In the boundless chaotic void, that magnificent ancient palace quietly floated, as if it had existed since the beginning of heaven and earth.
The palace was entirely pitch black. Stars-like radiance hung from its eaves. Every brick and stone was engraved with obscure, difficult-to-understand dao patterns, radiating an eternal, undying aura in the perpetual nothingness.
Inside the palace, a figure sat cross-legged on a rush cushion.
Just as Ji Wuque died and his dao vanished, that person suddenly frowned slightly. He slowly opened his eyes.
In his pupils, thousands of galaxies seemed to circulate, yet also seemed empty. His slender fingers lightly calculated. After a moment, the corner of his lips curved with an almost imperceptible arc.
"Quite bold."
His voice was soft, yet it stirred layers of dao ripples in the palace. Where those ripples spread, lotuses bloomed in the void, and dao sounds echoed.
However, his expression remained indifferent. As if in this vast universe, there had never been an existence worth his concern. Even this chess game concerning the fate of heaven and earth was, in his eyes, nothing more than a pastime when bored.
"Is the Master going out?"
Two boys had somehow already knelt at the palace gate. They were exquisitely crafted, but their entire bodies were shrouded in chaotic aura, clearly not ordinary cultivators.
That person slowly rose.
With his movement, the entire chaotic void trembled. Countless stars flickered unsteadily. The river of time raised terrifying waves. Even those eternally burning chaotic flames around the palace lowered by three points in that instant.
"It is time." He said indifferently.
His sleeve lightly brushed, and a golden path appeared beneath his feet, leading straight to the lower realm.
"Let's go meet that person."
His tone was terrifyingly calm, as if he were merely saying something trivial. Yet when his gaze cast downward, those bottomless eyes finally flashed with a trace of long-absent interest.
On the golden path, his figure drifted further away.
Chaos returned to silence. Only that ancient palace still floated in the nothingness, waiting for its master's return.
...
Lin Wan arrived at the Southern Wilderness.
Looking from afar, boundless swamps stretched in undulating waves. Gray-brown mud glistened with an oily sheen under the sunlight, occasionally bubbling up and bursting to spray a wisp of sickly green poison mist.
Between the marshes, gnarled dead trees stood crookedly. Their bark had peeled away, revealing the blackened, rotting wood beneath. Their branches twisted like dying, struggling arms, stretching toward the sky.
The air was filled with damp rot, mixed with some kind of sweet, cloying stench. Breathing it in, even the tip of one's tongue would feel slightly numb.
Lin Wan's fingertip lightly tapped. A faint spiritual light rippled around her body, keeping the poisonous miasma outside. She walked slowly forward, her toes lightly touching the water surface, yet stirring not a single ripple.
This was a paradise for poisonous creatures.
Deep in the swamps, colorful venomous snakes coiled on dead tree branches, their scales reflecting eerie light. Fist-sized spiders lurked at the mud's edge, their carapaces marked with scarlet human-face patterns.
Further away, swarms of blood mosquitoes circled like dark clouds. Their wings made a teeth-grinding buzzing sound when they beat.
Occasionally, unknown creatures darted from the mud, only to be quickly dragged into the abyss by larger predators, leaving only a string of rolling bubbles.
Lin Wan's gaze swept across. Suddenly she stopped.
In the marsh ahead, a giant beast skeleton floated half-sunken. The skeleton resembled a flood dragon, but had six pairs of wing bones.
On its skull, half a rotten eyeball still remained, being gnawed by countless tiny black beetles. As the swarm writhed, strange dark red patterns appeared on the skeleton. Those were curse traces left by the ancient witch clan.
And the legendary secret realm, the Myriad Poison Cave, was related to the witch clan.
"Sure enough, there are still remnants..."
She whispered to herself. Her fingertip condensed a wisp of spiritual light, gently touching the beast bone.
In an instant, those dark red patterns twisted like living things, emitting sharp screeches, before finally dissipating as green smoke.
Continuing forward, the swamp gradually became deeper.
The water surface was no longer calm, but constantly churned with eerie whirlpools. In the center of some whirlpools, pale arms could faintly be seen reaching out, fingers spread, as if silently crying for help.
Those were beings sacrificed in ancient times. Their resentment never dissipated, transforming into water ghosts that wandered for eternity.
Lin Wan paid them no mind, walking straight toward the deepest part of the swamp.
There, the water surface presented a bizarre ink-green color, calm as a mirror, yet making one inexplicably uneasy.
Several broken stone statues stood on the shore. Their appearance was ferocious, with horns on their heads, gems long-lost of their luster embedded in their chests.
Scattered beneath the statues were rusted bronze vessels. Inside the vessels, dried blood still remained.
Suddenly, ripples appeared on the water surface.
A pale hand slowly reached out, black liquid dripping from its fingertips.
Then a second, a third... Dozens of arms emerged from the water, silently grabbing toward Lin Wan's ankles.
"Get lost."
She gave a cold command, her toes lightly stomping.
Spiritual light exploded. Those arms instantly turned to flying ash.
The water surface violently boiled. Countless vengeful spirits shrieked and fled, but upon contact with the air, they turned to ash.
When everything settled, the deepest part of the swamp finally revealed its true face—
An ancient altar, half-sunk in the water.
The altar was entirely pitch black, its surface covered with long-lost witch clan characters.
On the central stone platform, a crystal coffin was placed. Inside the coffin, a mummified body in witch robes could faintly be seen, hands crossed over its chest, holding a blood-colored bone flute.
Lin Wan gazed for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
"Found it."
She raised her hand and waved. The mud around the altar instantly evaporated.
Ancient runes lit up one by one, but quickly dimmed under her pressure.
The wind in the Southern Wilderness remained foul. The hissing of poisonous insects never ceased.
But at this moment, this land of death finally welcomed a long-absent visitor.
...
The massive cave was like a gaping maw, opening bottomlessly in the ground.
The edges of the cave entrance were crawling with dark purple vines. The vines were covered with thorns, secreting viscous poison liquid. When it dripped onto the ground, it made a "hissing" corrosion sound.
Lin Wan's expression was calm. She lifted her foot and stepped into the cave.
The light inside was dim. The air was filled with the scent of decay and deadly poison.
On the surrounding rock walls hung countless human bone totems. In the hollow eye sockets of skulls, thumb-sized venomous spiders crawled in and out. Spider webs hung like pale curtains.
On the ground, venomous snakes coiled, centipedes scurried, scorpion tails raised high, their venom glands full of deadly juice.
However, the moment Lin Wan stepped in, these poisonous creatures were struck as if by lightning, freezing in place.
Venomous snakes curled into balls. Centipedes' legs trembled. Scorpions simply flipped over and played dead.
They instinctively sensed that the person before them was absolutely not an existence they could touch.
Lin Wan walked calmly. Wherever she passed, poisonous insects and snakes retreated, not daring to make a single sound.
From deep within the cave came the faint sound of water dripping. Clear yet carrying some strange rhythm, like the music of some ancient sacrifice.
[Ding!]
A familiar mechanical sound suddenly rang in her mind.
[Detected that host is exploring forbidden land Myriad Poison Cave, achievement triggered — Lower Realm Wanderer]
[System Notice: Epic-level achievement triggered: Lower Realm Wanderer]
[Lower Realm Wanderer: Explore all seven forbidden lands in the lower realm. Completion: 7/7]
[Complete Lower Realm Wanderer achievement. Reward: One random Supreme Immortal Art (Complete Version)]
[Accept?]
Lin Wan's footsteps paused. The corner of her mouth rose slightly.
"Finally... collected them all."
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