Chapter 1007: Corpse Beasts

When Li Luo's group broke through the cloud wall, violent spatial ripples surged around them, blurring their vision for a moment. When their eyes focused again, the scene before them had already changed.

It seemed to be an extremely vast world, filled with a wild, primordial atmosphere. Towering mountain peaks rose from the earth, standing like giants between heaven and earth.

This place did not look like a herb garden; it looked more like an independent space left behind from antiquity.

Perhaps this was deliberately arranged by the "Faceless Holy Sect," using this ancient environment to nurture all manner of precious treasures.

At this moment, more and more figures appeared in this primordial world, then transformed into streams of light, speeding off in all directions. These figures moved in groups, forming teams of considerable size.

After all, those who could make it this far—whether prodigies from various factions or rogue cultivators—were undoubtedly among the elite. They knew competition within this "Treasure Garden" would be fierce, so traveling in groups gave them an advantage whether killing or seizing treasures.

Li Luo's team was rather lavish in composition. Li Li Wuyuan and Jin-Zhong Jie both possessed the strength of half-step Xiao Tian Xiang Jing, and there was also Li Li Lingjing, whose combat power was no weaker than a true Xiao Tian Xiang Jing despite being at nine-star Tian Zhu Jing.

Li Luo himself had also grown significantly stronger. His resonance power level was three-star Tian Zhu Jing, but with his many methods, even without employing the Three-Tailed Heavenly Wolf, Li Luo was confident he could contend with some experts at five-star Tian Zhu Jing.

When he had first entered the Lingxiang Grotto-Heaven, Li Luo was only at the Extreme Sha realm. Although his combat power was formidable, his resonance power foundation was still somewhat lacking. If not for the dual-resonance support provided by his three resonance palaces, he would have truly seemed a bit inadequate.

Especially with last edition's prodigies like Li Li Fuling in the team. But now things were different. After the baptism of the Golden Dew Terrace, Li Luo's strength had skyrocketed. With his current combat power, even among people like Li Li Fuling, Li Luo could rank.

Li Luo's group did not linger, heading straight for the depths of the Treasure Garden at full speed.

This Treasure Garden was far too vast. Although there were many precious treasures within, their minds were set only on the "Origin Mysterious Heart Fruit," so the most important thing right now was to reach that ancient tree first.

Boom!

As they sped along, bursts of energy explosions suddenly erupted along the way. They then saw that from places where treasure light emanated, giant beasts would charge out from the mountain forests and fight to the death with the teams attempting to seize the treasures.

Those giant beasts appeared to be spirit beasts, seemingly guarding this place, their bodies radiating violent energy ripples.

"There are actually living spirit beasts in this Treasure Garden?!" Seeing this, everyone was greatly surprised.

This Lingxiang Treasure Garden had been passed down from antiquity, already enduring countless years. How could these spirit beasts have survived so long?

"These guardian spirit beasts don't seem quite right..."

Li Luo and the others also observed for a moment, but immediately discovered that although these guardian spirit beasts appeared alive, there was no emotion flowing in their beast pupils. Their bodies emitted no vitality either; instead, a stench of decay wafted from them.

"These guardian spirit beasts show no signs of life, yet their flesh has not been eroded by time. Instead, it has been preserved under the protection of some force. At this point, they are somewhat similar to corpse puppets—maintaining the ability to move through a sliver of spiritual mechanism. Their obsession should be guarding the precious herbs here." Li Li Lingjing's gaze swept over as she spoke.

"Although their energy has not increased over these long years, their flesh has become somewhat formidable through accumulated time." Li Luo looked toward a spot where a small team of about ten people was fighting a black tiger-type spirit beast. The tiger-type spirit beast's energy intensity should only be around Tian Zhu Jing, but its somewhat withered flesh was like dark iron, stubbornly withstanding that team's attacks. Then, in its death throes, it struck out, and in an instant two unlucky ones died beneath its claws.

The appearance of the corpse beasts did make Li Luo's group raise some vigilance, but their speed did not slow because of it. They also paid no heed to the treasure light flickering in and out of sight among the mountain forests, instead accelerating straight toward the depths.

By now, Zhao Yan, Qin Ying, and the others must have already gone to the "Ancient Tree." If they delayed, the treasure would be snatched by others, and retrieving it later would be far more troublesome.

However, Li Luo's journey was not entirely smooth. Within this vast mountain forest, corpse beasts would occasionally be stirred by their aura, charging out to attack wildly. And these corpse beasts were extremely thick-skinned and tough—exactly like Li Li Jingtao—so dealing with their interference cost them quite a bit of time.

Thus, after roughly half a day's time.

When Li Luo's group crossed a stretch of mountain forest, the view ahead suddenly broadened. It seemed to be a boundless plain, and at the center of the plain, a towering ancient tree stood quietly.

The ancient tree seemed to be the center of this world. Its canopy covered an area of dozens of miles, its branches and leaves so dense they seemed to form a world of their own. The ancient tree swayed and shimmered with light, treasure radiance flowing across its entire body.

The rich, ethereal fragrance could be clearly smelled even from such a great distance.

When Li Luo's group saw this ancient tree, their hearts gave a jolt, and then their gazes turned toward the center of the tree. There, several miraculous fruits hung quietly among the branches and leaves.

Within the fruits, it seemed earth, wind, water, and fire flowed, emanating an indescribable divine charm.

Li Luo's group's breathing instantly grew heavier.

Those fruits were precisely the ultimate objective of their journey.

"Origin Mysterious Heart Fruit"!

However, just as Li Luo's group discovered the ancient tree, rapid sounds of tearing air came from the distant sky to the right, and streams of light could be seen stepping through the air.

Leading them were precisely Zhao Yan, Qin Ying, and the others.

"Li Luo, Li Li Wuyuan, you do run fast." Zhao Yan's gaze fixed on them coldly as he spoke.

"You're not slow either."

Li Luo replied with a forced smile, then glanced at Qin Ying and Qin Yi, squinting slightly as he said to Zhao Yan: "Looks like the Golden Dew Terrace really hurt you guys—you've even started looking for helpers."

Zhao Yan smiled sinisterly and said: "You think it's just them? Thanks to you, Li Luo, making enemies everywhere, you've actually delivered quite a few powerful reinforcements our way."

And just as Zhao Yan's words fell, not far behind Li Luo's group, light figures suddenly tore through the air as well, transforming into figures that stood in midair.

Li Li Wuyuan and the others swept their gazes over and discovered two more groups of people. One group was not unfamiliar—they were from Yanmodian. Earlier, when they had just entered the Lingxiang Grotto-Heaven, it was they who had colluded with Zhao Yan and others to set up an ambush against Li Li Tianwang's lineage in that valley.

The leader of Yanmodian was named Tian Miao, also a prodigy of considerable strength.

The other group had emblems of the Golden Dragon Treasure House on their robes, and their leader was someone they also knew.

"Mu Yao?" Li Li Wuyuan's expression immediately changed.

"Is your Golden Dragon Treasure House also getting involved?"

In the midair not far away, Mu Yao's face was grimly cold. Hearing Li Li Wuyuan's accusation, he said coldly: "You should ask that Li Luo first—it was he who interfered in the internal affairs of my Golden Dragon Treasure House!"

"And he struck me first. If I hadn't had a life-preserving technique back then, I would probably have already fallen at his hands. This grudge—you think I can let it go?!"

Mu Yao's accusation did startle many present, especially Li Li Wuyuan, Li Li Hongli, and others, who all stared somewhat dumbfounded at Li Luo's innocent expression.

This guy nearly killed Mu Yao, whose strength was at Xiao Tian Xiang Jing?! How is that possible!

But this kind of embarrassing matter—Mu Yao had no reason to lie about it. That meant Li Luo had a hidden card capable of severely wounding a Xiao Tian Xiang Jing expert?

Li Li Wuyuan's expression shifted slightly, and his gaze toward Li Luo gained a few more degrees of wariness. This kid hides things way too deeply.

"Haha, you guys are really lively over here, but good things should be shared by everyone—don't think you can hog them all!" However, just as they were bickering, another bold, thunder-like woman's laughter rolled in from afar, and yet another group arrived.

Everyone's gaze swept over and saw that this group was all plump of build, floating in midair like balloons. Such bizarre figures—who else could it be but the Zhu Li Tianwang lineage.

And the leader was precisely a woman named Zhu Zhu, with Zhu Zhu Dayu following closely beside her.

"Everyone, our Tianyuan Ancient Academy is just passing through, but if there are treasures, please leave a share for us."

After the Zhu Li Tianwang lineage's team arrived, a gentle laugh came from afar. Streams of light swept across the horizon, revealing figures in the sky above this area—it was precisely the Tianyuan Ancient Academy team led by Senior Zong Sha, Jiang Jiang Wanyu, and others.

In an instant, prodigies gathered at the scene, and the situation inevitably grew more complicated.

But as the teams from various top factions continued to arrive, no one noticed that among the dense branches and leaves of the ancient tree in the distance, a number of pale gray pupils seemed to suddenly open.