Zhang Yiyi realized why she felt such indescribable oppression and discomfort the moment she entered the cave.

Wherever there is such a bloody altar, it is bound to be filled with resentment and incredible malice. The entire atmosphere being forcibly altered is nothing unusual for living beings.

The true face of the Bai family is so evil and cruel; such shocking methods must have grand schemes behind them!

Not only Zhang Yiyi, but even the few who escorted the prisoners down had ashen faces, filled with terror. Even though they had seen such scenes many times before, they still could not adapt or get used to it.

Let alone those captured cultivators, who were already retching uncontrollably.

Even though their bodies were restrained, unable to escape or scream loudly, they instinctively wanted to retreat, to struggle, to distance themselves from this demonic place.

They all knew that soon they would become a part of the blood water in that blood pool and the countless human skins, bones, flesh, and hearts stacked on the altar.

"Tsk, tsk, this should be the Five Yin Soul Offering. I didn't expect there would be such evil spells in this place."

Maoqiu communicated with Zhang Yiyi, astonished: "The Bai family is not simple; they can even use ancient evil arts. You have to be very careful; this Five Yin Soul Offering is brutal. If you aren't careful and become a sacrifice, your soul will scatter, and you'll be eternally cut off from reincarnation!"

For ferocious beasts, such bloody scenes were truly nothing, which is why Maoqiu could tell at first glance what these things were meant for.

"Five Yin Soul Offering? What is it specifically used for?"

Zhang Yiyi recalled that the name had indeed been mentioned in the memories she inherited, but she was not clear about the specifics.

Maoqiu was more than happy to take this opportunity to teach Zhang Yiyi: "What is it used for? There are many uses! This kind of evil art requires 9,999 human cultivators to split blood, flesh, skin, bones, and hearts as offerings, drawing souls into the Fire of the Underworld to be tempered day and night until they become soul artifacts. The soul artifacts created from the Five Yin Soul Offering can prolong a cultivator's life, enhance their cultivation, break through bottlenecks, become stronger, change fate, and so on; as for the effectiveness, it depends on the quality of the sacrifices."

Casting a glance at those captured cultivators, primarily focused on Qi training with some foundation-building, Maoqiu bluntly said, "The soul artifacts produced from sacrifices of this level will be the worst. Back in ancient times, the first evil cultivator who conducted the Five Yin Soul Offering used only those at the Nascent Soul stage and above. Unfortunately, it was eventually destroyed by someone; otherwise, once the soul artifacts were used, tsk, who would still be that guy's opponent? I heard that the evil cultivator's ideal back then was..."

"You know so much about human cultivators?"

Hearing Maoqiu's gleeful tone, Zhang Yiyi interrupted unpleased: "Aren't you spatial divine beasts quite idle? Do you know of any way to destroy this cursed thing?"

Tsk, the Bai family truly made a grand effort; they could even find the Fire of the Underworld, the first fire of the underworld, to serve as the formation's eye. One can imagine how long this whole family had been planning.

"..."

Maoqiu didn't know what had made Zhang Yiyi unhappy, but it was clear that this was not the right time for casual conversation: "Of course, there is a way, but with your current strength, you definitely can't do it; you can't destroy it."

It wasn't that Maoqiu looked down on Zhang Yiyi; it was just stating the facts.

To destroy the Five Yin Soul Offering, one either had to blow up several altars or eliminate the Fire of the Underworld at the formation's eye.

Otherwise, once this evil art is formed and continuous sacrifices are made, the Five Yin Souls would mutually protect and perpetuate each other.

And it was completely impossible for Zhang Yiyi to blow up the altar, as she could not approach it at all.

Without the permission and protection of the spellcaster, if she got too close, she would be automatically treated as a sacrifice by the formation and dealt with directly, unless her cultivation was above that of the spellcaster.

As for wanting to eliminate the Fire of the Underworld at the formation's eye, that was even more impossible because that place would definitely be watched over by the spellcaster, with precautions even stricter than those at the altar this time.

According to Maoqiu's estimation, the practitioner of the Five Yin Soul Offering ritual from the Bai family must have a cultivation level at least above the Nascent Soul stage, far beyond Zhang Yiyi's current capabilities.

After quickly relaying the reasons for the impossibility of their situation to Zhang Yiyi through thought, Maoqiu was also quietly calculating its own little schemes.

It could now confirm that the special energy fluctuation it had sensed from the very beginning was indeed the Yellow Spring Fire, which the practitioner had brought in as the eye of the formation.

The Yellow Spring Fire is a great tonic for the Spatial Thunder Beast, but unfortunately, Maoqiu had only heard of it but had never seen it with its own eyes.

It wondered where the Bai family's practitioner had obtained it, as even in the Underworld, it was extremely rare and hard to find.

At this moment, someone shouted at the captured cultivators who were attempting to struggle.

"What's all the commotion? It's an honor for you to offer yourselves to the Bai family's ancestor!"

The person in charge quickly took control of the situation. With a wave of his hand, he cast a spell, instantly silencing those cultivators who had been instinctively struggling.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to describe them as numb, because at that moment, their eyes showed not a trace of agility, resembling walking corpses.

"Bai Heng, you are still too soft-hearted. They are just two-legged beasts waiting to be slaughtered; are they worth your wasted spiritual energy?"

Another person approached, mocking the one who had cast the spell, clearly looking down on the captured sacrificers.

They were all members of the Bai family, raised with the principle of survival of the fittest imprinted in their hearts from a young age. They could even kill their own kin who shared the same bloodline without a second thought; how could they possibly regard others as worthy of consideration?

"Let them suffer less; it will make our sacrificial process smoother."

Bai Heng frowned and said coldly, "Stop the nonsense and quickly get the sacrifices ready. We already don't have enough; if any more of them go to waste, it will be on you."

This layer was entirely under Bai Heng's responsibility, and he had no intention of listening to Bai Han's prattling.

With this time, it would be better to check the altar a few more times to avoid any errors that could lead to their own demise.

Although Bai Han felt displeased upon hearing this, he dared not voice any objections. He gestured to his subordinates to take charge of inspecting this batch of sacrifices.

After all, before the sacrifices began, all potential risks had to be eliminated to prevent any unexpected accidents that might lead to their sacrifices being wasted.

Recently, due to issues in the Black Marsh, the number of sacrifices that could be sent to them had already decreased significantly. If they wasted more, and if there was an urgent need, even their Bai family members would have to step up.

As members of the Bai family, they had no privileges here; a slight misstep could lead to a fate no better than these sacrifices.

Even though they were all at the Golden Core stage, they were no exceptions.

"Move faster! The sacrifice must begin in half an hour. If you delay, I'll just throw you in!"

With a dark expression, Bai Han vented his anger on the other Foundation Establishment disciples, promising himself that once they left this cursed place, he would make Bai Heng taste his wrath!

Meanwhile, the cultivator responsible for leading the group down to the cage did not dare to move or glance around, wishing desperately that the people below would hurry up and finish their inspections so that they could leave immediately.

Compared to the scene before them, witnessing the sacrificial offerings would be even more brutal and terrifying; he did not want to see that real nightmare firsthand.

"Maoqiu, is this the lowest level you sensed?"

Taking advantage of the time while those people were busy with the transfer and inspection, Zhang Yiyi quickly continued to communicate with Maoqiu through thought.

These people were clearly members of the Bai family, and their brief dialogue already indirectly confirmed that Maoqiu's claims were not false.

Although she really wanted to destroy this malicious altar and save these cultivators, preventing the Bai family's conspiracy from succeeding, unfortunately, her current strength was far from sufficient.

Just in this layer, there were at least six at the Golden Core stage, with more than thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding the altar.

Not to mention how many people were scattered across the various levels of this cave, along with at least one practitioner above the Nascent Soul stage. The strength exhibited by the Bai family in this dark corner far exceeded that of an ordinary regional family.

What she could do was only to investigate the situation here in greater detail, so that when she left and sought help to destroy this evil family, her arguments would carry more weight.

"Not quite, but we are already very close. I can feel that the special energy is becoming increasingly stronger."

Seeing that Zhang Yiyi seemed to have thoughts of retreating, Maoqiu hurriedly reassured her, "If I'm not mistaken, that special energy is the Yellow Spring Fire. The Yellow Spring Fire is a great tonic for me; you have to help me get it!"

Zhang Yiyi was taken aback and instinctively replied, "Didn't you just say that with my current strength, I can't destroy this place?"

Destroying the Five Yin Soul Offering ritual would either require blowing up the several altars or getting rid of the Yellow Spring Fire, which Maoqiu had explicitly said was beyond her current capabilities.

"You alone can't do it, but with my formidable presence, it's a different story."

Maoqiu shamelessly added, "We just need to figure out a way together. As long as we can get to the lowest level and reach the eye of the formation, I can definitely collect the Yellow Spring Fire. That way, this evil technique will naturally be broken. But let's be clear: the Yellow Spring Fire must belong to me. If we come across something good in the future, I'll let you have it."

"Ugh, you really think highly of yourself."

Zhang Yiyi looked at Maoqiu's thick skin with disdain but did not express any opposition. She just reminded Maoqiu that no matter what, safety must come first; they couldn't risk their lives for treasures.

Although she had thought of collecting some after encountering the countless indestructible mutated ants, since that thing was of great benefit to Maoqiu, she certainly wouldn't compete with her contracted beast over it.

After all, once Maoqiu benefited, she would also be the ultimate beneficiary. Moreover, taking away the Yellow Spring Fire would mean destroying this evil technique and preventing the Bai family from continuing to bring suffering to living beings, which was a good deed.

However, how could they reach the lowest level and get close to the eye of the formation?

Zhang Yiyi pondered for a moment, noticing changes in the situation ahead. She quickly flashed her figure and silently followed the cage's responsible person into the teleportation array, leaving the altar first.

"Where are we going? Where are we heading now?"

After exiting the teleportation array, Maoqiu anxiously asked Zhang Yiyi.

Clearly, they had just been at the altar level, which was the closest to the eye of the formation, yet Zhang Yiyi had chosen to follow these people back to the upper level. Did she not want to help it obtain the Yellow Spring Fire anymore?

"Don't worry; we'll set a few fires around first, and then come back to wait for the rabbit!"

Zhang Yiyi raised the teleportation token she had stealthily picked up, explaining with a smile, "Creating chaos will make them think there's an enemy invasion, disrupting their arrangement, giving us a chance to find our way into the lowest level."

Maoqiu immediately understood Zhang Yiyi's intention and excitedly patted its little chest with its small paw, assuring her, "Don't worry, once we find the place, I'll have my ways to collect the Yellow Spring Fire. When the time comes, I'll just tear open a space to leave here, ensuring that the Bai family can't do anything to us!"

"You better not be bragging; otherwise..."

Zhang Yiyi looked at the already perched Maoqiu on her hand with some suspicion, her threat clear.

She felt like she was risking her life accompanying this fierce beast. After all, trying to snatch food from a tiger's mouth wasn't simple.

"Bragging? Would I joke about my life and yours?"

Maoqiu quickly reassured her, "Rest assured, my escape skills are foolproof."

After saying that, Maoqiu seemed to think of something and immediately transformed itself into a small, cute rabbit. This comical contrast with Zhang Yiyi's middle-aged, unattractive appearance was quite amusing.

"Look, I've even thought of an escape route. If we have to show ourselves to get the fire, then we won't have to worry about our identities being exposed when we escape!"

Maoqiu looked at Zhang Yiyi with self-satisfaction, seeking praise and recognition for its efforts to obtain the Yellow Spring Fire.

Zhang Yiyi, seeing this, said nothing further; there was no need for praise.

What was there to praise? At this point, Maoqiu's enthusiasm was evident; it was clear that working for others felt entirely different from working for itself.

Half an hour later, several locations across various levels discovered that people had been harmed and killed. In an instant, the entire cave's security was heightened to the maximum, with patrol teams constantly moving up and down, creating an incredibly tense atmosphere.

On the cage side, others had also encountered casualties. Their companions dared

On the side of the cage, someone had also been killed. The companions dared not move the victim and could only maintain vigilance against possible further attacks while trying to preserve the scene, waiting for the authorities above to come and investigate.

Before long, the Ninth Master hurried over with his men and personally inspected the situation.

Meanwhile, Fang Chun, pale as a ghost, followed closely, filled with immense fear and unease.

This place was guarded like a fortress, and no outsider had ever managed to break in, let alone attack and kill someone inside.

Yet today, he had gone out and failed to lure the enemy, only to return to such an incident. It was highly possible that the Ninth Master would think he had inadvertently exposed something, causing this mess.

"All of them were killed with a single strike—quick, precise, and lethal. Their cultivation level should be at the initial stage of the Golden Core."

After a moment, the Ninth Master stood up and glanced sideways at Fang Chun, who was so tense he could hardly breathe, and continued, "However, it's also possible that the assailants used some magical treasure to deliberately conceal their identities. All exits have been sealed; we will catch them sooner or later. If it turns out that this was caused by the target you failed to deal with, then you will have lost all your remaining value!"