Old hag, how many breaths can your Ten Thousand Gu Formation burn me up?

"Legend has it that only the third elder of the Gu clan, that old hag Lan Caihua, would raise such a wicked thing!"

"Since someone is scouting the way for us, that saves us a lot of trouble."

Zhou Ran had anticipated this.

He sensed several unfamiliar auras while talking to Zhang Xuansu, but he didn't expect them to be from the Gu Clan of Southern Xinjiang.

"Brother Zhou, don't let your guard down. This old woman is a formidable character."

Her mastery of poisons was unparalleled; she once single-handedly poisoned an entire family, earning her the nickname "Poison Widow." Currently, she is wanted by the police.

"Orchid Flower..."

Zhou Ran chewed over the name in his mouth.

"What are people from southern Xinjiang doing here?"

Lin Qingxue asked.

"What else can we do?"

Zhou Ran twitched the corner of his mouth and cast his gaze toward the end of the passage.

"This place is sealed away by the drought demon. For those who practice Gu poison..."

The drought demon's corpse poison, corpse aura, and even its corpse pills are priceless treasures.

"Does she want to control the drought demon?"

Miao Yingying gasped.

"Are you crazy?!"

"That's the progenitor of zombies, is that someone she can implicate?"

"Greed is insatiable."

Zhou Ran stood up, his straight back like a drawn sword.

The three quickened their pace.

After passing through this long bluestone passage, the view ahead suddenly opens up.

But the sight before them made both girls cover their mouths and noses at the same time, their stomachs churning.

This is a huge underground cave.

The cave floor was covered with insect corpses that reached above ankle height.

Centipedes, scorpions, toads...

The corpses of various poisonous insects piled up into several small mounds, some of which had been crushed into mud, with black sap flowing everywhere.

Among these insect corpses, several still-warm bodies lay scattered about.

"This...this is stolen oil."

Miao Yingying covered her mouth, forcibly suppressing the acid in her throat.

Even she, a corpse driver who spent her days surrounded by corpses, felt a sudden convulsion in her stomach and almost vomited up her bile.

Not to mention Lin Qingxue.

She was already squatting on the ground, dry heaving incessantly.

The deaths of those people were horrific.

Its entire body was jet black, with something undulating and writhing beneath its skin, blood flowing from its seven orifices, and its face frozen with unbearable terror.

"This...this person died from being devoured by ten thousand poisonous creatures."

Miao Yingying's voice tightened; she recognized this method of death.

"That's too cruel, they didn't even leave a complete corpse."

Zhou Ran turned around a corpse, his expression calm.

We'll inevitably see this kind of scene more often in the future.

Having embarked on the path of cultivation, the law of the jungle prevails.

"Yingying, what does 'stealing oil' mean?"

Zhou Ran asked the question, but this term wasn't in the common knowledge about cultivation that Old Deng had taught him.

"Stealing oil is usually the work of the gray immortals in Northeast China. Unlike tomb raiding, oil thieves specifically seek out blessed lands and grottoes."

"If it's a treasure, even a corpse, they'll scrape off a layer of oil."

Miao Yingying pouted and complained about the oil thief with a look of disgust.

"The corpses don't have any corpse oil, so we can't even do corpse refining."

Zhou Ran simply nodded in response.

In that case, these people deserved to die.

"Be careful, the air here is toxic."

Zhou Ran warned them, mobilizing the demonic energy within his body to form an invisible barrier around the three of them.

As soon as the barrier was completed, a strange laugh came from the depths of the cave.

"Giggle giggle..."

"I didn't expect there would be rats."

Amidst the echoing laughter, two eerie green flames lit up in the darkness ahead.

After the ghostly fire, a hunched figure emerged.

She was an old woman dressed in Miao ethnic clothing.

Her face was deeply lined, her skin like dried orange peel, and she leaned on a cane with a snake's head.

Around her neck was a colorful centipede, as thick as a wrist, slowly wriggling like a living necklace.

It was none other than Lan Caihua, the Third Elder of Southern Xinjiang.

She stood before a majestic altar.

Below the altar was surging lava, and in the center of the altar floated a bronze coffin.

The runes on the coffin were stained with blood, their red light flickering erratically.

"Little Yingying?"

Lan Caihua's cloudy eyes darted around and then settled on Miao Ying.

Her withered lips parted, revealing a chilling curve.

"Who do we have here? It's that old man's apprentice."

"Grandma Lan!"

Miao Yingying shuddered and hid behind Zhou.

"You two know each other?"

Zhou Ran's mind raced, and he became more inquisitive about Miao Yingying's background.

This girl is only twenty years old, but she knows a lot.

"That old hag has always wanted to capture me to make medicine, but fortunately I've been in the Corpse Cave all these years, so she hasn't succeeded."

Miao Yingying shrank her neck behind Zhou Ran.

"Brother Zhou, be careful, this old witch is quite powerful."

My master said that her cultivation level has already surpassed that of a terrestrial immortal, and she is about to reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

Zhou Ran's expression turned serious, and he nodded slightly.

But his thoughts were elsewhere.

Use Miao Yingying as a medicinal ingredient?

Doesn't this mean that her physique is also extraordinary?!

"Don't call me mother-in-law, it disgusts me."

Lan Caihua let out a disdainful snort from her nose, her gaze passing over Miao Ying.

They locked onto Zhou Ran as if they had discovered a priceless treasure.

Her eyes shone with a piercing light.

"Such pure yang energy!"

"What a handsome young man! He's quite capable to have escaped alive from that evil Taoist priest!"

Lan Caihua pulled a Gu worm from under her withered armpit and crushed it with a crack.

Her appearance was restored to that of a Miao woman in her thirties, still possessing a charming appearance.

"Kill those two women, but I want this handsome young man alive!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the silent shadows around her came to life, and a dark swarm of insects surged out like a flood bursting its banks.

Those were countless Gu worms!

They covered the ground, making a rustling crawling sound, and surrounded the three of them.

"You're dreaming!"

Zhou Ran gave a low shout, too lazy to say another word.

The Zanpakuto was drawn, its purplish-black blade illuminating the entire cavern.

Since we've met on a narrow path, there's only one word left to say.

kill!

Faced with the swarming insects, Zhou Ran did not retreat but advanced.

"Stand behind me, don't run around!"

He shouted, and his Zanpakuto drew an arc in the air.

The purplish-black demonic fire shot into the sky, transforming into a wall of fire several meters high, blocking all the attacking poisonous insects.

Crackling sounds!

A series of acrid, popping sounds continued to ring out.

Those armored centipedes that could crush rocks and highly venomous flying scorpions were reduced to charcoal by the scorching demonic fire.

The air was filled with the smell of burning.

The tyranny and domineering nature of demonic arts is fully displayed here.

No matter how bizarre your Gu techniques are, I will cut them down with a single stroke!

"You've got some skills."

Lan Caihua narrowed her eyes, and the slight disdain on her face faded a little.

She had never expected that the young man's flames would be so powerful, capable of suppressing the armored gu swarm she had carefully cultivated.

"But this is the Myriad Gu Devouring Heart Formation; my insects are endless!"

Lan Caihua's dough twitched slightly, which could be considered a smile, and her fingers flicked rapidly on the snake-head cane.

hum-

A loud buzzing sound came from the darkness at the top of the cave, and a dark shadow swooped down.

It was a black cloud made up of tens of thousands of "ghost-faced moths".

Each moth's wings are sprinkled with highly toxic phosphorus powder; once it gets on your skin, it will ulcerate.

"Yingying, release the Iron Corpse!"

Zhou Ran shouted without turning his head.