Chapter 190 - 165: Dao Foundation

Chapter 190: Chapter 165: Dao Foundation

A long moment passed.

A slightly dry and hoarse voice broke the silence.

"Are you sure he’s hiding in this swamp?"

Feng Bai Mei’s eyes burned with hatred. The brilliant golden sphere spinning in her palm ground audibly, sending out sparks that fizzled out in the air.

Luo Fang’s gaze was profound. He said in a low voice, "The Spirit-Seeking Bird tracked his aura here. His trail went cold at this spot, so he must have gone deep into the swamp." He paused, then shook his head. "However, the swamp is filled with poisonous miasma, and the auras are chaotic. Even the Spirit-Seeking Bird can’t find a trace of him now."

"As long as we’ve confirmed his location, that’s enough..." Feng Bai Mei stared at the vast swamp and suddenly sneered. "He abandoned the Demon Hunting Corps, which led to the fall of the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land. The Corps suffered heavy casualties, and because of him, my husband was captured alive by the Power Demon Sect. We don’t even know if he’s dead or alive."

"How can he possibly escape the blame for such a crime? The sect will never forgive him..."

With that, Feng Bai Mei turned and transformed into a streak of Escape Light, shooting straight into the clouds.

Luo Fang retracted his gaze. Looking at the murky swamp, he shook his head and chuckled softly. ’So you managed to fool them. Ascending to the Dao Foundation realm, are we...’

Still, he had some doubts.

He was certain that he had personally destroyed the Senluo Flower.

’Then what is Tong Zuo using to ascend to the Dao Foundation realm?’

’Tong Zuo must have obtained something on that island sufficient for his breakthrough. Otherwise, he never would have abandoned the Demon Hunting Corps and fled into the Wanzhong Mountains Range.’

’Could it have been that flood dragon?’

Luo Fang’s thoughts churned. He then shook his head, his figure blurring before vanishing from the mountaintop.

Regardless of what Tong Zuo was using to ascend, he was no longer a threat to him.

If he succeeded, he might keep his life, but he would most likely be dispatched by the sect to guard the borderlands. If he failed, he would naturally become a guest on the Ten Thousand Souls Ladder.

At this moment, a hundred li deep inside the swamp, the dense, lingering miasma manifested in a kaleidoscope of colors, obscuring the sky.

In a patch of viscous mud, bubbles would occasionally form, swelling until they were transparent. POP... The bubbles burst, and a wisp of faint smoke would rise to merge with the miasma in the air.

As the mud churned, the corpses of various poisonous insects and beasts were carried to the surface before being dragged back down into the depths by the slurry.

An eerie silence pervaded the thousand-meter area. The poisonous insects and beasts at the perimeter seemed to sense the hidden danger within, giving it a wide berth and not daring to enter.

Deep within the center of the mud, inside a sealed space covered with Daoist talismans.

A Purple Crystal Scorpion Mother, several square meters in size and with a body like a piece of purple-black gemstone, lay prone on the ground. Impaled in its back was a meter-long, arm-thick, dark scorpion tail covered in intricate patterns.

And before it, a bare-chested boy, his skin covered in meandering purple-black lines like writhing earthworms, had one hand pressed to the top of the Purple Crystal Scorpion Mother’s head.

Wisps of black gas flowed from the dark scorpion tail into an irregular purple Crystal Stone inside the Insect Mother’s body. Then, a plume of purple-black smoke surged from the Crystal Stone, traveled up the boy’s hand, and streamed into the twelve main Spirit Veins within him, which resembled purple-glazed glass.

As the purple-black gas poured in, the viscous, liquid-like purple Spiritual Power within his Spirit Veins became even thicker, like flour being mixed into water, and slowly began to shift toward a solid state.

But as time passed, no matter how much purple-black smoke poured in, the Spiritual Power never managed to completely transform into a solid.

At the same time, the purple-black patterns on the boy’s body gradually stabilized, revealing the full image: what looked like a twisted scorpion with pincer-like fangs, massive claws, and three tails.

Lines still writhed and extended from the scorpion’s tail, as if trying to form a fourth one, but each time it began to emerge, it would dissipate and vanish. Just like his Spiritual Power, it was only one step away from completion.

Just then, the black scorpion tail impaled in the Purple Crystal Scorpion Mother’s back suddenly trembled for a moment before turning to ash and dissipating. A huge surge of black gas rushed into the irregular Crystal Stone within its body.

In an instant, the originally purple Crystal Stone turned a deep purple-black.

A few breaths later.

CRACK... CRACK... A series of crisp snaps echoed.

A fragment suddenly flaked off the irregular Crystal Stone.

As the rough edges of the Crystal Stone’s surface peeled away, the stone, originally smaller than a thumb, rapidly expanded as if being inflated like a balloon. A torrential flood of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi from the outside world poured madly into it.

At that moment, a complex, faint golden pattern suddenly lit up on the surface of the Crystal Stone within its body.

Outside.

The boy slowly opened his eyes, revealing pupils that looked like shattered glass.

"Sigh..."

He looked at the Purple Crystal Scorpion Mother, whose aura was rising step by step, but there was no joy in his eyes. Instead, he sighed softly.

The boy murmured, "A pity the power left in the Heavenly Scorpion’s remains was too little. It only allowed the Insect Mother to transform twice. With this, I can’t condense an Upper Three Grades Dao Foundation."

As the boy’s words fell.

The purple-black patterns on his body retracted like insects, slowly converging an inch and a third below his navel to form a black scorpion with three tails, pincer-like fangs, massive claws, and intricate patterns covering its body.

And within his twelve purple-glazed Spirit Veins, the Spiritual Power that was on the verge of solidifying surged violently, smashing into that spot an inch and a third below his navel.

BOOM...

A massive roar echoed through his mind.

CRACK... An invisible barrier shattered.

A hazy Chaos Space appeared. At its center, a mass of liquid shimmering with iridescent light floated unsteadily.

Just then, the purple-black scorpion tattoo on the boy’s lower abdomen flickered with spiritual light. The Purple Crystal Scorpion Mother’s body trembled, shrank rapidly, and pressed against the tattoo, slowly merging into it.

The boy slowly closed his eyes.

Inside the space, the form of the Purple Crystal Scorpion Mother slowly materialized. A hazy scorpion shadow, complete with three tails, pincer-like fangs, massive claws, and intricate patterns, enveloped its body.

’A pity...’

The boy looked at the mass of iridescent liquid and whispered in his mind. He controlled it with his will, guiding it down toward the Insect Mother.

As the liquid merged into the Insect Mother’s body, the scorpion shadow enveloping it merged as well.

In just a few breaths.

The Insect Mother grew pincer-like fangs, massive claws, and two scorpion tails, and its body became covered in fine, complex patterns.

Then, the boy’s surging Spiritual Power poured into its body, fusing with the Crystal Stone within.

One meter, two meters, three meters...

The Insect Mother’s body expanded rapidly, and the space grew along with it. A tremendous attractive force began to radiate outward from within its body.

Billowing purple-black mist erupted from the boy’s body, filling the entire space in the blink of an eye. The spiritual light of the talismans covering the space flickered for an instant, then turned to ash and vanished.

Before the mud could pour in, the billowing purple-black mist instantly spread outward. Wherever it passed, it absorbed all the filth, toxins, and miasma that had accumulated in the mud for centuries.

In just a few dozen breaths, the thousand-meter area of mud was transformed into a stretch of grayish-white hard soil.

Then, the vast, surging purple-black mist began to slowly rotate.

In the blink of an eye, it formed a massive vortex.

Under this gravitational pull, the multicolored miasma that had gathered over the swamp for centuries poured down like a surging river.

Time passed slowly. Gradually, a grim and chilling aura began to spread out.