Chapter 9

The scenery of Congshan is famous for its beauty, especially now that there is almost no factory smoke and car exhaust that pollute the environment. The blue sky and white clouds are in harmony with the lush forests, creating a vast expanse.

Unfortunately, none of Qin Zunyue and the others were in the mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery.

Liu Huaizhao frowned slightly and said, "The air here is so thick, how come there is nothing here?"

"Let's take a look around first, and then walk together without dividing into teams. Don't get separated." Qin Zunyue said.

So a few people discussed it and decided to go deep into the mountains.

The original warning sign prohibiting entry was already rusted. Liu Huaizhao swung his knife to cut open the fence, and several people walked into an area that had not yet been developed into a scenic area.

There were so many trees deep in the forest that it could even be said that they blocked out the sun. Tong Le rubbed his arms and said, "Is it just my imagination? Why do I feel a little cold?"

Yan Liao answered her: "No, the temperature here is indeed much lower than outside."

"It's so eerie, it seems we've come to the right place." Wei Zhirong habitually confirmed the location of the medical box, then wiped the sweat from his hands and gripped the gun again.

"Stop talking and be careful." Qin Zunyue said.

Then everyone fell silent, leaving only the sound of twigs or dead leaves being stepped on, and the occasional sound of birds singing.

After walking carefully step by step for a long time but still finding nothing new, Qin Zunyue made a gesture to signal them to stop.

"What's wrong?" Zheng Shu asked.

Qin Zunyue gestured for him to look at the tree trunk next to him.

There were several marks on the tree trunk from being scratched by the knife. Qin Zunyue touched it and said, "This is not what we just left behind."

"Are you saying that besides us, there are other people who have been here?"

Qin Zunyue nodded: "Actually, this is normal. Those monster hunters will definitely come, but the problem is that we have never heard of anything on the top of Fir Mountain."

"Is there really nothing up here?" As soon as he said this, Liu Huaizhao denied it, "Impossible, the air here is very turbid."

"Let's take a break first." Qin Zunyue said, "We'll search the entire mountaintop later."

After a short rest, they started their action again, but they searched the entire mountain top and found nothing.

It was another break, and this time the atmosphere became silent. Qiao Lang slapped his butt on the ground, then fell back and hit his head on a stone.

"Hiss——" He wanted to pick up the stone, but failed to move it.

"What is this?" He squatted in front of the stone in confusion. After clearing the dead leaves and dirt around it, he found that the stone seemed to have emerged from the ground. It was unusually clean, and the dirt and leaves covering it did not leave any traces on it.

Qin Zunyue took out a military shovel, dug a few times, and said, "I can't dig it up anymore."

Several people immediately became excited. Anything wrong on the mountain could be a clue about the foul air.

But looking at the stone emerging from the bottom, they had no idea what to do next.

Liu Huaizhao approached, and his expression changed: "There's not a single turbid air on it."

"Ah?" Qiao Lang asked, "What do you mean?"

Liu Huaizhao said, "This entire mountain is enveloped in foul air, but there's not a trace of foul air on this stone. It's so abnormal."

But even if they knew this, it was useless. They still couldn't do anything with this bare stone.

It was almost dark, and after discussing it, they decided to spend the night outside. The deep forest was too dark and felt unsafe.

Everyone looked worried during dinner. Even Tong Le didn't say much. Qin Zunyue smiled and said, "What's going on? Are you so tired?"

Tong Le sighed deeply and said, "I thought we'd just go up the mountain, find the place with the heaviest foul air, and kill them all, but now I don't even have a clue. What are we going to do tomorrow?"

In fact, Qin Zunyue didn't know either, so now they could only take it one step at a time.

Unexpectedly, the next day, while they were having dinner, Liu Huaizhao was meditating and suddenly opened his eyes and said, "The turbid qi has changed."

So they quickly packed up their things and followed Liu Huaizhao. As soon as they reached the place where they entered the deep forest yesterday, they found that the place was covered by thick black air.

"What's going on!" Tong Le was shocked.

Liu Huaizhao frowned, swept the Lieyang Sword across, and the black air dissipated. Only then did they see clearly that the trees that had covered the sky yesterday had completely withered today.

"This..." Zheng Shu asked, "Do you want to go in?"

Liu Huaizhao didn't answer her, but only said: "It's a psychedelic array."

Seeing the puzzled looks in their eyes, he said, "That person used a psychedelic formation to cover up this area, making us think there was nothing inside. Now maybe the time has come and the formation has dissipated."

"Let's go, let's go inside and see if the stone is still there." After saying that, Liu Huaizhao took the first step.

All the marks left yesterday were gone, so they had to make new marks to explore the way. Qin Zunyue was leading the way. As he walked, he suddenly felt that the texture of the soil under his feet had changed.

So he raised his hand to ask everyone to stop, took a few steps back, and swept away the leaves he had just stepped on. He was shocked to find that the color of the soil here was darker than that of other places.

He rubbed the soil with his hands and found that it was much moister than the pictures in other places.

He threw away the dirt in his hands and saw that his hands were stained red.

Qin Zunyue's heart trembled. He raised his hand and smelled it, only to smell a faint smell of blood.

His face changed and he immediately told others about his discovery.

Liu Huaizhao performed a cleansing spell on him and cleaned his bloody hands.

The other people also cleaned up the leaves on the ground, and then found that the entire ground in front seemed to be covered with such mud.

"This...can't be human blood..." Zheng Shu said hesitantly.

A terrifying guess also emerged in the minds of several other people.

So they continued to move forward, the ground beneath their feet became softer and their hearts became heavier.

Suddenly, Qin Zunyue stopped, and the front was blocked by black air again. Liu Huaizhao raised his hand, and after a flash of golden light, the black air dissipated.

Qin Zunyue stared at the front with a serious look. Tong Le looked up and was frightened by the scene in front of him. He took a step back and then tears filled his eyes.

Densely packed corpses hung in front of them, their blood seemingly drained out, soaking the ground beneath the forest of corpses. After the black air dissipated, the smell of blood suddenly became overpowering, nearly making people nauseous.

"What, what is this?" Zheng Shu looked at the people who died in vain in front of him and turned away with some reluctance.

Liu Huaizhao's voice trembled a little. He held the Lieyang Blade tightly in his hand and said, "He is using the turbid energy in mortal bones and blood to create turbid monsters..."

Looking at the faint black air rising from the ground, Liu Huaizhao said, "No wonder this mountain is so turbid, but we can't find the cause." He pointed to the ground and said, "He used a formation to block this area, hiding the area with the heaviest turbid air."

Qin Zunyue closed his eyes tightly and said, "Let's bury them first."

The body was hung on a tree. The man had used some unknown method to make all the blood in the body flow from the wrists. Even after it dried up, it did not coagulate naturally.

They began to dig a pit and slowly buried all the bodies in the land soaked with their blood. Tong Le couldn't help crying while burying them.

Everyone felt uncomfortable. The memories of the beginning of the apocalypse had been deliberately forgotten, but now they were recalling them again. Qin Zunyue gritted his teeth, wishing he could tear that man into pieces.

The silence lasted almost the entire day. After burying everyone, they didn't even have the strength to raise their hands.

"Let's go." Qin Zunyue broke the silence and several people prepared to return to the camp.

"Are we going down the mountain tomorrow?" Zheng Shu asked.

Qin Zunyue nodded and said, "This time I went up the mountain to find out why the foul air is so thick. Now that I know the reason, I naturally have to go back, but..." Qin Zunyue paused and continued, "Actually, I'm still a little concerned about that stone."

Several people knew that the stone he was talking about was the one that could not be dug, but the mark from yesterday had disappeared. If they wanted to find that stone again, they would have to search the entire mountain top.

While Tong Le was debating whether to stay another night for the stone, she was tripped by something. Fortunately, Yan Liao was quick-witted and pulled her up.

Tong Le looked down at the culprit who tripped her and exclaimed, "Is it this stone?"

In fact, all stones look similar, but this stone is really strange. She doesn’t know if it is her illusion, but she always feels that this stone seems to be slightly shining.

"Is this stone glowing?" Wei Zhirong asked her question.

"I think so too." Tong Le quickly agreed.

Liu Huaizhao said, "It is indeed glowing, with a layer of clear air attached to it. Perhaps because of the previous formation, the two energies canceled each other out, so although there is no turbid air on it, I also didn't feel the clear air."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand towards the stone, wanting to touch it.

The moment he touched the stone, the ground suddenly shook. Qin Zunyue reacted quickly and grabbed his waist, pulling Tong Le, who was still stunned, back.

The other people also quickly retreated to a distance. Then, they saw the stone rising slightly, and something shaped like a cave appeared in front of them.

"Oh my God." Zheng Shu murmured.

"Do you want to go in and take a look?" Qin Zunyue asked, "But it might be dangerous."

"I will definitely go in." Liu Huaizhao said, "You are welcome to do whatever you want."

Unknown things can bring fear but also excitement. After discussing it a little, they stepped into the cave with the mentality that they were already there.

There was no light source in the cave, so the group took out flashlights and turned on the high-power flashlights. The entire cave instantly became as bright as day, and the murals in the cave instantly appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Wow." Tong Le exclaimed and began to carefully study the murals on the wall.

She touched the uneven wall and said, "This mural doesn't look like it was painted with paint."

Liu Huaizhao put his hand over it and said, "It's definitely not painted, it looks more like it was printed with some kind of magic."

He waved his hand, and the "murals" instantly left the wall and surrounded them.

"What, what is this?" Tong Le grabbed Yan Liao's arm.

"These so-called murals..." Liu Huaizhao casually scanned a few and said, "They are about Congshan."

Then, he stopped talking and studied the contents of the mural in silence.

No one else spoke, just waiting quietly for Liu Huaizhao.

Not long after, Liu Huaizhao breathed a sigh of relief. The mural didn't contain much, so he summarized it briefly. "This painting is just about the legend of Cong Mountain. It says that Cong Mountain is the place where souls return. It seems to be a historical record left by an immortal. It has nothing to do with the turbid demon."

Hearing that it had nothing to do with the turbid demon, several people couldn't help but look disappointed.

"But back then, the turbid demon suddenly became powerful, and many cultivators died to protect the peace of mortals. Their souls returned to Mount Cong after death, but the pure energy they absorbed during their cultivation remained in the human world and did not follow them into reincarnation." Liu Huaizhao paused, then continued, "In other words, the golden elixir in the turbid demon's body is condensed from this pure energy. As for why it absorbs the pure energy as well, I guess it's because cultivators are also mortal, and the turbid energy in their bones and blood has already mixed with the pure energy. Therefore, when it absorbs the turbid energy, some of the pure energy is mixed in, and it cannot be eliminated."

Several people suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Liu Huaizhao did not have the golden elixir at that time but had it now.

"If my guess is correct," Liu Huaizhao continued, "the farther away from Mount Cong, the fewer golden elixirs there are."

At this moment, Tong Le, who was looking around, shouted, "Look, that stone seems to be glowing too!"

Liu Huaizhao walked over there and tentatively put his hand on it. Just like in this cave, when his hand touched the stone, the ground shook, and then a long passage appeared in front of everyone.