Chapter 2060: The Wind Chime Valley Massacre, Suicide Troops!
Chapter 2060: Chapter 2060: The Wind Chime Valley Massacre, Suicide Troops!
Ba Xiyue’s command was issued swiftly.
The Moon Shadow Guards assembled like black lightning, instantly gathering, a murderous aura pervading the entire City Lord Manor!
Huo Xiedao arrived after receiving the news, with a solemn expression, "Your Highness, I have gathered the strong within the City Lord Manor, ready to depart at any time."
Ba Xiyue nodded slightly and said, "Leave half to guard the City Lord Manor, the rest follow me."
Yang Shao and Qin Zhao exchanged a glance, both seeing the gravity in each other’s eyes... Was the appearance of the evil aura at this time a mere coincidence?
"Go!" Qin Zhao said coldly, his figure transforming into a streak of light rushing out of the hall.
Netherworld King, Hong Ying, and Xu Yeming followed closely behind.
Although Chu Ran was displeased, he knew the situation was urgent, and with a cold snort, he left with the old man in gray.
The representatives of the other factions within the hall also moved out one after another.
In an instant, streaks of various colored light tore across the dusky sky of the Banan border, rushing towards the Wind Chime Valley to the west.
The distance of a thousand miles was merely a short time for the cultivators present.
However, the closer they got to the Wind Chime Valley, the more distinct the air’s anomalies became.
Originally, the mountain winds should have been fresh, the valley echoing with bird songs...
Yet now, it was shrouded in a layer of thick, dark red fog.
The fog was not still; it squirmed slowly like a living being, faintly emitting a sound of gnawing, as if countless tiny creatures were chewing on something.
The formation light screen that should have existed at the entrance of the valley had long shattered, with the remnants of the array foundation charred and emitting a pungent stench.
"Such a strong stench of blood..." Xu Yeming frowned deeply.
A kind of dead, desperate, vengeful, and crazed blood qi!
As everyone landed at the valley entrance, the scene before them made even those accustomed to life and death contract their pupils in shock.
Within Wind Chime Valley, where once pavilions and practice chambers were orderly, now most have turned to ruins.
Amidst the broken walls and rubble, dried, blackened bloodstains and contorted corpses could be seen everywhere.
These corpses were not naturally mummified, but as if some force had extracted all the essence of blood and soul in an instant, leaving only a thin skin clinging to the bones, faces frozen in their final moments of extreme fear and agony.
The vegetation within the valley had all withered, exhibiting a sickly gray decay, even the rock surfaces seemed eroded, covered in fine holes.
Yang Shao frowned and said, "Exactly like those whose souls and blood were extracted by the evil cultivators of Kuyun Sect."
Ba Xiyue said, "It seems the news was true, the evil cultivators from Kuyun Sect and here belong to the same evil sect organization."
Chu Ran scratched the back of his head impatiently and said, "Didn’t the evil cultivators get taken away by those from Qingcheng Mountain? So where are the people from Qingcheng Mountain now?"
Han Shouyi’s figure was not to be seen.
As the crowd continued forward.
An unsettling formation was in operation!
In the sky above the valley, a massive formation comprised of dark red patterns was rotating slowly.
The formation covered almost the entire valley, its lines complex and sinister, like countless blood vessels intertwined.
At its center was a continually spinning vortex, greedily devouring the last wisp of life force and remnant soul emanating from those dried corpses, and even the valley itself.
The formation exuded a suffocating evil emanation, which was the very source they sensed from the City Lord Manor.
"Blood Refining Soul Stealing Array..." Qin Zhao’s voice was icy and rare with gravity, "Judging by the formation’s completion, it must have been in operation for several days. The people in the valley are likely already..."
Before he finished speaking, a rustling sound suddenly came from the not yet fully collapsed cluster of buildings deep in the valley.
Soon, dozens of figures staggered out.
They were clad in the disciple attire of Wind Chime Valley, but now they were no longer living beings.
Their skin was gray and withered, eyes sunken, a pair of dim, ominous red lights burning in their pupils.
Their movements were stiff and bizarre, joints creaking as if rusted, yet driven by a reckless madness, they stared unblinkingly at the people at the valley entrance.
"Disciples of Wind Chime Valley?" Yang Shao said solemnly, already gripping a longsword in his hand.
Behind Ba Xiyue, the Mystic Armor General growled lowly, "Princess, be careful. The evil aura on them is intense, and..."
Before he finished speaking, those dozen figures that looked like walking corpses suddenly let out a scream that didn’t sound like a human voice.
Immediately, their originally slow steps accelerated abruptly, dashing toward the crowd at the valley entrance in a frenzied state that disregarded their own depletion!
Even more terrifying, as they charged, their shriveled bodies swelled up like inflating balloons, a dark red glow shining brighter under their skin, a turbulent and unstable energy surging madly from within them!
"They’re about to self-destruct!" The old man in gray behind Chu Ran shouted sharply, while sweeping his robe, instantly deploying a soft gray light curtain to shield Chu Ran in front.
"Retreat!" Ba Xiyue reacted swiftly, and the Moon Shadow Guards formed an array in an instant, a silver-white Light Shield coalescing in front.
However, the speed of those corpses was astonishing, nearly reaching the crowd in the blink of an eye.
The first corpse exploded violently when it was still ten zhang away from the crowd!
There were no scenes of flying flesh, only a mass of thick, ink-like dark red blood mist rapidly spreading.
Wherever the blood mist passed, the ground sizzled with corrosive sounds, rocks were eroded into pits instantly, and the air was filled with a nauseatingly sweet and bloody stench.
The power of this self-destruction was not particularly strong, roughly equivalent to a full-strength strike from a Creation Realm Early Stage cultivator, but its corruption-laden aura was highly erosive, having a strong polluting effect on protective spiritual light and even the soul.
"Beware of the blood mist! It’s toxic and tainted!"
Yang Shao swung his sword to unleash a sharp sword qi, dispersing the incoming blood mist, but at the moment of contact, the sword qi made a sizzling sound, the spiritual light dimming somewhat.
Then, the second, third... dozens of corpses erupted like ignited firecrackers, continually self-destructing around the crowd!
Boom boom boom boom——!
The Mystic Armor General, Huo Xiedao, and the gray-clad old man behind Chu Ran simultaneously raised a defensive barrier.
Outside the barrier, the space surged!
The explosive rampage of spiritual energy continually bombarded the defensive barrier, causing it to tremble erratically!
Fortunately, the disciples of Wind Chime Valley hadn’t been highly cultivated in life, so the power from their self-destruction was insufficient to truly break the barrier.
Xu Yeming watched the scene and suddenly said, "The blood within these bodies doesn’t belong to themselves."
Hmm?
Yang Shao and the others were taken aback by Xu Yeming’s words.
Xu Yeming pointed to the blood mist outside and said, "Everyone’s blood has its own characteristics, even family bloodline inheritance follows this... Yet the blood in these bodies clearly all comes from the same individual."
"I fear... they were deliberately infused with evil blood after being drained."