Chapter 86: The Mysterious Cave Dwelling

Deep within the blood mist.

After leaving the mountain cave, Jiuyou had not flown for long before he caught sight of the lingering, clinging fog around him. He let out a cold, disdainful snort.

These blood mists were truly bizarre. If he really did fall in realm due to the depletion of his Essence Blood, he feared he would not last three days in this godforsaken place. What was even more troublesome was that even his Divine Sense was suppressed, as if mired in thick mud, far less acute than it was in the outside world.

His gaze was dark and sinister as he continuously swept his eyes across the surroundings. Although his Divine Sense was not fully extended, he still managed to cover a radius of fifty or sixty li with great effort. At the slightest sign of movement, he would be able to detect it immediately.

Just how powerful was that legendary Heaven Demon?

Tens of thousands of years had passed since its descent, yet the blood mist still possessed such scale and might. It was utterly astounding.

Jiuyou secretly shuddered at the thought. His eyes darted around, and he could not help but think of that cultivator from the Blood Abyss Sect.

Whether it was that young man surnamed Ye or the old ghost in the Daoist robe who had pursued him later, their techniques and Divine Sense far exceeded those of their peers. The Blood Soul Art they cultivated even contained forbidden inheritance arts with the path to Spirit Transformation. This was by no means something an ordinary sect could compare with.

He had to admit that the Blood Abyss Sect had a terrifyingly deep foundation.

If it had been a Grand Cultivator like Gu Xuanzhou or He Taiyi, he was absolutely confident that even if he could not win, he could easily escape. He would never have been hunted down so miserably, nor would he have fallen to such a state.

When he had taken that old ghost's strike head-on that day, he had nearly thought he was really going to die right there. In that moment, scenes of his eighteenth birthday coming-of-age ceremony in his past life had even flashed through his mind.

If not for the Jade Spirit Carapace blocking most of the force, he probably would not have been able to escape even his Nascent Soul. Unfortunately, that ancient relic had been completely shattered, with no possibility of repair.

At the thought of this, Jiuyou grew increasingly agitated, and a murderous intent surged within him.

The Blood Abyss Sect... Hmph. If he ever ran into any low-ranking disciples of this sect in the future, he would definitely extract their souls and refine their spirits. He would not leave a single one alive, and only then would the hatred in his heart be appeased.

He flew at low altitude for four days and four nights, yet still could not find an exit.

The terrain within the valley was complex and winding, making it difficult to determine his exact position. He could only estimate a rough direction. He had no idea how much longer it would take to leave this cursed place.

Along the way, he encountered quite a few blood demons.

Those of mid to low rank, he dispatched with a wave of his hand, not even bothering to raise an eyelid. As for the great demons comparable to the Transformation stage, especially those deeper in whose auras grew stronger the further he went, he would take a detour around them, never lingering to fight. Throughout the journey, he had managed to avoid any major trouble.

Just as he was lost in thought, a streak of blood-red light up ahead suddenly caught his attention.

He extended his Divine Sense and saw, upon a pile of mountain rocks, more than a dozen prism-shaped, translucent red crystals growing there. Light rippled across their surfaces, flickering bright and dim, a truly dazzling sight that was hard to look away from.

"What is this?"

A hint of curiosity flickered in Jiuyou's eyes as he stepped forward.

But after only a few steps, he suddenly halted.

No. Something was wrong.

Why did these crystals exude a sense of vitality? If they were heavenly treasures, they should not be like this. After all, how could a rock possess life force? Could it be that this thing itself was strange?

He pondered for a moment, then decided to go around it.

Leaving the Blood Demon Valley was the most urgent matter. There was no need to take risks for a rock of unknown origin. Better to mind his own business and avoid trouble.

But before he could even move, the blood-red crystals suddenly began to tremble slightly.

Then, the entire earth started to quake.

A colossal creature burst up from the ground, sending rocks flying and raising a sky-obscuring cloud of dust.

When the dust settled, a gigantic red serpent-dragon revealed its true form.

Those blood-red crystals were actually bait growing on its body, a sight that was utterly horrifying.

The aura of an Eighth-Rank Great Demon pressed down without any concealment, a stench of blood blasting into his face.

The serpent-dragon's scarlet Vertical Pupils locked firmly onto Jiuyou. It opened its massive maw and lunged at him with a furious roar, its momentum terrifying to behold.

Jiuyou's expression darkened.

His condition was poor right now, and his strength was barely three-tenths of what it should be. Once he started fighting, the commotion would inevitably attract even more blood demons. At that point, it would become a situation of being swarmed from all sides.

He could not afford to linger in battle.

He immediately draped the Heavenly Wind Robe over himself, and a dark cyan magical power coiled around his body. In the blink of an eye, his entire figure vanished from the spot, bypassed the serpent-dragon, and shot off into the distance.

The serpent-dragon, however, refused to let go. It twisted its massive body and gave chase through the valley, smashing through everything in its path. Wherever it passed, deep furrows were gouged into the ground, rocks shattered, and dust flew everywhere.

This commotion immediately alarmed a great number of blood demons.

One stone stirred a thousand waves. Roars rose and fell in succession throughout the valley, and the frenzied, raging auras churned the blood mist like a boiling cauldron of oil.

The earth rumbled as countless heavy footsteps approached from far and near, kicking up clouds of dust.

From a great distance, Jiuyou sensed the auras of several Eighth-Rank Great Demons, and even deeper in, the terrifying presence of a Ninth-Tier Demon Beast.

His expression shifted between light and dark as he cursed his misfortune under his breath.

Just then, a lion demon suddenly leaped from the mountain wall, its sharp claws swiping viciously at his face with a howling gust of wind.

Jiuyou tilted his body, tracing an arc through the air as he narrowly dodged the attack. The lion demon missed its target and slammed heavily into the ground, sending fragments of rock flying in all directions.

But at that very moment, a flash of crimson light shot out from the depths of the canyon.

A blazing fireball dozens of zhang in size, wrapped in searing waves of heat, hurtled straight toward his face. It moved as fast as lightning, and even the rock walls around him were scorched and cracked, peeling away as the air filled with the smell of burning.

A vicious glint flashed in Jiuyou's eyes.

His entire body was enveloped in blood-red light, his eyes turning scarlet as blood. In an instant, he transformed into a blood-colored streak and vanished from the spot.

The next moment, he had already appeared a hundred li away.

Immediately afterward, he activated his streak of light technique and sped forward with all his might, not daring to pause for even a moment.

Passing through the deep, dark canyon, the view ahead suddenly opened up. Although he was still surrounded by mountain walls, this was a wide, open area with much flatter terrain.

Behind him, the blood demons chased all the way to the mouth of the valley, then stopped one by one.

Even the Eighth-Rank Great Demons halted in their tracks. Pairs of blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Jiuyou's retreating figure, yet none dared to cross the line by even half a step.

It was as if they were terrified of something.

A chill ran through Jiuyou's heart.

There was only one explanation for such a scene. A demon king-level existence must be residing here.

That would be a tenth-level great beast, comparable to a Late Nascent Soul Grand Cultivator. With his current crippled body, if he ran into such a being, he would surely die without a chance to even flee.

He fully extended his Divine Sense and probed repeatedly for a long time, yet he sensed no terrifying aura at all.

However, there was a strange, indescribable aura emanating faintly from below.

He looked down and saw that there was actually a square-shaped mountain cave beneath him.

The edges of the cave entrance were smooth and even, as if they had been carefully carved with a magic treasure. This was by no means a natural formation.

Could it be that the thing these demon beasts feared was whatever was inside?

Jiuyou pondered for a moment, then hid himself quietly at a distance. He suppressed his aura completely and released a Soul Wraith Puppet from the Nether Capital Gate, manipulating it to probe into the cave.

A moment later, the puppet sent back a message. Inside was a spacious cave dwelling, with no trace of living creatures, only years of accumulated dust.

Jiuyou hesitated no longer. Transforming into a beam of cyan light, he landed at the entrance of the cave.

He swept his Divine Sense inside, and the entire scene within the cave was captured in his mind.

The broad cave dwelling was covered in dust, clearly uninhabited for a very long time. Inside, a stone platform was arranged, with several ancient books scattered on top of it. The pages were yellowed, their age impossible to determine.

On the central stone platform, a figure clad in animal skins sat cross-legged.

That figure had long since lost all signs of life, reduced to nothing but withered bones. Its posture was upright and proper, as if it had merely entered meditation.

And placed neatly in front of the withered bones were two intact Jade Boxes.

The spiritual light on the surface of the Jade Boxes was restrained, yet they faintly emanated an ancient, weighty aura. They were clearly no ordinary items.