After rescuing that surviving cultivator squad and instructing them to retreat to Black Stone Fortress as quickly as possible, the demonic suppression squad did not linger, continuing deeper into the northwestern wasteland. The deeper they went, the more harsh the environment became. The lead-gray sky seemed to press down overhead. The already thin spiritual energy's proportion of mixed demonic energy grew higher and higher, like invisible toxic miasma, constantly eroding everyone's protective spiritual light. If squad members were not all profound cultivators with various means, simply staying in such an environment for extended time would be enough to make ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators' hearts waver, even causing spiritual power circulation to become sluggish.
On the ground, more demonized plants and animals began appearing. Twisted grotesque trees spread their claws, emanating ominous auras. Occasionally, some caves would erupt with red-eyed, large venomous insects. Though easily resolved, that relentless madness also raised alertness. That mixed scent of decay, despair, and cold almost condensed into substance,.
"True Lord, the demonic energy here seems. everywhere, as if from the same source, but wanting to lock onto a specific direction is like viewing flowers through fog." Breaking Shadow Alliance's Elder Shadow approached Xiao Qi, quietly reporting. He was skilled at tracking, but facing this pervasive demonic energy environment, he also felt somewhat troubled. Demonic energy did not leave clear trails like ordinary scents or energy residue but spread like ink dropped in water, everywhere, difficult to distinguish primary from secondary.
Ling Shuang, Ao Zhan, and others also nodded. They had all tried their means—spiritual sense scanning, energy detection—all could only perceive a chaotic and full of malicious demonic energy background, unable to pinpoint its erupting core.
Tang Xiao Qi closed his eyes slightly. He was not in a hurry to scan large areas with spiritual sense. He deeply inhaled. That foul air mixed with concentrated demonic energy entered his lungs. If it were others, they would probably immediately operate techniques to resist. But within him, that Golden Core containing Azure Lotus Origin slightly stirred. A cool feeling flowed through his entire body, not only instantly purifying invading demonic energy but also making his perception of surrounding demonic energy abnormally clear.
His perception method was different from others. Others used their own spiritual power or sense to "probe" demonic energy. He more like used his own pure origin to "listen" to demonic energy's "whispers," to feel its internal flow and veins.
In his perception, the seemingly chaotic spreading demonic energy around was not completely disordered. They were like countless tiny, black streams, converging from all directions, yet faintly flowing toward a common direction. These "streams" were extremely faint. Unless one had his extraordinary affinity for demonic energy (or rather, the perception brought by repelling force), they were basically undetectable.
"Follow me." Xiao Qi opened his eyes. A thread of blue light flashed in his gaze. He did not explain much but followed that direction of countless faint demonic energy flows, adjusting the route. He no longer went straight in but sometimes turned, sometimes detoured. His steps seemed without pattern yet always followed that obscure demonic energy veins.
Although squad members were confused, out of trust in Xiao Qi, they silently followed. Jing Wuxin's Breaking Illusion Spiritual Pupils operated at full power. She tried to see through the trajectory Xiao Qi pursued, but what she saw was still pervasive demonic energy. Though she felt, seemingly, the further forward, the demonic energy's "concentration" and "activity" slowly increased.
After traveling like this for about two hours, the terrain began to. More weathered rocks and dry riverbeds appeared. Xiao Qi suddenly stopped before a seemingly ordinary brown rock wall covered with cracks.
"This is it." He extended his finger, gently pointing at an almost invisible rock crevice.
Everyone focused intently. That crevice was narrow, bottomless, no different from thousands of other cracks around. However, when Xiao Qi's fingertip released an extremely faint thread of Azure Lotus power to probe inward, occurred!
"Hiss—!"
A light sound, like cold water hitting hot oil. The previously calm demonic energy around that crevice instantly churned violently, like startled snakes! Threads of pitch-black demonic energy more refined than hair, condensed like substantial form, continuously seeped from the crevice's depths, merging into the surrounding air.
"This is. earth vein rift?!" Shi Yi exclaimed in shock. As a formation master, he was most sensitive to earth vein energy. He immediately crouched down, palm, carefully sensing, his expression becoming more and more grim: "Yes! This rift connects to the underground spiritual vein! Demonic energy. demonic energy is seeping from the earth vein!"
Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked!
Earth veins were the source of one region of heaven and earth's spiritual energy, like human body's blood vessels and meridians. Demonic energy could actually pollute earth veins and seep through earth vein crevices to the surface? This was unheard of! What did this mean? It meant the demonic energy source might be deep underground, difficult to directly attack! It meant demonic energy's spread was not simply through air transmission but through the earth's spiritual vein network, able to silently spread to extremely distant places! It also explained why demonic energy was so evenly pervasive across the wasteland, difficult to trace to a specific source—because its source might not be one point but countless such earth vein crevices!
"No wonder. no wonder purification is so difficult, conventional formations have poor effect." Ling Shuang's expression was grave: "Unless the entire region's earth veins can be purified, it would be treating symptoms not causes."
"What insidious methods!" Ao Zhan clenched his fist, dragon eyes blazing with anger: "Using earth veins to spread demonic energy, this is to exterminate our cultivation world's foundation!"
Xiao Qi did not speak. He closed his eyes and focused. His spiritual sense carefully probed downward along the rift. His sense traveled through the demonic-energy-filled earth vein like swimming through thick ink, with enormous resistance and constant erosion and interference from demonic energy. But his spiritual sense was protected by the Azure Lotus Origin, extremely resilient. He went down steadily.
Dozens of zhang, a hundred zhang, several hundred zhang.
The deeper, the more pure and concentrated the demonic energy became. That cold, chaotic, full of devouring desire essence also became clearer. At the same time, he also "saw" more and thicker demonic energy, like black poisonous snakes, branching from deeper, more distant earth vein main paths, spreading through the intricate earth vein network in all directions, ultimately seeping into this world through countless surface crevices like this one.
His spiritual sense could not go deeper. The demonic energy concentration and pressure at the earth vein depths had reached a terrifying level. Forcing exploration might alert the enemy, even cause counterattack.
He withdrew his spiritual sense. His face was slightly pale, but his gaze was incomparably sharp.
"The situation is more severe than we imagined." Xiao Qi said heavily: "The demonic energy source is indeed deep in the earth veins, and not just one rift. They are like toxins, polluting the entire northwestern wasteland, even broader regions' earth vein network."
He pointed toward the northwest direction. That was where demonic energy veins gathered most densely, where earth vein energy (though already polluted) flowed most vigorously.
"The true source, that core releasing demonic energy and polluting earth veins, should be deep underground in that direction. We must find it and destroy it to fundamentally solve this demonic disaster!"
Tracing the source, they finally found the key clue—demonic energy veins. However, facing them was an even more arduous challenge: How to deeply enter the completely polluted earth veins, find and destroy that deep-buried demonic source? The path ahead would inevitably be more dangerous.