Chapter 2075: Heart Demon Flower

The many dark figures before him looked like mist, as if they had no real bodies. Yet, their power was incredibly formidable, clashing with his sword qi without the slightest weakness.

Zhang Xuan’s expression turned grave. "Could these be... Decay Beasts?"

Books he had read before contained records of Decay Beasts.

These were unique life forms found only in the City of Atonement, nourished by the power of decay. Incredibly ferocious, they would smoothly invade a victim's body with dark energy upon contact, corroding one's true qi and making treatment almost impossible.

Elder Bai Ye, from back then, was injured by these creatures.

"Let's see how strong you really are!"

Having confirmed their identity, Zhang Xuan no longer retreated. His Kirishang Sword spun, turning his defense into offense, as dozens of sword qi attacks thrust downwards.

Each strike was like a single stone breaking the wind, creating a thousand layered waves.

This sword technique had few intricate skills; it could be easily learned as long as one's true qi was sufficient. However, techniques that required less skill were often the hardest to master.

Throughout the thousands of years of Lingyun Sword Pavilion's history, few had completely mastered it, and Zhang Xuan was certainly one of them.

As the sword technique was unleashed, dozens of sword qi, each strike carrying the strongest power of a Celestial Monarch realm expert, landed on the Decay Beasts.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The Decay Beasts exploded into powder, causing a large section of the already dilapidated ruins to collapse even further.

"They don't seem very strong..."

Seeing one sword qi strike kill a beast, Zhang Xuan let out a sigh of relief. But before he could finish his thought, the dark figures before him swayed, and the defeated Decay Beasts reassembled, like immortals, attacking again.

"This..."

His face darkened.

A moment later, the shattered Decay Beasts recovered again, as if his sword technique had no effect at all.

"Are they some kind of soul-based entities?"

His Soul Diviner jumped out from between his eyebrows and struck down with a palm.

*Great Lamenting Demonic Palm!*

Ancient Sage Qiu Wu's unique skill, even more profound after Zhang Xuan's modifications, became incredibly potent when unleashed by a Soul Diviner. Its attack power was immense, inflicting damage on spiritual entities that was difficult to recover from.

As the palm force descended, the Decay Beasts shattered. However, just like with the previous sword qi attacks, they recovered a few breaths later.

Zhang Xuan was at a loss.

If these things remained unkillable, even with his internal energy as vast as the sea, he wouldn't be able to hold on!

"Eye of Insight!"

After continuously trying several more methods without being able to kill them, patterns pulsed in Zhang Xuan's eyes, and he indeed noticed something amiss.

Whenever a Decay Beast was killed, dark energy would flow out from the dilapidated parts of the ruins to nourish it. After absorbing this energy, the Decay Beast would become vigorous again and continue fighting.

"These Decay Beasts are formed by the decaying energy within the ruins," he realized. "As long as the decaying energy exists, their bodies are immortal..."

A realization dawned on him.

No wonder he couldn't completely destroy them despite using every method. These creatures didn't consume decaying energy; rather, they were formed directly from it. As long as this decaying energy remained, they would be eternally indestructible.

"Destroy the already dilapidated buildings," he thought, "and force their decaying parts to reveal new traces!"

His eyebrows lifted, and his sword qi swept down again.

This time, he didn't attack the Decay Beasts, but the already ruined buildings.

*Rumble!*

Rubble flew everywhere as broken walls and ruins collapsed further, revealing new traces within.

With the appearance of new traces, the decaying energy no longer focused on the Decay Beasts but instead gathered on the new areas, continuously corroding them. After a few sword strikes, the Decay Beasts were decapitated, unable to reassemble for a short time.

"It won't be long before new Decay Beasts form again!" Zhang Xuan thought, "And their numbers will be even greater..."

Realizing his guess was correct, Zhang Xuan's expression was one of shock.

This City of Atonement was indeed peculiar.

While destroying buildings and creating new traces could disperse the decaying energy, these structures couldn't withstand many more destructions. Most importantly, as corrosion continued, the new traces would become old traces, and the power of decay would grow stronger, leading to an increasing number of Decay Beasts.

In other words, he could escape this time by destroying the buildings, but those who came later would face increasingly greater and stronger dangers until they became unbearable.

"I don't know where this decaying energy truly comes from," he mused. "It's already beyond the comprehension of even Ancient Sages or pseudo-gods..."

Frowning, Zhang Xuan didn't dwell on it and continued forward.

After the experience with the Decay Beasts, Zhang Xuan and his clone flew cautiously this time, not even daring to pick up the medicinal herbs on the ground.

After advancing for over ten minutes, he sensed true qi crisscrossing ahead, indicating someone was fighting.

He nodded to his clone and quietly flew forward, skirting around a broken wall. Two figures appeared before him.

They were two of the four Celestial Monarch realm experts who had broken into the Starglazing Palace.

Of the two, one had lost an arm, and the other had a ghastly wound on his chest, which was already festering and emitting a foul odor.

"I'll take you down with me!"

With two furious roars, their long swords flashed as they lunged at each other.

Their true qi was similar, and their strength not far apart, making it difficult to determine who was superior.

"Why are they fighting each other?"

Zhang Xuan frowned.

He had thought he might encounter Fuchenzi or Palace Master Du, but he didn't expect these two Celestial Monarch realm experts to fight each other first, striking with such ferocity. He was utterly bewildered.

"No, that's not right," he murmured. "They must be trapped in an illusion array..."

After observing for a moment, he sensed something was off.

He had seen Temple Warriors several times, and they usually lacked personal emotions. But these two were fighting ferociously, aiming for vital points with every move, fighting to the death. Their minds were clearly disoriented.

Perhaps an illusion array was operating nearby.

His Eye of Insight activated again, and he looked around, quickly scanning the area.

His eyebrows furrowed again.

As a grandmaster of formations, his understanding of them had already reached the pinnacle of the entire firmament. If an illusion array was present, there would definitely be spiritual energy fluctuations, creating spiritual energy vortices.

But under the illumination of his Eye of Insight, the surroundings were quiet as usual; he found no disarray in energy, nor could he locate any array flags or core.

"If there are no array flags or core, it's not an illusion array," he pondered. "Then what could it be...?"

He scanned the area again, and soon, several unusually shaped flowers appeared before him.

These flowers were symmetrically scattered around the ruins, absorbing streams of decaying energy, which made them appear strangely enchanting.

"These are... Demonic Heart Flowers!"

Demonic Heart Flowers were legendary plants, capable of emitting a special aura that could induce inner demons, somewhat similar to Bloody Stones. Under normal circumstances, cultivators wouldn't be affected by approaching them, unless they attacked them, which would trigger a backlash.

Could it be that these two had attacked all these Demonic Heart Flowers, resulting in a collective backlash that trapped even Celestial Monarch realm experts in an illusion, unable to escape?

"No, that's not it," he realized. "Someone designed a trap, and these two merely stepped into it..."

After studying for a moment more, he suddenly understood.

In front of each of these Demonic Heart Flowers, there were special power fluctuations. If someone entered this area, they would trigger this hidden power, which would then cause them to attack the Demonic Heart Flowers, producing an aura that confused the mind.

These two Celestial Monarch realm experts must have fallen victim to this trap to end up like this.

"Could it be... Palace Master Du left this behind?"

The Temple's purpose in coming here was to capture Palace Master Du. The fact that she, knowing the dangers of this place, still insisted on coming, highly suggested she knew a great deal about the City of Atonement and intended to use its environment to eliminate her pursuers.

"Never mind..." he thought. "It would be best if they all died by fighting each other!"

Understanding what was happening, Zhang Xuan let out a sigh of relief and was about to leap over this area without disturbing the Demonic Heart Flowers.

However, after flying just a few meters, he suddenly stopped.

"No, leaving like this would be too wasteful..." he muttered. "They're going to die anyway, might as well do a good deed!"

Concentrating his mind, he flicked his finger, and dozens of streams of immortal power shot out, landing around the area.

With a stomp of his foot, a buzzing sound filled the air, and a circular wall of qi abruptly appeared, blocking the Demonic Heart Flowers.

As the qi wall appeared, the two Celestial Monarch realm experts who were fighting were no longer disturbed, and the blood-red color in their eyes slowly faded.

"What happened?"

"What's wrong with us...?"

Recovering their clarity, the two fighters stopped.

"You were controlled by the Demonic Heart Flowers," Zhang Xuan said in the guise of a Temple Warrior, "and were just fighting each other!"

Just as they were wondering, Zhang Xuan, disguised as a Temple Warrior, strode over.

"Demonic Heart Flowers..."

Seeing him catch up to them, the two injured men sighed in relief, cold sweat breaking out on their foreheads.

They had heard of these things, knowing their immense power, but they never expected to fall victim to them.

"To prevent you from continuing to fight and harm each other, give me your long swords..."

Zhang Xuan stepped closer.

Both men frowned simultaneously.

"Hurry up!" Zhang Xuan urged. "If the Demonic Heart Flowers attack again, you won't be able to hold on, and you'll really die here..."

Zhang Xuan sternly commanded, and extended both palms, gripping forcefully.

The two men opposite him were already at the end of their tether; they couldn't stop him. The next moment, their weapons were in his hands.

"You..."

Seeing him forcefully take their weapons, both men frowned.

"Alright, don't think too much about it," Zhang Xuan said, patting their shoulders reassuringly. "I'm doing this for your own good..."

Zhang Xuan patted their shoulders reassuringly, collected both long swords into his storage ring, and with a stomp of his foot, he flew up.

"Alright, enjoy yourselves..."

With a sudden burst of air, the qi wall he had just set up instantly exploded, and the power of the Demonic Heart Flowers spread again.

"What are you doing?"

Feeling their eyes turn red again and their minds begin to give way, the two Temple Warriors were almost driven mad.

Wasn't this guy here to save them?

Why did he let the Demonic Heart Flowers attack again?

What did he mean by "enjoy yourselves"? How were they supposed to enjoy this?

"I want you dead..."

Utterly confused, their vision blurred, and they fell back into the illusion, charging forward with bloodshot eyes.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Although they had no weapons, their hands showed no mercy; each palm strike was full of power, every move aimed to kill.

*Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!*

Soon, both men vomited blood and collapsed onto the ground simultaneously, clearly not going to survive.

Until their dying breaths, they couldn't understand why their own comrade, after taking their weapons, had allowed them to fight each other to the death again.

"Let's go!"

Knowing this would be their outcome, Zhang Xuan didn't bother with further words and continued walking forward.

They were going to die anyway, so their weapons shouldn't go to waste. As for the corpses... he had plenty in his storage ring already, so it didn't matter.