Chapter 350: Senluo Hall

Of course, Chen Yuan knew nothing of what had transpired at the Original Demon Palace. But even if he had, it would not have surprised him.

A man like the Demon Venerable, Han Guang, had long since achieved a state of Forgetting Emotions and Severing Nature, willing to use any means necessary to achieve his goals.

‘He had already sacrificed one son; what was a second?’

However, Han Guang was exceedingly cautious. Long before he began grooming Han Chang, he had already made preparations by fathering another son. His foresight was truly comprehensive.

After circling the shattered space, Chen Yuan found two more spatial passages.

Upon entering one of the passages, he found a desert completely devoid of life.

It was truly a place devoid of life; there were no living creatures at all. He could not even find a trace of an Array. Only the Array Patterns in the sky continuously radiated a startling light and intense heat.

Thus, after a brief exploration, Chen Yuan departed with nothing to show for his efforts.

‘This place must have been used to raise something before,’ Chen Yuan guessed. ‘Its native environment was probably the desert, and the Endless Immortal Palace must have fed it regularly.’

‘But now, ten thousand years later, a desert environment would only have grown harsher. Whatever was kept here must have long since turned to dust.’

The other space seemed far more normal, yet it too was devoid of Vitality, for it was covered in Arrays.

As far as the eye could see, the ground was almost completely filled with Array Patterns, and various materials for creating Arrays were scattered everywhere.

Some Arrays were still operating, some had lost their power cores and were completely derelict, and others were only half-built.

‘This hall must have been the place where the Endless Immortal Palace specialized in Array research. But with so many Arrays crammed together, it would be an absolute nightmare for anyone who didn’t understand them.’

Even someone with Chen Yuan’s power had to tread carefully, wary of triggering an Array and becoming trapped within an endless siege of them.

At that moment, Chen Yuan suddenly smelled blood.

He froze, then immediately concealed his aura and moved toward the source of the scent.

Ahead, inside an Array, a Martial Artist wearing a Daoist Robe lay on the ground. A dozen red threads pierced the vital acupoints all over his body, and blood flowed from him unceasingly.

His body was enveloped in the glow of an Array, but this one was not trapping him; it was protecting him.

Without the protection of this Array Power, the Daoist would have been killed long ago.

Chen Yuan had a vague memory of this man. He was a friend of Qingchen, Jing Yuan Daoist from Xuanyuan Temple. Back in the Beast Taming Hall, he had joined forces with Cui Xuanye, using an Array to defend against the attacks of numerous Exotic Beasts.

The man was proficient in Arrays, but his overall strength wasn’t particularly great, and his skill in the Array Dao was inferior to Cui Xuanye’s.

‘The threads piercing his body look somewhat familiar… Aren’t they the same ones used by Mei Niang, the woman who was always with Han Chang?’

‘She’d even used them to steal the Beast Taming Hall’s greatest treasure, the Life Transformation Pearl.’

At the thought of that woman, a cold glint appeared in Chen Yuan’s eyes.

‘That woman had shown him malice before, and her identity was clearly not simple. After all, anyone who dared to play Han Chang for a fool couldn’t be an ordinary person.’

But now, upon seeing Chen Yuan, Jing Yuan Daoist’s despairing gaze suddenly filled with a desperate will to live.

“Help… help me!”

As Jing Yuan Daoist cried out, a thick froth of blood bubbled from his mouth.

But at the same time, he used the last of his strength to dispel the Array.

‘Of course, I don’t know Chen Yuan well,’ he thought. ‘I also know he seems to have offended many people and doesn’t have the best reputation in the Jianghu.’

‘But even so, I have to take this gamble. If I just keep holding on, I’ll only be waiting to die.’

However, Jing Yuan Daoist’s gamble paid off.

He was a friend of Qingchen from Yellow Court Temple, and Chen Yuan had no ill will towards Qingchen.

Besides, judging by his condition, he had been wounded by Mei Niang, and Chen Yuan wanted to find out more about her.

Stepping before Jing Yuan Daoist, Chen Yuan immediately reached out and used the Inner Vision God Observation Method to probe the energies within the man’s body.

The red threads had pierced precisely into his major Meridian acupoints, continuously eroding his True Essence and Vitality.

Before, Chen Yuan had not been certain about the nature of the power within these red threads. But now, after a careful examination with the Inner Vision God Observation Method, he could finally identify it.

This wasn’t True Qi and Inner Strength, but Incense Fire Will Power—the Red Lotus Willpower of the Red Lotus Sect, which Chen Yuan had encountered back in Qin Province!

As for Mei Niang’s identity, Chen Yuan now had a faint suspicion.

‘But this isn’t the time to dwell on that. Jing Yuan Daoist is about to bleed to death.’

Chen Yuan placed several Elixirs that restore Qi Blood into the man’s mouth. Then, he activated the Inner Vision God Observation Method, pulled out the threads, sealed the pierced Meridian acupoints, and helped him digest the Elixirs.

A moment later, Jing Yuan Daoist finally recovered some strength, and his face, which had been as pale as a corpse, now regained some color.

“Thank you for saving my life, Master Chen! I am eternally grateful!”

Jing Yuan Daoist’s expression was filled with emotion.

He had truly walked the precipice between life and death, experiencing the profound horror of that state.

“No need for thanks, Daoist. Was the one who injured you the woman who was always with Han Chang?”

Jing Yuan Daoist gritted his teeth. “It was that woman!

“That woman is incredibly powerful. She was hiding her true strength the entire time she was with Han Chang. I have no idea which power she belongs to.

“Originally, I was exploring this region with Master Cui of the Cui Family from Celestial Official City and Master Lu, Lu Chuanshan of the Jianghai Alliance. We had acquired many Array Dao inheritances.

“And through these Array Dao inheritances, we also discovered a passage leading to the Senluo Hall of the Endless Immortal Palace.

“Senluo Hall is the place where the Endless Immortal Palace cultivates special Spiritual Medicines. There are definitely good things inside. The three of us were just about to enter when we were ambushed by that woman.”

“That woman ambushed the three of you alone?”

Chen Yuan was surprised. He had not realized it was not just Jing Yuan Daoist, but Lu Chuanshan and Cui Xuanye as well.

‘But the three of them were together, and she still managed to ambush them successfully? Was that woman really that strong?’

Jing Yuan Daoist shook his head. “The one who ambushed us was that woman, but she had some companions with her. I don’t know when they entered this Endless Immortal Palace.

“Individually, they were not that strong, but there were over twenty of them, and their cultivation techniques were interconnected, allowing them to heavily wound the three of us in an instant.

“Master Cui and Master Lu escaped into Senluo Hall. I have the weakest combat power, so after being gravely wounded, I could only flee here and activate an Array for self-preservation.

“It seems their target was also Senluo Hall, so they didn’t bother breaking the Array to finish me off. They chose to enter Senluo Hall instead.”

“Where is Senluo Hall? Show me,” Chen Yuan said immediately.

Jing Yuan Daoist immediately pointed the way. With a flicker, Chen Yuan’s form vanished from sight.

‘I have to save Cui Xuanye and Lu Chuanshan. As for that woman… if she’s really who I think she is, she will die today, without a doubt!’

Watching Chen Yuan’s figure vanish in an instant, Jing Yuan Daoist sighed.

Although his Xuanyuan Temple was not a top-tier Major Sect in the Jianghu, it was still a significant power in its own region. His master was a Grandmaster of the Eighth Realm Divine Platform, and their temple was on good terms with Yellow Court Temple. He himself was a renowned young prodigy in his homeland, with a solid reputation.

But it was only after coming to the Heaven-Reaching Tower that Jing Yuan Daoist truly understood that the heroes of this world were as numerous as fish in the sea, and that he was nothing special among them.

A single woman who had appeared from nowhere had injured him this badly. The Heaven-Reaching Tower was truly teeming with prodigies and powerful experts.

Chen Yuan followed the direction Jing Yuan Daoist had indicated and entered a spatial passage. The moment he landed, his nostrils were filled with the stench of blood, which startled him.

‘Isn’t this supposed to be a place for growing Spiritual Medicines? Why does it reek of blood?’

When Chen Yuan opened his eyes and saw everything before him, he was stunned.

‘This was the place where the Endless Immortal Palace cultivated Spiritual Medicines?’

What lay before him was not so much a medicinal garden as it was a Purgatory cultivated with flesh and blood!

The entire space was dark red. The Array Patterns overhead no longer emitted sunlight, but a kind of crimson light.

The ground under Chen Yuan’s feet was damp and sticky, tinged with a crimson hue. The air was hot and humid, thick with the stench of blood, and even slightly toxic.

Lifting his gaze, he saw that the ‘Spiritual Medicines’ before him were utterly bizarre.

There was a snow-white, human-shaped flower bud, but its roots were deeply embedded in the chest cavity of a half-exposed skeleton.

The surface of the flower bud was faintly covered with a dense network of vein-like patterns. A crack opened at the top of the bud, and peering inside, one could vaguely see a human face.

There were also countless vines as thick as a child’s arm, their surfaces covered with barbs.

The vines snaked across the ground, and every few feet, they bore a fist-sized fruit. Each fruit was filled with a turbid liquid, and suspended within that liquid was an eyeball!

The moment Chen Yuan’s figure appeared, countless eyeballs from all directions turned to stare at him, a horrifyingly bizarre sight.

Especially in front of Chen Yuan, where a giant, crimson flower was in full bloom. Its petals looked like flesh, tinged with the ashen gray of a corpse.

The center of the flower was not a normal pistil, but a pile of human hands. In their midst, a ghastly, pale human face swayed back and forth.

“What the hell is this place!”

Chen Yuan frowned slightly.

This place was even more bizarre than the Beast Taming Hall, as if he had arrived in another world.

Taking out the Human Skin Evil Book, Chen Yuan asked, “Is this really the Senluo Hall of the Endless Immortal Palace?”

The Human Skin Evil Book quickly replied, “This is indeed Senluo Hall. Ordinary Spiritual Medicines can only extend one’s life; they cannot grant true longevity. The Endless Immortal Palace believed that only by fusing flesh and blood with Spiritual Medicines could they cultivate a true Longevity Elixir.

“However, ordinary Spiritual Medicines also have limited lifespans. The Hall Master of Senluo Hall not only fused flesh and blood with the Spiritual Medicines but also added the power to convert between life and death. That is what created this whole mess.

“I heard that the Endless Immortal Palace actually used these wicked things to refine some Divine Pills, which they then sold to many Sects. The effects were supposedly quite good. Of course, they still failed to grant true longevity.”