Chapter 351: Southbound Operation

The gaze of that aged Deity Transformation cultivator suddenly came to life, carrying a genuine sense of urgency and expectation.

"Looking at your actions, young man, as well as the confusion you just displayed, you must be a subordinate of one of the other True Monarchs of your noble sect. To be able to penetrate this deep in such a form—not long ago, it seems that Spirit Mother was also attacked; it truly possesses formidable strength..."

After some beating around the bush and such circuitous talk, the meaning was actually only one.

Save this poor old senior of mine!

"It is naturally no problem to save you while I am at it, but I am currently lacking sufficient intelligence and information on my end..."

"This old man will certainly tell you everything he knows!"

"Which True Monarch is in control of this realm?"

Hm? You don't even know this? In that case, could it be that you belong to the new, youngest disciple just taken in by that Supreme Luoyu?

For a moment, the aged Deity Transformation cultivator, who seemed out of touch with the times, had many associations, but he answered nimbly: "It is True Monarch Huiqing of your noble sect."

So it is her.

Du En was not surprised by this; after all, the more one pondered the current situation, the more problematic it seemed.

If it were True Monarch Huiqing, then the fact that the Spirit Mother was so weak was not an accident, but some kind of deliberate act, hiding another murderous intent. Not acting rashly before was indeed the correct course of action.

"How deep is her control over this realm?"

"Young man, your words sound a bit naive."

Of course it is complete control, complete awareness.

He wanted to say this, but looking at the other party who could run here full of vigor and in perfect condition, with enough strength left to bring along a little tail, he hesitated and changed his tone: "Perhaps there is something distracting her right now?"

It must be because of the containment from the resolution side.

Du En pondered this upon hearing it.

Meng Changqing might not have been certain who exactly was in control, but regardless of anything else, keeping a close watch on and containing True Monarch Huiqing, who was most likely to stir up trouble, was definitely not wrong! "Then, besides extracting this evil spirit paste, has the Spirit Mother obtained anything else from you great cultivators?"

"Naturally, there is. Come to think of it, this evil thing is actually a secondary growth, a trace left behind by the evil, monstrous entity as it roamed and sucked away the cultivation of this old man and the others. It is not the main thing; the main thing is our primordial spirits."

The aged Deity Transformation cultivator sighed as he reached this point, his expression turning ashen: "As things stand, with my primordial spirit having been sucked for over a hundred years, this old man is left with only an empty shell. Like the natives of this realm, even if I were lucky enough to be saved, I fear I have not many years left to live!"

"Oh? The people living here, is their condition caused by the Spirit Mother taking away their magic power?"

"This... this old man does not know. When I arrived in this realm over a hundred years ago, they were already in this state, and judging by the clarity from their souls to their bodies, I fear that is not the case."

To be able to say this so definitively, I fear this old thing must have attacked the ordinary people here as soon as he arrived, carefully investigating the situation, yet he found nothing obviously useful, which is why he is both definitive and ambiguously vague.

Of course, it is also possible he is hiding key information so he can hold it for ransom later, bargaining with Du En to secure more chances of escape.

This is a quite normal approach, not hard to understand.

Thus, Du En remained silent for a moment, as if lost in thought, or perhaps intentionally posturing.

The aged Deity Transformation cultivator immediately grew anxious: "This fiend has been devouring and sucking the people and cultivators here for hundreds of years; who knows how much cultivation essence it has obtained to be able to gestate into its current state, so there is no time to delay right now!"

As expected, he is holding things back!

Judging by the "hundreds of years" he intentionally pointed out in detail—a specific temporal modifier—this old thing must have secretly investigated many secrets when he first fell into trouble.

This is actually very normal. The Limitless Immortal Sect, or other immortal sects, would not have sent him here to infiltrate and take control just to let him die, so they must have granted him means to win a window of time for action.

Of course, seeing that he ultimately failed and ended up in this state, True Monarch Huiqing's control over this place could indeed be called complete.

Du En thought to himself and said, "I don't think that Spirit Mother is as terrifying as you say."

"If it was truly you who attacked it before, then I can only regretfully tell you that what you encountered before was actually just its shell that hadn't fully shed yet!"

"However, even just wounding that shell can affect its body that is in the process of shedding, so right now, it is in recovery. Once it recovers enough, I fear it will completely extract the nutrients from this old man and the others to achieve the fastest possible metamorphosis!"

Seeing that this young man was not easily fooled and did not follow the points he primarily revealed, the aged Deity Transformation cultivator immediately changed his strategy and took the initiative to confess a portion of the situation.

Although saying this seemed like giving up the initiative and placing himself in a completely weak position, in reality, it emphasized a situation where they would either prosper together or perish together.

An imminent threat, directly linked to himself, that could not be eliminated by other means...

Du En's expression remained unchanged, and he struck down with a crimson flame guandao.

"Ah!"

The aged Deity Transformation cultivator screamed subconsciously, yet when the guandao smashed through the air onto his forehead, it only felt slippery, the force completely dissipated, and in the end, it only sent grease flying everywhere, causing no actual damage at all.

You junior, you really do strike as soon as you speak, without a shred of mercy; you are truly calculating and cold-hearted!

The aged Deity Transformation cultivator accused and denounced Du En in his heart, but on the surface, he squeezed out a smile at him as he retracted the guandao and held it in his hand: "The truth is just so. When this old man fell into trouble, I actually had trump cards and means, but to this day, I have ended up like this; it is truly because this tree is too strange and evil!"

The group of cultivators hanging on the tree also shook their bodies at this time, appearing to agree, unconsciously revealing various emotions, all of which seemed negative; the most normal among them was actually the shock and suspicion born from the abruptness of Du En's recent move.

It is indeed evil.

Du En nodded secretly at this, having already sensed some of the truth through the recent attack.

Perhaps this strange tree is the Spirit Mother's true body, or rather, its main body?

In any case, there is no way to easily cut off the connection between the Spirit Mother and it by destroying it right now! "Then, it is indeed urgent; we cannot let it use all of you hanging on the tree as its elixir, becoming incomparably terrifying."

Du En said this, drawing affirmative responses from the cultivators one after another.

They feared that outcome; when he fought the Spirit Mother before, they were very panicked and flustered, and even resented Du En as the culprit who started it all by attacking and stimulating the Spirit Mother, but now, they were all pinning their hopes on him.

"Yes, yes, yes! Young man, you must strike with one breath, hurry and think of a way to drag the Spirit Mother out from the inner space, then exert force along its shell to severely wound its inner body that is waiting to shed; only then can you prevent the situation from deteriorating rapidly!"

"Only then can there be a foundation to implement both our escape and your plans!"

In other words, there is no time to delay; Du En must break the fulcrum as soon as possible, open the door, and rush in to finish the opponent off.

However, the more he urged, and the more the situation happened to be just so, the more deliberate it seemed, as if he were intentionally guiding Du En to act in such a way. He naturally did not trust this aged Deity Transformation cultivator, so although he had to act, he could not be reckless, lest he be used as a tool or fall into some trap.

Yes, Du En still had to destroy the fulcrum, because this was something that had to be done right now; it was a form of open conspiracy, unless he chose to retreat and flee this Queguang Star Realm.

But he did not choose that.

So after nodding to the aged Deity Transformation cultivator, he calmly exited the back of the surface protected by the formation.

He first continued to search the headquarters of the Queguang Sect, even uncovering the power struggles of the High Priests, but he just could not find any trace of the Sect Leader, Luo Heng.

He really ran away thoroughly! Since no clues of the other party were found, then next, it is time to officially set off.

First go south, to the nearest fulcrum.

Walking out of the bright and bustling central camp, with the small stone statue following closely behind, Du En gradually moved away from the illumination of the firelight, stepping deep into the profound darkness.

The light of the flames began to become mere embellishment.

Within the tunnel, dimness was the keynote.

Traveling south, without stopping, passing camp after camp, watching their living conditions become increasingly difficult, gradually becoming ragged and gaunt.

The variety of sights was no reason to stop, and only when the light of civilization was reduced to mere specks did Du En finally halt his steps.

Several days passed.

【Spell: Mountain Lifting (Minor Achievement 0/100)】

This was a Yellow-grade Daoist technique converted from the top-grade spell, Meteor Rock Technique.

As the name suggests, it is for lifting mountains.

Using cultivation, mana, and primordial spirit to lift mountains and fly peaks out of thin air, then attacking one's enemies or targets.

Returning once again to the accumulation of extreme violence, it is also the foundation of a lineage of Daoist techniques, which can be continuously cultivated and strengthened until the Heavenly-grade Daoist technique...

"Blood Demon, is it the Blood Demon coming?!"

A panicked and suppressed voice came from behind Du En.

At this moment, the place where he stayed could be called a sinister frontier; people were ragged and gaunt, and in the small camp, only a few dozen people survived, with few tents, and only a small pile of bonfire emitting the only light.

The one who made the sound was the leader of the old, weak, women, and children huddled in front of the bonfire, a white-haired old man, carrying extreme fear and unease.

He, they stared directly at Du En, or rather, at the place Du En was looking at, within that dark and cramped space.

Over there, strange trees and wild grass grew, it was completely the wilderness, and at this moment, several hunters who could barely be considered sturdy were returning in a hurry, their bodies emitting a bloody smell.

"No! No!"

The hunters answered in low, deep voices, causing the old, weak, women, and children, whose nerves were already taut, to suddenly heave a sigh of relief.

As they approached, one could see the source of the bloody smell; it was emitted by prey such as tunnel rabbits.

The most eye-catching was a massive tunnel pig, a type of Rank 1 demonic beast with degenerated eyes, six tusks, and weighing over a thousand catties.

"Elder Chang, we were so lucky this time; before the Holy Sect Army left, they crippled this pig, letting us pick up a bargain, and we brought it back without anyone being injured or killed!"

The hunters were very happy, as they had indeed picked up a great bargain.

But the old man called Elder Chang, the leader of this marginal camp, was not so happy.

"Although the Holy Sect Army suddenly withdrew, it was their prey that they wounded after all, and we brought it back to eat... Sigh, a living person cannot be suffocated by urine; after eating the meat, its parts cannot be left behind, and they need to be riskily thrown into the tunnel where the Blood Demon is entrenched."

Seeing the pitiful gazes of the others in the camp, Elder Chang ultimately said nothing about putting the tunnel pig back, because their camp was already reaching its limit; if they didn't eat this tunnel pig, they probably wouldn't last much longer.

The hunters were happy, carrying the pig to the bonfire, finding a tattered blanket to lay underneath, and began to process it.

At the same time, they couldn't help but mutter.

"With the Holy Sect Army coming, although they suppressed the Blood Demon and prevented it from moving north, the prey in the surrounding area was also basically swept away by them, leaving only sporadic remnants like tunnel rabbits."

"We cannot get the radiance of the Spirit Mother here, and the land is also being influenced and eroded by the Blood Demon from within; there is simply no way to farm. If they don't withdraw, we will starve to death!"

"Shut up, such things cannot be said randomly; if you are heard, then..." Facing such muttering, Elder Chang interrupted, wanting to say more but stopping, only filled with worry, "The situation I asked you to check on the way, did you check it?"

"Checked, the situation is not very good; that blood light has gotten closer."

The most steady hunter, also worried, answered.

"Sigh~ Although the stationing of the Holy Sect Army made our days difficult, they were at least the army of the Spirit Mother Holy Sect. Now that they have withdrawn, the Blood Demon will probably move north again."

"Elder Chang, is the Blood Demon really that scary?"

A young, hot-blooded hunter was somewhat fearless.

Those young women and children also couldn't help but be curious; clearly, those here who were not old enough had never truly seen the so-called Blood Demon.

Only the old people who had lived long enough had uncontrollable fear in their eyes! "What kind of nonsense are you asking? I always say, I always say, our camp, in the past, was also one of the top large camps, a vanguard team specially selected by the Holy Sect Master to open up the south. I was still young then, only eight years old..."

Elder Chang couldn't help but become agitated, but as he spoke, his voice became suppressed again, reminiscing about his past.

Du En approached this side, listening to the reminiscence of this old man who was nearing the end of his life and wouldn't live for many more years, and with a light movement of his fingers, he shot and killed several tunnel wolves that had run over smelling the scent from several miles away.

"We went south to open up to this place, just established the pioneering camp, just about to organize the tunnel excavation, and then, the sentries sent out began to disappear one by one."

"One finally came back, but was covered in blood, and under the eyes of everyone, it directly dissolved, turning into a pool of thick, fishy blood—living blood!"

As Elder Chang spoke, he revealed a look of deep-seated fear, and his voice stopped for a moment, needing to calm down properly.

(End of this chapter)