*Tap.*
As a pair of Cloud-Treading Boots lightly touched the pool floor etched with intricate patterns, several streams of bubbles drifted upward, floating along a blood-red silhouette toward the surface.
*Gurgle... gurgle...*
Listening to the surging roar of water pressure in his ears, Xu Yuan surveyed the true core of this Silent Crypt with a hint of doubt.
Though he had leaped into the pool without hesitation earlier, internally he had been panicking like mad.
Having survived that battle against the Barbarian King, he needed no reminder from Luo Xiran to understand that the so-called aberrant ghost transformation was essentially a process of the body adapting to life origin.
With every injury, life origin would remodel his physical form even as it mended his wounds.
Once the remodeling reached a certain threshold, the aberration would feed back into his intent-soul and thoughts.
It would make an aberrant ghost subconsciously regard feeding on living beings as entirely natural—just as humans naturally ate rice and feasted on meat.
Yet during the dive down into the Blood Nest, Xu Yuan realized no changes had occurred within him.
This was strange.
As a half-aberrant ghost, Xu Yuan's body allowed him to clearly sense just how dense and immense the life origin contained within this Blood Nest was.
Furthermore, he could also tell that the moment he entered the pool, his body had turned into a black hole, frantically devouring the surrounding life origin.
In the dozen-odd breaths it took him to reach the bottom, the life origin he had absorbed had already far surpassed the sum of all the fungal carpets in the crypt.
Yet his consciousness remained completely stable—so stable that he even had the leisure to contemplate how to backstab Luo Xiran once he got out.
The doubt flashed through his mind, but Xu Yuan quickly suppressed it.
Though he did not know why, as long as it was not accelerating his aberrant ghost transformation, it was a good thing, so there was no need to dwell on it for now.
His urgent priority was to get out of this crypt; the Barbarian King, having attained Sainthood, could hunt them down at any moment.
With that thought, Xu Yuan swept his gaze across the bottom of the blood pool.
Unfortunately, he could not see clearly. Everywhere his vision reached was an impenetrable expanse of bloody red.
After a moment's thought, Xu Yuan closed his eyes and switched to probing the pool floor through the innate synesthesia of his aberrant ghost body.
An eerie ripple spread out from his body. In the next instant, as if answering an order upon sensing this ripple, the life origin in the blood pool surged frenziedly toward his body.
Sensing this sudden turn of events, Xu Yuan felt a chill seize his heart.
The incoming life origin he could perceive alone was already more than ten times what it had been just now, with an endless stream following behind. If all of it poured into his body, wouldn't he die right here on the spot?
Yet arriving alongside this life origin was a vision akin to a bird's-eye god view.
Wherever the life origin reached fell within his perception, revealed down to the finest detail.
While the layout of this pool floor bore some resemblance to the 2.5D map in his memory, the difference was still vast.
In *Cangyuan*, players could only descend into this blood pool after it had completely dried up—which was to say, after slaying Luo Xiran.
Transformed into reality, the space here was so immense that Xu Yuan could barely recognize where what he was looking for was located.
The thousand-foot-tall altar was hollow, and beneath it connected to a cubical stone cavern whose walls were engraved with intricate patterns.
Fortunately, through the synesthetic power of the aberrant ghost, he soon found the formation core he was searching for.
It was a boulder situated right in the center of the stone cavern.
Its surface was exceptionally regular, forming a perfect hexagonal frustum that stood there as if it had endured since time immemorial.
The omniscient perspective granted by the aberrant ghost synesthesia allowed Xu Yuan to clearly perceive that all the formation patterns within this stone nest spread outward from the corners and edges of the hexagonal frustum.
And right in the center of the frustum's top surface was a jade pendant-shaped indentation.
The Blood God Stone jade pendant.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xu Yuan severed the synesthesia, kicked off his feet, and darted through the blood-red solution of life origin toward the frustum, trailing a wake of bubbles.
Landing before it, Xu Yuan looked down at the two nearly identical Blood God Stone jade pendants in his hand, a flicker of hesitation crossing his eyes.
There was only one slot here, but two plug-ins.
Which one should he insert?
Based on his past-life memories, Xu Yuan felt he should insert Luo Xiran's.
As long as one Blood God Stone jade pendant was inserted, a secret chamber would open beneath, containing the antidote he currently needed to reverse the aberrant ghost transformation, as well as the way out.
Yet at this moment, an impulse to insert Bai Muxi's pendant into the slot stirred faintly in his heart, rapidly swelling.
Curiosity, and the desire to explore the unknown.
After a brief consideration, Xu Yuan ultimately suppressed this suicidal impulse.
Games could be remade at any time, but life could not.
Being curious about everything would only end up killing him.
*Phew...*
Exhaling a long breath, bubbles streaming upward from his lips, Xu Yuan gently pressed Luo Xiran's Blood God Stone jade pendant into the groove.
The moment the jade pendant slotted into the indentation, the six edges of the hexagonal frustum immediately glowed with a faint luminescence.
Then—
*Rumble—*
A vibration resonated beneath Xu Yuan's feet. The seamless floor to the left of the hexagonal frustum gradually parted, revealing a pitch-black entrance to a secret chamber.
Miraculously, however, the blood-red life origin did not pour through the cracked opening into the secret chamber. It was as if an invisible membrane at the threshold held it at bay.
Xu Yuan shifted a few steps to the side and crouched down, preparing to breach this invisible membrane, but to his surprise, his hand passed straight through it.
There was not the slightest resistance.
The membrane seemingly barred only the aberrant ghosts' life origin.
After a brief thought, Xu Yuan stepped downward.
The moment his body fully cleared the viscous life origin fluid and entered the secret chamber, Xu Yuan unconsciously knitted his brows.
Stench.
A foul stench.
The chamber harbored a putrid stench of decay that ten thousand years had failed to wash away.
Without stopping, Xu Yuan half-narrowed his eyes to examine this ancient subterranean chamber that had stood for ten thousand years.
The interior differed somewhat from the simple, cramped layout in *Cangyuan*.
In his past life, this chamber had only a single furnace and a stone table, upon which sat the antidote to reverse the aberrant ghost transformation.
Yet the chamber before him was vast—several fathoms high and dozens of fathoms wide and long, resembling an expansive underground warehouse. Only in this cavernous subterranean "depot," there were no goods, but rather pill furnaces, jade desks, and precision instruments like those Xu Yuan had seen in the Prime Minister's Estate's Gewu Academy.
Several screens hanging from the ceiling partitioned the massive chamber into four sections.
After ten thousand years, these screens—originally inscribed with isolating formation patterns—had already rotted away, allowing Xu Yuan to take in the full view of the chamber at a glance.
He could even faintly imagine the sect cultivators bustling about, talking and laughing in this chamber ten thousand years ago...
*Tap.*
*Tap.*
*Tap.*
Slow, gentle footsteps echoed through the dead-silent chamber.
Frowning as he descended, the bloody light cast by the life origin filtering from behind stretched Xu Yuan's shadow long across the floor.
As he ventured deeper, Xu Yuan's gaze shifted from the furnishings to the inner walls in the distance.
The wall directly facing the blood pool entrance was somewhat bizarre. Piled against it were numerous desiccated humanoid corpses, huddled together as if terrified of something. The foul stench permeating the chamber emanated from there.
Pondering this, Xu Yuan looked aside.
The left wall had been hollowed out by humans ten thousand years ago, cast entirely into jade drawer compartments designed to hold countless medicinal herbs—dense and seemingly endless at a glance.
The right wall was partitioned into four prison cells, each carved with exceptionally intricate formation patterns and containing a desiccated corpse.
Or rather, three desiccated corpses—one of the cells was empty.
Xu Yuan did not immediately search for the antidote, heading toward the cells on the right first.
For he sensed an unexplained affinity emanating from these three corpses—a closeness that seemed to stem from the deepest instincts of bloodline.
Arriving before the cells,
Xu Yuan stared at the three corpses for several breaths, when a surge of bloodthirsty greed abruptly welled up in his scarlet pupils.
Devour them...
Devour them.
Devour them!
Without reason, every ounce of flesh and blood in his body seemed to scream at him to devour them. As long as he devoured them, he could fight on equal terms against the Barbarian King who had broken through to become a Saint!
Once this bloodthirsty impulse surfaced, it spread like wildfire.
Had Xu Yuan still been lost in his earlier confusion, he might well have been swept away by this instinctive bloodlust, charging into the cells to devour these disgusting desiccated corpses.
Fortunately, his mind at this moment remained human. He suppressed the craving and rapidly retreated dozens of paces before the urge finally subsided.
*Phew...*
Xu Yuan let out a breath. Settling his emotions, he looked at the three corpses again, his eyes now tinged with disbelief.
Saints.
Through the aberrant ghost synesthesia, Xu Yuan could perceive that in life, all three of these aberrant ghosts had been at the Saint level!
Given the nature of aberrant ghosts, if he devoured their demon crystals...
At this thought, Xu Yuan subconsciously licked his lips, but immediately stamped down the yearning.
He possessed an aberrant ghost body right now, and the formation patterns on these cells were meant to seal Saint-level aberrant ghosts. Ten thousand years had passed, but who knew if their residual power had truly dissipated?
If the formation reacted to him, he would meet his end right here without the Barbarian King needing to lift a finger.
Moreover, regarding demon crystals, those of Transcendent Realm aberrant ghosts held no such allure for him at all.
This instinctive bloodlust had appeared too abruptly, as though deliberately baited. If these Saint aberrant ghosts could return from the dead through their demon crystals, consuming their crystals would likely get him possessed all over again.
With that realization, Xu Yuan cast one last glance at the three corpses, sighing inwardly.
Saint aberrant ghosts were terrifyingly mighty, yet ten thousand years ago, humans had actually dared to keep them captive.
Yet thinking about it, that made sense.
As a half-aberrant ghost, Xu Yuan knew all too well how alluring an aberrant ghost's physical body was to humanity.
Immortality alone would draw countless people like ants to honey.
Unfortunately, Luo Xiran had escaped in the end anyway.
Playing with fire only led to self-destruction.
Shaking his head slightly, Xu Yuan cast his gaze around the chamber.
This cavernous "aberrant ghost test site" contained many workbenches. Because of some unforeseen catastrophe, the tables were in utter disarray, cluttered with countless jars and bottles that had been left untouched for ten thousand years. Finding that specific bottle of antidote from his past life wouldn't be easy...
No sooner had the thought arisen than Xu Yuan realized he had worried over nothing.
A bloody shadow flickered through the silent chamber, and in an instant, Xu Yuan stood before an unassuming desk.
Upon the desk sat a jade vial, resting quietly.
Within the aberrant ghost's synesthesia, this object shone as radiantly as the solitary beam of light in darkness.
After ten thousand years, it remained as pristine as new, nurturing wisps of active fluid within.
As Xu Yuan picked it up, the milky-white liquid inside began to writhe as though alive.
Done.
Having obtained the antidote, Xu Yuan didn't rush to take it, nor did he hurry to leave. Instead, he inspected the material of the jade vial, scavenged through the messy array of bottles and jars nearby like a scavenger until he found an identical, intact one, and poured out half of the fluid into it.
With this done, Xu Yuan looked at the two vials of antidote before him, satisfaction flashing in his eyes.
Though he did not know why, Luo Xiran seemed unaware that an antidote existed at the bottom of this blood pool.
If he took the antidote, his combat strength would likely plunge right back to the bottom tier of the Prime Minister's Estate. Therefore, before doing so, he needed to either trick or force-feed this viscous milky-white antidote to that aberrant ghost queen.
Amidst his thoughts, Xu Yuan raised a hand toward the cluster of desiccated corpses.
*Boom!!*
Source Qi surged forth, obliterating countless humanoid corpses and revealing a stone door underneath.
The information was accurate.
This part matched *Cangyuan*—behind that mountain of corpses was a door that would be revealed once blasted open. In the game, that was the door through which he had escaped.
*I need to hurry up and tell those women above to make a run for it.*
With that thought, Xu Yuan jolted his Source Qi and reentered the life origin blood slurry in an instant.
Back at the pool floor, Xu Yuan's instinct was to swim upward.
Yet upon seeing the slot on the hexagonal frustum, hesitation flickered in his eyes once more.
He wanted to try plugging the other plug-in into the slot.
A moment's thought concluded, and Xu Yuan reached out, pressing directly onto the Blood God Stone jade pendant already lodged in the groove.
Source Qi surged, and Xu Yuan's palm adhered to the pendant embedded in the groove like an octopus suction cup.
*Pop.*
With a soft sound, the pendant was smoothly extracted, and Xu Yuan promptly pressed Bai Muxi's pendant into the slot.
"..."
"..."
"..."
No reaction.
He waited for a dozen-odd seconds.
Still no reaction.
Doubt flashed in Xu Yuan's eyes.
In *Cangyuan*, only Luo Xiran's Blood God Stone jade pendant had ever appeared in his past life. Could Xiao Bai's pendant not be meant for this place?
*Gurgle... gurgle, gurgle...*
Just as he wondered, several wisps of tiny bubbles suddenly drifted out from the crisp edges of the hexagonal frustum.
Seeing this, a flash of excitement lit up Xu Yuan's scarlet pupils, and his fists clenched slightly.
Bingo. There really was something here.
*Gurgle... gurgle, gurgle...*
A chain of bubbles rose, accompanied by a faint crimson glow, and the once seamless hexagonal frustum gradually unfolded along its edges, spreading flat...
In the next moment,
The patterns across the pool floor began to flare with dazzling red light, accompanied by an earth-shaking rumble.
Xu Yuan had no time to mind the surrounding changes; his gaze was already locked onto the interior of the opening hexagonal frustum.
Inside the frustum,
sat an exquisite woman in cross-legged meditation.
The decayed fairy-pleated dress on her body disintegrated and drifted away under the liquid's soak,
leaving her flawless, jade-like form laid bare before Xu Yuan's eyes.
Her cross-legged jade thighs were slender yet shapely, her abdomen flat, her waist supple as a willow, her curves graceful and alluring.
His gaze traveled slowly upward.
And the instant he saw her face, Xu Yuan's mind went completely blank.
The woman possessed a dignified and gentle countenance, the contours of her cheeks perfect, her lips full yet pale, her delicate nose finely sculpted. Her eyes were shut tight, her thick, long eyelashes quivering faintly with the currents.
Luo...
Luo Xiran.
Chapter 306