Chapter 169: Pollution Source

Lin Yifan stared for a moment, then lowered his head to look at his own palm——those two maggots, like phantoms, directly merged into his skin.

"What the hell is this?!" his heart tightened suddenly, and he instantly felt something was wrong.

The archer, exerting force, clenched his palm, but it had absolutely no effect.

Lin Yifan frowned, his face grim to the extreme.

However, the situation was urgent, leaving him no room to dwell on it; he could only temporarily set it aside.

And the runes atop the altar, after losing the suppression of the human bones, finally began to glow blue gradually.

The light pillar at the center of the Water Pool suddenly intensified; the light originally blocked by the layer of maggots on the water surface shot through the swarm like a sword, piercing straight into the heavens!

The moment the gray mist touched the light pillar, it emitted a "hiss—hiss" corrosive sound, as if ice meeting scorching sun.

"Did it succeed?" Lin Yifan had just exhaled in relief when he suddenly heard a piercing shriek from above: "Ruan Qingtán!"

Even though he was far from the water surface, he could still hear the shriek, showing how huge a commotion Ruan Qingtán had caused.

Meanwhile, the Water Pool, illuminated by the blue light pillar, allowed him, even though he was tens of meters deep underwater, to see clearly what was happening on the surface.

He saw Ruan Qingtán's body floating on the water surface, now twisting wildly, maggots churning like boiling water, while the light pillar was purifying the swarm at a visible speed!

"Purification has finally begun!" Lin Yifan exhaled in relief, but just then, an abrupt change occurred——

He saw the human bones he had kicked into the water earlier suddenly tremble; the maggots lingering on each bone segment burst forth with blinding purple light.

That purple light shot straight toward Lin Yifan; even though he reacted quickly, he still couldn't dodge in time.

When the purple light reached him, he realized it wasn't any kind of purple light at all!

It was actually a mass of purple worms, these worms turning mist-like and illusory.

As it rushed toward Lin Yifan's face, his temples throbbed, and that, and that feeling of his mind being polluted surged again!

In Lin Yifan's mind, uncontrolled fragments of foreign memories surfaced: a rainstorm night, a burning village, screams swallowed by maggots……

"Are these……memories of the human bones?" that feeling of his mind being polluted surged again!

【20】 "Are these……memories of the human bones?" he groaned, clutching his head; through blurred vision, he caught sight of the altar's base, which had been emitting blue light, now revealing new runes at this moment.

They were actually blood-red runes!

The blood-red runes spread like a spiderweb, clashing fiercely with the blue light formation!

Although Lin Yifan didn't know what these blood-red runes were, he instinctively felt he had to stop them from spreading.

Otherwise, the blue light formation would likely be affected!

But how exactly could he stop it?

Lin Yifan truly had no clue!

Even now, he could barely protect himself; he sensed that if he couldn't stop the purple light from continuing to pollute his mind, he would become the next set of human bones!

Just when he was at a loss, the black-clothed figure who had appeared before showed up again.

That black-clothed person appeared out of thin air, and where he appeared, a black rift opened behind him.

Upon seeing that rift, Lin Yifan instantly felt a sense of being torn apart.

"That's a spacetime rift; don't look at it, or the spacetime blade will slash your soul." The black-clothed figure immediately blocked his view and said in a low voice:

"You must leave the altar immediately! There's a pollution source beneath this altar; if you don't leave now, you'll be directly contaminated."

Hearing this, Lin Yifan gasped, suppressing the pain of his mind being torn apart, and exclaimed excitedly to the black-clothed figure:

"What do you mean? Didn't you say this formation could combine with the Source of Myriad Waters to form the Source of Purification?"

"Then how is this altar related to the pollution source?"

"Because this altar is used to amplify the pollution source!" the black-clothed person said quickly, "Not only is the altar used to amplify the pollution source, but this formation is also used to suppress it."

"Originally, what was placed atop this altar was the Source of Myriad Waters; the Source of Myriad Waters and this formation complemented each other, and the resulting formation power was the true main force for suppressing the pollution source."

"It's precisely because the Source of Myriad Waters was taken away that the formation's suppressing power became insufficient, allowing part of the pollution source beneath to escape, and then cause such a huge disturbance in your Initial Domain."

At that moment, Lin Yifan was drenched in cold sweat; he didn't disbelieve the black-clothed person's words, but when he struggled to retreat, he found himself unable to move.

He lowered his gaze and saw countless blood-red runes crawling up from his ankles, while beneath the skin of his right hand, where the maggots had fused, a faint purple glow shimmered.

At the same time, his right hand shot with intense pain; the purple light beneath his skin grew stronger, as if something was wriggling inside his flesh.

Those blood-red runes, like living creatures, climbed up his calves; each inch they ascended brought a tearing, burning sensation.

"Damn……" he felt things going wrong, gritting his teeth hard as he tried to break free.

But the entire altar seemed to have turned into a giant magnet, firmly holding him in place.

The black-clothed figure's silhouette instantly appeared beside him, reaching out to grab his arm, his tone unusually grave:

"These runes aren't part of the formation—they're a backlash from the pollution source! Back then, the Guardian used himself as the formation's eye, the Source of Myriad Waters as its heart, and the President sealed it."

"After all these years, the Guardian's body has been completely corrupted by the pollution source, and now that the Source of Myriad Waters is gone, this formation can no longer suppress him!"

"What's worse, your body has actually touched the core pollution source—that thing is sinister, utterly terrifying when formless and invisible, and now that it's made contact with your body, it surely intends to use you as an escape vessel!"

Lin Yifan's pupils contracted: "What should I do now?!"

He lowered his eyes to his arm, gritted his teeth, and said:

"Otherwise, I'll just chop off this arm?"

The black-clothed figure didn't answer; instead, he suddenly raised his hand, fingers splayed, and a dark-blue blade of light burst from his palm, slashing straight at the blood-red runes beneath Lin Yifan's feet!

Then he growled: "Come with me, quickly!"

"Screech——!" the instant the runes were cut, Lin Yifan felt his body lighten, and he could finally move.

He didn't dare linger even a moment, immediately following the black-clothed figure away from the altar, hovering in midair above the water, and only then did he exhale in relief.

But the next second, a violent tremor came from the altar's base, and the entire Water Pool's currents began to spin wildly!

"It's awakened……" the black-clothed figure whispered, his voice tinged with a dread Lin Yifan had never heard before.