Underground, Elder Wan was impressed. He was just about to rush up to finish them off when—
“Elder!”
Li Changshou grabbed him quickly. “Why rush out now?
What if someone’s just pretending to be knocked out, waiting to bait us into revealing ourselves? Wouldn’t we be walking right into a trap?”
“Hm, you’ve got a point. So… what do we do next?”
Li Changshou replied, “Same method, but this time with real poison—strong and fast-acting. Don’t give them any chance to react.
We also need to account for the possibility that, at the brink of death, they might break free from the sleeping powder’s effects, or that their spirits and souls could escape…”
As Li spoke, Elder Wan nodded repeatedly in agreement.
At this point, the elder’s gaze toward Li Changshou was full of warmth and pride.
Previously, Elder Wan had worried that Li Changshou’s cultivation was still shallow, and he might waste these difficult-to-make poisons.
But now he realized…
This disciple of his… might be even more suited to the path of poison than he was himself!
After a few more reminders, Li Changshou added:
“If you’re still unsure, Elder, you can start by killing just the demons. I have a Soul-Capturing Pearl—if their souls survive, I can use it to search their fragmented memories and find out where they came from.
If it turns out the human cultivators deserve death too, we can handle them afterward.
But as for the demons—well, just kill them outright.”
“Very well!”
With a decisive nod, Elder Wan made up his mind to act with full force.
Raising his bronze staff underground, he pointed upward. Thick green poison mist began spreading from below, seeping into the bodies of the already-dazed demons.
Soon, the demons began convulsing violently.
At first, Li Changshou was worried—he hadn’t acted personally, there was no formation to suppress them, too much time had passed, and there were no backup plans. It was very possible that a few demon souls could slip away…
But within moments, even he was shocked.
What a terrifying Heavenly Immortal-grade poison!
It could kill not just the body, but even the soul of a demon at the Heavenly Immortal level!
Before long, the demons all revealed their true forms. A few of the stronger ones twitched a few times, then went completely still.
Their life force vanished, though their demonic energy still lingered in the air.
Elder Wan once again tried to go outside, but Li Changshou stopped him. Again.
Seriously… how many times was this now?
Why did this elder keep trying to run out when everything could be handled from right here underground?
“Changshou, aren’t we going yet?”
Li Changshou gave a helpless smile. “Elder, do you have Samadhi True Flame or something even stronger? Just use that to burn them from a distance.”
Elder Wan said calmly, “Of course I do. I have a flame called Ten Thousand Toxins Soul-Refining Fire—even stronger than Samadhi True Flame.”
At that moment, the thin-faced elder followed Li Changshou’s instructions and released waves of flame underground…
If someone had been watching the entire formation from above, they’d have witnessed a terrifying tale straight out of the mythic wilderness.
The hidden figures within had first collapsed silently and without warning. Then, the large demons became shrouded in toxic green mist and quickly died in spasms, quietly and without a ripple.
After that, eerie green flames burst from the ground, consuming the corpses of the demons and leaving behind nothing but piles of ash.
From beginning to end, the demons never struggled. Their deaths were eerily peaceful.
As for the humans knocked out by the sleeping powder, they didn’t sense a thing.
At last, a single figure emerged from the ground.
It was a young woman in a flowing gown, holding a glowing pearl. She walked among the piles of ash, weaving her way through the battlefield.
The Soul-Capturing Pearl—used to extract lingering spirits and retrieve fragments of memory.
After a short while, dense fog rose again from beneath the ground, this time extinguishing the souls of the unconscious human cultivators.
Green flames spread everywhere. Within the veiled formation, the entire landscape was bathed in an ominous glow.
The young woman moved calmly, while the Soul-Capturing Pearl spun rapidly in her hand.
Suddenly, a flash of blood-red light burst out from within the green flames and shot straight at her neck.
Her head tilted slightly as she glanced at the glowing streak. Then, with a light smack—
Pa!
A black-bodied, blood-winged mosquito was squashed in her hand.
Another blood glow tried to shoot toward her, but was instantly caught in a blaze of true fire and vaporized into a cloud of red mist.
—These weren’t ordinary mosquitoes. They seemed to be spell-crafted, formed from blood energy itself.
…
At the same time, far away—somewhere near Mount Spirit on the western continent of Xiniu Hezhou—a cloaked figure in blood-red robes opened his eyes inside a stone cave.
This was the Daoist Wenjing, and his eyes were filled with shock.
How had a third of his carefully gathered puppets just been wiped out—without even making a sound?
Only now, sensing from afar, did he realize something had gone very wrong over there.
What concerned him the most, though…
That woman—what exactly was she?
Why couldn’t he trace even a hint of her soul?
Could it be… a hidden expert had made a move?
Wenjing narrowed his eyes, feeling a touch of fear in his heart.
Though he’d been caught off guard, the three key Qi Refining cultivators from Jin’ao Island had been stationed at the back to absorb energy from the Blood Lotus, and weren’t harmed.
So his entire plan hadn’t failed.
He tried once more to sense what was happening at the formation—but now, he saw nothing.
All the puppets… were gone.
…
Back in the Eastern Continent, within that dense mountain forest—
Underground, after catching sight of the blood-red lights, Li Changshou and Elder Wan Lingjun exchanged uneasy glances.
Wan Lingjun, being more straightforward, sighed in relief:
“Thank goodness you were cautious, Changshou. If we’d been caught off guard, the entire Du’e Immortal Sect could’ve been in grave danger!”
Li Changshou, however, was already thinking further…
Mosquitoes?
That could influence people’s minds through blood essence?
Do such powerful mosquitoes even exist in this world?
Wait… could it be that one from the Great Calamity of the Gods? The one that drained the life from Turtle Spirit, a direct disciple of the Jie Sect… and devoured three petals of the Twelve-Petal Golden Lotus…
The Blood-Winged Black Mosquito? A swarm of them?
Could this be that fearsome figure?
The world of the Great Wilderness… truly is terrifying!
“Elder, we shouldn’t leave just yet. Let’s burn the entire area thoroughly with true fire.”
“Agreed!”
Immediately, green flames swept across the land, devouring the trees and foliage completely.
Half an hour later, the inside of the formation was spotless. Not a trace remained. The land was scorched, barren, lifeless, and charred.
A few figures emerged from the ground, quickly sweeping up the ashes with magical force, gathering them into one spot.
They also collected the charred remnants of various magical items and storage artifacts, placing them all into several enchanted pouches.
Then, one of them took out a wooden fish and began gently tapping it, while the others chanted sutras.
Underground, Elder Wan Lingjun asked with some confusion, “Changshou, what are they doing now?”
Li Changshou smiled and replied, “They’re chanting scriptures to resolve karma. If any residual souls weren’t drawn in by the Soul-Capturing Pearl, the recitation will help guide them to the underworld for reincarnation, avoiding further complications.
Afterward, Elder, I’d ask you to shatter and scatter the ashes.
Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth.
We cultivators draw spiritual energy from the heavens and earth—so letting them return to nature after death is in line with our sect’s philosophy.”
Elder Wan Lingjun nodded with a gentle smile.
When the chanting above came to an end, the Poison Elder waved his robe underground. The large mound of ash rose into the air and scattered evenly across the formation’s grounds.
Li Changshou let out a quiet sigh in his heart.
Perfect…
Even if he hadn’t made the kills himself…
The sense of ritual was still there.
Elder Wan blinked and asked, “Perfect? What do you mean?”
Li Changshou quickly replied, “Oh, just means there’s nothing more to worry about.”
Then he hurriedly stashed away the jade pendant in his hand and stopped transmitting his thoughts.
Elder Wan Lingjun mentally reviewed their whole operation and felt genuinely impressed. The way he looked at Li Changshou…
Held even more fondness than before.
Afterward, the figures that had surfaced again underground. One by one, they transformed into paper effigies and were stored in an empty pouch by Li Changshou.
He’d disinfect them thoroughly back at the sect before using them again…
Even he wouldn’t take Elder Wan’s poisons lightly.
“Elder, let’s return. We’ll hand over the items and the Soul-Capturing Pearl to the sect for proper handling.”
“Good.”
“Oh, and Elder—one more thing. Please… don’t mention that I was involved this time.”
Li Changshou leaned in and whispered his request.
And so, with quiet steps and whispered instructions, the old and the young returned underground, heading back to Du’e Immortal Sect in silence…
wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1