Feng Rong flew very fast, completely different from when he went to the ruins. He was so fast that he couldn't even see his afterimage, and all he could hear was a whooshing buzzing sound. Although the distance was far, he arrived in less than half an hour at his sword-riding speed.
Feng Rong slowed down, and You You finally got a clear look at the scene below. All around her was a vast expanse of black, scorched earth. It was summer, yet there wasn't a single patch of green to be seen. Even the nearby forest was withered and yellow, as if all the trees had died down in an instant.
Her heart sank, and she had a bad feeling.
"Sect Master, Taogui Town is just ahead!" Ling Qi pointed to the horizon, and Feng Rong immediately flew towards that direction.
The closer Youyou got to the town, the stranger it seemed... too quiet. Logically, a town this size, comparable to a city, should have been bustling, yet the surroundings were eerily quiet. It wasn't until they flew over the city walls and saw what was inside that they gasped in shock.
The ground of the entire town was covered with black marks, as if it had been scorched by something, or as if something had crawled out and burned it. These black marks spread like a spider web throughout the town, and on these black marks lay countless people. Upon closer inspection, one could see that these people were extremely thin, and although they were all dressed in gorgeous clothes, they looked like skeletons.
"This is..." Ling Qi's eyes widened in disbelief, because there were so many people, it seemed like the entire town was lying on the ground. Several people fell down, and Ling Qi subconsciously checked the breathing of those people, then shook his head at You You, "It's too late, they're all dead."
Youyou was also somewhat shocked. It was the first time she had seen so many people die. Upon closer inspection, the people on the ground looked more and more ferocious than the last, as if they had experienced some extreme pain before their deaths. "What exactly happened?" How could the entire town be dead, and there were no signs of a fight around them?
“They must have been drained of their life force in an instant!” Feng Rong withdrew her hand that had been peering at them, stood up and looked at You You, “But there is no demonic aura on them. The cause of this is not the work of demons, but rather... a backlash.”
"Backlash?" You You was taken aback. What kind of backlash could kill an entire town? Her anxiety grew, and she looked around, asking, "What about Lin Feng and the disciples? Feng Rong, can you find their locations?"
Feng Rong sensed for a moment before pointing ahead and saying, "They're not in this town, they seem to be in that direction..."
Without hesitation, the three headed straight ahead, only to see that the black marks did not originate within the city, but rather spread out from outside. Moreover, the further they flew, the thicker the black marks became, as if all the black marks had converged in one place.
They followed the trail and stopped in front of a massive mountain not far from the city. Before them lay a high platform, densely packed with skeletal corpses, even more so than those inside the city. Several in the center, in particular, were dressed in ornate, colorful garments, seemingly deliberately disguised. However, their expressions were far more grotesque than the other corpses.
“This… looks like an altar!” Ling Qi said after taking a look. He was a priest of Chengtian Pavilion and was always quite sensitive to these things. He just didn’t know what these mortals worshipped in their lifetime. There were no statues or anything like that around.
"The person on the soul tablet is in the cave ahead!" Feng Rong put down the soul tablet in her hand and pointed ahead.
Youyou was taken aback and looked at the stone wall in front of her. Where was the cave? There was no cave!
Feng Rong didn't explain further, but simply stepped forward and struck the stone wall with her palm. The next moment, a loud boom was heard, and the stone wall flashed with the light of some array formations. The entire stone wall shattered instantly, revealing a huge passage behind it. Instantly, a violent aura rushed out from the cave.
"Let's go!" You You didn't have time to think and rushed in, followed by Feng Rong and Ling Qi.
The cave was very deep, seemingly extending downwards, and the deeper one went, the darker it became, with hardly any light visible. Feng Rong conjured a ball of fire to illuminate the area, and only then did she discover that the cave was filled with those black marks. She could vaguely see some kind of light flowing within those marks, as if they were alive.
The further You You went, the more worried he became, until he saw a faint red light ahead, seemingly the traces of an array. Just as he was about to approach, a familiar voice suddenly rang out, "What else do you want? Do you really think we won't attack mortals?"
"Liu Qing!" You You exclaimed in surprise.
"Sect Master?! How could you..." The other person seemed even more surprised than her, then suddenly remembered something and shouted, "Sect Master, don't come any closer! There's a very strong formation ahead!"
He shouted, followed by the voices of several other disciples, all warning her not to go over.
You You stopped abruptly; the distance was a bit far, and she wasn't sure what was ahead. Feng Rong, however, pulled her behind him and said in a deep voice, "There are indeed fluctuations from an array here, and it's a multi-layered array, but it seems some parts are damaged, so it shouldn't be difficult to break." He then loudly warned those inside, "Try to stay in one place and don't move around."
Having said that, he flicked his wrist, and crimson flames instantly ignited, spreading rhythmically across the ground. The next moment, a massive, intricate array appeared before them, layer upon layer. As the flames burned through the array, each layer crumbled away, as if peeling away something, and their vision grew clearer. In no time, the barrier broke through, revealing a large group of figures behind them—the missing disciples.
"Sect Leader!" Everyone's faces were filled with joy as they bowed to her from afar. "Greetings, Sect Leader!"
"Get up, all of you!" You You quickly walked over, glanced at the group, and noticed that although they didn't have any serious external injuries, they looked haggard, their spiritual energy was somewhat chaotic, and even their cultivation levels seemed to be declining. Some of them couldn't even stand steadily and could only support each other. "What happened to you? Why did you become like this?"
"Sect Master..." Liu Qing was the one in better condition among them, barely managing to stand while supporting himself with his sword, and explained, "We've fallen into a trap. There are no demonic beasts causing trouble in Taogui Town at all. They deliberately lured the sect's disciples here and then lured us into this cave. The array set up deep inside this cave can absorb our spiritual energy. They also used our communication talismans to attract more disciples here."
You You's face instantly darkened. "Why did they do this?"
"It's for the spiritual power within us!"
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