Chapter 523: Ultimate Yang, Ultimate Righteous

An Long Zun and his companions are very experienced.

Killing and arson, very experienced; raiding homes, very experienced; tunneling and grave-robbing, very experienced; retreating and fleeing, very experienced.

After all, they have lived as outlaws for several thousand years, and in Green Willow Manor they have done who-knows-how-many unspeakable deeds, enduring countless blood-soaked storms and blade flashes. Therefore, when searching in the mountains and forests, their efficiency far surpasses that of ordinary outlaws.

They entered the island's interior without expending too much effort, even going deeper than Wu Tie. Along the way, using various methods, they also gathered many monsters and obtained many precious treasures.

Then, deep within the island, they discovered a strangely shaped large pit.

The pit resembles a lotus flower; nearby are twenty-seven gullies shaped like swimming dragons, winding from far away and connecting to this pit. The pit's diameter is several li, its depth no more than a hundred zhang; at its center lies a black pool covering about one mu.

Around the pit's edge lie countless unconscious feral beings, scattered haphazardly. Among these feral beings, many are known to An Long Zun and his companions—creatures they dared not provoke on the road, choosing instead to detour. Yet under some strange force, these beings lie here, unconscious on the spot.

Beneath these beings lies a layer of semi-rotten corpses; beneath the corpses are white bones; beneath the bones, bone ash; and beneath the ash is a thick slab forged from countless bone ash by some strange power.

Within a radius of nearly a hundred li, who knows how thick this bone slab is; heaven only knows how many beings' corporeal forms would be needed to accumulate such a mass.

An Long Zun and his companions secretly tested it, digging for a long time in the corpses and bone ash, then applying various methods to the bone slab. The slab's hardness rivals that of nine-fold refined immortal weapons, whereas the bones and ash themselves are absolutely not that solid.

Such a massive bone slab would require countless layers of bone ash to be forged and compressed, driving density to a terrifying extreme to achieve this strength. By that calculation, the number of beings that have died here is at least in the hundreds of millions.

With great vigilance and caution, An Long Zun and his two companions stepped carefully upon the unconscious feral beings, made their way to the pit's edge, and slid down the towering pit wall. Then they saw a wealth sufficient to drive anyone mad.

On the smooth pit wall grew myriad rare spiritual herbs.

Over ninety percent of these spiritual herbs were unknown to them, yet by smelling their fragrance, observing their color, and appreciating their form, they recognized each as a wondrous treasure greatly beneficial to cultivators. Some herbs they merely sniffed cautiously, and their qi and blood surged, as if they had swallowed dozens of ten-thousand-year-old ginseng in one gulp, their bodies heating up with exquisite pleasure.

Bai Gui Jun carefully, gently plucked a stalk resembling lingzhi, yet its entire body was tender and dewy, seven-colored and shimmering, with faint juice seeming ready to burst forth, and wrapped in a thin layer of cloudy vapor.

It was just this gentle pluck of his that caused the black pool, about one mu in size, at the basin's center to suddenly churn.

Then came a 'hiss' sound, and a black water column as thick as a water bucket shot straight up into the sky, whistling shrilly, reaching over a thousand li high; in the heavens it exploded with a 'bang' into a black cloud that rapidly spread outward.

The black vapor condensed into drop after drop of liquid, carrying terrifying yin-evil power, turning into a torrential downpour that fell from the heavens.

Around the basin, tens of thousands of unconscious beings were drenched by the rain; in their stupor they involuntarily emitted painful wails, their bodies convulsing violently, their multicolored outer skins turning grayish-white, gradually corroding and rotting, as strands of essence-blood visibly flowed from their bodies, swiftly streaming toward the black pool at the basin's center.

"Damn." An Long Zun cursed, then quickly took out a long-distance transmission talisman and spoke the words Wu Tie had just heard.

Among outlaws, vying for merit, fighting over rewards, even killing for petty gain—these things they have seen often and done often. Thus, this place clearly matches the peculiar site Elder Hu described; they must immediately secure credit for discovering this basin.

Otherwise, countless hungry wolves lurk around; heaven knows when another manor's outlaws might burst in and deal them a vicious blow.

From the long-distance transmission talisman came Elder Hu's relaxed, cheerful laugh: "An Long Zun, well done; I've noted your merit. Hurry and see what, at the place where this black cloud rises, is proper or improper; find it and bring it to me."

An Long Zun, Huo Hu Jun, and Bai Gui Jun are longtime partners, ironclad allies, with extremely high mutual trust and great rapport. Upon hearing Elder Hu's transmitted words, they glanced at each other; then Bai Gui Jun let out a piercing skyward whistle, and instantly a gust of yin wind rose from the ground with a 'hualala' sound.

On the pit wall, the densely growing rare spiritual herbs all took flight, swept by the yin wind swiftly toward them.

Bai Gui Jun's wristlet flashed with spiritual light, continuously sucking in precious spiritual herbs.

An Long Zun and Huo Hu Jun stood left and right beside Bai Gui Jun, their backs to Bai Gui Jun, holding weapons, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Elder Hu's reward is certainly tempting, but the spiritual herbs and medicines covering the ground are the real benefit. According to their judgment, Elder Hu's mobilization of so many outlaws and a million elite troops this time could not possibly be for these spiritual herbs and medicines.

For someone like Elder Hu, a hidden magnate of immense depth, a few thousand or tens of thousands of spiritual herbs and grasses hold little allure. But for the three of them, these herbs and grasses are undoubtedly a vast fortune.

Ten birds in the forest, not as good as one bird in hand.

An Long Zun and his companions fully understand this principle.

The basin, several li in diameter, besides the countless spiritual herbs and grasses growing on its pit walls, the twenty-seven winding gullies likewise teem with various strange flowers and exotic grasses; a glance reveals specks of spiritual light flickering, truly enticing.

Bai Gui Jun is a proper body cultivator, a dabbler in spellcraft; he knows few divine abilities, and the speed at which his summoned yin wind gathers spiritual herbs and grasses lacks the refinement and efficiency of a dedicated spellcaster.

Of the spiritual herbs visible in sight, less than thirty percent have been gathered; at the far edge of the basin, atop the head of a rapidly rotting beast resembling a giant lion, five human figures suddenly appeared.

An Long Zun widened his eyes, glaring fiercely at the five middle-aged men whose forms were nearly identical, as if cast from the same mold: "Jing Family Five Ghosts, scram!"

The Jing Family Five Ghosts are the chief leaders of the outlaw Black Stone Manor, five brothers born of the same mother; their fraternal blood ties give them an innate trust greater than other outlaws. Supporting each other, in their many skirmishes they have held a huge advantage over other outlaws, reaping great gains.

Their cultivation is slightly inferior to that of An Long Zun's trio by a notch, yet they are still formidable experts in the Embryonic Treasury realm. Especially, the five brothers have trained a small battle formation called the 'Five Serpents Swallowing Elephant Formation,' which enables them to overcome the strong with the weak, and to stand firm against An Long Zun's trio without fear.

Especially over the past century or more, An Long Zun's trio have hit a cultivation bottleneck, unable to advance even a bit; whereas the Jing Family Five Ghosts' cultivation keeps rising swiftly, and after forming their battle formation they have been able to faintly suppress An Long Zun's trio. Over the past hundred years, An Long Zun's trio have repeatedly suffered setbacks at the hands of the Jing Family Five Ghosts.

Both sides harbor grudges, so An Long Zun's tone is extremely harsh.

"Scram? I'll roll with your mother in bed!" the Jing Family's chief ghost roared with a long laugh: "Eh, eh, look hey, the ground and pit are full of spiritual herbs and immortal grasses, hey brothers, grab the treasures…… tsk tsk, truly a great fortune, a great fortune indeed—where did Elder Hu get this news, finding a place almost like the legendary primordial wilderness, a cave-heaven blessed land?"

The Jing Family Five Ghosts, while spewing filthy language, simultaneously from the opposite side of the basin snatched spiritual herbs from the pit wall.

These five fellows are pure body cultivators; their divine secret arts are all killing techniques, their auxiliary spellcraft utterly lacking, and their skill in harvesting spiritual herbs is equally nonexistent—they are like five hungry wild boars, lunging at the pit wall's herbs and grasses with frantic grabbing and tearing.

Stalk after stalk of spiritual herbs was violently torn off, spraying abundant medicinal juice, filling the air with a rich fragrance.

An Long Zun's trio were furious, shouting to the heavens, but there was nothing they could do against the Jing Family Five Ghosts. Bai Gui Jun could only increase the speed, his controlled yin wind growing fiercer, gathering more herbs per unit time; likewise rough methods caused some damage to the herbs, but there was no helping it.

"Swish swish swish," figures kept appearing one after another.

Those who could rush here so quickly were without exception the chiefs of various outlaw manors, some in groups of three to five, some alone. Undoubtedly, the lone individuals are generally a bit stronger than those in groups, and they also possess hidden treasures.

In the short span of half a cup of tea, over fifteen manor chiefs arrived; like the Jing Family Five Ghosts, they shouted loudly while frantically snatching spiritual herbs and grasses from the pit wall. Dozens of Embryonic Treasury peak or higher cultivators exerted themselves to gather, and in the basin only a few li across and less than a hundred zhang deep, the pit wall's herbs and grasses were quickly stripped clean.

Everyone's gaze turned to the pool continually spewing black water columns.

From the pit wall's top, beneath the basin, the closer to the pool, the stranger the herbs' forms became, their medicinal fragrance and potency grew richer; moreover, judging by the few herb types known to An Long Zun and his companions, the nearer the pool, the greater the herbs' age.

At a distance of only a dozen zhang from the pool, those herbs and grasses had completely turned into pure crystals, emitting a spiritual light and rosy aura of extreme richness; heaven knows what realm this form of spiritual herb has reached.

An Long Zun and the others exchanged a glance, simultaneously exhaled, then stepped back several paces.

Just moments ago, while snatching the herbs, they were each wildly frenzied; now they are each utterly clear-headed. That water column erupting from the pool can transform into tens of thousands of li of black cloud, its yin-evil aura so terrifying that it is obviously no good place.

Though the herbs near the pool are certainly alluring, this perilous and unpredictable spot had best be left for others to risk their lives and investigate. Having lived to this age, having survived a life of peril to reach this age, An Long Zun and his companions are no fools.

In the safe zone, the spiritual herbs must be seized and fought for; but those slightly perilous spots……

"Jing Family Five Ghosts, got the guts? Go!" An Long Zun began to provoke.

"I've got no guts, I'm not going!" the Jing Family chief ghost laughed 'hahaha'. To these old slickers, a couple of insulting sentences are like a breeze on the face; they couldn't care less.

"Who will go?" another, about three zhang tall, clad in a set of golden heavy armor, with an exceptionally fierce aura, growled low: "Hey, Elder Hu's great reward could be placed there…… who will go?"

No one spoke; everyone looked at each other, then simultaneously revealed a strange smile.

The next instant, dozens of people on the scene struck simultaneously; their magical power surged, forming huge hands that seized the unconscious giant beasts at the rear edge of the pit wall, and with a shake hurled them into the central black pool.

At the same time, they all leapt up, their forms flickering, quickly distancing themselves from the pool; the fastest among them, in the snap of a finger, darted out dozens of li.

Dozens of huge beasts slammed heavily into the pool, the black water surface violently trembling, fist-sized black bubbles continuously bubbling up; from far away they could hear the 'pupu' muffled sound of the bubbles bursting.

Then, a surge of hot air shot out from the pool. Clusters of fist-sized white flames spurted from the shattered black bubbles, turning into white fire lotuses that slowly floated and rotated several feet above the ground. A warm yang qi spread out; the raindrops falling from the sky, filled with yin-evil qi, rapidly evaporated, not a single drop able to fall into this basin.

This warm yang qi spread outward in all directions, and the Dark Dragon Venerable and the others simultaneously halted their evasion techniques with a soft 'pa', staring blankly at the basin enveloped in white light.

Grand and mighty, pure yang and strong, filled with pure yang qi, filled with the meaning of light, extreme yang and extreme proper, like the essence of heaven and earth's righteous qi gathered, it surged forth from the basin; the black water column vanished abruptly, and the black clouds in the high sky also dissipated.

Clusters of warm yang qi followed the twenty-seven rifts connecting the basin, winding and surging, then strand by strand they scattered into the mountains and forests.

Within a radius of tens of thousands of miles, plants and trees were visibly growing; one could clearly sense the life force of birds, beasts, poisonous insects and snakes increasing… Then, in the next instant, some primordial movements that only occur when spring arrives took place on those birds, beasts, poisonous insects and snakes.

Their bodies filled with pure yang power, their vitality surging rapidly, naturally, these creatures of nature could not wait to begin reproducing.

"Here, there is something strange." the Dark Dragon Venerable muttered to himself.

Wu Tie had already concealed himself and stood at the edge of the basin.

He contemplated the pre-heaven and post-heaven yin-yang Dao, and regarding the extreme yin and evil, extreme yang and proper power emanating from this basin, he gained a clearer understanding and a more perfect analysis.

Beneath this pool, something strange is gestating.

This strange thing is rapidly awakening.