Chapter 21: Blossoms of Lamp Light, Boundless and Wonderful

In the mountain hollow, baleful qi permeated the air.

The hunting cultivators of Yunxiangshi lay strewn across the ground, including the hunting team captain, Hei Jiao, who had rushed back earlier to deliver the message. Each one’s condition, life or death, was unknown.

Chisongzi stood among these cultivators, his face blood-red. An egg-sized pearl in his hand struggled to emit a blazing crimson light, protecting everyone. Sweat poured like rain from his forehead, and a faint layer of black light lingered on his face.

“Chisongzi, you have some reputation within the Yunxiangshi tribe, but it seems your cultivation is merely so-so. Once I, this Great Wu, kill you, your Yunxiangshi will sooner or later become the spoil in my hands!”

“Gu Shan, you are too despicable! You actually used a spiritual root as a trap to harm the men of our Yunxiangshi tribe! You are no proper descendant!”

Two voices came from afar. Chisongzi’s voice carried a trace of indescribable fury.

Lin Yuan could imagine how furious Chisongzi must have been. He had rushed over with great enthusiasm and anticipation, only to fall into another tribe’s trap.

That gloomy voice came from atop the mountain ridge.

“Chisongzi, spare the useless talk. You can only blame yourselves, you ants, for lacking self-awareness. Wouldn’t it be fine to obediently offer tribute to us every year and be at our beck and call? Yet you dare to expand privately!”

“Once I, this Great Wu, kill you, I won’t let you feel lonely. I will use the lives of your entire tribe to sacrifice to the Wu God!”

Mocking laughter erupted from the mountain ridge. A moment later, with a howling sound, hundreds of arrows rained down from above.

The dark rain of arrows carried various foul, fishy smells, chilling to the bone.

Chisongzi’s expression changed. These were the poison Gu arrows of the Witch Clan tribe.

They had been refined with vicious witch arts!

If he withstood a few more volleys of these arrows, he would meet his end here.

Suddenly, a faint cluster of flame light appeared, as if a slit of brightness had torn through a pitch-black, dark world.

“Big talk!”

A cold figure in golden robes materialized in the air above the mountain hollow. At the same time, fully armed cultivators from the Yunxiang tribe appeared beside the hollow.

“Brother Daoist Lin Yuan?”

Seeing this figure, Chisongzi’s expression shifted slightly, but a hint of bitterness instead flowed into his features.

Lin Yuan glanced around, a faint, inscrutable look flashing at the corner of his mouth. In mid-air, the pale red flame light transformed, already materializing into a uniquely marvelous Merit Golden Lamp.

Silently reciting the moral truth verses, the Merit Golden Lamp in mid-air suddenly conjured countless pale red flames, weaving into a large net that firmly protected everyone.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!!

On the mountain ridge, the hundreds of ghostly blue arrows that rained down touched the pale red fire net and were instantly incinerated.

“Lin Yuan, the Second Elder of the Yunxiang Tribe! You actually came!”

“I never expected you to have refined a strand of Sui Fire!”

“But it’s just as well you came. I was worried you wouldn’t!”

Regarding another’s arrival, the acting strongman from the other Witch Clan tribe seemed to have anticipated it long ago.

That gaze felt as tangible as a solid object. Lin Yuan’s spiritual sense could clearly detect that chilling, utterly malicious aura.

That was a cultivator from the Wu Sect.

Bone Blade’s body held a similar aura, but it was far inferior to this Wu Sect cultivator’s!

Watching the numerous arrows being extinguished, not a trace of joy appeared on Chisongzi’s face. He only looked at Lin Yuan and shook his head with a bitter smile. “Brother Daoist Lin Yuan, you shouldn’t have come!”

“Regretting it now is already too late. All of you, stay behind!”

“Who would have thought? I, this Great Wu, merely employed a small trick and caught two big fish. Your Yunxiang tribe is even more foolish than I imagined!”

Gu Shan looked down from his high position, his expression brimming with arrogance.

His laughter was filled with a hint of smugness.

Lin Yuan could already see that atop the mountain ridge, a figure with a peculiar appearance stood upon the mountain rock. He was handsome and well-built, his gaze looking down, utterly overbearing.

In the mountain forests surrounding this figure, hundreds of shadowy, indistinct figures were also distributed!

Their faces were all strangely twisted, their eyes glinting with a weird red light, and their bodies exuded a nauseatingly sweet, fishy stench!

People of the Hundred Poisons Tribe?

Lin Yuan slowly spoke. “It seems the Hundred Poisons Tribe has long been eyeing Yunxiangshi covetously!”

“To dare create that vicious method designed to counter our Hundred Poisons Tribe’s secret arts, you should have anticipated this day long ago!”

“However, rest assured. Your medical path still holds some profundity. Our Hundred Poisons Tribe will carry it forward for you!”

This figure sneered as he looked at Chisongzi and Lin Yuan, clearly regarding the two as already dead.

Who was he? He was the youngest Great Wu of the Hundred Poisons Tribe. Currently, he also possessed a great killing weapon. A savage, crimson light glimmered in his eyes.

By sacrificing the entire Yunxiangshi tribe and pleasing the Hundred Poisons Wu God, perhaps this time a higher-level witch art would descend.

Hearing this, Lin Yuan’s expression remained unchanged.

Beside him, Chisongzi’s face showed a trace of regret.

Poison and medicine were not separate. The Hundred Poisons Tribe had always dominated this region with its terrifying witch poisons, unrivaled in might. The emergence of the medical path within Yunxiangshi was intolerable to the Hundred Poisons Tribe.

In fact, Yunxiangshi had already heard some rumors. Lin Yuan had previously warned them. Although the Yunxiang tribe was on guard, they hadn’t paid too much attention, believing the two sides would keep to themselves like well water not interfering with river water.

Who could have imagined the other side had long been sharpening their knives!

“Act!”

At the command, figures appeared all around, eighteen in total. They stood at various points around the mountain hollow. These figures resembled puppets devoid of intelligence, each face wooden, each holding a strange black long banner.

That was the strongest witch art of the Hundred Poisons Tribe: the Hundred Poisons Divine Descent Banner.

Each witch-poison banner carried a witch-poison demon.

They were a set of witch tools refined by blending witch-poison vengeful spirits—produced when witch-poisoned cultivators killed each other—with the secret arts of the Hundred Poisons Tribe. They could seal the earth!

The eighteen witch-poison demons were extremely ferocious. Not only did they carry terrifying witch poisons, but they could also create layers of illusions to torment the primordial spirit.

“Not good! It’s the Hundred Poisons Tribe’s Hundred Poisons Divine Descent Banner!”

“They actually brought this dreadful set of witch tools too?”

Chisongzi’s face had already turned ashen. He muttered to himself, his complexion deathly pale.

Seeing Chisongzi’s expression, the gloomy laughter of Gu Shan from the mountain ridge fell upon them. “Chisongzi, Lin Yuan, you should be happy! The number of living beings fortunate enough to die within my Hundred Poisons Tribe’s Hundred Poisons Divine Descent Banner is not many!”

From beginning to end, Lin Yuan’s expression had not changed. Mere witch poisons were nothing. Even if he hadn’t yet completed the refinement of the Merit Golden Lamp, just relying on the terrifying Innate Thunder Method was enough to make these witch-poison demons flee at the sight of him!

Lin Yuan extended a palm. The Merit Golden Lamp in mid-air transformed into a streak of golden light, instantly landing upon his palm. Innate Magical Power surged from within his body!

“Go!”

With a light shout, in an instant, golden mist arose within the mountain hollow. A thousand layers of crimson flames appeared, and radiant Merit Golden Light suffused everything. Under the stunned gazes of Chisongzi and Gu Shan, it flew towards the mountain ridge, the treasure light sweeping across. Before the myriad demons could even take flight, they were instantly enveloped by blossoming lamp flames.

Blossoms of lamp light, guiding passage to the netherworld.

All eighteen witch-poison demons refined from countless evil souls and fierce ghosts were purified. Lin Yuan could clearly perceive that as the numerous evil souls and fierce ghosts were liberated and guided by the moral truth verses within the Merit Golden Lamp, threads of virtue merit fell, nourishing this Merit Golden Lamp and instantly increasing its power by at least a third or more.

Looking again at the mountain ridge, figures gazed at this scene with shocked, horrified eyes.

Lin Yuan shook his head. The Merit Golden Lamp was a top-grade secret treasure for refining demons. After being refined with virtue merit, its wonderful uses were boundless. How could ordinary demons or primordial spirits dare appear before the Merit Golden Lamp?

Lin Yuan’s hands moved swiftly. The light from the Merit Golden Lamp’s blossoms enveloped the group of cultivators on the mountain ridge. In an instant, one agonized wail after another resounded across the mountains, including that of the handsome young leader.

That Witch Clan youth offered almost no resistance whatsoever.

Beside him, Chisongzi stared at Lin Yuan in utter shock. That Witch Clan youth’s strength was no less than his own, perhaps even superior. Yet, in Lin Yuan’s hands, he had been utterly powerless.

“You can’t kill me, you can’t kill me…!” Trapped within the Sui Fire, this Witch Clan youth struggled violently, his threats fierce but his courage failing.

“Stop being noisy. I still need to attend to my studies, where would I find the time to entertain you?” Lin Yuan shook his head, but his gaze suddenly shifted, a hint of chill surfacing. A strand of magical power from the Merit Golden Lamp swept up, throwing the half-dead, half-alive Witch Clan youth into a small river nearby.

In the river, a massive, bloody maw leaped up instantly, abruptly swallowing the Witch Clan youth whole. It was a savage wild beast. After devouring the youth, it shook its head and tail, immediately sinking into the water and swimming downstream.

“Kill them!”

Seizing this opportunity, Lin Yuan ordered the Yunxiangshi tribe members hidden in the shadows to charge out. They rushed into the nearby woods, pursued the scattered survivors, and began cleaning up the battlefield.

A seemingly flawless trap had been completely shattered in an instant.

Chisongzi still watched this scene with disbelief. Looking at Lin Yuan beside him, holding a golden lamp, he felt as if he were still in a dream.