It had to be said that Lin Yanyu was different from those blind rogue cultivators. Though burning with a family vendetta and eager to make his mark in the barbaric lands, Lin Yanyu had not been consumed by arrogance or overestimated his own strength. After several days, he had actually managed to make something of himself.
Seven days later, Lin Yanyu arrived as promised.
Seeing that Jiang Chen was already waiting for him on-site, Lin Yanyu was genuinely surprised. He had actually worried that after seven days, he might not find Jiang Chen here at all.
"Fellow Daoist Huang, I've kept you waiting?"
Jiang Chen had in fact waited an entire day, but he said nothing about it. He looked Lin Yanyu over—the man was travel-worn and dusty, but there was no trace of demonic energy clinging to him.
"Fellow Daoist Lin, you didn't pick any of those Heaven-grade Spiritual Medicines along the way, did you?" Jiang Chen asked with a faint, knowing smile.
Lin Yanyu smiled bitterly. "Others might have been blinded, but my Lin family is a lineage of alchemists. I know a Heaven-grade Spiritual Medicine when I see one—and what was out there, I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. I didn't believe any of those so-called Heaven-grade medicines were genuine."
Jiang Chen nodded. "Good. Having that kind of discernment, and the restraint to match—that's why you're alive and standing here. The others weren't so fortunate."
He knew full well that the so-called Heaven-grade and Earth-grade Spiritual Medicines scattered along the route were nothing more than phantoms conjured by the Demon race. If any cultivator, driven by greed, attempted to harvest those medicines, the demon shadows would strike back, directly refining their souls and converting them into Corpse Puppet Warriors for the Demon race.
Along the way, Jiang Chen had already seen no small number of cultivators who had met that fate.
Hearing this, Lin Yanyu's expression turned grave. "Fellow Daoist Huang, something strange seems to be going on. I lingered around the outer perimeter and didn't dare venture too deep, but it looked like a great many cultivators were pouring in along the way. These people—they weren't part of the original five hundred."
Jiang Chen sighed. "Not just five hundred. I'd estimate at least tens of thousands have flooded in." He shook his head. "Life and death are governed by fate. These people want to come in and throw their lives away—there's no stopping them."
"What do you mean?"
Jiang Chen didn't explain. He waved his hand. "We'll know once we go outside."
Lin Yanyu was baffled, but he had one great advantage: he knew how to read people. After spending enough time around Jiang Chen, he had come to understand that this was no ordinary figure. He followed Jiang Chen's lead without question, trusting him completely.
They hurried outward, and all along the way, countless cultivators continued streaming in. Jiang Chen had no desire to encounter any of them, so they dodged the incoming tide of cultivators the entire way until they finally reached the valley entrance.
The formation that King Shangping had laid at the valley mouth had already been deliberately dismantled. And the sealed breach in the barbaric barrier—the very one that had been patched up—had been reopened in multiple places.
"How could this be?" Lin Yanyu stared at the scene, jaw agape.
Jiang Chen was equally speechless. He knew this was almost certainly Lü Shinan's doing. Without Lü Shinan sabotaging those formations, there was no way those rogue cultivators could have broken through on their own strength.
And because of what Lü Shinan had done, at least twenty to thirty thousand cultivators had poured in—twenty to thirty thousand rogue cultivators who would never return.
Fortunately, it was already growing late, and the cultivators at the valley entrance were thinning out. It seemed that most who intended to come in had already done so.
The three of them crept carefully through the seal. Jiang Chen studied it for a moment and noticed that the seal's operation showed faint signs of healing on its own.
"This seal repairs itself?" Huang'er had clearly noticed as well.
Lin Yanyu, on the other hand, was utterly bewildered. He couldn't read any of it at all—could make nothing of the intricate workings. All he sensed was that the seal's power was immense and its fluctuations extraordinarily intense.
Jiang Chen was quite relieved. "This is an ancient seal, so old that periodic breaches are simply part of its cycle. It looks like this particular breach is nearly closed. We were lucky to get out when we did—otherwise, the next time to exit would have been whenever the next gap in the cycle appears."
"How long is the cycle?" Lin Yanyu asked curiously.
Jiang Chen cast a meaningful glance at Lin Yanyu. "Could it be that Fellow Daoist Lin is already planning a return trip?"
Lin Yanyu hastily waved his hands. "No, no, no—I was just asking out of curiosity. This cursed place, I'm never setting foot in again. Too many things out of the ordinary."
"That's the right attitude. Fellow Daoist Lin, perhaps the three of us are the only ones who will ever leave the barbaric lands alive."
But it didn't take long for Jiang Chen to be proven wrong.
One by one, a handful of rogue cultivators stumbled out of the wasteland in wretched condition. Each time one emerged, Jiang Chen swept them with his spiritual sense. If they carried any demonic energy, he would not let them leave unchallenged.
Fortunately, these were all timid souls—like Lin Yanyu, they had lingered at the periphery, too afraid to venture deep.
Huang'er gazed at the closing breach, her eyes carrying a somber weight. "The gap is healing. It looks like anyone who hasn't come out by now won't have another chance this time."
Jiang Chen sighed. "They'll never make it out alive. The next time they appear, they'll be bringing devastation to the human domain."
Lin Yanyu was shocked. "What are you saying?"
"The Demon race is stirring back to life. These people are delivering themselves as sacrifices. When they emerge, they'll either have become vessels of the Demon race's bloodline, or they'll already be puppets under the Demon race's control. From that point on, there is no redemption—only eternal damnation."
"What?"
Jiang Chen's gaze turned cold and sharp, fixed upon the closing breach of the seal.