom caps with colorful liquid flowing inside, layered and twisted together! At the top of the mountain, a strange crystal the size of a house, crystalline like black jade throughout, but appearing to seal a boiling seven-colored sea of poison inside, was emitting a soft and deadly light, illuminating the entire space. The poison energy fluctuations emitted by the crystal were pure, ancient, and boundless, far exceeding the poisonous miasma outside, and even caused the poison energy source within Xiao Yi Xian to resonate with cheers and tremors!

"Source Crystal of Ten Thousand Poisons..." Xiao Yi Xian muttered to herself, her eyes filled with shock and longing. The Seven-Colored Poison Manual within her body accelerated its operation autonomously, as if summoned by the source.

Lin Yan's gaze fell on the base of the "living mountain." There, at the roots where the vines and fungal mat intertwined, the outline of a massive skeleton, half-embedded in the mountain, could be vaguely seen. The skeleton was deep purple throughout, with thick bones; its form was like a snake yet not a snake, like a dragon yet not a dragon, with a huge skull and a single horn (already broken), also emitting an ancient and powerful aura. Around the skeleton were scattered some palm-sized, deep purple, sharp-edged... scales!

They were similar in form to the ancient soul scale, but different in color, and the aura was more inclined towards pure "poison" and "death"!

This was indeed another "Scale Lord ruin," and it was the core place related to the "poison" attribute! That skeleton was likely the former guardian of this place, an incredibly powerful poison-attribute ancient magical beast (or scaled creature). And the "Source Crystal of Ten Thousand Poisons" was the essence core formed by the condensation of the poison energy here over eons, and it was also very likely the ultimate inheritance or source of power that the "poison" attribute ancient soul scale truly pointed to!

"Careful, something is coming." Lin Yan's eyes suddenly narrowed as his soul perception captured abnormal movements coming from the surrounding "forest."

He saw those eerie poisonous plants and beasts that had been stationary or slowly wriggling, as if stimulated by something, beginning to twist, grow, and converge crazily! The vines shot up like pythons, the giant flowers spat out corrosive venom, the tentacle monsters waved their poisonous whip-tentacles, and even the fungal mat on the ground began to surge, attempting to entangle their ankles! The entire poison forest instantly "came alive," turning into a terrifying trap that devoured people!

"It seems that getting the item won't be that simple." Lin Yan's eyes were cold, and his Dou Qi and Heavenly Flame energy instantly gathered. Xiao Yi Xian also took a deep breath, and the gray-purple poison energy around her rose like flames, while several poison pills and poison needles of different colors appeared in her hands.

A slaughter in the highly toxic world was about to begin!

However, just as they were preparing to fight this activated poison forest, the "Pure Corrosion Soul Seal" between Lin Yan's eyebrows that had been silent, and the "Heart-Burning Seal" on his back, suddenly began to burn with intense pain without any warning! A wave of cold soul power, far clearer, closer, and more terrifying than before, was rapidly surging from the direction of the entrance behind them like a cold tide!

"So fast... they've already caught up?!" Lin Yan turned around abruptly, looking at the deep purple vortex entrance, cold light erupting in his eyes.